Response to Bill Whittle's 'Is climate change real?'

CORRECTIONS: I at around 8:00 I said that temperatures are now as high as they've been for the last 11,000 years, based on the Marcott paper I cite below. That's not accurate. Marcott concluded that current (transient) temperatures are now higher than 75% of the Holocene, and are set to exceed the highest Holocene temperatures over the next eight decades whatever the greenhouse gas emissions scenario.
And at about 3:30 I said 400 million instead of 400 parts per million. The meaning should be clear from the context, but excuse the slip.

SOURCES:

1:09 -- "Kinematic Constraints on Glacier Contributions to 21st-Century Sea-Level Rise" -- WT Pfeffer et al., Science 2008

1:24 -- "A Semi-Empirical Approach to Projecting Future Sea-Level Rise"
-- Rahmstorf, Science 2007.

1:30 -- “Reconstructing sea level from paleo and projected temperatures 200 to 2100AD”
-- Grinsted et al., Climate Dynamics 2009

1:38 -- “Global sea level rise scenarios for the United States National Climate Assessment”
-- Parris et al. , NOAA 2012

See also "Global sea level linked to global temperature" --
Martin Vermeer and Stefan Rahmstorf, PNAS 2009

1:45 – “Contribution of Antarctica to past and future sea level rise”
DeConto and Pollard, Nature 2016

2:15 – Bill Nye climate video.

4:03 – “The Phanerozoic record of global sea level change”
-- Miller et al., Science 2005

4:05 – “An atmospheric pCO2 reconstruction across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary from leaf megafossils”
Beerling et al, PNAS 2002

4:36 – Whittle doesn’t give a source for this reconstruction, but it seems to be Mann, Bradley and Hughes 1998

04:47 – Whittle also doesn’t give a source for this graph, but I tracked down the author as Humlum at Oslo University. It hasn’t been published or peer-reviewed, it’s just being passed round the blogosphere.

5:04 – 5:18 – CORRECTION: The Arrhenius paper was 1896, not 1894. Other than that, the titles, authors and dates of these papers are ALL shown very clearly in the video.

6:52 – GISP2 raw data from:

7:23 – Ibid.

8:05 – “A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 years.” -- Markott at al. , Science 2013

10:30 -- "CO2 as a primary driver of Phanerozoic climate" -- D. Royer et al, GSA Today, March 2004. Based on Geocarb III data from:

"Geocarb III: A revised model of atmospheric CO2 over Phanerozoic time" -- R. Berner and Z. Kothavala, American Journal of Science, Feb 2001

10:39 – “Time-specific black mudstones and global hyperwarming on the
Cambrian–Ordovician slope and shelf of the Laurentia palaeocontinent”
E. Landing / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

11:25 -- Solar output graph from James Imamura, University of Oregon Dept of physics

11:48 - “Climate Sensitivity during the Phanerozoic: Lessons for the Future”
-- Dana L. Royer, oral presentation at AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 2009.

12:01 -- "Geocarb III: A revised model of atmospheric CO2 over Phanerozoic time" -- R. Berner and Z. Kothavala, American Journal of Science, Feb 2001

12:06 -- "CO2 as a primary driver of Phanerozoic climate" -- D. Royer et al, GSA Today, March 2004.

14:06 -- “Large Perturbations of the Carbon Cycle During Recovery from the End-Permian Extinction” – Payne, Science 2004

14:11 – “δ13Corg chemostratigraphy of the Permian‐Triassic boundary in the Maitai Group, New Zealand: Evidence for high‐latitudinal methane release”
-- Krull et al., New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 1999

15:18 – “Volatile fluxes during flood basalt eruptions and potential effects on the global environment: A Deccan perspective”
-- Self et al., 2006

CORRECTION: The Deccan traps happened around 66 million years ago. The flood basalt events that increased CO2 around 80 mya were the Caribbean plateau and the Madagascar traps according to "On the ages of flood basalt events" (Courtillot and Renne 2002).

15:48 -- "Timing of Atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic Temperature Changes Across Termination III" --
Caillon et al, Science 2003

16:35 – A list of the various myths and where I address them can be found in the video description of my video “The evidence for global warming without computer models or the IPCC.”

[skalite]

Had to check his CV. The "4 or 5 years teaching astronomy" was him operating a planetarium light show. When he was 13-17. "Teaching astronomy" was controlling a light panel and sound system.

[jfrancisbf]

Condescending and pretentious.
I cannot take Billiam Whittle seriously, nor carry out a reasoned conversation with these type of personalities.

Potholer54, don’t ever stop your channel.

[davidellinger]

You were kind to Whittle. He didn't say that the red bar "corresponded to the time of the hockey stick." He said it "corresponds to the LENGTH of the hockey stick." A trick of wording so he can say he's telling the truth, but it allowed him to ignore the period of warming we sit in the middle of.

[NickersonGeneral]

I find it amusing that people are calling you a "condescending British twit" when I literally cant think of any way to make a more polite disagreement of this guy. There was no sarcasm, no belittling, no insults, cursewords, I dont think Potholer even made a single joke (at Whittle's expense or otherwise)

It's especially baffling considering how condescending Bill Whittle's tone is throughout this entire thing

[DrSpooglemon]

12:10 - I can't believe he poses a question for "you science guys" about something that is covered in highschool science. Is he stupid or just pushing a narrative?

[TheAntiburglar]

I'm always amazed at the delivered and flagrant misinformation employed by climate change denial, or science denial in general. Climate change is real, vaccines work, and if only people would stop lying about it we might be able to make some more progress

[b.hagedash]

Sure this chap is wrong but he should still be applauded for accepting that earth's history extends back more than 5000 years.

[UnknownPascal-scnk]

10:00 climate has always been changing so why worry? Richard Alley points out that there have always been fires so why should we try to prevent arson?

[bigwillchill]

I'm so happy youre doing videos more often

[superstormthunder]

5:39 climate “skeptics” today are still pushing the same out of context graph

ugh

[WizoIstGott]

There are Corrections as well as Attempts at Discussion by you on every single one of your videos I watched so far. You sir are a role modell for me as a student of science and should be for all young adults entering the world of science.Keep it up!

[Singedthebrony]

Glad to see potholers videos still getting traffic a year later. Hope everyone watching this will watch his other videos.

[BigAntVideo]

The phrase "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" seems to sum up Bill Whittle's presentation....

[Katenric]

Only recently discovered this channel. Love it. Some videos years old but still excellent educational and hilarious

[thesphericalguy]

Potholer's at it again, thank you for still putting up content!

[MikeRomulus]

Just a slight error in your manuscript on this one: You state that: "during the late cretaceous, CO2 levels were about 1000 ppm, compared to 400.000.000 today." Obviously, you meant to say 400ppm, so it's not a critical error, just a slight slip-up, you might want to add a note on. Timestamp: 3:30

[outsider]

I love the whole "The temperature has all ways been changing" argument
Taxi passenger 1: "Looks like the driver has floored the accelerator, has a crazed look in his eye, and is heading for that cliff"
Taxi passenger 2: "Nothing to worry about, taxi drivers change speed and direction all the time"

[DanielBrownsan]

Whittle lost all credibility (that he didn't have anyway) at "Here's a question for all you science guys".

[brageok]

I never know if these climate change deniers are misinformed or if they are blatantly lying to your face. Either way, i dislike them a lot

[analyticalreactor]

Good wrap-up. Wise old saying: "Loudly doth the guilty accuse."