Barry Brill, the superannuated politician and lack-lustre lawyer ((He prepared the case for the NZ CSET’s attempt to sue NIWA, famously described by the judge as “prolix”.)) who rejoices in the position of chairman of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, has been given room for a rant by right wing Aussie magazine Quadrant, and — surprise, surprise — he uses it to air the climate crank cliché du jour: The science is settled: no warming. Here’s Brill’s conclusion:
The statistical fact is that the late 20th century warming trend is history. It is over. It is so yeterday (sic). As Monty Python’s immortal “Dead Parrot” sketch illustrates so vividly, there is a vast gulf between “resting” and “dead”.
Unfortunately for Brill, and to borrow a line from a somewhat more apposite Monty Python sketch, he’s clearly suffering from “grievous mental confusion”, and an inability to construct an proper argument. As the script has it: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.
Brill is happy to contradict the evidence, by ignoring the great scads of the stuff that show warming continues. Global surface temperatures are not the only index of warming, nor do they reflect any standstill. Ice melts and oceans continue to warm, as Jeff Masters points out today — and as numerous others have pointed out since the crank echo chamber decided it was time to push this stupid meme.
Warming will stop only when atmospheric CO2 stabilises and the oceans reach thermal equilibrium, which isn’t going to happen any time soon. In the meantime Brill and his band of cranks, by propagandising for inaction are stealing all our futures. The world will be a much worse place than it need be, and Brill will have to take his share of the blame.