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Opening Arguments

You can resume panicking any day now

But the science is settled! Don' they know that?

Reuters) - Scientists are struggling to explain a slowdown in climate change that has exposed gaps in their understanding and defies a rise in global greenhouse gas emissions.

Often focused on century-long trends, most climate models failed to predict that the temperature rise would slow, starting around 2000. Scientists are now intent on figuring out the causes and determining whether the respite will be brief or a more lasting phenomenon.

Getting this right is essential for the short and long-term planning of governments and businesses ranging from energy to construction, from agriculture to insurance. Many scientists say they expect a revival of warming in coming years.

Lord, they never give up. I swear, if we were 10 years into a new Ice Age, some of these climate mongers would still be warning of the coming global warming Armageddon. There is no need -- scientifically speaking -- to "explain" the slowdown in climate change. Science is about weighing the evidence to test your hypothesis. When the evidence changes, you adjust your assumptions. It's politics that seeks "solutions" in the short run rather than the empirical picture that emerges in the long run. Politics and science is always a bad mix, and when you throw in shoddy, shallow journalism, what you get is loud noise that scares the sheep silly even though it doesn't reallly mean anything.

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