The Week That Was: 2024 04-13 (April 13, 2024)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” – Albert Einstein [H/t Jim Steele]
Number of the Week: 200 to 500 centimeters (80 to 200 inches) per century
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: Ed Calabrese published another paper showing that the LNT model is based on a significant omission of evidence, an activity that is common in environmental science today. In their monthly temperature report Spencer, Christy, and the UAH science team demonstrate an integrity that is lacking in the temperature reports of NOAA and NASA-GISS. Most climate commentators ignore the dominant change to Earth from increased CO2 – global greening. Advocates of “ocean acidification” have misled the public by ignoring ocean chemistry. Effects of UN false claims about climate change are showing up in European courts. The US EPA continues to abuse its respected position by making absurd claims about chemicals.
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Non-Science: Edward Calabrese and Paul Selbe had a paper published in the Archives of Toxicology demonstrating additional research efforts that were hidden in establishing the widely used and unworthy linear no-threshold model (LNT). The LNT model is widely used by government regulators, such as the US EPA, and some scientists to promote fear of chemicals without physical evidence. The paper “Muller and mutations: mouse study of George Snell (a postdoc of Muller) fails to confirm Muller’s fruit fly findings, and Muller fails to cite Snell’s findings” is one more example of the poor science that went into the LNT. The abstract states:
“In 1931, Hermann J. Muller’s postdoctoral student, George D. Snell (Nobel Prize recipient–1980) initiated research to replicate with mice Muller’s X-ray-induced mutational findings with fruit flies. Snell failed to induce the two types of mutations of interest, based on fly data (sex-linked lethal/recessive visible mutations) even though the study was well designed, used large doses of X-rays, and was published in Genetics. These findings were never cited by Muller, and the Snell paper (Snell, Genetics 20:545–567, 1935) did not cite the 1927 Muller paper (Muller, Science 66:84, 1927). This situation raises questions concerning how Snell wrote the paper (e.g., ignoring the significance of not providing support for Muller’s findings in a mammal). The question may be raised whether professional pressures were placed upon Snell to downplay the significance of his findings, which could have negatively impacted the career of Muller and the LNT theory. While Muller would receive worldwide attention and receive the Nobel Prize in 1946 “for the discovery that mutations can be induced by X-rays,” Snell’s negative mutation data were almost entirely ignored by his contemporary and subsequent radiation genetics/mutation researchers. This raises questions concerning how the apparent lack of interest in Snell’s negative findings helped Muller professionally, including his success in using his fruit fly data to influence hereditary and cancer risk assessment and to obtain the Nobel Prize.”
The US EPA and the UN World Health Organization have gone on to declare hundreds of thousands of premature deaths without any confirmation of disease and its severity from particulate matter, namely PM2.5, less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, which can be easily inhaled and exhaled by the human body. The EPA website states:
“Health Effects
The size of particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems. Small particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter pose the greatest problems, because they can get deep into your lungs, and some may even get into your bloodstream.
Exposure to such particles can affect both your lungs and your heart. Numerous scientific studies have linked particle pollution exposure to a variety of problems, including:
- premature death in people with heart or lung disease
- nonfatal heart attacks
- irregular heartbeat
- aggravated asthma
- decreased lung function.
- increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the airways, coughing or difficulty breathing.
People with heart or lung diseases, children, and older adults are the most likely to be affected by particle pollution exposure.”
The website includes environmental damage and materials damage, which have no relation to human health. Independent researchers have been unable to uncover any compelling physical evidence or rigorous statistical evidence of increases in human deaths from exposure to PM2.5. Certainly, when yellow dust from Mongolia engulfs much of east China and Korea as it has since the 1300s, we should be seeing mass deaths, yet simple preventive measures such as using cloths over noses and mouths seem to work for the natives. Some plant pollen which may trigger allergies is as small as 2.5 microns, such as forget-me-not flowers. As discussed below, the EPA is extending such sloppy science to claim certain chemicals are a hazard to human health. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy, Defending the Orthodoxy, and Litigation Issues.
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Scientific Integrity: Roy Spencer and John Christy and their team at the Earth System Science Center, University of Alabama, Huntsville produced their report on March temperatures as measured by satellites. Part of the text states:
“March’s global atmospheric temperature anomaly crept up to +0.95 °C (+1.71 °F) and continued the string of months beginning in September 2023 of being within ±0.06 °C of +0.89°C (+1.60 °F). This becomes the warmest departure from average of the past 46 Marches (and all months) that have been monitored from satellites and edges out Oct 2023 and Feb 2024 (+0.93 °C) as the warmest anomaly measured to date. The difference of a tiny +0.02 °C vs. the previous ‘record’ is within the margin of error, so it is equally feasible to say March and the other months were tied as warmest on record, all thanks to the El Niño.”
The report also states:
“As noted last month, there are signs that the current warm El Niño episode is fading with a significant loss of heat in the tropical Pacific Ocean. This heat must go somewhere, and we often see an increase in tropical atmospheric temperatures for a couple of months when this occurs, as has now apparently happened.
See more on NOAA’s excellent weekly updates here. https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/lanina/enso_evolution-statusfcsts-web.pdf.
Also noted two months ago, we reported that the global atmospheric trend moved to +0.15 °C/decade, up from +0.14 °C/decade. The trend had been flirting with +0.15 since the hot anomalies of last year, and in January reached +0.145 °C/decade which we rounded up to +0.15. It is now +0.148 °C/decade.
We’ve been asking this question for a few months: Is this now the peak of the El Niño warming? As we stated last month ‘though the ocean temperatures are falling, there are still processes that can heat the atmospheric temperature which would cause an increase in March from February’s record-tying value.’ And that’s what happened. So, I still don’t think it’s a good idea to place a bet on whether April will see the start of the cooling, but I suspect it will be soon.” [Boldface added.]
This is an example of how science should be done. The data are adjusted to assure continuity across different measuring devices on different satellites. Such adjustments are carefully noted and recorded for the purposes of accurate record keeping. Nothing is hidden or omitted. And even short-range forecasts are avoided because the knowledge to make them is not yet available. See links under Measurement Issues – Atmosphere.
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Peak Greening? The dominant changing characteristic of Earth from increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide is the greening of Earth, with an increase in photosynthesis, including both land masses and the oceans. Ecologist Jim Steele writes:
“There’s been great news that Earth has been greening, and more greening means more photosynthesis, which is the foundation of all food webs. This means more resilient ecosystems. But the enemies of climate truth want you to believe rising CO2 is killing plants and creating deadly tipping points. NASA posted this illustration showing from 1982 to 2009, using a leaf area index, that the planet was benefiting from a persistent and widespread increase in the growing season. Up to 50% of the global vegetated area had increased its leaf area, and scientists determined 70% of that greening was due to CO2’s fertilization effects, which benefits are reverberating throughout entire ecosystems. In contrast, just 4% of the globe showed decreasing vegetation, or browning.”
And:
“But greening benefits have not been restricted to land plants. Between 1998 and 2018, scientists determined the Arctic Ocean’s plankton had also increased the ocean’s primary production by 57%. More food for fish and seals means more food for polar bears, contributing to the observed increasing bear populations. Such thriving ecosystems make ordinary thinking people mistrust doomsday narratives like Greta Thunberg’s rant that ecosystems are collapsing, and people and animals are dying.”
Steele discusses some of the arguments used by those who claim ecosystems are collapsing. Frequently, they ignore contradicting evidence and the fact that actual greenhouse operators routinely double or triple the CO2 of ambient air to increase plant production. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Misleading Textbooks: According to Leice Technologies:
“Biological buffers are organic substances that maintain a constant pH over a given range by neutralizing the effects of hydrogen ions. Buffers also provide a pH environment conducive to critical biochemical processes, wherein a significant change in pH can lead to a harmful change in molecular structure, biological activity, or functions. They keep the pH constant by taking up protons which are released during reactions, or by releasing protons when they are consumed by reactions. Buffers are a vital component for modeling biological systems and have many uses in cell culture, molecular biology, nucleic acid, protein purification, transformation, and transfections.
The quality of a buffer is determined by its resistance to changes in pH when strong acids or bases are added and is measured in the value of its pKa where the larger the value of pKa, the weaker the acid. Knowing the value of pKa is important in dealing with systems involving acid-base equilibria in solution.”
In “An Experiment in Ocean Acidification: Why Buffering Matters” Marty Cornell addresses that many students are misled by textbook experiments that use distilled or tap water as if it simulated the oceans. Cornell uses a paper “Ocean Alkalinity, Buffering and Biogeochemical Processes” to illustrate that tap or distilled water cannot possibly duplicate sea water. The abstract reads:
“Alkalinity, the excess of proton acceptors over donors, plays a major role in ocean chemistry, in buffering and in calcium carbonate precipitation and dissolution. Understanding alkalinity dynamics is pivotal to quantify ocean carbon dioxide uptake during times of global change. Here we review ocean alkalinity and its role in ocean buffering as well as the biogeochemical processes governing alkalinity and pH in the ocean. We show that it is important to distinguish between measurable titration alkalinity and charge balance alkalinity that is used to quantify calcification and carbonate dissolution and needed to understand the impact of biogeochemical processes on components of the carbon dioxide system. A general treatment of ocean buffering and quantification via sensitivity factors is presented and used to link existing buffer and sensitivity factors. The impact of individual biogeochemical processes on ocean alkalinity and pH is discussed and quantified using these sensitivity factors. Processes governing ocean alkalinity on longer time scales such as carbonate compensation, (reversed) silicate weathering, and anaerobic mineralization are discussed and used to derive a close-to-balance ocean alkalinity budget for the modern ocean.”
The oceans are well buffered against any change in pH. From “Fundamentals of Ocean pH” by R. Cohen and W. Happer, Cornell shows that increasing atmospheric CO2 from 400 parts per million (ppm) to 800 ppm lowers the alkalinity of the oceans by about 0.25pH to a pH of slightly below 8, well above neutral of 7. Contrary to the claims of former administrator of NOAA Jane Lubchenco and her colleagues, this is not ocean acidification and as a marine biologist she should have known this and expressed it correctly. In not doing so she misled the American public. She is now the Deputy Director for Climate and Environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
When one combines the importance of buffering of sea water with research showing that in order for charged ions to pass through the lipid membranes of corals and mollusks and enter their calcification chambers, a specialized channel or transporter is required. But for over a decade now, the search for carbonate transporters has failed to find any such transporters in any of these organisms. However, abundant bicarbonate transporters have been found and deemed important for making reefs and shells. The entire fear of “ocean acidification” falls apart. Such is the quality of scientific research coming from Washington. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy and the March 2 TWTW. https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2024/TWTW%20Mar%202.pdf
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Effects of False Claims: The UN continues to make false claims of the dangers of climate change from increasing atmospheric CO2. Now:
“Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said the next two years are ‘essential in saving our planet’.”
It is fitting that he said this in London, as the UK is experiencing soaring electricity prices from abandoning coal in favor of unreliable and expensive wind and solar. Why he fails to make such speeches in China, which is by far the largest producer of CO2, is not revealed.
The insidious effect of UN false claims is seen in a case decided by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which determined in favor of a group of women. Paul Homewood quotes BBC:
“’A group of older Swiss women have won the first ever climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights.
The women, mostly in their 70s, said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change.
The court said Switzerland’s efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate.
It is the first time the powerful court has ruled on global warming.
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg joined activists celebrating at the court in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
‘We still can’t really believe it. We keep asking our lawyers, ‘is that right?’ Rosemarie Wydler-Walti, one of the leaders of the Swiss women, told Reuters news agency. ‘And they tell us it’s the most you could have had. The biggest victory possible.’
‘This is only the beginning of climate litigation,’ said Ms. Thunberg. ‘This means that we have to fight even more, since this is only the beginning. Because in a climate emergency, everything is at stake.’
The ruling is binding and can trickle down to influence the law in 46 countries in Europe including the UK.
The Court ruled that Switzerland had ‘failed to comply with its duties under the Convention concerning climate change’ and that it had violated the right to respect for private and family life.
It also found that ‘there had been critical gaps’ in the country’s policies to tackle climate change including failing to quantify reductions in greenhouse gases – those gases that warm Earth’s atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels like oil, coal, and gas.
The Swiss women, called KlimaSeniorinnen or Senior Women for Climate Protection, argued that they cannot leave their homes and suffer health attacks during heatwaves in Switzerland.’”
Homewood further writes:
“You can almost sense the gloating at the BBC!
But when was it a human right to have perfect weather?
And all of those who starved in the famines of the Little Ice Age in Switzerland, when the glaciers came down from the mountains and wiped out their farms and villages, must be turning in their graves at these eco-loons complaining about a bit of warm weather.
But this is not just a local issue. As the BBC notes, there will be a trickle-down effect. What we have here is a bunch of unelected judges imposing their far-left policies on politicians, and ultimately the public who elect them.
After all, there are not even any laws being broken here.
The ECHR was never set up for this purpose and is now abusing its authority. Indeed, this is what the European Convention on Human Rights says is its remit:
• life, freedom, and security
• respect for private and family life
• freedom of expression
• freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
• vote in and stand for election
• a fair trial in civil and criminal matters
• property and peaceful enjoyment of possessions.
https://www.coe.int/en/web/human-rights-convention/our-rights
Time for us to pull out.”
Judith Curry has a post stating: “There is no human right to a safe or stable climate.” In fact, there never has been a stable and safe climate. See links under Defending the Orthodoxy and Litigation Issues,
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More EPA Absurdity: On Wednesday, EPA announced another round of Washington scientific absurdity. It established legal limits on so called “forever chemicals” which are persistent because they do not chemically break down. Yet, according to the EPA they cause harm at very low doses. A report from The Hill newspaper states:
“The EPA set legal limits for two of the most toxic – and most notorious – types of PFAS, called PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion for either compound.
A ‘part per trillion’ is about equal to one drop of water in 20 Olympic sized pools.
The agency said that for these two compounds it was also declaring that there is no safe level — setting a non-enforceable health goal at zero.
For other PFAS, known as PFNA, PFHxS, and GenX the agency set the legal limit at 10 parts per trillion.
As PFAS can be found in mixtures, the agency is also setting a limit on mixtures of two or more of GenX, PFNA, PFHxS and another substance called PFBS.
Its method for limiting such mixtures uses a technical formula to determine when combinations of these chemicals are hazardous to human health.” [Boldface added, no link provided.]
After exposure to highly toxic nerve agents, such as VX, goats can be revived by intervention. If forever chemicals are so toxic, where are the millions of dead bodies? See link under EPA and other Regulators on the March.
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Number of the Week: 200 to 500 centimeters (80 to 200 inches) per century. Under “What is the mid-ocean ridge?” the staff at NOAA writes:
Two well-studied mid-ocean ridges within the global system are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean, slowly spreading at a rate of 2 to 5 centimeters (0.8 to 2 inches) per year and forming a rift valley that is about the depth and width of the Grand Canyon. In contrast, the East Pacific Rise is spreading quickly, at rates of 6 to 16 centimeters (3 to 6 inches) per year. Due to the fast-spreading rates, there is no rift valley in the Pacific, just a smooth volcanic summit with a crack along the crest that is much smaller than the Atlantic rift valley.
A rift valley in Earth’s crust under the Atlantic is growing at a rate of 200 to 500 centimeters (80 to 200 inches) per century and the ones under the Pacific are growing faster. Yet, the US Park Service is about to chop down cherry trees in Washington’s Tidal Basin because sea levels are rising at a rate of 7 to 8 inches per century? See links under Changing Earth and EPA and other Regulators on the March.
Censorship
ClimateMovie fact check corner
By John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 10, 2024
“ misplaced zealotry is more dangerous than deliberate deceit and does not diminish culpability.”
I Offended Their Religion
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Apr 5, 2024
Reuters “fact checks” me.
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-fossil-fuels/
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming/
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Muller and mutations: mouse study of George Snell (a postdoc of Muller) fails to confirm Muller’s fruit fly findings, and Muller fails to cite Snell’s findings
By Edward J. Calabrese and Paul B. Selby, Archives of Toxicology, Apr 4, 2024
The Greening of the Earth vs Enemies of Climate Truth
By Jim Steele, A Walk On the Natural Side, Aug 10, 2024
An Experiment in Ocean Acidification: Why Buffering Matters
By Marty Cornell, CO2 Coalition, Mar 29, 2024
Link to paper: Ocean Alkalinity, Buffering and Biogeochemical Processes
By Jack J. Middelburg, Karline Soetaert, and Mathilde Hagens, Reviews of Geophysics, June 9, 2020
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019RG000681
Study grades natural gas as best source for reliability, affordability and environmental impact
Natural gas got an “A” grade, followed by nuclear, which got a “B+”. Wind and solar energy came in last, each receiving “F” grades, according to the study.
By Kevin Killough, Just the News, Apr 6, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to study: Grading the Grid: A national energy report card
By Jason Hayes and Timothy Nash, Northwood University’s McNair Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Mar 21, 2024
Science Proves Isaac Newton Doesn’t Even Break Into Top 8,000 All Time Greatest Scientists
By William Briggs, Science Is Not the Answer, Apr 10, 2024
https://wmbriggs.substack.com/p/science-proves-isaac-newton-doesnt
Climate Fact-Check March 2024 Edition
By Steve Milloy, Via Climate Realism, Apr 10, 2024
https://climaterealism.com/2024/04/climate-fact-check-march-2024-edition
Defending the Orthodoxy
U.N. climate chief says two years to save the planet
By Kate Abnett and Simon Jessop, Reuters, Apr 10, 2024
https://www.reuters.com/world/un-climate-chief-says-two-years-save-planet-2024-04-10
“Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said the next two years are ‘essential in saving our planet’.”
[SEPP Comment: According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists we have 90 seconds. The UN official was preaching in London, why not preach in China?]
Health and Environmental Effects of Particulate Matter (PM)
By Staff, EPA, Accessed Apr 10, 2024
https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/health-and-environmental-effects-particulate-matter-pm
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Climate change tests: What could go wrong?
By Pete Colan, American Thinker, Apr 10, 2024
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/04/climate_change_tests_what_could_go_wrong.html
Link to: Marine Cloud Brightening Program
By Staff, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Accessed Apr 12, 2024
https://atmos.uw.edu/faculty-and-research/marine-cloud-brightening-program
From website: “An overarching goal of the research is to provide open, objective scientific information to help improve society’s ability to understand the climate system and to address near-term climate risks.”
[SEPP Comment: How can academics understand climate risks when academics refuse to recognize that the relationship between CO2 and temperature is logarithmic, and that water vapor amplification is not occurring?]
Geoengineering Test Quietly Launches Salt Crystals into Atmosphere
A solar geoengineering experiment in San Francisco could lead to brighter clouds that reflect sunlight. The risks are numerous
By Corbin Hiare & E&E News, Scientific American, Apr 4, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire
Claim: Unilateral Geoengineering Attempts Could Lead to Conflict
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Apr 8, 2024
Boreal forest and tundra regions worst hit over next 500 years of climate change, study shows
By Staff and Agency Writers, London, UK (SPX) Apr 09, 2024
Link to paper: Projected future climatic forcing on the global distribution of vegetation types
By Bethany J. Allen, et al., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Apr 8, 2024
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2023.0011
[SEPP Comment: Earth’s many climates are always changing, what’s new?]
Papa Pete Demands We Quit Clinging to Our “Religion”
By Duggan Flanakin, Real Clear Energy, Apr 9, 2024
Questioning the Orthodoxy
New Paper Finds Effect of Human-Caused Carbon Emissions on Climate is “Non-Discernible”
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Aor 8, 2024
“As the Daily Sceptic has noted on numerous occasions, it would help if there was at least one peer-reviewed paper that proved conclusively that humans caused all or most changes in the climate. A politically manufactured ‘consensus’ and appeals to UN authority do not count.”
[SEPP Comment: The most compelling evidence is “The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere” by van Wijngaarden and Happer. Increasing CO2 will result in some warming, but does not account for most of current warming, particularly that claimed to occur based on surface temperature data.]
Overdue cooling?
By John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 10, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2024/04/10/overdue-cooling
From the CO2Science archive
No Correlation
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Apr 6, 2024
“NOAA (accidentally) confirms there is no correlation between atmospheric CO2, temperature and sea level.”
Scientists Selectively Reject CO2 Measurements That Do Not Align With The Human-Caused Narrative
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Apr 8, 2024
Link to paper: Estimating palaeoatmospheric CO2 levels based on fossil Ginkgoites cuticles from the Middle Jurassic of Northeast Iran
By Mohammad Taghi Badihagh, et al., Palaeoworld, Mar 1, 2024
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871174X23000112
Link to ignored paper: Reconstruction of Atmospheric CO2 Background Levels since 1826 from Direct Measurements near Ground
By Ernst-Georg Beck, Science of Climate Change, May 30, 2022
[SEPP Comment: The post brings out a difficult, unresolved issue. How solid are estimates of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations from surface-based sources?]
Bring back the plastic! New Study shows paper bags make five times more carbon emissions
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 12, 2024
Link to paper: Replacing Plastics with Alternatives Is Worse for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Most Cases
By Fanran Meng, et al. Environmental Science & Technology, Jan 30, 2024
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c05191
New Study: Global Wetland Loss Since 1700 “Far Less” Than Previously Estimated
By P Gosselin, based on EIKE video (German), Apr 6, 2024
Link to press release: Stanford-led study finds global wetlands losses overestimated despite high losses in many regions
By Rob Jordan, Stanford News Service, Feb 8, 2023
https://news.stanford.edu/press-releases/2023/02/08/new-chance-protect-wetlands
Link to paper: Extensive global wetland loss over the past three centuries
By Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, et al., Nature, Feb 8, 2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05572-6
From abstract: “Wetland loss has been concentrated in Europe, the United States and China, and rapidly expanded during the mid-twentieth century.”
[SEPP Comment: Wetlands produce marsh gas, methane, a global-warming gas, which EPA climes is 30 times more powerful in causing warming as CO2!]
Climate Conditioning
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Apr 6, 2024
Video: Questioning NOAA’s claim that CO2 is related to climate.
It’s the lack of thought that counts
By John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 10, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2024/04/10/its-the-lack-of-thought-that-counts
“Which oddly reminded us of the latest order of clothing to arrive from Amazon, also by truck, in a package claiming to be “reducing carbon emissions”. Both offer up conventional pieties in an unconvincing, lackadaisical manner, as in the decadent phase of a state-imposed civic religion. It is like living in a society where it remains customary to offer oblations to the Olympian gods, while not giving two seconds’ thought to what Hermes would want you to do, or whether Zeus might punish you for denying hospitality to strangers. The weird ritual quality to it all suggests the worst combination of conformity, cunning and indifference.”
If you’re so smart…
By John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 10, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2024/04/10/if-youre-so-smart
Problems in the Orthodoxy
The ozone hole makes a comeback
By David Whitehouse, Net Zero Watch, Apr 8, 2024
https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/ozone-hole-makes-a-comeback
Link to paper: Potential drivers of the recent large Antarctic ozone holes
By Hannah E. Kessenich, Annika Seppälä & Craig J. Rodger, Nature Communications, Nov 21, 2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42637-0
[SEPP Comment: More evidence that UN agreements should never become US treaties?]
Will feds decimate one owl species to help another?
By Bonner Cohen, CFACT, Apr 9, 2024
“By the 1980s, it was well established in the Pacific Northwest, where it occupies the same habitat as the smaller northern spotted owl. The two species feed on the same prey, with the more aggressive barred owl outcompeting its cousin, sometimes even killing northern spotted owls.
When the problem first garnered public attention in the early 1990s, the preferred explanation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and environmental groups was that the commercial logging of old-growth forests was responsible for the loss of the northern spotted owl’s habitat and thus was behind the bird’s dwindling numbers.”
[SEPP Comment: According to “experts,” Northern Spotted Owls need thousands of acres of old growth forests to survive. Another fake environmental crisis.]
Senate votes to overturn Biden highway emissions rule, with support from red-state Democrats
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Apr 11, 2024
“The Senate voted to overturn a Biden administration rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions on the federal highway system Wednesday, with three red state Democrats joining every Republican.
The rule would require local and state transit officials to set emissions limits. It does not impose specific limits for those officials to set.”
Seeking a Common Ground
Can a Butterfly in Brazil Really Cause a Tornado in Texas?
Contrary to common belief, a new paper argues that the answer is “No”
By Roger Pielke Jr. The Honest Broker, Apr 8, 2024
Link to paper: The Butterfly Effect: Can a butterfly in Brazil cause a tornado in Texas? (in press)
By R.A Pielke (Sr) Bo-Wen Shen, and Xubin Zeng, November 2023
The Honest Story of Climate Change: Part 2: With a new course towards a hopeful future
By Guus Berkhout and Kees de Lange, WUWT, Apr 12, 2024
What is that thing?
By John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 10, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2024/04/10/what-is-that-thing
[SEPP Comment: As Richard Lindzen suggests perhaps the Köppen climate classification scheme based on vegetation provides a better definition than any other for land.]
Measurement Issues — Surface
Hidden Behind Climate Policies, Data From Nonexistent Temperature Stations
Hundreds of ‘ghost’ climate stations are no longer operational; instead they are assigned temperatures from surrounding stations.
By Katie Spence, The Epoch Times, Apr 10, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire’
Alternative, if link does not work by Tyler Durden
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
Global Temperature Report: March 2024 Maps and Graphs
By Staff, Earth System Science Center, UAH, Apr 4, 2024
Maps: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2024/March/202403_Map.png
Graphs: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2024/March/202403_Bar.png
Text: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2024/March/GTR_202403MAR_v1.pdf
Changing Weather
The Lake Garda Climate-Freak-Show Disappears… Italy’s Largest Lake Now Overflowing!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Apr 9, 2024
#GettingWorse: Extreme Dryness in the US
By John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 10, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2024/04/10/gettingworse-extreme-dryness-in-the-us
A Warm March?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 7, 2024
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/04/07/a-warm-march
“While that may remain speculation, we can certainly say that the UK climate has been getting milder in recent years, not more extreme as often claimed.”
Global Warming Inhibits Hurricane Activity as Indicated By Decreasing Tropical CAPE Values
By John Shewchuk, WUWT, Apr 8, 2024
Time to Pack a Bug-Out Bag, Hurricane Season from Hell Predicted
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Apr 8, 2024
Changing Climate
Three More New Temperature Reconstructions Document A Warmer Medieval Period
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Apr 11, 2024
Link to one paper using non-biting midges (insects, Chironomidae): Late Holocene climate dynamics in the Azores archipelago
By Pedro M. Raposeiro, et al., Quaternary Science Reviews, May 1, 2024
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379124001185
Changing Seas
Islands That Climate Alarmists Said Would Soon “Disappear” Due to Rising Sea Found to Have Grown in Size
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Apr 6, 2024
What is the mid-ocean ridge?
By Staff, NOAA, Accessed Apr 10, 2024
Acidic Waters
Part 4. Golden Gorgonians & So Many Fishes – John Brewer Reef, April 2024
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Apr 10, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Part of a series on a “dead coral reef” this is not dead.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
“I Am Going To Lecture You On Climate Change:” BBC Reporter Gets Schooled for Hypocrisy
By Tilak K. Doshi, Real Clear Energy, Apr 8, 2024
Mongolian Deep Freeze Due To Global Warming–Says Discredited Daily Telegraph
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 5, 2024
Worst Floods For 80 Years Sweep Kazakhstan
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 12, 2024
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/04/08/worst-floods-for-80-years-sweep-kazakhstan
“Naturally the lazy journalist blames it on global warming!”
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 10, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2024/04/10/tidbits-57
“The Guardian crows that “\’The mainstay of casual conversation – the unexpected state of the weather – is under existential threat.’”
“So when you learn that the data set is actually incomplete or just plain wrong on something as comparatively simple as trees in BC, where we now learn a ‘data gap’ creates ‘‘mismatches’ between remotely-sensed mapping, forest fuel classifications, and observations on the ground’, what does anyone suppose is happening on a global scale? Including that bit where a few years back they upped the global tree estimate from 400 billion to 3 trillion without, um, changing their calculations of how CO2 would interact with the ecosystem to set the sky on fire.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Arctic sea ice–air interactions weaken El Niño–Southern Oscillation
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Apr 7, 2024
Link to paper: Arctic sea ice–air interactions weaken El Niño–Southern Oscillation
By Deng and Dai, AAAS Science Advances, Mar 29, 2024
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk3990
[SEPP Comment: Rotter points out the authors cannot tell the difference between computer simulation and reality.]
Climate Murder? Media Picks Up Novel Legal Theory Suggesting Big Oil Is Homicidal
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Apr 11, 2024
https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/11/media-narrative-big-oil-climate-homicide-murder
Link to paper: Climate Homicide: Prosecuting Big Oil For Climate Deaths
By David Arkush and Donald Braman, Harvard Environmental Law Review, Mar 11, 2024
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4335779
Volcanoes, the Climateers’ Latest Silly Scare Story
By Michael Kile, Quadrant, Apr 13, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Do a Poll?
Biden Is Spending $1 Trillion to Fight Climate Change. Voters Don’t Care
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Apr 11, 2024
Don’t care about climate change.
World to burn by 6pm, but only 3% of young voters say Climate Change is the top issue
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 11, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Just 57 companies linked to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions since 2016
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 12, 2024
“Do they really not understand that these fossil fuel companies don’t emit anything. It is everybody else who burns the fuel that is responsible for emissions.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
The New York Times Addresses The Culture War In New York City Public Schools
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Apr 5, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Children for Propaganda
Greta Thunberg arrested at climate protest in The Hague
By Tara Suter, The Hill, Apr 6, 20244
Expanding the Orthodoxy
UN Law of the Sea Gets Even Worse
By William R. Hawkins, American Thinker, Apr 10, 2024
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/04/un_law_of_the_sea_gets_even_worse.html
“On September 20 last year, the Biden administration signed the Treaty on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, otherwise known as the High Seas Treaty. The UN has declared this ‘an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.’ Anything can affect biodiversity, including seabed mining, fishing, and transit so this is a further grab of UN power. The treaty bars any sovereign claims to resources in the High Seas.”
[SEPP Comment: Without approval by two-thirds of voting Senators, the agreement is not verified as a treaty.]
Questioning Green Elsewhere
When Backroom Met Zealot
Local Eco-Cult Unveiled: Inside the Green Sausage Machine
Video by John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 1, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/videos/when-backroom-met-zealot
Funding Issues
Biden administration puts $830M to helping protect infrastructure from climate-fueled extreme weather
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Apr 11, 2024
“The money comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”
Bipartisan Outdoor Recreation Package Presents Bright Spot in Congress
By Morgan Brummund, Real Clear Energy, April 11, 2024
[SEPP Comment; The Federal government increasingly restricting public use of public lands by placings limitations on use and by presidents declaring millions of acres “monuments.”]
Litigation Issues
Top Europe court chides Switzerland in landmark climate ruling
By Pauline Froissart and Marc Antoine Baudoux, Strasbourg, France (AFP) April 9, 2024
[SEPP Comment: When has Earth’s climate been stable?]
European court rules human rights violated by climate inaction
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 10, 2024
There is no human right to a safe or stable climate
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc., Apr 9, 2024
The Real Victors of the ECHR Climate Decision are Green Billionaires
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Apr 12, 2024
The Latest On International Efforts To Save The Planet Through Climate Litigation
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Apr 9, 2024
Net Zero and the threat to the rule of law
By Andrew Montford, Net Zero Watch, Apr 10, 2024
Against Pretextual Rulemaking
By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight (GAO), Apr 5, 2024
“The brief sets forth how EPA’s recent tightening of the primary standard for particulate matter is an improper pretextual (i.e., backdoor) rule to force ‘expedited retirements’ of politically disfavored facilities in the name of “deciding how Americans will get their energy.” The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2022 in West Virginia v. EPA that deciding where Americans get their energy was outside the authority Congress assigned the agency.”
“FOIA’d emails, often heavily redacted yet highly instructive, support Regan’s March 2022 boast that the Agency planned to tighten every screw at its disposal to force greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. Such inventive use of regulatory authority is the highly touted specialty of Assistant Administrator for Air Joe ‘the Law Whisperer’ Goffman, hailed for ‘teaching old laws new tricks.’ West Virginia barred the practice as a viable means of imposing such grand projects.”
[Boldface added.]
‘Grave Threat’: Calls Mount For SCOTUS To Intervene In Key Climate Lawsuit Against Major Energy Companies
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Apr 6, 2024
Comment by Gordon Fulks: “The science here is that carbon dioxide is more than beneficial. IT IS ESSENTIAL to life on this planet. We are carbon creatures who derive all of our carbon substance from atmospheric carbon dioxide. The tiny amount of CO2 in the atmosphere (0.04%) is responsible for all [complex] life on this planet.”
Biden administration agrees with Native American tribe that Canadian pipeline is trespassing
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Apr 10, 2024
Another Cut and Paste Lawsuit: Pennsylvania Bucks County v. BP PLC, et al.
By Russell Cook, WUWT, Apr 11, 2024
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Ross McKitrick: Economists’ letter misses the point about the carbon tax revolt
Yes, the carbon tax works great in a ‘first-best’ world where it’s the only carbon policy. In the real world, carbon policies are piled high
By Ross McKitrick, Financial Post, Apr 2, 2024
“Which raises my final point: the age of mass academic letter-writing has long since passed. Academia has become too politically one-sided. Universities don’t get to spend years filling their ranks with staff drawn from one side of the political spectrum and then expect to be viewed as neutral arbiters of public policy issues.”
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Biggest Corporate Welfare Scam of All Time
By Stephen Moore, The Epoch Times, Apr 9, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
EPA and other Regulators on the March
EPA sets first-ever national limits for ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Apr 10, 2024
Biden administration finalizes lightbulb efficiency rules
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Apr 12, 2024
[SEPP Comment: More authoritarian control over the economy. How many lamps and light fixtures will need to be replaced due to unavailability of light bulbs?]
D.C. Cherry Blossoms Aren’t Safe Around Climate Activists — And Neither Are We
By Nathan Stone, The Federalist, Apr 8, 2024 [H/t Climate Depot]
“The National Park Service — the organization supposedly missioned to preserve ‘unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations’– will, after the 2024 National Cherry Blossom Festival, cut down 300 trees in Washington, D.C., 158 of which will be cherry trees.”
Energy Issues – Non-US
Energy imports poised to hit record after power stations mothballed
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 11, 2024
[SEPP Comment: The “magic” back-up to wind and solar?]
“Down Wind” (new book protests Netherlands blight)
By Bert Weteringe, Master Resource, Apr 11, 2024
To Follow or Not to Follow–a report from a climate bedlam
By Søren Hansen, WUWT, Apr 9, 2024
“There is a widespread belief that the fulfilment of the Danish climate goals is crucial to saving the global climate from Armageddon.
For a bystander this belief might seem slightly odd, considering that the CO2-emissions of Denmark amount to no more than one tenth of a percent of the global figure.”
Energy Issues – Australia
Spirit Whales Hold Up Australia’s Most Expensive Energy Project
Aboriginal ‘Dream Time’ has become a nightmare for progress
By James Macpherson, His Blog, Feb 1, 2024 [H/t Climate Depot]
“Woodside Energy Group has been ordered to halt work on a $16b gas project off the coast of Western Australia that, if completed, will power 8.5 million homes for the next 30 years.
But the Federal Court ordered work to stop after hearing evidence the area was home to mythical whales.
The Spirit Whales, according to Indigenous fables, tell the fish of the sea what to eat, when to mate and where to migrate.
If the gas project was to go ahead, the Spirit Whales would be endangered. And if the Spirit Whales were killed, none of the creatures of the sea would know what do to.”
Theft: A family of four pays $2,400 each year for “the transition” whether they like it or not
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 9, 2024
Global glut in solar panels so bad, people are using them for garden fences, just as Australia looks to jump in
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 8, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Must jump in to be a leader in the glut?]
Energy Issues — US
Natty Nation: These 11 Charts Show Why The U.S. Is A Natural Gas Superpower
…And why gas is a strategic, irreplaceable fuel for the U.S. and Europe.
By Robert Bryce, His Blog, Apr 11, 2024
“The punchline here is apparent. We are insanely lucky to have such an abundance of low-cost, low-carbon energy. Natural gas is a strategic — and irreplaceable — energy source for the United States and Europe.”
Is Biden’s War on LNG the New Anti-Nuclearism?
By Patrick Hynes, Real Clear Energy, Apr 8, 2024
Illustrating The Absurdity Of New York’s Energy Transition
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Apr 12, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Reminds us of the 2003 Hydrogen initiative by George W. Bush, when faulty models were still being use to predict the world was about to run out of oil and the US out of natural gas.]
US emissions increased 1 percent from 2021-2022 but fell 17 percent from 2005 levels: EPA
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Apr 11, 2024
Municipalization of Rochester Gas and Electric Is Wrong for Consumers
By Marc Brown, Real Clear Energy, April 05, 2024
“On April 9th Monroe County officials will vote on whether to have taxpayers pay over $1,000,000 for a study to determine whether it is a good idea for the taxpayers to ‘purchase’ the local utility—Rochester Gas and Electric.”
[SEPP Comment: Not difficult to guess what the study will recommend.]
Washington’s Control of Energy
Joe Biden’s Blow to Europe’s Energy Security
By Vladislav Inozemtsev, Real Clear Energy, Apr 8, 2024
Biden administration cuts costs for wind and solar energy on public lands
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Apr 11, 2024
“The rule was expected to cut by 80 percent fees that are based on how much energy is produced through the year 2035.”
Biden administration raises costs to drill on public lands
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Apr 12, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Fitting, considering the government subsides wind and solar and taxes oil and gas production.]
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Oil and Gas Breakthroughs (Continual Improvement)
By Robert Bradley Jr, Master Resource, Apr 8, 2024
Link to::“The Greatest Story Never Told: Technology, Innovation, and American Oil & Gas.”
By Staff, Texans for Natural Gas, No date
Patience – Navigating The Permitting Hurdles In A Race To Build The Next Deepwater Crude Oil Export Project
By Brent Hunter, RBN Energy, Apr 8, 2024
“The deepwater crude oil export projects under development along the U.S. Gulf Coast offer a number of potential benefits to shippers and customers alike. These include the ability to fully load a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) and the economies of scale that come with that, the elimination of reverse lightering and the corresponding decrease in emissions, and freed-up access on congested ship channels for other exports such as NGLs, refined products and clean ammonia. So, given all the potential upside, why hasn’t anyone fully committed to building one? In today’s RBN blog, we focus on the obstacles faced by deepwater export facilities and where each of the projects under development is in the permitting process.”
Generational Arbitrage
How the North American natural gas glut inevitably clears.
By Doomberg, Its Blog, Apr 11, 2024
Return of King Coal?
Key Bridge collapse will reduce monthly US coal exports by one-third: EIA
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Apr 10, 2024
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Molten Salt Reactor Technology Solves Several Nuclear Industry Problems
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, Apr 9, 2024
“The concept of using molten salts as both a coolant and fuel carrier dates back to the 1950s, with the pioneering work of Alvin Weinberg and his team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In 1965, ORNL successfully operated the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE), a proof-of-concept reactor that demonstrated the technology’s feasibility and inherent safety features.”
Congress Must Investigate Corruption in Nuclear Energy Industry
By Craig Shirley, Real Clear Energy, Apr 10, 2024
“In 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Relief Act (IRA) to grant $30 billion for nuclear subsidies.”
[SEPP Comment: How do taxpays’ subsidies decrease inflation?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Industrial Wind vs. the Environment (ILFN issues in debate)
By Robert Bradley Jr, Master Resource, Apr 9, 2024
“Infrasound and low-frequency noise (ILFN) is an important issue that wind apologists do not want to discuss or debate.”
[SEPP Comment: Infrasound and low-frequency noise (ILFN) interferes with echolocation by marine mammals.]
“We need to be honest”: Building Renewables is Expensive
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Apr 12, 2024
Duke of Beaufort in row with villagers – and his ex-wife – over solar farm near King’s Highgrove estate
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 19, 2024
“Given the almost unanimous opposition from locals, the fact that govt guidelines clearly state solar farms should ideally use ‘previously developed land, brownfield sites, contaminated or industrial land’, and the devastating environmental damage which will inevitably follow, this is surely an ideal opportunity for King Charles to prove his green credentials.”
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
EVs vs. Public Transportation
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Apr 10, 2024
“That’s because each EV has a 900-pound battery block containing roughly 353 pounds of crucial materials or metals including cobalt, nickel, lithium, manganese, aluminum and copper.”
EVs No Boon for Car Rentals, Sales
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Apr 10, 2024
Spain: Cold Weather and Easter Traffic Reveal Frailty of Electric Vehicle Dream
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 8, 2024
“EVs make up less than 1% of Spain’s cars. Just wait till they are all electric!”
Health, Energy, and Climate
Should Med Schools Strive To Produce Competent Physicians Or Social Activists?
By Henry I. Miller, MS, MD, ACSH, Apr 9, 2024
Oh Mann!
A Mann of the people
By John Robson, Climate discussion Nexus, Apr 10, 2024
Other News that May Be of Interest
Nearly 90% of feds’ office space in D.C. going to waste, government report finds
Public Buildings Reform Board is 2nd agency to confirm federal HQs have become ghost towns
By Sean Salai, The Washington Times, Apr 11, 2024
Link to Report: Interim report to Congress
By Staff, Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB or Board), Mar 21, 2024
“The Department of Agriculture, with space for more than 7,400 employees at its headquarters, averaged just 456 workers, or about 6% occupancy. The Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also came in at less than 10%.”
‘Oppenheimer,’ The Manhattan Project, And Me
By Henry I. Miller, ACSH, Apr 2, 2024
The New York Times Addresses The Culture War In New York City Public Schools
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Apr 5, 2024
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
African nation becomes ‘first country’ to outlaw entry of gas cars! EVs only! Ethiopia announces plans to ban import of gas-powered vehicles ‘to reduce its output of planet-warming pollution’ — But only 54% of people have ‘access to electricity.’
By Marc Morano, Climate Depot, Apr 8, 2024
[SEPP Comment: One way to avoid the cost of road construction.]
M&S To Waste £1m on Flatulent Cows
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 11, 2024
“So, avoiding a million tonnes of CH4, would reduce global average temperature by 0.00002784C. However, M&S [Marks & Spencer] claim that its cunning plan will save a huge 11,000 tonnes of CH4. So, its plan would save 0.00002784 x 11/1,000 = 0.00000031C.
Wow! I’m so excited.”
German Scientists Claim To Have Predicted 2023 El Niño – After It Occurred!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Apr 7, 2024
“So it’s no surprise that the authors refused to make their 2022 prediction public. Only after the El Niño actually appeared in 2023 did they come out and publicly claim to have predicted it a year earlier.”
[SEPP Comment: My predictions are 100% accurate, especially when they’re retroactive!]
Man Sues Govt For Not Protecting Him From Sea Rise
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 11, 2024
“’ A homeowner who lost his house to coastal erosion is suing the Government for breaching his human rights, in a landmark case following this week’s controversial European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling on climate change.’”
ARTICLES
1. Biden’s Green-Energy Price Shock
The cost of electricity has climbed by 29.4% since January 2021.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, April 11, 2024
TWTW Summary: The editorial begins with:
“Do White House officials pay electric bills? They strangely keep saying the President’s climate agenda is reducing electric-power rates even as the cost of running your dishwasher is skyrocketing, as illuminated by the Labor Department’s consumer-price index.
The nearby chart [not shown here] shows the average change in electricity prices over the last decade. Electric rates remained relatively flat in the seven years before President Biden took office, rising 5%. Thank cheap natural gas. Yet since January 2021 electricity prices have soared 29.4%—about 50% more than overall inflation.
By our calculation, electricity prices have increased 13 times faster under Mr. Biden than across the previous seven years. His policies aren’t entirely to blame. But most of it is a result of the left’s climate agenda, and the price increases will get worse.
Federal regulations, renewable subsidies and state green-energy mandates are forcing fossil-fuel and nuclear plants to retire prematurely. Solar and wind need backup from so-called peaker gas plants, usually at a hefty premium. During power shortages, spot prices can hit $10,000 per megawatt hour compared to $30 to $60 on a normal basis.”
The editorial discusses the fallacies of the net metering programs that shift costs from whose with solar panels to the less affluent, who do not have roof space or land for them. After discussing the high costs of new high-voltage transmission lines, etc. to meet the needs of wind and solar and the additional subsidies need, the editorial concludes with:
“Higher interest rates are also increasing the cost of new green-energy projects. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits can offset up to 50% of a project’s cost, but offshore wind developers say this isn’t enough and are demanding to be paid higher rates—often four times more than natural gas plants.
By driving more baseload power plants out of business, IRA subsidies will increase electric bills even more. Businesses pass on their higher energy costs to customers. U.S. manufacturers will become less competitive, which is why some Members of Congress of both parties are pushing for a carbon tariff. Watch as the prices for cars and appliances rise.
The Inflation Reduction Act may be the biggest legislative misnomer of all time. Our friends on the left wonder why Americans are in a sour mood about the economy. Perhaps they all have solar panels.”
**************************
2. The Inflation Thief Rises Again
A new surge in the consumer-price index means the real average hourly wage has risen seven lousy cents in a year.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, April 10, 2024 1:24 pm ET
TWTW Summary: The editorial states:
“So much for the triumph over inflation. The consumer-price index came in hot for the third straight month in March, confirming what most Americans understand even if Washington and the press prefer to obsess over abortion law in Arizona.
The CPI rose 0.4% in March for the second month in a row after a 0.3% increase in January. Three months is more than a blip in the data, and the price index for the last 12 months has now climbed back to 3.5%. Shelter and gasoline contributed more than half of the increase in March, which causes some analysts to dismiss the CPI rebound. But rent increases and gas prices are costs that consumers feel acutely.
There was also no relief in the ‘core’ CPI, sans food and energy, which rose 0.4% in March for the third consecutive month. Core inflation for the last 12 months was 3.8% and has remained stubbornly persistent for several months. This is still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.
Yes, we know. A separate inflation measure favored by the Fed—’core’ personal consumption expenditures—has been coming in lower than the CPI at 2.8% recently. But the Fed can’t ignore that the CPI numbers suggest its inflation fight is far from over.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has warned repeatedly that the central bank doesn’t want to make the same mistake it did in the 1970s and let inflation rebound in a way that would require even tighter monetary policy to defeat. That’s the right instinct.
The CPI rebound is one more data point that the Fed’s monetary policy isn’t as tight as it claims. It certainly hasn’t restrained the job market or consumer spending, which remain strong. Financial conditions are loose, as stock and commodity prices show. Gold has hit new recent heights and the dollar has been weaker. Oil is north of $85 a barrel.
Markets no longer expect the Fed to cut interest rates in June, and Mr. Powell would be wise at his next press conference on May 1 to signal caution about future rate cuts. The Fed’s inflation-fighting credibility is on the line as it works to recover from its pandemic-era mistake of dismissing inflation as ‘transitory.’
The return of the inflation thief is bad news for workers who have only recently been getting a real raise. Average real hourly earnings were flat in March after falling 0.3% in February. This has political implications, as the White House was quick to recognize.
President Biden claimed in a statement that ‘wages are rising faster than prices,’ which is barely true over the last year though not over the last two months. The real average hourly wage in constant 1982-1984 dollars was $11.11 in March, up from $11.04 a year earlier. Seven lousy cents. Since Mr. Biden took office in January 2021, average hourly earnings after inflation are down 2.54%.”
The Editorial discusses Mr. Biden’s claims fighting inflation, then concludes:
“Mr. Biden is the main architect of his inflation problem—and ours.”
*****************
3. Saving Climate From the Greens
A pro-fracking, pro-nuclear CEO takes on ‘ridiculously naive’ energy policy.
By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr, WSJ, Apr 9, 2024
The journalist begins with:
“‘It’s like we were an idiot country,’ the late Dwayne Andreas, longtime CEO of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., once told me, referring to some systematically self-defeating policy out of Washington.
He raised a question of enduring interest. Why does government persist in demonstrably failed and foolish efforts? It took billions of dollars in subsidies from carmakers and federal taxpayers to get early adopters to buy electric vehicles, so it’s pretty clear car buyers aren’t that keen on EVs. They’ll put one in the garage if the price is right, but the right price is thousands less per vehicle than it costs to build them.
And remember why we sold ourselves this bill of goods: to reduce emissions. It was always nonsense. When Congress launched its first Obama-era climate subsidies, it funded a study by the Nobel-winning climate economist William Nordhaus, who concluded that alternative energy handouts are a ‘poor tool’ for fighting emissions, with negligible effect even before accounting for the inevitable ‘international spillovers’—i.e., consumers globally using more fossil fuels because the U.S. spends insane billions to subsidize its consumers to use less.
A widely heralded paper by Princeton economists showed subsidizing green energy globally at best would have a ‘minuscule’ effect on emissions.
Even Biden officials will say as much off the record. Yet look at the Washington Post’s recent contortions to let readers know the administration’s proclaimed U.S. ‘climate goals’ are meaningless when the U.S. simultaneously exports large amounts of hydrocarbons and imports emissions-intensive manufactured goods. The Post could apparently publish these caveats only by attributing them to ‘big oil’ lobbyists.
The journalist then discusses how many in the press craft sentences to mislead and concludes by discussing how the CEO of Liberty Energy testified in Congress against meaningless slogans such as “energy transition”, “clean energy” which requires extensive mining, and “decarbonization” which is resulting in heavy industries going to China for electricity from coal. All with little effect on temperatures and sea level rise.
Scientific integrity can be rather elusive in this day and age, but we got a small dose of it through the so-called culture wars; namely the transgender ideology.
Chief among the promoters of the ideology ‘in the workplace’ was the gay charity Stonewall. Stonewall runs an UK Equality Index – “The definitive benchmarking tool for employers to measure their progress on lesbian, gay, bi and trans inclusion in the workplace.” They worked hand in glove with the very activist led Mermaids charity.
“Mermaids has found itself under scrutiny after deciding to bring a case against the LGB Alliance, the only UK-based organisation that focuses exclusively on same-sex attracted people. Mermaids claims it was not, in fact, established to support lesbians, gay men and bisexuals — but rather to discredit and disband trans charities like itself. The outrageous claims and questions by Mermaids witnesses and counsel during the tribunal, such as asking if lesbians can have penises, and suggesting that the term ‘same sex attraction’ is ‘exclusionary’, has led to many individuals asking hard questions about the organisation. “
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/where-did-it-all-go-wrong-for-trans-charity-mermaids/
[Parents can be difficult]
“[Mermaids] is being investigated over reports it has given breast binders to children.
Mermaids, which supports transgender, non-binary and gender diverse children and their families, reportedly sent the chest-flattening devices to children against their parents’ wishes.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/30/transgender-charity-mermaids-investigated-breast-binders-given-to-children
“Mermaids trustee quits over paedophile-group links”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63137873
But worst of all remains the NHS. For, what is transgenderism without the modern drug therapies and the surgery? (Hint, it’s cross-dressing).
“Speaking after the conference, Biggs told me that there is a wilful lack of published research on the long-term effects of taking puberty blockers. He said that ‘puberty blockers have been used in the Netherlands for over three decades, and yet the long-term effects are known for only one person’. By the age of 35, that ‘one person was depressed and ashamed of their genitals’.
Biggs also revealed that where research has been carried out into puberty blockers there have been attempts to suppress it. The NHS’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at London’s Tavistock clinic, which is due to be closed down later this year, began a study of 44 children aged between 12 and 15 in 2011. But GIDS director Dr Polly Carmichael effectively kept the results of this trial to herself. The findings remained unpublished until they were discovered and first analysed by Biggs in 2018. ‘It required a complaint to the Health Research Authority, questions in parliament, and a judicial review’, Biggs tells me, ‘before Dr Carmichael finally published the full results’.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/03/the-magical-thinking-of-trans-ideology/
Yes, we have some very, very dodgy quacks.
“Former Tavistock director Polly Carmichael was explicit about why the service decided to start a trial of puberty blockers, telling Vice magazine in 2016 that ‘there was a lot of pressure coming from certain groups to introduce it’.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/09/28/how-has-mermaids-escaped-scrutiny-for-so-long/
Who? Susie Green’s Mermaids charity. And this was where the celebrity virtue signalling kicked in.
“Mermaids’ chief executive, Susie Green, has repeatedly described puberty blockers as ‘life-saving’. And she has proudly shared her own experience of guiding her child through the medical ‘transition’ process.
But those who have dared to criticise Green and her charity have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Catholic journalist and campaigner Caroline Farrow was investigated by Surrey Police following tweets she sent about Green’s actions. Similarly, after women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen criticised Green, she was interviewed twice by the police.
Mermaids has also long enjoyed the support of major institutions – from NHS bodies and police forces to mega-sized corporations. ‘Over the past year’, Mermaids recently boasted, ‘we have collaborated with an extensive list of corporate partners, including Lloyds, Barclays, Tesco, Aon, BP, BCLP, P&G and Unilever’.
Yet despite its institutional and corporate backing, Mermaids still styles itself as an embattled champion of a misunderstood minority.”
Anybody opposed to the ideology in the NHS was cancelled, silenced and labelled a bigot.
Celebrityville has been utterly silent since the report came out.
I used to like mermaids.
I used to like mermaids too. Then Disney put clam shells on them. No fun.
We need more mermaids! They are very rare- can’t remember the last time I saw one.
O/T but amazing. South Australia….
The Voice to Parliamenthttps://www.spiked-online.com/2024/04/15/the-voice-to-parliament-is-still-dividing-aussies/
500 years! Sure, we’re gonna believe such predictions.
For one thing, the tundra – some of it- will convert to real forest- which will capture more CO2 than the tundra. There are millions of square miles of tundra- if some converts to forest- that will be great.