Climate sensitivity is one of the most important concepts in the literature and study of climatology today.

It attempts to answer the question:

What would happen to the earth's average temperature if the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere doubled from it's preindustrial levels?

The preindustrial era is generally given to end around 1850 - before the rise of heavy fossil fuel use.

The preindustrial CO2 level is generally believed to be 280 parts per million at sea level. Today we are around 385 ppm.

Current extrapolations suggest that if we could instantly double the amount of CO2, it would result in a temperature increase of 1.2°C when we reach 560ppm.

The temperature change for variations in CO2 levels is the climate sensitivity number.

At 0 ppm sensitivity is 0°C
At 560 ppm sensitivity is predicted to be 1.2°C.
At 385 ppm we are at .6°C.

This is not the whole story.

Calculations are done in 2 steps to account for the phenomenon of "feedbacks."

Feedbacks can increase the projected temperatures by a factor of 3 or more. I have seen it as high as 20.

If CO2 causes warming then more CO2 will cause more warming and the process amplifies itself. It could possibly reach a point where there is a "runaway" effect. When we reach the "point of no return" it is called a "tipping point."

Currently at 385 ppm we are at a .6°C increase since 1850.
At a feedback of 3, we should be at 1.8°C increase.
At a projected 560 ppm we would be at 3.6°C. This is at the low end.

The sense of catastrophe presented in the media is directly proportional to the feedback factor of the day.

Assumed feedbacks fed into some climate models act as kind of fractional reserve banking for certain climatologists - multiplying realistic, natural increases in temperature into disaster movie proportions.

The validity of climate sensitivity lies at the core of every assumption made by most climate scientists who step up to seek a research grant, testify before a government body, or do an interview on a major or minor media outlet. It is at the core of every piece of legislation proposed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and every alarmist statement coming out of Al Gore's mouth.

Billions of dollars of unearned and nonexistence money can be expected to be poured into the further cartelization of industry, agriculture and energy - no doubt, with the blessing of the central banks. Along with heavy regulation, this will be used to bid away and tie up resources that the market would decide were better used elsewhere.

The "climate industrial complex" has arrived.

If the key component of their argument is wrong then entire rational for their proposed remedies collapses.

This video provides an excellent overview of the problems with the current "consensus" regarding climate sensitivity as well a good explanation of the feedbacks involved and why there is reason to doubt many of the claims made by climate alarmists.

File under education, not entertainment.

(It was a poor choice to call the atomic bomb blast a natural process.)

La Scala to stage Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" for opera in 2011

"La Scala officials say that the Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli has been commissioned to produce an opera on the international multiformat hit for the 2011 season at the famed Milan opera house. Battistelli is a renowned composer and currently artistic director of the Arena in Verona."

I can hardly wait to read the libretto.
I feel a parody coming on - "An Inconvenient Aria."

"Each day I enter the marketplace where lies are bought. Hopefully, I take my place among the sellers." Bertolt Brecht

When the Global Warming Petition Project was launched I was disappointed that I lacked the credentials to sign it. It now has 31,000+ signatures from American scientists

Therefore, I decided to create my own petition for laymen.
It is called "Laymen Against the Theory of AGW"
and reads -

This petition is for the person who does not specialize in climate science, but is suspicious of the claims being made that human activity - anthropogenic global warming - is causing the earth to warm up faster than its natural cycle.

You consider yourself to be a layman in such matters and have no degree(s) in the climate sciences.

By signing this petition, you are agreeing with this statement of the "Global Warming Petition Project"
 
"There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."

It can be viewed here - Laymen Against the Theory of AGW

This revision is to make it promotable on other sites.

The goal is still to get as many signatures as possible and, hopefully, get more signatures than the "Gilmore Girls" 8th season petition (13,302) of which I saw every episode at least twice - but only because it was on before "Smallville"

"The Universe is a big place - maybe the biggest." - Philip Jose Farmer writing as Kigore Trout