Past predictions issued by the global warming community have been spectacularly bad. So bad that “climate change” has replaced “global warming” as the preferred label among adherents. The modelers have constructed something of a false reality, often confusing model predictions with actual data in their “findings”, but faithful followers do not grasp the fiction of that modeled world. Climate models incorporating carbon forcing effects have a poor track record, consistently over-predicting temperatures. Predictions of more severe weather have also failed to pan out. To the contrary, severe weather events such as hurricanes and severe tornadoes have been in a quiet period.

The exaggerated claims extend to such topics as sea-level changes, ocean temperatures, sea ice extent, and a variety of other issues. Some recent warnings are particularly outrageous: A recent study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that anthropomorphic global warming (AGW) will kill 5 million people over the two decades beginning in 2030. It is discussed here at the CATO blog, which quotes a rebuttal by Indur M. Goklany:

“Firstly, [the WHO study] uses climate model results that have been shown to run at least three times hotter than empirical reality (0.15◦C vs 0.04◦C per decade, respectively), despite using 27% lower greenhouse gas forcing.

Secondly, it ignores the fact that people and societies are not potted plants; that they will actually take steps to reduce, if not nullify, real or perceived threats to their life, limb and well-being. …

Finally, the WHO report assumes, erroneously, if the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report is to be believed, that carbon dioxide levels above 369 ppm – today we are at 400ppm and may hit 650ppm if the scenario used by the WHO is valid – will have no effect on crop yields.”

So, not only does the WHO study exaggerate risks, but when it comes to human survival, it’s policy prescriptions may have the wrong sign! That is, a warmer climate is more likely to result in improved crop yields, nutrition, and human welfare.

CATO provides further evidence of humanity’s ability to adapt from a recent study of heat stress mortality in the U.S. The CATO author states:

“… the U.S. population has, ‘become more resilient to heat over time’—in this case from 1987 to 2005—led by the country’s astute senior citizens. This discovery, coupled with many other similar findings from all across the world (Idso et al., 2014), adds yet another nail in the coffin of failed IPCC projections of increased heat related mortality in response to the so-called unprecedented warming of the past few decades.”

A so-called “Friday Funny” post from Watt’s Up With That (also linked at the first CATO post above) provides a wonderful compendium of “Over a Century’s Worth of Eco-Climate Predictions and Disinformation,” containing such jewels as the following quotes:

“David Brower, a founder of the Sierra Club: ‘Childbearing should be a punishable crime against society, unless the parents hold a government license. …’

Presidential candidate Barack Obama, January 2008: ‘Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Coal powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.’

Chicago Tribune August 9, 1923: ‘Scientist says Arctic ice will wipe out Canada.’

Kenneth E.F. Watt in ‘Earth Day,’ 1970: ‘If present trends continue, the world will be … eleven degrees colder by the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us in an ice age.’

Michael Oppenheimer in ‘Dead Heat’, 1990: ‘(By) 1995, the greenhouse effect would be desolating the heartlands of North America and Eurasia with horrific drought, causing crop failures and food riots… (By 1996) The Platte River of Nebraska would be dry, while a continent-wide black blizzard of prairie topsoil will stop traffic on interstates, strip paint from houses and shut down computers…’”

Many other bone-headed predictions appear at the link. Sacred Cow Chips has a few previous posts on the topic of AGW.

Needless to say, the media and many pundits love a disaster scenario. The climate warmists seem to understand this and are eager to offer a steady flow of propaganda for the media to offer to the public. They encourage acceptance of an energy poor world and ultimately greater poverty and human suffering. They also encourage an acceptance of state authority and coercive force as the ultimate guarantor of human survival, despite the tenuous evidence of climate risk and a long track record of government failure in addressing social problems.