I’ve never done a double feature before where our Climate Craziness of the Week and Quote of the Week are one and the same. 350.org’s Bill McKibben gets this unique honor.
From the what universe does Bill McKibben live in department? While going on about heat waves, he comes up with the ultimate “I don’t understand science” zinger. How long before people stop listening to this guy? I would not have believed he’d be disturbed enough to write this if I hadn’t read it as a direct quote written by his own hand.
Hat tip to Tom Nelson.
Here’s the quote, its “Big Oil” irrationality on steroids:
…this industry, and this industry alone, holds the power to change the physics and chemistry of our planet , and they’re planning to use it. – 350.org’s Bill McKibben
I’m reminded of this:
Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708473/quotes?qt=qt0198370
Here’s some excerpts from McKibben’s Rolling Stone article:
Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math | Politics News | Rolling Stone
warmest May on record for the Northern Hemisphere – the 327th consecutive month in which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average, the odds of which occurring by simple chance were 3.7 x 10-99, a number considerably larger than the number of stars in the universe.
…
Scientists estimate that humans can pour roughly 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by midcentury and still have some reasonable hope of staying below two degrees. (“Reasonable,” in this case, means four chances in five, or somewhat worse odds than playing Russian roulette with a six-shooter.)
…”The new data provide further evidence that the door to a two-degree trajectory is about to close,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist. In fact, he continued, “When I look at this data, the trend is perfectly in line with a temperature increase of about six degrees.” That’s almost 11 degrees Fahrenheit, which would create a planet straight out of science fiction.
…
We have five times as much oil and coal and gas on the books as climate scientists think is safe to burn. We’d have to keep 80 percent of those reserves locked away underground to avoid that fate…Most of us are fundamentally ambivalent about going green: We like cheap flights to warm places, and we’re certainly not going to give them up if everyone else is still taking them. Since all of us are in some way the beneficiaries of cheap fossil fuel, tackling climate change has been like trying to build a movement against yourself – it’s as if the gay-rights movement had to be constructed entirely from evangelical preachers, or the abolition movement from slaveholders.
…Given this hard math, we need to view the fossil-fuel industry in a new light. It has become a rogue industry, reckless like no other force on Earth. It is Public Enemy Number One to the survival of our planetary civilization. “Lots of companies do rotten things in the course of their business – pay terrible wages, make people work in sweatshops – and we pressure them to change those practices,” says veteran anti-corporate leader Naomi Klein, who is at work on a book about the climate crisis. “But these numbers make clear that with the fossil-fuel industry, wrecking the planet is their business model. It’s what they do.”…this industry, and this industry alone, holds the power to change the physics and chemistry of our planet, and they’re planning to use it.
…
There’s not a more reckless man on the planet than Tillerson…In December, BP finally closed its solar division. Shell shut down its solar and wind efforts in 2009. The five biggest oil companies have made more than $1 trillion in profits since the millennium – there’s simply too much money to be made on oil and gas and coal to go chasing after zephyrs and sunbeams.
…Until a quarter-century ago, almost no one knew that CO2 was dangerous…if their college’s endowment portfolio has fossil-fuel stock, then their educations are being subsidized by investments that guarantee they won’t have much of a planet on which to make use of their degree. …we have met the enemy and they is Shell.
No, Bill, its you, and you may very well be insane. Get help.
This is probably (I haven’t read many of his ravings) Mad Mac’s shrilliest piece yet, and yet another indication of the Climate Cabal’s increasing desperation, but:
He did not say “Change the laws of . . .” Farmers alter soil chemistry all the time as required for particular crops, so the statement by itself isn’t that nutty.
That said, I do hope, as Mad Mac himself requested via Twitter, that this piece gets wide circulation. He and Joe Romm are the two warmers most helpful to the realist cause.
climatetruthinitiative says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Re: 3.7 x 10-99, it could be that someone was using the “-” symbol in place of the more conventional “^” [“to the power of”]. I wouldn’t crucify the user for using the minus sign…..
2 raised to the power of 327 equals 2.7 x 10^98. So in other words, if we flipped a coin and got 327 heads in a row, the odds of that happening are 1 in 2.7 x 10^98, or in other words 3.7 x 10^-99 to 1.
matt says:
July 19, 2012 at 3:00 pm
@ur momisugly Werner Brozek
15,778,380 Minutes
946,702,800 Seconds
…
However if we used seconds instead of months, 2 raised to the power of 946,702,800 equals ??? My calculator couldn’t do it. But should the odds depend on the units used? If years are used in the same (wrong) way, we get 2 raised to the power of 27.25 equals 1.6 x 10^8.
Wow… just wow. I have four big dogs in this house, two Germain Shorthaired Pointers, a German Shepherd, and a Blue Tick Hound, and they’re ALL smarter than that man….
I think he’s useful. The more people listen to the likes of him, the more people will realise just how shonky the entire argument is and start questioning it.
BTW, I did like teh irony:
Yup. Warm places. Because warm places are nicer than cold ones. And the cold is so bad in southern Oz I’m moving to the tropics. Bring on the cooling for the next decade or two, I’ll be fine!
“Jimbo says:
July 19, 2012 at 1:28 pm
…we have met the enemy and they is Shell.
The Climate Research Unit (CRU) has received Shell big oil money. Did I forget to mention British Petroleum and the Sultanate of Oman (Liquid Petroleum Gas)?
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/about/history/
These people only seem mad but they certainly are not. They are desperate not to lose face and to keep the funds rolling in. It’s a scam.”
Not forgetting Big Oil Shell used to fund the Eco WWF scam artists also.
Since the government gets a lot of tax money from oil companies, all government granted greens are fed by Big Oil some way or the other. But hey, let’s not mention that, shall we?
Ah finally a sensitive warmist. /sarc
Royalties and taxes on Oil and Gas is the Number 1 Global source of tax revenues in the WORLD, after personal income taxes or direct consumption taxes on everyone.
Thanks to Big Oil we have even BIGGER GOVERNMENT
“Since all of us are in some way the beneficiaries of cheap fossil fuel, tackling climate change has been like trying to build a movement against yourself – it’s as if the gay-rights movement had to be constructed entirely from evangelical preachers, or the abolition movement from slaveholders.”
===================
I have a movement every morning, like clock-work.
I feel no guilt as it passes.
I earned it.
We are living in the age where the energy sector is the world’s biggest economic source of transactions – the greatest cash cow in the world.
Governments want to cash in on it, as governments are financially ambitious. Naturally, the product has to be vilified in order to tax it both directly and indirectly – I suspect, without the figures, that indirect revenue from the energy sector is greater – such as what came with the Climate Change Bill here in the UK
of or course, whilst digressing from the main topic of ther thread, yes, the laws of physics and chemistry have been corrupted during this process of scientists selling their integrity to the highest bidders ( governments).
In fact, the formerly prestigious academies and institutions, like The Royal Academy et al, have brought themselves into disrepute through this climate swindle.
addendum to July 19, 2012 at 5:30 pm
…particularly the branch of radiative physics
“.…this industry, and this industry alone, holds the power to change the physics and chemistry of our planet , and they’re planning to use it. – 350.org’s Bill McKibben”
Perhaps Billy was referring to the thin and frothy science of CO2 driven global warming, aka ‘Fizzicks’. Similarly, he may have been referring to the incomprehensible AGW molecular reactions, that believers refer to as ‘Chemystery’.
Viewed from this perspective, it is apparent that they are already using this new Fizzicks and Chemystery quite effectively!
MtK
One must remind them, that not only can you not change the laws of physics, you also can not change the laws of economics.
“There’s not a more reckless man on the planet than Tillerson…In December, BP finally closed its solar division. Shell shut down its solar and wind efforts in 2009. The five biggest oil companies have made more than $1 trillion in profits since the millennium – there’s simply too much money to be made on oil and gas and coal to go chasing after zephyrs and sunbeams.”
Well Billyboy, it’s what we’ve been trying to tell you and if you and your lot can get dopey Gummint to subsidise zebras and moonbeams for a while, they’ll all come roaring back while the Gravy Train’s a runnin’. Just look in the mirror for the answer mate.
You guys misinterpreted. He said psychics, not physics. Their prognostications have gone awry, so they need a new one, ……
I do not know the proper units to calculate the odds of 327 months to be above the long term average. However if we convert that to decades, and raise that, we get 2 raised to the power of 2.725 which gives a 1 in 6.6 chance that the last 2.725 decades are above average. After we had ten years of no warming, I read the odds of that happening according to all model runs was 1 in 8. Fifteen years of no warming apparently never occurred on any runs. I now have a question for Bill McKibben or anyone who wishes to answer on his behalf. And the same math rules have to be used as were used to get the 3.7 x 10^-99 number.
If the chances of a decade of no warming is 1 in 8, then what are the chances of 120 months of no warming?
Scotty after reading the Hockey Shtick paper:
You canna change the laws of physics, Monn!
Speaking of psychics they had leaflets all over my home town recently promoting some knees-up/convention, but I wondered why on earth they bothered advertising.
An insane rant, but he does NOT refer to changing the LAWS of physics. Just to how they are working themselves out on the planet. Still deeply deluded, but not the target you were shooting for.
Werner Brozek says:
July 19, 2012 at 4:19 pm
climatetruthinitiative says:
July 19, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Re: 3.7 x 10-99, it could be that someone was using the “-” symbol in place of the more conventional “^” [“to the power of”]. I wouldn’t crucify the user for using the minus sign…..
2 raised to the power of 327 equals 2.7 x 10^98. So in other words, if we flipped a coin and got 327 heads in a row, the odds of that happening are 1 in 2.7 x 10^98, or in other words 3.7 x 10^-99 to 1.
observa says:
July 19, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Exactly. If they don’t advertise only the good ones should show up.
Werner Brozek says:
July 19, 20
Oops – maybe. I was going to post a comment that no one had computed 2^327 and that the answer was (on my 1970s calculator) 2.7 x 10^98. I hope I would have realized that he was right. It would have been better worded for math geeks had he said probability or chance instead of odds, i.e. “the chance of
whichoccurring by simple chancewerebeing 3.7 x 10-99″ …Oh my, if we continue, … “a number considerably larger than the number of stars in the universe.”
The last I looked, I could see at least one star, even at day.
So, I think Anthony should have bolded both phrases in that sentence.
And everyone gets a mulligan.
“Small medium at large”
Our humblest apologies Brian H, but most of us here aren’t completely across the LAWS and machinations of psychics but we’re trying hard to get up to pace with it all.