The "long whimper" of failing climate alarmism

real-climate-the-scream

Guest essay by Gary Pearse (elevated from a comment)

On the thread Yale University Closes Climate Change Institute longtime WUWT commenter Gary Pearse gave a synopsis of the anemic state of climate activism these days. As I published that article, I had thought to myself that the closing of this Yale Climate Institute signals a sea-change, one that has been long in coming. Gary cemented those thoughts, and I have reproduced his comments here with added links to his references in order to provide the perspective.


Gary Pearse

This is part of the long whimper. Climategate in 2009 and the “ridiculously resilient” Pause were pretty much the straws that cracked the climate’s back. The timing of both marked the beginning of the pandemic of chronic clinical depression that struck an unknown number of prominent climate scientists more than halfway through their careers that we don’t hear of anymore.

Many were Ozzies- for some odd reason more than half the climate industry is Australian -(CSIRO canned…wait for it…350 of them – more than three worlds’ worth for a science with one linear equation and a one chemical element to deal with). And they have an evermore increasingly ridiculous Climate Science Centre of Excellence that sticks out like the statue of Saddam’s thumb that you will recall got pushed over ignominiously.The commodore of the Ship of Fools who got stuck in the ice and pummeled by blizzards while studying the disastrous effects of global warming on Antarctica and had to be rescued by a Chinese helicopter (you can’t make this stuff up) got an award from the Centre of Excellence for this debacle. He ventured back into the limelight to do an encore without risking making a voyage, of course, to report the sad news of a large flock of Adelie Penguins having died leaving their sad remains all over the ice – these turned out to be the remains of birds mummified decades ago. A knowledgeable commentator advised us that it is normal to find dead chicks broken eggs and the mummified remains because there are no clean-up predators in Antarctica and they are quick frozen. McIntyre, who is a one man climate science paper killer will need help to finish off the job of cleaning out the thousands of worthless climate papers in the literature.

Joe Romm – gone. Real Climate hanging on like a foundering ship, Bill McKibben- gone in tears, Al Gore – sold his TV station to oil sheiks and makes only half-hearted appearances with his tattered “reality elixir show” on life support like the end days of Buffalo Bill. New York times shuts down its embarrassing global warming section and several other dying newspapers have done the same. James Lovelock, inventor of Gaia gracefully recanted his position, saying it was a way too overblown.

And those remaining? These are the ones with the most skin in the game and also those captive to their governments urging them on in this dead issue. They also have psychological issues I’m sure, evidenced by the reckless, ‘sauve qui peut’ (save what you can is a losing sides last order in a war) behavior of simply trashing the pause. They are giving their bosses their all and will be taking a comfortable retirement before Trump is inaugurated although their legacy won’t be something to dwell on.

A tide of change is coming from other university researchers that are emboldened to give ocean acidifcation a decent burial, resurrection of the Pause, good things about CO2 and some warmth etc. This is the long, slow death spiral of CAGW. Lamar’s Senate House investigation of the killing of the pause, the Shukla affair, etc. may wind it up.


I would like to add a few other little known factoids to the excellent list Gary created. Remember when Real Climate went dark? It’s because the parent environmental organization, Fenton Communications/EMS, that bankrolled RC went dark themselves in 2005, and eventually, RC got the hosting rug pulled out from under them as people and domain registered email addresses disappeared.

Oh but it doesn’t stop there, Fitzgibbon Media is no more, thanks to the founder who couldn’t keep it in his pants

Forecast the Facts & a bunch of other global warming campaigns … kaput. (h/t to Ryan Maue)

Speaking of not being able to “keep it in your pants” we end on this note with purveyor of “voodoo science”,  former railroad engineer, slutty potboiler novelist, and disgraced IPCC chairman Rajenda Pachauri, who got caught with sexual harrasment issues, and who has now been formally charged. Ironically, the list of charges span 1400 pages, which is about 1000 more than his autobiographical sex novel, but far more factual.

Good riddance.

pacahauri_and_his_novel

 

Get notified when a new post is published.
Subscribe today!
0 0 votes
Article Rating
264 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
mrmethane
March 4, 2016 1:52 pm

Now, if only there were a way to convince the hordes of “useful idiots” that they were, indeed idiots. And they have the vote, at least in the Dem primaries.

Resourceguy
Reply to  mrmethane
March 4, 2016 2:24 pm

That will never happen, since late night satire shows are the media messengers for this group and the scripts are controlled for one slant. Besides they just move on to the next cause.

Reply to  Resourceguy
March 4, 2016 5:07 pm

What’s your opinion on the “next cause” ?
Got a potential top 3 ?

Eugene WR Gallun
Reply to  Resourceguy
March 4, 2016 11:37 pm

knutesea
After saving the world what is left but saving the universe.
Eugene WR Gallun

Reply to  Eugene WR Gallun
March 5, 2016 8:25 am

Hmmmm.
Much of the anti carbon drivel is a cover for technophobia. I too often think that the correction to misguided thinking will come from the generation that rejects the trend ..
Calls out their elders on the nonsense.

Reply to  mrmethane
March 5, 2016 8:56 am

What’s plan B? Lol

March 4, 2016 2:16 pm

Is that the USS Inconvenient Truth going down?

ralfellis
March 4, 2016 2:24 pm

Is Fenton Communications still chasing after deer?
Sorry, an obscure English joke.
R

Le Roy
March 4, 2016 2:26 pm

Blood will be spilt as the Alarmists blame each other and claw for ever decreasing funds……can’t wait!

pat
March 4, 2016 2:51 pm

u may only read about it isolated newspapers, but “carbon” markets are also crashing to earth.
add this one to all the others of late:
4 Mar: Irish Independent: John Mulligan: Revenue moves to have carbon credit trading firm wound up
The Revenue Commissioners is seeking to have Dublin-based carbon credit trading firm Celestial Green Ventures wound up.
The firm, which is headed by chief executive Ciaran Kelly, bills itself as being involved in rainforest preservation in Brazil. By preventing deforestation, it generates “carbon benefits” which can then be sold on the voluntary carbon market to entities that want to reduce or offset their emissions…
The petition is due to be heard on April 4.
Celestial Green Ventures moved to a larger premises in Dublin in 2012 and announced plans at the time to hire 30 staff. The telephone number at the office was not operating yesterday, while efforts to contact the office and Mr Kelly by email were unsuccessful.
http://www.independent.ie/business/jobs/revenue-moves-to-have-carbon-credit-trading-firm-wound-up-34510119.html
17 Feb: UK Mirror: Firms selling worthless carbon credits shut down for “one giant scam”
The 19 companies were put into compulsory liquidation by the High Court after victims were fleeced by ‘boiler room’ cold callers
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/firms-selling-worthless-carbon-credits-7389240

siamiam
March 4, 2016 2:56 pm

My screen shows an ad headlined
Rest In Peace 350,000 life insurance for only $21.00 per month. How rich is the irony.

thallstd
March 4, 2016 3:07 pm

In 1951, Eric Hoffer analyzed mass movements and those who get caught up in them. His description of the participants is so applicable to the AGW True Believers that I can’t resist posting it here.
From Eric Hoffer’s “True Believer”
Who is the True Believer?
“He’s a guilt-ridden hitchhiker who thumbs a ride on every cause from Christianity to Communism.
He’s a fanatic, needing a Stalin (or a Christ) to worship and die for.
He’s the mortal enemy of things-as-they-are, and he insists on sacrificing himself for a dream impossible to attain.
He is today everywhere on the march.”

“The fanatic is perpetually incomplete and insecure. He cannot generate self-assurance out of his individual resources – out of his rejected self – but finds it only by clinging passionately to whatever support he happens to embrace. This passionate attachment is the essence of his blind devotion and religiosity, and he sees in it the source of all virtue and strength. Though his single-minded dedication is a holding on for dear life, he easily sees himself as the supporter and defender of the holy cause to which he clings. And he is ready to sacrifice his life to demonstrate to himself and others that such indeed is his role. He sacrifices his life to prove his worth.
It goes without saying that the fanatic is convinced that the cause he holds on to is monolithic and eternal – a rock of ages. Still, his sense of security is derived from his passionate attachment and not from the excellence of his cause. The fanatic is not really a stickler for principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness and holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold on to. Often, indeed, it is his need for passionate attachment which turns every cause he embraces into a holy cause.
The fanatic cannot be weaned away from his cause by an appeal to his reason or moral sense. He fears compromise and cannot be persuaded to qualify the certitude and righteousness of his holy cause. But he finds no difficulty in swinging suddenly and wildly from one holy cause to another. He cannot be convinced but only converted. His passionate attachment is more vital than the quality of the cause to which he is attached.”

PiperPaul
Reply to  thallstd
March 4, 2016 3:53 pm

Yes, Eric Hoffer’s “True Believer” is an excellent book and it explains much of the nonsense and shenanigans going on with many “activists”.

Reply to  thallstd
March 4, 2016 5:24 pm

“He cannot be convinced but only converted. His passionate attachment is more vital than the quality of the cause to which he is attached.”
What is the next cause ?
While climate change is the topic of this webpage, it is part of a larger social justice movement (SJM). SJM is the real movement that got legs under this political wave. Shut down CAGW, where will that mass movement energy go to ?

Janice Moore
Reply to  knutesea
March 4, 2016 6:18 pm

FOR KNUTE 🙂
The pendulum swings…
I think Materialism will be the next god. Most of the 18-40 year old people just want to have enough money for their toys (and also, many are pretty saavy about the need to save for their own retirement needs). The activists are mostly over 60, now. They were good for the world in many ways, for often their hearts are in the right place, but their low capacity for rational thinking did more harm than good, in my opinion.
Anyway: Invest in anything that young people like to play with:
electronic devices, better and faster phones, great electric guitars and amps, and the like.
Also, try retirement funding products (focus on those marketed mainly via the net).
And cars and trucks. While there are many “geek” types who can barely drive, there will ALWAYS be a big market niche for good looking, fairly powerful, fairly fast, great-handling, cars and trucks. Both cars that are just for fun/commuting and also SUV’s — the versatility for going snow boarding or to the beach. Re: gender (typical) preferences, electronics for both sexes should be excellent in features/quality, but women often like to have them a pretty color — Note: younger women are tech-saavy and NOT into being patronized with junk that only looks good. Trucks should be VERY “macho” — no one, women or men, wants a fluffy truck (there is, of course, a “hippy” market for such vehicles, but it is small and likely shrinking as we speak).
Also, there is a large segment of younger consumers who want cozy, homey, products like “healthy” this and “natural” that. THAT is the pseudoscience that still has a lot of traction. So, we’re likely not done with “no artificial ingredients” and the like. Sigh. Always something. Anyway, invest in stuff like 100% wool or 100% cotton or popular food that is also “natural” (barf — whatever, like their pop and their alcoholic beverages are “natural”). I would NOT recommend investing in “organic.” Too many people are on to that sc@m and there are not enough of the neurotic people who are frightened by the “no pesticides” aspect of it — the price is just too high for most consumers. In this “homey” “healthy” market, focus mainly on products that have features that tend to appeal to women. Men use them, but women tend to be the purchasers.
And ya know what? I am just talking too much!! Since only you, knute, will likely read this, I’ll post this too-long thing, anyway, for others will just scroll on by and, I hope, not be troubled by it. In fact, I’m now going to add the caveat you saw at the start of this long comment….
While Materialism is not per se admirable, it does result in the most good for the most people, for REALITY and DATA are what money follows. If government subsidies (a la the true believers in AGW and their votes) are dwindling, the money will leave AGW-artificial-market-share products (like wind and solar) and follow REAL market forces like, “I want to have fun” and “I want my phone to do this and this and this” and “I want to go fast” and “I want to look pretty.” And not, “I want to save the planet.”
Just my thoughts… worth all you paid for them, huh? 🙂
Your talkative WUWT pal,
Janice

Reply to  Janice Moore
March 4, 2016 7:31 pm

Thanks Janice
It was fun to read because I would not have thought of a new materialism wave. Fascinating.
I am biased because I’m continuing to see money leaving equities (since spring 2015) and moving into basic commodities (since winter 2016). Some bigger than others but they are all attracting money flow. That’s typically a sign of burying your assets in underpriced “gotta have” stuff preparing for harder low growth periods. I associate materialism with excess pleasure purchases so it doesn’t fit with the next economic phase the money flow is showing.
Perhaps you are right about the young ins wanting cool stuff that makes their lives more fun. Perhaps they’ll be able to do that even in harder times. The desire doesn’t wane, it’s just a matter of what they can afford. I can see them rebelling from an austerity produced by a BS craze such as CAGW induced expensive energy.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

Janice Moore
Reply to  knutesea
March 4, 2016 6:27 pm

Further to KNUTE:
And instead of pseudo-religion AGW driving the marketing:
e.g., “BUY OUR SUGAR IT IS CARBON [sic] FREE!”
happiness and product purity/quality will be the marketing drivers
once again. 🙂
C & H Sugar (1974)

Looks like about a 40-50 year cycle… heh.

JPeden
Reply to  thallstd
March 4, 2016 5:41 pm

“But he finds no difficulty in swinging suddenly and wildly from one holy cause to another.”
I knew such a guy very well who, after trying out the Kundalini Yoga group, eventually became the/a Leader of the Communist Party in San Francisco, before they decided they needed to aggressively infiltrate the Democrat Party because they knew they’d never win Marx’s critical “First Majority” as Communists. But earlier, it seems he got his embryonic start by following holy me around for a few years!

halftiderock
Reply to  thallstd
March 5, 2016 8:15 am

I detect a parallel with many other activist causes. There may be a psychosis. George Bernard Shaw observed that reasonable people conform to the world around them. Unreasonable people have a vision and attempt to get the world to confirm to their vision. Therefore all human progress is because of unreasonable people.
It seems that these fanatics are actually all about stopping or reversing changes. Changes make it hard to find stability and thus conformity requires constant adaption. Thus irritation.
The irritation is easily manipulated into frustration and radicalism. The ultimate misery is the realisation that time can not be stopped.

thallstd
Reply to  halftiderock
March 5, 2016 8:32 am

Yes – when discussing with come friends I referred to activists/liberals/progressives as being in a perpetual state of discontent.

RobR
March 4, 2016 3:13 pm

Let us not forget our good friend (and paragon scientific objectivity) Michael Mann rolling over on Pause Buster’s Karl et al. It’s musical chairs and the few remaining seats are stiff and uncomfortable.

March 4, 2016 3:15 pm

“McIntyre, who is a one man climate science paper killer will need help to finish off the job of cleaning out the thousands of worthless climate papers in the literature.”
Sounds like a Herculean effort will be needed.

Janice Moore
Reply to  Corlu Varloon
March 4, 2016 3:31 pm

Yes. Please see below. To wit: the ant. 🙂

Reply to  Janice Moore
March 4, 2016 5:21 pm

I was thinking more of Hercules and the Augean stables.

Janice Moore
Reply to  Janice Moore
March 4, 2016 5:34 pm

Okay, okay, Mr. or Ms. Varloon. I didn’t mean to mess with your fine analogy. Just hoped to bring a smile to your face. That’s all. 🙂

Reply to  Janice Moore
March 4, 2016 5:40 pm

It did indeed! :>)

Janice Moore
Reply to  Janice Moore
March 4, 2016 6:35 pm

Yay! 🙂 (thanks for telling me)

Janice Moore
March 4, 2016 3:24 pm

This for you, Anthony. From all of us WUWT kids, the ones who love you and are so proud of you!
“High Hopes” — Frank Sinatra (and us WUWTers when we were little, well when some of us were little, lol)

(youtube)
“So any time you’re feelin’ bad,
‘stead of lookin’ sad,
just remember that Ant {Anthony 🙂 }

Whoops! There goes another CO2 grant!
#(:))
And in memory of Bob Carter and John Daly and Hal Lewis and many others who are no longer here, but, I believe who are still cheering you on, Anthony, et. al. (you, too, m0derators!).
ATTITUDE.
It makes all the difference.
“I can do this…,” thought Anthony. And, so, he did it.

Bubba Cow
March 4, 2016 3:32 pm

plus Christina Figueres (did I get that right ?) can’t go on …

Bubba Cow
Reply to  Bubba Cow
March 4, 2016 4:12 pm

deserves a link for reference:
UN climate chief Christiana Figueres to step down
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35612559

PaulH
March 4, 2016 3:39 pm

I like the premiss of this article, but I’m afraid that there are too many people who have built professional and/or political careers on CAGW for it to fade so quietly.

March 4, 2016 3:59 pm

We will all go to our rest. My thanks to Anthony for helping to save civilization.

Gamecock
March 4, 2016 4:02 pm

Not to worry. National Geographic Magazine is still fully vested in Climate Change™, like it’s still 1995.

John Robertson
March 4, 2016 4:07 pm

Good post Gary.
Seems it takes a decade for any bureaucracy to be corrected.
Never will they admit error, malice nor incompetence.
Just slide away and hope no one remembers.
Guaranteed pensions at the expense of those so ill served by their “help”.
The CRU emails were indefensible, I was highly amused by those willing to try to justify the behaviour exposed.
Costs of idiotic policies by governments are coming home to the consciousness of our taxpayers..
Naturally its time to pocket the cash and slink off onto the distance.
But will it work?
This tool,the internet, never forgets, many of our fools and bandits went all in on the CAGW scheme.
Such gullibility should always be rewarded.

Power Grab
Reply to  John Robertson
March 4, 2016 10:13 pm

I have been thinking it will take more like 50 years or more (or a generation) to rid ourselves of this myth.
For precedent, I suggest consideration of the cholesterol myth and the creation of the American phobia against eating animal fat.
Now, of course, since we have figured out how bad trans fats are for you, and real butter and real eggs have been restored to popular recipe sources, it’s finally turning around. It still makes me chuckle whenever I see a cooking show where they use nothing but real butter and plenty of eggs.
Why, even in 1955, when Disney made “Lady and the Tramp”, and Tramp decided against seeking breakfast at the French bakery, it wasn’t because it had too much fat, it was because the food had too much starch. Back then, even cartoonists knew that too much starch was not good for us!
I distinctly remember TV commercials in the 1960s and 1970s where they extolled the virtues of hydrogenated vegetable oil shortening instead of lard or butter. And I remember when my little sister, who formerly fought her siblings bravely for the little piece of fat in the can of pork & beans, later turned up her nose at it when she was taught in school that we should avoid eating such things. I always thought it was such a shame that she deprived herself for the rest of her life of that little joy, all for a lie.
I tend to think that it’s economics that will drive certain media to continue to push the CAGW message, foolish though it is.
Perhaps when enough of the moguls die who sunk their fortunes into that lie, then we will be free to let reality creep back into our conversations and blogs, without being vilified by people who think they know better, but don’t.
Of course, if we could get the public money out of the picture, the lesson would be learned more quickly…. You would think a bankrupt government could be convinced to stop funding such non-essential projects.

Reply to  Power Grab
March 5, 2016 8:40 pm

A short cut would be a proper education. The only way to get this these days is for families to take a major role in their children’s education. It isn’t that onerous and it is quite rewarding.

March 4, 2016 4:09 pm

“Sauve qui peut” does not mean “save what you can”. The best free translation is “Every man for himself.”

Reply to  macleanjstorer
March 4, 2016 6:07 pm

For most it means save yourself, you are no longer under orders. ‘Sauver’, to save; ‘qui’ who, whom, which, that; ‘peut’, third person of the verb ‘pouvoir’, to be able, (il peut, elle peut – he/she can). For the few, it also signals ‘burn the documents!’ there is likely to be attribution and retribution.

Greg
Reply to  Gary Pearse
March 5, 2016 1:26 am

Ah, I had not seen this, I just posted lower down :

‘sauve qui peut’ (save what you can is a losing sides last order in a war)

qui means who, not what. So it’s “save [ himself ] who can”. It can best be translated as ‘every man for himself’.

rabbit
March 4, 2016 4:17 pm

I’m guessing there have been a flood of climatologists graduate in the last 10 years in response to all of the hoopla. If funding should dry up — or even fail to expand — there’s going to be a lot of beached fish.

Reply to  rabbit
March 4, 2016 6:25 pm

In one comment a year or so under another thread, I pointed to this problem. At a mining conference in Toronto, a young lady from Michigan who had just obtained her bachelors degree asked me what I recommended she do for her graduate work. She said she was considering taking the environmental option in geology. I advised her it would be very unwise, that this field is greatly oversubscribed and getting a job won’t be easy. The future for it was grim, too. I sent her some information and contacts I promised, but she never replied.
I’m happy the scam is falling apart, but I’m sad at a lost generation and a half of disillusioned young scientists whose skills are basically worthless. The smart ones will go back to university and requalify themselves for more firmly founded real things to do. I hope the young lady finds her way – she would be in the middle of her studies and possibly a phologiston thesis. At least she isn’t two thirds the way through her career making herself sick jousting with the dark reality that her mind is trying to get her to see – like a certain butterfly expert under treatment who no longer appears to be publishing anything and who ran away from the US to find like minded folks in Europe.

David L. Hagen
March 4, 2016 4:25 pm

James Dellingpole affirms: Give it up progressives – you have lost the global warming argument

Alarmists are unaware how quickly the debate is moving. . . . To end a pause of 18 years or so because of short-term weather is stupid. One should never start or end an analysis of temperature trends on an El Nino year. Saying that the warming is back on is nonsense. . . .
 if you have lost the argument you should show your victor respect rather than mock him and scorn him with your ugly little cheap shots and wholly unmerited arrogance. I’m sorry, Tom Chivers, that you don’t get this.

Janice Moore
Reply to  David L. Hagen
March 4, 2016 5:38 pm

+1!

Toneb
Reply to  David L. Hagen
March 5, 2016 1:24 am

David;
Unfortunately I discovered the comments were closed after I had written the following…
(so as not to waste)…..
Delingpole:
“Even if we accept that the data wasn’t manipulated and that 2015 was the warmest year on record, this was because of El Nino not because of “global warming”. El Nino is weather. We will have to wait for the El Nino to end and the subsequent La Nina as well before we can say about the pause ending. ”
Yes the current El Nino has contributed greatly to 2015 being the warmest on record, however it is plainly not just because of it. Otherwise in the long-run of recorded Nino’s their contribution to the average global temp that year would have been (a more or less) a constant. this above the background climate equilibrium. And on the other side of the coin Nina’s would show the mirror.
That is plainly not the case. Any examination of the global temperature record shows successive Nina’s/Nino’s following on an rising trend of global temperature. PDO/ENSO are a harmonic on the signal of the AGW trend line. Without that a Nina even would indeed cool the planet (atmosphere) for a time. But what happened? The long -PDO/ENSO phase merely produced a “hiatus” – and even that via the now discredited sat series RSS (V4.0 for TMT soon to be followed by TLT) – “discredited” with regard to the “adjusted” claims put up against the surfaces thermometer records. That Judith Curry’s “the best data that we have” is now an even more laughable claim full of hypocracy.
All you have left is claims of incompetence and conspiracy .. oh, and Spencer/Christy at UAH (until they warm up their “data”)
A graph….
http://www.skepticalscience.com/pics/JohnN-G_ENSO_trends.gif

Janice Moore
Reply to  Toneb
March 5, 2016 1:00 pm

lol, T0neb — I just now carefully read your comment in order to come up with some cites to data and the historical record to refute you, but, as I read down the screen, my smile grew. “Oh, good,” I thought, “this comment is so illogical and so obviously incorrect that I don’t need to bother.”
That is, T0neb: You have written a self-refuting document.

pbweather
Reply to  Toneb
March 6, 2016 5:40 pm

As a meteorologist who follows Nino/Ninas very closely, I find it intriguing how those who look just at the artificial ENSO numbers e.g. Nino 3.4 region without actually looking at the observations. The first thing that many number watchers don’t notice is that La Nina’s are just a stronger version of the NORMAL regional climate pattern. El Nino’s are the anomaly. So the difference between a ENSO neutral and strong La Nina pattern is not that great on a spatial and atmospheric influence scale. However, El Nino’s are a complete reversal and have a major impact on global and region atmospheric circulation patterns. Therefore any major cooling from La Ninas should really only be a reversion back to nearer normal and if stronger slightly cooler.
The Nino 3.4 region which generates the ENSO index is not a very good indicator of how widespread or where the warm anomalies are.
The Enso MEI index is a far better indicator than the 3.4 index and this clearly shows two things. One that This 2015/16 event is not as strong as either 1982/83 or 97/98 but also that there has been only relatively weak or short lived La Nina phases since the late 70s so hence a warmer bias.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/enso/mei/ts.gif

bh2
March 4, 2016 8:46 pm

When the cash flow dries up, so does academic enthusiasm for whatever was formerly generating it. The same crowd of genius “scientists” will doubtless turn up elsewhere with new alarms to promote more tedious, hair-splitting “studies” which only they are uniquely qualified to pursue at taxpayer cost.

Reply to  bh2
March 5, 2016 10:37 am

What is the next new thing ?

Bubba Cow
Reply to  knutesea
March 5, 2016 12:54 pm

I think a generation or more of false academics = activists:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261991/what-campus-crybully-wars-are-really-about-daniel-greenfield
will still find faith in saving the planet through sustainability:
https://www.nas.org/articles/sustainabilitys_war_on_doubt
serious antibiotic resistance

Janice Moore
Reply to  knutesea
March 5, 2016 1:13 pm

Knute: More to my comments on this topic (below): Bubba is right, however…
The key for investment (or entrepreneurial activities) is to DICTATE “the next new thing.” So… determine what a lot of people really care about…. and tell them THAT is what they want/need, for, they really DO. The AGW/sustainability religious control-freak marketers are trying to enforce on the market dogma and coercive philosophical rules. That is not the underlying truth about what drives most people’s buying. It attempts to use guilt. That is only tolerated for a little while, then, the masses skip AGW mass and do what they want.
So! Be proactive and MAKE the next new thing! 🙂
Best wishes to you in your endeavors — CAPITALISM ROCKS!
Janice

Reply to  Janice Moore
March 5, 2016 3:44 pm

The Church of Sustainable Pleasures ?
Will the pendulum swing rebelling against Gaia friendly dogma ? Is there a niche out there for guiltless pleasures for the common man ?
AI meets guiltless pleasures.
Have you seen what they are doing with robotics lately ? Really is kind of amazing. How about the flying car ?
On a rather unhappy note. Went to one of those Saturday brunch thingies where the women try too hard to look good and the men wonder how they got so lucky that the booze is free and they don’t have chores to do. In a small tribal gathering of pre 30s I listened to a discussion about data tampering. First of all, I’m impressed that it was even being discussed. Alas, it overwhelmed the group and they decided that it was ridiculous to argue about complicated data and that it was self evident the economy needed to move to more sustainable forms of energy. In other words so what if the temperature isn’t changing, we need to move into the brave new future because fossils are dirty.
The ends justifies the means is pretty thick lately .. I left the soree wondering if it was always this way and I was naive.

Janice Moore
Reply to  knutesea
March 5, 2016 1:16 pm

“…my comments (above) …” — life in the thread jungle… 🙂

Janice Moore
Reply to  knutesea
March 5, 2016 1:25 pm

I recently came across this nice summary of the arguments against AGW by Joanne de Nova (her site joannenova.com, listed as “Jo Nova” in Anthony’s blog roll to right, is a WONDERFUL science realist site) you might like (thinking back to your Q’s about creating a basic summary for laypersons about AGW conjecture):
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/sh1/the_skeptics_handbook_2-3_lq.pdf

Reply to  Janice Moore
March 5, 2016 3:53 pm

Thanks Janice
I’m a big fan of JoNovas work.
Perhaps it’s my wide eyed delivery but I haven’t been too successful in real life using her skeptics guide. I think the guide is good but I also think we (my anecdotal survey being my evidence) are moving towards a :
“so what climate change isn’t happenning .. yeah … but … ya know those fossils are dirty and we need a better way because ummm well … fossils are dirty”
IF the GOP gets control of POTUS, I think your see a dismissal of CAGW alarmism and then folks will look at the renewables markets and see what’s left for the pickings. A good idea on a limited basis reality of sorts will kick in and folks will distance themselves from CAGW. The alarmists will get a sort of pat on the head for good intentions while the adults take over and sort out the real options for power generation.
Thinking out loud so pile on and plow thru :).

drednicolson
March 4, 2016 9:46 pm

So how many big-name pushers of the climate alarmist agenda are one day going to be dragged to a “climate Nuremburg” to answer for crimes against humanity, like one of them once demanded for “deniers”? The enormity of the time, money, resources, labor, and life (both animal and human) wasted over decades on this whole progressivist/socialist misadventure is nothing short of a CaH.
My estimate: zero

LarryD
March 4, 2016 9:57 pm

It’s policy based “science” and we have to find a much better Word for that?
How about post-modern science?
The essence of “post-modern science” is to use the trappings and vocabulary of science in the service of propaganda. Bad propaganda. And dishonest propaganda. Propaganda, per se, is arguing for a side, it is possible to do so honestly, as well as effectively. And then there is the kind of propaganda that gives “propaganda” a bad name.
The category of people who started this mess will regroup. Their purpose remains, draw up the bridges, secure the moat, let none challenge their status (more so than their wealth, but the two are inter-twined). The same motive behind occupancy licensing, and much else throttling opportunity.

yarpos
March 4, 2016 10:07 pm

“The commodore of the Ship of Fools who got stuck in the ice and pummeled by blizzards while studying the disastrous effects of global warming on Antarctica” I have to admit a bit of a chuckle when a supply ship was blown aground by a blizzard in high summer at Mawson Base in recent weeks. Damn global warming! an oft heard cry in our home.

Reply to  yarpos
March 6, 2016 7:44 pm
Flatlander
March 4, 2016 10:40 pm

The state of flat earth activism is also anemic these days.

siamiam
March 4, 2016 10:55 pm

Davidmhoffer@3:35
The link shows web page not found. However,you might look for a paper by Heinz Hug and Jack Barret which answers some of their critics. Yes,things are complicated. It’s .04% of the atmosphere and self-perpetuating positive feedback loops that are simple.

François Riverin
Reply to  siamiam
March 5, 2016 6:38 am

Thank you

ROM
March 4, 2016 10:57 pm

Who would have believed that following Copenhagen only a little over six years later the skeptics on WUWT and other major skeptic climate blogs would quite casually and without much rancor or heat but with considerable scorn, be discussing the on going melt down of the entire very selfish, power lusting, grandiose planet and society changing, fascist orientated anthropogenic global warming catastrophe movement?
There are a couple of points to be made here.
Each societal movement / corporation and political movement has a life cycle and the green / CAGW movement is not exempt in any way from the hard facts of the Corporate Lifecycle in the society of today.
A good source to see the stages in a movement / corporation’s life cycle is the “Adizes Corporate Lifecycle”.
http://www.adizes.com/lifecycle/
Run your pointer over each stage shown to get a short outline on the characteristics of that stage in the Adizes Corporate Lifecycle.
The second point is more of a personal observation over the almost 78 years of my life time.
As the creators of societal organisations, businesses, movements, cultural memes and so much more, my generation which helped re-build the world after the catastrophe of WW2 have made the very bad mistake, which all generations make, in that they expect and even demand that the next generation just pick up where we left off and keep right on running and utilising all those creations, all those movements, all those cultural and societal memes, all those family and wider businesses and even corporations which we started and were created by my generation which is now well and truly on its way out and going or just gone.
As a newest and next generation; They don’t and They won’t!
They, the next generation are just like we were.
They will be out there busily creating their own businesses and societal and cultural and political memes and movements that their generation will adhere to in creating the societal dictates that will guide them all their lives.
And they also in turn will be bitterly disappointed like a lot of my generation have been, when the generation following them also fails or refuses to follow in their footsteps and just get to setting about creating the society and the life they hope for and desire and dream about in their future.
The example here could easily be seen in the supposed grossly hyped potential Catastrophe of the Ozone Hole affair later allied and linked closely through the same scientific scammers working in both fields to the following even greater hyped and scammed CAGW cult.
The whole purported and constantly predicted and subsequently aborted man made catastrophe meme which has driven much of western society’s guilt trip for close on three decades, the useful working life of a generation, is now decaying into just another heap of stinking scientific and green activist’s publicly visible depravity.
That older generation of science scammers and green activists that created that great increasingly stinky pile of scientific and cultural dung is coming to the end of its influence and a new generation with hopefully much more pragmatic and humanity considering goals and with different aims is beginning to move in at the lower stratas of business and society with ideas, not so latent memes and themes that will be the cultural engine that will drive the next generation’s restructuring of society along with influences and the memes that will shape that future society.
As always in human affairs;
Everything changes!
Nothing changes!

Reply to  ROM
March 5, 2016 8:31 am

“That older generation of science scammers and green activists that created that great increasingly stinky pile of scientific and cultural dung is coming to the end of its influence and a new generation with hopefully much more pragmatic and humanity considering goals and with different aims is beginning to move in at the lower stratas of business and society with ideas, not so latent memes and themes that will be the cultural engine that will drive the next generation’s restructuring of society along with influences and the memes that will shape that future society.”
The wheels on the bus go round and round. Not to be ignored is the fact that your generation witnessed the richest and longest lasting economic period in modern history. I think the odds are high that the upcoming generation will be far more influenced by austere times that reprioritize their thinking.