Bill McKibben. Screenshot from Michael Moore's "Planet of the Humans"

McKibben: Last Week’s Climate Report “landed … with a gentle plop”

Essay by Eric Worrall

McKibben believes the reason the IPCC’s increasingly frantic climate warnings are being ignored is people don’t believe they can make a difference.

Climate change is the legacy of people over the age of 60. That’s why we must protest

Bill McKibben
Tue 28 Mar 2023 00.38 AEDT

I’m proud to be part of Third Act, a climate activist organization for people over the age of 60

The brutal truth is that last week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report didn’t have the effect it should have had, or that its authors clearly intended. Produced by thousands of scientists who synthesized the work of tens of thousands of their peers over the last decade, and meticulously drafted by teams of careful communicators, it landed in the world with a gentle plop, not the resounding thud that’s required.

In China, the world’s biggest emitter, official attention was focused instead on Moscow, where Xi Jinping was off to do a little male bonding with fellow autocrat Vladimir Putin, incidentally the world’s second largest producer of hydrocarbons. In America, the historical emissions champ, we were riveted by the possibility that would-be autocrat Donald Trump might be indicted. In the New York Times, our planet’s closest thing to a paper of record, the IPCC report was the fourth story on the website.

The reason, I think, is a disconnect between the dire words of the report and the actions most people feel they can effectively take. If the world has begun to fall off a cliff – due, as the report says, to a lack of political commitment – then installing a heat pump in your basement seems like a useful gesture but also not enough. “The climate timebomb is ticking,” the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said. If a bomb is about to go off, you need to actually do something.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/27/older-people-climate-protest-banks-ipcc

“It landed in the world with a gentle plop” – I wish I’d thought of that line.

The problem is not the disconnect between the words of the report and the actions people feel they can take. The problem is the disconnect between the IPCC and their credibility.

For more than 30 years we’ve been listening to the United Nations and other tax money guzzling organisations try to scare us with imaginary climate hobgoblins, ozone holes, acid rain, it’s a long list of utter nonsense.

If the IPCC wants to make more than a “gentle plop” in the world with their apocalyptic but widely ignored pronouncements, they need to start getting some predictions right.

Get notified when a new post is published.
Subscribe today!
4.9 39 votes
Article Rating
115 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
JCM
March 28, 2023 10:14 am

not unlike the plop of a good turd in the morning.

Reply to  JCM
March 28, 2023 10:20 am

“…like a turd freshly dropped from the anus of Satan.” – Martin Luther

alastairgray29yahoocom
Reply to  Mumbles McGuirck
March 28, 2023 3:07 pm

Accompanied by a resounding Fart from between the sweaty hairy buttocks of the appointed climatariat. Inhale ye peasants and wonder, for this is the wind of the future

Reply to  JCM
March 28, 2023 8:32 pm

+1000!!!🤣🤣🤣

Reply to  JCM
March 29, 2023 5:04 am

Wokie-dokie must be broke in the head by complaining about the umpteenth IPCC scare-mongering plop, approved by 97% of “scientists”, 100% of “journalists”, 110% of government bureaucrats, who likely never analyzed, designed or operated any energy systems. Will he ever get tired of it?

Bryan A
March 28, 2023 10:19 am

I would have said
“It landed with a great FLOP”

John Hultquist
March 28, 2023 10:26 am

gentle plop” ==> dog’s breakfast

Poor Bill. He has been active in the Climate Change™ cult for 35 years and at age 62 can see how far the movement {pun intended} has come. Plop, plop, fizz, fizz (Apology to Alka-Seltzer)

Reply to  John Hultquist
March 28, 2023 11:14 am

Active over 35 years and nothing learned…. 😀

Reply to  Krishna Gans
March 28, 2023 12:11 pm

nothing learned…au contraire….

I think he saw how successful the WWF had been since 1961, bringing in so much money they didn’t know what to do with it all, other than buying safari habitat worldwide and paying poachers to be park wardens some days of the week…that he decided his own “donate button” eco-cause would result in a good gig for himself in which he doesn’t have to do much, has lots of cash available, pays no taxes….So “nuttin’ learned is actually ‘nuff learned”….

John Hultquist
Reply to  DMacKenzie
March 28, 2023 7:13 pm

It would be interesting to know his wealth and spending trends. Hockey stick?

Reply to  DMacKenzie
March 29, 2023 5:10 am

Eco grifting and grafting has a whole new vibe to it, totally a woke thing. Even Charles THE THURD is doing it, to polish the Windsor image

Reply to  Krishna Gans
March 29, 2023 6:11 am

That’s cuz all he can understand are the third party summaries of the Executive Summary. Reading the actual report is way beyond his pay grade.

Reply to  John Hultquist
March 28, 2023 8:33 pm

He’s worried about his retirement fund so he can travel on vacation.

E. Schaffer
March 28, 2023 10:27 am

Funny detail from AR6: The IPCC suggests various methods of “climate mitigation”. Among them is CCT – cirrus cloud thinning (see 4.6.3.3.3). By artificially reducing cirrus clouds we should effectively be able to counter global warming.

Now if you look up the sky most of the time you will find cirrus clouds there. And usually they will look like in the picture below. These are man-made cirrus clouds obviously. It brings up one delicate question. If artificially reducing cirrus clouds is a significant way to cool the planet, then what instead is the effect of adding huge amounts of artifical cirrus clouds, which we actually do?

The official IPCC position is, to say at least, amibiguous. Adding these cirrus clouds would only have a negligible effect (0.06W/m2), as opposed to removing them?! Of course, you can not be true in this regard if you want to blame the warming on CO2 instead..

https://greenhousedefect.com/contrails-a-forcing-to-be-reckoned-with

comment image

William Howard
Reply to  E. Schaffer
March 28, 2023 11:31 am

those are chemicals injected into the atmosphere to block out the sun – and what I have read the chemicals are cancer causing – more stupid, and costly ideas from our climate alarmists elites – aka US Government

Scissor
Reply to  William Howard
March 28, 2023 1:49 pm

Yes, mostly the potentially deadly dihydrogen monoxide and hydrogen hydroxide.

Reply to  William Howard
March 28, 2023 3:59 pm

those are chemicals injected into the atmosphere to block out the sun”
No they’re not.

Reply to  William Howard
March 28, 2023 8:34 pm

Is that you Griff???

Reply to  schmoozer
March 28, 2023 8:46 pm

It might be Simon 😉

Reply to  E. Schaffer
March 28, 2023 11:54 am

“By artificially reducing cirrus clouds we should effectively be able to counter global warming.”
___________________________________________________

Please stop buying into the nonsense. Please stop suggesting ways to disrupt the environment, destroy the economy and your way of life.

Don't Make Suggestions.jpg
Reply to  E. Schaffer
March 29, 2023 6:58 am

Those wispy clouds are left overs of jet plane vapor trails.

The H2O of combustion is condensed on the sub-micron combustion particles that scatter a very small part of the incoming sunlight.

The outgoing LW radiation does not “see” such small particles

These wispy clouds have become a permanent feature, because they are far above the troposphere, which has lots of mixing

March 28, 2023 10:35 am

McKibben vs. Epstein Debate on Fossil Fuels
Alex mopped the floor with McKibben. Please, everyone must watch this- though it’s 10 years old. Already, Alex was getting good at debates. We now see him everywhere including Congress. He’s a fearless debater. He’s got his own web site dedicated to teaching people “talking points” in defense of fossil fuels and he’s all over YouTube.

I’ve read most of McKibben’s books. They’re dumb- sort of “climate change for dummies”- of, by and for a dummy.

Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
March 28, 2023 8:36 pm

Thank you for taking the bullet in watching that crap. I can’t do it myself.

Reply to  schmoozer
March 29, 2023 4:03 am

I enjoy watching idiots like McKibben get beat up on stage.

Curious George
March 28, 2023 10:37 am

I believe that I can make a difference. I simply don’t believe the IPCC, or the UN.

n.n
March 28, 2023 10:37 am

Minority of a minority effect with disparate models of sensitivity and observational dysphoria.

mleskovarsocalrrcom
March 28, 2023 10:43 am

When you ignore reality, it ignores you.

Editor
Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
March 28, 2023 11:03 am

Thank you, mleskovarsocalrrcom. I enjoyed that. Made me smile.

Regards,
Bob

Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
March 28, 2023 1:02 pm

Reality catches up with everyone sooner or later.

roaddog
Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
March 31, 2023 4:47 am

You might ignore reality, but it won’t ignore you.

Ancient Wrench
March 28, 2023 10:53 am

So long as the developing world refuses to accept perpetual energy poverty, climate cultist’s fantasies will not come true.

March 28, 2023 10:58 am

From the article: “The brutal truth is that last week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report didn’t have the effect it should have had, or that its authors clearly intended. Produced by thousands of scientists who synthesized the work of tens of thousands of their peers over the last decade, and meticulously drafted by teams of careful communicators, it landed in the world with a gentle plop, not the resounding thud that’s required.”

That’s because Climate Change Alarmists have cried Wolf too much.

Climate Change Alarmists cry Wolf all the time, and the Wolf never appears. People notice.

Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 28, 2023 11:47 am

and meticulously drafted by teams of careful communicators

Aye, there’s the rub. It isn’t the work of the scientists synthesizing the work of peers. Working Group One’s report came out over a year ago and was insufficient in its alarm. The Summary for Policy Makers, which was published last week, was the meticulous re-writing of the Working Group reports into an alarmist screed that plopped. It’s the same old yammering without an ounce of support that people are ignoring.

Reply to  Mumbles McGuirck
March 29, 2023 3:46 am

Yep — Just can’t publish climate “science” – These “reports” must go via the alarmist spin doctors for re-wording prior to wider dissemination to the masses..

roaddog
Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 31, 2023 4:49 am

“synthesize” is a synonym for “fabricate,” and the impactful part of the IPCC reports is not authored by scientists.

barryjo
March 28, 2023 10:59 am

The disconnect between the IPCC and credibility? Didn’t know they ever had any.

roaddog
Reply to  barryjo
March 31, 2023 4:50 am

A bridge too far.

dk_
March 28, 2023 11:03 am

From here to fore McKibben shall be known far and wide as McPloppen.

Reply to  dk_
March 28, 2023 8:53 pm

Weepy Bill McPloppen … said with a Rowan Atkinson pronunciation.

March 28, 2023 11:13 am

I’m proud to be part of Third Act, a climate activist organization for people over the age of 60

I’m over 70 and proud not to be part of such a BS organisation. 😀

Reply to  Krishna Gans
March 28, 2023 11:38 am

Shouldn’t that be “Turd Act”?

Eric Schollar
Reply to  Krishna Gans
March 29, 2023 2:22 am

I’m over 70 and proud not to be part of such a BS organisation.

I was 23 when I wrote a thesis heavily based on Paul Ehrlich’s rubbish. I’ve long since chucked the thesis in the trash and, like you, I’m now over 70 and proud not to be part of any BS climate activist organizations. 

William Howard
March 28, 2023 11:28 am

Produced by thousands of scientists who synthesized the work of tens of thousands of their peers 
right – wonder why they never name any of these scientists or why none of them ever participate in public debates

China, the world’s biggest emitter – perhaps people are starting to understand that the sacrifices they are being asked to make are irrelevant as China & India etc. continue to emit more CO2 than they can conserve – so their efforts are worthless

or perhaps they are beginning to understand that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from man’s industrial and transportation is so insignificant that it couldn’t possibly have any effect on the climate

or perhaps they are starting to wonder why if CO2 is so bad why do greenhouse growers inject more if it into their greenhouses to increase plant growth, and isn’t that what supposedly CO2 is doing to the earth so why is that bad?

one can only hope

Marty
Reply to  William Howard
March 28, 2023 12:38 pm

I had the same thought. Just who are these “thousands of scientists” and their tens of thousands of peers.” Names please?

QODTMWTD
Reply to  William Howard
March 28, 2023 3:17 pm

I made the greenhouse point on Instagram recently and the reply was, “Well, yeah, but the nurseries just want to increase their profits.”

Reply to  William Howard
March 29, 2023 5:27 am

China and India build wind and solar for play acting purposes, so they can have access to western markets to sell goods and services.

March 28, 2023 11:29 am

“…meticulously drafted by teams of careful communicators…” [the recent IPCC report-dd]

LOL. Yes, for the purpose of persuasion to urgent action. Perhaps little regard for the validity of the claims, though.

BTW, those of us over 60 remember the meticulously drafted global cooling articles from the 1970’s.

Scissor
Reply to  David Dibbell
March 28, 2023 1:52 pm

It’s as cold as I remember it to be.

March 28, 2023 11:30 am

“…people don’t believe they can make a difference.” And they are right!

Biden can double or triple the amount he has proposed for “Climate Change” in his budget and it will not make any difference to the worlds temperatures, future climate or extreme weather.

(But if we only outlawed gas stoves we would stop forest fires in California and Flooding in India.)

Curious George
Reply to  George Daddis
March 28, 2023 2:07 pm

No, but it will make Climate Change really rich.

Reply to  Curious George
March 29, 2023 5:30 am

The manufacturers and installers will be having decades of extra work.
Each installation must be approved by a bureaucrat to get subsidies

roaddog
Reply to  George Daddis
March 31, 2023 4:52 am

And wars in Ukraine.

March 28, 2023 11:48 am

”it landed in the world with a gentle plop”

No more appropriate terminology can be found. Thank you Weepy Bill for likening yet another fraudulent prophecy of doom from the IPCC to the aquatic arrival of lumps of digested effluent expelled from the nether regions of corpulent trough feeders into the porcelain throne. You have given the most recent report its well deserved place in history and each and everyone’s imagination. Should you wish to elaborate further you might want to mention the aroma, or perhaps the self replicating contagion of infectious pathology buried within those plopping lumps of academic detritus, not to mention those climate threatening methane emissions that must invariably accompany each and every IPCC report as it exits the feculent back door of the political pseudoscience digestive system. Bill you are a poet though you may not know it.

March 28, 2023 11:55 am

We’ve spent trillions and trillions of dollars and it hasn’t made a difference. It hasn’t made a difference because “climate change” isn’t driven by human “carbon” emissions. “Climate change” isn’t a real problem, either.

rovingbroker
March 28, 2023 12:07 pm


Produced by thousands of scientists who synthesized the work of tens of thousands of their peers over the last decade,

From Bing operating in AI mode …

To synthesize something is to combine different things or elements to form a new, complex, or unified product or entity. This can be done by chemical or biological reactions. Synthesize is the opposite of analyze.

(my bold)

Scissor
Reply to  rovingbroker
March 28, 2023 2:56 pm

Or to make up. The grand narrative was made up of numerous false narratives.

Bob
March 28, 2023 12:09 pm

Bill McKibben, I don’t know what to say. He is an embarrassment.

Reply to  Bob
March 29, 2023 5:32 am

He and his admirers do not know that!!

March 28, 2023 12:19 pm

Poor Bill McK. He got taken out of action by Michael Moore in his scathing toppling of renewables in Planet of the Humans. He’s definitely looking like he’s in the Last Act.

William Capron
March 28, 2023 12:22 pm

If the IPCC wants to make more than a “gentle plop” in the world with their apocalyptic but widely ignored pronouncements, they need to start getting some predictions right.

Yeah, like that’s going to happen!

Reply to  William Capron
March 29, 2023 5:31 am

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen!”

No, it’s not going to happen. All their alarmist claims about the Earth’s weather have already been disproven by the historical records. All the metrics are down, not up, as they claim.

The only hope for the Climate Change Alarmist narrative is for the temperatures to rise and continue to rise beyond the 2016 highpoint.

If temperatures continue to cool, then the climate alarmists have no arguments left. They can make up Science Fiction stories about what would happen if it continued to warm, but if it’s not warming, then it’s science fiction. So their only hope to continue the narrative is for the temperatures to rise. They are on shaky ground right now.

March 28, 2023 12:25 pm

Blaming the Chinese and Russians for AGW looks like another excuse for baiting those two into some kind of kinetic conflict. If the foreigners don’t fall in line with the narrative they must be guilty of crimes against humanity and subdued by the new, renewable electricity weapons of war. With Christine Warmuth at the helm, at least the war to come won’t be a hot one. https://nailheadtom.blogspot.com/2022/02/an-electric-army.html

Reply to  nailheadtom
March 28, 2023 2:06 pm

Cripes. You might as well hire a janitor to run your atomic energy research program.

roaddog
Reply to  AGW is Not Science
March 31, 2023 4:53 am

I’m certain Biden has already done that.

Neo
March 28, 2023 12:37 pm

You know, all those private jets at Davos don’t really instill confidence in our “leaders”.
John Kerry saying they are buying carbon offsets (AKA climate indulgences) doesn’t help.
The Obamas buying a mansion on Martha’s vineyard doesn’t make you believe the oceans are endangering anything.

The truth be known, those making the biggest noises aren’t living up to the hype.

China is building coal plants as fast as they can. India is a bit slower. Russia merely plays the game.
Meanwhile, Europe and the U.S. are destroying themselves in a quixotic quest.

Reply to  Neo
March 28, 2023 12:50 pm

Obama wants to live amongst the elites of Woke-achusetts. At least Jimmy Carter went back to the peanut farm.

Rud Istvan
Reply to  Joseph Zorzin
March 28, 2023 1:38 pm

Obama cannot go back to Chicago. Crime and taxes are killers there now.

Bryan A
Reply to  Rud Istvan
March 28, 2023 7:12 pm

That’s because when Don Obama left Chicago all the other bosses scrambled to get a piece of his action.

Marty
March 28, 2023 12:44 pm

“McKibben believes the reason the IPCC’s increasingly frantic climate warning are being ignored is people don’t believe they can make a difference.”

Maybe that is the reason. But it might also be that people recognize BS when they see it.

Reply to  Marty
March 28, 2023 12:51 pm

nailed it!

Reply to  Marty
March 28, 2023 1:45 pm

and if they want to scare people, as usual, they should wait until a summer heat wave- not in March- here in Wokachusetts, the 2nd half of winter has been nasty- and this March very nasty, dam cold and wet and snowy the entire month- everybody is praying for some hot, dry weather so they aren’t going to “panic” as Dr. Greta Thunberg wants over some trivial warming- since McKibben is nearby in VT, you’d think he’s understand that- if he was in touch with normal people instead of egg heads like himself

Reply to  Marty
March 28, 2023 2:07 pm

Try “C. All of the above.”

1 2 3