Climate
November 8, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Earlier this week, the world’s news media reported breathlessly that 11,000 scientists had issued a report contending that the Earth faces a “climate emergency.” NBC News, to cite just one example, described a “study” produced by an “international consortium of more than 11,000 scientists.” This screen shot of a Google search illustrates the coverage: Actually, there was no study, there was just a press release. And it wasn’t 11,000 scientists,
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October 23, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Dr. Susan Crockford is one of the world’s leading experts on polar bears. As such, she has repeatedly reported the inconvenient fact that polar bears are thriving, with their populations burgeoning. Why is this fact inconvenient? Because climate change activists have chosen polar bears–considered to be cute by people who don’t have to deal with them–as a propaganda tool. We have quoted Dr. Crockford’s work a number of times: here,
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October 21, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I know we hear lots of goofy-sounding ideas about the whole climate domain, and on the surface the idea of “negative emission whales” sounds like a spoof from the Babylon Bee, but in fact I know one of the co-authors of this piece (Alex Trembath), and he is a sober and serious human being (though also a bit on the thin side, so not much carbon sequestration help from him),
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October 17, 2019 — John Hinderaker
A radical group called Extinction Rebellion, which purports to be acting on behalf of the Earth’s climate, has caused serious disruptions in England, attempting to shut down airports and other modes of transportation. This morning, the group tried to close down London’s morning commute by climbing on top of subway trains. Commuters did not take kindly to this arrogant and pointless act, as these videos show. Commuters now physically dragging
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October 14, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The Green New Deal, and similar environmental initiatives, have little to do with the environment and much to do with the Left’s desire to control every aspect of our lives. Because everything we do, beginning with breathing, involves emission of carbon dioxide or other “greenhouse gases.” AOC’s Green New Deal specifically proposed, among other things, that all air travel be banned and that all cows be done away with because
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October 13, 2019 — John Hinderaker
There are a number of things that climate activists don’t want the rest of us to do, like eating meat and flying on airplanes. They seem to have decided that discouraging flying is a better bet than compulsory vegetarianism, so several European countries are moving in that direction. In Sweden, the government “is considering making it mandatory for travel companies to declare the climate impact of their long-haul trips.” The
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September 23, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I spent the afternoon at the White House, attending a briefing by White House staff on the administration’s policy agenda for the coming months. It was very interesting, but off the record. I will write about it at some point, but for now it is memes only. A bunch of anti-civilization demonstrators vowed to shut D.C. down today. I stayed close to the White House and didn’t see them, but
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September 23, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Since today is Climatepalooza at the UN and in the streets of DC (aside: how many Nobel Peace Prize nominations will Greta Thunberg receive this year?), it might be worth checking in on a couple of serious questions. Like climate modeling on the science side, and decarbonization on the policy side. In conjunction with the climate hijinks, The Economist put out a special climate change issue, and much to my
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September 23, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Today’s climate strike makes apparent that the left can do more than one thing at a time, though I am sure if I look close enough I will find “environmental racism” a feature of today’s protest somewhere. In any case, I got to wondering whether and how I might connect the climatistas with the left’s race baiters, and I can’t believe it took me so long to see the obvious
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September 23, 2019 — John Hinderaker
There is something uniquely fatuous about holding demonstrations against the weather. On Friday, children world-wide played hooky tried to save the planet by marching. Save it from what? From its imminent demise due to “climate change.” Here in Minnesota, our friends Kyle Hooten and Christian Schlaefer interviewed demonstrators at St. Olaf College for The College Fix. The conversation was on a high scientific plane. “Hey hey, ho ho! Climate change
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September 21, 2019 — John Hinderaker
This twelve-minute video by Tony Heller of Real Climate Science, released just yesterday, does a great job of exposing the deceptive use of data on which climate alarmism depends. Heller begins with the National Climate Assessment that recently went out to journalists and policymakers. It included a set of charts and graphs that superficially seemed to support the claim that we are experiencing alarming changes in the Earth’s climate, as
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September 18, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I gather this Friday there is going to be a climate jamboree at the United Nations, and I know what you’re thinking: bor-ing. Yes, indeed. It’s not even worth filling out a Climate Doomsday bingo card with hits on “only 12 years left,” “climate crisis/emergency,” “the ice is melting,” etc. I may or may not have more to say about it depending on whether there is some original stupidity to
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September 9, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I believe that all of the leading Democratic candidates for president have endorsed a carbon tax. Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren did so during CNN’s town hall on climate change last week. Down a tier or two, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg endorsed it, as well. Bernie Sanders has endorsed a carbon tax in the past. The carbon tax was a bridge too far for Hillary Clinton during the 2016
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September 6, 2019 — John Hinderaker
This paper by John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center and Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the Alabama State Climatologist, is highly interesting. Christy describes work that he and Dick McNider have done to check the accuracy of the climate models that are the source of frenzy over global warming. His technical analysis is clear and comprehensible, but for now
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September 6, 2019 — Scott Johnson
It used to be that those who peddled apocalypse sporting their placards in the service of some cult on a flyblown city corner were an object of amusement. One could compile a book of cartoons with variations on the theme. Now the theme has become Democratic Party orthodoxy. The Democratic presidential candidates must all bow before it, as they did earlier this week in the course of CNN’s “climate change
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September 5, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Last night the Democratic presidential candidates and CNN held a “town hall” on climate change. I saw somewhere that it was scheduled to last for seven hours. Is that possible? One wonders what ratings it got–even lower than CNN’s usual dismal totals, I suspect. Of course, it probably took seven hours for the candidates to list all the things they intend to ban. Our friends at Grabien put together this
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September 1, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Back in May I wrote here about the newest celebrity among the climatistas, the Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg who was adorning the cover of Time magazine, giving TED talks, appearing at the World Economic Forum, and, soon, speaking at UN climate change summit of some kind. This, after sailing across the Atlantic to get to New York to avoid the carbon footprint of a plane flight, never mind that she
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