Climate Science Glossary

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All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

Nick Minchin

The two columns below show quotes (left column) from Nick Minchin paired with what the science says (right column). Click on text in right column for full details.

Quotes by Nick Minchin

What the Science Says

"[Carbon dioxide] constitutes 0.04 per cent of the atmosphere."

22 June 2011 (Source)

Many substances are dangerous even in trace amounts; what really matters is the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

"I do seriously believe that, given the extraordinary complexity of the natural forces controlling our climate, which have done so for millions of years, the only sensible policy response to the natural process of climate change is prudent and cost-effective adaptation."

22 June 2011 (Source)

Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant forcing.

"Nature is responsible for 97 per cent of the earth's production of CO2; humans, just three per cent."

22 June 2011 (Source)

The natural cycle adds and removes CO2 to keep a balance; humans add extra CO2 without removing any.

"... there is a very lively scientific debate about the role of human-induced Co2 emissions in climate change."

23 May 2011 (Source)

97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming.

"I personally am not at all convinced that human emissions of CO2 are adding to global warming."

24 March 2011 (Source)

The strong CO2 effect has been observed by many different measurements.

"There is no point in trying to raise the price of energy producing fossil fuels unless there is a ready low emission alternative to fill the gap. There simply isn't if you rule out nuclear. It doesn't exist."

24 March 2011 (Source)

A number of renewable sources already do provide baseload power, and we don't need renewables to provide a large percentage of baseload power immediately.

"It will hurt Australian families and businesses for no environmental gain whatsoever."

24 March 2011 (Source)

If every nation agrees to limit CO2 emissions, we can achieve significant cuts on a global scale.

"I think there are increasing doubts about the proposition that anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are causing global warming."

11 March 2011 (Source)

That human CO2 is causing global warming is known with high certainty & confirmed by observations.

"I mean the facts are, if you look at the satellite data, the world has not actually warmed since about 2,000."

11 March 2011 (Source)

Every part of the Earth's climate system has continued warming since 1998, with 2015 shattering temperature records.

"We have stabilised in terms of world temperatures. There is a very powerful natural cycle at work, and if anything we're more likely to see a tendency down in global temperatures, rather than up."

11 March 2011 (Source)

There is no scientific basis for claims that the planet will begin to cool in the near future.

"There are many, many scientists who actually think we could be entering a cooling phase, and I for one think that is more than likely."

11 March 2011 (Source)

97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming.

"The world has basically stabilised in terms of temperature since about 2000."

11 March 2011 (Source)

Every part of the Earth's climate system has continued warming since 1998, with 2015 shattering temperature records.

"I think what's occurred is that there was a warming period from about '75 to the year 2000. It was part of a natural cycle of warming that comes in 25, 30-year cycles."

11 March 2011 (Source)

No known natural forcing fits the fingerprints of observed warming except anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

"It's clear that the models, and we're dealing with models, have grossly overestimated the sensitivity of temperature to increases in CO2."

11 March 2011 (Source)

The strong CO2 effect has been observed by many different measurements.

"These emails reveal at least prima facie evidence that supporters of the theory of anthropogenic global warming are going to considerable lengths to doctor evidence and to suppress information and intimidate those who don't support that theory."

24 November 2009 (Source)

A number of investigations have cleared scientists of any wrongdoing in the media-hyped email incident.

"The leaked emails certainly substantiate the point I've been making that the scientific debate as to the small degree of global warming in the latter part of the 20th century is far from settled."

24 November 2009 (Source)

A number of investigations have cleared scientists of any wrongdoing in the media-hyped email incident.

"To have some Mickey Mouse thing in Australia might make some people feel good but will do nothing for emissions and it will hurt the Australian economy'."

20 November 2009 (Source)

The benefits of a price on carbon outweigh the costs several times over.

"The cruel joke is that all those thousands of jobs to be destroyed by Labor’s CPRS will be in vain, because this scheme will make absolutely no difference to the global climate."

11 August 2009 (Source)

The benefits of a price on carbon outweigh the costs several times over.

"It is indisputably the case that nothing Australia does on its own can have any impact whatsoever on the earth’s climate. The deceit perpetrated by climate change fanatics that an Australian ETS will save the Barrier Reef is utterly contemptible. "

11 August 2009 (Source)

If every nation agrees to limit CO2 emissions, we can achieve significant cuts on a global scale.

"On Tuesday, June 23, writing in the Australian, Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger, Emeritus Professor of Meteorology at Flinders University, in Adelaide, reinforced this: Repeatedly in science we are reminded that happenings in nature can rarely be ascribed to a single phenomenon. For example, sea levels on our coasts are dependent on winds and astronomical forces as well as atmospheric pressure and, on a different time scale, the temperature profile of the ocean. Now, with complete abandon, a vociferous body of claimants is insisting that CO2 alone is the root of climatic evil."

11 August 2009 (Source)

Theory, models and direct measurement confirm CO2 is currently the main driver of climate change.

"One of the world’s most eminent atmospheric scientists, Professor Richard Lindzen of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently observed: The notion of a static, unchanging climate is foreign to the history of the earth or any other planet with a fluid envelope. The fact that the developed world went into hysterics over changes in global mean temperature anomaly of a few tenths of a degree will astound future generations. Such hysteria simply represents the scientific illiteracy of much of the public, the susceptibility of the public to the substitution of repetition for truth, and the exploitation of these weaknesses by politicians, environmental promoters, and, after 20 years of media drum beating, many others as well. Climate is always changing."

11 August 2009 (Source)

Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant forcing.

"No-one, of course, disputes the reality of climate change. Of course the climate is constantly changing—it always has; it always will..."

11 August 2009 (Source)

Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant forcing.

"The Rudd government arrogantly refuses to acknowledge that there remains a very lively scientific debate about the extent of and the main causes of climate change, with thousands of highly reputable scientists around the world of the view that anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are not and cannot be the main driver of the small degree of global warming that occurred in the last 30 years of the 20th century."

11 August 2009 (Source)

97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming.

"It is also typical of this deceitful and spin-driven government to so cynically misrepresent the nature of carbon dioxide. Of course this whole extraordinary scheme, which would do so much damage to Australia, is based on the as yet unproven assertion that anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are the main driver of global warming. "

11 August 2009 (Source)

There are multiple lines of direct observations that humans are causing global warming.

"One of the most cynical and deceptive manoeuvres of the climate change fanatics is to seek to convince people that CO2 emissions are pollution, to demonise CO2 per se. Anyone with any understanding of science knows this to be a complete falsehood. Indeed the Rudd government knows it too. Its own environment department’s website has a link to the official Australian National Pollutant Inventory, which lists 93 pollutants. Surprise, surprise, carbon dioxide is not listed among them."

11 August 2009 (Source)

Through its impacts on the climate, CO2 presents a danger to public health and welfare, and thus qualifies as an air pollutant

"Whatever the climatic role of human induced emissions of CO2, CO2 is not by any stretch of the imagination a pollutant."

11 August 2009 (Source)

Through its impacts on the climate, CO2 presents a danger to public health and welfare, and thus qualifies as an air pollutant

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