The Week That Was: 2015-02-21 (February 21, 2015) Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org) The Science and Environmental Policy Project
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Sea Level Change: The threat of global warming is no longer intensely promoted by governments. No significant temperature rise for over a decade has had its effects. The threat of climate change is apparently wearing thin with the public, Perhaps the public realizes that the climate has been changing for hundreds of millions of years, long before humanity existed. It appears that some governments, including the US Administration, are using the threat of significant sea level rise to compel the public to do their bidding.
As with carbon dioxide-caused global warming, the threat of sea level rise has an element of truth, which is then greatly exaggerated. Sea levels have risen about 400 feet (120 meters) since the maximum extent of the last glaciation, about 18,000 to 20,000 years ago. Prior to 5,000 years ago, sea level rise was rapid as the massive ice sheets covering much of North America and Eurasia melted. Since then, the rise has moderated, with only two massive ice land-grounded sheets remaining – Greenland and Antarctica. [The melting of floating ice does not contribute to sea level rise.] Ever-enterprising groups, usually funded by governments, often focus on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is partially grounded, ignoring the bulk of the continent and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which contribute little to current sea level rise, if anything.
The October 4, 2014, TWTW discussed a significant study on sea level rise for coastal management policy by the independent, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC). Although the report is focused on sea level rise for New South Wales, AU, the general principles apply world-wide.
“World-wide, sea-level rise varies significantly by location and time frame. No effective coastal management plan can rest upon speculative computer projections of idealized future sea levels, such as those used by the IPCC.” If the computer modelers have not bothered to validate their models, there is no reason to assume they are valid.
“Coastal management must instead rest upon accurate knowledge of local geological, meteorological and oceanographic conditions, including, amongst other things, changes in local relative sea level.
The three general guidelines provided are: 1) abandon global sea-level rise policy, 2) recognize the local or regional nature of coastal hazards, and 3) use planning controls that are flexible and adaptive.
On July 5, 2014 the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) issued a report titled: “Sea-Level Change: Living with Uncertainty” by Willem de Lange and Robert M. Carter with a forward by Vincent Courtillot. [Note that Robert Carter was a principal author in both reports.]
Although more general, the GWPF report reaches similar conclusions as the NIPCC report. Sea level rise is chiefly a local and regional issue with a global component. Due to plate tectonics, in parts of the world, local sea levels are falling (Scandinavia with rebound from the melting ice sheets) in other parts of the world local sea levels are rising.
The global influences include: 1) changes in the ocean basin volume (tectonic and sedimentary); 2) changes in seawater density (variation in ocean temperature or salinity); and 3) changes in volume of water (melting or freezing of land-based ice).
Ocean basin volume changes occur too slowly to be significant over human lifetimes and it is therefore the other two mechanisms that drive contemporary concerns about sea-level rise.
Warming temperature in itself is only a minor factor contributing to global sea-level rise, because seawater has a relatively small coefficient of expansion and because, over the timescales of interest, any warming is largely confined to the upper few hundred metres of the ocean surface.
The melting of land ice – including both mountain glaciers and the ice sheets of
Greenland and Antarctica – is a more significant driver of global sea-level rise. (p.11 of GWPF report)
…tide-gauge measurements indicate that global sea-level has been rising at a rate of about 1.8 mm/y for the last 100 years, whereas the shorter satellite record suggests a rise of more than 3 mm/y. However, a recent reanalysis of the satellite data, alongside the possible contributions from recent warming and ice-melt estimates, has given a rise of 1.3±0.9 mm/y for 2005–2011, which is more consistent with the tide-gauge measurements (Leuliette, 2012). (p. 12)
… the influence of major ocean circulation systems that redistribute heat and mass through the oceans. The upshot of these processes is that at any location around or within the oceans, the observed sea-level behaviour can differ significantly from the smoothed global average. Furthermore, when attempts are made to estimate global sea-level from studies at specific locations, it is found to constantly vary through time. (p. 12).
In addition to the position of the coastline to the sea, local influences include rise or fall of land, supply of sediment, weather and climate, oceans (waves, tides, storms, and tsunamis). In some areas such as the mid-Atlantic states of the US, ground water extraction may be an important issue.
Because they represent a worldwide average, neither the tide-gauge nor the satellite estimates of global sea-level have any useful application per se to coastal management in specific locations. (p. 12).
In summary, the use of general sea level models to predict local sea level rise or fall, without validation from long-term local observations, is no more based on empirical science than the use of general climate models, which have not been validated, to predict local or regional climate change. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy – NIPCC and Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Quote of the Week: “In climate research and modelling, we should recognize that we are dealing with a coupled-nonlinear chaotic system, and therefore that long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible.” IPCC Third Assessment Report (2001), Section 14.2.2.2, page 774 [H/t Cristopher Essex.]
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Number of the Week: 8%
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Going Personal Too Little, Too Late? There seems to be an effort to reduce the rhetoric that is polarizing what should be scientific issues about global warming/climate change. One of the latest appeared in the US edition of The Conversation, pleading for a toning down of labels such as deniers and alarmists. TWTW tries to avoid such labels, and to focus on the science. However, it does link to articles that use such labels, even in the titles, if the articles contain a useful discussion of scientific or policy issues. Also, it is difficult to ignore the decades-long attacks against those daring to question the science rigor in the reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and similar entities such as the US Climate Change Research Program (USCCRP). Many of the scientific criticisms against the IPCC are bearing out. It is becoming increasingly evident that the models relied on by the IPCC are failing, and the IPCC’s assertions of what causes changes in climate are fallacious.
All too frequently, those leading such attacks without producing the physical evidence, such as Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway in Merchants of Doubt, have been honored by once respected scientific institutions. One cannot take this history back. The issue is the integrity of empirical science and its actors, as we move on. Will the general press be condemned by both sides for accompanying an article on carbon dioxide, or global warming/climate change, with a photo of a coal-fired power plant emitting condensing steam appearing to blacken the sky? [These are often taken under special lighting conditions or using special lenses, giving the false impression that carbon dioxide, which is invisible, is dark.] Will the authors of the article condemn the current attack on Willie Soon, who is co-author of a paper suggesting that a simple model outperforms the government-funded, complex climate models in predicting current temperature trends? See links under Seeking a Common Ground, Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague? and Lowering Standards, and in the Feb 14, TWTW, Models v. Observations, and Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
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Evidence-Free? In light of the prior comments to avoid labels and the comments on sea level rise, it is difficult to succinctly describe the 2015 report by the New York City Panel on Climate Change. This panel includes climate researchers who are involved with the IPCC and the USCCRP. A major finding is that the city may experience a sea level rise of up to 6 feet (2 meters) by the end of the century. This is a greater rate of rise that has been documented during the melting of the great ice sheets after the maximum extend of the last ice age. Other findings have a similar tone. There is no empirical evidence given for such findings.
In the past, one could call the report alarmist. But in order to tone down the labels, TWTW will describe it as Evidence-Free Assertions. See links under Un-Science or Non-Science?
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Litigation Change? Based on SEPP’s experience with litigating against the EPA’s finding that human emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, endangers human health (Endangerment Finding (EF)), one of the characteristics of the Federal Courts of Appeal is that they will defer to the findings of the EPA or other government agencies. In effect, they will not tolerate challenges to what these agencies claim are science. The Supreme Court had a similar attitude.
A group of attorneys have suggested that an alternative approach would be to litigate under the Information Quality Act, also known as the Data Quality Act. This approach may put such litigation under the guidelines of the Office of Management and Budget rather than the Clean Air Act. SEPP is not qualified to comment on these legal technicalities.
However, in the EPA EF there are two deficiencies that clearly stand out and, if properly presented, should be understood by judges. One deficiency is the lack of a pronounced “hot spot” centered over the tropics at about 33,000 feet (10 km). EPA falsely claimed it is a human fingerprint, but it would occur no matter what the cause of the warming. The second deficiency is the failure of the climate models to predict the current trend of no warming. See links under Litigation Issues.
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Restoring Rigor in Government Science? Several commentators are suggesting that the new Congress will begin making demands on the EPA, NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to substantiate certain parts of the science used for press releases and reports. One such demand may be to substantiate the data manipulation in the historic temperature network, particularly that for the US. No doubt, those who have participated in the manipulation will have slick answers, and the effort may get bogged down.
An alternative approach may be to ask for proof of the “hot spot”, which no one can empirically find. A second alternative approach may be to demonstrate how the climate models have been validated, which they have not. In SEPP’s view, and the view of many others, models that have not been validated should not be used to justify long-term policy. The EPA anti-coal campaign is long-term policy. See links under The Political Games Continue and EPA and other Regulators on the March
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Computers v. Climate: The quote of the week comes from a presentation by mathematician Christopher Essex who asserts that computer models cannot reproduce the physics of the climate and the mathematics for predicting future climate have not been solved. He explains his views in a presentation to the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Resolution is one of the many problems. For example, thunderstorms transfer a great deal of energy from the surface to the atmosphere. Yet, they do not show up in the models. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Circular Reasoning: On the Watts Up With That web site (WUWT), Bob Tisdale discusses a report by the Australia Academy of Science. The discussion illustrates why SEPP considers the IPCC’s proof of human cause of global warming to be circular. See link under Lowering Standards.
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BP Report: BP has released its Energy Outlook, which has been long respected in the industry. Not surprisingly, BP expects that for the next 20 years, world-wide economic growth will place increasing demand (more consumption) on fossil fuels. In spite of unsubstantiated claims from their promoters, solar, wind, and bio-fuels are failing, when compared with inexpensive, reliable coal, oil, and natural gas. See links under Energy Issues – Non-US.
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Asthma: Last week TWTW stated that it does not know what conditions are needed to diagnose asthma. Reader Dennis Ambler wrote that it may be over diagnosed in a number of countries and provided examples: “Although it is true that some people may receive treatment for asthma when they currently don’t have symptoms, this does not necessarily mean that they don’t have asthma.” From Asthma, UK http://www.nhs.uk/news/2015/02February/Pages/Is-asthma-being-over-diagnosed.aspx
“In 2010 a Canadian study had already claimed similar over-diagnosis: Over the past three decades there has been a dramatic increase in the incidence and prevalence of asthma in North America. However, it unclear if the increased incidence of new asthma diagnoses in developed countries is appropriate, or if asthma is being over diagnosed in developed countries due to an increased awareness of asthma amongst health care providers and patients.
“We concluded that 30% of patients with a previous physician diagnosis of asthma did not have asthma when objectively assessed.”
http://www.ersj.org.uk/content/early/2010/01/14/09031936.00165109.full.pdf
On July 22, 2010, then-EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson stated to the Congressional Black Caucus in a White House Briefing: “The important thing to know about the Clean Air Act is that bar none, it is the most cost effective environmental statute in the country. It’s 13 to 1 is usually the number used, health benefits to cost. Think to your mind, 13 times benefits for children who are going to emergency rooms to get healthcare for asthma.” (Boldface added).
Chris Horner of CEI gave SEPP a copy one of the communications to Lisa Jackson he obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The email was addressed to a Richard Windsor, an alias used by Jackson to avoid the Freedom of Information Act. The subject was Strategic Communications and was dated March 18, 2009 – early in the Administration.
Unfortunately, climate change in the abstract is an increasingly – and consistently – unpersuasive argument to make. However, if we shift from making this about the polar caps and about our neighbor with respiratory illness, we can potentially bring this issue home to many Americans …
…By revitalizing our own Children’s Health Office, leading the global charge on this issue, and highlighting the children’s health dimension to all our major initiatives – we will also make this issue real for many American who otherwise would oppose many of our regulatory actions.
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Additions and Corrections: The first paragraph of the last TWTW was poorly written, for which Ken Haapala is responsible. With no operating staff, and limited time-frames, sometimes errors get by the proof-readers, who volunteer their time. We try to avoid such errors to the extent possible.
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Number of the Week: 8% The BP Energy Outlook 2015 projects that in 2035 only 8% of the total world’s energy will come from renewables, including bio-fuels, but excluding hydro (in tonne oil equivalents). H/t P Gosselin. See links under Energy Issues – Non-US.
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ARTICLES:
Please note that articles that are not linked or summarized here are reproduced in the Articles Section of the full TWTW that can be found on the web site under the date of the TWTW.
1. Into the Brave New World of Geo-engineering
By S. Fred Singer, American Thinker, Feb 19, 2015
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/02/into_the_brave_new_world_of_geoengineering.html
Geo-engineering aims to develop technologies to counter hypothetical greenhouse warming. But current studies largely ignore less costly and relatively risk-free schemes to cancel the quite realistic threat of a coming ice age that would cause major damage to humankind.
2. Fawlty Towers and Ivory Towers
By Charles Battig, American Thinker, Feb 19, 2015
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/02/fawlty_towers_and_ivory_towers.html
3. Our Plan for Countering Violent Extremism
Show the world the power of peaceful communities, and tackle bad governance that breeds frustration.
By John Kerry, WSJ, Feb 18, 2015
http://www.wsj.com/articles/john-kerry-our-plan-for-countering-violent-extremism-1424305659
[SUMMARY: Last year, Secretary of State John Kerry received SEPP’s April Fools Lisa Jackson award. Among the many reasons, this wealthy man with a wealthy life-style claimed that global warming was a weapon of mass destruction. Without any empirical evidence, he claims the cause is human use of fossil fuels. On February 16, 2014 he gave a speech in Jakarta, Indonesia, to a group of students and government officials. Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country, with extensive deposits of coal. Kerry implored that the country should not use these resources to foster economic development.
In this op-ed, Kerry insists that the most effective way to address extremism, especially Muslim extremism, is by promoting prosperity. China showed that prosperity can be created by expanding the use of fossil fuels. Apparently, Kerry does not realize this, and does not mention the incompatibility between his current claims and his assertions a year before, which centered on suppressing prosperity and a better way of life.]
4. No Water for You
The man-made drought continues even after rains in California.
Editorial, WSJ, Feb 16, 2015
http://www.wsj.com/articles/no-water-for-you-1423871533
[SUMMARY: Recent rains have replenished reservoirs in Northern California, but the drought continues in Sothern California. Yet, the environmental industry opposes the use of this water for the benefit of those in Southern California, particularly the farmers.
Last month the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources petitioned the State Water Resources Control Board—an arm of the state Environmental Protection Agency responsible for regulating water rights and quality—to allow delta pump operators to export more water south during heavy inflows. The Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources sought to double the maximum pumping levels to a third of their capacity. They suggested that operators could ease up on pumping if salmon or smelt were found caught in the pumps. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service even concurred that higher pumping would not jeopardize endangered species.
“Yet, then the story followed the predictable pattern. The Natural Resources Defense Council sent a letter to State Water Resources Control Board executive director Tom Howard decrying the agencies’ proposal as “biologically unjustified” and “not being in the public interest.” Citing a “potential additional risk of entrainment” of fish, Mr. Howard rejected the request to pump more water south.]
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NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?
Fluctuating Atlantic … German Experts Say “Things Could Become Very Bitter For The IPCC Forecast Models!”
The sun in January 2015 and Atlantic prognoses
By Frank Bosse and Fritz Vahrenholt, Translated, edited by P Gosselin. No Tricks Zone, Feb 17, 2015
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
NIPCC Policy Brief – Sea Level Rise, New South Wales, AU
By Carter, et al, NIPCC, Sep 24, 2014
http://www.sepp.org/science_papers/NIPCC_NSW_Coastal.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Sea-Level Change: Living with Uncertainty
By Willem de Lange and Robert M. Carter with a Forward by Vincent Courtillot, GWPF, Jul 5, 2015
http://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2014/05/Sea-level-report.pdf
Believing In Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, And Climate Models
Why Computers Cannot Reproduce The Climate, Never Mind Predicting Its Future
By Christopher Essex, WUWT, Feb 20, 2015
Link to cartoons by Josh (Bishop Hill): http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/2/13/climate-impossible-josh-314.html
Petroleum: A magnificent but much maligned resource
By Steve Goreham, Communities Digital News, Feb 17, 2015
http://www.commdiginews.com/business-2/petroleum-a-magnificent-material-much-maligned-36532/
Thanks To IPCC Public Doesn’t Know Water Vapor Is Most Important Greenhouse Gas
By Tim Ball, A Different Perspective, Feb 11, 2015
[SEPP Comment: Human influence on temperatures must be high, because that is how we created it?]
A new book in which I have a chapter: Climate Change: The Facts
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Feb 14, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/14/a-new-book-in-which-i-have-a-chapter-climate-change-the-facts/
Jim Hansen’s 99% Surety on Global Warming Doesn’t Hold Up
By Pat Frank, WUWT, Feb 18, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/18/jim-hansens-99-surety-on-global-warming-doesnt-hold-up/
The Logarithmic Effect of Carbon Dioxide.
By Goeff Brown, Australian Climate Sceptics, Feb 19, 2015
Defending the Orthodoxy
The quickening for Paris has started: gravy-train begins PR avalanche
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 16, 2015
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Joe Bastardi Schools Dr. Michael Mann On How To Read A Weather Chart … Heavy Snow “Is Because It’s Cold”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 15, 2015
[SEPP Comment: Deep, light snow is more correct than heavy snow.]
Calm the Climate Alarmism in Dallas
By Sierra Rayne, American Thinker, Feb 18, 2015 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/02/calm_the_climate_alarmism_in_dallas.html
German Analysis: “97 Percent Consensus” Does Not Exist … Demands To End Debate Are “Way Off Sides”
The ninety seven percent problem: which consensus?
By Uli Weber (Translated/edited by P Gosselin), No Tricks Zone, Feb 20, 2015
The Telegraph censors stories to appease advertisers. Science journals would never do that…
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 21, 2015
Twenty good reasons not to worry about polar bears
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Feb 19, 2015
http://polarbearscience.com/2015/02/19/twenty-good-reasons-not-to-worry-about-polar-bears/
The Kyoto Protocol: 10 years of triumph
By Benjamin Zycher, AEI, Feb 18, 2015
http://www.aei.org/publication/kyoto-protocol-10-years-triumph/
[SEPP Comment: Based on the records of temperature, sea level rise, arctic sea ice, etc., the Kyoto Protocol was a success, even though the US Senate did not ratify it.]
The China – US Agreement?
No China Coal Peak in Sight: Carbon Capture Will be Necessary to Tame Emissions in this Century
By Armond Cohen, Energy Collective, Feb 19, 2015
Problems in the Orthodoxy
The UN Climate End Game
By David Archibald, WUWT, Feb 18, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/18/the-un-climate-end-game/
“The end game is world domination. With such a big prize – the biggest possible, facts aren’t even inconvenient. They are not part of the process.”
Limited climate change accord likely in Paris: IPCC expert
By Christian Spillmann Brussels (AFP) Feb 15, 2015
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Limited_climate_change_accord_likely_in_Paris_IPCC_expert_999.html
Seeking a Common Ground
Public intellectuals in the climate space
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc. Feb 17, 2015
http://judithcurry.com/2015/02/17/public-intellectuals-in-the-climate-space/#more-17797
Deniers vs alarmists? It’s time to lose the climate debate labels
By Candice Howarth and Amelia Sharman, The Conversation, US, Feb 19, 2015 [H/t GWPF]
http://theconversation.com/deniers-vs-alarmists-its-time-to-lose-the-climate-debate-labels-37765
Are the oceans really dying?
By Ivo Vegter, Daily Maverick, (South Aferica), Feb 16, 2015
http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2015-02-16-are-the-oceans-really-dying/#.VONxhvnF98F
Are Global Warming Skeptics On Wrong Side Of Science
Editorial, IBD, Feb 18, 2015 [H/t Timothy Wise]
Can we stop the doom mongering?
By David Demming, WUWT, Feb 18, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/18/can-we-stop-the-doom-mongering/
Science is not a dogmatic body of doctrine. It is an open system of knowledge that establishes probable truths that are subject to continual revision.
More Numbers
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Feb 19, 2015
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/2/19/more-numbers.html
[SEPP Comment: Information on an upcoming special program to be aired by BBC.]
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by CO2 Science
The Impacts of Heat and Cold Leading to Hospitalizations in Korea
Son, J.-Y, Bell, M.L. and Lee, J.-T. 2014. The impact of heat, cold, and heat waves on hospital admissions in eight cities in Korea. International Journal of Biometeorology 58: 1893-1903.Feb 18, 2015
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V18/feb/a17.php
Do Acidifying Oceans Portend the Eventual Demise of Copepods?
Pedersen, S.A., Hakedal, O.J., Salaberria, I., Tagliati, A., Gustavson, L.M., Jenssen, B.M., Olsen, A.J. and Altin, D. 2014. Multigenerational exposure to ocean acidification during food limitation reveals consequences for copepod scope for growth and vital rates. Environmental Science & Technology 48: 12,275-12,284. Feb 18, 2015
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V18/feb/a16.php
Carbon Sequestration in Forest Soils: The Role of Added Nitrogen
Frey, S.D., Ollinger, S., Nadelhoffer, K., Bowden, R., Brzostek, E., Burton, A., Caldwell, B.A., Crow, S., Goodale, C.L., Grandy, A.S., Finzi, A., Kramer, M.G., Lajtha, K., LeMoine, J., Martin, M., McDowell, W.H., Minocha, R., Sadowsky, J.J., Templer, P.H. and Wickings, K. 2014. Chronic nitrogen additions suppress decomposition and sequester soil carbon in temperate forests. Biogeochemistry 121: 305-316. Feb 17, 2015
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V18/feb/a14.php
Extinction (The Possibilities for Stationary Plants) – Summary
By Staff Writers, CO2 Science, Feb 13, 2015
http://www.co2science.org/subject/e/summaries/plantextstationary.php
West Coast of Norway to the Kola Peninsula of NW Russia
McCarroll, D., Loader, N.J., Jalkanen, R., Gagen, M.H., Grudd, H., Gunnarson, B.E., Kirchhefer, A.J., Friedrich, M., Linderholm, H.W., Lindholm, M., Boettger, T., Los, S.O., Remmele, S., Kononov, Y.M., Yamazaki, Y.H., Young, G.H.F. and Zorita, E. 2013. A 1200-year multiproxy record of tree growth and summer temperature at the northern pine forest limit of Europe. The Holocene 23: 471-484. Feb 13, 2015
http://www.co2science.org/data/mwp/studies/l1_westerneurope.php
Models v. Observations
Climate Propaganda from the Australian Academy of Science
By Bob Tisdale, WUWT, Feb 16, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/16/climate-propaganda-from-the-australian-academy-of-science/
Garth Paltridge: Climate Of Cherry-Picking
By Garth Paltridge, The Australian, Via GWPF, Feb 17, 2015
http://www.thegwpf.com/garth-paltridge-climate-of-cherry-picking/
Temperature Record Chicanery: An Overhyped Scandal
The real scandal is climate model failure
By Ronald Bailey, Reason.com, Feb 11, 2015
http://reason.com/blog/2015/02/11/temperature-record-chicanery-an-overhype
The Winter of 2070
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Feb 18, 2015
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-winter-of-2070.html
[SEPP Comment: If the current warming of the West is indicative of what will occur in 2070, is the bitter cold and snow in the East and Midwest indicative of what will occur there?]
Model Issues
Response To Trenberth Over “Why Models Run Hot”
By William Briggs, His Blog, Feb 21, 2015
http://wmbriggs.com/post/15346/
“In our paper, we tried to show how a vastly simpler model than the kind Trenberth touts explains temperature better than more complex models. We know—as in know—that the complex models have something wrong with them. We know this because their forecasts do not match observations. What we did was to suggest a plausible explanation why this is so. Hey. We might be wrong. Assume we are. Assume our guess is invalid, our paper worthless, and that instead something else is wrong with Trenberth-style climate models.”
[SEPP Comment: If nature refuses to conform to climate models, is nature wrong?]
Theory on the Pause – climate science has ‘exhausted adjustment rationales’
By Ralph Park, WUWT, Feb 15, 2015
Measurement Issues
January 2015 Global Surface (Land+Ocean) and Lower Troposphere Temperature Anomaly & Model-Data Difference Update
By Bob Tisdale, WUWT. Feb 16, 2015
Arctic Temperature Data From CLIMAS
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 14 2015
[SEPP Comment: Cooling the past?]
Mischief with factoids
Global warming fanatics manipulate the facts to rescue a scam
Editorial, Washington Times, Feb 16, 2015 [H/t ACSP]
Record Keepers Cooked Global Temp Books
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Feb 16, 2015
http://www.newsmax.com/LarryBell/climate-global-warming-gore-co2/2015/02/16/id/624956/
January 2015 second warmest on record
By Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill, Feb 19, 2015
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/233219-january-2015-second-warmest-on-record
“NOAA said on Thursday that land and ocean surfaces for January 2015 were the hottest for the month since record keeping began 135 years ago.
January 2007 still tops the charts for the warmest ever recorded.”
[SEPP Comment: No doubt the bitter cold in the east has not affected NOAA. It continues to ignore satellite data.]
Changing Weather
Historic snows has ‘natural climate change’ deniers spinning
By Staff Writer, ICECAP Feb 15, 2015
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/new-and-cool/historic_snows_has_climate_pause_deniers_spinning/
First of all as noted, the 90.2 inches of snow in the last 23 days in four nor’easters came from 5.02 inches of water. This 18 to 1 ratio is well above the normal 10-1 ratio in the ‘average storm. It is because the air is so cold with snow during the events falling with temperatures mostly in the teens.
The Origin of this Winter’s Weather Anomalies: Is There A Global Warming Connection?
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Feb 16, 2015
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-origin-of-this-winters-weather.html
[SEPP Comment: See link immediately below.]
A melting Arctic and weird weather: the plot thickens
By Jennifer Francis, The Conversation, US, Feb 18, 2015 [H/t Clyde Spencer]
[SEPP Comment: The Research Professor at Rutgers University with funding from NSF and NASA cannot bother with accurately reporting the recent ice increase in the Arctic or the melting of the 1920s. Rossby waves, the basis for her speculation, were identified in the 1930s.]
“The New England Glacier”! Dr. Ryan Maue: “Arctic Cold On Lockdown…Brutal”. Global Warming Gets Obliterated! Great Lakes “100% Frozen Over Next Week”! –
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 19, 2015
The New York Times’ Laughable Climate Change Coverage
The end of snow? Not quite.
By Ira Stoll, Reason.com, Feb 16, 2015 [H/t GWPF]
http://reason.com/archives/2015/02/16/the-new-york-timess-comical-climate-chan
Whatever Happened to El Nino?
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Feb 20, 2015
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/02/whatever-happened-to-el-nino.html
[SEPP Comment: The hoped-for big global warming event was not big time.]
African nations to invest in meteorology to ‘save lives’
By Staff Writers, Praia, Cape Verde (AFP), Feb 14, 2015
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/African_nations_to_invest_in_meteorology_to_save_lives_999.html
[SEPP Comment: Climate models are of little use.]
Great Lakes Rapidly Freezing Over
By Roy Spencer Global Warming, Feb 19, 2015
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2015/02/great-lakes-rapidly-freezing-over/
[SEPP Comment: Great Lakes are largely frozen over again this winter, as it happened last winter. Another record?]
Long, Cold Winter Makes Senator Look Like a Fool
By James Taylor, Somewhat Reasonable, Feb 20, 2015
http://blog.heartland.org/2015/02/long-cold-winter-makes-senator-look-like-a-fool/
Urbanization may affect the initiation of thunderstorms
By Staff Writers, London, UK (SPX), Feb 20, 2015
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Urbanization_may_affect_the_initiation_of_thunderstorms_999.html
Changing Climate
Researcher finds evidence of climate change in ancient Northern China
By Staff Writers, Waco TX (SPX), Feb 19, 2015
The Intermittent Little Ice Age
By Tony Brown, Climate Etc. Feb 19, 2015
http://judithcurry.com/2015/02/19/the-intermittent-little-ice-age/#more-17805
[SEPP Comment: Temperature variation may have been the major characteristic of the Little Ice Age.]
Changing Seas
Evidenced-based Sea Level Rise Projections Remain Low
By Paul C. “Chip” Knappenberger and Patrick J. Michaels, CATO, Feb 20, 2015
http://www.cato.org/blog/evidenced-based-sea-level-rise-projections-remain-low
One Hundred Years In The Norwegian Sea
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 17, 2015
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/one-hundred-years-in-the-norwegian-sea/
[SEPP Comment: Evidence of dramatic temperature changes in the Norwegian Sea.]
Science -vs- PR hype doesn’t hold up: Satellite images reveal ocean acidification from space
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Feb 17, 2015
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
New paper demonstrates East Antarctica was ~3.5-4°C warmer than the present during the last interglacial
By Staff Writer, The Hockey Schtick, Feb 17, 2015 [H/t GWPF]
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/new-paper-demonstrates-east-antarctica.html
Link to paper: Climate dependent contrast in surface mass balance in East Antarctica over the past 216 kyr
By Parrenin, et al, Climate of the Past, Feb 17, 2015
http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/11/377/2015/cpd-11-377-2015.html
Discussion open until Apr 14, 2015
New Paper Confirms the Hiatus Is Not Occurring at the Poles, Undermining the Efforts of Cowtan and Way
By Bob Tisdale, WUWT, Feb 16, 2015
Sea Ice Extent Trends
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/sea-ice-extent-trends/
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Eye roller: Study finds climate change induced ‘extreme weather’ may dramatically reduce wheat production
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Feb 19, 2015
Un-Science or Non-Science?
New York City Could See 6-Foot Sea Rise, Tripling of Heat Waves by 2100
If left unconstrained, global warming could wreak havoc on the Big Apple
By Colin Sullivan and ClimateWire, Scientific American, Feb 19, 2015 [H/t Climate Depot]
Link to Report: Volume 1336 Building the Knowledge Base for Climate Resiliency: New York City Panel on Climate Change 2015 Report
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Feb 16, 2015
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.2015.1336.issue-1/issuetoc
Data, Models, and the Australian ABC
By Cameron Goodison, WUWT, Feb 19, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/19/data-models-and-the-australian-abc/
Scientists alarmed at short-term ozone-eroding gases
By Richard Ingham, Paris (AFP), Feb 16, 2015
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Scientists_alarmed_at_short-term_ozone-eroding_gases_999.html
[SEPP Comment: Do the gases actual affect the ozone layer or is this an effort to expand the Montreal Protocol to include carbon dioxide?]
Lowering Standards
NOAA & NASA-GISS: Helping the Warming Narrative
By James Rust, Master Resource, Feb 20, 2015
https://www.masterresource.org/noaanasa-giss/2014-warming/
The Oz guide to climate change
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Feb 16, 2015
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/2/16/the-oz-guide-to-climate-change.html
“I love the way they present pure hypothesis as settled scientific fact. This technique really is such a giveaway that the document is propaganda rather than education.”
[SEPP Comment: The Australian Academy of Science.]
Australian Academy of Science hides model failures, other rainfall predictions, feedbacks evidence
By Jo Nova, He Blog, Feb 17, 2015
Australian ABC Researcher fails Research UPDATED
By Geoff Brown, Australian Climate Sceptics, Feb 16, 2015
http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/australian-abc-researcher-fails-research.html
Bill Nye Tells MSNBC To Say Climate Change, Not Global Warming, When It’s Cold Out
By Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, Feb 17, 2015 [H/t Catherine French]
Bill Nye Pleads With MSNBC: More Climate Hysteria, Please!
By Scott Whitlock, MRC NewsBusters, Feb 16, 2015 [H/t ICECAP]
Mercury News editorial: Scientists must solve growing trust problem
Editorial, San Jose Mercury News, Feb 12, 2015 [H/t Climate Depot]
[SEPP Comment: Contrary to the statements of its outgoing President, the politicized activities of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) have contributed to the credibility problem.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
An ocean of plastic
By Staff Writers, Santa Barbara CA (SPX), Feb 15, 2015
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/An_ocean_of_plastic_999.html
[SEPP Comment: Report ignores the greatest sources – China and Indonesia.]
Can science solve climate change?
Editorial, Washington Post, Feb 16, 2015 [Conrad Potemra]
[SEPP Comment: Geo-engineering cannot solve climate change unless the cause of climate change is clear, which the newspaper does not understand.]
Reporting On So-Called Climate Reporters: Update 3
By William Briggs, His Blog, Feb 20, 2015
http://wmbriggs.com/post/15337/
[SEPP Comment: The press is defending the Orthodoxy.]
Scientists try to unravel warming’s impact on jet stream
By Climent Sabourin, Montreal (AFP), Feb 12, 2015
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Scientists_try_to_unravel_warmings_impact_on_jet_stream_999.html
[SEPP Comment: Warming that is not occurring in the atmosphere, is causing changes in the atmosphere?]
Communicating Better to the Public – Do a Poll?
Public warmer on ‘climate change’ than ‘global warming’
By H. Roger Segelken, Cornell Chronicle, Feb 6, 2015
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/02/public-warmer-climate-change-global-warming
[SEPP Comment: Could it be that the public realizes that climate change is normal?]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Climate change hampering world food production: scientists
By Jean-Louis Santini, San Jose, United States (AFP) Feb 16, 2015
http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Climate_change_hampering_world_food_production_scientists_999.html
[SEPP Comment: Is the author totally ignorant of conditions during the Little Ice Age?]
Divestment ethics and realities
By Paul Driessen, WUWT, Feb 16, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/16/divestment-ethics-and-realities/
Our consensus
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Feb 17, 2015
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/2/17/our-consensus.html
[SEPP Comment: a mega-tsunami broadcast on BBC appears to be comical among geophysicists.]
You Couldn’t Make This Stuff Up
By Tony Thomas, Quadrant, Feb 17, 2015
http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2015/02/couldnt-make-stuff/
USA Today: Megadrought may plague parts of the US.
By Staff Writer, ICECAP, Feb 14, 2015
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog/usatoday_megadrought_may_plague_parts_of_the_us/
Mega Drought in the Pacific Southwest?
By Patrick Michaels, CATO, Feb 14, 2015
http://www.cato.org/blog/mega-drought-pacific-southwest
Link to report: Megadrought may plague parts of USA
By Doyle Rice, USA Today, Feb 12, 2015 [H/t ICECAP]
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2015/02/12/western-plains-drought-climate-change/23298093/
What historic megadroughts in the western US tell us about our climate future
By Jason Smerdon, The Conversation, Feb 16, 2015 [H/t Clyde Spencer]
[SEPP Comment: See link immediately above.]
Top 10 Global Warming Lies That May Shock You
By James Taylor, Forbes, Feb 9, 2015
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2015/02/09/top-10-global-warming-lies-that-may-shock-you/
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
Cyclone Marcia: Climate crank wishing suffering on “deniers”
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 19, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/19/cyclone-marcia-climate-crank-wishing-suffering-on-deniers/
The readers’ editor on … when a joke in a comment thread goes beyond mere tastelessness
By Chris Elliott, Guardian, UK, Feb 13, 2015 [H/t Bishop Hill]
[SEPP Comment: The opening sentence is a joke. There are few groups that learn less from the past than the global warming promoters such as the author of the sentence.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
Government launches climate change photography contest
By Chris Cheesman, Amateur Photographer, Feb 18, 2015
[SEPP Comment: Propaganda – eliciting emotional response to a scientific issue.]
White House Announces ‘Goal of Ensuring Climate Smart Citizenry’
By Eric Scheiner, CNS News, Feb 17, 2015
Expanding the Orthodoxy
National and environmental security, two sides of same coin
By Amanda D. Rodewald, The Hill, Feb 18, 2015
[SEPP Comment: Accepting non-science on national security from the Pentagon.]
Limiting the Federal Government’s Fiscal Exposure by Better Managing Climate Change Risks
This information appears as published in the 2015 High Risk Report.
By Staff Writers, GAO, No date [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.gao.gov/highrisk/limiting_federal_government_fiscal_exposure/why_did_study
Section on climate change starts on page 67 and runs 27 pages
Scientists call for international authority on climate geoengineering
By Jean-Louis Santini, San Jose, United States (AFP), Feb 15, 2015
Questioning European Green
The Madness of Europe’s Industrial Massacre – Roger Helmer MEP
By Roger Helmer, UK Independence Party, European Parliament, Jan 26, 2015 [H/t Anne Debeil]
“The aluminium industry in Europe has lost 34 per cent of its capacity in the last seven years and forty thousand jobs have been lost. That’s not because demand has reduced; demand is increasing, and being filled with imports which now amount to more than 50 per cent.”
Britain still needs shale gas
Prices may have fallen, but it’s the cleanest and safest of fossil fuels
By Matt Ridley, Rational Optimist, Feb 15, 2015
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/britain-still-needs-shale-gas.aspx
“Gas really is rather special: it provides us in this country with 84 per cent of our domestic heat, 27 per cent of our electricity, much of the feedstock for our synthetic consumer products, and pretty well all of the nitrogen fertiliser that has fed the world and largely banished famine. All this from a surprisingly small number of surprisingly small holes in the ground and the seabed, drilled with fewer accidents and spills than most other energy sources.”
Green shoots of decay
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Feb 19, 2015
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/2/19/green-shoots-of-decay.html
Happy Mr Farage
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Feb 14, 2015
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/2/14/happy-mr-farage.html
“Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing the world today. It is not just a threat to the environment, but also to our national and global security, to poverty eradication and economic prosperity.” From an accord to be signed by the prime minister, deputy prime minister and leader of the opposition.
Sturgeon cries for help
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Feb 17, 2015
http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2015/2/17/sturgeon-cries-for-help.html
[SEPP Comment: Problems with the energy policy of Scotland.]
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Fossil Fuel Hysteria
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Feb 17, 2015
https://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/fossil-fuel-hysteria/
Kitzhaber Scandal Exposes The Seedier Side Of Clean Energy
By Kerry Jackson, IBD, Feb 19, 2015
Green Jobs
Three Military Bases Partner with DOE to Train Veterans for Solar Jobs
By Gail Reitenbach, Power Mag, Feb 17, 2015
[SEPP Comment: Is this similar to the military training veterans for gasoline service station jobs immediately prior to gasoline crisis in the 1970s?]
Non-Green Jobs
Study: Obama’s Carbon Rules Could Cost Thousands of Manufacturing Jobs in Your State
By Kelsey Harkness, Daily Signal, Feb 17, 2015
Funding Issues
Citi unveils $100B program to fight climate change
By Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill, Feb 18, 2015
The Political Games Continue
Republicans To Investigate Climate Data Tampering By NASA
By Michael, Bastasch, Daily Caller, Dec 20, 2015
http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/20/republicans-to-investigate-climate-data-tampering-by-nasa/
Litigation Issues
EPA Critics Float New Strategy To Challenge Agency Rules Using Data Law
By Staff Writers, Inside EPA, Feb 19, 2015
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-critics-float-new-strategy-challenge-agency-rules-using-data-law
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Buying RINs Cheaper than Ethanol
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Feb 20, 2015
https://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/buying-rins-cheaper-than-ethanol/
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Fawlty Towers and Ivory Towers
By Charles Battig, American Thinker, Feb 19, 2015
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/02/fawlty_towers_and_ivory_towers.html
Ameren Comments on Suggested Revisions to the EPA’s Clean Power Plan
By Aaron Larson and Gail Reitenbach, Power Mag, Feb 17, 2015
EPA’s mercury rules: Dumb and dumber
By Pat Michaels, The Hill, Feb 10, 2015
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/232211-epas-mercury-rules-dumb-and-dumber
Note to EPA: Ideological fervor is not an alternative source of energy
Editorial, Washington Examiner, Feb 20, 2015
Obama EPA Rules Leave Low-Income Americans In The Cold
By Mac Zimmerman, IBD, Feb 19, 2015
FACT SHEET: Clean Power Plan & Carbon Pollution Standards Key Dates
By Staff Writers, EPA, Feb 17, 2015
Energy Issues – Non-US
BP Energy Outlook
By Staff Writers, BP, February 2015
BP says huge rise in energy demand at odds with climate change fight
Annual outlook forecasts unsustainable rise in carbon emissions, fuelled by 40% rise in energy demand that it says can only be met by fossil fuels
By Larry Elliott, Guardian, UK, Feb 17, 2015 [H/t GWPF]
Spencer Dale, BP’s chief economist, said: “After three years of high and deceptively steady oil prices, the fall of recent months is a stark reminder that the norm in energy markets is one of continuous change.”
BP: CO2 reduction efforts futile
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 18, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/18/bp-co2-reduction-efforts-futile/
BP 2035 Outlook Foresees Only 8% Renewable Energy By 2035! No End In Sight For Fossil Fuel Growth!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 18, 2015
EROI — A Tool To Predict The Best Energy Mix
By James Conca, Forbes, Feb 11, 2015 [H/t Energy and Environmental Newsletter]
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2015/02/11/eroi-a-tool-to-predict-the-best-energy-mix/
Strange Allies in the War on Carbon Fuels
By Viv Forbes, WUWT, Feb 17, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/17/strange-allies-in-the-war-on-carbon-fuels/
‘Anti-petroleum’ movement a growing security threat to Canada, RCMP say
By Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail, Feb 17, 2015 [H/t GWPF]
Dealing with Davey
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Feb 18, 2015
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/2/18/dealing-with-davey.html
“Of course Davey’s words are aimed at winning votes from green-minded voters, so this is a case of doing one thing and saying another; that’s just what politicians do (and why they shouldn’t be entrusted with anything more important than the opening of a summer fete).”
Tinkering at the edges of energy use
By Martin Livermore, Scientific Alliance, Feb 20, 2015
http://scientific-alliance.org/node/908
[SEPP Comment: Except for increasing costs to the consumer for the appliance, will energy efficient appliance have a significant impact in a world in which prosperity is expanding?]
Energy Issues — US
The High Cost of Energy Illiteracy
By Steven Hayward, Power Line, Feb 16, 2015
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/02/the-high-cost-of-energy-illiteracy.php
Washington’s Control of Energy
White House sees wide-ranging benefits in energy boom
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Feb 19, 2015
[SEPP Comment: Which it opposed!]
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
North Dakota oil boom deflating
By Daniel J. Graeber, Williston, N.D. (UPI), Feb 19, 2015
http://www.oilgasdaily.com/reports/North_Dakota_oil_boom_deflating_999.html
[SEPP Comment: Rigs are down, even though production is 1.2 million barrels per day, an all-time high.]
China to Increase Shale Gas Production
By Laura Friedman, JDSupra, Feb 18, 2015
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/china-to-increase-shale-gas-production-64823/
Natural Gas Can Be The Energy Policy That Works
By Mark Perry, IBD, Feb 17, 2015 [H/t Timothy Wise]
Ohio court strikes down local fracking bans
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Feb 17, 2015
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/232945-ohio-court-strikes-down-local-fracking-bans
Return of King Coal?
Mississippi Supreme Court Strikes Down Kemper County IGCC Rate Increase
By Thomas Overton, Power Mag. Feb 12, 2015
Oil Spills, Gas Leaks & Consequences
A Keystone Veto Puts America at Risk
By Jeffrey Folks, American Thinker, Feb 20, 2015
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/02/a_keystone_veto_puts_america_at_risk.html
2 fiery train wrecks in 3 days demonstrate the need for Keystone XL
By Thomas Lifson, American Thinker, Feb 17, 2015 [H/t Timothy Wise]
After West Virginia Oil Train Derailment, Sign Keystone Bill
Editorial, IBD, Feb 18, 2015 [H/t Timothy Wise]
Nuclear Energy and Fears
The lesson of Fukushima — Nuclear energy is safe
By Kelvin Kemm, C-Fact, Feb 16, 2015 [H/t ACSP]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Go-ahead for world’s biggest offshore wind farm in British waters… and it could cost YOU £10billion in green levies
Energy Secretary Ed Davey granted planning permission for the scheme
The plan is for 400 turbines to be erected 80 miles off the Yorkshire coast
It is set to power 1.8million homes – 2.5% of Britain’s electricity requirement
Huge scheme could cost bill payers more than £10.5bn in green subsidies
By Ben Spencer, Daily Mail, UK, Feb 19, 2015 [H/t GWPF]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Electric car benefits? Just myths
By Bjørn Lomborg, USA Today, Feb 19, 2015
Link to paper used for pollution arguments: Life cycle air quality impacts of conventional and alternative light-duty transportation in the United States
By Tessum, et al, PNAS, Nov 8, 2014
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/52/18490.full.pdf+html
[SEPP comment: The calculations of deaths from increased ozone and particulate matter are highly questionable.]
Carbon Schemes
How High Costs Killed This Clean Coal Power Plant Project
By Nicolas Loris, Daily Signal, Feb 16, 2015 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://dailysignal.com/2015/02/16/how-high-costs-killed-this-clean-coal-power-plant-project/
Health, Energy, and Climate
Is asthma being overdiagnosed?
By Staff Writer, NHS, UK, Feb 2, 2015 [H/t Dennis Ambler
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2015/02February/Pages/Is-asthma-being-over-diagnosed.aspx
Oh Mann!
Iconic graph at center of climate debate
By Staff Writers, University Park PA (SPX), Feb 20, 2015
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Iconic_graph_at_center_of_climate_debate_999.html
[SEPP Comment: False claims that the research was found to be “honest and solid.” The“solid” methodology was shown to produce a hockey-stick from noise. AAAS sinks lower.]
Mann tries to revive his dead hockey stick with a press release
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Feb 15, 2015
Environmental Industry
Canada: Climate Extremists a credible threat
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 20, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/20/canada-climate-extremists-a-credible-threat/
Greenpeace Activists Banned from Entering India
By Staff Writers, New India Express, Feb 18, 2015 [H/t GWPF]
NRDC’s “Laughable” Defense against Sen. Vitter’s Collusion Charges
By William Yeatman, Cooler Heads, Feb 19, 2015
Peeking behind the ‘green’ curtain
Uncovering the Kitzhaber connections
By Chris Horner, Washington Times, Feb 17, 2015
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/17/chris-horner-uncovering-john-kitzhabers-environmen/
Other News that May Be of Interest
China’s Hypersonic Glide Vehicle: A Threat to the United States
By Debalina Ghoshal, New Delhi, India (SPX), Feb 18, 2015
Furman: Economy looking strong, if Washington cooperates
By Peter Schroeder, The Hill, Feb 19, 2015
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/233212-furman-economy-looking-strong-if-washington-cooperates
Link to report: Economic Report of the President
Together with the Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisers, February 2015
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/cea_2015_erp.pdf
How much debt did each president leave for the country?
By Jason Russell, Washington Examiner, Feb 16, 2015
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BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
Finding winners and losers in global land use
By Staff Writers, Columbus OH (SPX), Feb 18, 2015
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Finding_winners_and_losers_in_global_land_use_999.html
[SEPP Comment: Nonsense]
Russian researchers expose breakthrough U.S. spying program
By Joseph Menn, Reuters, Feb 16, 2015
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/16/us-usa-cyberspying-idUSKBN0LK1QV20150216
[SEPP Comment: Is that computer glitch from the NSA?
###################################################
It can be proved that the case against CO2 is pseudoscientific. If the plaintiff’s lawyers aren’t getting this message across to the courts the plaintiffs need to change lawyers.
In one of Castenada’s novels there is a story about a young man who left his poor village in Mexico and went to the city to get an education.
On his return to the village years later he found that the villagers were in thrall to a man who had a book, out of which he read long passages. This book it appeared contained all they needed to solve their problems. However the young man noticed that the man was holding the book upside down.
“Your hero is a fraud: He cannot read” he declared “And I can prove it, he is holding the book upside down!”
“What difference does it make, to a man who can read, which way up the book is? ” retorted the man, and the villagers cheered…
The problem is Terry, that when people reject all of science already, a scientific refutation of global warming is (politically) meaningless.
I too have been appalled by the standards of debate over this, and other, issues. I have come to a terrifying conclusion.
Perhaps less than 10% of the population understands science at all, and of that 10% probably less than 10% actually understand the mathematical principles involved in the AGW proposition. And most of those are not in climate science.
This is ultimately both something that has always been the case with science and indeed rational thought, and something that is deeply worrying right now, because we are in a deep crisis as a society and need better understanding than that.
Humanity en masse proceeds along more or less bigoted lines according to the fashionable prejudices of the age. The AGW protagonists understand this: their business is to move the fashionable bigotry along to suit their agenda.
If we step back a minute and regard the implications of what I propose to be the case, they are these: The vast majority of humanity is incapable for one reason or another of understanding the science and technology that forms the backdrop to their lives. And in a democracy that means they are more or less unfit to vote on matters that affect it.
A small minority of ‘movers and shakers’ – and these days they are (to borrow Jilly Coopers terminology) the ‘Tellystocracy’ , the media luvvies and those who use mass media to ‘inform’ public debate – are the ones who count. They are the new elite, the new lords and masters of the brave new world, and it is this group that has been so thoroughly targeted and infiltrated by all and any group with a political or commercial axe to grind. It doesn’t matter what some obscure group of scientists believe, or what the mass of people believe, what matters is what this group do in terms of forming (rather than informing) public opinion.
This group then are by and large the group that actually carries out political change. They are in charge of the fashionable bigotry that comprises what we have come to know and love as political correctness. That vast and loosely affiliated propaganda machine that tells us what to think about, and what to think about it.
What we need to do if we are to introduce truth into this tissue of lies and deceit, is to make the case to the media/political luvvies that in fact their particular brand of bigotry is deeply dangerous to themselves as a class.
In the case of AGW we have two main avenues through which this is happening.
First of all the man in the street is getting fed up with falling standards of living, and his winters seeming just as cold wet and miserable as the summers are, despite claims it was the warmest year on record.
Secondly the more astute members of the tellystocracy are becoming aware that infrastructure is for everyone, and that includes them. Victorian sewers were to protect the elite of the day from disease, by eliminating it from the great unwashed. This is a potent line of attack – Wind turbines and solar panels become not source of individual profit, but a disaster for all including those that profit from them.
Ultimately the game is this: Science in its broadest terms is nothing more and nothing less than a means of predicting the future. Science says if we do this or that, the other will happen. The complex mathematical laws we deduce, infer or discover (according to your metaphysical picture of what Laws are) have no justification beyond the fact that they work, and what they say will come to pass, comes to pass, mostly.
Science that fails to predict anything is untestable, and if it fails to produce the result that reality provides, it’s junk science or no science at all. You can summarise this by saying that in the long term reality trumps bullshit.
Ultimately AGW either produces correct predictions or its junk, It’s looking to be junk. However that doesn’t stop people believing in it because it’s fashionable bigotry. But here we invoke Darwin. Societies that fail to realise what reality is, and cling to fashionable bigotry, will suffer accordingly. There are signs that the whole West will in fact ultimately collapse in an orgy of self destructive mutual deception and liberal angst. Or perhaps it will wake up and smell the coffee.
And in the end, that is the conundrum. It is true to say that people are reasonably easily led, and that even those that lead them, are themselves subject to fashionable bigotry. That is a fact of life that we have to deal with. In the end we have only one yardstick that works to dispel the fog of Belief In Bullshit and that is Reality herself, and Reality is a hard mistress. If She needs to destroy entire societies that are so infected with irrational bullshit that they can no longer support themselves at all, She will.
I don’t like to get political here, but this is to me the great argument for not having the sort of monolithic world government that the cultural Marxists of the UN and the ‘liberal and social’ democracies seem to espouse. that and we all go down together. Whereas having political islands of national ideologies at least allows for some diversity of political thought, and if the West becomes so decadent not because of Capitalism, but because of Marxism and its descendants itself, that it is in danger of falling to a stronger culture, maybe one of those political islands will have the tools and the strength to resist and prove to have the next line of fashionable bigotry to deal with the new reality
From my perspective there are tow completely different dimensions in play here, and it helps not to confuse them.
There is the technical and scientific reality of the data: that the world ain’t warming any more, never warmed very much, and windmills and solar panels are a complete waste of time and money, and destructive to boot, and if we want to stay alive in the absence of fossil fuel the logical alternative is nuclear power.
That these things are provably and demonstrably true is, however, irrelevant to the second dimension, which is what people think.
Or can be induced to believe. And here there is in fact a world war in progress, World War III. Its not being fought with weapons (much) that kill, directly, but with weapons that corrupt thinking. It is a war of propaganda and competing ideologies, none of which have a particularly strong basis in Reality, because Reality is pretty damned complicated, and its easier to get people to believe in simple stuff. ‘Four legs good – two legs bad’ sort of stuff.
I have to say that I have more or less given up on the science: The jury is in for people to understand the maths and the physics and how real science works. AGW is a crock of shit, and that’s that.
The real game is the war for hearts and minds. And that is a game of psychology, propaganda, money, power, politics, greed, fear, uncertainty and doubt. If we can’t win it, it will in the end destroy Western civilisation, and so it should. If we have no answer for lies, we don’t deserve to make it.
Once we had a system that worked. The brightest and best, and a few of the rich, got excellent educations and were indoctrinated with a culture of care for those less fortunate, and a sense of duty towards the masses. They did what they considered to be right, after duly listening to the problems.
Today that is destroyed by egalitarianism, which ensures that no one at all gets a good education that everyone cannot afford. Except for a very very few – too few – people who espouse state education but manage to avoid it in the case of their children. Worse, they dont educate them into the actualities of science and technology even then, they educate them into the practical techniques of propaganda. We have in short a generation of peole who are highly skilled in the manipulation of public opinion, but no idea how a smart phone works. People ideally placed to control and dominate a society, and take from it all its riches, but without actually having even the most basic understanding of how those riches are created.
Such a situation is dynamically unstable. We, the technologists, are not screaming out for recognition ‘because its unfair’ or ‘because its morally indefensible’. No, we have a much quieter but devastatingly powerful message. “If you don’t take at least some notice of Reality, you will in fact die of ignorance, and likely take us with you”.
*shrug* If they don’t listen, it’s Goodnight Vienna. We wont be the first culture to commit racial suicide in pursuit of idiotic beliefs.
Leo Smith,
WUWT has had more than a million reader comments. You’re one in a million! Thanks for posting that, I’m in complete agreement.
The problem isn’t science; that is 100% on the side of skeptics of MMGW. The problem is human nature. Some people/groups have that figured out, and that’s bad news for the rest of us.
Yep, truth is stranger than fiction. Who would’ve thought that the first black President of the United States would be an overt fashionable bigot … as is anyone who uses the d-word.
Leo, your comment should be a post in itself. It should be widely read. This is so much what needs to be understood. Thank you.
That was awesome, Leo. Thanks for taking the time to write and post it.
It’s worse than you think…
+100
WOW !!!
Spot on Leo. Being one of those 90% of uninformed laymen, I can see that we are being lead down the wrong path based on social guilt, not science. However more of us are getting beyond shaking our heads and laughing at the green insanity. Thanks in part by folks like Anthony and contributors at WUWT, cold reality is slowly settling in.among us low-lifers. We aren’t stupid, we are just too busy, (distracted) trying to feed our kids and keep them warm.
The de Lange and Carter report says:
“Ocean basin volume changes occur too slowly to be significant over human lifetimes and it is therefore the other two mechanisms that drive contemporary concerns about sea-level rise.”
The report does not elaborate on ocean basin volume, it just dismisses it as too slow.
I don’t think we know that.
Yes, we do.
The global mean glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA)” correction is now 0.3 mm/yr. The GIA uncertainty is at least 50 percent.
See http://sealevel.colorado.edu/content/what-glacial-isostatic-adjustment-gia-and-why-do-you-correct-it
70% of the world is covered by ocean. We simply do not measure the sea bottom. We have some idea of where it is rising, and where it is falling, but no measurement.
GIA is a different subject.
The question is attribution.
====================
That is how propaganda works. You always mix in a little truth with the outright fabrications. The truth is the hook that pulls the unwary into the boat of lies.
I am afraid Bill Nye got it wrong in recommending MSNBC exclusively use the term “Climate Change”. What he should have recommended is that they use Climate change when it is cold and “Global Warming” when it is hot. Nye should have stuck to children shows, he is a lousy propagandist.
Climate science says, “If I am right at least once even if just in one discreet instance no amount of experimentation and/or observation can ever prove me wrong.”
He could pull off a really nice acid base titration in the old days. But you could tell as he aged he would always overshoot because of the phenolphthalein indicators deep pink colour .
Amazing actor though.
a SOLAR ENERGY CAR made by amateurs have crossed Australia. Why CAR´S FACTORIES do not want to know that?. Petroleum´s economic interests. Shame politicians
And Lewis and Clark walked across the continent. Took them three years. How many people in Seattle will die waiting for medicine being shipped from Washington DC when it takes that long to get one package from one coast to another?
The Iditarod trail race in Alaska is being run by dogsleds to commemorate the heroic work of men and trail dogs up north to save people from death before fossil fuels empowered ways to save lives. How many billion people do you demand die in order for YOU (tonyon) to feel better? Not to actually DO ANYTHING better, nor to actually do something that helps people – because your actions (the policies you have been told to demand) will actually kill people – but just so you can “feel better” ?
There is a whole list of links to articles at the end of this article that raises grave concerns about the methodologies and conclusions supporting the AGW view.
And your comeback is an article from a site that promotes alternative energy?
Really?
I suggest you hit those links.
Or so you’ve been told.
You don’t KNOW anything about it.
Some glaciers shrink while some expand.
Is mankind responsible for the glacial retreat since the last ice age? No?
Well, it’s still occurring and will continue.
Does the solar car have headlights?
if so, I wonder why.
…global warming (“good” no longer spend cold)… the discharge of pollutants into the air with its greenhouse effect is melting the Poles. This large amount of freshwater to the ocean could stop deep sea currents which depend on a delicate balance between fresh ans salty water and temperatures. Heat from the Sun reaches the equator and currents distribute it throughout the Planet, then…goodbye to our warm climate. The horizontal oceanic currents produced by winds and some others by the rotation of the Earth, rotating all by the Coriolis effect, will continue…but the vertical currents produced by the sinking of horizontal currents of dense salty water that reaches the Poles where the water is sweeter, less salty, and form deep currents would stop (why are the Grand Banks fishing in cold latitudes?…because over there is the POLAR ICE, freshwater, different sweet/salty density, salty dense water arriving and sinks in a little salty water environment, nutrients that are removed from the bottom and rise to the surface, phytoplankton that feed on nutrients, zooplankton that feed on phytoplankton, fish that feed on zooplankton)… No polar ice over there will be no vertical currents…could reduce the rise of nutrients to the surface and therefore PHYTOPLANKTON SHORTAGE MAY DECREASING ITS VITAL CONTRIBUTION WITH OXYGEN TO THE ATMOSPHERE (90 %)…fish…winds in some places of more warm latitudes carry out the surface hot water permitting the outcropping to surface of water and plankton (the upwelling) from the bottom cold current coming from the Pole, forming other Banks fishing… Without polar ice the sea it almost stratified into horizontal layers with little energetic movement of water masses in vertical which is what removes fertilizer nutrients from the sea bottom… Besides lowering salinity of the sea, for that great contribution with freshwater to melt the Poles, will increase evaporation (ebullioscopy: the less salt has, more evaporates) producing gigantic storm clouds as have never seen, that together with altering of the ocean currents, could cool areas of the Planet causing a new ice age… Warming…invasion of tropical diseases carried by their transfer agents, already without the “general winter” containing them would fall upon the World like a plague…can produce a cooling, a new ice age, like living at the North Pole…and less oxygen in the atmosphere… Is not known to be worse… Go choosing.
“deep sea currents which depend on a delicate balance”
Now that’s just funny, I don’t care who you are.
Now, now. Deep sea currents may have changed significantly in the past. BUT! What tonyon’s handlers failed to tell him (her?) was that those changes happened ONLY AFTER the huge five-mile thick mid-contental glaciers over Chicago and Hudson Bay suddenly melted and flooded the Atlantic Ocean. See. There are no mid-continental glacier now to melt.
So that little projection can’t happen. It is typical of tonyon: He cannot understand the limits of what he has been told to repeat, does not have the interst nor the inteligence to understand and research the basic information he has been told to repeat, and his handlers don’t understand (don’t want to understand) the problems with their religion, and the Big Government “scientists” who supposedly DO understand the details and DO supposedly know the facts don’t want those details released to the general public.
But, there is no conspiracy among the 75 out of 13,500 climate scientists who are the only 97% that believe in their religion of CAGW … Nah.
Tonyon.
No. You are wrong. You are wrong in your details, in your exaggeration of the future trends of these details, and in the effect of the future trend of your details. You are wrong in your language, in the effect of the language you have been told to say, and in what you have been told.
By the way, BECAUSE of the recent increases in CO2 in the atmosphere, ALL PLANT LIFE (including your feared phytoplankton) is growing 15 to 27% faster, taller, greener, longer, with more leaves, longer stems, more fruit and seeds, and more drought-resistant! Thanks to CO2, we have more food, more fodder, more feed, more farms, longer growing seasons, more drought-resistance crops grown in more places over longer growing seasons more efficiently plowed, planted, produced, harvested, transported, stored, processed more safely, and served more efficiently than ever before.
Your words will condemn the world’s poor back to the Dark Ages of squalor and cold, with short 25 year lives spent huddling in parasite-ridden rags on dirt floors dying of starvation, the cold, and illness with no water, no lights, no heat, no knowledge.
Your words, your effort, and the poor quality of the terms in your “details” (what you claim is happening) proves you have been told many untruths. We can teach you the truth. But, are you willing to listen? Who pays the people who have been promoting their religion to you? What is your scientific and technical knowledge? Or do you merely believe everything Big Government tells you without question or comment? Or do you merely believe everything half of Big Government and Big Media and Big Finance tells you, because that half of Big Government and Big Finance tells you the other half of Big Government is always lying?
What was that all about tonyon.
[?? .mod]
Computer climate models predicting 6’ sea level increases for NYC are most likely based on major melting of the ice sheets. Let’s check in with the global experts on GCMs, IPCC AR5 TS.6.
“In some aspects of the climate system, including changes in drought, changes in tropical cyclone activity, Antarctic warming, Antarctic sea ice extent, and Antarctic mass balance, confidence in attribution to human influence remains low due to model¬ling uncertainties and low agreement between scientific studies. {10.3.1, 10.5.2, 10.6.1}”
“In Antarctica, available data are inadequate to assess the status of change of many characteristics of sea ice (e.g., thickness and volume). {4.2.3}”
“There is low confidence in semi-empirical model projections of global mean sea level rise, and no consensus in the scientific com¬munity about their reliability. {13.5.2, 13.5.3}”
By their own admission, IPCC GCMs cannot predict and IPCC experts cannot agree on the future behavior of ice sheets, sea ice and sea levels.
http://www.writerbeat.com/articles/3713-CO2-Feedback-Loop
Thanks, good roundup.
What ever heppened to this? A battery that can be charged in a few minutes.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/revolutionary-electrical-invention/query/wildcard
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/jeb-bushs-debut-speech-more-war-party-prattle/
Jeb Bush’s foreign policy team is a nice mix of the guys who invaded Iraq the first time, the second time & the guys who sold Saddam Anthrax, weapons, munitions and vehicles.
Perhaps the GOP is trying to throw the election
Even Alan Greenspan now says everything is going to go to shyt
So maybe they just don’t want to get blamed for it
Oil & Gas Industry Gave 10 Times More Money to Senators Voting for Keystone XL
http://maplight.org/content/oil-and-gas-industry-gave-10-times-more-money-to-senators-voting-for-keystone-xl
Conflict of interest, John Boehner’s Personal Investment in Keystone XL
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/07/25/john-boehner-lies-america-personal-investment-keystone-xl.html
Just found this: US sea level north of New York City ‘jumped by 128mm’
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31604953
We were on an island in Maine, didn’t notice this!!