The culprit? Well, it is an article from the BBC’s Paul Hudson which poses the provocative question, What happened to global warming?. It has all the hallmarks of the climate change denying press: the lone gunman, the conspiratorial scientific establishment, expert quotes relegated to the foot of the article (it must be balanced remember), an air of sensationalism, it’s all very confusing (when it isn’t in the slightest)and a bit of quasi-science sprinkled in. Only this isn’t The Spectator (and for completeness, here is George Monbiot’s response to the linked article.) It’s the BBC.

And the worst thing? This is a very old debate about solar flares etc. The impact of the solar cycle on the earth’s climate has long been appreciated. It’s not new. It’s not a devastating challenge to anthropogenic climate change.

Here is a screen clip from Peter Sinclair’s effortless rebuttal of The Great Global Warming Swindle.

The blue line is temperature rises. The red line is solar activity. You will see how they march in step until the early 1970s. Then they diverge spectacularly. That does not imply that solar activity has no impact on earth’s temperatures. It has an enormous impact. Climate change may be appearing to slow and that is because of diminished solar activity and is temporary. Nonetheless, eight of ten warmest years on record have been in the last decade or so. The BBC piece could easily have pointed this out but failed to. Poor.

For a real treat, here is Peter Sinclair’s short video rebuttal of The Great Global Warming Swindle.

Oh, the assertion that the world hasn’t warmed in the last decade is nonsense as well. Here is paper from Yale explaining what has actually happened. (As well as solar activity, there is El Nino and La Nina to consider also- who said this was simple?)

I will be at the launch of the Committee on Climate Change first report this morning. Tweets and a blog will follow.

Post script: And just in case the BBC thinks that the way it reports has no consequences, then read this blog post from Tory Bear. Careless talk costs lives and not just polar bears…..