The Week That Was: 2026-08-08 (August 8, 2026)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “[W]e compare the result of [a theory’s] computation to nature, … compare it directly with observations, to see if it works. If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science.” — Richard Feynman The Character of Physical Law (1965) p. 150 [H/t Richard Lindzen & William Happer]
Number of the Week: Increase of 140 ppmv, 0.32 ℃ (0.58 ℉) or 6%
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This TWTW begins with an editorial by Steven Koonin on the claim by the National Academies that the Academies can attribute extreme weather events to increasing carbon dioxide. TWTW discusses a letter by Richard Lindzen and William Happer to the chairman of the SEC stating that the climate disclosure rule must be withdrawn. TWTW closes with comments from an interview of Henrick Svensmark by Willie Soon and Ronan Connolly.
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No Longer Serves Its Purpose: Physicist Steven Koonin is now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and he chaired the National Research Council’s (NCR) Divisional Committee for Engineering and Physical Sciences from 2014 to 2019. According to its website the purpose of the NCR is the following: [Boldface added]
“The purpose of the National Research Council is to help improve public policy, understanding, and education in matters of science, technology, and health. To accomplish this purpose, the Council promotes the increase and dissemination of knowledge in the natural and social sciences, mathematics, engineering and medicine, and the use of this knowledge to benefit the public welfare.
To this end, and under policies established by the National Academy of Sciences, in consultation with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine which have been organized under the corporate charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council shall be the principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine for service in the national interest and for furnishing scientific and technical advice to governmental and other organizations.”
As a former insider Koonin explains how the leadership of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) and a few members can issue a political document asserting specific extreme weather events can be tied to greenhouse gas emissions while claiming the scientific authority of the NASEM. The politicalized report is “Attribution of Extreme Weather and Climate Events and their Impacts” which was issued by the National Academies on July 15, 2026, and was deceitfully called a consensus study but it was not a consensus of the members of the National Academies.
In the Wall Street Journal Koonin writes: [Boldface added]
“When the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine speak, Americans assume they are hearing from thousands of the country’s most accomplished researchers. That isn’t always true.
The academies released a report on July 16 asserting that specific extreme weather events can be tied to greenhouse gas emissions. Media coverage treated the report as the collective judgment of more than 8,400 members—each elected for a lifetime of distinguished achievement. The report itself reinforces that impression, declaring that it ‘represents the position of the National Academies.’
But look who actually wrote it. Of the 14 report authors, only one is a National Academies member. Of the 14 reviewers, only one is a member. Only one of the two people overseeing the review process is a member. The report states that reviewers ‘were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations . . . nor did they see the final draft before its release.’ There is no indication that more than a few academies members even saw the report before it was released.
The National Academies’ institutional seal is being used to bless the conclusions of a small committee, not the thousands of researchers whose prestige gives that seal its weight.
That isn’t a fluke. It is how the system works, as I know from six years as chairman of an academies oversight committee. The National Academies are really four entities under a single brand. Three of these are the honorific academies, with elected membership earned, permanent and under no obligation to produce reports. The fourth is the National Research Council, a staff-run operation that solicits studies, recruits committees and produces reports. Academies members oversee the process at a high level, but day-to-day decisions are made by nonmember staff and outside experts.”
Koonin asserts that for routine topics with little controversy and limited public consequence the distinction between the National Research Council and the National Academies is not important. Then, Koonin concludes with:
“Weather attribution, on the other hand, is at the center of a live, consequential policy debate. Decisively linking extreme weather to emissions would bolster billion-dollar tort claims. But the science itself is contested: Attributing a specific storm or heat wave to emissions requires disentangling human influence from natural variability in inherently chaotic systems.
On a topic like this, placing a committee’s judgment on the academies’ institutional letterhead isn’t neutral. It launders a contestable conclusion into the apparent consensus of thousands of elite researchers—a consensus that was never solicited, debated or explicitly endorsed.
The fix consists of two simple steps. First, be honest with readers. Every report should carry a disclaimer—for example, ‘While this report has been endorsed by National Academies leadership, it has not been endorsed, or even reviewed, by the academies’ membership at large.’ This would prevent the public from mistaking a committee’s view for membership consensus.
Second, let academies members speak. Create a members-only forum where they can publicly comment on a report after its release. The report wouldn’t be reopened or delayed—but for the first time, the public would see whether the ‘position of the National Academies’ reflects the range of members’ views, or only those of the 14 people who happened to be on the committee.
If the academies want to speak with the authority of thousands, they should let those thousands be heard.”
Koonin’s editorial demonstrates the leadership of the National Academies is misleading the American public and it as well as the National Research Council no longer serves its stated public purpose. See Article # 1, https://www.nationalacademies.org/articles-of-organization-of-the-national-research-council for the purpose of the National Research Council, and https://www.nationalacademies.org/projects/DELS-BASCPR-23-02/publication/28590 for the report.
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Letter to the SEC: Charles Weller, Senior Legal Advisor for the CO2 Coalition, sent TWTW a copy of a letter that Richard Lindzen and William Happer sent to A Countryman, Secretary of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “The Untold Science of GHGs Demonstrates the Climate-Related Disclosure Rule Must Be Rescinded.” Below are key points including The Summary, Conclusions, and a chart of particular interest are: [Boldface in original]
“I. Summary
We are career physicists who have specialized in radiation physics and dynamic heat transfer for decades. Contrary to the Human Caused Global Warming Theory, the untold physics of CO2 is that CO2 has had virtually no warming power since 1750, when the CO2 level in the atmosphere was about 280 parts per million (“ppm”). Further, the physics is that the five other EPA listed GHGs are too small to matter.
Therefore, increasing CO2 since 1750 and into the future has caused and will only cause tiny increases in global temperatures and thus no extreme weather. However, increasing CO2 will create more food for people worldwide and reducing CO2 will reduce food worldwide.
As a result, the Final Rule will harm, not benefit, investors because it mandates companies to disclose scientifically false and misleading information that these GHGs cause high temperatures and extreme weather.
Further, the Final Rule’s costs are enormous. Rescinding the Final Rule “could generate annualized savings of about $4.9 billion per year over the next 10 years.” 90 FR p. 33,312.
Unless the rule is rescinded, these costs will be imposed on affected companies.
We acknowledge our conclusions are totally contrary to the consensus. However, science is determined by the scientific method, not by consensus.
Thus, the Final Rule must be rescinded. Scientific details follow.
I. Summary ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
II. The Untold Science that CO2 Has Had Virtually No Warming Power Since 1750 and the Other EPA GHGs Are Too Small to Matter ……………………………………………………………… 3 A. What is, and Is Not, Science ………………………………………………………………………………… 3
B. We Need Only Focus on CO2 Because the Other EPA Listed GHGs Are Too Small to Matter ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
C. The Physics of Why CO2 Has Had Virtually No Warming Power Since 1750 ………… 4
D. The Physics that CO2 Over 280 ppm Has Virtually No Warming Power Explains Why Temperatures Were Not Catastrophically High When CO2 Levels Were Much Higher Than Today for Hundreds of Millions of Years ………………………………………………… 5
Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6
Curriculum Vitae …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
Fig. 1. CO2’s Warming Power Decreases Very Rapidly With More CO2
II. The Untold Science that CO2 Has Had Virtually No Warming Power Since 1750 and the Other EPA GHGs Are Too Small to Matter
A. What is, and Is Not, Science
As scientists, we totally agree with the Supreme Court: “‘scientific knowledge’ … must be derived by the scientific method.” Daubert v. Merrell Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 593 (1993).
What is the scientific method? Prof. Richard Feynman, a Nobel Laureate in Physics, provided an incisive definition:
“[W]e compare the result of [a theory’s] computation to nature, … compare it directly with observations, to see if it works. If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science.” The Character of Physical Law (1965) 150.
Agreement with observations is the measure of scientific truth. Scientific progress proceeds by the interplay of theory and observation. Theory explains observations and makes predictions of what will be observed in the future. Observations anchor understanding and weed out the theories that do not work. Therefore, “Scientific data are the coin of the realm in science, and they are always treated with reverence.”1 This has been the scientific method for more than four hundred years.
What is not science? Science is not determined by unscientific sources, such as consensus, government opinions, peer review, models that do not work, omitting contradictory science and cherry picked, fabricated or falsified data.2
B. We Need Only Focus on CO2 Because the Other EPA Listed GHGs Are Too Small to Matter
The major GHGs that influence the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, which accounts for more than 90% of the atmosphere’s ability to intercept heat, and clouds.3 [CO2 is secondary.]
For whatever reason, the EPA and many others focus on six minor GHGs: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. EPA Endangerment Findings. 74 Fed. Reg. p. 66,516.
Of the six minor GHGs, we focus on carbon dioxide for two reasons.
First, as a matter of physics, the warming effect of the five other GHGs are too small to matter. “Radiative effects of CH4 [methane] and N2O [nitrous oxide] are so small that they are irrelevant to climate,” as are the other three.4
Second, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) view is that “carbon dioxide remains the most important contributor to anthropogenic forcing of climate change.”5
C. The Physics of Why CO2 Has Had Virtually No Warming Power Since 1750
As shown in Fig. 1, the warming per added CO2 molecule decreases as the concentration in the atmosphere increases. It is undisputed in science that CO2’s warming power decreases logarithmically.
We computed Table1 below and used that data to prepare Fig. 1 to show how rapidly CO2’s warming power decreases.6
Table 1. The 1st column is the number, n, of concentration increments of 20 ppm added to the atmosphere.
The 2nd column shows the cumulative concentration level of CO2, Cn.
The 3rd column shows the incremental warming, ΔTn, caused by adding a 20 ppm increment of CO2 to the last CO2 level.
The 4th column shows the cumulative warming, Tn, after n increments of 20 ppm of CO2.
Starting with no CO2 in the atmosphere, Table 1 shows the first 20 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 raises the temperature on the order of 3.08°C.
However, the next 20 ppm of CO2 rapidly decreases to only increase the temperature 0.53°C, about one-fifth as much.
This is how quickly CO2 loses its warming power after only 40 ppm in the atmosphere. In 1750 at the beginning of the Industrial Age, the CO2 level was about 280 ppm.
Except for the conclusion, the remainder of the letter is omitted here.
Conclusion
The Final Rule would require companies to disclose to investors CO2 and other GHG emissions data based on the Human Caused Global Warming Theory that they cause “higher temperatures, sea level rise, and droughts” and “hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and wildfires,” at enormous expense.
Physics demonstrates they do not. Therefore, the Final Rule would harm, not benefit, investors, by compelling companies to disclose scientifically false and misleading information about carbon dioxide and other GHGs.
Further, the Final Rule’s costs are enormous, on the order of $4.9 billion per year. 90 FR p. 33,312.
Thus, the Final Rule must be rescinded, and the SEC’s Rescission Rule must be upheld.
For the full letter and citations see link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Svensmark Interview: Last week TWTW carried part of an interview of Henrik Svensmark by astrophysicist Willie Soon and Ronan Connolly of the private Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES) project. Below are key points in the second part of the interview.
Simply put, the Svensmark hypothesis is based on the concept that an active sun reduces galactic cosmic rays hitting Earth’s atmosphere, decreasing clouds, while during a dormant sun there are more high energy galactic cosmic rays causing water vapor molecules to combine forming water droplets then clouds. (Two water vapor molecules alone cannot readily be combined; nucleation sites greatly enhance production of water droplets.)
Experimental evidence has demonstrated the role of ions in particle nucleation under atmospheric conditions. Cosmogenic Isotopes (Carbon-14 and Beryllium-10 (14C & 10Be) are used as proxies for Past Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) Flux, Strong solar activity (solar wind) implies strong deflection of GCRs which results in Lower Cosmogenic Isotopes (14C & 10Be) which is recorded in tree rings and ice cores.
The interview discussed the proposal by astrophysicist Nir Shaviv and geochemist Jan Veizer that when the solar system passes through galactic spiral arms that have more star formation than most areas of the galaxy, the number of galactic cosmic rays hitting Earth increases, increasing cloudiness and consequent ice ages occurring approximately every 150 million years. (These ice ages are different from those that have occurred about every 100,000 years for the past million years.) Jan Veizer has been vilified for suggesting that climate change is not correlated with carbon dioxide,
There is significant ambiguity regarding the hypothesis and its role in climate change. It may be a small player in a very complex play which we do not fully understand. Thus, it is important not to over-emphasize it.
Svensmark gave a description of his long firing from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). In 2016 Svensmark was demoted from professor to a lower rank subject to be fired. In 2021 DTU tried to fire Svensmark but Lindzen and Will Happer helped Svensmark. They didn’t fire Svensmark but took away his salary. In 2026, 14 days before the interview Svensmark was fired. The interview took place at the Eike conference which took place on June 26-27. Svensmark was to speak the day following the interview. So, Svensmark was fired around June 12. TWTW stands corrected for suggesting it was in July. See links under Science: Is the Sun Rising?
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Number of the Week: Increase of 140 ppmv, 0.32 ℃ (0.58 ℉) or 6%
Based on the table and chart presented by Lindzen and Happer above, atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased by 140 parts per million in volume (ppmv) since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution about 1750. Using decades of data from laboratory experiments using dry air, they calculate that a 140 ppmv increase in CO2 may have resulted in an increase in global temperature of 0.32 ℃ (0.58 ℉) or 6% of the total attributable to carbon dioxide’s greenhouse effect.
These calculations are based on the constant-albedo hypothesis, according to which the surface is 33ºC warmer than it would be without the greenhouse effect; in this model, CO2 is responsible for 5.47ºC of the total. (Water vapor is by far the dominant greenhouse gas.)
On a sunny spring morning in the Washington, DC area, it can warm by 0.32 ℃ (0.58 ℉) in 15 minutes. With headquarters DC, the National Academies can attribute extreme weather events to 15 minutes of warming it experiences on a sunny spring morning????
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Science: Is the Sun Rising?
Dr. Henrik Svensmark: Cosmic Rays, Clouds & Climate
Interview w/ Drs. Willie Soon & Ronan Connolly, EIKE Conference, June 26-27, 2026
Link to one paper by the interviewers: Multiple New or Updated Satellite Tolar Irradiance (TSI) Composites (1978-2023)
By Ronan Connolly, Willie Soon, et al., The Astrophysical Journal, Nov 1, 2024
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/
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-fossil-fuels/
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/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming/
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
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
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
Net Zero Averted Temperature Increase
By Richard Lindzen, William Happer, and William A. van Wijngaarden, CO2 Coalition, June 2024
Radiation Transport in Clouds
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Klimarealistene, Science of Climate Change, January 2025
Challenging the Orthodoxy
The Untold Science of GHGs Demonstrates the Climate-Related Disclosure Rule Must Be Rescinded
From: Richard Lindzen and William Happer
To: A Countryman, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090
Date: August 3, 2026
http://www.sepp.org/science_papers/The Untold Science of GHGs Demonstrates the Climate.docx
Uncertainty In Estimating Solar Forcing Across The Arctic Is 100-350x Larger Than CO2’s Alleged Climate Impact
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Aug 6, 2026
Link to latest paper: Advances in Understanding Cloud Fraction and Its Impact on Surface Shortwave Radiation in the Arctic
By Xinyan Liu, et al., Journal of Remote Sensing, June 18, 2026
Link to earlier paper: Observational determination of surface radiative forcing by CO2 from 2000 to 2010
By D. R. Feldman, et al., Nature, Feb 25, 2015
From Richard: The increase in atmospheric CO2 is alleged to be the driver of modern Arctic warming. This attribution can be no more than speculation, however. The 20-70 W/m² uncertainty in estimating the Arctic’s surface solar radiation is 100 to 350 times larger than 10 years of accumulated clear-sky-only CO2 impacts (0.2 W/m² per Feldman et al., 2015).
2026 Great Barrier Reef Statistics: They told us a fairy tale.
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 6, 2026
Link to data source: Long-Term Monitoring Program
Annual Summary Report of Coral Reef Condition 2024/2025
Substantial impacts from 2024 mass coral bleaching and cyclones reduce regional coral cover to near long-term average
By Staff, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Aug 6, 2025
[SEPP Comment: Fourteen-minute video by Peter Ridd, the 2025 recipient of SEPP’s Frederick Seitz Memorial Award. Apparently the government’s 2025-2026 annual report is not yet out. The two main threats to the reef’s corals are crown-of-thorns starfish and cyclones, both natural. The villain to the story is groupthink and the madness of crowds. To those in groupthink, there will always be a problem.]
Climate Scepticism in Six Charts
By Ramesh Thakur, The Daily Sceptic, Aug 5, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Geological records show that warming and cooling periods go through extended cycles with no clear pattern to the intensity, severity and timing of the cycles. Natural disasters have always been with us and climate change is another constant [occurrence]. The relationship between climate and natural disasters is anything but clear.
The real sea level crisis the UN won’t mention: The sinking cities
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Aug 4, 2026
Link to latest paper: Subsidence more than doubles sea-level rise today along densely populated coasts
By Julius Oelsmann, et al., Nature Communications, May 16, 2026
From Nova: The worst sea level threat is in Thailand, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, China, and Indonesia where relative sea level rise ranges from roughly 7 to 10 millimeters per year.
But instead of organizing UN conferences to help them, we’re lining up empty hotels in Fiji to panic about the Pacific islands that satellites show are mostly growing in size. Remember the study that showed that 89% of the biggest 700 Pacific islands are stable or expanding? No inhabited island; not one, is shrinking!
Defending the Orthodoxy
“Climate Change Kills”: Spain’s Rebuke to Climate Deniers
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 5, 2026
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
The Insidious Population Reduction Narrative Disguised as ‘Sustainability Science’
A new study published in “Sustainable Development” asserts that we need to cut the population to 4 billion to save the planet, thereby treating humanity itself as a variable to be reduced.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Aug 5, 2026
Link to paper: Achieve Sustainability by Easing Population to 4 Billion by 2200
By Mark Keegan, et al., Sustainable Development, July 26, 2026
From the abstract: Among the benefits are habitat recovery and conservation of wild species, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, reduced conflict over resources, and the reduction of global poverty.
[SEPP Comment: Is this the goal of the UN IPCC and its followers? The use of fossil fuels has led to tremendous growth in human prosperity. To shrink human population, fossil fuels need to be banned.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
The Death of the Science Journal
Another nail in science’s coffin?
By John Ridgway, Climate Scepticism, Aug 3, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kesphire]
Critical social justice, with its concept of ‘progressive’ science, has taken hold because such capture will always be possible within a consensus-seeking community that enthusiastically condemns any dissent — even a community that purports to operate in accordance with the precepts of the scientific method.
Unaccountable ‘climate risk scores’ are silently gutting the biggest asset most families will ever own.
By Jason Isaac, Washington Examiner, Via WUWT, Aug 5, 2026
When the same giants that champion Net‑Zero also decide which homes are “climate risky,” Americans are right to ask whose interests are served. Homeowners are never in the room where these models are built, can’t examine the assumptions baked into 30‑year projections, and get no appeal when a score tanks their sale. Yet they absorb the loss while asset managers and data vendors expand their reach and their fees. No regulator signed off on this system. No agency vetted the math.
Canada Wildfire Data vs. Fears
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Aug 6, 2026
Link to: Wildfire Pulse Infographic
By Staff, Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS), Government of Canada, Aug 8, 2026
Decoding the Flailing Climate Alarm Story
By Garry Rogers, Via Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Aug 1, 2026
And finally, understand this: We are not in a climate crisis. We are in a clarity crisis. Clarity—real, hard-won, human clarity—is the first step back to sanity.
In Covid as in Climate Change: Truth Will Out
By Tilak Doshi, Tilak’s Substack, Aug 5, 2025
Climate Alarm and “Green” Energy: Protest from San Antonio
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, August 7, 2026
San Antonio attorney Stanley Bernstein posted on social media (July 6, 2026) about the feelings of many of his neighbors about electric rate inflation from (not-so) “green” energy. “San Antonio has spent and lost billions chasing the green energy hype,” he began.
Bernstein also shared a testimonial from respected local meteorologist, Steve Brown,…
Climate Alarmists Gone?
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Aug 5, 2026
Climate Crusaders Turn to Flimsy ‘Extreme Event Attribution’ to Bring Down Oil, Gas, and Coal
By Gary Abernathy, Real Clear Energy, August 04, 2026
Energy & Environmental Review: August 3, 2026
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, August 3, 2026
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Climate Activists Turn on Democrats, Demand they Talk More about Climate Change
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 2, 2026
India To Climate Cartel: Count Us Out
By Vijay Jayaraj, CO2 Coalition, Aug 3, 2026
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
Global Greening Hits New Record as Climate Emergency Fails to Materialise
Activists refuse to accept that the climate catastrophe is nowhere to be seen
By Chris Morrixon The Climate Skeptic, Aug 5, 2026 [H/t Paul Homewood]
Models v. Observations
New Research Finds Increasing CO2 Induces Cooling In The Lower Atmosphere Over The Arctic
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Aug 1, 2026
Link to paper: Arctic Instantaneous Clear-sky Radiative Forcing Research under Different Vertical Structures of Greenhouse Gases
By Jiayi Qin, Master of Science thesis, University of Helsinki, May 2026
The CO2-induced “polar amplification” narrative peddled by climate alarmists has just taken another hit.
[SEPP Comment: No water vapor amplification found in the Arctic or the Antarctic, though water vapor amplification is found in the global climate models.]
Model Issues
Modeling the Troposphere
By Andy May and Philip Mulholland, WUWT, Aug 4, 2026
Measurement Issues — Surface
ENSO: Recent Evolution, Current Status and Predictions
By Climate Prediction Center / NCEP, August 3, 2026
El Niño is present.
Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are above average across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
The atmospheric circulation anomalies over the equatorial Pacific Ocean are consistent with El Niño.
El Niño will strengthen through the end of the year; with a 97% chance it will persist through early spring 2027.
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
UAH v6.1 Global Temperature Update for July 2026: +0.48 deg. C
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Aug 4, 2026
The Version 6.1 global area-averaged linear temperature trend (January 1979 through July 2026) remains at +0.16 deg/ C/decade (+0.22 C/decade over land, +0.13 C/decade over oceans).
Global Temperature Report: July 2026
By The Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, August 4, 2026
Full report: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/data/aosc/Global_Temperature_Report/2026_Reports/GTR_202607.pdf
July 2026 SH Ocean Cools, Land Warms, Global UAH Stable
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Aug 4, 2026
SURFRAD data and surface heat transport
By Kevin Kilty, WUWT, Aug 6, 2026
There is great disagreement and discussion about how heat once planted on the Earth’s surface redistributes itself and makes its way back to space. Not that it makes much difference to settling our debates, but I see value in what observations tell us.
Changing Weather
An Extreme Lightning Event Started the Recent Northwest Wlidfires: Did Global Warming Play a Role?
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Aug 7, 2026
On July 15/16, a massive lightning storm initiated several major wildfires east of the Cascade crest…. this was one of the most extreme lightning events in Northwest history.
This story has escaped the notice of the media. Furthermore, several media outlets (including KING-5 news and the NY Times) and podcasters/Youtube channels have claimed that Northwest lightning has increased over time due to climate change.
Strong Winds Cause Major Expansion of Eastern Washington Wildfires
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog Aug 2, 2026
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
2026 July Arctic Ice Extents Return to Mean
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Aug 2, 2026
Changing Earth
Italian Super Volcano Earthquake Rattles Naples
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 2, 2026
Campi Flegrei is often called a supervolcano in popular media, but by strict scientific definition, it has not yet produced a VEI-8 eruption, so it is technically not classified as a supervolcano.
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Climate change threatens world with too much food, grass and photosynthesis
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Aug 7, 2026
Link to paper: Vegetation greenness in 2025
By Nazhakaiti Anniwaer,, et al., Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, Apr 1, 2026
From Nova: Coming soon: The Global Lawn Crisis
The implications are serious.
Longer growing seasons, fewer frosts, vigorous C3 grasses, encroaching subtropical weeds — and suddenly householders are trapped in an accelerating cycle of mowing, edging, fertilizing and explaining why they have not done the verge.
Obviously, the extra burden of mowing and weeding will increase rates of domestic violence, divorce and social isolation. The grant applications for funding to research these unrecognized effects of climate change and uncontrollable plant growth will start in five minutes.
Then there is the food problem. With croplands producing more biomass, civilization may face dangerous surpluses of fruit, vegetables and salad.
If the government doesn’t plan things carefully we might run out of salad dressing.
Children won’t know what a day without mowing is.
The Climate Food Crisis Which Keeps Refusing to Show Up in the Statistics
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 1, 2026
See links immediately above.
Lowering Standards
The Met Office no longer thinks that wind is a form of weather
By Ross Jonathan Clark, Ross on Why, Aug 3, 2025 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
A similar thing has happened with high temperature records. What was formerly listed by the World Meteorological Organization as the highest temperature recorded on Earth – 57.8 Celsius recorded in Libya in 1922 – has been decertified, and there is a campaign to remove the next highest temperature recorded – 56.7 Celsius in Death Valley, California, in 1913 – based on doubts as to the quality of the thermometer.
[SEPP Comment: The Death Valley record is questionable because it was unusually higher than other recordings in the area. The issue is: did the person taking the reading use the standard, shielded thermometer or one exposed to the sun conveniently located on the porch.]
Ray Sanders with Tom Nelson
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 5, 2026
One hour seventeen-minute interview. A review by a private investigation of the siting quality classifications of Met weather stations. Of 385 weather stations, 112 meet no standard [set by regulations] at all.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
No, ScienceDaily, Data Show No ‘Sharp Acceleration’ in Warming
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, Aug 6, 2026
Climate Journalism in Decline
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, August 4, 2026
Belle de Jong, environment editor at The European Correspondent [1], recently posted on social media:
Climate journalism is shrinking, this recent Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard piece shows. CBS lost its entire climate desk, the Washington Post cut 74% of its climate team, and NPR laid off its climate desk editor. The Media and Climate Change Observatory’s 2025 year-end analysis showed a 38% reduction in global media’s climate coverage in 2025, since the high-water mark of 2021.
The Telegraph’s Wildfire Hysteria
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 2, 2026
NPR’s Claim that Climate Change Is Destroying Children’s Summer Fun Is Ridiculous
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, July 31, 2026
Hardening Infrastructure Is Smart, Axios, Regardless of Climate Change
By Linnea Lueken, Climate Realism, Aug 5, 2026
Don’t Worry, Matcha Lovers, NewScientist’s Claims Are Bunk, Your Tea Isn’t Going Anywhere
By Linnea Lueken, WUWT, Aug 5, 2026
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Green Empire Strikes Back
By David Turver, The Daily Sceptic, Aug 2, 2026
But the green empire is striking back with a new article (no paywall version here) in the Telegraph from Tim Stanley and Greg Jackson has also weighed in, cheering on Stanley’s article. … The trouble with Tim Stanley’s argument, in common with many Net Zero supporters, is that it is based on vibes and emotion, not analysis of actual data.
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Analysis: Robert Koch Institute’s Heat Death Model Is “A Joke”… Deaths “Assumed” To Be Due To Heat
By Frank Bosse, Via P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Aug 2, 2026
All of this from a “model” by an institute whose actual job is to provide valid risk analyses for human health. Its “heat death model” is a joke without any physiological background! Is the institute serving purely political interests once again? That would be truly tragic!
Met Office Heatwave Death Claim Was Fake News
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 6, 2026
I have plotted the weekly cumulative death registrations, starting in Week 18, which is the first week in May, and ending in Week 30, which was July 24th this year – this is the latest data available from the ONS.
There is no spike in deaths at any stage during 3-month period. Cumulatively there were 136,066 deaths last year and 135,466 this year.
As for the deaths in Europe, it is worth revisiting the Lancet study in 2021, which found that the number of cold-related deaths in Western Europe was four times as great as heat-related ones.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Trump blames management for Canada wildfires, but study points to climate change
By Ryan Mancini, The Hill, Aug 6, 2026
Link to press release: Climate change means extreme fire seasons in Canada are here to stay
By Staff, World Weather Attribution, Aug 6, 2026
World Weather Attribution (WWA), an academic collaboration that includes the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research and Princeton University, released a report Thursday pointing to climate change as the key driver behind Canada’s extreme wildfire season.
Are you a loser with no friends — blame climate change and buy a windmill!
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Aug 6, 2026
Link to: Climate change may be making us lonelier: How heat waves and extreme weather disrupt social connections everyone relies on
By Fiona Doherty, Asst. Prof. of Social Work, The Conversation, Aug 5, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Ever been snowed in for a week with no electricity?]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
Claim: Teaching University Students Decolonial Pedagogy will Solve the Climate Crisis
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 4, 2026
Questioning European Green
Britain’s Collision Course With Trump’s Energy Counter-Revolution
A Net Zero zealot meets an energy realist superpower. What could go wrong?
By Tilak Doshi, Tilak’s Substack, Aug 1, 2026
Ed Miliband has spent his career as one of the world’s most committed climate zealots, and he now finds himself installed as Foreign Secretary in Andy Burnham’s new government, personally taking up the United Kingdom’s seat as Governor of the World Bank (as one of 189 others) …. International development is not an add-on to British foreign policy – it is central to it,” Miliband declared. “By taking on the role of UK governor to the World Bank, I want to send an unambiguous signal that this Government is serious about its global leadership on development and climate.”
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Utopian Dreams of Net-Zero
By: Tore Andøl, WUWT, Aug 3, 2026
Many have written extensively about energy trends and analytical interpretations of the annual datasets from the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy. Let me just summarize a few highlights:
- Fossil energy still accounts for 86.2% of all energy consumption, down 2.9 percentage points since 2015 (primary energy).
- In the same period, fossil consumption has increased by 13,500 TWh (e.g. six times the annual oil and gas production from the Norwegian continental shelf), with gas making up just over half of this growth.
- The main growth sectors within renewables – solar and wind – account for 1.7% and 1.6% of total consumption respectively, up from 0.2% and 0.6% in 2015.
Litigation Issues
En Banc DC Circuit Reinstates Funding Of The Most Corrupt Program Ever Enacted
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Aug 6, 2026
Well, it seems rather significant to me that (1) by the time of this decision Congress had actually repealed this funding, and (2) at the time of the decision the money had not been “lawfully spent” by the grantees (who were basically start-ups with no ability to run through these billions in a matter of months), but rather parked at Citibank in a highly unusual arrangement to try to evade all normal oversight, let alone a change of policy by a new administration.
Appeals court blocks Trump from rescinding ‘green bank’ funds
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Aug 4, 2026
In a reversal, a federal appeals court has once again blocked the Trump administration from rescinding billions in climate funds issued under the Biden administration’s signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
See link immediately above.
The Weather Isn’t Getting Worse. The Lawsuits Are
By Angela Wheeler, CO2 Coalition, Aug 6, 2026
The NAS report could trigger a wave of costly new lawsuits and forced settlements based on theoretical assumptions rather than observable evidence, drain public and private resources, and further make a mockery of NAS’s pretense of scientific legitimacy.
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
The True Cost of Green Subsidies is Much Higher Than Politicians Admit
With green subsidies now accounting for three quarters of the price of electricity, the cost of Net Zero to the public is much higher than politicians are willing to admit, say Professor Gordon Hughes and Dr Lee Moroney.
By Gordon Hughes and Lee Moroney, The Daily Sceptic, Aug 5, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
EPA and other Regulators on the March
FAA Moves to Exempt Commercial Rocket Launches From Key Environmental Reviews
FAA moves to ensure regulatory processes serve genuine environmental interests rather than becoming a legal mechanism for undermining American space competitiveness.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, July 31, 2026
The End EPA Abuse Act seeks to limit EPA’s adherence to climate psychosis
By Jeff Reynolds, CFACT, Aug 3, 2026
Energy Issues – General
On Energy Density (Richard Lyon educates)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, August 6, 2026
“These three concepts — gradient, density, and power density [land use] — describe the thermodynamic floor beneath civilization. No policy, no subsidy, and no amount of determination can override them.” (Richard Lyon [UK], below)
Energy Issues – Europe
Britain told to rethink net zero strategy as costs soar
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 6, 2026
Of course, it is not a rethink required – the whole needs scrapping now.
23rd June Power Crisis
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 6, 2026
[SEPP Comment: UK needed power from France and Norway.]
Tim Stanley Loses The Plot
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 2, 2026
From Homewood: Renewable energy is fine under the right circumstances. Solar panels in the Gobi Desert, for instance, or hydro power in Norway. But here in the UK, we only really have wind power, on which we cannot rely when the wind stops blowing for weeks on end in winter.
Until somebody comes up with a better idea, we will still need fossil fuels, whether Tim Stanley likes it or not.
Ferries use net zero charging that costs more than fuel
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 3, 2026
Energy Issues – Australia
Queensland and Northern Territory Openly Rebel Against Aussie Green Data Center Mandates
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 2, 2026
[SEPP Comment: The “clean” AI industry is biting politicians everywhere who claimed they would “build back better.” The AI industry needs reliable power not part-time power.]
Bombs away: desperate Chris Bowen throws more solar subsidies at business, paid for in our electricity bills
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Aug 5, 2026
Solar is such a bad investment that most businesses won’t do it, even in sunny Australia, unless someone else is forced to pay some of the cost. Minister [for Climate Change and Energy] Chris Bowen is about to trash the free market some more to “give” a 20% discount, so that this particular bad investment happens more often.
See the brutal curtailment (graphed below) [not shown here] cutting down the “availability” curve until it’s flat all day. Hallelujah, we finally found a way to make solar panels work just as well at 7am as they do at midday, we just throw most of the energy away.
Adaptation Momentum, Mitigation Fatigue
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, August 5, 2026
Energy Issues – Elsewhere non-US
China’s Great Wall of Fossil Fuels
By Paul H. Tice, Real Clear Energy, August 06, 2026
No energy transition is occurring in China. Quite the opposite. China remains the world’s largest consumer of coal, crude oil and natural gas and has effectively built a fossil fuel fortress—a modern-day version of the Great Wall—to protect its economy and insulate its growth and development and competitive position from geopolitical risk and commodity price volatility.
Energy Issues — US
Pennsylvania Wants Data Centers to Pay Their Own Way. There’s a Better Way to Do It.
By Travis Fisher , Joshua Schubert, Real Clear Energy, August 03, 2026
Washington’s Control of Energy
As LNG Exports Show, ARC-ES Is Crucial for U.S. and International Energy Stability for Years to Come
By Gary Abernathy, Real Clear Energy, August 06, 2026
The United States’ growing importance as an LNG exporter is one more reason to codify our most reliable and affordable energy source into official policy and law. Passage of the Affordable, Reliable and Clean Energy Security Act (ARC-ES) would guarantee that climate change crusaders, if temporarily handed the keys to state or local governments, would find it difficult or impossible to craft rules or legislation curtailing the use or extraction of natural gas or other hydrocarbons.
Nuclear Energy and Fears
America is watching the world’s movement to nuclear power generation
By Ronald Stein and Dick Storm, America Out Loud News, Aug 3, 2206
[SEPP Comment: Japan, which suffered from a tidal wave knocking out backup power for cooling (thus the overheating of Fukushima reactors), has two nuclear power plants under construction and nine in planning.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Huge 2025 Rise in Ecuadorian Balsa Exports to Feed Wind Turbine Demand Raises Fears of Increased Illegal Logging
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Aug 4, 2026 [H/t Paul Homewood]
One can only imagine the worldwide outcry if oil companies needed the wood for their own operations. But when alleged ‘green’ companies loot the forest, the blind eye turned is positively Nelsonian.
Health, Energy, and Climate
Close doctors’ surgeries during heatwaves, says Royal College of GPs
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 6, 2026
Have they not heard of air conditioning?
Environmental Industry
Green Lament: That Trillion Dollar AI Investment Could have been Spent on Renewables
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 6, 2026
Other Scientific News
A Close Call with Asteroid Apophis
By Paul Dorian, WUWT, Aug 1, 2026
*”Just a bit outside”…thankfully…a close call with asteroid Apophis in April 2029 and billions should be able to view it*
Other News that May Be of Interest
It took AI 70 years to get here, so what can it do for us?
By David Wojick, CFACT, Aug 4, 2026
I am on the “I” side of AI, studying human reasoning because we cannot make computers emulate what we do not understand.
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Britain will soon be Europe’s energy powerhouse–AEP
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 5, 2026
We will need every MWh that Hinkley Point produces ourselves. The current strike price for Hinkley is £130.79/MWh. But what AEP [Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, a reporter for The Telegraph] has not worked out is that when we have surplus power to export, the Continent will also be awash with wind or solar power.
As a consequence, we will have to virtually give the stuff away. NESO’s projections for 2030 suggested the average export price would be £40/MWh.
Claim: Potatoes are Endangered by Global Warming
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 6, 2026
Farce Of The Week: Germany’s Weather Site Donnerwetter.de Attempts To Measure The Rhine River’s Temperature!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Aug 4, 2026
A 2 cm depth and a 1 second dip
ARTICLES
1. False Unanimity at the National Academies
A climate report spins an illusion of elite scientific consensus.
By Steven E. Koonin, WSJ, Aug. 5, 2026
TWTW Summary – Covered in the This Week section above.
