BPSDB Earlier this year we were subjected to a spate of blog posts and faux news about a report from a “Japanese Commission” of “Top Japanese Scientists” that rejected anthropogenic climate change. The ‘report‘ was allegedly the result of work by 5 scientists from the Japan Society of Energy and Resources.
This piece of climate change Denier spam would be scarcely worth mentioning except that in 2 months the Japan Society of Energy and Resources has gone from barely a dozen google hits (English language) to over 12,000, as far as I can tell almost all of them touting the Denier nonsense. As well it has appeared in several of the predictable bastions of anti-science and ignorance such as the National Post and The Australian.
So it appears that this is yet another piece of climate change Denierism that will live eternally as a zombie (ie keep rising from the dead) so I thought it would be useful to have the debunking handy.
The vacuous nature of the so-called ‘report’ and the lack of credential of most of it’s participants has been discussed by James’ Empty Blog in “Much ado about nothing” (as reported in “Japanese climate crank necromancy” and “Same Old Same Old, The Japanese Edition”), so I will summarize and refer you to Annan’s blog for the details.
The ‘report’ is nothing more than an email discussion among the participants … the end. No new information, no new analysis, nada. For the most part the Deniers merely invoke 3 tired old fables, as follows:
- Global Warming has halted (not this idiocy again)
- It’s the sun
- The Models are flawed/inadequate
For those who care I will offer a quick debunking at the end of this post. What I do want to add to the debunking of this silliness is a short profile of just who is the Japan Society of Energy and Resources (JSER).
JSER is a quasi-professional association “to promote the science and technology concerning energy and resources and thus to facilitate cooperation among industry academia and governmental sectors for coping with the problems in this field.”
Predictably (given the name) the association seems to be dominated by engineers, and it’s Executive by industry representatives.
Nothing wrong with any of that. Professional associations abound in every country to promote every aspect of the pure and applied sciences.
Nor is there necessarily anything untoward about publishing a discussion among it’s members about a topic of current significance in science. That too is common enough with such associations.
However, I confess I have some serious questions about an organization that exists “to promote the science…” actually promoting the sort of anti-science Denierism that this ‘report’ is. If their stance cannot be defended with peer reviewed literature then they should offer a damn good explanation why.
Just to be absolutely clear:
- JSER is an association, it does no research as an organization whatsoever, and that “none” includes climate research;
- JSER is in no way associated with the Japanese Government or with any research institution in any way;
- there is no “report”, it is nothing more than the transcript of an email discussion among 5 people;
- the participants are NOT “a commission”, nor are they “top scientists.” Only one (1) of them was even a climatologist, and he was the one defending the fact of anthropogenic climate change
- there is no new information, nor new analysis offered. It is just a rehash of the same old Denier dreck.
Which brings us to:
Global Warming has halted
Myth: Global Warming has halted
Debunked at these (and many more) resources, and debunked/mocked here, here and here.
It’s the sun
Debunked at these and these links.
The Models are flawed/inadequate
- The 16 Climate Models
- Global climate models
- Climate Models: An Assessment of Strengths and Limitations
- unreliability of climate models?
- The Climate Models Have it Right
- Ice Core Studies Confirm Accuracy of Climate Models
- On-Line Models
Myths
If you want to hear from Japan about the Sun I recommend the New Japan Philharmonic and Far beyond the sun
as better than anything you are ever likely to hear from the Japan Society of Energy and Resources.
We give our consent every moment that we do not resist.
Denier “Challenge” aka Deathwatch Update: Day 155 … still no evidence.
IMAGE CREDITS:
The Flag of Japan by SKopp from Wikimedia Commons
Sakura Healed by PiccoloNamek from Wikimedia Commons
Kyoto-Ryoan-Ji by Cquest from Wikimedia Commons
[…] greenfyre placed an observative post today on JSER, land of the climate warming sun « Greenfyreâ […]
Now, can we simply send this
JapaneseJSERreportmeme back to hell already? 🙂—-
Thanks for reporting on this, Mike. I’d heard about the original ‘report’, but then hadn’t heard much since. So it was just emails, and no new research! Funny how that bit of info was missed in the original dissemination of the article (not to mention all that other stuff that was added like “top Japanese climatologists”). [1]
One thing hasn’t changed, and that is the strongest argument for GW can be found in the weakness of the denialist arguments. If there was any good evidence they’d have brought it forward. One almost feels like saying, “Is that the best ya got?!”, except we all know how that ends when someone says that in the movies. 🙂 [2]
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Regardless of your extreme belief, I feel the truth is closer to this REAL report issued by the JSER. As for your claim that this group is made up of non-scientists unrelated to the Japanese government, here is a list of the executive directors who, in fact, oversee over 150 scientists and analysts:
1) Executive Directors President Dr. H. Ishitani (Prof. Keio University, Prof. Emeritus of Univ. of Tokyo)
Vice President Mr. T. Hattori(President, Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, INC,
Adviser, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Ltd)
Mr.H.Nakatani(Advisor, Osaka Gas Co., Ltd., Chairman, Osaka Gas Chemicals Co., Ltd. )
Director for General Affairs Mr. Y. Kato (Executive Officer, Research & Development, The Kansai Electric Power Co., INC)
Director for Planning Dr. K. Yamaji (Prof. Univ. of Tokyo)
Director for Publication Dr. Y. Uchiyama (Prof. Univ. of Tsukuba)
[…] I know these are relatively old news, but I find these talking points still mentioned across the English-speaking blogosphere from time to time, and I wanted to properly debunk them here (Greenfyre’s summarizes nicely on the 1st point). […]
[…] not a "report". Here's a good debunking. I could find a number of others if you want. JSER, land of the climate warming sun March 29, 2009 by greenfyre Earlier this year we were subjected to a spate of blog posts and faux […]