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Quick Fact: Doocy agreed with guest who falsely claimed "there is no warming going on"

January 07, 2010 11:14 am ET — 14 Comments

On January 7, Fox & Friends hosted global warming critic Lord Nigel Lawson who asserted that "mind you, there is no warming going on. There's been no warming so far this century at all, as the figures show." Co-host Steve Doocy replied, "That's right."

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From the January 7 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

DOOCY: So you suggest we just keep using fossil fuels, carbon-based stuff until we figure out a way to come up with something that is cheaper and more widely available around the world.

LORD NIGEL LAWSON, FMR U.K. CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: Right. What we need to do, common sense, is to use the cheapest form of energy available, and even if we in the developed, richer world are happy to pay more for our energy, there is no way that in China and India - India, for example, 30 percent of the population have no electricity at all, even at the present time, despite the great strides that the Indian economy has made. In China there are a lot of millionaires, but there are many, many more millions and millions and millions - tens of millions of desperately poor people. So what they want to do is focus on economic development. That means using the cheapest form of energy, which is carbon energy for the time being.

One day there may be technological breakthroughs and there may be other forms of energy that are cheaper but not for the foreseeable future. So what we gotta do is to carry on using the cheaper form of energy and adapt to whatever changes - mind you, there is no warming going on. There's been no warming so far this century at all, as the figures show.

DOOCY: That's right. All Right. You should know, you're the founder of the Global Warming Policy Foundation over in Great Britain. Lord Nigel Lawson, we thank you very much for joining us live.

Fact: 2000-2009 was warmest decade on record

WMO: "2000-2009, The Warmest Decade." In a December 8 press release, the World Meterological Organization reported that "[t]he decade of the 2000s (2000-2009) was warmer than the decade spanning the 1990s (1990-1999), which in turn was warmer than the 1980s (1980-1989)."

NOAA: "The 2000-2009 decade will be the warmest on record." On December 8, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric stated that according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, "[t]he 2000 - 2009 decade will be the warmest on record, with its average global surface temperature about 0.96 degree F above the 20th century average. This will easily surpass the 1990s value of 0.65 degree F."

Met Office data also shows 2000-2009 was warmest decade on record. Bloomberg reported on December 8 that "[o]f the 10 hottest years on record, nine occurred in the 2000s, according to the Met Office, which said it expected temperatures to keep rising as a result of greenhouse-gas emissions." The article further noted that "Global temperatures are expressed by the Met Office as an "anomaly" from the long-term average. The 2000s were about 0.4 of a degree warmer than the 1961 to 1990 average, eclipsing the record 0.23-degree temperature anomaly of the 1990s, it said."

Scientists have identified a long-term warming trend that spans several decades. In a February 11 Guardian op-ed, Vicky Pope, the head of climate change advice at the U.K. Met Office Hadley Centre, explained that claims about the pace of global warming require more than 10 years of data, "since natural variations always occur on this timescale." She continued: "1998 was a record-breaking warm year as long-term man-made warming combined with a naturally occurring strong El Niño. In contrast, 2008 was slightly cooler than previous years partly because of a La Niña. Despite this, it was still the 10th warmest on record." According to the Met Office website, the UN World Meteorological Organization "requires the calculation of averages for consecutive periods of 30 years," which was chosen "as a period long enough to eliminate year-to-year variations."

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    • Author by pete592 (January 07, 2010 11:22 am ET)
      5  
      As if contributing to global warming was the only problem with carbon energy.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by AB-001 (January 07, 2010 11:40 am ET)
      5  
      What becomes abundantly clear watching F&F (as well as looking at the MM coverage of the show, to say nothing of Jon Stewart's verbal darts), is that it is not a news show. It is an opinion show, gussied up as news, but preaching to the converted who can't tell the difference
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    • Author by ScienceBuff (January 07, 2010 11:41 am ET)
      3  
      Even if you look ONLY at the years 2000-2009, it shows a gradual upward trend.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by all your eyes (January 07, 2010 11:48 am ET)
        4  
        But, but.. it's COLD outside!
        Report Abuse
        • Author by all your eyes (January 07, 2010 11:52 am ET)
          1  
          Most recent image of this type that I could find:

          http://colli239.fts.educ.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/BlendedLandandSeaSurfaceTemperatureAnomaliesSeptember2009.gif
          Report Abuse
          • Author by all your eyes (January 07, 2010 11:53 am ET)
            1  
            Previous month:

            http://addins.wrex.com/blogs/weather/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/august2009global.jpg
            Report Abuse
            • Author by ScienceBuff (January 07, 2010 12:24 pm ET)
              1  
              Note how much of the blue in that image is in the US. Clearly, if it's below normal in the US, the entire world must be cooler.
              Report Abuse
      • Author by DellDolly (January 07, 2010 12:29 pm ET)
        2  
        Was the AP that provided data to several scientists, not telling them what the data was, and those scientists determined that there was a gradual upward trend in the data? Later, the AP exposed that it was global temperature data from the past 10 years.

        It's sad that these fools are confused by weather and by localized lower temps.
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    • Author by Boxer1979 (January 07, 2010 12:17 pm ET)
      4  
      Quick Fact: Doocy agreed with guest who falsely claimed "there is no warming going on"

      He was the Secretary of Energy under Margarett Thatcher.

      She was real close to Ronald Reagan and both of them shared the same policies!

      Enough said!
      Report Abuse
      • Author by rtejon (January 07, 2010 2:21 pm ET)
        3  
        There was a guy in my community who built passive-solar-heated homes and well houses in the late 70's, when the Carter administration was trying to reduce oil dependence and trend towards higher use of alternative sources. The Reagan administration pretty much put him out of business when all of that was turned around.
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    • Author by IRONY 101 (January 07, 2010 12:30 pm ET)
      3  
      By any reasonable standard how can FOX News continue to pretend that it is fair and balanced in its prsentation of news and opinion...or even a legitimate news organization, for that matter?

      My wife and I caught a little of FOX & Friends this morning and virtually every segment assumed a right wing point of view without any attempt whatsoever to present an opposing perspective. It's a joke...
      Report Abuse
      • Author by h2os47570 (January 07, 2010 2:20 pm ET)
           
        Sounds like MM but to the left. Its a joke. Yes it is freezing in the USA. Must be global warming.
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    • Author by mcgerm (January 07, 2010 1:43 pm ET)
         
      In a survey of US meteorologist in the Nov 2009 BAMS (Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society) 50% Disagree/Strongly Disagree that Warming is Human Induced, 25% are Neutral and 24% Agree/Strongly Agree. Also 52% belevie long term climate models are unreliable and 19% believe that Global Warming is a large scale conspiracy/fraud.
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