The flag is being raised on the hill...

...these must be very trying times for those in the scientific community who have staked their reputations, their careers, their whole professional future on catastrophic global warming. Worse (for them) is still to come...

“...I have been researching and reporting on the environmental movement since 1992 and specifically on man-made global warming science over the past decade...The past few weeks have, without a doubt, seen the most dramatic acceleration of developments against the claims of a so-called 'consensus.' The Houston Chronicle science reporter Eric Berger's latest admission (below) merely reflects an inescapable reality: Man-made global warming fears are quickly descending into the ash heap of history. Even top UN IPCC scientists are now openly questioning these claims.” Berger joins other reporters and media outlets in recent times who are being swayed by latest science...more here...

...says Eric Berger...For a long time now, science reporters have been confidently told the science is settled. That the planet is warming and humans are unquestionably the primary cause. We've been told to trust the computer models -- the models which show a markedly upward trend in temperatures as carbon dioxide concentrations increase. And I've trusted the scientists telling me this.
It seems pretty clear that the models forecast a steady upward trend in global temperatures as long as carbon dioxide levels rise. (Which they have). Yet according to satellite and surface temperature measurements the global average temperature has essentially remained flat for the last 12 years. This strikes me as somewhat curious. When An Inconvenient Truth came out I believed the movie to be scientifically accurate. Carbon dioxide levels were rising and so were temperatures. And hurricane activity, especially after the disastrous 2005 season, was out of control. But a funny thing happened on the way to the end of the world: hurricane activity on the global scale is near historical lows. And the Earth seems to have, at least temporarily, stopped warming...more here...

...and, on the BBC's about face, this from Samizdata...This is not the usual BBC line, is it? Whatever your opinion of A(nthropogenic) G(lobal) W(arming) - mine has for quite a while been that it is wall-to-wall made-up nonsense - I think you will agree that this is quite a moment, as is further illuminated by the fact that Instapundit has just linked to the above piece. Which is how I just heard about it. I wonder if the BBC feels inclined to switch to being AGW-skeptic in order to try to make difficulties for David Cameron...I just have a question. Is it right that this marks a big shift for the BBC, or have I not been paying attention properly? This is entirely possible...But whatever the truth of that, I will certainly keep my eyes and ears open for what others, especially people like Bishop Hill, make of this, in the days and weeks ahead...more from Samizdata...

...and from the Comments on Steve McIntyre's Climate Audit...When the history of the Hockey Stick fiasco is written, you will have a very honorable place in it. And it will be written, and it will be taught in classes for many years to come. It is a real classic episode in science with all the instructive themes, importance of the subject, initial acceptance of the findings, obfuscation or concealment of the evidence, and finally refutation and repudiation. We're just now at refutation, and what everyone is afraid of is what comes next. It will be ugly, but there is no way the principals can avoid it now, as they are probably realizing with increasing dismay...