The Week That Was: 2024-04-06 (April 6, 2024)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” ― Albert Einstein
Number of the Week: 25% since 2019
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This TWTW addresses the State of the Climate presented by Ole Humlum and the lack of knowledge of recent climate history presented by Ralph Alexander. Further, it briefly presents a bibliography for Climate: The Movie by Andy May, and further discusses the use of the linear no threshold model by organizations that abuse the scientific method by using it, ignoring that humans are living organisms capable of repairing themselves. Also presented are the absurd steps taken by those who claim weather events are caused by climate change and the coming shortage of US electricity generation that Washington ignores.
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State of the Climate: Possibly the most realistic assessment of Earth’s climate is produced annually by Professor Ole Humlum in Svalbard, Norway, and published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). Humlum, who lives above the Arctic Circle watching it warm, relies on actual data, not estimates of what may be. The introduction of The State of the Climate, 2023 states [Boldface added]:
This report is written for people wishing to form their own opinion on issues relating to climate. Its focus is on publicly available observational datasets, and not on the output of numerical models, although there are a few exceptions, such as Figure 42. References and data
sources are listed at the end.
The observational data presented here reveal a vast number of natural variations, some of hich appear in more than one series. The existence of such natural climatic variations is not always fully acknowledged, and therefore generally not considered in contemporary climate conversations. The drivers of most of these climatic variations are not yet fully understood but should represent an important focus for climatic research in future.
In this report, meteorological and climatic observations are described according to the following overall structure: atmosphere, oceans, sea level, sea ice, snow cover, precipitation, and storms. Finally, in the last section, the observational evidence as at 2023 is briefly summarized.
Then Humlum gives ten facts about 2023 [the cited figures are found in the text]:
1. Air temperatures in 2023 were the highest on record (since 1850/1880/1979, according to the particular data series). Recent warming is not symmetrical but is mainly seen in the Northern Hemisphere (Figures 1 and 13).
2. Arctic air temperatures have increased during the satellite era (since 1979), but Antarctic temperatures remain essentially stable (Figure 14).
3. Since 2004, globally, the upper 1900m of the oceans has seen net warming of about 0.037°C. The greatest warming (of about 0.2°C) is in the uppermost 100m, and mainly in regions near the Equator, where the greatest amount of solar radiation is received (Figure 28).
4. Since 2004, the northern oceans (55–65°N) have, on average, experienced a marked cooling down to 1400m depth, and slight warming below that (Figure 29). Over the same period, the southern oceans (55–65°S) have, on average, seen some warming at most depths (above 1900m), but mainly near the surface.
5. Sea level globally is increasing at about 3.4mm per year or more according to satellites, but only at 1–2mm per year according to coastal tide gauges (Figures 39 and 41). Local and regional sea-level changes usually deviate significantly from such global averages.
6. Global sea-ice extent remains well below the average for the satellite era (since 1979). Since 2018, however, it has remained quasi-stable, perhaps even exhibiting a small increase (Figure 43).
7. Global snow cover has remained essentially stable throughout the satellite era (Figure 47), although with important regional and seasonal variations.
8. Global precipitation varies from more than 3000mm per year in humid regions to almost nothing in deserts. Global average precipitation exhibits variations from one year to the next, and from decade to decade, but since 1901 there has been no clear overall trend (Figure 57).
9. Storms and hurricanes display variable frequency over time, but without any clear global trend towards higher or lower values (Figure 51).
10. Observations confirm the continuing long-term variability of average meteorological and oceanographic conditions, but do not support the notion of an ongoing climate crisis.
The difference in the estimates in sea level rise demonstrates a failure to recognize that different measuring instruments are producing different results. Satellite measurements may be better, but the slightest amount of drag could bring the satellites closer to the surface by (say) a millimeter or two per year, causing an apparent sea-rise. The real problem is appending the satellite data onto the tide-gauge data, making an apparent acceleration. If there were an acceleration, it would show up in every tide-gauge. Further, it is important to assure that tidal gauges are not experiencing geological uplift (Sweden) or subsidence (US Southeast Coast).
“Professor Humlum draws attention to two oceanographic events that are likely to have driven up global temperatures in 2023:
“While global average surface air temperatures in 2023 were at record highs relative to long instrumental records (since 1850), they were driven up as a result of the still ongoing El Niño warming episode. In contrast, the two previous years, 2021 and 2022, were influenced by a cold La Niña in the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the global surface air temperature record in 2023 continues to be significantly influenced by oceanographic phenomena.”
The influence of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption on 2023 meteorological conditions is still uncertain. The eruption, which occurred in the southern Pacific Ocean in January 2022, released an enormous plume of water vapor into the Stratosphere, but there is still uncertainty whether this event had any influence on atmospheric temperatures.”
The section of the report on Water Vapor under Atmospheric greenhouse gases gives charts of three-year running averages of Specific atmospheric humidity in the troposphere since 1948 from NOAA. Humlum states [figure in text of the report]:
“Water vapor (H2 O) is the most important greenhouse gas in the Troposphere. The highest concentration is found within a latitudinal range from 50°N to 60°S. The two polar regions of the Troposphere are comparatively dry. Water vapor is a much more important greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, both because of its absorption spectrum and its higher concentration.
Figure 17 shows the specific atmospheric humidity to be stable or slightly increasing up to about 4–5km altitude. At higher levels in the Troposphere (about 9km), the specific humidity has been decreasing for the duration of the record, but with shorter variations superimposed on the falling trend. A Fourier frequency analysis (not shown here) suggests these changes are influenced, not only by the significant annual variation, but feasibly also by a longer variation of about 35-years’ duration.
The overall decrease since 1948 in specific humidity at about 9km altitude is notable, as this altitude roughly corresponds to the level (the so-called ‘characteristic emission level’) where the theoretical temperature effect of increased atmospheric CO2 is expected to be seen first.”
There is no justification for global climate models used by the IPCC to double the increase in temperatures from CO2 based on a non-existent increase in atmospheric water vapor.
After covering specific topics such as Atmosphere, Oceans, Sea level, Sea ice, Snow cover, Global precipitation, Storms, and hurricanes; Humlum sums it up with:
“The global climate system is multifaceted, involving the sun, planets, atmosphere, oceans, land, geological processes, biological life, and complex interactions between them. Many components and their mutual coupling are still not fully understood or perhaps not even recognized. Believing that one minor constituent of the atmosphere (CO2) controls nearly all aspects of climate is naïve and entirely unrealistic. The global climate has remained in a quasi-stable condition within certain limits for millions of years, although with important variations playing out over periods ranging from years to centuries or more, but the global climate has never been in a fully stable state without change. Modern observations show that this behavior continues today; there is no evidence of a global climate crisis.” [Boldface added]
See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Learn History: In addition to Humlum’s report pointing out that the current political fad of claiming a climate crisis lacks evidence, GWPF published another report demonstrating that the advocates of the climate emergency fad are ignorant or ignore climate history. Physicist Ralph Alexander authors “Weather Extremes in Historical Context.” The executive summary states:
“This report refutes the popular but mistaken belief that today’s weather extremes are more common and more intense because of climate change, by examining the history of extreme weather events over the past century or so. Drawing on newspaper archives, it presents multiple examples of past extremes that match or exceed anything experienced in the present day. That so many people are unaware of this fact shows that collective memories of extreme weather are short-lived.
Heatwaves of the last few decades pale in comparison to those of the 1930s – a period whose importance is frequently downplayed by the media and environmental activists. The evidence shows that the record heat of that time was not confined to the US ‘Dust Bowl,’ but extended throughout much of North America, as well as to other countries, such as France, India, and Australia. US heatwaves during July 2023, falsely trumpeted by the mainstream media as the hottest month in history, failed to exceed the scorching heat of 1934.
Major floods today are no more common nor deadly or disruptive than any of the thousands of floods in the past, despite heavier precipitation in a warming world (which has increased flash flooding in some regions). Many of the world’s countries regularly experience major floods, especially China, India, and Pakistan. A significant 1931 flood in China covered a far greater area and affected many more people than the devastating 2022 floods in Pakistan.
Severe droughts have been a continuing feature of the Earth’s climate for millennia, despite the brouhaha in the mainstream media over the extended drought in Europe during the summer of 2022. Not only was the European drought not unprecedented, but there have been numerous longer and drier droughts throughout history, including during the past century.
Hurricanes overall actually show a decreasing trend around the globe, and the frequency of their landfalling has not changed for at least 50 years. The deadliest US hurricane in recorded history, which killed an estimated 8–12,000 people, struck Galveston, Texas in 1900. As a comparison, the death toll of 2022’s Category 5 Hurricane Ian, which deluged much of Florida with a storm surge as high as Galveston’s, was just 156.
Likewise, there is no evidence that climate change is causing tornadoes to become more frequent and stronger. The annual number of strong (EF3 or greater) US tornadoes has in fact declined dramatically over the last 72 years, and there are ample examples of past tornadoes just as or more violent and deadly than today’s.
Wildfires are not increasing either. On the contrary, the area burned annually is diminishing in most countries. The total number of US fires and the area burned in 2022 were both 20% less than in 2007; data before 1983 that mysteriously disappeared recently from a government website shows an even larger historical decline. Although wildfires can be exacerbated by other weather extremes such as heatwaves and droughts, those extremes are not on the rise, as stated above. And, in spite of popular belief, ignition of wildfires by arson plays a larger role than sustained high temperatures and wind.
In addition to examples of past weather extremes from newspaper archives, the report concludes with a short section on documented extreme weather events dating back centuries and even millennia.
The perception that extreme weather is increasing in frequency and severity is primarily a consequence of modern technology – the Internet and smart phones – which have revolutionized communication and made us much more aware of such disasters than we were 50 or 100 years ago. The misperception has only been amplified by the mainstream media, eager to promote the latest climate scare. And as psychologists know, constant repetition of a false belief can, over time, create the illusion of truth. But history tells a different story.”
To TWTW the two most important conclusions are [Boldface added]:
“The perception that extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity is primarily a consequence of modern technology – the Internet and smart phones – which have revolutionized communication and made us much more aware of such disasters than we were 50 or 100 years ago. Before 21st-century electronics arrived, many weather extremes went unrecorded, especially in then more sparsely populated areas of the globe.”
And:
“Much of the fault for the widespread belief that weather extremes are becoming worse can be attributed to the mainstream media, eager to promote the latest climate scare. Constant repetition of a false belief can, over time, create the illusion of truth – a phenomenon well known to psychologists, and one exploited by propagandists. The falsehood can even become a ‘noble lie’ when exploited for political purposes. The failure by climate reporters to put today’s extreme weather events in a true historical perspective is contributing to the belief that weather extremes are on the rise when they are not.”
Government policies in North America and Europe are driven by ignorance of physical evidence, climate history and propaganda. Apparently, it is beyond the ability of those who promote this ignorance to read and understand classic works on climate such as HH Lamb’s Climate, History, and the Modern World (1995) See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Beyond Censorship: Despite efforts to censor it, “Climate: The Movie” continues to be available from different sources. With the assistance of Willie Soon and Marty Cornell, former petroleum physicist Andy May has listed 70 key statements in the movie and prepared a bibliography for the statements to clarify and provide context for them. See links under Censorship and Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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LNT Again: Almost the entire discussion in the Mar 23 TWTW was taken by the trashing of the scientific method and ignoring contradictory evidence that went into the noted Linear No Threshold (LNT) Model for opposing nuclear power. The work of toxicologist Edward Calabrese in bringing out that abuse of power and position to suppress compelling contradicting evidence is notable. Unfortunately, the EPA and other organizations continue to use the faulty modeling techniques to expand their powers. Two separate reports show how abusive the Federal government has become in using this model.
In discussing nuclear waste, Robert Hargraves writes:
“Because NRC and EPA regulators are so misinformed about radiation, the U.S. is not building any commercial nuclear power plants, while sixteen other nations are. Regulators have made nuclear energy too expensive, so expensive that startup Atomic Canyon offers AI to help applicants navigate NRC’s database of 52 million documents.
The Facts. U.S. regulators do not analyze data about human health effects of radiation from nuclear power. They rely on groupthink consensus evolved in nongovernmental organizations originally misled by grant-seeking geneticists, including 1946 Nobel Prize winner Herman Muller. Geneticists claimed radiation damage to chromosomes kept adding up, even within offspring genes. When children of Japanese atomic bomb survivors exhibited no such effects, the scientists’ radiation concern changed to cancer.
Grays (Gy) are radiation dose units, joules of energy absorbed per kg of tissue. A study of health of atom bomb survivors found 812 excess cancers in 16,716 people receiving radiation energy doses over 0.1 Gy, but not in the 63,489 people receiving less. Regulators ignore this latter fact and claim there must be statistically unobservable cancers. Regulators set public radiation limits 100X lower, to just 0.001 Gy per year, repeating the geneticists’ error that radiation damage keeps adding up, ignoring human life’s immune systems and DNA repair processes.
Regulators mistakenly limit accumulated dose rather than dose rate. We now know that radiation damage is repaired in hours, not years. Only when radiation damage rates exceed DNA repair rates is there a risk of cancer. Accidental high human radiation exposures evidence no harm at dose rates of 0.02 Gy/day, suggesting that a limit of 0.002 Gy/day would provide a large safety margin.” [Boldface added]
It is the rate of exposure that counts, not the total dose over a long period of time. Humans are living organisms with the ability to repair themselves. It is surprising that those who oppose vaccination against childhood diseases have not insisted that the LNT model “proves” that any exposure can be fatal.
In an essay for the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), health specialist Susan Goldhaber writes:
“Far too many scientific papers are being retracted from prestigious scientific journals because scientists fabricated or falsified data. Although no one defends scientific fraud, few recognize its long-lasting impacts on governmental policy and society.”
She discusses the work of Edward Calabrese and the scientific community’s continuing use of the LNT model in spite of its obvious shortcomings. She concludes:
“The impact of the LNT model guiding Federal Agencies is that every questionable molecule of a chemical or radiation must be eliminated, or public health is at risk. This has resulted in billions of dollars spent to eliminate chemicals to levels that have no impact on human health and the unnecessary removal of products, many of which are critical today.”
See links under Nuclear Energy and Fears.
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Data Homogenization: Over a year ago, econometrician Ross McKitrick authored a paper published in the same journal as the original Allen and Tett 1999 paper showing that the authors misunderstood the conditions of the Gauss-Markov Theorem in probability and statistics. The organization, World Weather Attribution (WWA), no longer uses the probability estimates they used earlier; instead they emphasize that unusual heat events are due to climate change. The latest was in West Africa along the coast. WWA wrote:
“Southern West Africa experienced unusually excessive humid heat early in the season.
“In February, West Africa was hit by an unusually intense early season heatwave, with temperatures not normally seen until March or April.”
WWA uses the misleading heat index rather than temperature to show its typical shallow thinking. Carbon dioxide is well mixed throughout the globe, why was the heatwave local? The use of local temperatures demonstrates that even WWA does not accept the estimating of temperatures using the homogenization techniques used by NOAA and NASA-GISS. According to the WMO:
“The aim of climate data homogenization is to adjust climate records, if necessary, to remove non-climatic factors so that the temporal variations in the adjusted data reflect only the variations due to climate processes.”
Since a heat wave is a temporary event, it is not a climate event. The same applies to all organizations using specific weather events to claim “climate change.” See link under Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague? and https://community.wmo.int/en/climate-data-homogenization#:~:text=The%20aim%20of%20climate%20data,variations%20due%20to%20climate%20processes.
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US Electricity: The Wall Street Journal recognizes that the claims that clean, high-tech industries can be powered by solar and wind are false. An editorial begins [Boldface added]:
“President Biden and the press keep raising alarms about a climate crisis that his policies can’t do much about. Yet in the meantime they’re ignoring how government climate policies are contributing to a looming electric-grid crisis that is more urgent and could be avoided.
These pages have been warning for years about an electric-power shortage. And now grid regulators and utilities are ramping up warnings. Projections for U.S. electricity demand growth over the next five years have doubled from a year ago. The major culprits: New artificial-intelligence data centers, federally subsidized manufacturing plants, and the government-driven electric-vehicle transition.
Georgia Power recently increased 17-fold its winter power demand forecast by 2031, citing growth in new industries such as EV and battery factories. AEP Ohio says new data centers and Intel’s $20 billion planned chip plant will increase strain on the grid. Chip factories and data centers can consume 100 times more power than a typical industrial business.
PJM Interconnection, which operates the wholesale power market across 13 Midwest and Northeast states, this year doubled its 15-year annual forecast for demand growth. Its projected power demand in the region for 2029 has increased by about 10 gigawatts—about twice as much as New York City uses on a typical day.
Don’t expect the power to come from New York, which is marching toward a power shortage as it shuts down nuclear and fossil-fuel power in favor of wind and solar. A new Micron chip factory in upstate New York is expected to require as much power by the 2040s as the states of New Hampshire and Vermont combined.
Electricity demand to power data centers is projected to increase by 13% to 15% compounded annually through 2030. Yet a shortage of power is already delaying new data centers by two to six years, according to commercial-real estate firm CBRE Group. It is also driving Big Tech companies into the energy business. Amazon this month struck a $650 million deal to buy a data center in Pennsylvania powered by an on-site 2.5-gigawatt nuclear plant.
Data centers—like manufacturing plants—require reliable power around the clock year-round, which wind and solar don’t provide. Businesses can’t afford to wait for batteries to become cost-effective. Building transmission lines to connect distant renewables to the grid typically takes 10 to 12 years.
Because of these challenges, Obama Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz last week predicted that utilities will ultimately have to rely more on gas, coal, and nuclear plants to support surging demand. ‘We’re not going to build 100 gigawatts of new renewables in a few years,’ he said. No kidding.”
It is doubtful that official Washington even recognizes the problem. A second editorial begins:
“The Environmental Protection Agency chose Good Friday to roll out its burdensome electric truck mandate, no doubt so fewer people notice. Biden officials well know the damage they are doing, but the damage in the name of climate change is the point.
EPA’s new emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks will effectively require that electric semi-trucks make up an increasing share of manufacturer sales from 2027 through 2032, similar to its recent rule for passenger cars. The difference is that the truck mandate is even more costly and fanciful.
EVs make up less than 1% of U.S. heavy-duty truck sales, and nearly all are in California, which heavily subsidizes and mandates their purchase. EPA’s rule will require electric models to account for 60% of new urban delivery trucks and 25% of long-haul tractor sales by 2032. The harm is predictable in return for no climate benefit.
Start with the fact that no electric long-haul tractors are currently in mass production. Most electric trucks can’t go more than 170 miles on a charge. Electric semis require bigger and heavier batteries, which means they must carry lighter loads to avoid damaging roads. Fleet operators will have to use more trucks to transport the same amount of goods.
No doubt the EPA will continue its game of claiming it is giving manufacturers and consumers choice, while driving up the costs of gasoline and diesel vehicles and subsidizing expensive electric ones. Electric vehicles are not reliable, affordable, and repairable. See Articles # 1 & 2.
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Number of the Week: 25% since 2019. According to the US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, US food prices rose by 25% from 2019 to 2023. Only the inflation in transportation was greater than food. As stated above, EPA is driving up the costs of transportation by requiring electric vehicles. Food distribution relies heavily on transport by trucks. See https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-prices-and-spending/?topicId=1afac93a-444e-4e05-99f3-53217721a8be#:~:text=From%202019%20to%202023%2C%20the,percent%20over%20the%20same%20period.
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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD – THE JACKSON
It is time for voting on the Annual SEPP’s April Fools Award – the Jackson. Last year UN Secretary General António “Leave it in the Ground” Guterres beat out the National Science Teachers Association who demanded that representatives of the CO2 Coalition and their
displays be removed from a conference of science teachers. The troublemakers espoused the
radical idea that carbon dioxide is necessary for all green plant life, thus all life. Horrors!
Unfortunately, Mr. Guterres did not attend. Apparently, he could not get enough renewable fuel for his plane.
Get your votes in by July 1, the award will be given at the 42nd annual meeting of the Doctors for Defensive Preparedness on July 5-6. The decision of the judges is final.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?
Analysis Of 120 Years Of Data Show Clear Solar Influence On Rainfall In Germany.
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Mar 22, 2024
“Precipitation patterns linked to the 22-year Hale cycle.”
Censorship
Climate: The Movie Has Been Blocked
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 24, 2024
[SEPP Comment: “Sorry This video does not exist.” A boldface lie befitting 1984.]
“Misinformation Experts” are almost all left wing and they want to censor you
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Mar 27, 2024
Suppressing Scientific Inquiry
Climate Misinformation
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Mar 28, 2024
Video: https://realclimatescience.com/2024/03/climate-misinformation-2/#gsc.tab=0
Text (Mar 25): https://realclimatescience.com/2024/03/climate-misinformation/#gsc.tab=0
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
Challenging the Orthodoxy
The State of the Climate 2023
Press Release, The Global Warming Policy Foundation, Mar 28, 2024
Link to report: The State of the Climate 2023
By Ole Humlum, GWPF, 2024
Weather Extremes in Historical Context
By Ralph Alexander, The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 2024
Link to: Exerts and illustrations.
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Apr 5, 2024
Short Summary of Observations Until February 2024
By Ole Humlum, Climate4you, Accessed Apr 4, 2024
Full report: https://www.climate4you.com/Text/Climate4you_February_2024.pdf
Annotated Bibliography for Climate: The Movie
By Andy May, WUWT, Mar 26, 2024
For Millions of Years Earth Temperatures Not Driven by CO2
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Mar 27, 2024
Link to paper: The Relationship between Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration and Global Temperature for the Last 425 Million Years
By William Jackson Davis, Climate, Sep 29, 2017
From abstract: “Here I explore this relationship empirically using comprehensive, recently compiled databases of stable-isotope proxies from the Phanerozoic Eon (~540 to 0 years before the present) and through complementary modeling using the atmospheric absorption/transmittance code MODTRAN.”
“This study demonstrates that changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration did not cause temperature change in the ancient climate.”
An Experiment in Ocean Acidification: Why Buffering Matters
By Marty Cornell, CO2 Coalition, Mar 30, 2024
“Seawater is a solution with multiple weak acids and bases in contact with both the atmosphere and sediments containing minerals that have the potential to react when solution composition or physical conditions change. Seawater is consequently well buffered…”
The “textbook” experiment falsely equates tap and distilled water to buffered ocean water
The concept of buffering is ignored by education material of major publishers; students are misled.
[SEPP Comment: Exposing experimental misdirection in 8th grade education. Buffered means the ocean resists pH change in any direction.]
Defending the Orthodoxy
UN Climate Advisor & Time Mag’s ‘Woman Of The Year’ declares ‘the climate crisis’ is ‘not just manmade, it’s white manmade’ – ‘A result of capitalism, years of colonialism, years of racial oppression’
By Mark Morano, Climate Depot, Apr 2, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Another UN “expert.” China emits more CO2 than North America and the EU combined. Does this Pakistan-American consider Chinese as white? How about natives of India, the third highest emitter of CO2, almost equal to the EU? Obviously, she does not understand that there has been little change in precipitation and temperature in Pakistan since the 1700s.]
Officialdom Responds To Doubts That A Renewables-Based Electricity System Will Work
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Mar 24, 2024
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Most carbon dioxide emissions linked to 57 entities: Research
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Apr 4, 2024
Link to report: The Carbon Majors Database: Launch Report
By Richard Heede, et al., Climate Accountability Institute, April 2024
[SEPP Comment: Promotes the misleading IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report, 2023, the Summary for Policymakers. CO2 emissions, whether from China or elsewhere, are not the cause of “climate change.” The report provides detail about which industries emitted how much CO2 —ignoring China, of course— as if CO2 actually caused global warming.]
Extreme cold will still occur in Northern Europe, although less often – risking decreasing preparedness and higher vulnerability
Under the influence of a lingering anticyclone, Fennoscandia experienced extremely cold winter temperatures during early January 2024.
By Staff, World Weather Attribution, Jan 21, 2024
#GettingWorse: Droughts edition
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Mar 27, 2024
Link to paper: Near 40-year drought trend during 1981-2019 earth warming and food security
By Felix Kogan, et al., Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, Feb 11, 2020
“With climate change getting worse each year, scientists are now warning that more and more regions around the world are vulnerable to severe droughts, potentially putting our food supply and even survival at risk. Scary huh? Actually, we just made it all up, the way journalists and politicians do.”
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Another Candidate For The Greatest Scientific Fraud Of All Time?
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Mar 30, 2024
As of today, there is no evident retreat by EPA or other U.S. regulatory agencies from the LNT model. Fear sells, and they have no ability or incentive to self-correct.
Causality is a difficult concept
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Mar 27, 2024
“Possibly the famous Apollo 8 ‘Earthrise’ shot that helped galvanize the modern environmental movement. In some sense seeing the entire planet from the outside all at once, indescribably beautiful but also apparently tiny and fragile, is seeing ‘the climate’. But from inside, it’s not one thing and it’s not small and it’s not fragile. Try to withstand hurricane-force winds and see who buckles first.”
The President of Guyana gives BBC host a lecture on climate change
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Mar 31, 2024
Video: Don’t mess with our oil.
New Report Explodes Myth That ‘Extreme Weather’ is Getting Worse
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Mar 24, 2024
CFC Bans Did Nothing To Interrupt The Ongoing Trend Of Antarctic Ozone Losses
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Mar 25, 2024
Link to 2024 article: The ozone hole and a phase change in lower stratospheric temperature
By Michael O Jonas, World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2024
From the abstract: “Analysis of ozone, temperature, chlorofluorocarbon and nitrous oxide data from 1963 onwards suggests that the annual ozone minimum at the South Pole is related to lower stratospheric temperature independently of chlorofluorocarbons and nitrous oxide…. This raises the possibility that, over a multi-annual or decadal timescale, lower stratospheric temperature has more effect than chlorofluorocarbons or nitrous oxide on atmospheric ozone concentration over the South Pole. Alternatively, temperature and ozone may both be reacting to some other influence.”
Global warming: a stratospheric surprise
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Apr 3, 2024
From the CO2Science archive.
What should government do to address climate change?
“Addressing climate change” is the wrong target; we want to reduce climate danger—and that requires liberating, not eliminating, fossil fuel use.
By Alex Epstein, His Blog, Mar 6, 2024
Renewables will destroy America’s lifestyle back to the pre-1800s – this is the Biden energy plan!
By Ronald Stein, America Out Loud, Mar 25, 2024
Canadian Wildfires Due To Decades Of Fire Suppression, Not Climate Change
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 28, 2024
Fire suppression is exacerbating wildfire severity in the US West: Study
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Mar 25, 2024
Link to paper: Fire suppression makes wildfires more severe and accentuates impacts of climate change and fuel accumulation
By Mark R. Kreider, et al., Nature Communications, Mar 25, 2024
Bad tasting cheese
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Mar 27, 2024
Link to paper: Net Isotopic Signature of Atmospheric CO2 Sources and Sinks: No Change since the Little Ice Age
By Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Sci, Mar 14, 2024
Energy & Environmental Review: April 1, 2024
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, Apr 1, 2024
After Paris!
Macron and Lula launch green investment plan for Amazon
The announcement made at the start of Macron’s state visit to Brazil is part of an international roadmap the two leaders intend to promote in the run-up to the COP30 environmental summit which will be held in Belem in northern Brazil in 2025.
By Staff, Le Monde with AFP, Mar 28, 2024
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Citigroup Reports Huge Share Of Its Clients Are Not Ready To Reach Key Climate Targets
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Mar 28, 2024
You mean you expect us to do it?
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Apr 3, 2024
“As the deadlines get ever closer on the green energy transition, companies are discovering that pretending to believe in it has backed them into a corner. They promised to be green, carbon-neutral and virtuous, and now for some strange reason the activists who goaded them into promising it so they’d stop getting pestered are demanding they follow through or something a lot worse than pestering will result. Which in Canada means aggressive anti-trust action against people who thought spouting green boilerplate would exempt them from having actually to do anything.”
China Emissions Rose By 5.2% Last Year
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 29, 2024
Seeking a Common Ground
Wanted: A leader who is honest about climate policy.
By Ross McKitrick, Financial Post, e version, Mar 22, 2024 [H/t Ron Clutz]
Are Ecology and Climate the Same Thing?
This scientist thinks so.
By Rob Lewis, The Climate According to Life, Mar 24, 2024
Link to paper: Ecology and Climate of the Earth—The Same Biogeophysical System
By Roger A. Pielke, Sr., Debra P.C. Peters, and Dev Niyogi, Climate, Feb 14, 2022
The extraordinary climate events of 2022-24
By Javier Vinós, Climate Etc., Mar 24, 2024
The Media And I: Truth In Science
By Henry Miller, ACSH, Mar 21, 2024
Disasters Cost More Than Ever — But Not Because of Climate Change
From the archives, a look back and an update
By Roger Pielke Jr., The Honest Broker, Mar 26, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Pielke gives a summary of the political campaign against him at the conclusion of the essay.]
Model Issues
A meta-analysis of the total economic impact of climate change
By Richard S.J. Tol, Energy Policy, February 2024
[SEPP Comment: The number one finding is: “(1) The central estimate of the economic impact of global warming is always negative.” The central estimate of the warming of the atmosphere from carbon dioxide increases by the global climate models is always far above observations. Perhaps Tol presents a way to criticize the models which are called non-deterministic.]
Artificial intelligence and weather forecasting…a quiet revolution is taking place in numerical weather prediction.
By Paul Dorian, WUWT, Mar 26, 2024
“The advance in AI forecasting has been rapid during the past few years and one of the important next steps will be to produce ensemble results, which helps to capture uncertainty by running a model multiple times with slightly differing input parameters to create a range of outcomes. While few expect traditional model forecasts to disappear anytime soon, AI will likely approach the point in the near-term where it can be a very useful complement. And when it comes to artificial intelligence, the bottom line is that there is really no telling where this will lead us over the next five or ten years; therefore, as is usually the case when it comes to weather forecasting, stay tuned.”
Traffic Lights and Roundabouts
Why the Climate Models will never work
By Mike Johnes, WUWT, Mar 26, 2024
“In summary, a climate model that works in tiny time steps on a coarse grid can never work for more than a very short time. It can be useful for helping people to understand climate, but it is useless for predicting future climate. And it doesn’t matter how fine a grid is used, or how sophisticated the partial differential formulae are, or how carefully the boundary conditions and chaotic attractors are managed, etc., etc., it still can’t predict more than a short time ahead.”
“Coming back to the last paragraph of the body of this article, clearly what we need in order to be able to make reasonable predictions of climate is an understanding of the longer-term factors like solar activity, ocean oscillations, clouds, storms, etc., and greenhouse gases too, of course. We still don’t know what the sun will do next, and we still don’t know how the sun affects our climate. We still don’t know exactly how all the other factors work and interact.”
Measurement Issues — Surface
The 2023 heat spike: apocalyptic or unusual?
By David Whitehouse, Net Zero Watch, Apr 2, 2024
Link to paper: Climate models can’t explain 2023’s huge heat anomaly — we could be in uncharted territory
Taking into account all known factors, the planet warmed 0.2 °C more last year than climate scientists expected. More and better data are urgently needed.
By Gavin Schmidt, Nature, Mar 19, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Is the need for better data the reason why the director of NASA-GISS claims areas of warming since 1950 where there are no thermometers and gives no proxy evidence?]
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
UAH Global Temperature Update for March 2024: +0.95 deg. C
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Apr 2, 2024
The linear warming trend since January 1979 remains at +0.15 C/decade [+0.25 F].
Changing Weather
Two Separate Studies Affirm No Net Temperature Or Precipitation Change In Pakistan Since The 1700s
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Apr 1, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Both based on tree ring studies.]
US West hydropower production plunged to 22-year low last year
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Mar 26, 2024
Link to report: Western U.S. hydropower generation fell to a 22-year low last year
By Kimberly Peterson, Lindsay Aramayo, et al., EIA, Mar 26, 2024
“In our Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast hydropower generation for electricity market regions (rather than by state) and by calendar year (instead of by water year). In our latest STEO, we forecast 12% less hydropower production in the western market region of California, the Southwest, and the Northwest in 2024 than in 2023.”
[SEPP Comment: The current report is for the water year ending September 2023.]
Unusual Cold Plagues Both Northern, Southern Hemispheres….Arctic Sea Ice Strengthens
By P Gosselin from EIKE, Mar 24, 2024
The Subtropical Jetsteam Versus the Total Eclipse
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Apr 1, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Explains the lesser-known subtropical Jetstream.]
More warmth means a more stable climate
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Mar 27, 2024
From the CO2Science Archive:
BBC’s The Weather machine – 1974
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 24, 2024
There has been much debate about this ice age scare, but what is clear is that extreme weather had grown much worse during this period of cooling. This has long been confirmed by many climate scientists of the time, including HH Lamb.
Weather Machine 1974–US Version
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 24, 2024
Changing Climate
MWP 1.5C Warmer Than 1900–Says HH Lamb
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 1, 2024
The Holocene temperature conundrum
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Apr 3, 2024
“But the paleo data shows cooling took place. Kind of like the sun was running the show.
Which apparently must not be. Unless climate scientists would like to return to a data-driven approach, and policymakers to that fabled evidence-driven decision-making.”
Changing Climate – Cultures & Civilizations
The Long-Troubled History of Northern Ireland
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 2, 2024
Changing Seas
Coastal Inundation: Rising Sea Levels Explained
By David Legates, The Heritage Foundation, Mar 13, 2024
Sea Level Rise Alarm? The Coastlines Of 13,000 Studied Islands Net GREW Seaward From 2000-2020
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Apr 4, 2024
Link to paper: Evolutionary dynamics of island shoreline in the context of climate change: insights from extensive empirical evidence
By Yuxin Zhang, et al, International Journal of Digital Earth, Mar 18, 2024
From the abstract: “. Human activities, particularly reclamation and land filling, were identified as primary drivers of local shoreline transformations, while natural factors have a comparatively minor impact. Moreover, the ongoing rise in sea levels is identified as an exacerbating factor for coastal erosion rather than the primary cause.”
Three More New Studies Affirm Sea Levels Were 5 to 9 Meters Higher Than Today 7000-5000 Years Ago
By Kenneth Richard, NO Tricks Zone, Mar 28, 2024
Link to third study: A multi-proxy reconstruction of the late Holocene vegetation dynamics in Krabi mangroves, Thailand Andaman Sea
By Paramita Punwong, Quaternary Science Advances, Jan 13, 2024
[SEPP Comment: The first two studies are on the coast of northern Norway, which has undergone significant uplift since the last glaciation. Uncertain about the third which relies on mangrove sediments.]
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute Shows January Arctic Sea Ice Now 20 Years Stable!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Mar 27, 2024
[SEPP Comment: After falling for about 20 years. It is premature to identify a trend.]
2024 Arctic sea ice maximum a whopping 14th below average following hottest year since 1850
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Mar 25, 2024
Arctic Ice Marches Upward 2024
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Apr 1, 2024
A good year for Svalbard polar bears due to abundant sea ice coverage
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Apr 2, 2024
[SEPP Comment; And lots of baby seals to eat.]
Desperate Academics
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Mar 28, 2024
[SEPP Comment: When you guess wrong, double down?]
Changing Earth
Climate change ate my watch
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Apr 3, 2024
Link to: Climate change has slowed Earth’s rotation — and could affect how we keep time
The effect of melting polar ice could delay the need for a ‘leap second’ by three years.
By Elizabeth Gibney, Nature, Mar 27, 2024
Robson: “The problem is that the Earth is incredibly colossally huge and complex, weighing some 5.972168 sextillion tonnes, rotating on its axis at around 1,600 km/h while orbiting the sun at a staggering 107,000 km/h. Not only that, but its spin is eccentric, helping cause the so-called “Milankovitch cycles”. It is affected by its unusually large moon; its core is dynamic in ways we don’t really understand, most of these measurements are approximations and we know that Arctic ice has been shrinking and expanding in an irregular natural cycle since long before the invention of the polar bear. To take all these facts and declare that we alone have caused a change that can be measured to the precision of one second in three years is pure spin. And depends as usual on people not reading past the headline.”
Climate change is changing how we keep time
Melting ice sheets are slowing Earth’s rotation speed, complicating global timekeeping
By Carolyn Grambleing, Science News, Mar 27, 2024
[SEPP Comment: The biggest threat to civilization since Y2K?]
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
The Hill Pushes Wishy-Washy Wine Worries
By Linnea Lueken, Climate Realism, Apr 3, 2024
Link to paper: Climate change impacts and adaptations of wine production
By Cornelis van Leeuwen, et al., Nature Reviews, Earth & Environment, Mar 26k 204
“Climate change modifies wine production conditions and requires adaptation from growers.”
[SEPP Comment: And they have never adapted before? Grape vines were as far north as York England in the 1100s. With additional CO2, the biggest change will be from increased sugars in the grapes coming from increased photosynthesis from increased CO2. This change can be addressed by canopy management which growers practice.]
Climate change drank my Prosecco
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Apr 3, 2024
“it’s the mathiness that counts, not the math.”
Lowering Standards
EXCLUSIVE: Met Office Uses Junk Temperature Measurements to Fill “World Treasure” 350-Year Temperature Record
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Apr 2, 2024
Record Rainfall? Met Office Accused Of Hiding The Inconvenient Truth
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 4, 2024
The results are even less exceptional, with the last 24 months being only the 7th wettest. Again 2000/02 and 2012/14 feature at the top, and we also find that 1871/73 was wetter.
Conflict of Energy Forecasts: Saudi Aramco vs. International Energy Agency
Why a Trump administration should quit the IEA
By Rupert Darwall, Real Clear Energy, Apr 4, 2024
“’The IEA has become, so to speak, our armed wing for implementing the Paris agreement,’ France’s President Emmanuel Macron declared two months ago. It is the clearest possible admission that the IEA has morphed into a green propaganda outfit and means that the IEA should not be relied upon to provide trustworthy, unbiased analysis.”
[SEPP Comment: The IEA has lost its way. It no longer makes realistic forecasts, but ones based on green dreams.]
BBC’s Failed ‘Fact Check’ of Daily Sceptic Report on Arctic Sea Ice
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Mar 31, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Fact Checkers playing statistical games?]
Where Did That Drought Go?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 3, 2024
While it was pouring with rain a year ago, the Environment Agency was still warning of drought!
BBC Complaint Filed Over Sackur Interview
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 1, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Boston Globe’s whale protection contradiction
By David Wojick, CFACT, Apr 2, 2024
“The CFACT et al lawsuit is simply calling for this risk to be properly evaluated by NOAA for North Atlantic Right Whales as required by the Endangered Species Act. This is a risk that NOAA has carefully ignored in the headlong rush to needlessly industrialize the ocean with thousands of enormous wind towers.”
Charging Corridors, Stations Will Support Heavy-Duty EV Trucks
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, Mar 27, 2024
“Greenlane on March 27 announced a major project that features a 280-mile charging corridor that eventually could stretch from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Los Angeles, California.”
[SEPP Comment: How many charging stations and at what cost are required for the I-90 run from Seattle to Boston, the longest and busiest trucking route in the US?]
Coastal Utilities Warned of ‘Potentially Explosive’ 2024 Hurricane Season
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, Mar 28, 2024
“Ocean Temperatures Are Off the Charts”
[SEPP Comment: A serious hurricane season is apparent, but “off-the-chart ocean temperatures” is absurd. The biggest problem for utilities is the lack of reliable electricity generation and power lines not hardened for severe weather.]
Daily Mail Eulogise About Floating Wind Power–But Forget About The Cost
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 26, 2024
Get Ready For Underwater Holidays , Says Dopey Telegraph Reporter
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 29, 2024
The Seattle Times Says Washington State is in a Serious Drought. Is this True?
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Mar 26, 2024
No, Savannah Morning News, a Warm Spring is No Indication of Climate Change
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Apr 5, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Dangerous humid heat in southern West Africa about 4°C hotter due to climate change
By Staff, World Weather Attribution, Mar 21, 2024
Simple equations clarify cloud climate conundrum
Press Release, University of Exeter, April 1, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: Weak anvil cloud area feedback suggested by physical and observational constraints
By Brett McKim, Sandrine Bony & Jean-Louis Dufresne, Nature Geoscience, April 1, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Doubt it.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Climate change driving up inflation in food prices: Study
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Mar 25, 2024
Link to paper: Global warming and heat extremes to enhance inflationary pressures
Maximilian Kotz, et al., Nature, Communications Earth & Environment, Mar 21, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Increasing photosynthesis is driving up food prices?]
Fantasy policy in Whitehall
By Andrew Montford, Net Zero Watch, Mar 26, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Government predicted capacity of offshore wind: 60 to 70%, real capacity 40 to 45%.]
Living Outside The Niche
By Willis Eschenbach, WUWT, Mar 27, 2024
Link to paper: Future of the human climate niche
By Chi Xu, et al., PNAS, May 4, 2020
From the abstract: “Here, we demonstrate that for millennia, human populations have resided in the same narrow part of the climatic envelope available on the globe, characterized by a major mode around ∼11 °C to 15 °C mean annual temperature (MAT).”
[SEPP Comment: The tropical rainforest regions have a mean temperature between 20 to 29°C (68 and 84 °F) and the tropical savanna is slightly hotter with high temperatures at about 30°C (86 °F). Humans cannot live where the species evolved?]
#GettingWorse: Extreme wetness in the US
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Apr 3, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
You’ve just gotta believe
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Mar 27, 2024
This “transformation” is a different matter. It is government-driven and halting and is being forced in against consumer preferences. Maybe it will succeed but we’ll believe it when we see it given the long and disastrous history of governmental ‘industrial policy’ across many lands.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
Trust us, Kids, We’re Climate ‘Educators’
By Tony Thomas, Quadrant, Apr 2, 2024
Training little climate marxists, two thousand at a time…
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 3, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Protest
Extinction Rebellion Interrupts Easter Mass Because Nothing is Beneath Them
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Mar 31, 2024
Video
Extinction Rebellion Attacks an Electric Vehicle at the New York Auto Show
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Apr 4, 2024
Batman to the rescue — masked men install protected bat boxes over ULEZ traffic cameras
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 3, 2024
“Thousands of ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) cameras have been installed to record numberplates of offending older cars so their owners can be charged £12.50 for daring to drive a non-compliant car in London. This usually means any diesel car made before 2014 or a petrol car made before 2006, so the fines especially hurt low paid workers, students and retirees.”
CANT TOUCH THIS – Anti-Net Zero Vigilantes Converting Vandalized Low Emission Zone Cameras Into Protected Species Habitats
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Apr 4, 2024
See link immediately above.
Expanding the Orthodoxy
8 nonprofits to administer $20 billion in federal climate funds
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Apr 4, 2024
“The eight selected institutions are expected to be formally announced Thursday by Vice President Harris and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan.
The institutions are: Climate United Fund, Coalition for Green Capital, Power Forward Communities, Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv [https://inclusiv.org], Justice Climate Fund, Appalachian Community Capital and Native CDFI Network.”
Questioning European Green
European Conservatives: How Has Fossil Fuel Suppression Worked Out For You?
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Apr 3, 2024
“To the surprise of no one who pays attention, the price of energy for UK consumers has soared. Greenmatch here in a piece from March 15, 2024, reports that the average annual electricity bill for a UK consumer rose from £764 in 2021 to £2000 in 2022. By 2023, the price per kWh for electricity for a UK consumer had hit an average of 27 p. That’s equivalent to about 35¢ U.S., or well more than double the average U.S. consumer electricity price.”
Isle of Wight families struggle with soaring heating costs in ‘eco-friendly’ homes
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 28, 2024
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Can ‘clean energy’ schemes get any crazier?
By Paul Driessen, WUWT, Apr 1, 2024
Green Jobs
Biden’s Last Chance to Advance Climate and Job Goals Ahead of Election
By Mark Compton, Real Clear Energy, Apr 2, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Will “green jobs” include cobalt and lithium extraction and processing?]
Non-Green Jobs
Claim: Questioning Attribution Studies is the “Gateway Drug” to Climate Denial
By Eric Worrall, Apr 3, 2024
“If the reason for job losses in the USA was automation and technological progress, manufacturing would all still all be happening in the USA. The real reason lots of industrial activity moved to China and other parts of Asia, is because China prioritises affordable energy over green fantasies – even their solar panel manufacturing industry is powered by coal.”
Funding Issues
Zuckerbucks, no! But Bloombergbucks…ok?
By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight (GAO). Apr 4, 2024
The Political Games Continue
U.S. Congress to International Energy Agency (Fatih Birol): Stop ‘Net Zero’ Cheerleading!
By Robert Bradley Jr, Master Resource, Apr 5, 2024
From a letter signed by Sen Barrasso and Rep Rodgers to the chair of the IEA: Number “16. Please explain why the IEA does not make its data, methodologies, and assumptions publicly and freely available, as the EIA does.”
Litigation Issues
Court strikes down Biden rule requiring states and cities to set climate targets for transportation
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Mar 28, 2024
SEC pauses climate disclosure rule pending court challenge
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Apr, 4, 2024
Federal court finalizes ‘forever chemical’ settlement between 3M, water systems for billions
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Apr 2, 2024
“Notorious for their ability to persist in the body and the environment, PFAS have been linked to cancers and other serious illnesses. There are thousands of types of PFAS — substances found not only in the firefighting foam but also in industrial waste and a variety of household products.”
[SEPP Comment: Sue and settle: more effort by companies to buy peace that will never be. Weak statistical linking is hardly physical evidence.]
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Blatant Violations’: Watchdog Challenges Key Data Used By Biden Admin To Push Sweeping Climate Agenda
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Apr 3, 2024
“NOAA declined to comment, citing the active nature of the scientific integrity complaint.”
Barr-backed business lobbying group sues California over truck emissions rule
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Apr 5, 2024
“The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce filed its lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.”
Dominion Energy’s absurd reply to CFACT’s whale protection lawsuit
By David Wojick, CFACT, Mar 26, 2024
“This central claim by Dominion is simply absurd: ‘The overwhelming consensus of federal agencies and scientific organizations is that offshore wind does not adversely impact marine life.’ No adverse impact? Seriously?”
Release: Transparency-in-Government Group Files Amicus Brief Exposing EAP Flouting Doctrine Against Pretextual Rulemaking
By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight (GAO). Apr 5, 2024
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Rejecting Calls for Carbon Taxes Is Common Sense
By Carla Sanda, WUWT, Apr 3, 2024
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Bloomberg: Wind and solar will need subsidies indefinitely
By Isaak Orr, The American Experiment, Mar 25, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
From an interview with author Brett Christophers” “’ The basic argument is simple, and it’s something that the world doesn’t want to admit: The business of developing and owning and operating solar and wind farms and selling electricity is kind of a lousy business.’”
[SEPP Comment: Yet many businesses, utilities, operated successfully until solar and wind began receiving subsidies. Is the lousy business selling the lousy product!]
NZW says time-of-use cap amounts to energy rationing
Press release, Net Zero Watch, Mar 26, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Government policy establishing artificial shortages.]
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes Strongest Ever Greenhouse Gas Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Protect Public Health and Address the Climate Crisis While Keeping the American Economy Moving
Press Release, EPA, Mar 29, 2024
Ethylene Oxide Final Rule: Less Than Produced In The Human Body
By Susan Goldhaber, ACSH, Mar 25, 2024
[SEPP Comment: More Linear No Threshold (LNT) model non-sense from EPA.]
‘Forever chemicals’ are pervasive. Here are 4 ways to avoid them in consumer products
By Rachel Frazin and Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Apr 3, 2024
“A group of toxic chemicals known as PFAS have been found in a wide range of consumer products — from nonstick pans to period-proof panties.
Exposure to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) has been linked to a number of ailments, including kidney and testicular cancer and thyroid disease. The chemicals are also sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they linger in the human body and the environment instead of breaking down.”
[SEPP Comment: Why are they toxic if they don’t cause harm or break down? One 2011 study on mice is hardly compelling.]
Energy Issues – Non-US
A global energy transition reality check
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Mar 27, 2024
“The fabled green energy transition really is like the Yeti. Various climate alarmists rush about insisting they’ve not only glimpsed it somewhere, they have a blurry image that might possibly not be an activist in a gorilla suit.”
The Green Energy Mess That Nobody Will Admit to
By Ben Pile, The Daily Sceptic, Mar 31, 2024
Yet neither the report itself, which is at best agnostic about renewables, nor the stories that cover it, seem to have taken seriously the harm that Net Zero and adjacent agendas have done to our industries, businesses and economy – and are set to do worse.
UK To Force “Green” Energy on North Sea Oil & Gas Platforms
By David Middleton, WUWT, Apr 2, 2024
444,000 semi-loads of food? Just another day on planet earth
By Terry Etam, BOE Report, Mar 27, 2024 [H/t WUWT]
The smart meters scandal is about to explode in our faces
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 28, 2024
Factcheck: 18 misleading myths about heat pumps
By Jan Rosenow, principal and director of European programmes at the Regulatory Assistance Project, Carbon Brief, Mar 21, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Addresses some of the incorrect complaints against heat pumps. Modern gas boilers require electricity for the relay, circuit boards, blower motor and electric ignition. So, an electrical blackout would affect both types of heating. However, a battery backup for a gas furnace is far less costly and longer lasting than one for a heat pump.]
Just as power grids struggle, the AI and EV electricity monsters turn up for breakfast
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 2, 2024
NZW says time-of-use cap amounts to energy rationing
Press release, Net Zero Watch, Mar 26, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Is government policy to establish artificial shortages?]
Energy Issues — US
Which Power Source is Best
By Roger Caiazza, WUWT, Mar 28, 2024
“Demands for a hurried transition from conventional, reliable energy sources to unreliable and expensive renewable alternatives are threatening the reliability of the North American electric grid. Pushing for increased efficiency and improved environmental performance is a laudable (and achievable) goal. However, we cannot allow misplaced environmental zeal to obscure electricity’s pivotal role in promoting human health and well-being and powering our society.”
[SEPP Comment: Interesting ranking system based on Capacity reliability; environmental/human impact; cost; technology/innovation; and market feasibility to achieve a final grade.]
Port of Baltimore closure shuts down No. 2 US coal export hub
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Mar 28, 2024
Link to Analysis: What are the energy impacts from the Port of Baltimore closure?
By Jonathan Church, et al., EIA, Mar 28, 2024
Last coal plants in New England to close; renewables take their place
By Clayton Vickers, The Hill, Mar 27, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Will New England import more natural gas from Russia?]
Alaska Bad Bill 2: Electric Utility Regulation (SB 257)
By Kassie Andrews, Master Resource, Apr 4, 2024
“’Senate Bill 257 lays the groundwork for an electric system that is more affordable, more sustainable, more equitable, a grid that can power a prosperous future for generations of Alaskans to come.’
“Sustainability and equity in our electric system? The last thing needed is an energy framework based on the highly politicized and dangerous United Nations Sustainability Goals.”
NYSERDA Solar Quiz Misinformation
By Roger Caiazza, Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York, Mar 23, 2024
“In brief, the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) are hiring a public relations outfit, using $500,000 per year of public money, to “maintain a positive narrative” and “respond to negative viewpoints” about the state’s Climate Act. This article shows the likely result of that effort – NYSERDA’s Think You Know Solar – Take the Solar Quiz.”
“No amount of public relations investment to spin stories to be consistent with the Hochul Administration narrative are going to be able to hide the reality of the disgraceful utility-scale solar siting policies. Those policies are going to cause much more harm than acknowledged by the State.”
Washington’s Control of Energy
The Entire Push To Halt New Natural Gas Exports Traces Back To One Ivy League Prof And His Shaky Study
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Apr 2, 2024
Link to paper: The Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Exported from the United States
By Robert W. Howarth, Preprint, submitted Oct 24, 2023 & Mar 24, 2024
Biden’s Signature Climate Law Has A Major Achilles’ Heel — And Dems Are Making It Worse
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Mar 29, 2024
“The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) contained hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize green energy projects nationwide, but the bill did not include significant reform to the permitting process that would expedite construction timelines and insulate developments from environmental legal challenges.”
The Incredible Dumbness of Biden’s War on LNG
By David Middleton, WUWT, Apr 3, 2024
Biden finalizes rule to prevent methane emissions and wasted gas from public lands drilling
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Mar 27, 2024
Biden administration commits $6B to cut emissions from high-carbon industries
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Mar 25, 2024
The Biden EV Plan Needs American Mining
By Rich Nolan, Real Clear Energy, March 28, 2024
Biden administration bars drilling in Colorado’s Thompson Divide landscape
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Apr 3, 2024
The Thompson Divide is known for ranching and grazing lands, as well as wildlife, outdoor recreation and clean water, according to the administration.
Organized Theft in the Name of Government – Biden’s Executive Order 14008 locks away 30% of U.S. land by 2030, under the pretext of protecting the planet’
By Tom DeWeese, Via Marc Morano, Climate Depot, Mar 29, 2024
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
US was world’s largest liquified natural gas exporter last year
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Apr 1, 2024
Link to report: The United States was the world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter in 2023
By Victoria Zaretskaya, et al., EIA, Apr 1, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Not for long if Washington can stop it.]
Canada ‘not interested’ in investing in LNG facilities, energy minister says
By Nivedita Balu, Reuters, Mar 31, 2024
“Countries including Greece, Germany and Japan have expressed interest in purchasing Canada’s LNG while the United States has paused expansion of American LNG exports.”
Over 20% of the World’s Oil Refining Capacity Is at Risk of Closure
By Charles Kennedy, Oil Price.com, Mar 28, 2024
“Meanwhile, oil majors have recently announced upcoming closures of European oil refineries that would be converted into biofuels-making facilities. The latest include Eni’s refinery in Livorno, Italy, and Shell’s oil refinery at the Wesseling site in Germany which will be converted into a production unit for base oils.”
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Nuclear Power: What About the Waste? What About the Facts?
By Robert Hargraves, Real Clera Energy, Apr 3, 2024
The Lasting Impacts Of Scientific Fraud
By Susan Goldhaber, ACSH, Feb 13, 2024
“The Price Anderson Suicide Pact” (Devanny on nuclear power insurance reform)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Mar 26, 2024
“At Three Mile Island in 1979, the maximum individual dose to the public was 0.37 mSv, about the same as the additional dose he would have received by moving to Denver for a month. The paid claims totaled $71 million, but barely over 50% of the money went to the public,”
Long-Awaited Milestone: Fuel Loading Begins at India’s Prototype Fast Nuclear Reactor
By Sonal Pael, Power Mag, Apr 2, 2024
Palisades Nuclear Plant on Path to Recommissioning by 2025
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, Mar 27, 2024
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment of up to $1.52 billion for a loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades LLC to finance the restoration and resumption of service of the Palisades Power Plant, an 800-MW nuclear generating station in Covert Township, Michigan
[SEPP Comment: More taxpayer bailouts following mindless government power policies. And hundreds of billions for unreliable wind and solar.]
Bill Gates’ TerraPower Ready to Build New U.S. Nuclear Power Plant
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, Mar 19, 2024
The group has received about $1 billion in private funding, with the U.S. government reportedly supporting the Wyoming project with as much as $2 billion.
The Natrium reactor design will use liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water.
Say no to small modular reactors: Stop normalizing the exploitation of nature
By Erin Hurley, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Apr 1, 2024
“Erin Hurley is a fourth-year student at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where she studies Environment & Society.”
“Humans cannot effect meaningful change in the face of the climate crisis without seriously reexamining the relationship they have with Earth. Can we dismantle the current relationship in favor of reciprocal relationships with the natural world and each other?”
[SEPP Comment: “The Bulletin elevates expert voices above the noise.” ??? Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing increasing photosynthesis, therefore Earth is doomed? The Doomsday Clock is 90 seconds to Midnight.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Wind and Solar The Grand Illusion
From: What’s Wrong with Wind and Solar
Video featuring Mark Mills, Text by Ron Clutz, Mar 25, 2024
“’Unobtanium’ works fine in the movies. But we don’t live in movies. We live in the real world.”
Extreme weather offers untapped opportunities for renewable energy
By Clarence Oxford, Los Angeles CA (SPX), Apr 01, 2024
Link to paper: Enhanced solar and wind potential during widespread temperature extremes across the U.S. interconnected energy grids
By Deepti Singh, et al., Environmental Research Letters, Mar 15, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Who pays for the massive grid expansion?]
2,500 football fields of new solar panels destroyed by hail in Texas this week
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Mar 27, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Nature’s view of the energy transition?]
Unreliable And Toxic
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Mar 27, 2024
Text and Vidoe: https://realclimatescience.com/2024/03/unreliable-and-toxic/#gsc.tab=0
Video: https://realclimatescience.com/2024/03/unreliable-and-toxic-2/#gsc.tab=0
All hail the energy transition
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Apr 3, 2024
‘Turbine graveyards’ sprawled across Texas
Video by Sky News Australia, Accessed Mar 30, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
[SEPP Comment: Clean energy ghosts of tax credits past?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Enviva bankruptcy fallout ripples through biomass industry, U.S. and EU
By Justin Catanoso, Mongabay, Apr 2, 2024
“In March, [Maryland based] Enviva, the world’s largest woody biomass producer for industrial energy, declared bankruptcy.”
Expert on Expert: The Future of Advanced Biofuels
By Staff, Real Clear Energy, Apr 3, 2024
[SEPP Comment: As other green organizations claim false grain shortages.]
Dig deep: US bets on geothermal to become renewable powerhouse
By Thomas Urbain, TechXploe, Mar 25, 2024
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-03-deep-geothermal-renewable-powerhouse.html
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage
BESS Projects Boost Clean Energy in Europe
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, Apr 2, 2024
https://www.powermag.com/bess-projects-boost-clean-energy-in-europe/?oly_enc_id=7809H6412578J0B
“Portugal has a goal to produce at least 80% of its electricity from renewable energy resources by 2050. Several companies are investing in the country’s power infrastructure, including Powin, an Oregon-headquartered energy storage platform provider that has partnered with Galp, a leading Portuguese integrated energy group, to install battery energy storage systems (BESSs).”
[SEPP Comment: No costs estimate of the storage systems.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Is a Consumer Revolution Against EVs Looming?
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Mar 25, 2024
https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/electric-vehicles-evs/2024/03/25/id/1158513
EV Sales Stall [UK]
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 4, 2024
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/04/04/ev-sales-stall-2
“It is painfully obvious that both the government and the opposition parties have believed their own propaganda far too long, thinking that EVs are wonderful and that the public would be queuing up to buy them once a few more charging stations were built. Just as with many other matters, the Westminster establishment has totally lost contact with the real world.”
Carbon Schemes
U.S. Leadership on Carbon Capture and Storage Is Critical
By George David Banks, Real Clear Energy, Apr 1, 2024
[SEPP Comment: The “former chief strategist for Republicans on the House climate committee” is clueless.]
Will Volcanic Dust Soak Up Carbon?
By Ian Magness, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 29, 2024
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/03/29/will-volcanic-dust-soak-up-carbon
Homewood: “If it is such a good and cost-effective fertilizer, then surely farmers would be using it already?”
What should the government do about carbon capture?
Government should eliminate all special preferences and all special punishments for carbon capture.
By Alex Epstein, His Blog, Apr 1, 2024 [H/t Clare Goldsberry]
California Dreaming
An open letter to the California Air Resources Board
Press Release: The CO2 Coalition, Mar 22, 2024
https://co2coalition.org/publications/an-open-letter-to-the-california-air-resources-board
Link to letter: An open letter to the California Air Resources Board
By Gregory Wrightstone, The CO2 Coalition, Mar 22, 2024
https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/CO2C-Letter-to-CARB-Body.pdf
California Floating Wind Turbines? Environmental Pushback
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Apr 2, 2024
https://www.masterresource.org/california-energy-policy/floating-wind-turbines-california-coastline
“On January 24, 2024, Democrat Congressman Jared Huffman gave a speech in Humboldt County applauding the securing of $426 million federal grant dollars [U.S. Department of Transportation] for the establishment of floating wind farming turbines off the Humboldt County coastline. Local leaders, commissions, private and public businesses, and the indigenous community seemed to be onboard.”
“The $426,719,810 grant for the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District comes through the U.S. Department of Transportation, funded in part by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs act of 2021.”
[SEPP Comment: Humboldt Bay is south of Eureka, CA, more than halfway between San Francisco and Oregon.]
The Cost of Offshore Wind vs. Carbon Sequestration
By Edward Ring, What’s Current? Accessed Mar 30, 2024
https://mailchi.mp/calpolicycenter/whats-current-issue-377525?e=cd9fa89d1e
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has set planning goals for floating offshore wind turbines, calling for between 2 and 5 gigawatts of “nameplate capacity” operating by 2030, and 25 gigawatts by 2045. Note “floating.”
Health, Energy, and Climate
Reducing Air Pollution Is Always A Good Thing, But How Good Has It Really Been?
By Fred Lipfert, ACSH, Mar 19, 2024
As I have written, statistical associations do not comprise “evidence.” Evidence requires that measured inputs to the system (emissions) be compared with measured outputs (health benefits), and studies rarely performed.
‘Count Your Children After The Measles Has Passed’
By Barbara Pfeffer Billauer, and Henry Miller, ACSH, Mar 25, 2024
[SEPP Comment: How much harm did “I am science” Fauci cause?]
Environmental Industry
‘The River Is Essentially Dead’: How Enviros’ Push To Save Salmon Ended Up Killing ‘Hundreds Of Thousands’ Of Them
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Mar 24, 2024
Other Scientific News
Genesis will measure Earth in millimetric detail from space
By Robert Schreiber Berlin, Germany (SPX) Mar 26, 2024
Yale Scientists Uncover Earth’s Hidden Bioelectric System
By Clarence Oxford, Los Angeles CA (SPX), Mar 25, 2024
Link to paper: Widespread extracellular electron transfer pathways for charging microbial cytochrome OmcS nanowires via periplasmic cytochromes PpcABCDE
By Pilar Portela, et al., Nature Communications, Mar 20, 2024
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46192-0
[SEPP Comment: A mechanism for chemo-synthesizing bacteria?]
Other News that May Be of Interest
Aruba Embraces the Rights of Nature and a Human Right to a Clean Environment
A draft constitutional amendment would make the Caribbean nation the second country in the world to recognize that nature has the right to exist.
By Katie Surma, Inside Climate News, Mar 25, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Carbon dioxide is critical for photosynthesis. By humans enhancing atmospheric carbon dioxide, green life on Earth is flourishing, and all life dependent on photosynthesis. Wouldn’t restricting CO2 emissions interfere with the “Rights of Nature”?]
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
No More Beer!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 26, 2024
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/03/26/no-more-beer
BBC’s The Weather machine – 1974
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 24, 2024
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/03/24/bbcs-the-weather-machine-1974
There has been much debate about this ice age scare, but what is clear is that extreme weather had grown much worse during this period of cooling. This has long been confirmed by many climate scientists of the time, including HH Lamb.
Defending Canada from heat tyranny
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Apr 3, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2024/04/03/defending-canada-from-heat-tyranny
Green Macaroni to the Rescue
By Kip Hansen, WUWT, Mar 26, 2024
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/03/25/green-macaroni-to-the-rescue
“Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Monday that her agency would partially fund 33 different projects in 20 states to test methods for curbing emissions from a wide variety of factories and industrial plants, calling it ‘the single largest industrial decarbonization investment in American history.’….”Kraft Heinz, a food manufacturer, would get up to $170.9 million to install electric boilers and heat pumps at 10 facilities across the country, where they would be used to generate the large amounts of heat needed for things like drying macaroni without directly burning fossil fuels.”
Fossil Fuels To End Risotto
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Mar 27, 2024
https://realclimatescience.com/2024/03/fossil-fuels-to-end-risotto/#gsc.tab=0
Have We Reached Peak Climate Nuttery?
By I & I Editorial Board, Mar 28, 2024
https://issuesinsights.com/2024/03/28/have-we-reached-peak-climate-nuttery
Link to paper: Global warming and heat extremes to enhance inflationary pressures
By Maximilian Kotz, et al., Nature, Communications Earth & Environment, Mar 21, 2024
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-01173-x
[SEPP Comment: People spend more on casual goods in the summer than the winter, therefore???]
Magic mushrooms
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Mar 27, 2024
https://climatediscussionnexus.com/2024/03/27/magic-mushrooms
New Research Finds that Solar Eclipses are Harder to See Due to Global Warming
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Apr 1, 2024
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/04/new-research-finds-that-solar-eclipses.html
“According to the ICCC, the International Committee on Climate Change, which includes leading climate scientists from around the world, solar eclipses have become 24% less visible due to climate change-related cloudiness increases. Their analysis suggests that if CO2 concentrations remain at their current level, the associated warming and increased cloudiness will result in nearly 46% of total eclipse events being obscured by clouds by the end of the century.”
[SEPP Comment: Is the post an April Fool’s joke?]
Radia’s WindRunner to be the world’s largest aircraft ever built
Guess what can fit inside the world’s largest plane.
By Rizwan Choudhury, Interesting Engineering, Mar 16, 2024
“The WindRunner’s gargantuan form will necessitate specialized infrastructure. 6,000-foot semi-prepared runways will be needed at sites where turbine blades are manufactured to accommodate its landings and takeoffs.
The WindRunner’s primary mission is transporting the gigantic blades of onshore wind turbines. These turbines can reach lengths between 150-300 feet and weigh upwards of 35 tons. These massive dimensions severely limit existing transportation methods; offshore turbines rely on specialized marine vessels, hindering wider adoption of onshore wind farms.”
[SEPP Comment: What about the runways at or near the construction site?]
Telegraph Compares Solar Capacity With Nuclear!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Mar 25, 2024
ARTICLES
1. The Coming Electricity Crisis
Artificial-intelligence data centers and climate rules are pushing the power grid to what could become a breaking point.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, Mar 28, 2024
TWTW Summary: Key points covered in the This Week section above.
****************
2. Biden’s Order: Let There Be Electric Trucks
EPA’s latest EV mandate is the most costly and fanciful to date.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, Updated March 31, 2024
TWTW Summary: Key points covered in the This Week section above.
Isn’t this jump in the lower troposphere strange?
Even Albo was prone to a bit of unhingedness; “Everything is determined”. But it isn’t.
Bring back the Ents
“…farmers and ranchers don’t need to be victims of a changing world; they can instead be the heroes who save us from the two greatest threats facing our planet and our species. All it would take would be to recognize that restoration and stewardship of natural ecosystems that fight the climate crisis and support wildlife is an agricultural occupation essential to our welfare and security, and to adapt agricultural policies toward supporting farmers who choose to ranch carbon instead of cattle.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/02/cattle-trees-climate-change-solution
Hoom hom etc.
Free lunch
“They look a little like cockroaches and have bulging orange eyes, and trillions of them are about to erupt from the earth in much of the midwestern and eastern United States.”
…
[Global warming to blame]
“As with most interactions between humans and the natural world, humans pose the bigger threat. Cicadas choose to burst aboveground when the soil temperature hits a certain point – usually around 64F (17C) – and global heating, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is potentially scrambling this natural process.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/07/cicada-geddon-brood-season-midwest-eastern
Exaggerations of the day
“Global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide climbed to unseen levels in 2023, underlining climate crisis”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/06/record-highs-heat-trapping-gases-climate-crisis
We know that the current Carbon dioxide level of ~421ppm is very far from unprecedented. And it remains unseen… except by beady-eyed wunderkind, Greta Thunberg. It’s a similar story with Methane. In the Devonian epoch ~400 million years ago, CO2 was ~2,000ppm and Methane was well over 1,000ppm. The only data on N2O I can dig up goes back a very short way, not worth considering; so I’ll leave that to anyone who knows of any data out there.
Good law – everybody needs good law….
“The Charity Commission is facing a legal challenge by MPs over its failure to investigate campaigning by a thinktank that questions climate science.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, Labour’s Clive Lewis and Green MP Caroline Lucas, supported by the Good Law Project, have sent a legal letter to the regulator over an unresolved complaint they made in October 2022.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/05/mps-accuse-charity-commission-of-legal-breach-over-climate-sceptic-thinktank
Where to start? Well, Moran is certifiable ‘pansexual’ lunatic. Clive Lewis is similarly unhinged…
“Labour MP Clive Lewis has apologised for using a misogynist phrase at a Labour party conference fringe event last month after being criticised by several prominent female colleagues. Video from the Momentum event in Brighton surfaced on Friday in which Lewis, the MP for Norwich, told the actor Sam Swann to “get on your knees bitch”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/20/labour-mp-clive-lewis-apologises-for-get-on-your-knees-comment.
Does Caroline Lucas need an introduction? I think we’re all aware of how misanthropic she is. The last link in this chain is the irrepressible Jolyon Maugham, aka The Good Law Project, personified.
The Fox beater
“Prominent lawyer Jolyon Maugham clubs fox to death while wearing kimono”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/26/prominent-lawyer-jolyon-maugham-tweets-about-clubbing-a-fox-to-death
Serial losers
“The Good Law Project has a found a fresh new target to swing at. They announced last night that they’re going to challenge the Charity Commission over the Institute of Economic Affairs’ charity status due to its so-called “political campaigning and unbalanced educational research“. Maugham has “teamed up” with a small handful of usual suspect leftie MPs including Clive Lewis and Layla Moran to bring this next losing case.”
https://order-order.com/2024/03/14/the-good-law-project-announces-their-next-losing-case-going-after-the-iea/
“A week and a half ago, the Good Law Project announced they were challenging the Charity Commission over the Institute of Economic Affairs’ charity status due to its so-called “political campaigning and unbalanced educational research“. As Guido predicted, it’s fallen at the first hurdle…
The Charity Commission has rejected the Good Law Project’s demand to open a formal inquiry into the free market think tank, stating: “We have assessed the concerns raised and have not identified concerns that the charity is acting outside of its objects or the Commission’s published guidance.”
https://order-order.com/2024/03/26/good-law-projects-complaint-against-iea-thrown-out/
And it’s only Monday.
To be fair, the economic effect of the EPA mandate for electric vehicles is mostly yet to come. The transportation inflation from 2019 – 2013 was enhanced by a host of other governmental actions – primarily directly against fossil fuels and transportation of any kind during the lockdown..
A disturbing bit about the IEA –
It has gone from this –
The IEA was set up under the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis to respond to physical disruptions in global oil supplies, provide data and statistics about the global oil market and energy sector
To this –
Recently, it has focused in particular on supporting global efforts to accelerate clean energy transition, mitigate climate change, reach net zero emissions, and prevent global temperatures from rising above 1.5 °C