The Week That Was: 2021-05-22 (May 22, 2021)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project

Quote of the Week: “…increasing the concentration of an absorbent gas does not always produce a proportional increase in heat uptake, because there is progressively less [heat energy] to be absorbed. — From “Tyndall’s climate message, 150 years on” By Richard Black, BBC [Black failed to explain that CO2 was one such gas.]

Number of the Week: – $18 Trillion for Zero

THIS WEEK:

By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)

Absorption and Radiation of Heat: In 1861, “On the Absorption and Radiation of Heat by Gases and Vapours, and on the Physical Connexion of Radiation, Absorption, and Conduction” by Irish physicist John Tyndall was published. He was the first to recognize that different atmospheric gases absorb heat (infrared radiation) to different extents and at different wavelengths. In effect, he described and analyzed the molecular basis of the greenhouse effect and named atmospheric gases that absorb and re-emit infrared radiation “greenhouse gases.” He realized the dominant one is water vapor. He developed infrared spectroscopy, the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation as a function of wavelength (or frequency).

In 1905, using infrared spectroscopy American physicist William Coblentz published the results of a large study of compounds with wavelengths between 1000 nanometers to 16,000 nanometers. That year he accepted a position with the National Bureau of Standards in Washington (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD.). He founded the Bureau’s radiometry section and headed it for 40 years until his retirement in 1945. Radiometry is a set of techniques for measuring electromagnetic radiation.

With its fascination for computer modeling over physical evidence the climate establishment, to include the carbon cult, ignores the physical evidence compiled from over 160 years of laboratory research, and over from 40 years of atmospheric observations of the greenhouse effect and resulting atmospheric temperature trends. [Atmospheric temperatures are also influenced by volcanoes and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)]. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the associated US scientific groups supporting it have abandoned the scientific method of using all relevant physical evidence to correct errors and shortcomings in concepts. [Interestingly, Coblentz received the first US patent for using a solar cell to convert sunlight to electricity.] See links under Seeking a Common Ground and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Coblentz

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Intellectual Honesty – Science: Over the past month, TWTW has linked to several reviews of Steve Koonin’s new book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters. Writing in Real Clear Energy, Rupert Darwall gives a perceptive review. He begins by discussing a debate between six leading physicists from the American Physical Society (APS), led by Koonin.

“The debate, hosted by the APS, revealed consensus-supporting climate scientists harboring doubts and uncertainties and admitting to holes in climate science – in marked contrast to the emphatic messaging of bodies such as Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“At one point, Koonin read an extract from the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report released the previous year. Computer model-simulated responses to forcings – the term used by climate scientists for changes of energy flows into and out of the climate system, such as changes in solar radiation, volcanic eruptions, and changes in the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere – ‘can be scaled up or down.’ This scaling included greenhouse gas forcings.

“Some forcings in some computer models had to be scaled down to match computer simulations to actual climate observations. But when it came to making centennial projections on which governments rely and drive climate policy, the scaling factors were removed, probably resulting in a 25 to 30 percent over-prediction of the 2100 warming.

“The ensuing dialogue between Koonin and Dr. William Collins of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – a lead author of the climate model evaluation chapter in the Fifth Assessment Report – revealed something more troubling and deliberate than holes in scientific knowledge:

• Dr. Koonin: But if the model tells you that you got the response to the forcing wrong by 30 percent, you should use that same 30 percent factor when you project out a century.

• Dr. Collins: Yes. And one of the reasons we are not doing that is we are not using the models as [a] statistical projection tool.

• Dr. Koonin: What are you using them as?

• Dr. Collins: Well, we took exactly the same models that got the forcing wrong, and which got sort of the projections wrong up to 2100.

• Dr. Koonin: So, why do we even show centennial-scale projections?

• Dr. Collins: Well, I mean, it is part of the [IPCC] assessment process. [Boldface added]

‘Koonin was uncommonly well-suited to lead the APS climate workshop. He has a deep understanding of computer models, which have become the workhorses of climate science. As a young man, Koonin wrote a paper on computer modeling of nuclear reaction in stars and taught a course on computational physics at Caltech. In the early 1990s, he was involved in a program using satellites to measure the Earth’s albedo – that is, the reflection of incoming solar radiation back into space. As a student at Caltech in the late 1960s, he was taught by Nobel physicist Richard Feynman and absorbed what Koonin calls Feynman’s ‘absolute intellectual honesty’.” [Boldface added]

From this we see that the modelers lower the greenhouse effect in the models to fit surface temperature observations [atmospheric temperature trends are ignored], but then the modelers ignore these adjustments to make long term projections because that is part of the IPCC process. Therefore, the IPCC process is not intellectually honest. After briefly describing the early part of Koonin’s career Darwall writes:

“The APS climate debate was the turning point in Koonin’s thinking about climate change and consensus climate science (‘The Science’). ‘I began by believing that we were in a race to save the planet from climate catastrophe,’ Koonin writes in his new book, ‘Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, And Why It Matters.’ ‘I came away from the APS workshop not only surprised but shaken by the realization that climate science was far less mature than I had supposed.’ ‘Unsettled’ is an authoritative primer on the science of climate change that lifts the lid on The Science and finds plenty that isn’t as it should be. ‘As a scientist,’ writes Koonin, ‘I felt the scientific community was letting the public down by not telling the whole truth plainly.’ Koonin’s aim is to right that wrong.

“Koonin’s indictment of The Science starts with its reliance on unreliable computer models. Usefully describing the earth’s climate, writes Koonin, is ‘one of the most challenging scientific simulation problems.’ Models divide the atmosphere into pancake-shaped boxes of around 100km wide and one kilometer deep. But the upward flow of energy from tropical thunder clouds, which is more than thirty times larger than that from human influences, occurs over smaller scales than the programmed boxes. This forces climate modellers to make assumptions about what happens inside those boxes. As one modeller confesses, ‘it’s a real challenge to model what we don’t understand.’” [Boldface added]

Darwall then discusses Koonin’s presentation of other modeling issues and false claims of weather disasters related to climate. Then he brings up the critical question concerning humanity:

“‘The economic betterment of most of humanity in the coming decades will drive energy demand even more strongly than population growth,’ Koonin says. ‘Who will pay the developing world not to emit? I have been posing that simple question to many people for more than fifteen years and have yet to hear a convincing answer.’ [Boldface added]

“The most unsettling part of ‘Unsettled’ concerns science and the role of scientists. ‘Science is one of the very few human activities – perhaps the only one – in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected,’ Karl Popper wrote nearly six decades ago. That condition does not pertain in climate science, where errors are embedded in a political narrative and criticism is suppressed. In a recent essay, the philosopher Matthew B. Crawford observes that the pride of science as a way of generating knowledge – unlike religion – is to be falsifiable. That changes when science is pressed into duty as authority in order to absolve politicians of responsibility for justifying their policy choices (‘the science says,’ we’re repeatedly told). ‘Yet what sort of authority would it be that insists its own grasp of reality is merely provisional?’ asks Crawford. ‘For authority to be really authoritative, it must claim an epistemic monopoly of some kind, whether of priestly or scientific knowledge.’ [Boldface added]

“At the outset of ‘Unsettled,’ Feynman’s axiom of absolute intellectual honesty is contrasted with climate scientist Stephen Schneider’s ‘double ethical bind.’ On the one hand, scientists are ethically bound by the scientific method to tell the truth. On the other, they are human beings who want to reduce the risk of potentially disastrous climate change. ‘Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest,’ Schneider said.

“‘Being effective’ helps explain the pressure on climate scientists to conform to The Science and the emergence of a climate science knowledge monopoly. Its function is, as Crawford puts it, the manufacture of a product – political legitimacy – which, in turn, requires that competing views be delegitimized and driven out of public discourse through enforcement of a ‘moratorium on the asking of questions.’ This sees climate scientist gatekeepers deciding who can and cannot opine on climate science. ‘Please, save us from retired physicists who think they’re smarter and wiser than everyone in climate science,’ tweeted Gavin Schmidt, NASA acting senior climate advisor, about Koonin and his book. ‘I agree with pretty much everything you wrote,’ a chair of a university earth sciences department tells Koonin, ‘but I don’t dare say that in public.’ Another scientist criticizes Koonin for giving ammunition to ‘the deniers,’ and a third writes an op-ed urging New York University to reconsider Koonin’s position there. It goes wider than scientists. Facebook has suppressed a ‘Wall Street Journal’ review of ‘Unsettled.’ Likewise, ‘Unsettled’ remains unreviewed by the ‘New York Times,’ the ‘Washington Post’ (though it carried an op-ed by Marc Thiessen based on an interview with Koonin) and other dailies, which would prefer to treat Koonin’s reasoned climate dissent as though it doesn’t exist. [Boldface added.]

“The moratorium on the asking of questions represents the death of science as understood and described by Popper, a victim of the conflicting requirements of political utility and scientific integrity. Many scientists take this lying down. Koonin won’t. For his forensic skill and making his findings accessible to non-specialists, Koonin has written the most important book on climate science in decades.”

The Carbon Cult, including Gavin Schmidt of NASA, ignores that over the past 30 years China, and much of South Asia, has been emerging from extreme poverty. That 60 years ago China was in probably the worst man-made famine of the 20^th century, the result of deranged Maoist policies. (which many Western journalists praised). China is not about to embrace policies curtailing growth based on climate models that are contradicted by physical evidence. Rather than address the critical issues raised in the book, the Carbon Cult attacks the author. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy. For Koonin’s response to Facebook’s censorship of the review see Article # 1

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Intellectual Honesty – Politics: In a rather unusual essay, Professor of Mathematics Jordan Ellenberg writes in the Wall Street Journal:

“In 1865, the Reverend J.P. Gulliver asked Abraham Lincoln how he came to acquire his famous rhetorical skill. The President gave an unusual response:

“‘In the course of my law-reading I constantly came upon the word ‘demonstrate.’ I thought, at first, that I understood its meaning, but soon became satisfied that I did not…. At last, I said, ‘Lincoln, you can never make a lawyer if you do not understand what demonstrate means’; and I left my situation in Springfield, went home to my father’s house, and stayed there till I could give any propositions in the six books of Euclid at sight.’

“Geometry is the cilantro of math: Few people have neutral feelings about it.

“Not the Constitution, not scripture, but geometry—that’s where Lincoln went when he needed to learn to persuade. Euclid was a mathematician in Greek North Africa in the 4th century B.C., who gathered and systematized the geometric knowledge of his day. His ‘Elements,’ in Lincoln’s time and to a lesser extent our own, is the standard model of mathematical proof or ‘demonstration.’ Starting with axioms that the reader can hardly doubt, Euclid builds up a rich body of knowledge about angles, line segments, circles and figures, step by careful step.

After discussing how some students hate geometry while others love it, the author states:

[Lincoln’s law partner] “Herndon once found Lincoln in a haggard state, having spent two full days trying to solve the old conundrum of squaring the circle. ‘His attempt to establish the proposition having ended in failure,’ Herndon remembers, ‘we, in the office, suspected that he was more or less sensitive about it and were therefore discreet enough to avoid referring to it.’”

After a discussion of changes to geometry since Euclid and Lincoln, the author concludes:

“But Abraham Lincoln wasn’t an AI developer or a paradigm-busting pure mathematician. His interest in Euclid arose, as he told Rev. Gulliver, because he needed to know what ‘proof’ was. What distinguished Lincoln as a thinker, his friend and fellow lawyer Henry Clay Whitney recalled, wasn’t his brilliance; lots of people in public life are smart, and among them one finds both the good and the bad. What made Lincoln special was integrity, his belief that you should not say something unless you have demonstrated that it is right. Whitney writes: ‘It was morally impossible for Lincoln to argue dishonestly; he could no more do it than he could steal; it was the same thing to him in essence, to despoil a man of his property by larceny, or by illogical or flagitious reasoning.’ [Boldface added.]

“In Euclid, Lincoln found a language in which it’s very hard to dissimulate, cheat or dodge the question. Geometry is a form of honesty. [Boldface added.]

“The ultimate reason for young people to learn how to write a proof is that the world is full of bad logic, and we need to know the difference. Geometry teaches us to be skeptical when someone says they’re ‘just being logical.’ If they are talking about an economic policy, or a cultural figure whose behavior they deplore, or a concession they want you to make in a relationship, rather than a congruence of triangles, they aren’t just being logical. They want you to mistake an assertively expressed chain of opinions for proof of a theorem. [Boldface added.]

“Knowing geometry protects you: Once you’ve experienced the sharp click of an honest-to-goodness proof, you’ll never fall for this trick again. Tell your ‘logical’ opponent to go square a circle.” [Boldface added.]

To TWTW it appears that those following the IPCC process are attempting to square a circle. See Article # 2.

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Flawed Statistical Practices: Writing in Climate Etc. Stanley Young and Warren Kindzierski bring attention to a study they did with David Randall on the flawed statistical practices used in the field of environmental epidemiology.

“The study focused on air quality−health effect claims; more specifically PM2.5−health effect claims. [PM2.5 is particulate matter 2.5 microns or less in width, the size of the smallest ordinary plant pollen.] However, the flawed practices apply to all aspects of risk factor−chronic disease research. The study also looked at how government bureaucrats use these claims to skew policy in favor of PM2.5 regulation and their own positions.”

The EPA is one of many agencies that abuse statistical techniques to promote particular policies bureaucrats and politicians desire. Young and Kindzierski write:

“Our study found strong circumstantial evidence that claims made about PM2.5 causing mortality, heart attacks and asthma are compromised by flawed statistical practices. These flawed practices make the research untrustworthy as it favors producing false claims that would not reproduce if done properly.”

This problem is becoming more acute, because PM2.5 is being used to eliminate the use of hydrocarbons even though properly ventilated exhausts from modern power plants and vehicles are harmless to humans. The use of studies by government entities is inexcusable if the studies cannot be reproduced.

Of course, many climate scientists claim that climate, and the effect of carbon dioxide on it, cannot be reproduced, even though they continue to use climate models that are contradicted by physical evidence. But this is a “strawman argument” because the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide has been studied and reproduced in numerous laboratories for decades since John Tyndall in 1861. Further, observations of the atmospheric influence of the greenhouse effect and atmospheric temperature trends have been made for over four decades. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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Environmental Justice? In his blog, Manhattan Contrarian, Francis Menton brings attention to the latest effort of the Biden Administration to shut down the oil and gas industries. It is the “Interim Final Recommendations” of the “White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.” The claimed purpose is to guide “how certain Federal investments (spending) might be made toward a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits flow to disadvantaged communities.”

This may sound rosy, but it excludes “Fossil fuel procurement, development, infrastructure repair that would in any way extend lifespan or production capacity, transmission system investments to facilitate fossil-fired generation or any related subsidy.” Under the guise of Environmental Justice, the Biden administration is advancing a program to destroy a major US industry without a suitable replacement for the absolutely essential product: reliable energy. See links under Change in US Administrations.

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Social Cost of Carbon: David Wojick of CFACT brings attention to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) soliciting comments on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases such as Carbon Dioxide, Methane, etc. but not water vapor, the dominant greenhouse gas. No doubt a major component of the costs will be greatly exaggerated costs of PM2.5 and the enormous benefits of CO2 on vegetation will be ignored.

There is no reason to expect that OMB would pay attention to any criticism. But a record of what the OMB ignores can be established. According to the OMB web site:

“To ensure consideration, comments must be in writing and received by June 21, 2021.

“Submit comments by one of the following methods:

“Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov (our preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.

“Please note that we cannot provide an option for written or faxed comments at this time due to COVID-19 protocols. Please submit comments electronically.

“All comments and recommendations submitted in response to this notice will be made available to the public. For this reason, please do not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or proprietary information. The www.regulations.gov website is an ‘anonymous access’ system, which means OMB will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment.”

See links under Change in US Administrations and https://www.regulations.gov/document/OMB_FRDOC_0001-0292

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Basic Energy: On his blog, Francis Menton writes: “Today, the Wall Street Journal joins the math-challenged club with a front-page story headlined ‘Batteries Challenge Natural Gas As America’s No. 1 Power Source.’” Apparently, those reporting on energy industries do not understand the difference between megawatts (electricity generation capacity) and megawatt hours (electricity use over time, or storage capacity). Batteries are a means of storing electricity (megawatt hours) not a means of generating power such as natural gas generators (megawatts). See links under Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy – Storage and

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/measuring-electricity.php

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14^th ICCC: The 14^th International Conference on Climate Change presented by The Heartland Institute will be October 15 to 17, 2021, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. See https://climateconference.heartland.org/

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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD

THE JACKSON

SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving, following these criteria:

• The nominee has advanced, or proposes to advance, significant expansion of governmental power, regulation, or control over the public or significant sections of the general economy.
• The nominee does so by declaring such measures are necessary to protect public health, welfare, or the environment.
• The nominee declares that physical science supports such measures.
• The physical science supporting the measures is flimsy at best, and possibly non-existent.

The past recipients, Lisa Jackson, Barrack Obama, John Kerry, Ernest Moniz, Michael Mann, Christiana Figueres, Jerry Brown, AOC, and Neil Ferguson are not eligible. Generally, the committee that makes the selection prefers a candidate with a national or international presence. The voting will close on July 31. Please send your nominee and a brief reason why the person is qualified for the honor to Ken@SEPP.org. Thank you. For a list of past recipients and their accomplishments in earning this honor see http://www.sepp.org/april-fools-award.cfm

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Number of the Week: – $18 Trillion for Zero. In an article on financing green energy ventures, reporters for the Wall Street Journal showed an amazing graph prepared from data by Wood Mackenzie on “Estimated cumulative spending by category to get to net-zero emissions by 2050” assuming the rest of the world goes along with the UN dreams.

The total estimated spending required is $49.4 Trillion! The largest component is Power Transmission, with $18 Trillion or 36%. Power transmission generates zero electrical power, only transmits it. There is no need to increase power transmission in developed countries!

The next two large components are Wind with $11.6 Trillion and Solar with $7.5 Trillion bringing the sub total to $37.1 Trillion or 75% of the total. Wind and solar do not generate reliable power, yet 75% of the estimated costs are going to unreliable power generation or transmission. No wonder green industries and their promoters are giddy. Trillions are to be spent for no reason than to allow politicians to feel good. See Article # 3.

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?

New NASA data sheds sunlight on climate models

By Jessica Merzdorf for GSFC News, Greenbelt MD (SPX), May 17, 2021

https://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_NASA_data_sheds_sunlight_on_climate_models_999.html

Link to paper: Direct Influence of Solar Spectral Irradiance on the High-Latitude Surface Climate

By Xianwen Jing, et al, Journal of Climate Apr 14, 2021

https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/34/10/JCLI-D-20-0743.1.xml

Censorship

Dare you to post it on Facebook

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 19, 2021

Dare you to post it on Facebook

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

Click to access CCR-II-Full.pdf

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

http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/

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

http://store.heartland.org/shop/ccr-ii-fossil-fuels/

Download with no charge:

http://climatechangereconsidered.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Climate-Change-Reconsidered-II-Fossil-Fuels-FULL-Volume-with-covers.pdf

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

http://climatechangereconsidered.org/

Download with no charge:

https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming

Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate

S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008

http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf

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

Click to access SeaLevelRiseCCRII.pdf

Challenging the Orthodoxy

Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, And Why It Matters, by Steven E. Koonin

By Rupert Darwall, Real Clear Energy, May 20, 2021

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/05/20/unsettled_what_climate_science_tells_us_what_it_doesnt_and_why_it_matters_by_steven_e_koonin_778065.html

Questioning the Climate-Change Narrative

By Steven Koonin, National Review, May 4, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/questioning-the-climate-change-narrative/

Economics has been called the “dismal science,” and I once joked to a prominent economist that the compounding of climate and economic projections is a “doubly dismal” enterprise

Marc A. Thiessen: An Obama scientist debunks the climate doom-mongers

By Staff, GWPF & The Washington Post, May 15, 2021

Marc A. Thiessen: An Obama scientist debunks the climate doom-mongers

How epidemiologists try to fool us with flawed statistical practices

By S. Stanley Young and Warren Kindzierski, Climate Etc. May 17, 2021

How epidemiologists try to fool us with flawed statistical practices

Link to report: Shifting Sands: Report I

Keeping Count of Government Science: P-Value Plotting, P-Hacking, and PM2.5 Regulation

By David Randall, Warren Kindzierski and Stanley Young, National Association of Scholars, May 17, 2021

https://www.nas.org/reports/shifting-sands-report-i/full-report

GWPF launches ‘workable alternative to Net Zero’

By Staff, GWPF, May 18, 2021

GWPF launches ‘workable alternative to Net Zero’

Link to report: A workable alternative to Net Zero. A plan for cleaner, reliable and affordable energy

By John Constable & Capell Aris, GWPF, 2021

Click to access Alternative-Decarbonisation-Policy-1.pdf

The 1.5°C Hysteria

By Willis Eschenbach, WUWT, May 20, 2021

The 1.5°C Hysteria

Defending the Orthodoxy

Oil companies told to stop drilling now to save the planet

By Charles Riley, CNN Business, May 18, 2021

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html

Native forest logging makes bushfires worse – and to say otherwise ignores the facts

By Philip Zylstra, Grant Wardell-Johnson, James Watson and Michelle Ward, The Conversation, May 20, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-native-forest-bushfires-worse-facts.html

“The disaster was clearly a climate change event; however, other human activities also had consequences.”

[SEPP Comment: Is it “the facts” or “my facts”?]

Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science

World’s first, satellite-based monitoring system goes global to help save coral reefs

New Allen Coral Atlas tool to aid coral rescue and recovery efforts

Press Releasee, Arizona State University, May 19, 2021

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/asuc-wfs051221.php

Questioning the Orthodoxy

Central banks’ misguided plan to become climate warriors is doomed to fail

By Paul Kupiec, The Hill, May 18, 2021

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/554146-central-banks-misguided-plan-to-become-climate-warriors-is-doomed-to-fail

Let Them Eat Bugs

By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 15, 2021

https://realclimatescience.com/2021/05/let-them-eat-bugs-2/ and

https://realclimatescience.com/2021/05/let-them-eat-bugs/

Think of the greenhouse gases released by 50 to 100 million bison roaming the Great Plains. Now we have about 95 million cattle in the US.

“’Buffalo hunters are doing their patriotic duty,’ General of the Western Army Philip Sheridan said, by depleting the Indians ‘shaggy commissary.’”

All for a good cause

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 19, 2021

All for a good cause

Change in US Administrations

What Biden And The Environmental Left Are Really Planning For Us

By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 19, 2021

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2021-5-19-what-biden-and-the-environmental-left-are-really-planning-for-us

Link to report: Justice40: Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool & Executive Order 12898 Revisions

By Staff: White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, May 13, 2021

Click to access whejac_interim_final_recommendations_0.pdf

OMB taking comments on the social cost of GHGs

By David Wojick, CFACT, May 19, 2021

https://www.cfact.org/2021/05/19/epas-obama-era-endangerment-finding-fails-iqa-requirements-2/

https://www.regulations.gov/document/OMB_FRDOC_0001-0292

NHTSA Proposes to Repeal Preemption of California’s GHG Vehicle Regulations

By Marlo Lewis, Jr., CEI, May 17, 2021

https://cei.org/blog/nhtsa-proposes-to-repeal-preemption-of-californias-ghg-vehicle-regulations/

Problems in the Orthodoxy

Asia snubs IEA’s call to stop new fossil fuel investments

By Yuka Obayashi and Sonali Paul, Reuters, May 19, 2021

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/asia-snubs-ieas-call-stop-new-fossil-fuel-investments-2021-05-19/

Analysis: China’s carbon emissions grow at fastest rate for more than a decade

By Lauri Myllyvirta, Carbon Brief, May 20, 2021

Analysis: China’s carbon emissions grow at fastest rate for more than a decade

Seeking a Common Ground

Tyndall’s climate message, 150 years on

By Richard Black, BBC, Sep 28, 2011

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-15093234#:~:text=In%20the%20late%201850s%2C%20Tyndall,temperature%20differences%20into%20electrical%20current.

Projecting manmade climate change: scenarios to 2050

By Judith Curry, Climate Etc. May 19, 2021

Projecting manmade climate change: scenarios to 2050

“We should rightly approach projections far into the future with humility and acknowledge that there is a great deal of uncertainty.  However, for 30-year projections to 2050, which is a key time scale of relevance to the insurance industry and for local adaptation, the range of plausible scenarios can be narrowed from the complete menu of IPCC emissions scenarios.”

Science, Policy, and Evidence

COVID Skeptics Are Pro-Science? New Study Raises Awkward Questions

By Cameron English, ACSH, May 12, 2021

https://www.acsh.org/news/2021/05/12/covid-skeptics-are-pro-science-new-study-raises-awkward-questions-15546

“Summed up, this is an interesting study that contains some helpful insights. But it won’t have its intended effect because the authors refused to follow their analysis to its logical conclusion: Americans were misled by their leaders. To win back their trust, we need to treat them as fellow citizens to be convinced, not subjects in need of prodding.”

[SEPP Comment: The author catches the spirit of some of the global warming skeptics as well.]

Models v. Observations

Models vs Observations: Study predicts Global Warming will Cause Deserts to Grow

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 17, 2021

Models vs Observations: Study predicts Global Warming will Cause Deserts to Grow

Link to paper: Climate change risks pushing one-third of global food production outside the safe climatic space

By Matti Kummu, et al, One Earth, May 14, 2021

https://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(21)00236-0

Keeping The Alarm Level High? UFZ Simulations Show “Exceptional Drought” Even After Soaking Rains

By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 18, 2021

Keeping The Alarm Level High? UFZ Simulations Show “Exceptional Drought” Even After Soaking Rains

Model Issues

Scientists explain why climate models can’t reproduce the early-2000s global warming slowdown

Press Release by Science China Press, May 17, 2021 [Dennis Ambler]

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-scientists-climate-early-2000s-global-slowdown.html

Link to paper: Could CMIP6 climate models reproduce the early-2000s global warming slowdown?

By Meng Wei, et al. Science China Earth Sciences, Apr 15, 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11430-020-9740-3

From the abstract about the latest models, CMIP6: “They considerably overestimate the warming rate observed in 1998–2013, exhibiting an obvious warming acceleration rather than the observed deceleration. This is probably associated with their deficiencies in simulating the distinct temperature change signals from the human-induced long-term warming trend and or the three crucial natural variabilities at interannual, interdecadal, and multidecadal scales….”

Researchers develop mathematical model to predict disease spread patterns

Predicting where, in what patterns and how quickly disease will spread

Press Release, NSF, Ma 18, 2021

https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=302741&WT.mc_id=USNSF_1

Link to paper: A kernel-modulated SIR model for Covid-19 contagious spread from county to continent

By Xiaolong Geng, PNAS, May 25, 2021

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/21/e2023321118

[SEPP Comment: Didn’t Neil Ferguson of the Imperial College, the 2020 recipient of SEPP’s April Fools Award, and Dr. Fauci use mathematical models?]

Measurement Issues — Surface

NASA’s S-MODE Takes to the Air and Sea to Study Ocean Eddies

By Sofie Bates, NASA, May 18, 2021 [H/t WUWT]

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt/2021/nasa-s-s-mode-takes-to-the-air-and-sea-to-study-ocean-eddies

Altering Raw Temperature Data

By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 14, 2021

https://realclimatescience.com/2021/05/altering-raw-temperature-data/

Changing Weather

Hurricane Sandy: $8 bn in damage due to climate change

By Marlowe Hood, Paris (AFP) May 18, 2021

https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Hurricane_Sandy_8_bn_in_damage_due_to_climate_change_999.html

Link to paper: Economic damages from Hurricane Sandy attributable to sea level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change

By Benjamin H. Strauss, et al. Nature Communications, May 18, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22838-1

[SEPP Comment: Based on Table 1 “Estimates of sea level rise attributable to anthropogenic climate change for 1900–2012 in cm,” there was no natural sea level rise in the 20^th century. If humans stop emitting CO2 the seas will sink, leaving the beaches high and dry?]

Sorry, AP, Data Refutes Claims That Hurricane Sandy Caused Greater Flooding Due to Climate Change

By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, May 20, 2021

Sorry, AP, Data Refutes Claims That Hurricane Sandy Caused Greater Flooding Due to Climate Change

See link immediately above.

Sydney’s Highest Temps Each Year

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 20, 2021

Sydney’s Highest Temps Each Year

Have a cold one

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 19, 2021

Have a cold one

Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1 – here’s what forecasters are watching right now

By Kristopher Karnauskas, University of Colorado Boulder, The Conversation, Via WUWT, May 19, 2021

Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1 – here’s what forecasters are watching right now

Brace yourself for an ‘above normal’ hurricane season in 2021, NOAA predicts

An average season is more active than it used to be.

By Mindy Weisberger, Live Science, May 20, 2021

https://www.livescience.com/atlantic-hurricane-season-noaa-2021.html

[SEPP Comment: By naming storms that previously were not named, NOAA is deliberately changing the baseline. Will every year be above normal?]

Tornadoes: The ‘New Normal’ That Wasn’t

By Dan Sutter, Climate Change Dispatch, May 21, 2021 [H/t Climate Depot]

Tornadoes: The ‘New Normal’ That Wasn’t

Changing Climate

Amazing Results: A La Niña Begins When 22-Year Solar Cycle Ends… Now 6th Consecutive Time Since 1960!

By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 19, 2021

Amazing Results: A La Niña Begins When 22-Year Solar Cycle Ends… Now 6th Consecutive Time Since 1960!

Link to paper: Termination of Solar Cycle and Correlated Tropospheric Variability

By Robert J. Leamon, Scott W. McIntosh, and Daniel R. Marsh, Earth and Space Science, Apr 2, 2021

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020EA001223

Scientists Again Affirm Natural Warmings Of 5–16 °C In ‘A Few Decades’ Can Be ‘Entirely Unforced’ [In Greenland]

By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 20, 2021

Scientists Again Affirm Natural Warmings Of 5–16 °C In ‘A Few Decades’ Can Be ‘Entirely Unforced’

Link to latest paper: The anatomy of past abrupt warmings recorded in Greenland ice

By E. Capron, et al. Nature Communications, April 8, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22241-w

Changing Seas

Dramatic Warming In The North Atlantic Since 2016! It’s Now Almost As Warm As 1890!

By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 17, 2021

Dramatic Warming In The North Atlantic Since 2016! It’s Now Almost As Warm As 1890!

Link to last study: A shift in the ocean circulation has warmed the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean since 2016

By Damien Desbruyères, Léon Chafik & Guillaume Maze, Communications Earth & Environment, Feb 26, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00120-y

Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice

Surprise: The Last Ice Age was colder than anyone thought. Blame CO2!

By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 16, 2021

Surprise: The Last Ice Age was colder than anyone thought. Blame CO2!

Link to paper: Widespread six degrees Celsius cooling on land during the Last Glacial Maximum

By Alan M. Seltzer, et al, Nature, May 12, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03467-6

“’The real significance of our paper is that prior work has badly underestimated the cooling in the last glacial period, which has low-balled estimates of the Earth’s climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases,’ said paper co-author Jeffrey Severinghaus, a professor of geosciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego. ‘The main reason that prior work was flawed was that it relied heavily on species abundances in the past. But just like humans, species tend to migrate to where the climate suits them.’”

“The real significance is that 1. Experts are often wrong. 2. Real climate change is brutal. and 3. We don’t know when the next one [glaciation] is coming.” [Boldface added to Nova’s comments.]

Ice core chemistry study expands insights into sea ice variability in Southern Hemisphere 

Sea ice cover in the Southern Hemisphere is extremely variable

Press Release, NSF, May 18, 2021

https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=302742&WT.mc_id=USNSF_1

Link to paper: Seasonally Resolved Holocene Sea Ice Variability Inferred From South Pole Ice Core Chemistry

By Dominic A. Winski, et al. Geophysical Research Letters, Apr 6, 2021

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020GL091602

From the summary:

“Ice core data across Antarctica show increasing sea salt concentrations since 11,400 years ago, representing cooling and sea ice expansion, particularly between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. Between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, a drop in sea salt indicates an abrupt reduction in sea ice cover in the South Atlantic. Interestingly, paleoclimate data suggest that sea ice was more extensive in the North Atlantic at this time, indicating a linked and opposing sea ice signal in the North and South Atlantic most likely due to changing ocean circulation.”

Arctic warming three times faster than planet as a whole: research

By John Bowden, The Hill, May 20, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/554570-arctic-warming-three-times-faster-than-planet-as-a-whole-research

Link to report: Arctic Climate Change Update 2021: Key Trends and Impacts. Summary for Policy-makers

By Staff, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Working Group of the Arctic Council, May 20, 2021

https://www.amap.no/documents/doc/arctic-climate-change-update-2021-key-trends-and-impacts.-summary-for-policy-makers/3508

Antarctica is headed for a climate tipping point by 2060, catastrophic melting if carbon emissions aren’t cut quickly

By Julie Brigham-Grette and Andrea Dutton, The Conversation, Via Phys.org, May 18, 2021

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-antarctica-climate-catastrophic-carbon-emissions.html

Link to paper: The Paris Climate Agreement and future sea-level rise from Antarctica

By Robert M. DeConto, et al. Nature, May 5, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03427-0

“These results demonstrate the possibility that rapid and unstoppable sea-level rise from Antarctica will be triggered if Paris Agreement targets are exceeded.”

[SEPP Comment: Graph in the article claims a historical relationship between 1990 and 2020 between CO2 and planetary warming. The paper declares the Antarctic ice loss is accelerating, other papers declare it is the ice loss is slowing. Doubt Paris agreement will influence the Antarctic.]

The Himalayas are in trouble thanks to climate change. That should worry us all.

A prayer for the third pole.

By Cyril Christo, The Hill, May 19, 2021 [H/t William Readdy]

https://thehill.com/changing-america/opinion/554162-the-himalayas-are-in-trouble-thanks-to-climate-change-that-should

[SEPP Comment: Have the mountains reached their tipping point and about to fall over? With the Himalayas and Antarctic at tipping points, not many places left. See link immediately above.]

World’s largest iceberg breaks off from Antarctica

By Olafimihan Oshin, The Hill, May 20, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/overnights/554565-worlds-largest-iceberg-breaks-off-from-antarctica

Link to press release: Meet the world’s largest iceberg

By Staff, The European Space Agency, May 19, 2021

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2021/05/Meet_the_world_s_largest_iceberg

[SEPP Comment: How precision grows with press repetition: from the press release: “the iceberg is around 170 km in length and 25 km wide” to The Hill article: “the 1,667-square-mile iceberg.”

Acidic Waters

New Scientist: Bleaching Protects Coral – But Only Up to 2C of Global Warming

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 18, 2021

New Scientist: Bleaching Protects Coral – But Only Up to 2C of Global Warming

Lowering Standards

British Geological Survey Warns Of Climate-Related Subsidence

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 19, 2021

British Geological Survey Warns Of Climate-Related Subsidence

“It is sad to see what used to be a serious, scientific body prostitute itself to global warming scaremongering:”

BBC Climate Check–April 2021

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 16, 2021

BBC Climate Check–April 2021

[SEPP Comment: Blaming climate for bad weather?]

BBC’s Apocalyptic Vision Of Sport In 2050

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 21, 2021

BBC’s Apocalyptic Vision Of Sport In 2050

Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?

Climate change: Ban new gas boilers from 2025 to reach net-zero

By Matt McGrath, BBC, May 18, 2021 [H/t WUWT]

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57149059#:~:text=The%20International%20Energy%20Agency%20(IEA,agency%20in%20a%20special%20report.

‘Welcome to BBC News, American’s most trusted news source.”

Link to report: Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector

By Staff, IEA, May 18, 2021

https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

“Beyond projects already committed as of 2021, there are no new oil and gas fields approved for development in our [NZE] pathway, and no new coal mines or mine extensions are required.”

Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?

Claim: Most People Think Climate Change is Serious, but Other Problems are More Important

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 20, 2021

Claim: Most People Think Climate Change is Serious, but Other Problems are More Important

“According to New Zealand researcher Sam Crawley, ‘People who support free-market economics, hold authoritarian attitudes or have exclusionary attitudes towards minorities are also less likely to engage with climate change.’”

[SEPP Comment: Is insisting that the scientific method be correctly applied authoritarian?]

Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.

Invasive species costing Africa $3.66 tn a year: study

By Patrick Galey, Paris (AFP) May 20, 2021

https://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Invasive_species_costing_Africa_366_tn_a_year_study_999.html

“The worst affected nations were found to be Nigeria — which loses around $1 trillion annually due to invasive species — and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which loses $317 billion each year.”

[SEPP Comment: From Statista: Estimated GDP of Nigeria in 2020 is $400 billion; for Democratic Republic of the Congo $49 billion. Imagine how prosperous these countries were before invasive species arrived!]

AEP Says Spending Trillions On Net Zero Will Make Us Better Off!

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 20, 2021

AEP Says Spending Trillions On Net Zero Will Make Us Better Off!

“Fairytales of Economic Growth”–Grantham Institute Seminar

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 15, 2021

“Fairytales of Economic Growth”–Grantham Institute Seminar

Communicating Better to the Public – Do a Poll?

Climate Change “Obsession of the Elite”

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 18, 2021

Climate Change “Obsession of the Elite”

[SEPP Comment: What would be the response if the pollution/environment/climate change question separated climate change from pollution/environment?]

Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda

The Truth About Costa Rica

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 17, 2021

The Truth About Costa Rica

[SEPP Comment: What are the renewable sources in the home of Christiana Figueres that are applicable everywhere? Figueres was the recipient of the 2017 April Fools Award.]

Wandering polar bears are the new starving polar bears, falsely blamed on climate change

By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, May 15, 2021

Wandering polar bears are the new starving polar bears, falsely blamed on climate change

[SEPP Comment: This spring, young black bears were spotted in the suburbs of Washington. Should we blame the politics? It happens frequently.]

Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children

And a little child shall lead them

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 19, 2021

And a little child shall lead them

Communicating Better to the Public – Use Children for Propaganda

ClimateStrike: The oldest mass protestors still willing to “strike” for climate change are children

Did any of them even give up their pocket money this week?

By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 21, 2021

ClimateStrike: The oldest mass protestors still willing to “strike” for climate change are children

[SEPP Comment: Inspiring signs!]

Thousands of Future Burger Flippers Stage a Climate Strike

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 21, 2021

Thousands of Future Burger Flippers Stage a Climate Strike

Expanding the Orthodoxy

U.S. Army to Waste Time and Money Combating Climate Change

By Staff, Inside Scoop Politics, May 18, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://insidescooppolitics.com/archives/3596

“The end of the memo asks ‘Why is this important to the Army?’ Good question.”

[SEPP Comment: Time to re-institute the draft to get the personnel to “fight climate?”]

America’s California-Style Green Awokening

By Larry Bell, Newsmax, May 17, 2021

https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/greenenergy-woke-california/2021/05/17/id/1021648/

Questioning European Green

Germany’s Climate Policies An Explosive Social Powder Keg: Rich Elitists Profit While The Masses Get Punished, Ignored

By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 21, 2021

Germany’s Climate Policies An Explosive Social Powder Keg: Rich Elitists Profit While The Masses Get Punished, Ignored

Good Bye Life’s Amenities…It Begins… No More Flights Under 60 Dollars Says German Finance Minister

By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 15, 2021

Good Bye Life’s Amenities…It Begins… No More Flights Under 60 Dollars Says German Finance Minister

“On April 29th, Germany’s Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that the country’s 2019 Climate Protection Act did not go far enough to limit dangerous climate change, and thus violated the fundamental rights of younger generations to a humane future.”

[SEPP Comment: All but the wealthy and government bureaucrats must make sacrifices.]

It’s alright for some

The poorest will pay the highest price for Net Zero fantasies

By Steve Baker, The Critic, UK, May 21, 2021

https://thecritic.co.uk/its-alright-for-some/

Questioning Green Elsewhere

Simply dismantle oppression, and…

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 19, 2021

Simply dismantle oppression, and…

“Because if people were told that in fact the Green New Deal means a massive drop in living standards it might cause controversy. But these authors think it should not.”

Non-Green Jobs

Net Zero future: Chinese offer to take over UK steel industry

By Staff, GWPF & Financial Times, May 20, 2021

Net Zero future: Chinese offer to take over UK steel industry

Funding Issues

Biden signs order directing studies of climate-related financial risks

By Sylvan Lane, The Hill, May 20, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/554654-biden-signs-order-directing-studies-of-climate-related-financial-risks

“Under Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the department has begun developing a “whole-of-economy” strategy meant to clear a financially stable and economically productive path to carbon neutrality.”

[SEPP Comment: Authoritarian powers assumed by the administration are the biggest threat to the US financial system.]

Aussie Banks Grilled on “Climate Virtue Signalling”

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 20, 2021

Aussie Banks Grilled on “Climate Virtue Signalling”

Litigation Issues

Climate Litigation Bombshell: New Paper Exposes AG “Climate” Suit as Illicit Product of Private Lobbying, Misrepresentation, Paid ‘Cutouts’

By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight, May 18, 2021 [H/t WUWT]

CLIMATE LITIGATION BOMBSHELL: New Paper Exposes AG “Climate” Suit as Illicit Product of Private Lobbying, Misrepresentation, Paid ‘Cutouts’

Link to paper: “Private Funders, Public Institutions: ‘Climate’ Litigation and a Crisis of Integrity”.

By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight, May 18, 2021

Click to access GAO-EPA-CCI-RFF-Climate-Paper.pdf

The courts are no place to combat climate change

By Bjorn Lomborg, New York Daily News, May 18, 2021

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-courts-no-place-to-combat-climate-change-20210518-stjacxeskfh23ohuvokbpew56q-story.html?mc_cid=ea2ec9b61e&mc_eid=da9b256360

Claim: Exxon Shifted Blame for Global Warming from Oil Companies to Consumers

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 19, 2021

Claim: Exxon Shifted Blame for Global Warming from Oil Companies to Consumers

[SEPP Comment: Unlike cigarette smoking, buying gasoline is not a compulsive habit.]

Judge cites threat to sea turtles, halts Georgia dredging plan

By Joseph Choi, The Hill, May 20, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/554645-judge-cites-threat-to-sea-turtles-halts-georgia-dredging-plan

Subsidies and Mandates Forever

What ‘regulatory credits’ are — and why they’re so important to Tesla

By Arjun Kharpal, CNBC, May 18, 2021

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/tesla-electric-vehicle-regulatory-credits-explained.html

EPA and other Regulators on the March

Congress Needs to Undo EPA’s ‘Science Massacre’

By Daren Bakst, The Daily Signal, May 20, 2021

Congress Needs to Undo EPA’s ‘Science Massacre’

“John Graham, who had led the EPA’s disbanded Science Advisory Board, stated after the massacre: ‘Now for the first time in the agency’s 50-year history, we have an administrator interested in scientific advice only from those scientists he has personally appointed.’”

EPA “Disappears” the 1930s Drought and Heat Wave Climate Data

By Larry Hamlin, WUWT, May 21, 2021

EPA “Disappears” the 1930s Drought and Heat Wave Climate Data

EPA’s Updated Climate Change Data Shows Global Warming’s Impacts Are Already Here

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 19. 2021

EPA’s Updated Climate Change Data Shows Global Warming’s Impacts Are Already Here

“We’ve known for a long while, but this proves the EPA is not an objective, scientific organisation, but a purely political one:”

EPA’s Updated Climate Change Data Shows Global Warming’s Impacts Are Already Here

By Jan Wesner Childs, Weather.com, May 13, 2021 [H/t Dennis Ambler]

https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2021-05-13-epa-climate-change-indicators-website-data

[SEPP Comment: See link immediately above.]

EPA Follows Through on Biden Directive to Hide Guidance Documents from the Public

By Clyde Wayne Crews, CEI, May 18, 2021

https://cei.org/blog/epa-follows-through-on-biden-directive-to-hide-guidance-documents-from-the-public/

Energy Issues – Non-US

Merkel rejects bringing forward Germany’s exit from coal

By Kira Taylor, EURACTIV.com with Reuters, May 17, 2021

Merkel rejects bringing forward Germany’s exit from coal

Energy Issues – Australia

NSW power so erratically expensive an aluminium smelter powered down three times in a week

By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 22, 2021

NSW power so erratically expensive an aluminium smelter powered down three times in a week

“The Tomago smelter uses more than 10% of the entire New South Wales electricity grid supply. But the price spikes in electricity are so crippling the industrial giant could not afford to keep running on three occasions in the last week. Welcome to Venezaustralia.”

“And as it happens, Tomago also wouldn’t survive 3 hours without power either lest the pot-lines freeze solid. Makes each day exciting, eh?”

Energy Issues — US

The Great Texas Blackout of 2021: Classical Liberalism and Electricity

By Robert Bradley Jr, The Library of Economics & Liberty, May 19, 2021

The Great Texas Blackout of 2021: Classical Liberalism and Electricity

Electricity Expert/Planner ‘Shaken’ (Texas debacle shocks worldview)

By Robert Bradley Jr. Master Resource, May 20, 2021

Electricity Expert/Planner ‘Shaken’ (Texas debacle shocks worldview)

Gretchen Whitmer orders Canadian company to shut down oil pipeline despite widespread fuel shortages

By Michael Lee, Washington Examiner, May 12, 2021

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/whitmer-canadian-shut-down-oil-pipeline

Washington’s Control of Energy

Why Joe Biden Is More Damaging Than Cyberattacks

By Kevin Mooney, Real Clear Energy, May 20, 2021

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/05/20/why_joe_biden_is_more_damaging_than_cyberattacks_778058.html

Biden administration takes first step toward light bulb efficiency standard

By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, May 20, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/554661-biden-administration-takes-step-toward-instating-lightbulb

[SEPP Comment: There is no energy crisis, but Biden’s DOE will dictate products as if there was one.]

Biden administration to develop performance standards for federal buildings

By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, May 17, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/553939-biden-administration-to-develop-performance-standards-for-federal

[SEPP Comment: No heat, no air conditioning?]

Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?

Middle-East Oil Burn Continues (media blackout on the same)

By Vijay Jayaraj, Master Resource, May 18, 2021

Middle-East Oil Burn Continues (media blackout on the same)

Big Gun, Part 2 – Why Natural Gas Production Took Off In British Columbia’s Montney Region

By Martin King, RBN Energy, May 18, 2021

https://rbnenergy.com/big-gun-part-2-why-natural-gas-production-took-off-in-british-columbias-montney-region

[SEPP Comment: Why Canada is becoming a major producer of natural gas.]

Return of King Coal?

Australian metallurgical coal to continue supporting economies

By Jessica Casey, World Cold, May 10, 2021 [H/t Dennis Ambler]

https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/10052021/australian-metallurgical-coal-to-continue-supporting-economies/

Link to report: Best in Class Australia’s Bulk Commodity Giants

Australian Metallurgical Coal: Quality Sought Around the World

By Anthony Le Bas, Minerals Council of Australia, 2021

Click to access Best%20in%20Class%20Australian%20Metallurgical%20Coal_7%20May%202021.pdf

Oil Spills, Gas Leaks, Other Issues & Consequences

Be careful what you wish for

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 19, 2021

Be careful what you wish for

Nuclear Energy and Fears

USNC’s MMR Project Becomes First SMR in Canada to Enter Formal Licensing Phase

By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, May 20, 2021

USNC’s MMR Project Becomes First SMR in Canada to Enter Formal Licensing Phase 

France’s Areva to pay 600 mn euros more for Finnish reactor

By AFP Staff Writers, Helsinki (AFP), May 17, 2021

https://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Frances_Areva_to_pay_600_mn_euros_more_for_Finnish_reactor_999.html

Are NRC Fees Limiting Innovation in the Nuclear Industry?

By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, May 20, 2021

Are NRC Fees Limiting Innovation in the Nuclear Industry?

Consortium led by Rolls-Royce on hunt for orders for its £2bn nuclear reactors after redesign that means each will power 100,000 more homes

By Alex Lawson, Financial Mail, UK, May 16, 2021

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-9581899/Rolls-Royce-starts-hunt-buyers-nuclear-reactor-boost.html

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind

China uses Uyghur forced labour to make solar panels, says report

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 15, 2021

China uses Uyghur forced labour to make solar panels, says report

Link to press release: In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains

By Staff, The Helena Kennedy Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, 2021

https://www.shu.ac.uk/helena-kennedy-centre-international-justice/research-and-projects/all-projects/in-broad-daylight

Tesla Customers Sue Over Surprise Price Increases for Solar Roof

By Dana Hull, Bloomberg Green, May 17, 2021

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-18/tesla-customers-sue-over-surprise-price-increases-for-solar-roof

[SEPP Comment: “Bait and switch” from a “green company”? What is replacing reliable electricity generation with unreliable electricity generation called?]

Solar Arrays Are Bad Neighbors (Kerrville, Tx finds out first hand)

By Robert Bradley Jr. Master Resource, May 19, 2021

Solar Arrays Are Bad Neighbors (Kerrville, Tx finds out first hand)

Questions linger regarding offshore wind’s economic, environmental impact in the US

By Kirk Moore, National Fisherman, May 18, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://www.seafoodsource.com/national-fisherman/questions-linger-regarding-offshore-wind-economic-environmental-impact-in-the-us?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_content=newsletter&mkt_tok=NzU2LUZXSi0wNjEAAAF9H-_jAtSWMqkUqcrKx6onu08e3J-CwS_Yaveo9ChvwPwVFEc1wJLj-a2zieotmVzu06uvirc5zxZZt6x4WqJ6YNZgHudaGaEexMdbwasiOnuT

[SEPP Comment: The underwater structures will probably promote fish populations, but regulations may restrict fishing.]

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other

The Hydrogen Hustle

By Donn Dears, Power For USA, May 21, 2021

The Hydrogen Hustle

Fuel cells reduce ship emissions

By Staff Writers, Berlin, Germany (SPX), May 19, 2021

https://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Fuel_cells_reduce_ship_emissions_999.html

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has therefore cut the limits for ship emissions. Its aim is a reduction in the carbon dioxide emission limit of 40 percent by 2030 and 70 percent by 2050 compared with 2008 levels.

Innovating power generation where ‘a river runs through it’

Press Release By Lehigh University, May 20, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-power-river.html

A variation of 19^th century technology of a hydraulic-ram pump – Richard Courtney

The UK’s Brilliant Plan To Repurpose Abandoned Coal Mines

By Felicity Bradstock, Oil Price.com, May 15, 2021

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Coal/The-UKs-Brilliant-Plan-To-Repurpose-Abandoned-Coal-Mines.html

[SEPP Comment: Geothermal heat pumps have been used since the 1940s, if not before.]

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage

Add The Wall Street Journal To The People Who Can’t Do Basic Arithmetic

By Francis Menton, WSJ, May 17, 2021

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2021-5-17-add-the-wall-street-journal-to-the-people-who-cant-do-basic-arithmetic

Health, Energy, and Climate

Climate change tied to over $820 billion in health care costs per year: report

By Zack Budryk, The Hill, May 21, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/554750-climate-change-tied-to-over-820-billion-in-health-care-costs-per

Link to report: The Costs of Inaction: The Economic Burden of Fossil Fuels and Climate Change on Health in the United States

By Staff, The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action, 2021

Click to access costs-inaction-burden-health-report.pdf

[SEPP Comment: The highly questionable report features the logo of NRDC, a polar bear (not endangered).]

Oh Mann!

Deposition in Mann vs. CEI/National Review

By Roger Pielke Jr. His Blog, May 15, 2021

Deposition in Mann vs. CEI/National Review

“In the interests of transparency, and to provide a window to some of the ugliness found in climate science, here in PDF is a copy of my deposition in the case of Mann vs. CEI/National Review, which is into its 8th year.” [Taken Sep 30, 2020]

Environmental Industry

Cancer Drugs And Glyphosate: Another Example Reveals The Anti-GMO Movement’s Growing Irrelevance

By Cameron English, ACSH, May 17, 2021

https://www.acsh.org/news/2021/05/17/cancer-drugs-and-glyphosate-another-example-reveals-anti-gmo-movements-growing-irrelevance-15502

Following the Money: Covering Climate Now

By Kip Hansen, WUWT, May 22, 2021

Following the Money: Covering Climate Now

Other Scientific News

Mahle developing magnet-free electric motor that does not require rare earth elements

By Bob Yirka, TechXplore, May 18, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-mahle-magnet-free-electric-motor-require.html

[SEPP Comment: Unable to connect to details on the magnet-free motor.]

Did Earth’s early rise in oxygen help multicellular life evolve

By Staff Writers, Atlanta GA (SPX), May 19, 2021

https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Did_Earths_early_rise_in_oxygen_help_multicellular_life_evolve_999.html

Link to paper: Oxygen suppression of macroscopic multicellular

By G. Ozan Bozdag, et al. Nature Communications, May 14, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23104-0

BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE

Have a hot one

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 19, 2021

Have a hot one

[SEPP Comment: Review of some of the more absurd assertions made in the name of climate change.]

“Scientists Reveal”

By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 15, 2021

https://realclimatescience.com/2021/05/scientists-reveal-2/

“Anytime the press says ‘scientists say’– you can be 99+% certain you are being scammed.”

[SEPP Comment: the video discusses that 4 years ago global warming caused spring to arrive 26 days earlier than a decade before and now it is causing spring to come late and freezing French wine buds. “Melting arctic sea ice destroys French wine harvest”]

ARTICLES

1. Facebook’s ‘Fact Checks’ Suppress Debate

The social-media site seeks to discredit a review of my book on climate science.

By Steven E. Koonin, WSJ, May 16, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-fact-checks-suppress-debate-11621194172?mod=hp_opin_pos_3

TWTW Summary: Koonin states:

“This paper published Mark Mills’s review of ‘Unsettled,’ my book on climate science, on April 25. Eight days later, 11 self-appointed ‘fact checkers’ weighed in with a 4,500-word critique on the website ClimateFeedback.org. Facebook is waving that fact check as a giant red flag whenever the review appears in anyone’s feed.

“By branding Mr. Mills’s review with ‘very low scientific credibility,’ the company directs its billions of users to a website that claims to discredit the review and, by direct implication, my book. This action adds to the growing suppression of open discussion of climate complexities.

“ClimateFeedback bills itself as ‘a worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in climate change media coverage.’ Its modus operandi is to label necessarily brief media statements as misleading or inaccurate, often because they lack context. While acknowledging that ‘global crop yields are rising,’ for instance, they add the untestable claim that yields might have been greater absent human-caused climate change. The gang of enforcers who ‘fact checked’ Mr. Mills’s review included professors from Stanford, UCLA and MIT.

“The oddest element of Facebook’s action is that the ‘fact check’ doesn’t challenge anything I wrote in ‘Unsettled,’ but rather provides ‘context’ for Mr. Mills’s statements.”

After stating two reviewers agree that extreme weather events are not increasing, Koonin continues:

But another contributor, Kerry Emanuel, an MIT professor who hasn’t read my book, disapproves of the statement because ‘it sets up a strawman’ to disparage climate predictions. It seems Mr. Emanuel would allow media to discuss only deleterious climate trends.

Thoughtful challenge and dialogue are the most powerful ways that science gets closer to truth. But Facebook’s ‘fact checkers’ criticized what they imagined I wrote based on a 900-word review, rather than what I did write in a book of more than 75,000 words. They’re no better than trolls who pan political adversaries’ books on Amazon without bothering to read them. It’s not the behavior of serious scientists, and it demonstrates the need for a book like ‘Unsettled.’

Wise responses to the changing climate require that we get the unfiltered certainties and uncertainties of climate science into the public dialogue. As most fair-minded people will discover, there is far more unsettled in the official United Nations and U.S. government reports than we have been led to believe. It doesn’t help to have Facebook spreading disinformation under the guise of ‘fact checking.’

********************

2. What Honest Abe Learned From Geometry

For today’s students as for Abraham Lincoln, geometrical proofs offer a gold standard for integrity and clear thinking

By Jordan Ellenberg, WSJ, May 22, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-honest-abe-learned-from-geometry-11621656062?mod=hp_lead_pos11

Discussed in the This Week section above.

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3. Green Finance Goes Mainstream, Lining Up Trillions Behind Global Energy Transition

After years of intermittent excitement and fizzled expectations, environmental-oriented investing is no longer just a niche interest

By Scott Patterson and Amrith Ramkumar, Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/green-finance-goes-mainstream-lining-up-trillions-behind-global-energy-transition-11621656039?mod=hp_lead_pos7

Discussed in the This Week section above.