
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
LSE Grantham Institute Communications Director Bob Ward has written a post for the Guardian in which he admits he’s not sure of how anthropogenic CO2 might be impacting hurricanes, but he thinks President Trump should answer for them anyway.
Irma and Harvey lay the costs of climate change denial at Trump’s door
The president’s dismissal of scientific research is doing nothing to protect the livelihoods of ordinary Americans
Bob Ward
Sunday 10 September 2017 09.05 AEST
As the US comes to terms with its second major weather disaster within a month, an important question is whether the devastation caused by hurricanes Harveyand Irma will convince Donald Trump and his administration of the reality of climate change.
The president’s luxurious Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida may escape Irma’s wrath, but with the deaths of so many Americans, and billions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses, the costs of climate change denial are beginning to pile up at the door of the White House.
…
Climate change cannot be blamed for the hurricane count in any single season, nor for the occurrence of any single storm, but there are three ways in which it is making the consequences worse.
First, although the intensity of a hurricane depends on many factors, warmer seawater tends to promote stronger storms. Average sea surface temperatures have been rising, and some parts of the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico are warmer than average at the moment, which is a key reason why both Harvey and Irma became so strong so quickly.
Second, a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour, which can result in heavier rainfall. That is true not only for hurricanes but also for weaker storms across the world. Even relatively mild tropical storms can cause great damage by dropping huge volumes of rain over one area.
Third, apart from strong winds and heavy rainfall, hurricanes cause damage through storm surges as their winds push seawater ahead of them. Storm surges can inundate extensive low-lying coastal areas, sweeping away everything in their path. Sea levels have been gradually rising globally, making storm surges bigger and deadlier.
Scientists are still not sure about the other ways in which climate change may be impacting hurricanes. The main reason Harvey created such extreme flooding around Houston was that it stalled over the city and dumped rain for several days without moving on. We do not know if climate change played a role in creating the atmospheric conditions that made that happen.
…

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/10/hurricane-irma-harvey-climate-change-trump
The biggest problem for alarmists like Bob is there is no upward trend in hurricane frequency or intensity.
As I noted in a previous post, NOAA doesn’t think the alleged impact of anthropogenic CO2 on storm intensity is detectable. (h/t Benny Peiser)
… It is premature to conclude that human activities–and particularly greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming–have already had a detectable impact on Atlantic hurricane or global tropical cyclone activity. That said, human activities may have already caused changes that are not yet detectable due to the small magnitude of the changes or observational limitations, or are not yet confidently modeled (e.g., aerosol effects on regional climate). …
Read more: https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/
Here is what the IPCC says about climate change and hurricanes;
… Current datasets indicate no significant observed trends in global tropical cyclone frequency over the past century … No robust trends in annual numbers of tropical storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes counts have been identified over the past 100 years in the North Atlantic basin … In summary, confidence in large scale changes in the intensity of extreme extratropical cyclones since 1900 is low …
Read more: http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/coverage-of-extreme-events-in-ipcc-ar5.html
Speculative climate models suggest there should be an upward trend. But that predicted projected upward trend has not been observed in the real world.
Many climate alarmists seem to think we should treat climate model projections as equivalent to real world observations. For example, climate scientist Kevin Trenberth said the following back in April this year;
… With climate models as tools, we can carry out “what-if” experiments. What if the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had not increased due to human activities? What if we keep burning fossil fuels and putting more CO2 into the atmosphere? If the climate changes as projected, then what would the impacts be on agriculture and society? If those things happened, then what strategies might there be for coping with the changes?
…
The models are not perfect and involve approximations. But because of their complexity and sophistication, they are so much better than any “back-of-the envelope” guesses, and the shortcomings and limitations are known.
…
The reality is climate models ARE computer driven guesses. Climate models have never been validated in any meaningful scientific sense – an issue which bothers some climate scientists so much, they argue that the definition of science itself must be changed, to accommodate climate models’ lack of scientific falsifiability.
… Climate models are important and complex tools for understanding the climate system. Are climate models falsifiable? Are they science? A test of falsifiability requires a model test or climate observation that shows global warming caused by increased human-produced greenhouse gases is untrue. It is difficult to propose a test of climate models in advance that is falsifiable.
Science is complicated – and doesn’t always fit the simplified version we learn as children. …
Read more: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/08/10/claim-climate-science-does-not-have-to-be-falsifiable/
I believe it is past time people who attempt to promote computerised guesses as established fact are held to account for their nonsense. The scientific method, falsifiability, is what separates science from superstition. Scaremongering, attempting to lay blame on President Trump for natural disasters on the basis of unproven climate model projections, projections which have no corroboration from real world observations, in my opinion is beneath contempt.
yeah well he looks the part too
+1, ball headed fart
He’s increasing the albedo of the earth.
@).noaaprogrammer
I’d really like to agree with your 3:12PM post, but, since Mr. Ward’s head seems to be well stuck up into his rear nether region, one would expect very litle albedo change.
address all complaints to:
Bob Ward, Mental Ward for Educated Idi0ts.
Well, you can’t blame Bob Ward for brains intelligence or common sense; but you sure can blame Bob for shrieking hand waving alarmism and false claims.
IYI – Intellectual Yet Idiot a favorite of N. N. Taleb
HIFI is similar to IYI (but cruder)
“Climate change cannot be blamed for the hurricane count in any single season”
Sort of right at the top isn’t it? This seems a repeating pattern with alarmists, the “we’re right, but there’s no structure to our argument”. It just boils down to “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”. They’re always right, and they don’t need no stinkin’ badges! The people who don’t believe them are just to stupid to see the truth.
That, in a nutshell, is the alarmist creed.
That was my immediate response. He looks just the part for a wannabe go to ‘expert’ for the mania media to go to and put on television and tell us wot’s happening on our planet and why us humans and even the inhuman Donald Trump are responsible.
Apparently there is a market for it and where there’s a market there is way of marketing anything. You have to look the part though and he certainly does. Give him a bit of a beard and ease off on the 100% shave over and he could be a Michael Mann impersonator or even a Gavin Schmidt.
thinkin’ a bit more about it, if you threw in John Cook and Tim Flannery you would have the ultimate 5 piece, lookalike ‘crock’ band. They would make KISS seem pedestrian and mainstream and certainly would not need makeup.
“Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment”
“World class research that makes a difference”
If the climate isn’t actually changing as assumed, what difference will the research make apart from employing the sort of people who would want to be employed at such a place?
(Keeps them off the streets I suppose, concentrates them in a known location, clearly identifies them as two bob hacktivistas, encourages them to have the same ‘look’ (near bald, stupid grin etc and be readily identified….) In other word it really does make adifference.
I withdraw the quesion your honour.
One of Josh’s cartoon pictures of Bob (fast fingers) Ward is in order.
He bought W’s Hurricane making machine and shipped it from the Crawford Ranch to Mara Largo.
Maybe hurricanes are actually progressive Democratic activists…
Generate lots of wind. Leave nothing but destruction in their wake. Sounds about right.
This just gets better and better. PLEASE, Bob Ward, PLEASE keep talking…
Writing like this is why the Guardian now has to BEG for funds to keep publishing their Fake News.
Exactly, this is just a one-way equation now. Does this oxygen thief think that people who have figured out they’ve been lied to will unfigure it out based on this tripe? Whereas others who see the desperation of having to lie harder will join the realists. Not all, of course, with this being the virtue-signaler’s dream come true. Interesting that aol/Huffin and puffinton Post don’t seem to be pushing it so hard, as they are better Fake News merchants and may have noticed this loser of a meme.
In related news, has anyone else noticed the inverse relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide increases and the use of the words “the debate is over”? That bell-shaped curve must be making a mark, because it surely is.
+10
Does the HOME know he is loose? I thought we kept better control of mentally insane.
The green blob is just relying on the cynical comment by H.L. Mencken that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
And the IQ of the UK ain’t lookin’ too impressive these days, neither.
I’ve read that a there are a lot of Brits who are seeking German citizenship.
The situation in Briton should be improving soon.
Oh,oh, I knew it. Trump is a God. We have to beseech him for good weather. Well, instead of writing Santa, we have to write Trump for what weather we want. After all, man knows all, and man runs the planet. Ah, the rise of shamanism.
Wrong. It’s Russians who hacked the USA weather generating systems.
Again, somebody beat me to it. I salute you.
Need a faster keyboard.
“…the costs of climate change denial are beginning to pile up at the door of the White House.”
50% of the American public will interpret this as any skeptic and registered Republican being stupid cuz they don’t believe in Natural Climate Change.
The Skeptic Community let the Warmists and their media friends get away with this sleight of hand (it was/is a very devious use of wording).
I agree with Joe Bastardi.
Bob Ward another U.N. climate change lackey?
“…the costs of climate change denial are beginning to pile up at the door of the White House.”
In one sense, he’s right about that.
But the cost of “Climate Change” lies squarely at the feet of the previous occupant.
(PS Don’t leave Congress out of it. The Dem’s and Rino’s resistance to Trump are not stemming Obama’s tide.)
kokoda – AZEK (Deck Boards) doesn’t stand behind its product
September 10, 2017 at 1:19 pm
Last I heard, CC does not rate with Uncle Sam’s offspring, in any poll…..Yes, it’s that bad for the green slime. But Donald is Prez, should tell us something.
As a Houstonian dealing with the aftermath of Harvey, and with family and friends in Florida getting hit by Irma right now, I would like to ask Mr. Ward a question:
At long last, after having to backbone from exaggerated claim after exaggerated claim, do you have no sense of shame?
Mr.Ward is acting like a sanctimonious vampire, feeding off of the suffering of people.
Even as he admits he has no evidence to support his claims and guilt trip, he seeks to use the suffering of millions of people any way.
That behaviour meets the definition of cynical bad faith.
Is this what a major opinion leader if the so-called climate consensus is allowed to do with no resistance from his community?
Soulless people do not have shame.
Sheri, most accurate comment it takes one to know one.
Ron, you know that we all love you.
On the other hand, you’ve heard that absence makes the heart grow fonder. So get lost.
Ron: Originality and cogent comments are not your strong point.
He has no sense of shame – just dementia. People with it tend to repeat themselves over and over again.
hunter,
Well said, any responsible person would not lie and pontificate at the suffering of people attempting to sell fake snake oil merchandise
What a low life, nor respectable media would publish such rubbish.
Trump’s been in office for several months, during which practically nothing has changed WRT energy production. Now Merkel, she’s shut down some and will shut down all of her zero emission powerplants (nuclear) and replace them with coal fired power plants. Are there really people this clueless holding down responsible jobs? Oh, that’s right – he’s in “communications”. That explains a lot. Never seen the inside of a science classroom I would guess. Didn’t qualify for the esteemed universities either, I would also guess.
arthur,
In the CAGW crowd, it’s not what actually happens, it’s how you FEEL about it. If Trump had not withdrawn from the Paris accord, we all know the hurricanes would still have occurred in exactly the same way, but the CAGW people would FEEL that they were not due to climate change.
Perhaps a better question is : “What’s a Bob Ward? “
It’s a wing in a mental hospital where they put Biased Old Bloviators…the B.O.B Ward.
Bobward is nearer to the English policemen.
LSE founded by Fabians (also supporters of eugenics and Stalin) so no surprise really.
“Stalin is a good Fabian” GB Shaw
That’s what they do.
“The end justifies the means.”
So how much did the Grantham Foundation donate to hurricane relief? Compared to various other ’causes’:
http://buyingbias.org/tag/grantham-foundation
Not a lot from what I can see – but Bob is on a mission – anything to stop Trump – remember Lord Stern and his ilk – all part of the Grantham lot – ‘SAVING the PLANET’ from co2. So the brown stuff gets piled at the white house door. Charming.
?w=640
Good animation.
It’s just the same old Ludacris garbage.
So, in other words, if President Trump had not pulled out of the Paris Accord and was all in on fighting climate change, these destructive hurricanes would not have occurred, or at least would not have been his fault. We are watching insanity personified with these deranged progressives. They lack the self-awareness to even begin to see what moonbats they present themselves as. I’ve never seen anything like it and it only continues to escalate.
By pulling out of Paris and its demand for unlimited US dollars, Trump has ensured that the US Treasury has the funds to enable the US citizens affected to restore their lives and properties. Otherwise it would have gone to unaccountable, often dubious, politicians and entrepreneurs abroad .
Why does the White House not point out that obvious fact?
Trump has only been in office for 8 months, and only for the US. Just how much extra plant food could have been pumped into the atmosphere during that time?
My cup of coffee went cold before I could finish it. I guess I can blame Trump for that too.
/snark
No it is “global warming”. I’m not buying into this climate change/weirding thing.
Nope, that was a polar vortex.
Bob Ward is a total fracking retard.
Looks like the Anglican Church branch of Protestantism (Calvinists) are rushing to the forefront to blame humans, individually, on the acts of nature. Of course the members of the Anglican Church will overlook their own membership, like Tony Blair, and blame those they deem inferior and in need of a good and bloody old fashion Crucifixion.
On Monday, young school children will report to their teachers, “Trump Ate My Homework!” and spare the poor dogs of their usual beatings.
Ha hahahaa
John Podesta’s group has for almost 2 decades worked behind the scenes to get Progressive-leaning Episcopalian church laity members into influential laity positions to the attend annual US Anglican (Episcopal) church congresses. From those influential positions they forced the church clergy to adopt favorable CC positions along with other progressive social causes.
It was a calculated, considered take-over by Liberal ideology on a wide range of issues. It will ultimately be the death of the US Episcopalian Church.
The World Council of Churches is also a member of the UNEP – Geneva Environment Network.
UNEP – Geneva Environment Network, Est. 1999
World Council of Churches (WCC)
http://www.environmenthouse.ch/?q=en/green_guide/world-council-churches
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
http://www.environmenthouse.ch/?q=en/green_guide/lutheran-world-federation
Information on these organizations at above websites.
One of the reasons why the Episcopalians are a rapidly dying congregation.
Duh, Tony B Liair is a catholic.
In 2010, The Tablet named him as one of Britain’s most influential Roman Catholics.
My opinion of the ‘man’ is not printable.
If Bob Ward was calling on Pres. Trump to throw virgins into volcanoes to appease the gods, it would make about as much sense as his post in the Guardian. How does the President’s attitude toward climate change cause natural disasters? Is there any evidence that U.S. emissions have gone up significantly since Trump became President? I doubt they have, but even if they did, how could they generate hurricanes so quickly when 12 previous years of increased CO2 failed to do so?
These people aren’t interested in science. They’re political henchmen interested in spreading blame and superstition. If we lived in the past, these are the people who would be demanding human sacrifices to appease the gods after just one season of crop failure. We can’t just stand by and do nothing, they reason. A crisis demands that we do something, even if our actions harm more people than doing nothing.
“The president’s dismissal of scientific research is doing nothing to protect the livelihoods of ordinary Americans”
Wha? Never mind if this guy is on the same planet as us. Is he in the same universe? What “scientific research” is he even babbling about? “Protecting the livelihoods”? Huh? Most idiotic red herring I’ve seen in a while.
Here is a summary of The Climate scientists belief –
1) We Got no emperical Data showing an increase in hurricane activity over the last 150 years – all of which was during a period of warming.
2) Even though we got no emperical data of an increase in hurricane activity during the last 150 years of warming – we can confidently state that our models predict more intense hurricanes.
3) Our models are more accurate than any real time data because we are the smartest climate scientists
Let ‘im talk… (the more they talk, the more they lose at the polls)
From ‘acts of God’ to ‘acts of Man’ to ‘acts of a man’, Trump.
I propose from now on all hurricanes should be called Donald, Hurricane Donald 1, Hurricane Donald 2, etc.
Bob Ward is right. How do I know this? Because I’m privy to highly secret information, but because I’m just as bad at keeping a secret as my older sister – except her own – I just can’t resist telling you. Ready?
Trump is a God! Yes, Donald Trump is actually a God. Lest you think I’m kidding just ask yourself; could a mere mortal have caused two such devastating hurricanes – one right after the other? Of course not. Think about it, only a god could do that. Therefore, if Trump is responsible for Harvey and Irma, and we happen to know this because people much smarter than ourselves tell us he is, well then, the vonclusion is inevitable – Donald Trump is a God!
For all of us: scream it from the rooftops; in the valleys and plains; in the mountains; on the seas; in Hollywood; in D.C.; on the college campuses – Trump is a God!
Mr. Ward is the poster child for green slime.
Time to sharpen our pitchforks.
I am not sticking a perfectly good farming tool in THAT!! *shudder*
Ward did everything but call Trump a warlock. I get your drift, CG.
It is hard to tell which is more of an embarrassment: Bob Ward whose laughable attempts to frighten the ignorant and keep secure a lucrative tenure at LSE make the institution look a joke, or the Guardian which appears ready to let any clown regurgitate climate scare drivel in its pages as it relentlessly destroys what little credibility it has left.
Mr. Ward is a ridiculous dufus.
Bob Ward says ‘Hurricane Brexit that just has engulfed whole of the British Isles was caused by Donald Trump’.
see the wind map:
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=0.00,54.00,3000/
/sarc
It seems that Irma developed above cooler than average waters:
“We’ve been monitoring this storm for two weeks, since the wave emerged from Africa. Irma developed and intensified to Major Hurricane (Cat 3) in the central Atlantic, over relatively cool ocean temperatures of 26.5C”
from here:
https://judithcurry.com/2017/09/08/hurricane-irma-eyes-florida/
which suggests that its vigour was a consequence of cooling in the stratosphere rather than warming at the surface.
That would be fatal to AGW theory in a logical world.
I submit that a quiet sun leads to reduced ozone in the stratosphere above the equator and thus cooling of the stratosphere which allows a rise in tropopause height, deeper convection and more vigorous hurricanes and typhoons.
It is no coincidence that hurricanes were less vigorous whilst the sun was more active.
The truth is the opposite of AGW theory.
Actually sir does not make surge deadlier. It makes it different.
No one builds in the water itself willingly.
And sir rates are slow enough, even now, that shoreline movements is extremely slow.
People, except apparently climate fanatics, know to stay out of the way of storm surge.
The 12 inches or so of the last century is already factored into where people live.
The speculative dramatic changes the climate fanatics claim for the future are just that: in the future.
The sir of tomorrow cannot effect the surge of today.
So Ward is not only a cynical fear monger, he us counter factual as well.
And now that Irma is coming ashore in Florida as a quite middling storm, perhaps it is time for Mr. Ward to back off yet another bizarre untrue hateful claim.
Please forgive me for typing on a small screen with autospell enabled.
Hilarious. Thanks. I didn’t get it before I read the comments below.
hunter …. WTF is a “sir”? Contextually not English gentry. Why can’ t you speak plain English?
Ross, I typed “slr” and my phone inserted “sir”.
My eyes are old and the phone screen is tiny and I did not catch the typo until much later.
LSE should be embarrassed. This guy clearly does not practice the motto of the school: Rerum Cognoscere Causas, which is on the coat of arms of LES (shown at the top of this article).
I.e., “Know the Cause of Things.”
As Bugs would say, “What a maroon.”
The full quote from Virgil is, “Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas” ie. Fortunate is one who knows the cause of things. There is an obvious corollary which is, “Miserable are those who only imagine they know the cause of things.” link
I find the coat of arms riotously funny (or at least ironic). The animal is a beaver, probably because the director of the school was William Beveridge at the time it was adopted. The trade in beaver pelts was studied by Harold Innis who took economics in quite a different direction from the orthodoxies of the London School of Economics.
What sort of “Institute” lets their inmates make press statements? !!
According to MeteoEarth.com tracking, the eye of Irma has not made landfall
Guys like Bob Ward make Rush Limbaugh look like a clairvoyant savant.
To wit:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/limbaugh-hurricane-irma-coverage-is-liberal-media-plot-to-advance-climate-change-agenda
The accusation is all wrong. Hurricanes are NOT Trump’s fault.
Rather, hurricanes are the faults of every single person who voted for Trump, and the faults of every living parent of every person who voted for Trump for not raising their children to know better. … and the fault of every living person who had anything to do with or who are descendants of anybody who had anything to do with erecting Confederate statues, which supported the narrative of racism that helped shape the mindsets of those who elected Trump.
The blame, you see, goes so much deeper.
The Confederate statues were erected by post-Civil War Democrats. The US $20 bill has the image of a US President who advicated for slavery. He was also the founding President of the newly formed Democrat Party. That is the same Democrat Party that exists today. LBJ started the revision of their sordid party history.
The US Democrats are still busy trying to erase their history and re-write a different history. Orwell had this behavior pegged exactly in his 1984 novel.
Spot-on, Joel.
I hope you realize that I was being sarcastic about the blame game. (^_^)
Lincoln was a white supremacist at heart, and this is what is causing hurricanes. We should replace his image on the US five-dollar bill with the image of a hurricane.
Another Climate Scientologist. Guys like this need to have an intervention so they can be free of the cult.
If lefties thought that Obama could stop the rise of the seas, then it’s easy to understand how they would “think” that Trump is responsible for increasing the categories of hurricanes.
The models are not perfect and involve approximations. But because of their complexity and sophistication, they are so much better than any “back-of-the envelope” guesses, and the shortcomings and limitations are known.
Basically, if it and all inputs are good, this will happen -roughly. Nothing wrong if the projections never left the conference but they are being use to create stupid laws, taxes and to slander people.
THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH ABOUT BOB WARD AND THE GRANTHAM INSTITUTE
The Grantham Institute was established in 2008 by Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham, through their ‘Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment’ and with Judith Rees and Nicholas Stern of the Grantham Research Institute behind them. Lord Stern is now chairman of the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics.
The Grantham Institute was set up by Grantham to promote ideas that will make him vastly richer than he already is. It is not part of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); it is actually a separate legal entity which does no research and no education of its own . Its ‘task’ is to promote the view point of the person paying its bills. It is actually a marketing company whose sole function is to sell the public on so-called ‘man-made global warming.’
The LSE took the money and turned a blind eye, while allowing an iffy marketing operation to ride on the back of its name, and not for the first time. One day the media may start to call it a marketing company, rather than give it the undeserved scientific credit it pretends to have.
I love the Bob Ward waffle, and his superb ability to hide reality. For instance, his comment that temperature is still rising ‘albeit at a slower rate of increase than previously’ actually translates into between 0.1 and 0.2ºC per century.
Most amazingly, Bob links to the IPCC SREX report claiming that it ‘found an abundance of scientific evidence for increases in heat waves, droughts and heavy rainfall.’ In fact, as anyone can check by reading the report, it says no such thing.
You do not need a ‘paper’ to show nearly 20 years of no global warming, just look at the data sets directly. The following tables show the number of years to present when slope is flat or slightly negative and also for when there is no significant warming:
GISS 12, 17
Hadcrut3 16, 19
Hadcrut4 12, 18
But never mind Ward; one might expect a scientist like Chris Rapley to ask himself whether, if something can’t be found, it might be because it is not there.
Rapley is into climate and the unconscious. he recently wrote the introduction (and the Amazon review) for a book on psychoanalysis and climate skepticism.
http://geoffchambers.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/psychoanalysis-and-climate-change-the-doctors-take-over-the-asylum/
Heat which has gone ‘missing’ cannot cause floods plagues and hurricanes, and without floods plagues and hurricanes Bob Ward is out of a job and the rest of us can get on with our lives without being bothered with politicians blathering about ‘sustainability’ and putting our energy prices up. That is the discussion which Bob Ward (and apparently all the editors sympathetic to the climate hysterics) want to suppress.
Bob Ward declares that there are parts of the media that misrepresent the science. That is certainly what he is trying to say, but he fails lamentably to make his case. There are easily attestable facts about the climate and any reader is free to draw their own conclusions. Ward and others are demanding Parliament intervene and legislate in order to discourage ‘deniers’ from expressing themselves.
By failing to defend his position, Ward demonstrates the weakness of his case. By giving space to Ward to expound his weak and undefended arguments, the broadcasters and publishers demonstrate a contempt for free speech and rational discussion.
Brian Cox has been given several editorials, and a talk at the Television Society in 2012, both of which were largely given over to attacking climate sceptics. Sir Paul Nurse had a whole BBC Horizon programme to himself, largely given over to attacking climate sceptics. If there was a case to be made for dangerous man-made global warming, they could have made it but they did not because there is not. All they have got is Bob Ward, failed palaeopiezometrist, and his call for press censorship.
It is a free country and people are entitled to their opinions. That, however, does not mean that all opinions have the same weight.
Here is my issue with Ward’s view of how things should work: Scientific papers tend (as one might imagine) to be quite rigorous. This means that it is unlikely that you will find scientific papers with strong, absolute statements about catastrophic global warming. They will tend to be descriptions of models with uncertainties or some analysis of data (again with uncertainties). One can, however, interpret what the evidence is suggesting.
Even if you are not interested in climate science, everyone should be interested in the attempt to close down debate proposed by Bob Ward, the PR man for the Grantham Institute and its hedge fund millionaire backer Jeremy Grantham, and which is supported by the New Statesman, the BBC, the Royal Society, The Independent, all six British parliamentary parties, the Socialist Worker, and just about everyone else on the Left.
Is it the job of the government to pass laws to dissuade ‘deniers’ and the skeptics from writing what they like? This is not a debate about science, and that is the point. There are many who claim to want to debate this, but are actually not willing to debate the science. They make claims that do not stand up to scrutiny, and it is being carried out in a manner that is not consistent with good scientific practice.
History will note that not one single IPCC warning has ever said what will happen, only what might happen. They agree that ‘climate change’ is real, but have never agreed that it is a real crisis.
Bob Ward’s livelihood is dependent on keeping the public fooled and poor. He spends most of his time these days conducting ad hominem campaigns against those who (heaven forbid!) question the science and the myth about AGW that it is ‘settled’ or that there is ‘consensus.’ He is paid a great deal at the Grantham Research Institute. He does not feel the slightest bit guilty that his lot are causing so much misery for those who now find it impossible to heat their homes or run their car. Not only is he and his ilk responsible for fuel poverty but he is wrecking our manufacturing industries too. One day, there will be no more money and he will have to go and find a real job – assuming he is capable of doing something honest.
Get lost, Ward. we’ve had enough of your lies and your preaching. Your data is either flawed or totally fake, and you know it. And by the way, there is no ‘current warming trend,’ and nobody believes anything the IPCC or the Grantham Institute say about anything.
“… with the deaths of so many Americans …”
In the U. S., there are about 95 people killed per day in motor vehicle crashes.
Bob (mush for brains) Ward could make a better case for these deaths as a result of Pres. Trump’s policies. Trump’s developments encourage people to travel, spend, and have fun. As president, his policies encourage more economic activity and a high standard of living. More travel, more accidents, more deaths.
Maybe the LSE Grantham Institute will hire me to make stuff up!
It is not worth the effort to refute the rest of Ward’s nonsense.
Traffic deaths increase in lighter cars, which are more common when fuel economy standards are more severe.
Please quote your source
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-road-deaths/climate-change-might-be-cause-of-record-u-s-road-deaths-study-idUSKCN1BB377
(I know it says something completely different but that’s the new paradigm).
Is that how US traffic death rates are four times the UK’s? All those light F150s?
no they don’t.
The lighter cars have other features like crumple zones to protect the drivers.
Source? Hundreds of studies. Plus anyone who understands basic physics.
Rhoda, please stop and think a minute. For once.
Are you arguing that the only difference between England and the US is CAFE?
First off, distances in the US are much greater than they are in England, as a result the average American spends a lot more time on the roads, and at higher average speeds.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. are much lower than in the UK, plus consumers have more money, leading to more driving (and accidents) in the U.S. There’s less public transport in the U.S., because of its lower density, so cars are more needed to get around, so more driving is done in the U.S.
Well it is the lighter one in collision, not weight per se.
And, once again, 12 years without a single, landfalling, major hurricane, and these people are silent. Two hit in a month and they’re panicking about global warming.
As if hurricanes never, ever hit North America before global warming.
Bob Ward then
But there is still trouble with climate change ‘denial’ according to Bob Ward. He criticises Lord Lawson for saying that he denies any link between climate change and the weather events of earlier this year. Bob Ward said the Met Office has laid it out. Yes they have, and this is what their report said:-
In defence of Nigel Lawson, and his fellow climate sceptics
Bob Ward now, after losing a few rounds of vexatious Press complaints.
one is supposed to believe people about global warming when they say hurricanes are caused by global warming. There were tons of hurricanes when the Earth was 1.0C cooler than today.
Irma was much stronger and worser than Camille and Andrew. I mean it’s obvious that a 142 gust is much stronger than 165 and 175 sustained. I mean there are shingles blown off and fences knocked down. My god where Camille and Andrew went through is looked like an H bomb went off. There might be some pretty bad damage in places but nothing like Camille. Which will be recised to a tropical storm at land fall next year due to progressive history.
Part of that is due to the much tougher building codes that have been put in place since Camille and Andrew.
If anything is placed at anyone’s door for failure, it is the massive cost of climate change policies which should be placed at the door of climate modelers who have so utterly failed to produce anything that reasonably matches reality.
I gave up watching the news on Irma. These news people know less about hurricanes than I did at age 10. They are dumb as a box of rocks. I am hoping everyone isn’t that dumb and are tired of the meida’s proud showing of ignorance and stupidity. Does no one know what the eye of a hurricane is??? They don’t—or if they do they feel obligated to explain ad nauseaum that the other side of the hurricane is coming soon and the storm surge. Duh—that happens every hurricane. So do tornadoes, flooding and torrential rain.
As for apocalyptic, a meteor slamming into the earth is apocalyptic. A hurricane is very, very bad but not apocalyptic. We have had hurricanes for millions of years. Generally, you get an apocalypse once in a million or 20 million years, not every time the weather gets extreme. All I’ve learned is how totally clueless and prone to wild exaggeration the news media is. They lie and mislead and disgust me.
Is that miedo? Traficante de miedo!
I saw a repeat of an old (2010) BBC Horizon programme on nuclear fusion.
Whilst the BBC is one of the biggest peddlers of fake news, on this aspect it is probably correct. It stated that worldwide only 1 billion pounds is spent on fusion research (ignoring military spending). Presently the world is wasting hundreds of billions of dollars each year on climate change. we have our priorities completely mixed up.
Under the Paris Accord, the developed world is obliged to establish a US$ 100 billion fund to distribute each year to the climate needy/parasites. The bulk of that money was to come from the US. If President Trump was to invest just half the monies that the US was bound to stump up under the Paris Accord, to the R&D of nuclear fusion, it is likely that this would do more for the reduction of CO2 than any other commitment made under the Paris Accord.
With such an investment, perhaps by 2050 a commercially viable fusion powered generator may be up and running, and in which case the use of fossil fuels would be greatly reduced with the resultant reduction in CO2 between 2050 and 2100.
Whilst i am not one who is concerned by manmade CO2 emissions, and do not consider the claims of doom to be well founded, if President Trump was to divert money out of climate change and into nuclear fusion research. then President Trump could claim to have done more to save the world than any other person including the saint Obama, and the prophet Gore. This would be good PR for the President, and potentially the entire world could benefit.
But in 2011 the BBC question whether ITER may be “The world’s most expensive scientific gamble”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16170550
.. if President Trump was to divert money out of climate change and into
nuclear fusionUS led LFTR commercialisation (instead of just helping the Chinese build on Oakridge’s legacy) …Trump won’t be in office for the 30 years fusion will remain in the future 🙂
I’d become an American and vote for him, if he did that.
He looks a bit simple, bless!
What a bunch of bunk. Just stating the 3 reasons why this author believes global warming is responsible for Harvey and Irma to be mighty hurricanes is no proof at all. He states them as if they are all well established reasons. He speaks of 3 variables that are no different than what has historically occurred in the past.
He’s neither naive nor stupid nor ill-informed. He is doing what he is paid to do.
Anyone with a smug grin on their face is likely lying to you. Anyone trying to blame Pres. Trump for global warming is lying to you, with the same smug grin. Looks kinda like Michael Mann with a closer shave, but just as dumb.
” but there are three ways in which it is making the consequences worse.
First, although the intensity of a hurricane depends on many factors, warmer seawater tends to promote stronger storms. Average sea surface temperatures have been rising, and some parts of the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico are warmer than average at the moment, which is a key reason why both Harvey and Irma became so strong so quickly”
Go on then, show us your math. WTF does this have to do with carbon dioxide, besides the square root of (SNIP) all? I eagerly await your non-response.
I’d become an American and vote for him, if he did that.
Oops…not sure what happened there.
Anyway really skeptical…I’ll play your game.
IF what you say is true (and I agree with you by the way – bite my tongue) then what happened all those other 12 years when NO cat 3 of higher hurricanes landed on mainland USA?
And other parts of the world’s oceans are colder than normal… your point is??
Certainly there is no sign of any CO2 warming….. unless, of course, you are REALLY GULLIBLE…
and swallow the AGW scam with your Klimate Kool-aide
From JoNova
1.It’s only the 7th most intense at landfall in US history.
2.It formed over water that was two degrees cooler than normal,
3.1893, 1933, 1950, 1995, and 2005 had more Accumulated Cyclone Energy by Sept 10.
4.In 1933 two hurricanes hit the US in just 24 hours
5.In 1893, 1909, 2004 there were three Cat 3+ landfalls in US (blame climate change).
6.NOAA itself says there’s no evidence anyone can detect that greenhouse gas emissions have an effect on hurricanes.
2 degrees coler than normal….. seems you ae being really gullible about ocean warming,
but before landfall is was the most extreme storm of its kind in the Caribbean…
The severity at the US coastline is a rather parochial way of looking at this
And how does the fact it formed over cooler water come into it?
Plenty of warmer water was around to give it cat 5 energy…
…observed during the satellite era. Griff, you are precedented.
Yawn. HYPED as one of the strongest.. in a TINY thirty year period.
You really are a silly little boy, griff.
and you will never grow out of your childish attention-seeking without medical and psychological help..
The “claim” is that the average temperature of the oceans has risen 0.001C. Just how much stronger do you believe that would make your average hurricane?
Beyond that, the claim that we can measure the average temperature of the oceans to 0.1C is absurd. The claim that we can measure it to 1 thousandth of a degree is so laughable that only a charlatan or a moron would try to make such a claim.
Bob Ward, seems to suggest that until Donald Trump became President, Hurricanes didn’t exist.
Another strawman title, similar to the “Michael Mann’s claims that Harvey was caused by global warming are destroyed by an operational meteorologist”
babazaroni, whines again.
Lets read what BOB wrote,
“Irma and Harvey lay the costs of climate change denial at Trump’s door”
Your turn……
When you have no substantive point, you whine about trivialities. Babs has perfected this art form.
Bob layed an egg at President Trump’s door. I’ll bet Bob denies it…..
It’s obvious. Our election of Potus Obama was why we had no hurricanes in the U.S. It was his good “climate intentions” that prevented them all! LOL!
Back in 2003 after Katrina, the big headlines foretold of the impending doom-and-gloom of even more powerful and frequent hurricanes that would destroy us all in the next decade because of CO2. Well, it’s taken fourteen years before we even got a hurricane to come ashore in the U.S. and we’ve been lowering our CO2 emissions. Maybe we’re not creating enough CO2 to prevent this new series of storms and better burn more fossil fuels to prevent more catastrophe.
President Trump took office on the 20th January this year, in the 8 months since assuming Office he is apparently responsible for everything under the sun that is has, or is, or will be going wrong on Planet Earth. I had no idea how powerful a man he was, remarkable, really remarkable.
There is an obvious way to counter this nonsense about hurricanes being the fault of Donald Trump and that is to agree with their assertion that global warming means more extreme weather and the major victims of such extreme weather in the Northern Hemisphere are the southern states of the USA .
Given that the warmists also say that the accumulated global warming will continue for decades whatever money is thrown at the problem then any Green Fund money from the US should be used to rebuild and repair damage in the US.
But what did Obama do :
from the Guardian in Ja 2017:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/18/barack-obama-transfers-500m-to-green-climate-fund-in-attempt-to-protect-paris-deal:
– “Barack Obama has heeded calls to help secure the future of the historic Paris agreement by transferring a second $500m installment to the Green Climate Fund, just three days before he leaves office.
The fund was a key aspect of the Paris agreement signed in 2015, which aims to keep global warming “well below” 2C and aspires to keep warming to 1.5C.
Established in 2010, it is financed by wealthy countries and used to assist developing countries with adaptation and mitigation. It was widely seen as a key measure to bring both rich and poor countries to the negotiating table.
The US committed to transferring $3bn to the fund. The new instalment leaves $2bn owing, with the incoming president, Donald Trump, expected to cease any further payments. “-
That 1 billion USD would have gone along way to help mitigate damage to the poorer districts of Florida and Texas , build refuge stations , improve escape expressways etc , but instead has disappeared noone knows where.
Obama, the Clintons and Soros should be made to put back that 1 billion dollars to help the people of Florida (who probably contributed a large proportion of it originally) .
Dont just bemoan the stupid and pathetic drivel from lackeys such as Bob Ward of the LSE ( notorious for giving the son of Gadaffi a completely bogus PhD) , fight back for goodness sake (and for the world’s sake) and use their own tactics against them.
Most of Londoners knew the LSE as a home of the fervent revolutionary enthusiasm.
LSE founded by Fabians ‘quite literally’ woolves in sheep’s clothing and proud of that.
‘Remould it nearer to the heart’s desire’ ‘Pray devoutly hammer stoutly’
The Fabian window … shows Shaw, Sidney Webb and ER Pease, secretary of the Fabian Society, helping to build ‘the new world’. … The Fabian Society’s coat of arms is shown as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/alumni/LSEConnect/LSEMagazine/pdf/summer2006/FabianWindow.pdf
Now Dalai Lama thinks that the Potus will be responsible for wild fires and global floods.
I expect a bit less criticism from the pope, now he’s knocked his head on the popemobile.
I don’t think the old Donald knew what he got himself into at a rather mature age of 71, when the most of people take philosophical view of life and focus on enjoying retirement.
I have been retired for five years and find there is not enough time to do everything that I would like to do.
I think President Trump is having the time of his life and enjoying every minute of it.
In the climate-change realm models describe only the future climate , except it so happens that the weather does not obey the narrative . That said , there will hope that tomorrow will prove the false prophets right .
I don’t really like Trump, but saying that hurricanes are his fault is pretty schitzophrenic…
For an adult, agreeing or disagreeing with someone has nothing to do with whether you like them or not.
Too bad there are so few adults in this world.
Serene calm has returned to South East Florida beach . A visiting Canadian who sat out hurricane commented: ‘not much when compared to the Canadian freezing snow blizzard’
I thought that name sounded familiar, then I remembered the nickname “Rat Snake”.
Cut the man some slack. He’s employed to write self-serving drivel on behalf of his employer, and happens to be very good at his job…
… so we should pay generous green supplements on the top our exorbitant electricity bills because the ‘educated idi0ts’ like him are telling everyone we need to save planet from climatic cataclysm.
What makes it worse is that if the premise was right we would need LESS electricity as there would be global warming. Since heat retention by CO2 and other fossil fuel emissions is the claimed mechanism then no climate change is possible without global warming first and any evidence to the contrary has had to be faked.
Ah well. I thought the sarcasm was so obvious a /sarc tag wasn’t needed.
So the lack of damage Irma caused the US is the result of Trump’s leadership as well.
Bob Ward is a disgusting cynical moron seeking to profit off the suffering of others, no matter the facts, history, or truth.
Disjointed, equivocal case (?) by the head of the once great LSE. The Guardian must be casting about to have accepted this thin gruel. No wonder Europe’s economy sunk.
The Guardian is now promoting wind, on the basis apparently that all power is identical no matter how much the supply fluctuates…. Backup not included, no requirement in the spec for the delivery of usably constant power….
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/11/huge-boost-renewable-power-offshore-windfarm-costs-fall-record-low
There is no reasoning with these people.
I used to like this site, but the increase in the number of ad hominum posts is really starting to get me down. If you can counter an alarmist’s statements with reasoned arguments, perhaps it would be better to avoid posting.
If that is snark, it is very good snark! If you meant to say “can’t”, hell even I have been known to engage in snark now and then. Especially when an “expert” engages in ad hominem which describes Bob’s statement exactly.
I agree; WUWT had a higher tone a couple of years ago, and an even better one eight years ago, when comments were all moderated.
My green taxes on petrol, electricity, gas and flights amount to well over US$ 500/annum, Bob Ward and I can afford to pay it but there are thousands or even millions in the UK who can not.
Bob Ward isn’t just any ‘common garden jorno’ who doesn’t know what he is talking about.
Bob Ward has a first degree in geology; as we know there are number of highly qualified geologist writing and commenting here, I would assume that most would strongly disagree with Mr. Wards propaganda. Bob Ward is qualified scientist but pursues shameless propaganda.
If he submits an article to WUWT attempting to prove that current global warming is caused by man I solemnly promise I will be very polite and only consider his scientific argument only.
Know thy village idiots along with useful idiots and grand-standers.
We didn’t learn about falsifiability when we were children! We learned it from Karl Popper, a philosopher whose understanding of science was far greater than he is given credit for in the quote about falsifiability. His intellect clearly exceeds the bounds of those self-serving knuckleheads who want to discard the standard. I didn’t see who wrote the snippet quoted but I have one thing to say to him/her: what an arse!
If storm intensity is related to the difference between warm waters and cooler air, shouldn’t CO2 trapping more warmth in the lower atmosphere decrease the intensity of these storms?
A better question is why this idiot gains access to media. Is it the old tabloid concept of in your face in the checkout isle? It morphed from celebrity news idiocy to political, news fakery, and Bill Nye-style pseudo science grandstanding. Keep it coming so it degrades the messaging of the others on the same track.
I do not accept the need for the gold standard of test to be applied to climate science. I merely ask that if companies who supply to low cost product outlets like Poundland have a standard then climate scientist’s work should pass that standard at a minimum.
As for for the comment about Trump we have long learnt to expect that from the organisation known locally as “Laughably Sh!t Eds”. What other educational establishment openly advocates there being no evidence for a premise but it should be blindly accepted anyway. Not even theological colleges demand such extreme examples of blind faith.
Bob Ward? A disgrace to the LSE.
I’m glad my honor student didn’t look in that direction.
Bob Ward almost has as much science credentials as Jennifer Lawrence.
I’d really appreciate it if some warmist could explain what could have been done since AGW was discovered/invented that would have prevented or ameliorated Irma/ Harvey. Other than undoing the Industrial Revolution.
Well, if you’re looking to establish a cause and effect narrative, you could easily point out that we just had eight years of Obama and Draconian regulation coming from as radical an activist that has ever ascended to high office in the US, and none of it worked. Trump hasn’t done anything but change a couple department heads, and cut a little funding – and that’s only been in the last few months.
Obama failed. The hurricanes happened anyway.
“Climate scientists” have killed at least 100,000 times more people than Harvey and Irma.
To Bob Ward goes the Award for Outstanding Cretinous Coprocephalic of The Year.
for 2017.
Mr Ward: there is no such thing as Magic, for all you wish there might be.
This paper
Allmendinger 2017 clearly demonstrates that there is no
such thing as <Greenhouse gases.as a special class of
atmospheric gas. All atmospheric gases warm under solar insolation and
immediately convect., thus
Mr Ward, find and press your mental Reset button and start again.
This is science not <pseudoscience nor magic.
Another Liberal bed wetter looking to employ the Madonna school of marketing to
stroke his hypocritical socialist fantasy .
Yep that earth quake in Mexico … Trumps fault too loser ?
It must be hard to lose an election with all that voter registration fraud couldn’t even salvage .
And now to have galvanized all those fly over deplorables and yucky coal workers the only people
drawn to Democrats are corporate welfare frauds and their pretend police force(SNIPPED). MOD
I am so happy these imbeciles make themselves known so that we don’t have to go looking for them. By their own words do they shame themselves. Cannot add a thing.
Bob ‘fast fingers ‘ Ward , although utterly useless at it has actual made a career out of trying to sell BS as Gold.