Five days before the recent snowstorm rocked the Mid-Atlantic region, the ECMWF weather model had forecast more than 30 inches for portions of Delaware, coastal Maryland, and southern New Jersey. The model had overestimated snowfall by up to a factor of three.My criticism of the model will likely not anger many in the political arena. Why not? Because, as we are often told, weather is not climate. Weather is very difficult to forecast because it is highly variable, and weather models can … [Read more...]
California’s Zero Carbon Plans: Can Anybody Here Do Basic Arithmetic?
In California, as we all know, the inhabitants and their elected officials are far more sophisticated and virtuous than the rest of us rubes who inhabit the other parts of the country. This particularly goes for the arena of climate change, where California is leading the way to saving the planet by rapidly eliminating all of the carbon emissions coming from its electricity sector. California’s CO2 emissions are about 1% of the world annual total, and its electricity sector accounts for about … [Read more...]
Can the World Solve an Energy Problem Especially in Africa?
Those are two very different questions and need to be separated. But unfortunately, too many Europeans and their European cultural heirs prefer to conflate the two for cultural and economic advantages.Focus first on Africa. Africa needs electricity, affordable, reliable, and continuous energy to break the industrialization barrier. That means that coal must be the mandatory first step. As a fuel, it’s readily available, cheap, and requires minimum technology and capital investments. After all, … [Read more...]
The Dangers of Challenging the Climate Change Consensus
One of the easiest things to do is to go along to get along. This is true in so many areas of life, including knowledge of science topics. If you don't have an in-depth knowledge of a particular area of science, the "easiest thing" kicks in rather effortlessly. Alternatively, if you have a depth of knowledge on a particular science topic, things can get a whole lot harder, especially if you challenge the prevailing view on that topic. We find ourselves in … [Read more...]
Assessing Virginia’s Hidden Wind and Solar Costs
Among Governor Glenn Youngkin’s first actions was Executive Order #9 initiating Virginia’s withdrawal from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the Northeastern U.S. “carbon market” that sets and enforces emission limits for coal and gas power plants. RGGI also lets utilities buy “carbon credits” when emissions exceed those limits and pass costs on to families, businesses, hospitals, and schools. Special interests will contest withdrawal, but the EO sets the proper tone for … [Read more...]
President Joe Biden is correct in assessing climate change as the greatest global threat … but for the wrong reason.
It's only because our most dangerous adversaries are weaponizing his administration's energy policies driven by climate obsession to advance their territorial Moscow is playing upon Biden's release of sanctions against its Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to forestall NATO resistance to its threatened Ukraine offensive; Beijing is using greenhouse emission compliance promises as Communist Party favors amidst Taiwan provocations, and Tehran mullahs are bargaining oil export sanction relief … [Read more...]
Being a Climate Alarmist Means Never Having to Admit You’re Wrong
A mountain of evidence shows climate alarmists never learn from their mistakes, be they clear misstatements of facts or repeatedly failed prognostications.Why should they? The press lets climate alarmists get away with making more false claims than any other group on any other topic, including the efficacy of the COVID vaccines in keeping people from catching the disease or requiring hospitalization. Climate alarmists have nothing to fear from so-called fact-checkers in corporate or social media … [Read more...]
Alarmists Embrace Authoritarianism, Ignore Lessons of History
A rump group of the environmental movement has always been wedded to authoritarianism—primarily the movement’s intellectual leadership. Going back to the beginnings of environmentalism as a movement, progressive-era politicians such as President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot (Roosevelt’s friend and choice to be the first head of the newly created U.S. Forest Service) believed democracy and markets were both ill-suited to manage natural resources. Progressives believed natural resources … [Read more...]
Environmental regulations can sometimes do more harm than good
Contrary to popular perceptions, all around the world, environmental conditions have improved dramatically in recent decades. There is less air pollution and more widespread access to clean water than ever before. Anyone who wants to learn more about this astounding progress should read Stephen Pinker’s Enlightenment Now and Hans Rosling’s Factfulness. These environmental performance gains are largely due to the global spread of economic freedom, because – as numerous studies show – … [Read more...]
Are Climate Lockdowns Coming Because of a ‘Climate Emergency’? (No, It’s Not a Conspiracy Theory)
In early December, the Washington Post reported that because of climate change, snow in the Mountain West "may vanish for years at a time." The headline did not age well.Only days later it started to snow in the West.And snow.And snow.An incredible photo on Twitter showed a towering wall of snow on Donner Summit in California around Christmas.Lake Tahoe got 18 feet of snow in December, an all-time record.In Virginia, some motorists were stuck on I-95 for more than 24 hours … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- …
- 64
- Next Page »
