I was beginning to have negative thoughts about "scientists" because
all I hear is about the scientific consensus around global warming.
Since global warming is a political hysteria I was losing confidence in
the existence of any people who use the scientific method.
I'm relieved and can return to the belief that there are always a few
genuine people who call themselves scientists...a few people who use empirical verification
and test their theories on empirical data. One hundred scientists
signed a letter to the UN pointing out the natural causes of global temperature fluctuations and making a very dramatic statement: "because
attempts to cut emissions will slow development, the current UN
approach of CO2 reduction is likely to increase human suffering from
future climate change rather than to decrease it."
Since I report the global temperature every year it is particularly heartening to me to see data used that exactly matches my own: "..despite computer projections of temperature rises, there has been no net global warming since 1998." I always use the term "96-97 average" which happens to be the same as 1998.
One of the signers of the letter is Freeman Dyson who long ago wrote an article that influenced me. He pointed out that a one-quarter inch increase in the top soil in the U.S. (which will occur naturally) would absorb all the excess CO2 that humans have produced in the past 100 years.