The Week That Was: 2021-02-13 (February 13, 2021)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie–deliberate, contrived and dishonest–but the myth–persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. – John F. Kennedy, June 11, 1962 [H/t Ed Berry] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/14892-the-great-enemy-of-truth-is-very-often-not-the
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Transparency and Integrity? The January 9 TWTW discussed the efforts of outgoing EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to create rules internal to the EPA on transparency regarding data used in dose-response studies. These rules state that the EPA will give priority to studies in which the public can review the data used in making new regulations. They are a step forward in making significant data publicly available. These rules do not apply to past studies or regulations where the EPA used highly questionable linear-no threshold models as the basis for regulations. These models can lead to absurd results. For example, people can die from drinking too much water at one time, therefore drinking a glass of pure water can be deadly to some people.
One of the fundamental principles of the scientific method is free and open testing of a concept or hypothesis against physical evidence to understand its strengths and weaknesses. The new rules are based on the principle that the public has a right to know why the EPA is establishing certain regulations. Unfortunately, all too frequently those who object to open evidence to support their desired regulation often have something to hide from those who suffer the burden of regulation.
On January 27, the Biden administration announced a “Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking.” This extends to all executive departments and federal agencies, including the EPA. The Memorandum opens:
“It is the policy of my Administration to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data. Scientific and technological information, data, and evidence are central to the development and iterative improvement of sound policies, and to the delivery of equitable programs, across every area of government. Scientific findings should never be distorted or influenced by political considerations. When scientific or technological information is considered in policy decisions, it should be subjected to well-established scientific processes, including peer review where feasible and appropriate, with appropriate protections for privacy. Improper political interference in the work of Federal scientists or other scientists who support the work of the Federal Government and in the communication of scientific facts undermines the welfare of the Nation, contributes to systemic inequities and injustices, and violates the trust that the public places in government to best serve its collective interests.”
This sounds ideal. The public will finally have federal government rule making based on transparency and the best evidence-based decision making possible. The memorandum assigns specific tasks to the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, including convening a task force on scientific integrity.
However, there is a matter of concern. The second paragraph of the memorandum states:
“This memorandum reaffirms and builds on the Presidential Memorandum of March 9, 2009 (Scientific Integrity), and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Memorandum of December 17, 2010 (Scientific Integrity).”
The EPA Endangerment Finding was announced on December 7, 2009, after the March 9, 2009, memorandum on scientific integrity. Will it be subject to review under the new memorandum on Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking? See links under Change in US Administrations and the January 9 TWTW.
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EPA Endangerment Finding: The EPA website on the Endangerment Finding states:
“On December 7, 2009, the Administrator signed two distinct findings regarding greenhouse gases under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act:
“Endangerment Finding: The Administrator finds that the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)—in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.
“Cause or Contribute Finding: The Administrator finds that the combined emissions of these well-mixed greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution which threatens public health and welfare.”
The finding does not apply to water vapor, the dominant greenhouse gas. Yet, the influential 1979 Charney Report speculated that an amplification from increased water vapor makes the modest warming from carbon dioxide significant. This amplification has not been found in over 40 years of observations of the atmosphere by satellites.
Also, there is little evidence that the current surface warming is primarily caused by greenhouse gases. The atmosphere is not warming as much as the surface data indicates a warming. Thus, the difference is coming from sources other than increasing greenhouse gases.
Further, the direct studies of atmospheric radiative transfer, how the greenhouse effect operates, produce a far lower warming effect than the Charney Report, and the reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claim to be occurring from greenhouse gases.
EPA’s claims that CO2 threaten the public health and welfare of future generations are misplaced. As John Christy and others have shown, using atmospheric temperature datasets from satellites and weather balloons, and reanalysis datasets, the global climate models fail to describe what is occurring in the atmosphere. Thus, the models are highly speculative and unsuitable for predicting what may occur in the future.
If the Biden Administration desires to establish scientific integrity, it should reopen examination of the EPA Endangerment Finding. We shall see how the Biden Administration treats scientific integrity not from its memoranda, but by its actions. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy, Change in US Administrations, and https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/endangerment-and-cause-or-contribute-findings-greenhouse-gases-under-section-202a-clean
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Myths: John Kennedy’s admonishment against myths in the Quote of the Week needs to be constantly remembered. Myths concerning harms to human health are pervasive. Another example was widely touted this week – that fossil fuels caused the deaths of more than 8 million people worldwide in 2018 from their inhalation of fine particles (PM2.5). The claims that PM2.5 causes extensive deaths is based on secret science that no one is permitted to review. In addition, the statistics are highly dubious.
Worse, the recent studies lump all fossil fuel use together – coal, oil, and natural gas. Yet, the emissions and wastes from burning each type of fuel are significantly different. In the open air, natural gas is far cleaner burning than coal.
Further, the studies do not recognize the significant strides made in cleaning the exhausts of coal fired power plants over the past 50 years. Instead, they dwell on China or other nations that require few pollution controls on their power plants, and which use open-air burning of coal, or other fuels, for heating and cooking. Even before the demise of the steel industry in Pittsburgh, the city was no longer choking on the dirty air produced by coal. It is not the fuel going into the furnace that is important, it is the cleanliness of the exhaust going into the sky.
Based on these reports, it is surprising anyone in China survives beyond the age of 20. See links under Health, Energy, and Climate
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Surface Temperature Data: As Joe D’Aleo and Tony Heller have shown, the US surface data has been heavily manipulated by NOAA and NASA-GISS to give a strong warming trend where there may be little or no trend. The data for the past, particularly the 1930s, has been altered to indicate a cooling. This was done by adjusting the time-of-observation (TOB) for maximum and minimum temperatures. Further, the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect influences the readings at many locations, especially at airports. In addition, during the past 50 years the population of the US has increased by over 50% resulting in warmer readings in many locations.
Roy Spencer suggests focusing on only the stations which give hourly data and applying an correction for the UHI based on data such as population trends. Although this effort would reduce the official number of stations from 1,218 to 311, the result may be a far more accurate record of what is occurring on land in the US than the existing record. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy
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Phase Change: Much of Europe and the US are experiencing cloudy, cold, wet weather, without significant daily fluctuation between maximum and minimum temperatures. In part, we can be thankful for water vapor and its greenhouse effect. Without it, nighttime would be extremely cold, freezing and killing all vegetation, even in the summer. Humanity would not exist.
Writing in his Blog, The Reference Frame, physicist Lubos Motl brings up another stabilizing characteristic of water, which is the energy required to cause its phase change, including the energy required phase change. The energy required to convert ice to liquid water and liquid water to water vapor. To melt ice, 334,000 J/kg are needed, to convert liquid water to water vapor 2,260,000 J/kg are needed. Put differently
“The melting latent heat [of this phase change] is equivalent to the warming of liquid water by some 80 °C; the vaporization specific heat is equivalent to the warming of liquid water by some impressive 540 °C. … it’s clear that the rate at which the temperature wants to change in the wake of some radiation deficits or surpluses is affected near the phase transitions. But which way?
Put differently, to melt a kilogram of ice requires the same energy as to raise a kilogram of water 80 °C or 80 kilograms 1 °C. But to convert one kilogram of liquid water into water vapor requires the same amount of energy as to raise one kilogram of water 540 °C, which is impossible without intense pressure, or to raise 540 kilograms of water by 1 °C. Roughly, the conversion of liquid water to water vapor requires 6.75 times the energy as converting ice to liquid water. The reverse releases heat (latent heat).
“Well, first, the required phase transition slows down or ideally stops the temperature change completely. When the temperature drops from positive numbers towards the freezing point, it stops there because the water needs to freeze over and to do so, it needs to lose as much internal energy as if you cooled liquid water by 80 °C, as I previously said. In this process, the temperature is stuck at 0 °C and what is changing is the fraction of the water that has frozen over.”
Motl discusses problems with temperature averages because they do not consider the heat involved in phase transitions and what appears in the Vostok ice cores. We are fortunate to be living in a warm period between glaciations. It is significant cold that is much more dangerous than warmth. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Thirst for Knowledge: Usually TWTW concludes with articles focused on scientific or energy issues. However, an unusual book on President Lincoln was reviewed discussing one of Lincoln’s exceptional characteristics – his life-long thirst for knowledge. One characteristic not discussed was Lincoln’s compassion as the Civil War was ending. As reflected in the treaty between Union General Grant and Confederate General Lee, Lincoln had no desire for revenge.
Unfortunately, Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, before the last major treaty was signed, which was equally compassionate, between Union General Sherman and Confederate General Johnston on April 18. That treaty was rejected by those in Washington seeking revenge. The history of the US may have been far different if Lincoln had not been assassinated.
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Number of the Week: – 20%. Again, TWTW finds it stunning that scientific reports are claiming that almost 20% of deaths world-wide are from using fossil fuels. See links under Health, Energy, and Climate.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Suppressing Scientific Inquiry
High Court To Decide On Peter Ridd Free Speech Case
By Gideon Rozner, Institute of Public Affairs, Feb 11, 2021 [H/t WUWT]
High Court To Decide On Peter Ridd Free Speech Case (ipa.org.au)
Peter Ridd wins right to take appeal to the High Court
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 11, 2021
Fly-Past Coral Surveys, And
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Feb 11, 2021
“My issues relate specifically to the aerial surveys of coral bleaching by Terry Hughes from which it has been concluded that the Great Barrier Reef is half dead.
“There has been very little scrutiny of the methodology underpinning these aerial surveys. It is actually impossible to make any meaningful assessment of coral reef health from more than 120 metres above a coral reef – which is the altitude from which Professor Hughes has been conducting his flyovers.”
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
Download with no charge:
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
Download with no charge:
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
Global Sea-Level Rise: An Evaluation of the Data
By Craig D. Idso, David Legates, and S. Fred Singer, Heartland Policy Brief, May 20, 2019
Pervasive Warming Bias in CMIP6 Tropospheric Layers
By R. McKitrick and J. Christy, Earth and Space Science, July 15, 2020
CMIP6 and AR6, a preview
By Andy May, WUWT, Feb 11, 2021
Climate Claim Fact Checks
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 6, 2021
Link to list: Climate Claim Fact Checks
By Joseph S. D’Aleo, CCM, ICECAP, Jan 14, 2021
“Below are a series of fact checks of the 11 most common climate claims such as those made in the recently released Fourth National Climate Assessment Report. The authors of these reviews are all recognized experts in the relevant fields.
“For each claim, a summary of the relevant rebuttal is provided below along with a link to the full text of the rebuttal, which includes the names and the credentials of the authors of each rebuttal.”
Urban Heat Island Effects on U.S. Temperature Trends, 1973-2020: USHCN vs. Hourly Weather Stations
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Feb 11, 2021
Fat tails of sub-freezing temperatures
By Lubos Motl, The Reference Frame, Feb 9, 2021
Vijay Jayaraj: Wary of the new green wave, India continues to increase its coal capacity
By Vijay Jayaraj, India, GWPF, Feb 12, 2012
“The developing countries must not allow their domestic energy policies be dictated by carbon imperialists from the West, especially those from the Biden administration. A lackluster response to West’s carbon tax and anti-fossil pressure will cost the developing nations dearly. The next 4 years will be crucial to the prospects of poverty reduction in the developing world, and it remains to be seen how the leadership there will react to the barrage of anti-fossil darts from the West.”
The Sun and Water (Solid, Liquid & Gas) controls the weather and climate – NOT carbon dioxide
By Neil Catto FRMetS, WeatherResearch, Feb 11, 2021 [H/t Paul Homewood]
Biden’s climate ‘fix’ is fantastically expensive and perfectly useless
By Bjorn Lomborg, New York Post, Feb 9, 2021 [H/t Cooler Heads]
“Across the world, politicians are going out of their way to promise fantastically expensive climate policies. President Biden has promised to spend $500 billion each year on climate — about 13 percent of the entire federal revenue. The European Union will spend 25 percent of its budget on climate.
“Most rich countries now promise to go carbon-neutral by mid-century. Shockingly, only one country has made a serious, independent estimate of the cost: New Zealand found it would optimistically cost 16 percent of its GDP by then, equivalent to the entire current New Zealand budget.”
Kivalina: A Case Study of How Media & Politics Mangle Objective Climate Science!
By Jim Steele, WUWT, Feb 9, 2021
Defending the Orthodoxy
Climate-driven temperature swings slow economic growth
By Kelly MacNamara, Paris (AFP), Feb 8, 2021
“… researchers from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Columbia University and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change [Berlin] said impact studies often look at annual averages, rather than the effects of day-to-day temperature fluctuations.”
Report: Reducing CO2 in Atmosphere Would Require COVID-Like Lockdowns for Decades
By A Kim, CNS News, Feb 9, 2021 [H/t GWPF]
Link to paper: Can We Measure a COVID-19-Related Slowdown in Atmospheric CO2 Growth? Sensitivity of Total Carbon Column Observations
By Ralf Sussmann and Markus Rettinger, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, July 24, 2020
[SEPP Comment: Are these the same scientists that ignore the fact that the greenhouse effect occurs in the atmosphere?]
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Better understanding the reasons behind Arctic amplified warming
News Release by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Feb 8, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
[SEPP Comment: Disagree with the opening statement: “It’s clear that rising greenhouse gas emissions are the main driver of global warming.” The paper discusses the over-simplification of aerosols, which are generally assumed to cool the warming caused by CO2.]
How To Avoid Climate Disaster, The Bill Gates Way
By Tilak Doshi, Forbes, Feb 5, 2021 [Book Review]
“Either Gates is not aware or finds it inconvenient that the very authorities he consults with hold views at odds with the assertions made throughout the book. Vaclav Smil, the widely-respected energy scholar praised by Bill Gates (among others), concluded that it would take 25-50% of all land in the U.S. to go 100% renewable, a practical impossibility.”
Questioning the Orthodoxy
The Globe’s Total Greenhouse Effect Forcing Has Been On A Declining Trend For Decades
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Feb 8, 2021
Link to latest paper: Cloud cover changes driven by atmospheric circulation in Europe during the last decades
By Lucian Sfîcă, International Journal of Climatology, Sep 18, 2020
[SEPP Comment: This paper discusses cloud cover over Europe, which is important. This is not the same as the declining effectiveness of CO2 with increasing concentrations, which is also important. A reader should not confuse the two concepts.]
1978: The Coming Ice Age
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Feb 11, 2021
Climate change: global warming may have started before industrial revolution, Chinese study says
Investigation of coral reefs in the Paracel Islands suggest the South China Sea began warming up in 1825, researchers say
Uranium dating shows samples have a continuous climate record going back to 1520
By Stephen Chen, South China Morning Post, Feb 7, 2021
Unable to link to paper
The Story of the Man-Made Global Warming Hypothesis
Science Theory Unbound by Test — The Story of the Man-Made Global Warming Hypothesis
By Charles Anderson, The Australian Climate Sceptics Blog, Feb 7, 2021
One Year After The New Normal
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Feb 11, 2021
Global Warming Alarmists Keep Letting Their Masks Slip, Reveal Their True Motivations
I & I Editorial Board, February 10, 2021 [H/t William Readdy]
Seals, Mammoths, Horses, Waterfowl…All Tell Us Claims Of Exceptional Modern Warmth Are Bull Hockey
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Feb 11, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Northern and Southern Elephant Seals breed on land. The waters must be sufficient free of ice for the massive seals to get to the breeding grounds, beaches.]
How lefty corporate titans have declared war on the will of the American people
By Stephen R. Soukup, New York Post, Feb 2, 2021
The end is nigh
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 10, 2021
[SEPP Comment: The end of climate change denialism!]
After Paris!
Limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius requires emissions reductions 80% above Paris Agreement targets
News Release, University of Washington, Feb 9, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: Country-based rate of emissions reductions should increase by 80% beyond nationally determined contributions to meet the 2 °C target
By Peiran R. Liu & Adrian E. Raftery, Nature Communications, Feb 9, 2021
“On current trends, the probability of staying below 2 °C of warming is only 5%, but if all countries meet their nationally determined contributions and continue to reduce emissions at the same rate after 2030, it rises to 26%. If the USA alone does not meet its nationally determined contribution, it declines to 18%.”
[SEPP Comment: The US National Institutes of Health funded this non-science. The authors pretend they know the equilibrium climate sensitivity from doubling of CO2, yet the climate has never been in equilibrium.]
What Joe Biden Doesn’t Know About Paris
By Tom Harris, Real Clear Energy, Feb 10, 2021
Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking
By Staff, The White House, Jan 27, 2021
Under Trump, Americans Breathed The Cleanest Air In U.S. History, And Other Environmental Wins The Biden Administration Deleted
After four years of silence from the legacy media on the matter, it’s time to take stock of how the Trump administration helped the environment.
By Doug Domenech, The Federalist, Feb 4, 2021
Joe Biden Wants to Make America Energy Dependent Again
By Daniel Turner, Real Clear Energy, Feb 11, 2021
Kerry to the… never mind
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 10, 2021
“So, when John Kerry swaggers off his jet airplane, remember: The offsets are fake. Only the arrogance is real.”
Biden’s climate task force has first meeting
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Feb 11, 2021
“The White House’s new National Climate Task Force held its first meeting Thursday, seeking a return to ‘credibility’ on climate change.”
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
Study: Climate change exacerbating pollen season
By John Bowden, The Hill, Feb 8, 2021
Link to paper: Anthropogenic climate change is worsening North American pollen seasons
By William R. L. Anderegg, et al. PNAS, Feb 16, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Increasing pollen, the downside of global greening?]
WVU biologists uncover forests’ unexpected role in climate change
Press Release, West Virginia University, Feb 8, 2021 [H/t WUWT]
Link to paper: Global tree intrinsic water use efficiency is enhanced by increased atmospheric CO2 and modulated by climate and plant functional types
By Justin M. Mathias and Richard B. Thomas. PNAS, Feb 16, 2021
Problems in the Orthodoxy
EU Lagging Behind In GHG Cuts
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 10, 2021
Seeking a Common Ground
A climate of dialogue
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc. Feb 12, 2021
Truth and Climate Change
By Peter Smith, Quadrant, Feb 10, 2021
“The evidence from satellite data is clear. The global temperature has risen markedly since the end of 1978. Can we at least agree about that before legitimately debating what caused it and what it might mean in the larger scheme of things?”
[SEPP Comment: Is the rise unusual and dangerous?]
Road to Climate Neutrality
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc. Feb 8, 2021
Link to report: Road to EU Climate Neutrality by 2050
Spatial Requirements of Wind/Solar and Nuclear Energy and Their Respective Costs
By Katinka M. Brouwer, LL.M., dr. Lucas Bergkamp (editor), ECR Group and Renew Europe, European Parliament, January 2021
Summary: https://roadtoclimateneutrality.eu/Energy_English_Summary.pdf
[SEPP Comment: Neutrality meaning no CO2 emissions.]
Science, Policy, and Evidence
CDC Estimates 83 Million U.S. COVID Infections. This Has Major Implications.
By Alex Berezow, ACSH, Feb 9, 2012
“The CDC’s estimate of 83 million infections is really quite stunning, yet few if any people are talking about this. That’s a real shame. It’s vital that we learn not to repeat the same mistakes, including the social and economic ones, not just the epidemiological ones.”
9% Support: Let’s Make it Government Policy
By Donna Laframboise, Big Picture News, Feb 10, 2021
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by CO2 Science
The Combined Impacts of Ocean Acidification and Warming on Symbiochlorum hainanensis
Gong, S., Jin, X., Xiao, Y. and Li, Z. 2020. Ocean acidification and warming lead to increased growth and altered chloroplast morphology in the thermos-tolerant alga Symbiochlorum hainanensis. Frontiers in Plant Science 11: Article 585202, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.585202. Feb 10, 2021
“And, according to Gong et al., these findings ultimately suggest ‘strong acclimation of this alga to future ocean environmental changes,’ which is a nice way of saying this alga and those corals which share a symbiotic relationship with it are in no danger of rapid demise or extinction from rising temperatures and/or increases in the air’s CO2 content. In fact, they will likely benefit from it!”
What Can Two Hours of CO2 Enrichment Per Day Achieve?
Xu, X., Wu, P, Song, H., Zhang, J., Zheng, S., Xing, G., Hou, L. and Li, M. 2020. Identification of candidate genes associated with photosynthesis in eggplant under elevated CO2. Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment 34: 1166-1175. Feb 8, 2021
“And so, it is, in the words of Xu et al., that ‘the application of exogenous CO2 in the greenhouse stimulated [eggplant] growth.’ And it accomplished this feat, mind you, via a doubling of CO2 for only a mere two hours per day on sunny days. That is quite the accomplishment for a colorless, odorless and tasteless atmospheric trace gas that far too many incorrectly label as a pollutant!”
Models v. Observations
Invasive mussels now control a key nutrient in the American Great Lakes
Quagga mussels’ spread across 4 of the 5 Great Lakes has altered natural phosphorus exchange rates
News Release, NSF Feb 9, 2021
Link to paper: Benthic invaders control the phosphorus cycle in the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem
By Jiying Li, PNAS, Feb 9, 2021
“According to the study, the mussels in Lake Michigan are not only removing phosphorus from the water 10 times faster than two decades ago but are also resupplying the water column with eight times the amount of phosphorus. That ‘internal loading’ effectively decouples the dynamics of phosphorus from watershed inputs, leaving the system open to poorly predictable fluctuations when mussel populations increase or decrease.”
[SEPP Comment: Poorly predictable does not mean unstable.]
Measurement Issues — Surface
Rising CO2 causes data tampering
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 10, 2021
“Specifically, the ones NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) makes to the raw readings, cooling the past and warming the present so it seems to prove there’s CO2-driven warming despite what the thermometer said. Yes, you read that right. Atmospheric scientist Wei Zhang did a ‘regression analysis’ of atmospheric CO2 and NASA’s fiddles and found a fit of 0.82. On a scale where 0 means the adjustments had nothing to do with artificially matching temperature to CO2 and 1 means someone put the data on the rack and stretched it until it shrieked ‘carbon dioxide did it’.”
Central Europe January Hasn’t Seen Any Warming In 30 Years. Rural Areas Have Cooled Markedly
By Die kalte Sonne, Josef Kowatsch, (Translated, edited by P. Gosselin), No Tricks Zone, Feb 7, 2021
“January mean temperatures at these three mountain peaks have fallen markedly over the past three decades. This is not what you’d expect to see in a warming world.”
Changing Weather
UK cold weather: River Thames freezes over for first time in 60 years
By Seven Brown, Express, UK, Feb 12, 2021 [H/t GWPF]
Coldest Valentines Day On Record
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Feb 11, 2021
Cooling Winters…Ireland, Denmark, Austria Showing No January Warming Over Past Three Decades
By Kirye and Pierre Gosselin. No Tricks Zone, Feb 10, 2021
Wildfires Rage As Temperatures Plunge
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 12, 2021
[SEPP Comment: The fires must be caused by a cold wave caused by global warming?]
Experts Blame Global Warming for Cold Weather in Thailand and Singapore
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 9, 2021
January Weather Present & Past
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 6, 2021
“What is striking about these weather reports is just how variable UK weather is from year to year, and indeed week to week. Wet, dry, cold, mild, snowy or stormy – we can, and should, expect to see them all at any time.”
Changing Climate
Tree Remnants Show Greta’s Thunberg’s Northern Sweden Was 3°C Warmer 9300 Years Ago…Trees There’s Tundra
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 12, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Consistent with what H.H. Lamb wrote!]
New factor in the carbon cycle of the Southern Ocean identified
GEOMAR scientists show that besides iron, manganese can also limit the growth of photosynthesis-performing plankton
News Release, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Feb 9, 2021 [H/t WUWT]
“Earlier research suggests that greater phytoplankton growth in the Southern Ocean was a key contributor to the onset of the ice ages over the past 2.58 million years. More phytoplankton was able to bind more CO2, which was removed from the atmosphere. As a result, average global temperatures further declined.”
[SEPP Comment: Highly speculative! What caused the initial decline?]
Changing Seas
Sinking situation of subsidence in Houston, Gulf Coast
Geology, history of groundwater pumping creates ‘perfect storm’ for sinking cities
By Kerry Halladay, AgriLife, Feb 4, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: Mapping the global threat of land subsidence
By Gerardo Herrera-García, et al. Science, Jan 1, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Land subsidence caused by groundwater pumping is a major problem along coastal areas. Blaming increasing local subsidence on sea level rise ignores the problem and the solutions.]
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Rapid ice retreat during last deglaciation parallels current melt rates
Imagine an ice chunk the size of Hawaii disappearing, almost instantaneously, from an ice sheet. That is what happened in the Storfjorden Trough in the Arctic Ocean some 11,000 years ago.
Pres Release, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Feb 10, 2021
Climate and ocean forcing of ice-sheet dynamics along the Svalbard-Barents Sea ice sheet during the deglaciation ∼20,000–10,000 years BP
By Tine L. Rasmussena and Erik Thomsenb, Quaternary Science Advances, Apr 3, 2021
Anger as hopes fade for Indian workers after glacier disaster
By Jalees Andrabi, Tapovan, India (AFP) Feb 10, 2021
Polar bear sea ice habitat highs and lows in early February
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Feb 10, 2021
Acidic Waters
Colorado mountains bouncing back from acid rain effects
Scientists find long-term trend of ecological improvement
New Release, NSF, Jan 6, 2021
Link to paper; Long‐Term Trends in Acid Precipitation and Watershed Elemental Export From an Alpine Catchment of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA
By John T. Crawford, et al. JGR Biogeosciences, Nov 9, 2020
[SEPP Comment: No discussion on pH at the beginning of the study or sources of the “acid rain.”]
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
India to see record wheat harvest in 2021-22 amid higher export prospects
By Rohan Somwanshi, Platts, S&P Global, Feb 11, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Not millions dying of a famine from global warming?]
Bangladesh bans cattle painkiller to save vultures
By AFP Staff Writers, Dhaka (AFP). Feb 9, 2021
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Daily Express’ Green Revolution!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 11, 2021
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Mark Carney: Climate crisis deaths ‘will be worse than Covid’
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 6, 2021
[SEPP Comment: From the former head of the Bank of England. No wonder bitcoin is doing so well, as a protection against ill-informed bankers.]
Shining a light on the true value of solar power
By Kelley Christensen, Michigan Technological University, TechXplore, Feb 8, 2021
Link to paper; Economics of Grid-Tied Solar Photovoltaic Systems Coupled to Heat Pumps: The Case of Northern Climates of the U.S. and Canada
By Joshua M. Pearce and Nelson Sommerfeldt, Energies, Feb 5, 2021
[SEPP Comment: the abstract starts with the false premise that CO2 is causing “catastrophic climate change.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Scientists solve climate change mystery
Revised temperature record affirms role of greenhouse gases in recent millennia
News Release, NSF, Feb 11, 2021
Link to paper: Seasonal origin of the thermal maxima at the Holocene and the last interglacial
By Samantha Bova, Yair Rosenthal, Zhengyu Liu, Shital P. Godad & Mi Yan, Nature, Jan 27, 2021
We further demonstrate that global mean annual sea surface temperatures have been steadily increasing since the start of the Holocene (about 12,000 years ago), first in response to retreating ice sheets (12 to 6.5 thousand years ago), and then as a result of rising greenhouse gas concentrations (0.25 ± 0.21 degrees Celsius over the past 6,500 years or so).
[SEPP Comment: What caused the retreating ice sheets? What caused the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations starting 6,500 years ago? How is the global mean annual sea surface temperature measure 12,000 years ago?]
Journal Nature Refutes PIK’s Fantasy-Rich Science That A Warmer Arctic Causes Extreme Cold Snaps
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 9, 2021
Scientists say (7)
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 10, 2021
“’Increasing human disturbances, especially land reclamation and human structure construction, operated on atoll‐to‐shoreline spatial scales, explaining marked within‐atoll variations in island and shoreline behavior. Collectively, these findings highlight the heterogeneity of atoll situations.’ So yes, if you go looking for areas where water encroaches on the atolls you can find it. But no, it is not a sign of global warming, it is a sign that locals were running bulldozers and building things, sometimes carelessly. Nor is it representative of the atolls as a whole, which are stable or growing. Scientists say.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Climate Assemblies: Faking Democracy
By Donna Laframboise, Big Picture News, Feb 8, 2021
NASA’s Climate Communications Might Not Recover From the Damage of Trump’s Systemic Suppression
By Laura Tenenbaum, Time, Feb 10, 2021
“Laura Faye Tenenbaum is a writer and public speaker currently working on a memoir about her love of the natural world and her fight for empowerment within the science community.”
[SEPP Comment: Nothing unusual in the propaganda photo which was probably taken from a platform built for tourists to look at that glacier calving. It’s a major tourist attraction when you visit “Los Glaciers” national park in Argentina.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
A Quiz for getting through the Fog
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Feb 12, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Trying to get through the years of climate propaganda in school.]
Expanding the Orthodoxy
Climate action could save ‘millions of lives’ through clean air, diet, and exercise
Meeting Paris goals would bring health benefits aside from tackling global heating, research says
By PA Media, The Guardian, Feb 10, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
[SEPP Comment: The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change appears to be incapable of critical thinking. The Paris goals have little to do with clean air, diet, and exercise.]
Destroying the climate in order to save it
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 10, 2021
“President Biden has mandated that all American government vehicles shall be ‘carbon pollution-free electricity and clean, zero-emission vehicles to great good-paying, union jobs and stimulate clean energy industries.’”
[SEPP Comment: Including helicopters and main battle tanks?]
Op-ed: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is right about climate change disclosure
By Jay Clayton and Mark Wiseman, CNBC, Feb 4, 2021
“The recommendation that public corporations disclose their plans for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 should be embraced by companies and investors as well as pragmatically implemented by regulators globally, write Jay Clayton and Mark Wiseman.”
[SEPP Comment: Why?]
Questioning European Green
Norway Proves Our Electrification Strategy Is Doomed To Disaster
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 6, 2021
Green Homes Grant Funding Cut Due To Lack Of Interest
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 12, 2021
“Just as in 2015, when Ed Davey’s scheme collapsed with just 4000 Green Deals signed up in the first two years, government is finding out that most people have no interest in ‘saving the planet’, particularly when it might cost them money!”
Questioning Green Elsewhere
U.S. Offshore Wind: Problems Aplenty
By Sherri Lange, Master Resource, Feb 9, 2021
Green Jobs
Maximum Pain for Net-Zero Gain
By Michael Green, Quadrant, Feb 13, 2021
Link to report: Net Zero Jobs
By Cian Hussey and Daniel Wild, Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), February 2021
[SEPP Comment: Using established data collection by the Australian government, this report shows that “‘Green’ jobs have not offset destruction of manufacturing jobs.” Similar results are being experienced in those jurisdictions that impose restrictions on electricity generation.]
Delingpole: Green Jobs Collapse [in Germany], Go to China Instead. What a Surprise!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 9, 2021
“Renewable energy, he added, will always be a net jobs-killer because of its effects on the broader economy. By driving up the cost of energy — perhaps doubling it — and diverting capital spending from more efficient sectors of the economy, renewables destroy more jobs than they create.
“We can’t say we weren’t warned. Net Zero is a looming disaster and the politicians steering us towards it are doing so with their eyes wide open – and their tongues as forked as a snake’s.”
Non-Green Jobs
Biden to Kill 200,000 More Jobs Because… Climate Change
By David Middleton, WUWT, Feb 9, 2021
Fox News reporter asks [White House press secretary] Jen Psaki when unemployed fossil fuel workers can expect ‘green’ jobs
By Emma Colton, Washington Examiner, Feb 8, 2021
The Political Games Continue
The real reason the Left wants only wind and solar energy
By Jay Lehr, CFACT, Feb 9, 2021
Amid Biden pressure, China calls for EU autonomy
Josep Borrell renewed EU’s invitation for Xi Jinping to meet all 27 leaders; China responded positively.
By Stuart Lau, Politico, Feb 8, 2021
The Political Economy of Mass Panic
By Ivan Jankovic, American Institute for Economic Research, Feb 2, 2012 [H/t GWPF]
“The optimal level of risk is never zero. Otherwise, nobody would ever get up in the morning. But even staying in bed is risky (people die in their sleep).”
Litigation Issues
Appeals court rebuffs youth climate activists in novel case against government
By Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, Feb 10, 2021
Montana District Court Vacates EPA’s ‘Secret Science’ Rule
By Mack McGuffey and Louise Dyble, Power Mag, Feb 4, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Regulatory certainty is a false goal. The real goal is clarity and transparency in regulatory decision making, which includes clarity and transparency in the scientific studies used.]
Court nixes Trump move to open 10 million acres to mining
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Feb 12, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Why is a broad ban covering 10 million acres needed?]
EPA and other Regulators on the March
An Open Letter To The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency On Air Quality
By Fred Lipfert, ACSH, Feb 9, 2021
“Climate change is one of them, and the EPA should add heat-trapping air pollutants to its ambient monitoring program, specifically methane and black carbon. Those pollutants are more potent per unit than CO2 but are usually mentioned only in passing in the climate debate. Their contributions to atmospheric heating have been well established, but we have no idea how much is out there and how significant their contributions may be.”
[SEPP Comment: Greenhouse gases do not trap (confine) heat, merely block, or delay outgoing electromagnetic radiation. Claiming methane is more potent per unit than CO2 demonstrates an erroneous understanding of how various gases contribute to the greenhouse effect. We have the ability to monitor the effect of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but most government funded scientists ignore it.]
EPA alleges political interference by Trump officials over toxic chemical
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Feb 9, 2021
Gas Furnaces vs. DOE’s EERE (Trump trumps Obama, but Biden is Next)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Feb 11, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Another example of the lack of critical thinking and concern for the public in government edicts.]
Energy Issues – Non-US
India to overtake EU as world’s third largest energy consumer by 2030: IEA
By Staff, India Economic Times, Feb 9, 2021
Link to report: India Energy Outlook 2021
By Staff, EIA, February 20201
Making Climate Friendly Steel
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Feb 9, 2021
Achtung Baby! (It’s Cold Outside) – Germany’s “Green” Energy Fail Rescued By Coal And Gas
By Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, Feb 10, 2021
DOMINIC LAWSON: It’s sheer madness to import the coal essential for our steel industry when we can produce it ourselves
By Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail, UK, Feb 8, 2021
Cumbria’s New Coal Mine
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 5, 2021
[SEPP Comment: How do you build wind turbines without coking coal?]
Norway’s Hunger For Electricity
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 8, 2021
“It is worth pointing out, by the way, that Norway’s conversion to electric cars has barely got going yet, with EVs only accounting for about 10% of cars on the road. When all cars are electric, this will inevitable put more pressure on the grid.”
Energy Issues – Australia
Major Aussie Refinery Closing, Due to Hostile Government Policy
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 11, 2021
West Australian conservative party wants close coal plants and lose election Bigly
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 12, 2021
Energy Issues — US
Despite Covid-19, US Oil and Natural Gas Exports Hitting Record Levels
By Jude Clemente, Real Clear Energy, Feb 10, 2021
Net zero regulation: Russia will replace all the U.S. oil Biden wants to ban
By Aine Quinn, World Oil, Feb 9, 2021
“’Investors are unlikely to be attracted to the shares of a company that intends to kill its current core business and invest its full future value into something of which it has little expertise or understanding,’ analysts at Russia state bank VTB Capital wrote in a note in November.”
Biden & Democrats conceal U.S. CO2 decreases of 3.4 billion tons from natural gas
By Larry Hamlin, WUWT, Feb 11, 2021
Washington’s Control of Energy
Clean Energy, Energy Conservation, ‘Planetary Destiny’: Richard Nixon 1972
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Feb 8, 2021
“President Biden’s ‘existential threat of our time’ rings the same bell as Richard Nixon’s ‘energy crisis,’ President Ford’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy, and President Carter’s ‘moral equivalent of war.’”
Biden gets more time to decide on Dakota Access Pipeline
By Rachel Frazin and Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, Feb 9, 2021
“The pipeline was completed in 2017 after it was revived by former President Trump, who reversed an Obama administration decision to deny it a permit.”
Manchin Ups the Ante on Keystone XL (bipartisan opposition to climate symbolism)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Feb 10, 2021
Interior faces backlog of more than 5K drilling permits
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Feb 12, 2021
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
State-owned fossil fuel firms’ plan to invest $1.9tn could destroy climate hopes–Guardian In Shock!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 12, 2021
Link to Report: Risky Bet: National Oil Companies in the Energy Transition
By Staff, Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Feb 9, 2021
NRGI works intensively in a dozen ‘priority countries,’ and is involved in some projects in ‘limited engagement countries.’ We also compile basic resource governance information on ‘other countries.’”
[SEPP Comment: The list of the 12 NRGI priority countries have low resources in oil and natural gas. Only Mexico may not, but it ran its oil and gas industry into the ground and now needs to import.]
Biggest LNG Maker Hires Builders for $29 Billion Expansion
By Verity Ratcliffe, Bloomberg, Feb 9, 2021
Oil Spills, Gas Leaks & Consequences
Researchers discover an immense hydrocarbon cycle in the world’s ocean
Hydrocarbons that trace their origin to biological sources may play a large role in ocean ecology
News Release, NSF, Feb 11, 2021
Link to paper: Microbial production and consumption of hydrocarbons in the global ocean
By Connor R. Love, et al. Nature Microbiology, Feb 1, 2021
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Honeywell to Reopen Sole U.S. Uranium Conversion Plant
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, Feb 9, 2021
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
What Does Offshore Wind Power Really Cost?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 7, 2021
“Adding these extra system costs on to the US costings will take the true cost of offshore wind power to £100/MWh or more.”
[SEPP Comment: The devil is in the details wind promoters and politicians fail to say.]
Nor’easters would be disastrous to a Green America
Most of the country cannot survive and flourish with intermittent electricity
By Ronald Stein, WUWT, Feb 8, 2021
Human rights allegations in Xinjiang could jeopardize solar supply chain
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 7, 2021
Meanwhile In China, A Bankrupt Solar Firm Just Sold $117 Million In Shares
By Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, Feb 10, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
[SEPP Comment: Solar hope continues.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Hundreds of Scientists Write To Biden To Stop Dirty Biomass Industry
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 11, 2021
Flooding in the Columbia River basin expected to increase under climate change
Press Release by Michelle Klampe, Oregon State University, Feb 10, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: Ubiquitous increases in flood magnitude in the Columbia River basin under climate change
By Laura E. Queen, Philip W. Mote, David E. Rupp, Oriana Chegwidden, and Bart Nijssen, Hydraulic Earth Systems Science, Jan 18, 2021
From the abstract: “For the Snake River, however, the pattern is reversed, with increases in streamflow magnitudes growing larger moving downstream to the confluence with the Salmon River tributary and then abruptly dropping.”
[SEPP Comment: Why do some politicians propose breaching the dams on the Snake River, to increase flooding? How well do the models project data from 1950-1999 to 2050-2099?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage
Help! Part 3 – Making Sense Of The Hydrogen Buzz, Production Economics Edition
By Jason Ferguson, RBN Energy LLC, Feb 10, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Highly question the assumptions the EIA used in the analysis on the future costs of hydrogen production using electrolysis: 1) the capital costs will fall significantly, 2) the cost of electricity will remain the same.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Study: Electric Vehicles Driven A Lot Less Than Previously Assumed
By Ben Lieberman, CEI, Feb 9, 2021
Link to working paper: Low Energy: Estimating Electric Vehicle Electricity Use
By Fiona Burlig, et al. National Bureau of Economic Research, February 2021
[SEPP Comment: Probably not important to a wealthy buyer who considers it a show car rather than a necessary, practical car.]
Study: Fossil fuel air pollution linked to 1 in 5 deaths worldwide
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Feb 9, 2021
Link to press release: Deaths from fossil fuel emissions higher than previously thought
Fossil fuel air pollution responsible for more than 8 million people worldwide in 2018
By Leah Burrows, Harvard School of Engineering, Feb 9, 2021
Link to paper: Global mortality from outdoor fine particle pollution generated by fossil fuel combustion: Results from GEOS-Chem
By Karn Vohra, et al. Environmental Research, Feb 9, 2021
Oh Mann!
Since 1850, These Historical Events Have Accelerated Climate Change
By Iman Ghosh, World Economic Forum, EcoWatch, Feb 9, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Repeating Mr. Mann’s Hockey-stick, 0 to 2019 AD]
Environmental Industry
Environmentalism Is the New War on the Working Class | Opinion
By Joel Kotkin, Newsweek, Feb 9, 2021
“There should be a real liberal party in this country, and I don’t mean a crackpot professional one.” – Harry Truman.
The elitism lurking at the heart of the green movement
By Brendan O’Neill, The Spectator, Feb 10, 2021
Other Scientific News
Radar-lidar ratio: prospective method in cirrus clouds research
By Zhang Nannan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Feb 8, 2021
Stresses and Strains
The evolution of Covid is not random
By Matt Ridley, Rational Optimist, Feb 6, 2021
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Climate crisis pushing great white sharks into new waters
Shift is caused by the heating of the oceans and other wildlife is suffering more attacks
By Damian Carrington, The Guardian, Feb 9, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
N.J. teen’s science project forces evacuation of high school
By Bill Duhart, NJ.com, Jan 8, 2021 [H/t Energy Advocate]
“He said he brought a small, ‘quarter-size’ piece of an antique plate, known as Fiestaware or uranium glass, to a science class at Haddon Township High School on Monday.
“It was part of an exercise to test a Geiger counter. He said the teacher thanked him on Monday but by Friday someone determined it constituted a potential biohazard and evacuated the school.”
[SEPP Comment: Beware of pottery!]
ARTICLES
‘Lincoln’s Mentors’ Review: The Education of a Leader
Abraham Lincoln was largely self-educated, but he wisely chose a handful of mentors and role models who helped shape his political life.
By H.W. Brands, WSJ, Feb 11, 2021
TWTW Summary: The author of “The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln and the Struggle for American Freedom” writes:
“Abraham Lincoln had less schooling than all but a couple of other presidents, and more wisdom than every one of them. In this original, insightful book, Michael Gerhardt, a professor of jurisprudence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explains how this came to be. He focuses on five men he calls Lincoln’s mentors, but the book is really an account of how Lincoln educated himself. Crucially, it does not stop at the inauguration; more than any other president, Lincoln grew in office. Until the very end of his life, his self-education never ceased.
“Lincoln’s thirst for knowledge surfaced early. He borrowed any book he could lay hands on, and the more he read, the more he wanted to read. Like the archetype of the self-educated American, Benjamin Franklin, Lincoln benefited from not knowing what a person was supposed to learn. Consequently he, like Franklin, assumed he ought to learn everything.
“The young Lincoln, the rail splitter of legend, wanted more from life than manual labor could yield. Like his first two mentors, fellow westerners Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson, Lincoln chose law as a career. Especially in the West, a man of reasonable intelligence and perseverance might apprentice in a law office and become a member of the bar—then, as now, a gateway to politics.
“Sen. Clay, the most famous man in Lincoln’s native Kentucky, was the young lawyer’s earliest political hero. In the golden age of American political oratory, Clay held audiences spellbound for hours, even days, as he expounded on his ‘American system’ of government support for private enterprise, the guiding philosophy of Lincoln’s first party, the Whigs. Yet unlike his great senatorial contemporaries, the Ciceronian orator Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun, called the ‘cast-iron man’ for his austere logic, Clay spoke the language of the common people. He had a joke for every occasion, to illustrate points or deflect the jabs of his foes. Lincoln listened and learned.
“He also imbibed Clay’s reverence for the Union, America’s inheritance from the Founders, and the Constitution, the Union’s guarantor. When Clay died in 1852, Lincoln eulogized him as his ‘beau ideal of a statesman.’ And he determined to carry on in the Clay tradition.
“‘Model’ might be a better word than ‘mentor’ in this and Mr. Gerhardt’s second case. President Andrew Jackson (1829-37) appointed Lincoln postmaster of New Salem, Ill., but Jackson never met him and likely knew little of him. Moreover Jackson, a Democrat, despised Lincoln’s beloved hero, Clay. Jackson was reported to have said, on his deathbed, that if he could live his life over, he would shoot Henry Clay and hang John Calhoun.
“It was the second part of the threat that appealed to Lincoln, who admired Jackson’s ferocious defense of the Union against the secessionists, led from the 1820s by their theoretician Calhoun. In 1833 Jackson rammed a force bill through Congress, having previously vowed, if need be, to lead an army to South Carolina, sending the Palmetto State a message through one of its congressman: ‘If a single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition to the laws of the United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hand on engaged in such treasonable conduct, upon the first tree I can reach.’ As president, Lincoln lacked the martial credibility of the hero of New Orleans, but he was no less determined to preserve the Union against the attempts of South Carolina and other Southern states to destroy it.
“Mr. Gerhardt argues that Lincoln found a model of executive pragmatism in a third mentor, Zachary Taylor, who as the 12th American president (1849-50) broke old alliances and compromised his ideals to achieve concrete political ends. But more crucial for Lincoln’s success as commander in chief was his appreciation of Taylor’s performance as a general during the Mexican War of the 1840s. ‘Old Rough and Ready,’ Taylor was called, for his slouchy style and his determination to carry the fight to the enemy.”
The two other mentors were involved in guiding Lincoln in personal matters and a political career: John Todd Stuart and Orville Browning. The author then concludes:
“Mr. Gerhardt’s emphasis on Lincoln’s education casts his presidency in a distinctive light. This is no small accomplishment given all that has been written about Lincoln. Mr. Gerhardt stresses that Lincoln was ‘educable,’ a quality never more necessary in an occupant of the White House than during the Civil War. Few presidents have wielded the power Lincoln gathered to himself, and few have needed to. With the Emancipation Proclamation, he set in motion the single most sweeping transfer of property in American history: of the labor power of nearly four million enslaved men and women, from their previous owners to those men and women themselves. Upon entering the White House, Lincoln believed that such an action would have been unconstitutional and counterproductive, but the course of the war changed his thinking. His models and mentors—wisely chosen—helped him to conceive of emancipation as not only permitted to a president but also necessary for the preservation of the Union. And it worked.”
Greenland warmer by 1 to 2ºC in 1940 ?
https://notrickszone.com/2021/02/14/southeast-greenland-sea-surface-temperature-1-2c-warmer-in-1940-than-today-new-study-shows/
Link to latest paper: Cloud cover changes driven by atmospheric circulation in Europe during the last decades
By Lucian Sfîcă, International Journal of Climatology, Sep 18, 2020
https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/joc.6841
[SEPP Comment: This paper discusses cloud cover over Europe, which is important. This is not the same as the declining effectiveness of CO2 with increasing concentrations, which is also important. A reader should not confuse the two concepts.]
Not confused by the difference.
Surely however if cloud cover increases then the propensity for CO2 to get dissolved in the macro and micro cloud water droplets should increase. Or maybe not?
Still I’m sure it will be set right soon, for every cloud has manic modeler believing that they can model the climate.
“fossil fuels caused the deaths of more than 8 million people worldwide in 2018 from their inhalation of fine particles (PM2.5)”
4 million alone in the UK apparently-
Petrol and diesel bans: What you need to know about UK car bans (msn.com)
“Research by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air has suggested that pollution from fossil fuels leads to at least four million premature deaths per year.”
Couple of years ago I looked carefully at hourly readings from KLAR the nearby AWOS and noticed during the cold season months the temperature distribution is roughly a normal distribution, or at least has an obvious central tendency, with an excess number of readings from 30 to 32 — i.e. not an excess at 32 but principally just below 32. I suspected that with a bit of sunshine the actual temperature at the surface is 32F and the phase change starts, when the air is a tiny bit below 32 up at the screen height.
I call the result the near zero inflated normal distribution (nZIN).
MOD: I await the next installment of TWTW each Monday to see what Utah scene pops up. This one is yours I take it. Great scenery and great photos, Charles.
I too appreciated the photo looking over Bryce Canyon, I’ve hiked through it many times now. The prominant cliff on the horizon, just to the left of the thunderstorm, is Powell Point at 10,200′. I recall the late afternoon a now-departed then-retired criminology prof and I hiked out to the tip, complete with a bottle of white wine and crystal stemware in a backpack, to toast the sunset.
We mused over a glass that if you made shadow puppets with your hands right at sunset, the figures would be only observable from space.
Most of them are mine. I recently started captioning them.
Want a global catastrophic event? Take away fossil fuels.
Afterthought; How much particulate matter does natural gas, propane and butane generate? It’s not really about PM2.5 or about CO2 now, is it?
https://www.weather-research.com/articles/the-sun-and-water-solid–liquid-and-gas-controls-the-weather-and-climate—not-carbon-dioxide
Returns page not found —- error 404
The — (double hyphens) got changed to long ones, probably by the text editor (MS word?) when being edited. Here is the proper link:
https://www.weather-research.com/articles/the-sun-and-water-solid–liquid-and-gas-controls-the-weather-and-climate—not-carbon-dioxide