To the surprise of everyone who knew about the strong evidence for the little ice age and the medieval climate optimum, the graph showed a nearly constant temperature from the year 1000 until about 150 years ago, when the temperature began to rise abruptly like the blade of a hockey stick. (firstthings.com)
Mann said the scientific results of the Hockey Stick study weren't problematic, but the graph of the planet's temperature history — which showed a sharp uptick in temperatures during the past century or so, resembling the blade of a hockey stick — was especially easy for a layperson to understand, and this made it threatening to those who were trying to scuttle attempts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions. (climatecentral.org)
Had they used an appropriate technique the size of the blade of the hockey stick would have been smaller,» he said. (steynonline.com)