There have been changes in the climate since the Earth formed. Ice ages are a good example. They were probably caused by fluctuations in greenhouse gases and radiation from the Sun. Just like today.
Science does not prove things one way or the other. Scientists leave proof to mathematicians. Science does not deal in facts although lots of scientists would argue with that. Good scientists go with the data, their measurements and try to interpret them as reasonably as possible.
Let me give you an example. I could grow a row of peas measure their height and the weight of peas I got from them. I could measure the amount of nutrient added to the soil. I could relate that to the weight of peas obtained. Yet you could come along and say you don’t believe in my peas and you are not going to look at the measurements because the peas do not exist. Your belief does not alter the existence of the peas one way or the other. The problem comes when your belief makes you walk across my allotment as if the peas were not there and destroy them all.
Science does not prove things; it just interprets data, hopefully reasonably.
Bad data produces bad interpretation. Any scientist worth their salt would have questioned, and did question, the Himalaya assertions. I don’t think that they based their report on any scientific data whatsoever. They just believed it to be so.
But it was basic physics that enabled us to question those assertions. Questioning data is a fundamental part of science and is going on all the time not just with silly assertions about Himalayan glaciers. That’s what they were doing in the leaked emails. They were talking about how they were going to challenge someone’s data. Very legitimate part of science.
How could you do it any other way without waiting until 2030? You cannot use science to shoot science down.
Fiddling the facts is not part of science. It may be part of corporate business, government spin, and people’s financial gain. Again, though just because they are doing this does not change the data. The measurements are the measurements. People are wrong to do it and there are a lot of scientists out there that are much cleverer than I am that will shout their objections very loudly; just as they did with cold fusion. To say that things are not happening because you believe a tabloid newspaper or Jeremy Clarkson does not alter the data either. The truth will out…
The most reasonable interpretation of the data is that the climate is warming. Don’t take my word for it just look at the graphs on http://www.realclimate.org/ for yourself. I would wish a lot more people looked at the data for themselves rather than rely on a television presenter for their views. There is also increasing evidence that human activity has caused this temperature increase. There is further evidence that this increase in global temperatures is affecting low lying ocean islands due to rise in sea levels. Expansion of the Sahara desert in Africa is a lot more serious than whether you have to pay more tax for your lawn mower petrol.
This is just the beginning. As Jesus said: there is none so blind as those that cannot see.