Richard Black from the BBC News website sent out a questionnaire to climate sceptic groups in order to test the alternative 'consensus.' He is now able to report the results:
What do "climate sceptics" believe?
Despite having reported on climate change for more than a decade, I realised at the beginning of the year that I was not entirely sure.
Read 'Unravelling the sceptics'
See also 'Climate scepticism: The top 10'
Well done Gavin. A carefully considered and reasoned argument that relies on sound science.
Louis? Still there?
Woody. I am not a scientist either, which is why I have to rely on them for the in depth research and findings. For example, "Earth is much too large and mankind is much too small for us to have approached that." is a completely meaningless statement. You have provided no evidence whatsoever to support that assertion.
Just filing this link here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7074601.stm
Compiled with advice from Fred Singer and Gavin Schmidt
Two things in response to comments to me above:
(1) There was no "consensus" about global temperatures before the global warming nonsense started. It's not like the whole world was firmly fixed on one ideal temperature for the Earth--the one that we had then. In fact, the same alarmist crowd once had people believing in a second ice age. Scientists pushed that global cooling on the media, which pushed it on the public, and scientists who knew better stayed silent. It seems to me that did not make the alarmists into "skeptics" at that time.
(2) I am not a scientist. So what? (While quite different, I have an appreciation for science and had a science show for kids on public television a long time ago.) One does not have to be a scientist to understand conclusions of studies, the motivations behind them, and to beware when someone wants to rush into something before answering your questions. And, don't give me the nonsense about an imminent "tipping point." The Earth is much too large and mankind is much too small for us to have approached that.