Obama’s top climate and energy adviser to leave White House
The White House’s senior energy and climate adviser Heather Zichal is leaving the White House, despite the president’s personal entreaties to stay.
During her five-year tenure Zichal, who coordinated the work of multiple agencies on issues ranging from air quality to global warming, played an instrumental role in pushing for stricter fuel efficiency standards for automobiles to limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/10/07/obamas-top-climate-and-energy-adviser-to-leave-white-house/
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What are they smoking? Sheesh. Climate change is real and denial is not about the science
In fact, one could argue that climate science has not significantly changed since it was first hypothesized that combustion of fossil fuels could change the climate — in 1896.
That’s why, of the dozens of atmospheric scientists in our state at Texas A&M, University of Texas, Rice, Texas Tech, University of Houston, etc., approximately zero of them are skeptical of this mainstream view of climate science.
Our department and the Climate Systems Science Group at the University of Texas even have statements on our websites confirming our agreement (UT: www.ig.utexas.edu/jsg/css_jsg/people/statement.html; TAMU: http:// atmo.tamu.edu/weather-and– climate/climate-change- statement).
So why is there such a disconnect between what scientists think and the public debate?
Recent cognitive research helps us understand this. Researchers find that beliefs on climate change science strongly correlate with other policy preferences.
For example, if you are skeptical of the science of climate change, then you almost certainly oppose the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and support gun rights.
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Propping up ARGO data – New Comparison of Ocean Temperatures Reveals Rise over the Last Century
”The significance of the study is not only that we see a temperature difference that indicates warming on a global scale, but that the magnitude of the temperature change since the 1870s is twice that observed over the past 50 years,” said Roemmich, co-chairman of the International Argo Steering Team. “This implies that the time scale for the warming of the ocean is not just the last 50 years but at least the last 100 years.””
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/1858
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This can’t be good – Winter blackout risk in Britain rises to 2007 levels. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10360751/Blackout-risk-this-winter-highest-in-a-decade-warns-National-Grid.html
Related: Bishop Hill blog – Shale will be too late
Benedict Brogan sets out the painful truth that any developments on the shale gas front are likely to come too late to prevent a power crisis in the UK.
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English major Chris Mooney on press coverage of the pause: “Skeptics must be in heaven”
…The IPCC responded by ramping up its communications efforts. It “upgraded” a prior communication staff job to a senior-level position, and added an additional junior staffer. In addition, the IPCC’s budget documents outline an array of communications expenditures related to the Fifth Assessment Report’s release. However, it is noteworthy that most of the budget total is for next year, not this year, even though it’s likely that the peak moment for media attention has already passed. Furthermore, more than half of the 2014 budget is dedicated to scientists’ travel (720,000 Swiss francs, or about $800,000). The total communications budget for 2013 was 240,000 Swiss Francs (about $265,000), and for 2014 is 1,145,000 Swiss Francs ($1,265,000).
Such investments notwithstanding, one plainly avoidable communications blunder occurred in the rollout: The IPCC released the report on a Friday, which is infamous for being the day of the week when you try to bury bad news so it won’t be noticed. More important, it’s not clear that the panel’s communications ramp up prepared it to deal with a new, combined media-skeptic line of attack: the “pause.”
…At the press conference in Stockholm when the report was released, journalists relentlessly questioned the report’s drafters about the pause.
…
It remains to be seen just how much damage has been done. But at minimum, we can say that during a major moment for climate scientists to communicate the direness of our plight, they were instead being questioned about why global warming has “paused.” Skeptics must be in heaven.
Whose fault is all this? The skeptics, the journalists—but yes, the scientists too.
“I think the deniers deserve most of the blame. They’re still trying to confuse people,” says Susan Joy Hassol, who directs Climate Communication, a nonprofit science and outreach group.
Who Created the Global Warming “Pause”? | Mother Jones
h/t to Tom Nelson
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Report: Top scientists call into question UN’s global warming study
The United Nations’ global warming report has come under fire, as some scientists argue that the results have been politicized.
The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) quietly released its full report on the state of global warming last week, and scientists are attacking the study for presenting misleading information and covering up science that tempered or conflicted with the prevailing narrative: global warming is manmade and will require drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The report asserts “95 percent” certainty about these two takeaways. Scientists critical of the report have pointed out that this supposed increase in certainty comes after a 15-year hiatus in global warming.
Germany’s Der Spiegel reports: “How can science be certain about man’s impact when over the last 15 years the natural impacts surprisingly have stopped the warming of the air, asked climate scientist Judith Curry of Georgia Institute of Technology, Chai
rperson of the Climate Forecast Applications Network.”
http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/07/report-top-scientists-call-into-question-uns-global-warming-study/
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Bob Geldoff must be thrilled.
Over 80 percent of the world’s ice-free land is at risk of profound ecosystem transformation by 2100, a new study reveals. “Essentially, we would be leaving the world as we know it,” says Sebastian Ostberg of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany. Ostberg and collaborators studied the critical impacts of climate change on landscapes and have now published their results in Earth System Dynamics, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union.
Terrestrial ecosystems at risk of major shifts as temperatures increase
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Climate zealotry all-stars together in Iceland
Mike Mann, Stephan Rahmstorf, Kari Norgard at the rift between continental plates in southern Iceland.
Big in Reykjavik | Climate Denial Crock of the Week
The only person missing from this trio of zealots is my Internet stalker, “Sou” aka Miriam O’Brien. Apparently taking fossil fueled jet set vacations is no big deal if you are a savior of the planet, everybody else just needs to stop flying. #greensgobyair
h/t to Tom Nelson
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Silly, but fun. If nothing else, an antidote to the picture above.
Excuse me. What possible tree ring study opportunities could possibly have lured Michael Mann to Iceland for chrissake? Is he studying the soon to be famous, but nonexistent, Icelandic Glaciercone Pine? Or, is he now attempting to correlate tree ring widths with fish scales to document a warming ocean? Or, more likely, is his presence in Iceland (as the photo and caption attest) another example of a climate scientist making a taxpayer funded trip to another interesting, exotic, scenic location?
One of the terrific trio appears to have only worn a sweater to Iceland.
I loved this quote:
‘“I think the deniers deserve most of the blame. They’re still trying to confuse people,” says Susan Joy Hassol, who directs Climate Communication, a nonprofit science and outreach group.’
Oh yes, Susan, being presented with “facts” can be confusing.
Tom, I believe driftwood comes ashore, even in Iceland. If it’s not suitable for tree ring studies, then they could always use it to demonstrate cooking with “sustainable” energy, preferably in a backyard or on a beach.
And just where, oh where, is her precious “non-profit” green-only money coming from today for her “outreach group”? How many millions is she killing with her ideas and her zealotry towards the CAGW religion of death and economic destruction by her “outreach”?
And, by the way, “outreach”: to who to do what to influence who and which voters for who to (1) control what policy where, or (2) to control what policy where to control what money flows to who?
(But we are told “evil oil money” controls all skeptics and only skeptics, right?)
MikeP
October 8, 2013 at 8:53 am
says:
‘Tom, I believe driftwood comes ashore, even in Iceland. If it’s not suitable for tree…’
I have to admit, at first I disagreed because every photo I’ve ever seen of Iceland (I can’t go there in person because I don’t have taxpayer funding) shows it to be rather devoid of any gentle shoreline for driftwood to come ashore. But, then I realized you’re right. Clearly that must be the excuse those three musketeers used to get the grant funding to travel there. And better our lives…
Many skeptics live in countries which already have a reasonable health system and sane gun laws. Whoever made this comment seems to be unaware that there is a world beyond the borders of the US and that people actually live there.
‘“I think the deniers deserve most of the blame. They’re still trying to confuse people,” says Susan Joy Hassol, who directs Climate Communication, a nonprofit science and outreach group.’
People ask questions about the pause and Susan blames “deniers.” This is typical Leftist thinking. According to the Left, Reagan would not have been elected president except for the brilliant work of his supporters who confused the citizenry. Thus, the constant drumbeat from the Left that “communication” is the problem. Never once does it occur to the Left that they have no respect for the individual decision maker or for the collective will.
You have to persuade them, Susan. Instead, you want to deprogram them and then reprogram them.
It’s always refreshing to see climastrologists setting the example for the rest of us by making voluntarily lifestyle changes—like giving up non-essential air travel—that are necessary if we are to achieve a low-carbon future.
Do the geniuses in San Antonio also realize that supporters of the CO2 scare are all supporters of the Affordable Care Act and stricter gun control, or are they convinced that bias only runs one way?
If the accusation is that ‘deniers’ are guilty of passing the message that there isn’t any warming, then a lot of my friends plead guilty as charged.
As with priests throughout history, when the unwashed bring you unwelcome messages, shoot the messengers. Publicly. The rest will soon learn.
Could anyone possibly count the number if ridiculous claims for additional harm and catastrophes that have occurred because of the global warming that wasn’t? Sixteen years of alarmist bunk and not only inflated claims, invalid claims attributed to a non-existent source – warming of the atmosphere.
And they tell us we are in a ‘climate crisis.’ Yeah, right.
This is one of those things that turns people to the dark side. Pun unintended. 🙂
No, it’s your fault. You are after all the person “who directs Climate Communication“! FAIL.
Mmmmm. We know that the biosphere has been greening in recent decades but what about the future. It does not look good if the study is accurate. 🙁
Abstract – 2013
I actually think this bit is the most important (if not funniest) “New Comparison of Ocean Temperatures Reveals Rise over the Last Century”.
Extract:
“The significance of the study is not only that we see a temperature difference that indicates warming on a global scale, but that the magnitude of the temperature change since the 1870s is twice that observed over the past 50 years,” said Roemmich, co-chairman of the International Argo Steering Team. “This implies that the time scale for the warming of the ocean is not just the last 50 years but at least the last 100 years.”
or the last 1,000 years – or the last 10,000 years i.e. since the end of the last ice age. So Trenberth’s idea that the ocean may have “eaten the heat” is maybe not so daft after all, except he may have forgotten to add “since the last ice age keeping global temperatures reasonably stable and expanding the ocean at a steady rate of 1-3mm rise per annum”.
Being a native Texan and having lived in the same central Texas city all of my 51 years this article made me gag.
There is only one thing I have not yet seen cycle (repeat) in all my years. The dust storms that were common in the 1970s have yet to return. But with all indications pointing to 30 years of cooling I will not be surprised if they return as it gets cooler.
Of course by then the alarmists will return with Act II of the global cooling doom and gloom mantra they spewed in the 1970s.
Bob Geldof’s busy spreading the word himself at the One Young World summit in Johannesburg. After all, the world could end by 2030. It’s important for the kids to know just how doomed they are.
The ‘Argo’ team seem to have proved conclusively that rising sea temps have NOT been caused by rising CO2. Why is this not hitting the headlines?
Is Zichal jumping off a sinking ship?
In other words our oceans warmed as fast in the pre CO2 increase days as the AGW days. Yes the data is sparse, and probably is mainly surface samples in sea lanes. It still says pre industrial warming is similar to that supposed to be caused by man. The graphs Anthony posted for which you are asked to pick out which is the last 50 years says the exactly the same thing. The slope of the warming has not changed.
Sudden early snowfall in Reykjavik, Iceland http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/First_Snow_in_Reykjav%C3%ADk_0_403405.news.aspx yet another proof of the Gore Effect.
Zichal is not talking. Why is she leaving the Obama administration?
John
Why the junket by Mike Mann, Stephan Rahmstorf & Kari Norgard to the rift between continental plates in southern Iceland? Maybe to study the effect of global warming, climate change &/or extreme weather on tectonics. Or enjoy travel on the public dime.
John Whitman says:
October 8, 2013 at 11:00 am
Probably has to do with making more money, cashing in on WH experience & connections.
Or to spend more time with her family, assuming she has one.
What are they smoking? Sheesh. Climate change is real and denial is not about the science
……………..
From the comments it seems the audience is not buying that particular pig any more. Does my heart good to read such comments.
Climate zealotry all-stars together in Iceland: Mike Mann, Stephan Rahmstorf, Kari Norgard at the rift between continental plates in southern Iceland.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Now where is that nice big earthquake when you need one.
For those wondering why the three are in Iceland, please read State of Fear by Michael Crichton. The novel starts with an Icelandic scientist refusing to state that Icelandic glaciers were in retreat, despite tremendous pressures from AGW advocates. I wonder if their mission is to eliminate that scientist.
Donna LaFramboise’s site NoFrakkingConsensus.com has an article about a conference in Iceland and the gathering of the false laureates. Courtesy of a tipoff from Hilary Ostrov.
Conference is called ‘Arctic Circle Assembly’. More like it’s a gathering of the alarmist parasites.
This may be off topic but it seemed best to put it into the HOTSHEET comments.
During my many talks with rabid warmist in academia, I have to content with such issues as this:
http://www.stateoftheocean.org/
IPSO summary of the state of the oceans and all its alarmist talk. Where to we have a nice compendium of skeptic information refuting so much malarky?
Just a reminder…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2216836/Malala-Yousafzai-Which-Malala-She-punished-The-horrific-moment-teenage-female-education-activist-critically-injured-Taliban-gunman-school-bus.html
Taliban target Malala Yousafzai says British girls take their education for granted – Mirror Online
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/taliban-target-malala-yousafzai-says-2344450
http://m.timesofindia.com/world/pakistan/Pakistani-Taliban-vow-to-attack-Malala-Yousafzai-again/articleshow/23658106.cms
Why Malala Yousafzai must win the Nobel Peace Prize | Metro News
http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/07/why-malala-yousafzai-must-win-the-nobel-peace-prize-4137902/
Friday October 11 will be the day the winner is announced.
Open access journals…
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60.full
Science mag is of course suggesting that their model is much better. That’s why there are no Guergis, Marcott, Levandovsky or Cook… published in good ol’ journals… LOL
and where would heather zichal,s next post of gainful employment be i wonder ? follow the money,always follow the money.
Maybe they rowed there.
Michael Gersh says: “Do the geniuses in San Antonio also realize that supporters of the CO2 scare are all supporters of the Affordable Care Act and stricter gun control, or are they convinced that bias only runs one way?”
I would think that is a reasonable opposite correlation from the quote from cynical_scientist.
There is problably also a correlation with members of one polictial party and with the people that didn’t believe the pol numbers on Obama last year.
And scientists tend to be liberal, esp if they work in academia.
Don’t forget the old joke: 6% of scientists are are Republican; scientists are still trying to understand why that number is so high.
Saw Obama’s “Emergency” press conference, got interesting as he rambled through the Q&A. He could write climate catastrophist press releases.
Obama: Will not negotiate, negotiate is not a bad word, Democrats and Republicans should negotiate, give and take is normal democratic process, if only the Republicans would negotiate, after they give me my clean continuing resolution and my debt ceiling increase then we can sit down and negotiate.
CC: First agree there is a climate crisis, agree to these preventative measures including fundamental life changes such as a permanent ongoing transfer of wealth from you to our favored Green causes such as ourselves, and we will gladly sit down and negotiate the education of you ignorant climate deniers until you finally comprehend we have the Unquestionable Irrevocable Scientific Truth while you are slightly less knowledgeable than a cat turd.
O: Shall not allow the country to be held hostage to the demands of Tea Party Republicans, will not allow the funding of small things like the National Park Service as then the Republicans won’t allow the funding of things I want, which is essentially holding the National Park Service hostage until the Republicans accede to my demands but as I have not acknowledged that similarity it does not exist.
CC: We are not demanding you alter your lifestyle. You can still burn as many lights as you want, if they’re not incandescent. You can use as much electricity as you can afford, when it’s available, same as now. It’s the evil fossil fuel companies that are making the demands, wanting you and your grandchildren to accept a devastated overheated planet in exchange for SUV’s and energy that’s four times cheaper than what we would charge. They are the ones holding your future hostage to their outrageous demands, not us!
Same message as always, do what we want or else, and the “else” won’t come from us, It Will Just Happen On Its Own. Trust us, pay us off and the bad stuff won’t happen, don’t and we’re not responsible, YOU ARE.
Well, they got one thing right – I’m skeptical of “climate change” (not the real thing, but AGW), and I oppose Fuehrercare, and I support gun rights.
Well, it looks like Mann’s cheeks are full, so he’s probably looking for a place to nest for the winter. There’s probably room in Briffa’s beard.
So I find Dingo’s source. Still, since I read most recent to earliest, I appreciate his link first.
I wonder if they do clown cars as well?
Silly me. It took till now for me to notice the camera jauntily dangling around Rahmstorf’s neck. Is that, like, for scientificky purposes or is that to record scenic vistas to put in his travel photo albums courtesy of the taxpayer?
“I think the deniers deserve most of the blame. They’re still trying to confuse people,” says Susan Joy Hassol, who directs Climate Communication, a nonprofit science and outreach group.
There’s an obvious typo in Sue’s name. The “H” is supposed to come after the second “s” and the “a” should be capitalized. Either that or the “H” is silent. Take your pick. Sorry, but if you throw around “denier” then expect some push back.
Pielke Sr. spotlighted her advocacy masquerading as science last year, there paired with the creepy and insufferable Richard Somerville. Sorry to break it to you Ms. Hassol, but you are the one who is confused and “deniers” have nothing to do with it.
She would love to deceive with diversion, but have pity. It must me quite difficult to have been so highly invested in CAGW only to watch the ivory tower of cards collapse. Sure, to regulars at WUWT the tower was hideous and so poorly constructed that one couldn’t help but laugh at the cultish overconfidence in its foundation. Sue, Richard, Mann et al. were happily conga-lining their way toward commandeering our liberty through draconian anti-human mitigation (whilst ensuring their troughs remain full) and as luck would have it, nature doesn’t comply. Really nature just did what it has always done and a quick study of the oscillations in the temperature record of the last 150 years shows the “pause” should have been expected.
I predict the pause (or decline) will continue for at least one more decade and the model-based AGW theory will have been devastated by the real-world data. A far more confident prediction and caveat: as soon as the next warming trend comes along, these same advocates will dust off the zookeeper’s machinery and we will once again be under siege…on second thought, that assumes this zealot class of control freaks will cease operations between now and then. I forgot. This is zombie science. They will never stop. Keep up the good fight. Do it…for the children…no, really.
Gail Combs says:
October 8, 2013 at 11:51 am
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A volcano will do. They’re probably all virgins, anyway.