DaveScot, at ID creationist Bill Dembski’s place, is on a climate change denial binge. Dave writes:
that antarctic sea ice is at a record high (at least since 1980 when measurement started). The new high is REALLY high. It?s 50% greater than the old record set in 1995. In case anyone is laboring under the misapprehension that antarctic sea is retreating, it ain?t. The 30-year trend is up 2.5% per decade.
He seems to take this to mean that:
As the northern hemisphere warmed the southern hemisphere cooled.
Temperature is rising globally, it’s rising in the Northern hemisphere, and it’s rising in the South (though, as predicted, not as fast as in the North).
The immediate error is in thinking that greater ice extent is a consequence of cooler temperatures. In fact, ice extent is a result of both temperature and of snowfall. Theory predicts that Antarctic snowfall should increase as temperature rises, and in fact it does, which increases ice extent even as temperatures rise.
Dave illustrates a broader error in closing with this apt thought:
Repeat after me:
CO2 is plant food?
CO2 is plant food?
CO2 is plant food?
But then, so is bullshit, which doesn’t mean we go spreading around excesses of the stuff. And DaveScot’s post shows why.