“It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity.” – WUWT commenter H.R.
Change of plans.
Below is the note we just sent out to our friends accoss the USA.
Dear Friends,
I think I screwed up.
Yesterday 350.org sent out an email, telling people that we were going to melt a big hunk of ice in the form of the word “Hoax?” in front of Capitol Hill. We asked for money for it, and also for relief efforts for victims of the heat wave. The idea was simple enough: if this epic heatwave gripping the nation has one small silver lining, it’s that its reminding people that global warming is very very real. And the response was strong — we raised the $5000 it would have taken to pull off the event, and far more than that for relief efforts.
But we also heard from old friends, especially in nearby West Virginia, who asked us not to do it. The sight of ice melting while they sweltered would be too hard to take; their region, they pointed out, is as hard hit as any in the country by the heat wave, and it would make people feel like their plight wasn’t being taken seriously. Bob Kincaid, at Coal River Mountain Watch, said: “Our work in Appalachia is hard enough as it is, since we must ever contend with the well-funded coal industry PR machine.” They’d use, he said, the sight of that melting ice to make people feel disrespected.
That makes sense to me.
It’s sometimes hard to balance what we should do in one place with what we should be doing around the globe. Climate denial in the U.S. has huge implications for, say, the two million people in Assam, India, currently flooded out of house and home — it’s really important to fight people who deny science and hold up needed action. But it’s not worth causing trouble to our friends in the process. And the people who fight mountaintop removal in Appalachia are some of our oldest friends; we’ve been, as it were, up and down the mountain with them. Movements only really work when they move together.
So: no ice melting on the mall this morning. We’re sending out whatever the reverse of a press release is called. The money we collected will all go for heat and drought relief, and we hope it will do some good. If you’d like your contribution back, let us know (and we’ll send a separate mailing to everyone who contributed to make sure they get that chance). It’s been a long, hot, tough week everywhere east of the Rockies; let’s hope the heat breaks soon.
Thanks,
Bill McKibben for 350.org
P.S. The note announcing this thing yesterday came from Jamie Henn, our communications director. But the idea was mine, not his. I’m a volunteer in this effort, and there are days when it definitely feels like you get what you pay for.
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Senator Inhofe released this statement this morning before the cancellation:
Inhofe Welcomes Global Warming Alarmists Back to Washington DC
Washington DC – Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today welcomed 350.org, a group of global warming alarmists, to the National Mall where they will unveil a giant sculpture with the word “HOAX?” carved in ice. According to the group’s website, the event is in response to the igloo that Senator Inhofe’s family built during a snowstorm in Washington back in 2010, which they called “Al Gore’s New Home.”
“Let me be the first to welcome my global warming alarmist friends back to Washington,” Senator Inhofe said. “It’s been a long time: since the complete collapse of the global warming movement, many activists have been missing in action. Think about it, when was the last time anyone heard a Democrat talk about global warming in Congress? Remember, not a single global warming cap-and-trade bill has been debated on the Senate Floor since President Obama took office nearly four years ago, and Democrats have been in control of the Senate the whole time. In fact, the global warming campaign has failed so miserably that President Obama is now pretending to support oil an gas to gain votes for the election. One would think alarmists would be outraged that their leaders never mention global warming, but we’ve heard very little from them. Their loss of support in Washington is an inconvenient truth that often goes unnoticed.
“Back during the blizzards of 2010, my grandchildren had a lot of fun building an igloo outside the Library of Congress that they would call ‘Al Gore’s new home.’ That igloo was the comic relief needed for a public that had grown tired of every summer being used by alarmists as proof of man-made global warming. Today’s sculpture just goes to show that my friends on the left have not learned their lesson. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post warned them shortly after the igloo gained attention not to use weather as proof of man-made global warming. As Milbank wrote, ‘If the Washington snows persuade the greens to put away the slides of polar bears and pine beetles and to keep the focus on national security and jobs, it will have been worth the shoveling.’
“Clearly my global warming alarmist friends have not read my book, The Greatest Hoax. If they had, they would know that alarmism has failed every time, and will fail again and again. In fact, I have yet to find one objective person who has read The Greatest Hoax who doesn’t agree with me. Only a small percentage of meteorologists subscribe to man-made global warming and the American people are no longer buying it. The left has completely lost the debate almost as fast as that ice sculpture will melt on Saturday. But don’t expect Al Gore or President Obama to come out and help them drum up support. These activists are on their own.
“I wish I could have been there in person to join in the ice melting festivities, but 350.org put together this event when Congress is out of session and few elected officials will be in Washington. I do hope they enjoy their day in the sun as much as my family enjoyed our day in the snow.”
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I think other things also contributed:
1. The forecast showed the heat wave breaking, with a reduced high today of 103 from yesterdays 106, with cooler temperatures tomorrow and into next week.
2. The possibility that the image of HOAX? would actually backfire on them. It was a poorly conceived idea to start with.
3. As I mentioned yesterday, the sculpture may have lasted past sunset…into the cooler next day given it was to be 6’x12’ a darned big sculpture. The FAQs below was for a tabletop sized ice sculpture.
http://www.sculptediceworks.com/faqs.htm
A: An Ice Sculpture’s detail will last up to 6 hours indoors, such as a reception hall. For outdoor events, it depends on the temperature and placement of the ice sculpture. Sculptures typically melt about 1/4 of an inch per hour. It is especially important to keep sculptures out of direct sunlight.
The possibility the ice would not melt fast enough for a convincing photo-op loomed large. A 6×12 foot block of ice doesn’t melt in an hour, and we are dealing with “short attention span theatre” when it comes to photo ops. See the video below as they drone on.
4. The ice melt stunt has been done before, as WUWT readers discovered yesterday:
I think they were informed that Al Gore would visit the site. It probably wouldn’t have melted until Christmas then. It’s a pity, because this could have become the Mother of all Hoaxes.
Bill McKibben and acolytes,
Everyone makes mistakes but you all need to reflect carefully upon what this fiasco displays about your judgment and feeble contact with reality.
The beauty of a computer generated “AGW HOAX” ice block melting is that it conforms with the computer generated reality that the 350.orgs live in. The ‘needy’ are deprived of energy by Green Meanie policies….which they twist into caring. A digital ice block image would allow deniers to show this same level of Faux Compassion….if accompanied with the disclaimer…..”No actual ice was harmed in the production of this image”.
@Gunga Din says:
I like the Ad below the post. I don’t know if everybody sees the same one or how long it will stay but the current one I see is for “Cheesemans Ecology Safaris”.
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Those ads are chosen by the advertiser. I asked a honcho at Google sitting next to me on the plane why it was that if I searched for and looked at bathroom taps using Google, I got ads for bathroom taps when I next read WUWT. He swore that Google does not keep track of what I search for, which I presume is truthful in the same way that people watch porn ‘for the acting’ and stock cars ‘for the racing’.
Basically you are shown what you previously searched for, thematically speaking. If you are non-responsive, they will cycle through things they think you might like then eventually revert to random ads. If it is interesting, click on it. It helps pay for this site overheads. If it is not interesting, click on it anyway to show Google that you are not cooperating predictably in their tracking exercises. Plus it messes with their monomaniacal minds.
“Climate
The climate of Assam is characterised by its extreme humidity. Its most distinguishing feature is the copious rainfall between March and May at a time when precipitation in upper India is at its minimum. Climatically the year may be divided into the cold season and the rainy. The cold weather lasts from October to February and the rest of the year is rainy. The southwest monsoon begin from middle of June. The neighbourhood of Cherapunji and Mawsynram are known to receive the highest rainfall in the world. It is concentrated in four months, June to September.”
http://www.webindia123.com/Assam/LAND/Climate.htm
Greg Goodknight says:
“The Piltdown Man was a hoax; evidence of a “missing link” was intentionally fabricated from a modern human skull and a primate jawbone and buried. The perpetrators of the hoax knew it was a fraud. In contrast, I have little doubt most of the scientists driving the IPCC to its preordained conclusions really believe it…. It’s so much easier to ignore evidence contrary to your beliefs than it is to intentionally fabricate evidence to support them and I think that’s what has been happening.”
I think the dishonesty of the Piltdown Man hoaxer is not so different from the dishonesty of Climate Movement activists like Peter Gleik. I don’t doubt that the Piltdown Man hoaxer truly believed that men and primates are descended from a common evolutionary ancestor. He just ginned up a little fake evidence to bolster the case for what he already knew was true… just as the Climate Movement activists forge documents, tamper with data, blackball skeptics, etc., to bolster the case for what they already know is true. They don’t even think of themselves as dishonest, they’re just using little deception in support of a greater truth.
The response of those duped by such deceptions is instructive, too. When a belief has been held for long time (or even for a short time, for less-than-careful thinkers), it settles into the mind, and becomes comfortable there, and is reluctant to leave. People who have been convinced of something by false evidence, if they have held that belief for a long time, rarely become unconvinced of it if the evidence is later shown to be false.
That’s why the Big Lie works so well.
How many people changed their opinions about evolution, in even the tiniest detail, when Piltdown Man was revealed to be a hoax? How many CAGW true believers are now doubters in the wake of the Climategate revelations, the Gleik scandal, etc.?
Precious few.
Do you want an even more unsettling example?
Willis Eschenbach is one of the most careful thinkers I know, and he knows beyond a doubt that Piers Corbyn can’t possibly predict earthquakes. So was I, until Piers made what I thought was a preposterous earthquake prediction (in a horribly garish newsletter)… just a few weeks before the 4th largest earthquake that the world has seen since 1900.
When I first read Piers’ prediction, I thought he was nuts. When he was vindicated, I was absolutely astounded.
But Willis remains unmoved.
The 4th largest and the 11th largest earthquakes in the last 112 years have both occurred in the 15 months since Piers forecast “significantly enhanced earthquake activity.” By every reasonable measure, earthquake activity is way up. By every reasonable measure, Piers is vindicated. But WIllis still just can’t bring himself to admit that Piers was right.
If even one of the most careful thinkers I know can’t be persuaded by overwhelming evidence, what chance does Truth have of ever winning out in this world?
So Ice melts in the sunshine and high temperatures. Wow, never thought o’ that. Is it the same process that makes ice melt in my Orange juice? or is that plain old global warming ?
So that’s $100 for the ice, $200 for the artist and $4700 for the carbon credits. Of course if they use a chain saw for carving the ice those figures will slightly change.
daveburton…
I said most, not all. Gleick had an obvious meltdown, in more ways than one. He also didn’t get away with it.
I suspect “cooler” heads prevailed here. Most likely many on the mailing list with a few ounces of PR sense tipped Bill&Co off to the possibility that the visual could be used to ridicule The Cause (just as the very concept is being ridiculed here and now). At best (for them) the Street would perceive the stunt’s message as: “How can global warming possibly be a hoax when it’s hot enough in D.C. in July to slowly melt ice?!” Even the choir would fail to find that sermon compelling.
At worst, they would be spitting the many-edged sceptic-word “hoax” into the wind. Come to think of it, they just did!
Now, what would be truly poetic would be to create a dry ice statue of Al Gore and place it in front of the Capitol to outgas as a sublimational message.
“The sight of ice melting while they sweltered would be too hard to take”?
I’m experiencing cognitive dissonance trying to understand that sentence.
Don @ur momisugly 12:34, that was a brilliant and hilarious comment!
I don’t think the most sceptic person in the world could do a better job of parodying Bill McKibben and the ultra-greenies than he managed in that letter.
“The sight of ice melting while they sweltered would be too hard to take; their region, they pointed out, is as hard hit as any in the country by the heat wave, and it would make people feel like their plight wasn’t being taken seriously. ”
Scotty, we need more power.
Sorry, Captain, the B.S meter is off the scale.
Crispin in Waterloo says:
July 7, 2012 at 11:24 am
@Gunga Din says:
I like the Ad below the post. I don’t know if everybody sees the same one or how long it will stay but the current one I see is for “Cheesemans Ecology Safaris”.
+++++++++
Those ads are chosen by the advertiser. I asked a honcho at Google sitting next to me on the plane why it was that if I searched for and looked at bathroom taps using Google, I got ads for bathroom taps when I next read WUWT. He swore that Google does not keep track of what I search for, which I presume is truthful in the same way that people watch porn ‘for the acting’ and stock cars ‘for the racing’.
Basically you are shown what you previously searched for, thematically speaking. If you are non-responsive, they will cycle through things they think you might like then eventually revert to random ads. If it is interesting, click on it. It helps pay for this site overheads. If it is not interesting, click on it anyway to show Google that you are not cooperating predictably in their tracking exercises. Plus it messes with their monomaniacal minds.
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Alas! The Cheeseman is gone. I must have been in the random cycle. I don’t remember ever searching for cheese or penquins. But if it helps Anthony and the site, I’ll scroll back up and click on the Ad. (Then remove the cookie it leaves behind.) The current Ad is for “SnorgTees”.
I’m disappointed with McKibben. The CAGW HOAX has already suffered a massive meltdown. Did he realize he was simply parodying himself and his movement?
A block of ice 6′ x 12′ by 1′ thick would have weighed 4100 lbs. How thick was his? He announces an action plan one day for the next day and cancels the next day at 5:18 am? Hummm … Lotsa quick donations?
I really will miss his melting ice HOAX.
PiperPaul says:
July 7, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Don @ur momisugly 12:34, that was a brilliant and hilarious comment!
Happy to spread the joy, thanks! I don’t know if any people would get the joke, but the lawn would love it!
And in NW Europe, we are still freezing and drowning.
Why cannot these guys admit it – the jet streams have moved, that’s all. In NW Europe, that means the jetstreams are further south than usual, dragging cool moist conditions down from the NW Atlantic, and down much further south than usual for the summer. Hence Britain is drowning.
.
I wonder if this organization (350.org) also tries to raise money for those in need when the winter is really cold. i doubt it.
How about a 20 foot long 8 foot high (supported) arch that people could walk through and coold down. Make the arch completely out of blocks of dry ice (except for the mesha nd rods for support). Then put up a sign “Come Feel The Warming Effect Of Carbon Dioxide”, with all the mist and fog flowing from the thing (you would need a slow fan ad one end) it would be a good visual and the kids would love it. You could even add set of Carbon Dioxide concentration meters and themometers at the input fan end and throught the ‘tube’. It would be show that as the Carbon Dioxide concentration rose as you walked through the tube the themperature would go down!
Silly, and clearly not representitive of anything other than simple theromo-dynamics, but it would be engaging and it might make the news.
Where I am Dry Ice is about $50.00 per (approx) cubic foot so the arch tube would cost about $10,000.00 for the Carbon Dioxide, the supports could be rebar and the mesh could be metal cloth (tacked arc-welded together). All in all I expect you could pull the whole thing off for under $13,000.00. Set-up would take about 1 hour (10 people, including three welders) and tear-down about the same.
Not Sarc.
To Don: Be…[thinking] cause…dry ice…[thinking more] being frozen carbon dioxide…and heavier than air, would [yes!] settle on the grass! Well done again! One of my first design jobs was for a now-absorbed CO2 manufacturer.
McKibben received a directive from Collectivist Central. CAGW has exited stage left. Lights must now focus on sustainability, stage center. Extracting money from the most gullible to fund the pointless is not sustainable………….is it?
Heh. When ice does not melt in mid latitude summer, that’s called an ice age. Now, it would be scary indeed.
Whilst a lot of people are happy to stick the boot in, I think it is worth noting that McKibben has realised the mistake and withdrawn the campaign – so kudos to him.
Also when the 10:10 no pressure video appeared he also condemned it immediately and without reserve – the guy deserves some credit for that too.
I’m not a supporter of his by any means but some of the comments here seem a little over the top.
Just my opinion.