The Week That Was: 2024-01-13 (January 13, 2024)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” – H. L. Mencken [H/t Tony Heller]
Number of the Week: 1,142 China; 282 India; 210 US
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: Discussed below are issues such as the poor quality of the data, and in some cases absence of data that went into proclamations by NOAA, NASA, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Services that 2023 was the hottest year on record. One focus is Antarctica, where no long-term data records exist. Further, flaws to the IEA report claiming that China is leading the world in renewable energy are presented. The 2023 contributions by members of SEPP towards furthering our understanding of the greenhouse effect and climate change are reviewed. Willie Soon’s discussion on hydrocarbons that are not derived from fossils is presented. And EPA’s latest efforts to control the US oil and gas industry are discussed.
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Hot Nothing: Over the past few weeks NOAA, NASA, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service have claimed that 2023 was the hottest year ever. Before discussing such claims, it is useful to review the reliability of the entities responsible for maintaining climate records. The US was once considered the gold standard for reporting temperatures nationwide and it has records dating back to about 1880, with longer records in specific locations.
Data analyst Tony Heller reports on the data for several locations in Iowa and one in Illinois. He shows how NOAA adjusted the data for Boone, Iowa, with data dating back to about 1905 to turn a slight cooling trend to slight warming trend. For Audubon, Iowa, with data dating back to 1893, similar adjustments were made resulting with older temperatures being cooled by as much as 3.35F and recent temperatures warmed by as much as 0.83F. For Algona, Iowa, with records dating from 1861, the distortion was even worse.
There is no issue that the globe has warmed somewhat since the beginning of the Industrial Age. The issue is what is the cause? Anti-industrialization advocates insist that carbon dioxide emissions from the use of fossil fuels (hydrocarbons) are the primary cause. However, their use of distorted data records undermines their credibility. See links under Measurement Issues – Surface.
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Precise Temperatures But No Thermometers? Last week, Roy Spencer and John Christy reported that:
“And, as calendar year values go, 2023 was the warmest of the 45-year record with an average of +0.51 °C (+0.92 °F) outdoing 2016 which finished that year at +0.39 °C (+0.70 °F). This calendar year was also warmer than any other 12-month period which before 2023 was Dec 2015 to Nov 2016 at +0.41 °C (+0.73 °F). Because early 2023 was much cooler than now, we can expect further 12-month records over the next few months.”
They also wrote:
“This major warm El Niño episode, a periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean waters, remains strong and thus is keeping the atmosphere very warm as well. The tropical average temperature anomaly of +1.08 °C is the warmest December in the tropics in the 45-year satellite record. A value of 1.15°C in Feb 1998 still holds the record as the warmest tropical anomaly, but since El Niños often peak around Feb, there is a good chance that a new tropical record will be set in 2024. See NOAA’s excellent updates here. https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/lanina/enso_evolution-statusfcsts-web.pdf.
It is tempting to think that the global temperature peaked in October at +0.93 °C and that it is now on the decline, but changes of a tenth of a degree are very common and changes of more than 0.20 °C happen every few months. So, thinking we have reached the peak warming of this El Niño is not a good bet to make at this point.”
Statistically, 2016 slightly beats out 1998 as the second warmest year over the past 45 years according to the only comprehensive estimates of global temperatures. As Spencer and Christy further wrote:
“As noted above, the calendar year anomaly of +0.51 °C (+0.92°F) represents the warmest of the past 45 years as monitored by microwave sensors on polar-orbiting satellites. The global tropospheric temperature trend starting in 1979 is +0.14 °C per decade which is influenced by many factors operating on differing time scales. If we remove the influence of the early volcanic cooling episodes (El Chichon 1982, Mt. Pinatubo 1991) the background climate-trend is about +0.1 °C per decade and could represent the warming effect of the extra greenhouse gases that are being added to the atmosphere as human development progresses (see Christy and McNider 2017 for details of this type of analysis).
With temperatures so warm at the present, it is very likely 2024 will be well above average too, even though NOAA’s various forecasting tools suggest this El Niño will end mid-year.”
“A note about the global temperature trend. For several years, the trend has been extremely close to +0.135 °C/decade. This past July, the threshold of 0.135 was crossed at +0.1352°C/decade. The global trend is now +0.14 °C/decade by rounding up.”
The greenhouse effect occurs in the atmosphere, and the atmosphere has been warming over the past 45 years at a rate of +0.14 °C/decade, or 0.25 °F every ten years from all causes including changing intensity of the sun. Humans cannot sense this increase. It is tiny compared to the warming that took Earth out of the last Ice Age glaciation and the extent Earth is expected to cool during the next Ice Age glaciation.
The policies of the UN, the EU, and the US blame carbon dioxide for the small warming over the past 45 years and greatly exaggerate the number. The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, NOAA, and NASA reported that 2023 was the hottest year on record. All the government reporting organizations ignore the satellite data.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service had a graph titled “Global Surface Temperature: Increase above Pre-Industrial Level (1850-1900” with “temperature data” going back to 1850. Where around the globe were the thermometers in 1850? There were very few systematic recordings, predominantly in Europe and part of the US and a few scattered in Europeanized cities elsewhere. One cannot possibly accurately calculate global temperature data from a few points scattered around the globe, largely in urban areas.
NOAA issued its “Annual 2023 Global Climate Report” which also omitted atmospheric temperature trends. Interestingly, although the atmospheric temperature trend data shows 1998 was about equal to 2016, the NOAA report does not rank 1998 as one of the ten top warmest years, even though 2016 is ranked as the second warmest year.
NOAA shows calculations for Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Antarctica to one-hundredth of a degree C. Total nonsense! NOAA shows a 1910–2023 trend for Antarctica of +0.05°C (+0.09°F) per decade and a trend for 1982–2023 +0.02°C (+0.04°F) per decade. But there were few thermometers in any of these areas in 1910 and only two permanent stations in Antarctica in 1982. Comprehensive satellite data dates to 1979 but NOAA ignores these.
Not to be outdone, NASA released a report showing strong surface warming (equal to or greater than 4C) in the Antarctic Circle compared to the 1951-1980 average. Where were the thermometers inside the Antarctic Circle in 1951? The failure of these government organizations to report that large sections of the globe had no systematic temperature measurements in 1951 is atrocious, Antarctica is probably the worst example.
According to Wikipedia, the first Antarctic bases were established beginning with Ridley Beach in 1898 on the Adare Peninsula (71 degrees 41 minutes South latitude.). The Antarctic Circle is 66 degrees 33 minutes South latitude, so Ridley Beach was inside the Antarctic Circle, but it was quickly abandoned. Most early research stations were soon abandoned or were outside the Antarctic Circle. For example, Orcardas research station was established in 1903 on Laurie Island, which is outside the Antarctic Circle at 60 degrees 43 minutes South latitude.
It was not until 1957 when the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station (elevation 9301 feet, 2835 m) and Vostok Station at 78 degrees, 27 minutes South (elevation 11,444 ft., 3,488 m) that permanent stations were established inside the Antarctic Circle. Vostok station has a mean annual temperature of minus 55.2°C (-67.4°F) and recorded a low temperature of minus 89.2°C (-128.6°F). It was not until a French Italian research station, Concordia Station, at 75 degrees 5 minutes South latitude (10,607 ft, 3,288 m) opened in 2005 that a third all year facility was built on the Antarctic Plateau.
For NASA and other government organizations to show a dramatic warming of 4°C where there is no systematic record is absurd. See links under Defending the Orthodoxy, https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2023/december2024/GTR_202312DEC_v1.pdf for atmospheric temperature trends and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_stations_in_Antarctica for Research stations in Antarctica.
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Promoting Sun Power: Last week, TWTW discussed a comprehensive report by Rupert Darwall on “The Folly of Climate Leadership.” Wind and solar are not providing reliable, affordable electricity in the UK. As the UK implements its policies promoting alternative energy, the UK economy is stagnating.
The once respected International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that China is now taking the lead on Climate Leadership by building solar PV. The Executive summary of the EIA report begins with:
“2023 saw a step change in renewable capacity additions, driven by China’s solar PV market.
Global annual renewable capacity additions increased by almost 50% to nearly 510 gigawatts (GW) in 2023, the fastest growth rate in the past two decades. This is the 22nd year in a row that renewable capacity additions set a new record. While the increases in renewable capacity in Europe, the United States and Brazil hit all-time highs, China’s acceleration was extraordinary. In 2023, China commissioned as much solar PV as the entire world did in 2022, while its wind additions also grew by 66% year-on-year. Globally, solar PV alone accounted for three-quarters of renewable capacity additions worldwide.
Achieving the COP28 target of tripling global renewable capacity by 2030 hinges on policy implementation.
Prior to the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai, the International Energy Agency (IEA) urged governments to support five pillars for action by 2030, among them the goal of tripling global renewable power capacity. Several of the IEA priorities were reflected in the Global Stocktake text agreed by the 198 governments at COP28, including the goals of tripling renewables and doubling the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements every year to 2030. Tripling global renewable capacity in the power sector from 2022 levels by 2030 would take it above 11,000 GW, in line with IEA’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) Scenario.
Under existing policies and market conditions, global renewable capacity is forecast to reach 7,300 GW by 2028. This growth trajectory would see global capacity increase to 2.5 times its current level by 2030, falling short of the tripling goal. Governments can close the gap to reach over 11,000 GW by 2030 by overcoming current challenges and implementing existing policies more quickly. These challenges fall into four main categories and differ by country: 1) policy uncertainties and delayed policy responses to the new macroeconomic environment; 2) insufficient investment in grid infrastructure preventing faster expansion of renewables; 3) cumbersome administrative barriers and permitting procedures and social acceptance issues; 4) insufficient financing in emerging and developing economies. This report’s accelerated case shows that addressing those challenges can lead to almost 21% higher growth of renewables, pushing the world towards being on track to meet the global tripling pledge.”
The report has all the usual tricks one expects from promoters. It discusses theoretical capacity, not operating capacity – as if the sun does not set in the evening and shines around the world at midnight. It promotes the false concept at COP28 that unreliable energy is needed to avoid a mythical crisis. And it fails to address the simple fact that China has more coal-fired power plants than any country in the world and is opening new ones at a rate of about 2 per week. See links under Defending the Orthodoxy and https://globalenergymonitor.org/press-release/chinas-coal-power-spree-could-see-over-300-coal-plants-added-before-emissions-peak/ for China’s plans for building new coal-fired power plants.
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Contributions by SEPP Members: In 2023 members of SEPP made contributions towards furthering our understanding of the greenhouse effect and climate change. Willie Soon and the CERES group, joined by David Legates, demonstrated the importance of the Sun in changing climate and the weaknesses of the IPCC in dismissing the most important cause of climate change. For example, at the 15th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) by The Heartland Institute, Soon presented the phases of climate change: constant temperature (1870s to 1920s); global warming (1930s to 1940s); global cooling (1940s to 1970s); and global warming again (1980s to present). Soon discusses the problems of surface instruments, particularly the Urban Heat Island effect, which he presents in some detail.
The problem with strictly rural temperatures is the lack of data. The team developed a rural Northern Hemisphere times series for four regions: US; Arctic; Ireland; and China. There simply is not enough data for the Southern Hemisphere and only about 10 to 15 percent of the total data for the Northern Hemisphere is used.
These data show a cyclical warming – warming, cooling, warming, cooling, etc. Interestingly, sea surface temperature estimates do not agree with the IPCC’s conclusions of a dangerous global warming. Soon goes into the homogenization adjustments on surface data and finds several problems: 1) there is no consistency to the adjustments; 2) there is a “urban blending” problem (as cities become more urban). Without consistency in adjustments and consistent urbanization, the resulting adjustments are highly questionable.
Soon goes into solar variability that may better explain the warming and cooling cycles than non-cyclical carbon dioxide (CO2). But the IPCC ignores climate variability, including using the ridiculous 2,000-year hockey-stick in its latest Summary for Policymakers (AR-6, 2021).
At the same conference Howard Hayden presented the self-contradictions in the IPCC reports on Earth’s infrared radiation emitted to space. He showed that the IPCC does not understand the greenhouse effect and is incapable of accurately forecasting (predicting) what the increase in temperatures from increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide may be.
Hayden discussed a blunder by the IPCC, where they forgot the Stefan-Boltzmann law [of total radiation emitted by the surface of an object]. IPCC’s most probable increase in temperatures of three degrees Celsius, (due to a doubling of CO2) would result in an increase in surface radiation of 16.7 W/m2. However, the “radiative forcing (due to a doubling of CO2) is a mere 3.7 W/m2 “radiative forcing” due to a doubling of CO2. The mismatch between 3.7 and 16.7 is obvious! Hayden then presents some of the bizarre projections of the IPCC models that account for radiative forcing from all causes. Every single one results in surface radiation that far exceeds the ability of radiative forcing to contain it – for the simple reason that all models predict too much surface temperature rise.
Hayden concluded with a take-home message: The IPCC does not apply the Stefan-Boltzmann law to their results, therefore everyone else must do so. If they do, then they should compare the results to those that the IPCC calculates, and they will understand how the IPCC fools themselves as well as the public.
Tom Sheahen discussed that in physics Data (Physical Evidence) Trumps Theory. He asserted a basic rule in physical sciences: “Any Theory must conform to data, or it will be dismissed.” Further, “Data, not theory, is the cornerstone of the Scientific Method.” Sheahen recalls the importance of data (from both experiment and observation) through the development of the Law of Inertia, and later in correcting Classical (Newtonian) Mechanics by Relativity, including seeing gravity as curvature of space-time. We must realize that no theory is ever final. It is always subject to future corrections, because new data may show discrepancies in regions not anticipated by old theory. The new theory should encompass the old theory.
Sheahen went into recent incorrect postulates in science, such as acceptance of limits of economic growth models which become meaningless if carried too far forward. Unfortunately, government entities including the UN IPCC do not understand such limitations. Sheahen discusses the deficiencies of global climate models used by the UN IPCC. These programs require ignoring physical evidence that contradicts the models. Sheahen concludes with what is necessary to restore the Scientific Method: “Always remember the supremacy of data over theory.”
Ken Haapala brought up global climate modeling pioneer Tim Palmer’s book The Primacy of Doubt. In the chapter discussing Chaos, Palmer brings up the nineteenth century race to find a formula to calculate a multi-body system (three or more bodies) using gravity to explain planetary motion. The French physicist and mathematician Henri Poincaré discovered that no such formula exists.
This is one more example of what the renown physicist Richard Feynman stated when he wrote that applying rigorous mathematics to an imperfectly understood concept may produce absurd results. Unfortunately, in modeling, Tim Palmer and other modelers use an assumption on increasing water vapor content in the atmosphere that over fifty years of weather balloon observations are demonstrating to be wrong. See links in the March 4, 2023, https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2023/TWTW%203-4-23.pdf and the March 11, 2023, https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2023/TWTW%203-11-23.pdf TWTWs.
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Non-Fossil Hydrocarbons: In December 2023, CERES-Science co-founder, Dr. Willie Soon, was invited to talk to Tucker Carlson about energy policy, climate change and approaches to science. During the talk Soon stated that some fuels are incorrectly called fossil fuels in that they do not come from fossils. There should be no issue that plants produce methane such as marsh gas and animals produce methane in the digestive tracks. Soon pointed out that:
“there is considerable evidence that this is not the only way that hydrocarbons can be produced:
For example, in a 2009 paper in Nature Geoscience, Kolesnikov and colleagues showed that under very high pressures and temperatures, methane gas can be converted into short-chained hydrocarbons (https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo591).
Another example they discussed was the fact that liquid methane and small-chained hydrocarbons are found in Saturn’s moon, Titan – see Mastrogiuseppe and colleagues (2019), Nature Astronomy; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0714-2; Hayes (2016). Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-060115-012247.
Meanwhile, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have also been found in Titan’s atmosphere – see Zhao and colleagues (2018), Nature Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-018-0585-y.
They also mentioned that multiple chlorinated hydrocarbons have been identified on Mars by the Curiosity rover – see Freissinet and colleagues (2015), Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JE004737.
Finally, several studies have suggested that PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) can also be formed in interstellar space (i.e., deep space between stars). E.g., Dorian S. N. Parker and colleagues (2011), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1113827108.
But what does all of this mean? The post explains:
From Dr. Soon’s perspective, it means we should be careful not to assume all of the hydrocarbons on Earth are “fossil fuels”. We do not yet know what percentage of the Earth’s hydrocarbons were formed from biological fossils and what percentage were formed from non-biological (“abiogenic”) processes.
However, it should be stressed that this does not necessarily mean that our accessible hydrocarbon reserves are limitless. As Dr. Soon pointed out the conditions Kolesnikov and colleagues (2009) showed could produce hydrocarbons abiogenically occur very deep underground – at least 50-100 miles. In contrast, the deepest oil or gas wells drilled so far have only been 6 to 8 miles deep.
Dr. Soon also pointed out that current drills are not able to extract 100% of the oil and gas in the reserves – as the oil or gas is extracted, the pressure required to extract more becomes greater until it eventually becomes impractical to remove (with current technology, including fracking).
So, in terms of practical gas, oil and coal exploration, arguably it does not make much difference how the hydrocarbons in the known reserves were produced. Moreover, most coal, oil and gas companies spend considerable financial resources in the exploration of new reserves. This shows that from an economic perspective, the companies that are most heavily invested in the existing reserves are actively seeking new potential sites to drill.
On the other hand, as Dr. Soon later discussed, the widespread debates over ‘limited resources’ and ‘renewable energies’ are often non-scientific and unrealistic.”
The link to the interview has a link to slides presented by Soon. Of particular interest is the “Differences between the IPCC’s approach and that of science” – the scientific method. TWTW has long understood that not all hydrocarbons are from fossil fuels but has continued to use the term because it is so common in the general literature. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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On the March: Nothing demonstrated the contempt the EPA has for physical science and the scientific method more clearly than EPA’s declaration that carbon dioxide is a pollutant. The finding was based on forecasts (predictions) from global climate models that are easily contradicted and discredited. Earth is not warming dangerously and is well within natural variability. Carbon dioxide is critical for photosynthesis, a building block for complex life on Earth.
Now, EPA has a press release stating: “Biden-Harris Administration Announces Proposed Rule to Reduce Wasteful Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Sector to Drive Innovation and Protect Communities.” Part of the opening paragraph states:
“Working in tandem with unprecedented funding secured by President Biden under the Inflation Reduction Act and recently finalized technology standards for the industry issued in December 2023, the proposed Waste Emissions Charge encourages the early deployment of available technologies and best practices to reduce methane emissions and other harmful air pollutants before the new standards take effect.”
The so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” is becoming one of the most economically destructive Acts ever passed by Congress with no purpose. As van Wijngaarden and Happer demonstrate, the greenhouse effect of methane on temperatures in today’s atmosphere is miniscule. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer, and EPA and other Regulators on the March.
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Number of the Week: 1,142 China; 282 India; 210 US: Statista, December 6, 2023, had a table showing the “Countries and territories with the largest number of operational coal power plants worldwide as of July 2023.” Amazing that the IEA failed to check the facts. See https://www.statista.com/statistics/859266/number-of-coal-power-plants-by-country/#:~:text=China%20has%20the%20greatest%20number,plants%20on%20the%20Chinese%20Mainland.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
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:
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:
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 – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W. A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
#ECS in the real world: Bates 2016
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
Link to paper: Estimating climate sensitivity using two-zone energy balance models.
By J. Ray Bates, Earth and Space Science, May 17, 2016
From the Abstract: “Recently, attempts have been made to refine the EfCS approach by using two-zone (tropical/extratropical) EBMs. When applied using satellite radiation data, these give low and tightly constrained EfCS values, in the neighborhood of 1°C.”
New Study Finds No Evidence Of A CO2-Driven Warming Signal In 60 Years Of IR Flux Data
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Jan 11, 2024
Greenhouse Gas Theories and Observed Radiative Properties of the Earth’s Atmosphere
By Ferenc Miskolczi, Science of Climate Change, Accepted, July8, 2023
From the abstract: “The greenhouse effect predicted by the Arrhenius greenhouse theory is inconsistent with the existence of this radiative equilibrium. Hence, the CO2 greenhouse effect as used in the current global warming hypothesis is impossible.”
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Dr. Willie Soon’s interview by Tucker Carlson (December 2023)
By Staff, CERES-Science, Jan 10, 2024
Link to one paper: Methane-derived hydrocarbons produced under upper-mantle conditions.
By Anton Kolesnikov, et al. Nature Geoscience, July 26, 2009
If fossil fuels come from fossils, why have scientists found them on one of Saturn’s moons?
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Jan 11, 2024
Defending the Orthodoxy
Earth saw hottest year on record in 2023, may surpass key warming threshold by February.
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Jan 5, 2024
Link to press release: Copernicus: 2023 is the hottest year on record, with global temperatures close to the 1.5°C limit
Press Release by Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2024
NOAA: 2023 was warmest year on record by far.
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Jan 12, 2024
Link to: Annual 2023 Global Climate Report
By Staff, NOAA National Centers for Environmental information, January 2024
NASA, NOAA to Announce 2023 Global Temperatures, Climate Conditions
By Abbey A. Donaldson, NASA, Jan 8, 2024 [H/t William Readdy]
Renewables 2023: Analysis and forecasts to 2028
By Staff, IEA, January 2024
Renewable energy grows at fastest rate in decades: IEA
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Jan 11, 2024
Link to report: Massive expansion of renewable power opens door to achieving global tripling goal set at COP28.
Press Release, IEA, Jan 11, 2024
“World added 50% more renewable capacity in 2023 than in 2022 and next 5 years will see fastest growth yet, but lack of financing for emerging and developing economies is key issue.”
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Climate change behind sharp drop in snowpack since 1980s
Study finds steepest drops in areas of Northern Hemisphere reliant on snow for water.
Press Release, Dartmouth College, Jan 10, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: Evidence of human influence on Northern Hemisphere snow loss
By Alexander R. Gottlieb & Justin S. Mankin, Nature, Jan 10, 2024
“Now, a new Dartmouth study cuts through the uncertainty in these observations and provides evidence that seasonal snowpacks throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere have indeed shrunk significantly over the past 40 years due to human-driven climate change.”
[SEPP Comment: No! Changing climate is not evidence of human-driven! Climate has been changing for hundreds of millions of years and regional change is always occurring.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
A new year’s resolution
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
Link to paper: Revisiting causality using stochastics: 2. Applications
By Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Proceedings of the Royal Society A, May 25, 2023
Link to simplified paper: On Hens, Eggs, Temperatures and CO2: Causal Links in Earth’s Atmosphere
By Demetris Koutsoyiannis Sci, Sep 13, 2023
If we cannot agree on scientific facts, solutions to complex challenges will elude us.
By Anthony J. Sadar, The Washington Times, Jan 11, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Discusses “post normal science.”]
A startling number of wildfires
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
Energy and Environmental Review: January 8, 2024
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, Jan 8, 2023
After Paris!
Political Realism from a Climate Alarmist (the beginning of the end?)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Jan 9, 2024
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
CO2 emissions that replenish plants ‘unfairly demonized’ by climate alarmists, experts say
‘CO2 has been unfairly demonized because it is actually plant food in its atmospheric form, and it is the consequence of generating carbon-based energy, which unquestionably improves lives around the world.’
By Calvin Freiburger, LifeSite, Jan 8, 2024
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Advocates recoil as former state oil exec named COP29 president.
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Jan 8, 2024
France dumps Renewables Target, goes back to Nuclear instead, risking Global Pariah Status
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Jan 10, 2024
“France is saving Germany and others from their own exorbitant experiments. Who will save Australia?”
Lack of commitment threatens EU climate targets.
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 11, 2024
“And if the emission savings cannot be made in the power sector, then where else? Just as in the UK, Germans and others are up in arms about being forced to install heat pumps and buy EVs.
As for European industry, it is already becoming uncompetitive thanks to high energy costs. Any further carbon mandates and taxes will simply drive yet more business abroad.
But at least that will cut a few emissions!”
The White House’s Infrastructure Goals Risk Disruption – By the White House
By Michael Ireland & Michael Johnson , Michael Philipps, Real Clear Energy, Jan 8, 2024
Seeking a Common Ground
‘Science’ in Service of the Agenda
By Robert Malone, Brownstone Institute, Jan 9, 2024
Q&A: Does noisy construction of offshore wind farms disturb marine animals?
By Emily Nunez, University of Maryland, Phys.Org, Jan 9, 2024
“Offshore wind farms can be an energy boon, but does their noisy construction bother marine animals? UMD’s Arthur N. Popper, who studies underwater sounds and their ecological impacts, weighs in.”
‘Considering that this may not protect animals—or that the animals may not need protection—we argued that we should learn more about how fishes deal with sounds and then design devices to specifically protect them. The point we’re getting at is that the right questions have not been asked.’”
[SEPP Comment: The real question is: Does the operation of offshore wind disturb marine mammals? Wind turbines always introduce low-frequency vibrations into their environment; how can this not disturb communications among whales and dolphins?]
Outbreaks of insects and the severity of subsequent forest fires
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
From the CO2Science Archive
“Meigs et al. report that ‘in contrast to common assumptions of positive feedbacks, we find that insects generally reduce the severity of subsequent wildfires,’ noting that ‘specific effects vary with insect type and timing,’ but that ‘both insects decrease the abundance of live vegetation susceptible to wildfire at multiple time lags,’ so that ‘by dampening subsequent burn severity, native insects could buffer rather than exacerbate fire regime changes expected due to land use and climate change.’” [Emphasis in original]
Science, Policy, and Evidence
The Lowdown on ESG Governance: Insights and Best Practices
By Robby Sundberg, Real Clear Energy, Jan 11, 2024
Data Tampering At Boone, Iowa
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 12, 2024
Five Degrees Of Data Tampering At Algona, Iowa
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 12, 2024
Four Degrees Of Data Tampering At Audubon, Iowa
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 12, 2024
Improving The Data At Decatur, Illinois
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 12, 2024
The Greatest Scientific Fraud Of All Time — Part XXXI
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Jan 7, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Following up on Tony Heller disputing NOAA surface record, above.]
The ghost of weather stations past
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
“So, we offer another challenge to the more honest and rigorous alarmists out there. Please consider whether the precise numbers respecting world temperature 150 years ago, or even today, are remotely credible. And please also consider the implications if they’re not for what we know and how to discuss it.”
Germany’s Soaking Wet Drought…Helmholtz Drought Monitor Insists Drought Persists
The “climate change-induced drought” in January 2024
By Frank Bosse, Via P Gosselin, Not Tricks Zone, Jan 10, 2024
Changing Weather
IPCC Admit Extreme Weather Is Not Getting Worse
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 11, 2024
“In short:
Hot days are becoming more frequent, but are offset by fewer cold days
There is no evidence that floods are getting worse.
The only evidence of increasing droughts due to “human-induced” climate change is in SW South America.
No evidence that Tropical Cyclones are more frequent or stronger.
No evidence that Extratropical Cyclones are more frequent of stronger.”
Big temperature spike may lead to small temperature rise
By David Wojick, CFACT, Jan 8, 2024
With more graphics: 2024 Oceanic Climate Warming At Work
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Jan 8, 2024
Thames Valley Floods Of The Past
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 9, 2024
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Chasing the light: Study finds new clues about warming in the Arctic.
By Kenny Vigil, Sandia National Laboratories, Jan 11, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: Broadband radiometric measurements from GPS satellites reveal summertime Arctic Ocean Albedo decreases more rapidly than sea ice recedes
By Philip Dreike, et al., Nature, Scientific Reports, Aug 23, 2023
The article begins: “The Arctic, Earth’s icy crown, is experiencing a climate crisis like no other. It’s heating up at a furious pace—four times faster than the rest of our planet.”
The abstract of the paper states: “The measurements were made with previously unpublished pixelated radiometers on Global Positioning System satellites from 2014 to 2019.”
[SEPP Comment: Five years of data are not sufficient for any conclusions, particularly since Arctic sea ice has expanded since 2019]
The Embarrassing Pause In Arctic Sea Ice Loss Has Lasted 17 Years, Defying IPCC, NSIDC Predictions
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Jan 8, 2024
Link to paper: Time Trend of the Arctic Sea Ice Extent: Since 2007 no significant decline has been observed
By Allan Astrup Jensen, Nordic Institute of Product Sustainability, Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology, Denmark, Science of Climate Change, Accepted Nov 2, 2023
No, Arctic Sea Ice Isn’t Shrinking
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Jan 10, 2024
Deviations Happen
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 12, 2024
Climate Change Weekly #493: The Antarctic Ice Shelf Is More Stable than Climate Alarmists Assert
By H. Sterling Burnett, Environment & Climate News, Jan 11, 2024
Changing Earth
Slowly but surely: Exposure of communities and infrastructure to subsidence on the US east coast
By Leonard O Ohenhen, et al., PNAS Nexus, Jan 1, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Subsidence from ground water extraction is a big problem on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Confusing subsidence with “Climate Change sea rise” makes it more difficult to focus on the problem.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
A heatwave in Antarctica totally blew the minds of scientists. They set out to decipher it – and here are the results
By Dana M Bergstrom, The Conversation, Jan 9, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
“The spike included a new all-time temperature high of -9.4°C (15.1°F) on March 18 near Antarctica’s Concordia Research Station.”
“This article has been amended to correct an error in converting a 40°C temperature difference from Celsius to Fahrenheit.”
[SEPP Comment: An error of 40 degrees on the Celsius scale would be an error of 72 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. Concordia Station is the third permanent, all-year research station on the Antarctic Plateau besides Vostok Station (Russian – 1957) and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station (US – 1957). The French-Italian facility opened in 2005.]
That was the year that will have been
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
Storm Henk Did Not Bring Unusually Excessive Rainfall
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 10, 2024
St Neots Floods–Then and Now
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 8, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Protest
Why German Farmers Are Protesting: They Refuse To Be The Government’s Cash Cow
By P Gosselin, No Tricks ‘Zone, Jan 9, 2024
Net Zero uproar in Germany — mass Farmer protests spread to other workers and other countries
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Jan 13, 2024
[SEPP Comment: US media ignoring major protesting in Germany including nationwide roadblocks?]
Expanding the Orthodoxy
Fake News Danger Becomes Top Davos Worry in Year of Elections
By Jana Randow, Bloomberg, No date
[SEPP Comment: Misinformation and disinformation is the Top Risk over the next 2 years. Will the leaders of Davos admit that Davos is a major source of this risk?]
Questioning European Green
Germany To Rely On Coal To Avoid Blackouts
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 12, 2024
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Feathers from deceased birds help scientists understand new threat to avian populations
Press Release, University of Florida, Jan 5, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: The geographic extent of bird populations affected by renewable-energy development
By Hannah B. Vander Zanden, et al. Conservation Biology, Jan 5, 2024
Are ‘Green’ Agendas Carrying Governors to Political Cliffs?
By Gordon Tomb, CO2 Coalition, Jan 3, 2024
“The impossibility of controlling Earth’s most complex system, the climate, may be equaled only by that of predicting the luck of a particular individual in the world’s most perplexing unnatural system: politics.”
[SEPP Comment: More importantly are green agendas carrying the citizens of their states to economic cliffs?]
Another demonstration
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
“As the ‘energy transition’ thunders forward, or staggers, Parker Gallant proposes a real-world experiment of considerable interest. It developed out of his habit of keeping a beady eye on power generation in the Canadian province of Ontario, including that on December 5 the IESO website, with commendable transparency, revealed that at the peak demand hour (‘Hour 18’ to insiders, 5 to 6 pm to the rest of us) ‘Those IWT (industrial wind turbines) were barely operating and only generated 86 MWh a miserly 1.7% of their rated capacity. Solar generation was zero at that hour!’”
Funding Issues
The Cost Of The Climate Cabal
By I & I Editorial Board, Jan 11, 2024
The Political Games Continue
Money, money, money: Green Tory MPs are looking to board the green gravy train
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 11, 2024
“Tory MPs are already war-gaming what follows the election. Defeat seems certain, but then what? There will be an almighty tussle in which up to 200 colleagues scramble for a handful of the same sort of jobs: consultancies, directorships and advisory gigs. In these Tory Hunger Games, the clever thing to do is to start taking the best jobs now.”
“Only politics can turn someone without any formal qualifications into a professor and consultant.”
Litigation Issues
GAO Files Suit Against NY OAG Over Withheld ‘Patient Zero’ Climate Litigation Emails
Press Release, Government Accountability & Oversight, Jan 10, 2024
Court deals blow to Biden dishwasher efficiency rule — but stops short of tossing it
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Jan 9, 2024
“The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined the Biden administration’s rule did not adequately consider appliance performance or other alternatives to its action.
It called the rule ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and sent it back to the Energy Department (DOE) to address these issues.”
[SEPP Comment: The Department of Energy is determined to force energy efficiency in appliances, no matter how much it costs consumers.]
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Biden Admin Unveils ‘Natural Gas Tax’ Proposal
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Jan 12, 2024
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
December 2023 CfD Subsidies
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 11, 2024
“Market prices have ranged from £142/MWh at the start of the month when wind power was at a minimum, to £6/MWh during Storm Gerrit.
If this does not show the worthlessness of wind power, I don’t know what does! Its value is minimal when the wind blows; it only has any real value when the wind does not blow!
But because of subsidies, wind farms rake in the money whether the wind blows or not; their price is guaranteed. It is dispatchable generators, such as gas and nuclear, which have to pay for this market volatility.”
EPA and other Regulators on the March
EPA proposes new rules for methane emission fees
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Jan 12, 2024
Press Release, EPA, Jan 12m 2024
Why the U.S. Senate Must Reject Joe Goffman for the EPA
By Chris Horner, Real Clear Energy, Jan 10, 2024
Energy Issues – Non-US
Climate Change Committee boss “should have been fired”
Press Release, Net Zero Watch, Jan 11, 2024
“Campaign group Net Zero Watch has welcomed the resignation of Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) but says he should have been fired years ago.
Stark controversially oversaw the preparation of the Net Zero report, which was the economic and scientific justification for the complete decarbonisation of the economy but was subsequently shown to have been a deception.”
Andrew Orlowski: Chris Skidmore and the scourge of the Tory eco-zealots
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 11, 2024
“Former UK cabinet minister Chris Skidmore has resigned his seat several months before a likely General Election. Since Zac Goldsmith was ousted from the Commons in 2019, Skidmore has been the most influential and effective environmentalist in Westminster. As an energy minister under Theresa May, he signed into law one of the most radical pieces of legislation that parliament has ever passed, committing the UK to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050, without any prior public debate.”
RIP 8.5
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
Link to: Standardized Climate Scenario Exercise – draft for consultation
By Staff, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Canada, Oct 16, 2023
“In the category of regulatory capture not by vested interests but by zealots, we have to include the Ontario Energy Board, which instead of making sure the citizens of Ontario have reliable affordable energy is totally kooky on coercive and counterproductive measures to force them to live in the Green New Deal fantasy world at least on paper.”
Energy Issues — US
A Federal Power Grid Would be Everyone’s Worst Nightmare
By Gordon Tomb, CO2 Coalition, Jan 12, 2024
“Green” Weaponization in Missouri: Ameren vs. Ratepayers, Taxpayers
By Mark Krebs, Master Resource, Jan 11, 2024
“The moral of the story is that nearly 80% of U.S. electricity customers are served by utilities that have set a 100% carbon-reduction target. Realistic hopes for a smooth and affordable transition to ‘beyond carbon’ are approximately nil and pursuing the false environmental claims of Bidenomics will devastate consumers and economic sustainability.”
They want us to electrify everything: I refuse!
By Patrice Lewis, WND, Jan 5, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Washington’s Control of Energy
Energy Lease Hypocrisy: Biden Uses Taxpayer Protections to Prop Up Wind, Gut Oil
By Pete McGinnis, Real Clear Energy, Jan 9, 2024
Link to article: Internal docs show Biden admin waived taxpayer safeguards to boost offshore wind project
‘If you want to talk about bad optics, I don’t see how they could be any worse than right here,’ watchdog group tells Fox News Digital
By Tomas Catenacci, Fox News, Nov 29, 2023
“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) informed Vineyard Wind that it had waived a financial assurance for decommissioning costs fee in a June 15, 2021, letter obtained by watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT). Federal statute mandates that developers pay that fee prior to construction on their lease, a potentially hefty fee designed to guarantee federal property is returned to its original state after a lessee departs its lease.”
Biden administration announces $623M for EV chargers, alternative fueling stations
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Jan 11, 2024
“The funds are a portion of a broader $2.5 billion grant program for EV charging infrastructure that was part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Advancing Natural Gas Operational Practices to Enhance Utility Safety and Sustainability
By Chris Latch, Real Clear Energy, Jan 9, 2024
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Where Now for Nuclear Power?
Despite some major setbacks, the technology remains vital to the nation’s energy future—but the U.S. needs to enact major regulatory and permitting reforms.
By James B. Meigs, City Journal, Jan 7, 2024
France sees potential for 14 new nuclear reactors
The energy transition minister says the nation may need more than six new reactors if it is to meet its climate change goals.
By Alfie Sha, Power Technology, Jan 8, 2024
“President Macron also reinforced his country’s commitment to nuclear at the recent COP28 climate summit in Dubai, where he led a group of 20 world leaders signing a pledge to ‘triple nuclear energy capacity from 2020 by 2050’. Shortly after signing, Macron pronounced that ‘nuclear energy is back’.”
France drops renewables targets, prioritizes nuclear in new energy bill
Critics are deriding as a step backward a new French energy bill that favours the further development of nuclear power and avoids setting targets for solar and wind power and other renewables.
By Staff, France 24, Jan 9, 2024
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Hertz to sell one third of its EV’s — customers don’t want them and they cost too much to fix
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Jan 12, 2024
Try Hornby Trains Next Time, Liverpool–They Might Be More Reliable!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 8, 2024
“Passengers on the UK’s first battery-powered trains are to get refunds over delays, the Liverpool City Region mayor has said.”
“The line became the UK’s first £500m battery-powered trains last year but has been plagued by delays.”
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 10, 2024
“This just in from the real world. The City of Edmonton, northern capital (53°N) of Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta, went heavily for electric buses that didn’t work well in the city’s chilly winters. Not only is their range limited, but 60% are in the shop awaiting repairs but the firm that supplied them is bankrupt. And the punchline: they need diesel heaters on board. As a fed-up viewer comments, ‘I guess the Edmonton city council was not aware that Edmonton usually has cold weather from mid-November to Mid-March’.”
EV Double Decker Bus Catches Fire in London Rush Hour
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Jan 12, 2024
Green Inefficiency: Up To One Third Of Power Needed To Charge Up E-Car Battery Gets Lost!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Jan 7, 2024
Authorities investigate cause of fire at Sydney e-bike workshop
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 8, 2024
Health, Energy, and Climate
Climate Change Lessons From 2023
By Fred Lipfert, ACSH, Jan 4, 2024
Link to: An Almost Perfect PM2.5 Study, (Well Not Quite)
By Fred Lipfert, ACSH, Aug 21, 2023
Other Scientific News
New research finds the natural seasonality of coronaviruses had more influence on the COVID-19 pandemic than government interventions.
Press Release, CERES-Science, Jan 8, 2024
Link to paper: Influence of Seasonality and Public-Health Interventions on the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northern Europe
By Gerry A. Quinn, et al, Clinical Medicine, Jan 6, 2024
New Mapping Adds 1,000,000 Sq Km to US
By David Middleton, WUWT, Jan 11, 2024
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Plastics pollution led to $250 billion in disease over one year
By Saul Elbein, The Hill, Jan 11, 2024
Link to paper: Chemicals Used in Plastic Materials: An Estimate of the Attributable Disease Burden and Costs in the United States
By Leonardo Trasande, et al., Journal of the Endocrine Society, Feb 2, 2024
From paper: “Methods: We first analyzed the existing literature to identify plastic-related fractions (PRF) of disease and disability for specific polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE), phthalates, bisphenols, and polyfluoroalkyl substances and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). We then updated previously published disease burden and cost estimates for these chemicals in the United States to 2018. By uniting these data, we computed estimates of attributable disease burden and costs due to plastics in the United States.”
[SEPP Comment: Truly sad]
Study finds microplastics in nearly all American proteins: meat, fish and plants
By Saul Elbein, The Hill, Jan 9, 2024
Link to study: Exposure of U.S. adults to microplastics from commonly consumed proteins
By Madeleine H. Milne, et al., Environmental Pollution, Feb 24, 2024
[SEPP Comment: What is the evidence of harm?]
ARTICLES
1. Alan Sokal’s Joke Is on Us as Postmoderism Comes to Science
Articles in hard-science journals increasingly read like the 1996 hoax, and dissenters are suppressed.
By Lawrence Krauss, WSJ, Jan. 5, 2024
TWTW Summary: The theoretical physicist begins:
“When I taught physics at Yale in the 1980s and ’90s, my colleagues and I took pride in our position on ‘science hill,’ looking down on the humanities scholars in the intellectual valleys below as they were inundated in postmodernism and deconstructionism.
This same attitude motivated the mathematician Alan Sokal to publish his famous 1996 article, ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity,’ in the cultural-studies journal Social Text. He asserted, among other things that ‘physical ‘reality,’ no less than social ‘reality,’ is at bottom a social and linguistic construct’ and that ‘the scientific community . . . cannot assert a privileged epistemological status with respect to counter-hegemonic narratives emanating from dissident or marginalized communities.’
Mr. Sokal’s paper was a hoax, designed to demonstrate that postmodernism was nonsense. But today postmodern cultural theory is being infused into the very institutions one might expect to be scientific gatekeepers. Hard-science journals publish the same sort of bunk with no hint of irony:
• In November 2022 the Journal of Chemical Education published ‘A Special Topics Class in Chemistry on Feminism and Science as a Tool to Disrupt the Dysconscious Racism in STEM.’ From the abstract: ‘This article presents an argument on the importance of teaching science with a feminist framework and defines it by acknowledging that all knowledge is historically situated and is influenced by social power and politics.’ The course promises ‘to explore the development and interrelationship between quantum mechanics, Marxist materialism, Afro-futurism/pessimism, and postcolonial nationalism. To problematize time as a linear social construct, the Copenhagen interpretation of the collapse of wave-particle duality was utilized.’
• In March 2022 Physical Review Physics Education Research published ‘Observing whiteness in introductory physics: A case study.’ From the abstract: ‘Within whiteness, the organization of social life is in terms of a center and margins that are based on dominance, control, and a transcendent figure that is consistently and structurally ascribed value over and above other figures.’ The paper criticizes ‘the use of whiteboards as a primary pedagogical tool’ on the grounds that they ‘play a role in reconstituting whiteness as social organization. . . . They collaborate with white organizational culture, where ideas and experiences gain value (become more central) when written down.’”
The physicist gives several more examples of postmodernism, then concludes with:
“In 2020, Signs Journal of Women in Culture and Society published an article by physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein titled ‘Making Black Women Scientists under White Empiricism: The Racialization of Epistemology in Physics.’ Ms. Prescod-Weinstein wrote: ‘Black women must, according to Einstein’s principle of covariance, have an equal claim to objectivity regardless of their simultaneously experiencing intersecting axes of oppression.’ This sentence, which dramatically misrepresents Einstein’s theory of general relativity, wouldn’t have been out of place in Mr. Sokal’s 1996 spoof.
Had an article like this appeared in 1996, it would have been dismissed outside the postmodernist fringe. But last year Mr. Sokal himself, noting that the article was No. 56 in the Altmetric ranking of most-discussed scholarly articles for 2020, felt the need to write a 20-page single-spaced rebuttal. The joke turns out to be on all of us—and it isn’t funny.”
******************
2. Davos and the Rise of Mistrust
Instead of trying to be more like government, big corporations should try to be more like small business.
By James Freeman, WSJ, Jan 12, 2024
The journalist begins with:
“Next week brings the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, sometimes cast as a meeting place for global capitalism. More precisely, it’s an annual opportunity for global politicians and activists to persuade American CEOs to stop being capitalists.
The ostensibly nonprofit forum’s well-paid founder, Klaus Schwab, has an enduringly successful shtick. He tells the CEOs that people have lost trust in large institutions like theirs. Then he tells them that to help rebuild such trust, they must stop focusing on the needs of shareholders and instead serve a larger universe of ‘stakeholders’ like him who may have no stake in the businesses but do have strong opinions about climate and diversity.
Of course if shareholders, customers and voters trusted such policies there would be no need for the Schwab sales pitch. This in turn raises the question of whether Mr. Schwab and his fellow ‘stakeholders’ in the world of tax-exempt entities are themselves contributing to a loss of trust—along with the loss of government revenue, of course.
Looking forward to next week, The World Economic Forum announces:
Convening under the theme ‘Rebuilding Trust’, the Annual Meeting 2024 will bring together more than 2,800 leaders from 120 countries.
In 2022, the theme was ‘Trust-based and action-oriented cooperation.’
In 2020 the forum said that 2021 would be a ‘crucial year to rebuild trust.’”
After pointing out that the Forum has been claiming building trust since 2010 and that its chairman has never been a CEO of a public corporation the journalist concludes with:
“But one can’t help but wonder if the rise of mistrust in large institutions that he bemoans is directly related to big businesses taking on political and social agendas. Polling indeed shows a great deal of mistrust in large organizations, including government agencies. This is in contrast to the large degree of trust people continue to place in that great American institution known as small business.
Let’s hope that corporate CEOs resolve to run their companies less like politicians and more like proprietors.
Speaking of trust, in June of 2020 Mr. Schwab wrote:
COVID-19 lockdowns may be gradually easing, but anxiety about the world’s social and economic prospects is only intensifying. There is good reason to worry: a sharp economic downturn has already begun, and we could be facing the worst depression since the 1930s. But, while this outcome is likely, it is not unavoidable.
To achieve a better outcome, the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.
There are many reasons to pursue a Great Reset, but the most urgent is COVID-19.
If the world learned anything from the Covid panic, it is that people who view a public health challenge as an opportunity to reorder society are not to be trusted.”
“best practices to reduce methane emissions”. What a joke. These companies’ business is the production of methane – vast quantities of methane – and these twits think it makes a difference to plug some little leaks.
“– and these twits think it makes a difference to plug some little leaks.”
_________________________________________________________
Going forward, those same “twits” never say how much rise in global temperature methane is on track cause. If it were a measurable amount I’m sure they’d let us unwashed know all about it.
How long before cans of beans are emblazoned with warning labels that proclaim:
This product produces methane
which causes climate change
The typical claim that I have read recently is that methane is responsible for 30% of the modern increase in temperature. Although, I have not seen a rigorous defense of that claim. The Global Methane Pledge claims that 33% of annual methane emissions comes from fossil fuels. In recent years, the IPCC has reduced its estimates of natural methane versus anthropogenic methane. I have little confidence in these claims. Measurements indicate that atmospheric CO2 is increasing about 2-3PPM per year, while CH4 is only increasing about 0.01PPM.
Thanks for the reply. I meant the question to ask: “Going forward, how much will methane contribute to global temperature? You know, by 2100 or in 100 years or if it doubles in concentration?” Sorry that I didn’t make that clear. My answer is by 2100 it’s on track to cause way less than a tenth of a degree of warming by 2100. If anyone wants to say it’s anymore than that, they need to provide the source or show their work.
_________________________________________________________
For some reason I saved the graph of “Los Angeles, CA Max Temp, May-Oct” as NOAA’s Climate At A Glance displayed it in 2017 Three years later it had changed, see the images below. Today it has changed again Here’s the LINK for that. What they said then, what they said a few years later and what they say today just doesn’t match up. They (Climate Science) doesn’t save their data you or the Internet Archives Way Back Machine has to do that job for them. They live in a world of the present where the past always changes. And it seems to always change to fit the narrative.
“Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.”― George Orwell, 1984
You show old George was entirely correct.
What causes an [illusory] climate crisis? Pseudoscientists (or Olympic mental gymnasts) are not short of [insane] ideas.
“”Human ‘behavioural crisis’ at root of climate breakdown, say scientists””
My behaviour hasn’t changed and neither has that of most folk…. Who can afford to put the heating on and throw open the windows?
““Record heat, record emissions, record fossil fuel consumption.
…
The paper explores how neuropsychology, social signalling and norms have been exploited to drive human behaviours”
…
we have been exploited to the point we are in crisis. These tools are being used to drive us to extinction,” says the evolutionary behavioural ecologist and study co-author Phoebe Barnard. “Why not use them to build a genuinely sustainable world?””
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/13/human-behavioural-crisis-at-root-of-climate-breakdown-say-scientists
More insanity from the completely insane.
““Is it ethical to exploit our psychology to benefit an economic system destroying the planet?””
Or “Is it ethical to exploit our psychology to push an extreme belief system destroying the young and vulnerable?” The BBC etc think so.
“liquid methane and small-chained hydrocarbons are found in Saturn’s moon, Titan
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have also been found in Titan’s atmosphere
multiple chlorinated hydrocarbons have been identified on Mars by the Curiosity rover
several studies have suggested that PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) can also be formed in interstellar space”
This is critical information that must not be underplayed. It could blow the whole Big Bang Theory of the genesis of the universe. Stars maybe are NOT powered by nuclear fusion; they may simply be burning of fossil fuel dinosaurs.
Stars are made of coal and will only last 5000 years.
Exactly! . . . the UN IPCC, the Biden administration EPA, Michael Mann and a host of other talking heads must expand their imminent catastrophe warnings and Net Zero plans to now include the solar system . . . indeed, to all of known space.
There is no issue that the globe has warmed somewhat since the beginning of the Industrial Age. The issue is what is the cause?
No, the real issue is “Does it matter?”
According to the best-available paleoclimatology proxy data, there is no doubt that Earth has cooled by about 11 °C starting some 60 million years ago (i.e., during the Tertiary Period and up to the present).
The real issue with this (for those willing to look at the date objectively) is that the global cooling started with atmospheric CO2 levels in the range of 2800-3200 ppm . . . compare that to today’s atmospheric CO2 concentration of about 420 ppm.
These facts do matter.
Ooops . . . I read the wrong graph axis for CO2 concentration. My second-to-last last paragraph above should have stated:
“The real issue with this (for those willing to look at the date objectively) is that the global cooling started with atmospheric CO2 levels in the range of 700-800 ppm . . . compare that to today’s atmospheric CO2 concentration of about 420 ppm.”
Again, these facts matter.
“Does it matter?”
And even if it does, could “net zero” have any more than zero effect?
Eds/mods:
Typo in the quote-of-the-week at the top of the article: author should be H.L Mencken, not Menchen.
Are you sure it shouldn’t be Munchkin?
The IEA reports China is taking the lead in solar pv.
It also reports elsewhere that China consumes more than half of the world’s coal and produces half of it and expects China and India will account for more than 70% of global coal consumption by 2026.
‘Coal 2023 Analysis and forecast to 2026@ (Dec 2023)
What the IEA doesn’t reveal is that construction of wind and solar is an appeasement to the climate god. As with throwing enough virgins in the lava to quite the volcano god, “enough” is paramount. CO2 is only the excuse to sell it to the lame brained peons.
“…although the atmospheric temperature trend data shows 1998 was about equal to 2016, the NOAA report does not rank 1998 as one of the ten top warmest years, even though 2016 is ranked as the second warmest year.”
The reason 1998 high T° is no longer among the top ten warmest is an artifact of the algorithm of the automatic temperature fiddling software that continuously (daily, in tiny fractions of a degree) erases ‘inconvenient’ long cooling periods (Ice Age Cometh), and earlier temperatures. Mark Steyn, at a senate hearing, famously quipped that they know what the weather will be in 2100, but not what the temperature in 1950 will be in 2100.
Here are the adjustments of the graph of the fiddle app as calculated by Tony Heller:
https://twitter.com/TonyClimate/status/1615777655798009857/photo/1
Based on the UAH’s monthly update graphs, and past behavior of lower-troposphere temperatures, the peak for this El Nino probably occurred two months ago.
It has gotten cold enough across the globe for that to be true.
“Climate Change” cost vs benefits.
Humans outside the tropics spend almost all of their time in a controlled environment.
Their houses, cars, buses, office buildings, factories, restaurants, churches, shopping places, etc. are all warmed or cooled depending on the temperature.
Probably only something like 5% of people’s time outside of the tropics is spent outdoors without heating or cooling.
Bloomberg estimates $US200 trillion to stop warming by 2050. There are about 2 billion households in the world so that is about $100,000 per household.
Around 90% of households, mainly in the developing world can’t afford to pay anything so that means that the 10% of households mainly in the developed world that can pay will have to pay about $1 million each.
Almost everybody would prefer to have a couple of degrees warming for the 5 percent of time spent outdoors and a million dollars in the bank than not.
Call me nit picking but the above statement, from this week’s article, is non-scientific. It is a philosophical consideration that seems to mainly serve the purpose of maintaining reputations built on certain particular theories. This “new theory should encompass the old theory” philosophy has been proven false more than a few times. It is also what leads to some of the bizarre convolutions of modern particle physics and cosmology where competing ideas are actively suppressed by gatekeepers.