Concrete Examples Of Bad Modeling

I may have to pick up this book: Useless Arithmetic; Why Environmental Scientists Can't Predict the Future. I have written many times on the over-reliance of models to describe chaotic systems (such as weather, climate, species migration), and to apply these models' outputs as facts, instead of possible hypotheses to experimentally verify. This book gives us details on the use of pseudo-science to bolster neo-religious environmentalist perspectives and policies. From the book jacket blurb:

The book offers fascinating case studies depicting how the seductiveness of quantitative models has led to unmanageable nuclear waste disposal practices, poisoned mining sites, unjustifiable faith in predicted sea level rise rates, bad predictions of future shoreline erosion rates, overoptimistic cost estimates of artificial beaches, and a host of other thorny problems. The authors demonstrate how many modelers have been reckless, employing fudge factors to assure "correct" answers and caring little if their models actually worked.

Maybe I'm optimistic, but this backlash against the environmental numbers game could lead to the environmental scientists actually doing science again, instead of playing at advocacy and policy debate.

via Climate Science