Bryce Canyon Utah by Charles Rotter

Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #470

The Week That Was: 2021-09-11 (September 11, 2021

Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)

The Science and Environmental Policy Project

Quote of the Week: “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end with doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.” – Francis Bacon

Number of the Week: 16

THIS WEEK:

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

Scope: For the past several weeks TWTW has been reviewing some of the deficiencies in the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6, 2021) by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), particularly its Summary for Policymakers (SPM) which includes a new hockey-stick with a little evidence supporting it. Comments by statistician Steve McIntyre were devastating. He traced that the assertions that temperatures have been stable up to the industrial revolution come from a set of studies by an international paleoclimatology group based in Bern, Switzerland, known as PAGES 2k (PAst Global ChangES with 2k referring to the past 2000 years). The data itself are maintained by NOAA in Boulder. The most devastating criticism is the deliberate omission of high-resolution, well-established proxy studies of alkenone deposits (produced by marine algae). These deposits include those in limestone beds and date back millions of years. McIntyre writes:

But most of all, given that the 60-30S latband [latitude band] is almost entirely (~96%) ocean, it seems bizarre that PAGES 2019 did not use any ocean core proxies, especially since there are physical formulas for estimating SST [Sea Surface Temperatures] from alkenone or Mg/Ca measurements. Any conversion of tree ring widths to temperature in deg C is the result of ad hoc statistical fitting, not a universal formula. Alkenone values have been measured all over the modern ocean and nicely fit known ocean temperatures. In addition, alkenone values for ocean cores going back to deeper time (even to the Miocene) give a consistent and reproducible narrative. So, there’s a lot to like about them as a candidate for a “good” proxy.

While there are numerous high-resolution (10-year resolution) alkenone and Mg/Ca measurements in the North Atlantic with values through the last millennium and up to the present, to my knowledge, there were not any such series as of PAGES 2013 or PAGES 2017. (In my opinion, IPCC AR5 [2013] ought to have noted this and suggested that this deficiency be remedied.)

PAGES 2017 included three ocean core proxy series in the 30-60S, all from offshore Chile. Their resolutions ranged from 24 to 83 years. There are some thus far undiscussed puzzles in the PAGES 2017 version of these series – as, in each case, modern values available in the underlying archive series were deleted. In each case, unsurprisingly, the effect of the deletion was to hide a decline. I will discuss this series below.

Subsequent to PAGES2017, the very first high-resolution (less than 10 years) 30-60S ocean core alkenone (or Mg/Ca) proxy was published: MD07-3093. [Collins, JA et al. (2019): Centennial-scale SE Pacific sea surface temperature variability over the past 2300 years. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology link.] It has values dated from 372 BC to 1992 AD, with a resolution of 5.4 years. The appearance of the high-resolution MD07-3093 is obviously very different – even opposite – to the PAGES 2019 reconstruction.

The link is to a study “Centennial‐Scale SE Pacific Sea Surface Temperature Variability Over the Past 2,300 Years” which shows a sea surface cooling near Chile from 1,100 to 600 years before present indicating a variability in Southern Ocean circulation and / or phasing of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) — Southern Annular Mode (SAM) events. [Also known as the Antarctic Oscillation, SAM is a belt of westerly winds between 40° S and 65° S associated with storms and cold fronts moving west to east and bring rainfall to places such as southern Australia.] PAGES ignore such contradicting evidence including natural events. McIntyre concludes:

“Given that the 60-30S latband is almost entirely ocean, it seems logical that IPCC and PAGES2K should use data from ocean proxies to estimate past temperature in this latitude band. But this isn’t what they’ve done. Instead, they’ve purported to estimate past temperature from a few scattered tree ring chronologies, only one of which reaches earlier than AD1850; and an idiosyncratic singleton pigment series. Ironically, the only 30-60S proxy series in PAGES 2019 that reaches back into the first millennium – the Mount Read, Tasmania tree ring series – was used by Mann et al 1998-1999, Jones et al 1998 and numerous other supposedly “independent” multiproxy studies. Neither of the two series reaching back to the medieval period permit the conclusion that modern period is warmer than medieval period. Caveat: I’m not saying that it isn’t; only that this data doesn’t show it, let alone support the big-bladed HS cited by IPCC. High-resolution alkenone measurements from ocean cores offshore Chile show a consistent decrease in ocean temperatures over the past two millennia that is neither reported nor discussed by IPCC (or PAGES 2019).

“To be clear, some of the technical articles on 30-60S ocean core proxies by specialist authors are truly excellent and far more magisterial than the IPCC mustered, in particular, several articles on offshore Chile.” McIntyre gives several examples.

The main point is that a critical part of the Summary for Policymakers ignores high-quality research that contradicts the assertion that climate has been quite stable until humans began adding carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Or to use the flowery language of the new NOAA: We ignore all significant, contradicting evidence from the top of the atmosphere to the bottom of the seas.

This TWTW will focus on attempts to censor articles discussing the controversies among solar scientists on approaches to estimating the influence of changes in the solar influence on recent global temperatures. It will present a thought provoking and amusing review by Christopher Essex of Naomi Oreskes latest book: “Why Trust Science?” Also, it will discuss other issues regarding climate science.

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Facebook Censorship: About the same time that the IPCC issued AR6, Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics published an article “How much has the Sun influenced Northern Hemisphere temperature trends? An ongoing debate” by 23 co-authors, many of them experts in solar physics. The paper delt with an important controversy in evaluating the influence of changing solar radiation on surface air temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. If we do not know the natural influences on surface-air temperatures, we cannot hope to use them to estimate the influence of CO2. The abstract reads:

“In order to evaluate how much Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) has influenced Northern Hemisphere surface air temperature trends, it is important to have reliable estimates of both quantities. Sixteen different estimates of the changes in TSI since at least the 19th century were compiled from the literature. Half of these estimates are “low variability”, and half are “high variability”. Meanwhile, five largely independent methods for estimating Northern Hemisphere temperature trends were evaluated using: 1) only rural weather stations; 2) all available stations whether urban or rural (the standard approach); 3) only sea surface temperatures; 4) tree-ring widths as temperature proxies; 5) glacier length records as temperature proxies. The standard estimates which use urban as well as rural stations were somewhat anomalous as they implied a much greater warming in recent decades than the other estimates, suggesting that urbanization bias might still be a problem in current global temperature datasets – despite the conclusions of some earlier studies. Nonetheless, all five estimates confirm that it is currently warmer than the late 19th century, i.e., there has been some “global warming” since the 19th century. For each of the five estimates of Northern Hemisphere temperatures, the contribution from direct solar forcing for all sixteen estimates of TSI was evaluated using simple linear least-squares fitting. The role of human activity on recent warming was then calculated by fitting the residuals to the UN IPCC’s recommended “anthropogenic forcings” time series. For all five Northern Hemisphere temperature series, different TSI estimates suggest everything from no role for the Sun in recent decades (implying that recent global warming is mostly human-caused) to most of the recent global warming being due to changes in solar activity (that is, that recent global warming is mostly natural). It appears that previous studies (including the most recent IPCC reports) which had prematurely concluded the former, had done so because they failed to adequately consider all the relevant estimates of TSI and/or to satisfactorily address the uncertainties still associated with Northern Hemisphere temperature trend estimates. Therefore, several recommendations on how the scientific community can more satisfactorily resolve these issues are provided.”

A newspaper, The Epoch Times, published a carefully researched article on the paper. The reporter, Alex Newman, did what reporters should do, but few do. He contacted both the authors of the paper and the IPCC in an effort to write a balanced review of the paper in light of the new IPCC report.

A “fact-checker” for Facebook, Lambert Baraut-Guinet, claimed the article was incorrect and misleading. The web site, Climate Feedback, posted the claim giving details.

“Incorrect: Solar irradiance variations have a very small impact on Earth’s current climate change. There is a very large consensus of scientific evidence showing that human emissions of greenhouse gases are the main cause of current climate change. The hypothesis that the Sun is responsible for climate change is inconsistent with real-world observations.

“Misleading: There’s no evidence that the IPCC’s conclusions are the result of bias. The scientific consensus about the cause of climate change is built on a significant number of publications (many thousands for the IPCC reports, for example), decades of studies, and methods that are shared and accepted by the scientific community.”

Of course, as stated since IPCC AR6 came out, TWTW asserts that the IPCC is very biased, with significant omissions that contradict claims that global warming is primarily caused by human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). Using IPCC assertions to censor an ongoing controversy regarding the role of the sun, demonstrates how insidious IPCC reports are. If the IPCC is a scientific body, and it is not, it is the obligation of the IPCC to openly discuss such controversies.

Not having an address for Facebook or Lambert Baraut-Guinet, three authors of the article, Ronan Connolly, Willie Soon, and Michael Connolly, have responded to the operators of the website in great detail. They outline how their approach is different than that of the IPCC, which seems to be motivated to establish political control over greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2. The authors also encourage balanced reporting and discuss the views of Danish philosopher, Prof. Mikkel Gerken. See links under Censorship and Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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Why “Trust the Science” Is Meaningless to a Physical Scientist! Climate science has become so intertwined with social sciences, that it is largely meaningless in the physical world. Philosopher and Professor of Applied Mathematics at Western University in Ontario Christopher Essex, whose fields of research include radiation thermodynamics, anomalous diffusion, and chaos, posted an exceptional review of Naomi Oreskes’s new book, “Why Trust Science?”

Essex explains that “science” has become such an overloaded word, that he avoids it. As he states:

“Human sociology also contributes to the bloatedness of the term ‘science’ itself. ‘Science’ can refer to human organizations: universities, research institutes, science societies, science publishers, and governments. They use their organizations to share science, to promote it, and to lobby for funding. Sometimes a few grandees produce a ‘consensus’ on behalf of the others—unscientific, if not undemocratic. This sociopolitical side of science is about how humans organize themselves, not about scientific content around which they organize.

“Let’s lay aside the curious matters of who is to trust, and what is to be trusted. There is a more compelling matter. The wording, as it is, seems to make science into a deity. Just substitute ‘have faith in’ for ‘trust’ to see why. A scientific perspective would proceed better from an auxiliary question: should we trust science? The answer to that question is completely straightforward and simple: no!

“Why ‘no’? You’re not supposed to trust science! That’s the point of science! Perhaps that is what makes scientists so strange to ideologues. Dogmatists can’t imagine not trusting their dogmas. The scientific method, if it can be reduced to a catch phrase, is on the license plates of the US state of Missouri: show me. The Royal Society says something similar with ‘nullius in verba.’ But the most excellent version has been attributed to Richard Feynman, ‘science is a belief in the ignorance of experts.’”

Essex goes through examples of why “trust the science” is meaningless, such as:

‘Climate science is a modern, unprecedented, ad hoc creation of political fashion composed of some legitimate scientific subfields, powerfully induced to follow the exterior agenda of policymakers instead of a common scientific subject matter of its own. If it were collectively a science, then Thomas Kuhn might have described it as pre-paradigmatic, because its only paradigms are borrowed from its subfields. It has none of its own. Its actual scientific problems are deep modern ones, as deep as any in science, despite its classical appearance. Two of the seven, million-dollar Clay Millennium problems pertain to it directly. Some knew this from the beginning, but too few.”

A particular issue is that political types demand the public have a view on it, particularly the accepted view that adding CO2 to the atmosphere is dangerous. Essex goes through some of the intellectual problems that Oreskes’ book presents and states:

“In practice the book functions as something to point to when challenged about consensus. Submission to expert thought collectives making pronouncements above question is the opposite of nullius in verba. If not science, what is it then? Perhaps, in an homage to scientific socialism, it might be called ‘scientific climatism,’”

Under Orchestrated Science, Essex concludes:

“Climate science was cobbled together about the same time as it was captured by the founders of the IPCC. Sir John Houghton said that it had to be ‘orchestrated’ for political reasons. And so, it has been, growing moribund and ever further from actual science. It is a bad idea, unsuited as an example of normal science. I don’t think that there has ever been anything quite like it in history, but J. Bronowski warned about captured science nearly 50 years ago. He observed that the intellectual leadership of the 20th century was from science and that there is ‘an age-old conflict’ between intellectual leadership and government political power. He concluded,

“’…that poses a grave problem because science is also a source of power that walks close to government and that the state wants to harness. But if science allows itself to go that way the beliefs of the twentieth century will fall to pieces in cynicism.’” This is similar to what President Eisenhower feared in his farewell address to the nation. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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DDP Conference: Two of the presentations at the 39th Annual Conference of the Doctors For Disaster Preparedness are posted. One is by Willie Soon discussing cycles in sunspot activity indicating that solar activity is far more important than the IPCC asserts in AR6. The second is by Howard Hayden explaining the missing 97% of the greenhouse effect, which is largely ignored by the IPCC and does not have a name. See links under Science: Is the Sun Rising? and Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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Return of the Zombie Corals? Jennifer Marohasy, who dives at the Great Barrier Reef, brought up a foolish paper published in 2003 by AAAS Science. She writes:

“According to a completely mad research paper published by John Pandolfi and ten other reef researchers – each a high-profile marine biologist including Terry Hughes from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Research – the Great Barrier Reef was pristine before the arrival of humans. According to Pandolfi et al. published in the prestigious journal Science in 2003 (entitled ‘Global Trajectories of the Long-Term Decline of Coral Reef Ecosystems’) a rather large 25 percent of the inner Great Barrier Reef was destroyed with the arrival of Australian aborigines.

“Except that when the Aborigines arrived much of the region known today as the Great Barrier Reef was open Eucalyptus woodland.

“There was no Great Barrier Reef!

“Back then, the Pacific Ocean began at the edge of Australia’s continental shelf that is now 100 to 200 kilometres offshore.”

One can be very imaginative when discussing the effects of global warming on coral reefs. Marohasy also reports on recent dives, with photos, of Pixie Reef off Cairns, Australia, which was reported to be in terminal decline in 2016. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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US Energy Policy: Washington’s energy policy has become schizophrenic. At one moment, the Biden Administration is doing everything it can to stop US production of oil and gas. Thanks to innovations made earlier, under Donald Trump, the US became a net exporter. Rather than encouraging domestic production, the Biden administration urged OPEC and Russia to expand oil and gas production, and they refused.

The administration’s climate envoy, John Kerry, tried to convince China to stop using fossil fuels. However, as reported by “Our World In Data” in 2019, for the past 30 years the world has seen an enormous drop in extreme poverty, which is defined as living on $1.90 per day, or less. The estimates are for local purchasing power and are as good as any TWTW has seen. The tremendous drop from about 1.9 billion people or 36 percent of the world’s population to about 650 million in 2018 is mostly in Asia. Expansion in the use of electricity, principally from coal-fired power plants, is a major contributor in reduction of extreme poverty. This is one reason why the Federal government’s policy of opposing coal-fired power plants is inhumane. Modern technology removes real pollutants from coal-fired power plants.

The Kerry show was like a paper tiger waving a paper dragon demanding inhumane policies. China was not impressed. Now the White House issued a new announcement on sustainable fuels.

“The departments of Energy, Transportation and Agriculture will collaborate on a goal of meeting 100 percent of aviation fuel demand — around 35 billion gallons a year — with sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) by 2050. SAFs are defined as those that reduce lifecycle greenhouse gases by half compared to conventional fuels.”

Biofuels have not met US fuel requirements and are very costly to the consumer and the taxpayer. The new program seems to be another money waster, such as spending hundreds of billions trying to make the wind blow and the sun shine 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

For example, a report on solar energy from the Department of Energy declared:

“A renewable-based grid will create significant health and cost savings – Reduced carbon emissions and improved air quality result in savings of $1.1 trillion to $1.7 trillion, far outweighing the additional costs incurred from transitioning to clean energy. The projected price of electricity for consumers does not rise by 2035, because the costs are fully offset by savings from technological improvements.”

Imaginary health savings from unreliable electricity made less expensive using un-invented improvements. Washington is becoming the land of fairytales. See links under Change in US Administrations, Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide, and Problems in the Orthodoxy.

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14th ICCC: The 14th 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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Number of the Week: 16:  The Connolly, et al. paper on the possible influences of the sun on surface-air temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere discusses 16 possible alternatives. The IPCC ignores all but the ones with the lowest possible values. See links under Science: Is the Sun Rising? and Censorship.

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Science: Is the Sun Rising?

Studying Sunspot Activity Cycles: Hindcasting and Forecasting

Video Presentation by Willie Soon, DDP Conference, July 31, 2021

Censorship

Willie Soon Explains About the Sun, and How to Better Report Science

By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Sep 11, 2021

Link to: How much has the Sun influenced Northern Hemisphere temperature trends? An ongoing debate

By Ronan Connolly, Willie Soon, Michael Connolly, Sallie Baliunas, et al., Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2021

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1674-4527/21/6/131

Call For German Television To Censor Climate Science/Green Energy Critics After Fritz Vahrenholt Appears On Talk Show

Reaction to German Phoenix television talk show with Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt

By Axel Robert Göhring, No Tricks Zone, Sep 5, 2021

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

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

Challenging the Orthodoxy

Christopher Essex: Should we trust science?

By Christopher Essex, GWPF, Sep 8, 2021

The Magic of Climate Science: Keep Your Eye on CO2

Video presentation by Howard Hayden, DDP Conference, July 31. 2021

False and misleading “fact check” about Connolly, et al., 2021

By Andy May, WUWT, Sep 10, 2021

The Madness of John Pandolfi and Michelle Gunn

By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Sep 8, 2021

Link to paper: Global Trajectories of the Long-Term Decline of Coral Reef Ecosystems

By John Pandolfi, et al. AAAS Science, Aug 15, 2003

https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1085706

Knowing All the Species of Coral at Pixie Reef

By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Sep 9, 2021

PAGES [20]19: 0-30S

By Stephen McIntyre, Climate Audit, Sep 2, 2021

PAGES2019: 30-60S

By Stephen McIntyre, Climate Audit, Aug 26, 2021

Link to one study the IPCC ignores: Centennial‐Scale SE Pacific Sea Surface Temperature

Variability Over the Past 2,300 Years

By James Collins, et al. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 2019

http://www.dgf.uchile.cl/rene/PUBS/Collins_et_al-2019-Paleoceanography_and_Paleoclimatology.pdf

“• Chilean margin sea surface temperature displays cooling from 1,100 to 600 cal yr BP pointing to a reduction in Southern Ocean deep convection

“• Multicentennial sea surface temperature variability is out of phase with Northern Hemisphere temperatures

“• This suggests roles for internal Southern Ocean Centennial Variability and/or phasing of individual ENSO‐SAM events”

The Return Of The Hockey Stick

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 5., 2021

“A good, easily digestible summary of the IPCC’s latest fraudulent Hockey Stick:”

Video, Friends of Science,

Statistical Method Used to Link Climate Change to Greenhouse Gases Challenged

By Nathan Worcester, The Epoch Times, Sep 6, 2021 [H/t Martin Stickley]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/statistical-method-used-to-link-climate-change-to-greenhouse-gases-challenged_3983949.html

[SEPP Comment: The reporter did not quite get the importance of McKitrick’s paper on attribution studies. Attribution studies try to calculate the influence of human-caused climate change on extreme weather events, McKitrick shows that the probabilities asserted in such studies lack a theoretical foundation in statistics.]

Upsetting the apple cart VIII: Koonin on the chimera of carbon-free

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Sep 8, 2021

“Continuing University of Guelph professor Ross McKitrick’s look at Steven E. Koonin’s landmark book Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What it Doesn’t, and Why it Matters.”

Extreme cold snaps and global warming: A speculative explanation

By David Whitehouse, GWPF, Sep 9, 2021

“Another example of a climate science story in which significant uncertainties are underplayed, results overhyped and the speculative nature of initial research poorly portrayed.”

America’s Deadliest Natural Disaster…the Galveston Hurricane of 1900…and the heroic efforts of meteorologist-in-charge, Isaac Cline

By Paul Dorian, WUWT, Sep 8, 2021

Climate Crisis Shape Shifting vs Natural Diversity

By Jim Steele, WUWT, Sep 10, 2021

Video contradicting the article:

The warming climate is causing animals to ‘shapeshift’

Cell Press, Sep 7, 2021

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210907110718.htm

Shape-shifting: changing animal morphologies as a response to climatic warming

By Sara Ryding, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Sep 7, 2021

https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(21)00197-X?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS016953472100197X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

The Looking Glass World Of “Climate Injustice” — Part II

By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Sep 5, 2021

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2021-9-5-the-looking-glass-world-of-climate-injustice-part-ii

Defending the Orthodoxy

IPCC, AR6, 2021: Summary for Policymakers

In: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

By Masson-Delmotte, V., P, et al. Cambridge University Press. In Press.

Link to Technical Support Document

Bloomberg: “What Smart People Get Wrong About Climate Change Extremes”

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Sep 10, 2021

[SEPP Comment: Bloomberg does not realize we are in the space age and can measure temperature and greenhouse effect trends.]

Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science

Global Emissions To Reach Record Levels By 2023 – IEA

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 10., 2021

Questioning the Orthodoxy

IPCC AR6: Droughts due to hydrological (streamflow) deficits, unspun edition

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Sep 8, 2021

Scientists Increasingly Agree The Last Ice Age Temperatures Were ~3-4°C Warmer Than Today’s

By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Sep 9, 2021

[SEPP Comment: More studies that call into question the new hockey-stick.]

Did the PM tell the truth about Net Zero?

Fact-checking Boris Johnson’s answer to my PMQ

By Craig Mackenlay, The Critic, UK, Sep 10, 2021

https://thecritic.co.uk/did-the-pm-tell-the-truth-about-net-zero/

After Paris!

Another COP26 Postponement? (fossil fuels winning anyway)

By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Sep 8, 2021

“Climate Action Network (CAN), a global network of more than 1500 civil society organisations in over 130 countries working together to fight the climate emergency, has today called for the UN climate talks – COP26 – to be postponed. The conference is set to take place in early November.” [Boldface added]

[SEPP Comment: The code of climate first responders: we will fight the emergency provided we do not face danger?]

Environmental groups calling for UN summit to be postponed

By Cameron Jenkins and Zack Budryk, The Hill, Sep 7, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/571024-environmental-groups-calling-for-summit-to-be-postponed

“‘Our concern is that those countries most deeply affected by the climate crisis and those countries suffering from the lack of support by rich nations in providing vaccines will be left out of the talks and conspicuous in their absence at COP26,’ Tasneem Essop, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. ‘There has always been an inherent power imbalance within the U.N. climate talks and this is now compounded by the health crisis.’”

UN climate summit COP26 in trouble as China rebuffs UK

By GWPF International, GWPF, Sep 7, 2021

Change in US Administrations

Kerry says rest of world ‘doomed’ unless 20 nations take climate action

By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Sep 8, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/571301-kerry-says-rest-of-world-doomed-unless-20-nations-take

White House announces target of 20 percent aviation emissions reduction by 2030

By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Sep 9, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/571551-white-house-announces-target-of-100-sustainable-aviation-fuel-by

Link to: FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Advances the Future of Sustainable Fuels in American Aviation

By Staff, The White House, Sep 9, 2021

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/09/fact-sheet-biden-administration-advances-the-future-of-sustainable-fuels-in-american-aviation/

Biden says he’ll go to UN climate conference: ‘We’ve got to move the rest of the world’

By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Sep 7, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/571166-biden-says-hell-go-to-un-climate-conference-weve-got-to-move-the

[SEPP Comment: Is the Nobel Peace Prize committee preparing to give him one?]

Heads China wins, tails the US loses

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Sep 8, 2021

Press Release: New Report Shows Solar Energy Rapidly Expands, Generating More Electricity in 2035 than All Homes Consume Today and Creating Economic Opportunities Across America

By Staff Department of Energy, Sep 2021

https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-releases-solar-futures-study-providing-blueprint-zero-carbon-grid

Link to study: Solar Futures Study

By Staff, Department of Energy, Sep 2021

Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide

Global Extreme Poverty

By Max Roser and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Our World in Data

First published in 2013; substantive revision March 27, 2017, and smaller revisions in 2019.

https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty

Problems in the Orthodoxy

Climate Change Hypocrisy Begins With the United Nations

By Daniel Turner, Real Clear Energy, Sep 9, 2021

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/09/09/climate_change_hypocrisy_begins_with_the_united_nations_793591.html

China ‘tells US envoy John Kerry it will follow its own climate road map’

Source says the two sides failed to reach agreement and China has its own plans on climate matters

Beijing describes discussions about addressing climate change as ‘candid, in-depth and pragmatic’

By Catherine Wong, South China Morning Post, Via GWPF, Sep 4, 2021

Are China’s climate promises just a load of hot air? (Yes!)

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 10., 2021

No 10 wargaming to stop Nicola Sturgeon using Cop26 as ‘advert’ for Scottish independence

Exclusive: Downing Street plot to cut SNP leader out of climate talks ‘pathetic and puerile’

By Anna Isaac, The Independent, Via GWPF, Sep 5, 2021

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cop26-scotland-independence-indyref2-b1902613.html

Seeking a Common Ground

Cancel culture in climate change

By Robert Wade, Climate Etc. Sep 7, 2021

Marc Morano Demolishes Biden Campaigner’s Extreme Weather Claims On TV

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 8., 2021

Science, Policy, and Evidence

There’s Nothing The U.S. Can Do To Affect Global Temperature

I & I Editorial Board, Sep 7, 2021

Climate Policy Should Pay More Attention to Climate Economics

By John Cochrane, National Review, Sep 3, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/09/climate-policy-should-pay-more-attention-to-climate-economics/

Measurement Issues — Surface

Summer of 2021 tied for hottest in US since 1936 Dust Bowl

By Sarah Polus, The Hill, Sep 9, 2021

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/571559-summer-of-2021-tied-for-hottest-in-us-since-1936-dust-bowl

Link to report: Assessing the U.S. Climate in August 2021

Virtual tie with 1936 for warmest summer on record for contiguous U.S.; severe weather, flash flooding, record wildfires and tropical cyclones

By Staff, NOAA, Sep 10, 2021

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-202108

“During meteorological summer (June-August), the average temperature for the Lower 48 was 74.0°F, 2.6°F above average, nominally eclipsing the extreme heat of the Dust Bowl in 1936 by nearly 0.01°F and essentially tying 1936 for the warmest summer on record.”

[SEPP Comment: The numbers are foolish. See link immediately below.]

Hottest Summer On Record In The US

By Tony Heller, His Blog, Sep 10, 2021

https://realclimatescience.com/2021/09/hottest-summer-on-record-in-the-us/

“NOAA says this past summer was hotter than 1936.”

Summer Heatwaves? It Was Hotter In 1707!!

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 2., 2021

CET 30-Year Averages

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 7., 2021

[SEPP Comment: Not much change in central England.]

Tokyo Summers See No Warming Trend In 27 Years…Hachijojima Pacific Island No Warming In 80 Years

By Kirye and Pierre, No Tricks Zone, Sep 4, 2021

Measurement Issues — Atmosphere

Big Trouble in the Tropical Troposphere

Video By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 27, 2021

https://climatediscussionnexus.com/videos/big-trouble-in-tropical-troposphere/

[SEPP Comment: Excellent presentation of the tropical hot spot that is missing in action including comments by John Christy.]

Changing Weather

Lack of terrible weather not blamed on GHGs

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Sep 8, 2021

That Was The Summer That Was!

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 4, 2021

The First Major Rain Event of the Season. The Story of the Jet Stream. All in My Latest Podcast

Summer in the Northwest is about to end in a dramatic way.

By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Sep 10, 2021

https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-first-major-rain-event-of-season.html

Florida Hurricanes Below 350 PPM CO2

By Tony Heller, His Blog, Sep 5, 2021

https://realclimatescience.com/2021/09/florida-hurricanes-below-350-ppm-co2/

Could Seattle Experience Urban Flooding Like New York?

By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Sep 5, 2021

https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2021-09-07T21:45:00-07:00&max-results=2

Changing Seas

The Cretaceous Geology of Alabama and Modern Sea Level Rise…

By David Middleton, WUWT, Sep 9, 2021

Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice

A recent reversal in the response of western Greenland’s ice caps to climate change

Research suggests some ice caps grew during past periods of warming

Press Release, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Sep 9, 2021 [H/t WUWT]

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/928031

Abrupt Common Era hydroclimate shifts drive west Greenland ice cap change

By Matthew B. Osman, et al. Nature Geoscience, Sep 9, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00818-w

From the abstract: “We find indications of abrupt regional hydroclimate shifts, including an up to 20% decrease in average snow accumulation during the transition from the Medieval Warm Period (950–1250 CE) to Little Ice Age (1450–1850 CE), followed by a subsequent >40% accumulation increase from the early 18th to late 20th centuries CE. These coastal changes are substantially larger than those previously reported from interior Greenland records.”

[SEPP Comment: Contradicts the SPM of AR6 which claims no Little Ice Age.]

Until Recently Scientists Believed Climate Change Has Been Melting Antarctic Glaciers. Now They Do Not.

By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Sep 6, 2021

Link to paper: High geothermal heat flow beneath Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica inferred from aeromagnetic data

By Ricarda Dziadek, Ferraccioli & Gohl, Communications Earth & Environment, Aug 18, 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00242-3

Greenland’s Ice Cap Above Average This Year

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 5., 2021

[SEPP Comment: Though enough melted to cover Florida in two inches of water?]

Changing Earth

When volcanoes go bad

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Sep 8, 2021

Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine

In a blow to climate whiners, a new breakthrough creates crops that can grow 50% more potatoes and rice

By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Sep 6, 2021

Lowering Standards

Holman Jenkins Jr: The media can’t handle the climate truth

If, after four decades, scientists see less warming and lower emissions, isn’t that good news?

By Holman Jenkins, WSJ. Via GWPF, Sep 5, 2021

Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health

By Staff, British Medical Journal, Sep 6, 2021

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1734

“The greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C and to restore nature.”

Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.

Arctic warming led to colder winters, Texas freeze: study

By Lexi Lonas, The Hill, Sep 3, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/570773-arctic-warming-led-to-colder-winters-texas-freeze-study

Link to paper; Linking Arctic variability and change with extreme winter weather in the United States

By Judah Cohen, et al. AAAS Science, Sep 3, 2021

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi9167

From plain word summary: “Cohen et al. combined observations and models to demonstrate that Arctic change is likely an important cause of a chain of processes involving what they call a stratospheric polar vortex disruption, which ultimately results in periods of extreme cold in northern midlatitudes.”

[SEPP Comment: Don’t bother testing the models to see how atmospheric warming can change the stratospheric polar vortex. Blue Northers never happened before, such as when ice formed on Galveston Bay in 1899.]

“Arctic Warming Causes Cold Winters”- Yes, It’s That Old Canard Again!

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 4., 2021

“Of course, it might be that NOAA’s data is wrong, and that their substantial temperature adjustments have wrongly cooled the past, and that this February really was unusually cold after all!”

Svalbard polar bear paper falsely assumes that loss of genetic diversity has negative consequences

By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Sep 8, 2021

Link to paper: Sea ice reduction drives genetic differentiation among Barents Sea polar bears

By Simo Njabulo Maduna et al. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, Sep 8, 2021

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.1741

Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.

Climate change deniers are as slippery as those who justified the slave trade

Global warming sceptics should be hiding in corners. But still some defend the indefensible

By Nick Cohen, The Guardian, Sep 4, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/04/climate-change-deniers-are-as-slippery-as-those-who-justified-the-slave-trade

No One is Safe from Climate Alarm

By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Sepp 11, 2021

Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda

Weather, climate disasters surge fivefold in 50 years: UN

By Nina Larson, Geneva (AFP), Sept 1, 2021

https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Weather_climate_disasters_surge_fivefold_in_50_years_UN_999.html

[SEPP Comment: See links immediately below.]

Climate Propaganda Causing ‘Climate Despair’

By David Middleton, WUWT, Sep 6, 2021

Ida vultures,

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Sep 8, 2021

What Greenland Heatwave?

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 1., 2021

Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children

“Big increase in weather disasters over the past five decades”-Claim BBC

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 6., 2021

“This is another fairy tale to scare the kids which comes around once a year without fail:”

Expanding the Orthodoxy

Woke companies must wake up on ESG

Prevailing ‘ethics’ models ignore vital energy, environmental, labor and human rights issues

By Paul Driessen, WUWT, Sep 6, 2021

Questioning European Green

Net Zero Wind: Britain saved by coal – at huge cost

By Staff, GWPF, Sep 7, 2021

Net Zero Wind: Britain forced to fire up coal plant amid lack of wind and record power prices

Editorial, GWPF & The Daily Telegraph, Sep 6, 2021

“Wind power now generates about 20pc of UK electricity across the year but varies hugely day by day. On Monday morning, output fell to 474 megawatts compared to a record 14,286 megawatts on May 21, Bloomberg said.”

Non-Green Jobs

Does AEP Want To Shut The UK Steel Industry Down?

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 10., 2021

The Political Games Continue

Feeding The Crocodile

By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Sep 7, 2021

House Democrats outline plan for transition to clean electricity

By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Sep 9, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/571539-house-democrats-outline-program-for-transition-to-clean-electricity

Link to draft text: https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Subtitle%20D_Energy.pdf [H/t Cooler Heads]

Litigation Issues

Nature promotes frivolous lawsuits

By Andy May, WUWT, Sep 5, 2021

Judge orders dam improvements to aid salmon in Oregon

By Jordan Williams, The Hill, Sep 8, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/571351-judge-orders-dam-improvements-to-aid-salmon-in-oregon

Subsidies and Mandates Forever

Solar Subsidy Farming

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 9., 2021

Energy Issues – Non-US

Britain forced to fire up coal plant amid record power prices and winter squeeze

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 6., 2021

Understanding the Changes in Ontario’s Electricity Markets and Their Effects

By Aliakbari et al. For Fraser Institute, Real Clear Public Affairs, Sep 8, 2021

https://www.realclearpublicaffairs.com/public_affairs/2020/07/08/understanding_the_changes_in_ontarios_electricity_markets_and_their_effects_498456.html

Link to Report: Understanding the Changes in Ontario’s Electricity Markets and Their Effects

By Aliakbari et al. Frazer Institute, 2018

“Ontario’s push to phase-out coal and force renewables into the electric power system has surged prices, making it the most expensive power market in North America, with almost no environmental benefits achieved.”

Energy Issues – Australia

UN Warns Australia that Climate Savvy Investors are Abandoning Coal

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Sep 6, 2021

[SEPP Comment: See links immediately below]

Australia vows to keep mining coal despite climate warning

By Staff, AFP, Sep 9, 2021

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210909-australia-vows-to-keep-mining-coal-despite-climate-warning

“Australian Resources Minister Keith Pitt said coal remained Australia’s second-largest export, after iron ore.

“Coal exports brought in Aus$50 billion (US$37 billion) a year and the industry provided direct jobs for 50,000 Australians, he said.”

[SEPP Comment: Protecting real jobs, not creating imaginary jobs.]

Australia rebuffs Biden, Boris and the UN and vows to keep mining coal

By Staff, AFP and GWPF, Sep 9, 2021

Greg Sheridan: Abolish Australia’s coal industry? Tell ’em they’re dreaming

By Greg Sheridan, The Australian, Via GWPF, Sep 9, 2021

“Between thermal coal and metallurgical coal we typically earn well over $40bn in coal export income every year. We derive billions upon billions of dollars in royalties and in the tax payments of the companies and their 40,000-odd employees. The idea that anything substitutes for this in the short term is nuts.”

Energy Issues — US

Bonneville Power Administration

By Staff, BPA.Gov/transmission

BPA Balancing Authority Total Wind Generation, Near-Real-Time

https://transmission.bpa.gov/Business/Operations/Wind/twndbspt.aspx

BPA Balancing Authority Load and Total Wind, Hydro, Fossil/Biomass, and Nuclear Generation, Near-Real-Time

https://transmission.bpa.gov/Business/Operations/Wind/baltwg.aspx

Washington’s Control of Energy

Is Joe Biden Killing Fracking for EVs?

By Steve Milloy, Real Clear Energy, Sep 6, 2021

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/09/02/is_joe_biden_killing_fracking_for_evs_792652.html

Digging Into the Administration’s Lease Sale Announcement

By Mark Green, Real Clear Energy, Sep 2, 2021

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/09/02/digging_into_the_administrations_lease_sale_announcement_792695.html

Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?

Come and listen to my story ’bout a man named Joe

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Sep 8, 2021

Nuclear Energy and Fears

Nuclear Power: A Free Market View

By Jane Shaw Stroup, Master Resource, Sep 9, 2021

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind

The Truth About Renewables

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 10., 2021

Video from a managing partner of an investment firm.

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other

The White Elephant of Green Hydrogen

By Staff, GWPF, Sep 6, 2021

Link to Summary: Cost of Green Hydrogen

By Andrew Montford, GWPF, September 2021

JCB Heir Goes Subsidy Hunting

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 6., 2021

“Under this, producers of hydrogen will be paid a guaranteed, index linked price. The hydrogen will then be sold to the market at much lower prices, with the subsidised difference paid by Joe Public.”

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles

Hochul signs law requiring zero-emission passenger vehicles by 2035

By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Sep 8, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/571385-hochul-signs-law-requiring-zero-emission-passenger-vehicles-by-2035

“New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Wednesday signed a bill into law that will require all passenger vehicles sold in the state to be emission-free by 2035.”

EV Battery Fires do not bode well for projected sales

Germany may be setting a trend by not allowing EV’s to park underground

By Ronald Stein, WUWT, Sep 7, 2021

California Dreaming

A rising tide lifts all debts

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Sep 8, 2021

California Coastal Commission Goes Berserk Mandating Future Coastal Sea Level Rise Hype

By Larry Hamlin, WUWT, Sep 2, 2021

[SEPP Comment: Draft report.]

California drought driving up greenhouse gas emissions: study

By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Sep 9, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/571434-california-drought-driving-up-greenhouse-gas-emissions

“Water use, collection, treatment and management is linked to about 20 percent of California’s statewide electricity use, one-third of non-power-plant natural gas consumption and 88 billion gallons of diesel use, according to the study, published by the Oakland-based Pacific Institute and commissioned by the nonprofit think tank Next 10.”

Health, Energy, and Climate

Claim: Human Health has Already Been Harmed by Climate Change

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Sep 7, 2021

Climate alarmism is the real threat to public health

Slowing down economic development is far more dangerous than global warming.

By Tim Black, Spiked, Sep 9, 2021 [H/t Paul Homewood]

Sorry, Medical Journals, Evidence Indicates Climate Change Doesn’t Threaten Human Health 

By H. Sterling Burnett, Climate Realism, Sep 8, 2021

Other News that May Be of Interest

Dismantling the environmental theory for Covid’s origins

By Matt Ridley, Rational Optimist, Aug 28, 2021

https://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/dismantling-the-environmental-theory-for-covid/

BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE

Climate change protesters admit using a diesel generator to power their stage

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 1., 2021

North Korea Weighs In On Climate

By Tony Heller, His Blog, Sep 8, 2021

https://realclimatescience.com/2021/09/north-korea-weighs-in-on-climate/

ARTICLES

1. Doctors Join the Climate Lobby

Don’t they know that poverty kills far more people than heat does?

By The Editorial Board, WSJ, Sept. 7,

https://www.wsj.com/articles/doctors-join-the-climate-lobby-medical-journal-editorial-bmj-11631048529?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Link to plea: Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health

BMJ 2021; 374 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1734 (Published 06 September 2021)

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1734

TWTW Summary: The editorial begins:

“Medical journals are supposed to be forums for doctors to publish research and debate ideas. But like traditional media outlets, many are finding it harder to control their political bias. Now some 200 journal editors are showing their political hand on climate change in an apocalyptic and misleading joint editorial this week that could have been ghost-written by Greta Thunberg.

“The groupthink in these journals suppressed debate over important questions during the Covid pandemic, including the origins of the virus and the costs of lockdowns. Now these same experts want to tell everyone what to do about climate, which they know less about than geologists do about cancer.

“‘No temperature rise is ‘safe,’’’ the editorial says. ‘Higher temperatures have brought increased dehydration and renal function loss, dermatological malignancies, tropical infections, adverse mental health outcomes, pregnancy complications, allergies, and cardiovascular and pulmonary morbidity and mortality.’

“The editorial cites a recent British Medical Journal meta-analysis of studies that examine links between extreme weather and health outcomes. But most findings haven’t been replicated, many conflict, and correlation doesn’t prove causation. Obesity has increased at the same time temperatures have. That doesn’t mean heat is making people fatter.

“Worse are the editorial’s deceptive statements such as global warming is ‘contributing to the decline in global yield potential for major crops,’ which is ‘hampering efforts to reduce undernutrition’ (our emphasis). But actual crop yields have been increasing thanks to better agricultural practices, plant genetics and, yes, higher CO2 levels.

“Extreme cold kills many more people each year (1.3 million) than extreme heat (356,000), according to a study published in the Lancet last month. Deaths from cold weather have increased at a slower rate than the population, no doubt in part because more of the world’s poor now have heating.

“But facts are beside the point since the editorial’s intent is to scare people before the global climate gabfest in November and lobby for more income redistribution. Many Western countries have already committed to phasing out fossil fuels, but the editorial says these ‘promises are not enough.’

“It’s true that wealthy countries could eliminate almost all emissions, and it wouldn’t matter if China, India and low-income countries continue to industrialize. China’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 exceeded those of all countries in the developed world combined.”

The editorial states the BMJ insists wealthy countries give $100 billion to the UN.  TWTW would add, the UN should insist that poor countries follow China’s lead. The editorial concludes:

“The main result of this climate advocacy will be to underscore that these medical journals are increasingly more about politics than medicine or public health. They are less authorities than partisan advocates.”

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

2. Get Ready for the Blackouts

Mismanagement and the push for renewables are degrading the reliability of the U.S. electrical grid.

By Robert Bryce, WSJ, Sept. 7, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/blackouts-generac-electric-grid-texas-california-biden-decarbonize-renewables-climate-11631043410?mod=hp_opin_pos_2#cxrecs_s

TWTW Summary: After discussing that Generac Power Systems is experiencing booming sales in home standby generators, the research fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity writes:

“…soaring sales are evidence that the U.S. electric grid is becoming less reliable, which will make Americans less wealthy and less secure. Consumers are spending billions of dollars on generators to have on hand when the power goes out. This capital would be better spent on other things such as education or home improvements.

“Blackouts are deadly and create costly drags on the economy. Bad policies and lack of oversight contributed to the February blackouts in Texas. The final tally: about $200 billion in damage and some 700 people dead from hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning and other causes. In California—a state that is hemorrhaging residents—blackouts have become a near-daily event.

“Generac says in a recent investor presentation that power outage severity is ‘increasing significantly.’ Between 2000 and 2020, the number of what the Energy Department calls ‘major electric disturbances and unusual occurrences’ jumped 13-fold.

“The grid is the Mother Network for critical systems: GPS, communication, traffic lights, water, and wastewater treatment. Essayist Emmet Penney had it right when he declared in the American Conservative that, ‘there is no such thing as a wealthy society with a weak electrical grid.’

“Three things are weakening the grid. One is the rush to add renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, which depend on amenable weather to function. Second, over the past few years, numerous coal and nuclear plants that provide baseload power and help keep the grid stable have closed. Third, regional transmission organizations such as Ercot in Texas and Caiso in California are mismanaging the system. They are not providing enough incentives to ensure reliability such as providing payments to generators that have on-site fuel storage.

“Renewable energy promoters don’t want to admit that wind and solar are undermining the grid. But the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a nonprofit trade group, said in a report last month that ‘changing resource mix’ is the most urgent challenge for reliability. The group says America’s electric generation capacity ‘is increasingly characterized as one that is sensitive to extreme, widespread, and long duration temperatures as well as wind and solar droughts.’

“The decline in reliability is especially important because President Biden has said he wants to ‘decarbonize’ the power industry by 2035, a move that will likely require retiring all coal- and gas-fired generators in the country. In addition, activists are demanding more reliance on renewables and ‘electrifying everything,’ including industry and transportation. Yet the grid is struggling even under existing loads.

“Trying to electrify everything would be a disaster, especially for low-income consumers. Poor folks tend to live in homes that aren’t as efficient or sturdy as those occupied by the wealthy. They are more likely to suffer, or even die, during blackouts or extreme weather. They can’t afford generators or backup battery systems, which can cost $10,000 or more. Generac’s customers have a median household income of about $130,000, more than twice the U.S. median.

“The problems on the electric grid should be setting off alarms in Washington, D.C., and state capitols. Regulators and policy makers should be preserving nuclear plants and making sure further coal plant closures don’t damage the grid’s resilience.

“If America wants to stay a world leader, it must have a robust grid that delivers cheap, abundant and reliable electricity all day, every day of the year. We can’t rely on Generac for that.”

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Bjarne Bisballe
September 13, 2021 2:27 am

Interesting what is NOT mentioned in this version of TWTW.
4th of September version of TWTW mentioned a published peer reviewed paper, (David Coe et al. 2021) but this week’s version of TWTW does not mention – what I expected – that the paper was retracted by the journal (without explanation as far as I know) – Was the retraction censorship or was it something else? – find: ” A better way?” (scroll down a little) : https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/09/06/weekly-climate-and-energy-news-roundup-469/

Harrow Sceptic
September 13, 2021 2:48 am

Great Photo, Charles. Brings back good memories of a great trip

griff
September 13, 2021 3:43 am
Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 4:17 am

Laughable 😀

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 5:52 am

The troll presents non news…most corporations and governments are all in on the racket at this point…pretending they are on a great crusade to save the planet…climate warms and cools in cycles….appears the crusaders are about to be on the wrong side…need to crusade against cooling.

griff
Reply to  Anti-griff
September 13, 2021 8:25 am

I see. so if a commercial firm decides to do this, exactly what is its motive for ‘getting in on the racket’?

And I remind you we now have a new, additional climate cycle operating on top of the historical/natural ones – warming caused by human CO2

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 9:21 am

Proof ? 😀

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 10:27 am

The stock may be shunned …social and environmental factors are the latest thing…plus Walmart has some billionaires who inherited money on the board who love this type of virtue signaling…the scientists told them it was true…they don’t know anything about science…must be true if the scientists claim it’s true. We need to shun those people opposed to NetZero Windmills and Solarpanels by 2025. DeWindmillize…DeSolarpanelize!…it’s the right thing to do.

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 10:31 am

Your propaganda is nonsense and boring, still nothing called science to brag about, you sure like the politics a lot…..

griff
Reply to  Sunsettommy
September 14, 2021 1:24 am

I don’t post anything political… it is only skeptics who mix up the science with their politics and seem obsessed with ‘leftists’

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 7:37 pm

Pure lying projection.

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 6:20 am

Griff, what will the climate be like once you, Walmart, as well as the rest of you have won the fight against climate change?

griff
Reply to  David Kamakaris
September 13, 2021 8:22 am

It will still be warmer and causing problems… it just won’t be getting even worse.

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 9:20 am

What problems ? Really problems, not what you imaginate 😀

griff
Reply to  Krishna Gans
September 14, 2021 1:25 am

These sorts of problems…

Meteorological bodies have referred to the rainstorm in China – which saw a year’s worth of rainfall in three days – as a one-in-1,000-year weather event. The rainfall broke hourly and daily records of the 70 years of collected data.

The heavy rainfall in the south of North Rhine-Westphalia and north of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany produced accumulations which averaged 100 to 150 mm (3.9 to 5.9 in) in 24 hours, equivalent to more than a month’s worth of rain. In Reifferscheid, 207 mm (8.1 in) fell within a nine-hour period while Cologne observed 154 mm (6.1 in) in 24 hours. Some of the affected regions may not have seen rainfall of this magnitude in the last 1,000 years.

The searing heat that scorched western Canada and the US at the end of June was “virtually impossible” without climate change, say scientists. In their study, the team of researchers says that the deadly heatwave was a one-in-a-1,000-year event.

The rain in New York was just another climate related extreme weather event.

And we have 4 other US heatwaves, one in E Europe and Russia, a temperature record heatwave in Lapland, in N Finland, record breaking temperatures in Siberia for second year running, record breaking temperatures in Greece, extreme temperatures in Turkey, Iran, S China…

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 7:44 pm

Meteorological bodies”

By which giffiepoo means the grauniad. None of the rest of this paragraph is worth responding too.

“Some of the affected regions may not have seen rainfall of this magnitude in the last 1,000 years.”

This was proven false when you first made this claim.
It is still bogus. The Grauniad is not a weather or meteorological body.

“was “virtually impossible” without climate change”

Again, you were proven wrong on this claim before. The real scientists do not support such fallacious nonsense.

Heat waves occur. In some places it is actually hot weather. In other places like where giffie lives it is just slightly warmer weather.

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 10:33 am

It still isn’t as warm as the Eemian or Holocene interglacial high temperature point yet here we are thriving….

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 11:24 am

“It will still be warmer and causing problems… it just won’t be getting even worse.”

I see you are still incapable of giving straight answers to simple questions.

griff
Reply to  David Kamakaris
September 14, 2021 1:32 am

Because your question doesn’t have an answer in terms of x degrees on average or y% of now.

the climate is always changing, through natural processes and now human CO2. We can’t dictate the climate absolutely, only influence the human directed driver of it.

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 6:14 am

And for this you feel it’s necessary to totally alter our economy and energy infrastructure at the cost of trillions of dollars, pounds, euros etc we don’t have. You are a special kind of zealot.

Reply to  David Kamakaris
September 14, 2021 7:50 pm

“It will still be warmer and causing problems… it just won’t be getting even worse.”

Which brings to mind a future giffie standing hip deep in the snow and ice wailing about global warming.

Dave Fair
Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 1:34 pm

Has Walmart demanded its ChiCom suppliers quit using coal-fired electricity and avoid utilizing slave labor?

griff
Reply to  Dave Fair
September 14, 2021 1:33 am

It is certainly influencing some suppliers and its own operations… without apparently hitting its bottom line.

But hey: feel free to write and ask them!

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 7:54 pm

It is certainly influencing some suppliers and its own operations”

Lying BS again.

We don’t care! You are the one who alleges to care. You don’t have a clue but you claim to care.

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 7:17 pm

Nothing about this is news.
Not even that the grauniad bothered to write a puff piece about Walmart.

All that means is Walmart’s owner also own some products they want highlighted.

Which is OK with Walmart. Walmart caters to the poor along with a number of fringe customers.

Including believers in the climate scam. None of whom understand that all of their synthetic clothing, plastic toys, plastic gimmicks, organic foods, cheap gasoline must be eliminated, as well as shut down their auto repair

Walmart will not cause these customers to leave Walmart for any crackpot scam.

Making the grauniad article pure delusional fantasy.

griff
September 13, 2021 8:23 am

another interesting news item:

Rain fell on Greenland’s ice sheet for the first time ever known. Alarms should ring | Kim Heacox | The Guardian

‘Rain fell on Greenland’s ice sheet for the first time ever known..’

Bjarne Bisballe
Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 9:20 am

Rain or not -Total mass balance for the Greenland ice sheet this season was below average. That is more important.

Bjarne Bisballe
Reply to  ren
September 13, 2021 12:06 pm

That was what I meant

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 9:47 am

“For he first time” is wrong 😀

Snow in 4 summer month in the Alpes, frost in 4 summer month in NW and E Germany let me forget some raindrops over Greenland 😀
And I’m sure, as Greenland produced crops in MWP, it certainely rained too 😀

Mr.
Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 10:05 am

“Ever known” in this case means since 1986 when the weather station was put there.

The joke’s on you again Griff.

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 10:29 am

Once again you used a SINGLE weather event for reasons you don’t even try to bring up.

Does it mean you need to pull weeds more often or is clean the car more often, what is your reason for this trivial news?

Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 11:23 am

“the first time ever known..”

Griff, how long is your record?

Reply to  David Kamakaris
September 14, 2021 7:57 pm

At least a decade of always being wrong, fallacious, specious, daft, delusional and never telling the truth..

ren
Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 11:26 am

This season’s balance sheet could be well above average.comment image

Nigel in California
Reply to  griff
September 13, 2021 7:06 pm

Not true. As far as we know it’s rained in Greenland several times in the last 100 years at that altitude. Probably happens all the time.

As others have mentioned, you are using a single weather event to prop up your climate hypothesis. You can’t do that.

September 13, 2021 9:18 am

griff, what’s that ?

comment image

Dave Fair
Reply to  Krishna Gans
September 13, 2021 1:38 pm

Larry has been very generous to Greenland. They should invite him back.

griff
Reply to  Krishna Gans
September 14, 2021 1:23 am

That’s increased precipitation, likely an effect of more moisture in a warming atmosphere.

Remember SMB does not include glacial calving, so ice mass continues to decrease…

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 3:07 am

For snow it has to be below 0°C

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 8:00 pm

Ignorant twit.
The SMB is ice and snow on Greenland! Not glaciers out at sea.

ren
September 13, 2021 9:44 am

Houston is threatened with heavy rainfall as the tropical storm is blocked by highs and will remain on the Texas coast for an extended period of time.

ren
Reply to  ren
September 13, 2021 10:42 am

The storm is collecting moisture from over the very warm western Gulf of Mexico and will lead to flooding.
http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mtpw2/webAnims/tpw_nrl_colors/conus/mimictpw_conus_latest.gif

ren
Reply to  ren
September 13, 2021 11:46 am

comment image

Reply to  ren
September 14, 2021 8:06 pm

Looks like it got stalled back to Louisiana.

Western Gulf WV 20212580256_GOES16-ABI-gm-AirMass-1000x1000.jpg
Steve Z
September 13, 2021 10:06 am

The presentation by Howard Hayden was extremely interesting, especially where he mentions that the actual radiative forcing from doubling CO2 (according to the Arrhenius equation) would be 3.5 W/m2, but if the Stefan-Boltzmann law is applied to that forcing from a baseline of 16 C, it would only result in a warming of 0.64 C.

All the rest of the warming predicted by the IPCC (about 3 C per doubling) is due to supposed positive feedbacks, including decreased albedo if snow or ice cover is replaced by dry land, melting of permafrost with release of methane, or increased absolute humidity (which absorbs more IR).

These supposed positive feedbacks are greatly exaggerated. For example, if a slight warming of the climate results in less snow or ice cover, this will only affect marginal areas, where a previously ice-covered area becomes dry land. There will be no decrease in albedo in areas that remain ice-covered, nor in areas that were not ice-covered before the temperature rise, so that the decrease in albedo would only affect a small fraction of the earth’s surface area.

The same is true for melting of permafrost, which would only occur in marginal areas. The vast majority of the earth’s surface does not have permafrost at present, and a 0.64 C increase in temperature would not be enough to melt permafrost in areas whose maximum temperature would not exceed 0 C even after a warming.

Finally, increased absolute humidity of the atmosphere requires heat to evaporate water from a large body of liquid water (ocean, bay, or large inland lake), and depending on the ambient temperature and previous humidity, this would consume about 50 to 70% of the heat required to warm the atmosphere to begin with, which constitutes a NEGATIVE feedback. Not to mention that increased humidity would lead to increased cloud formation, which would reflect sunlight away from the earth.

The IPCC’s artificial magnification of the 0.64 C “climate sensitivity” to a doubling of CO2 concentration according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law to over 3.0 C appears to be a clear violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics (conservation of energy).

griff
Reply to  Steve Z
September 14, 2021 1:21 am

For example, if a slight warming of the climate results in less snow or ice cover, this will only affect marginal areas, where a previously ice-covered area becomes dry land. ‘

What about the decline in sea ice? Massive albedo decrease…

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 8:14 pm

Haven’t been paying attention, again giffiepoo.

Open waters north of the Arctic circle still reflect light as it comes in at a steep angle.

All that open water loses heat to the atmosphere and space at astounding rates.

Which brings the cycle back to an Arctic covered in sea ice.

Massive albedo increase. Enjoy your nightmares, giffiepoo.

Dave Fair
September 13, 2021 1:03 pm

I stopped reading the U.S. Department of Energy report when the Abstract said that the U.S. electric grid would be 100% FF-free by 2035. That says outright that our government expects to retire all FF electric generation sources over a period of less than 13 years.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2020 the U.S. generated about 4 trillion kWh of electricity of which about 60% was FF generation. Of the approximately 1,120 GW of installed capacity in 2020, about 68% was FF generators.

Please explain to me how we could replace 68% of our generating capacity (almost 762 GW) in less than 13 years with new, essentially redundant and unreliable generation sources. That involves planning, financing, designing, manufacturing parts and constructing over 1,000 major industrial installations, all in a period of less than 13 years. None of this even considers the massive investment in transmission system additions and backup storage, some of which does not technically exist at this time.

Government directed WWII industrialization on on such a scale resulted in rationing and privation of average U.S. citizens. Good luck pushing that through the U.S. Congress.

ren
September 14, 2021 12:16 am
ren
Reply to  ren
September 14, 2021 2:44 am

The storm merged with a tropical wave from over the Atlantic. Louisiana at risk of flooding.
The amount of rain over the three days will be tremendous.

griff
September 14, 2021 1:19 am

Most plans for new coal plants scrapped since Paris agreement | Coal | The Guardian

‘Most plans for new coal plants scrapped since Paris agreement’
‘The global pipeline of new coal power plants has collapsed since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, according to research that suggests the end of the polluting energy source is in sight.

The report found that more than three-quarters of the world’s planned plants have been scrapped since the climate deal was signed, meaning 44 countries no longer have any future coal power plans.’

‘The remaining coal power plants in the pipeline are spread across 31 countries, half of which have only one planned for the future’

Previous reports indicated that outside China, less than 12 GW was commissioned in 2020 and, taking into account closures, the global coal fleet outside China declined by 17.2 GW in 2020. Outside China, there was a marked slowdown in 2020 commissioning. India, notably, grew its coal fleet by only net 0.7 GW in 2020, after adding an average 15.0 GW a year from 2010 to 2019. 

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 8:16 pm

Gruaniad and giffie lying, again.

griff
September 14, 2021 3:34 am

for all of you claiming a few solar panels ‘damage’ the landscape/environment, what about the truly shocking scale of damage from coal mining?

When Wall Street came to coal country: how a big-money gamble scarred Appalachia | Mining | The Guardian

Reply to  griff
September 14, 2021 8:19 pm

Coal mines reclaim the land and have done so for over sixty years. Most of the old mines have been reclaimed.

Now they grow crops, trees, and catch trout where coal mines used to exist.

Gruaniad is not a news source. It is delusional on a grand scale.

September 14, 2021 6:54 pm

1) Excellent photograph of Bryce Canyon, Charles!

2) “Comments by statistician Steve McIntyre were devastating.”

Bang on target! And likely a major reason why the COP26 fools have been talking about cancellation or postponement.
Steve managed a tour de Force and the IPCC have been caught with their bias open to display.

3) “Or to use the flowery language of the new NOAA: We ignore all significant, contradicting evidence from the top of the atmosphere to the bottom of the seas.”

An excellent depiction of the fraudulent NOAA.