Presidential candidate Joe Biden has introduced a $2 trillion Clean Energy Plan.Besides missing out on providing information about how the proposed transitions to “clean technology” would work, the extreme shift towards a fossil-free energy sector reveals the volatility in Biden’s approach.Fossil Fuel, Economy, and Radical EnvironmentalismEnergy sectors are the backbone of any economy. In the U.S., fossil fuels have been singularly responsible for fueling American industries, which in turn … [Read more...]
Hottest Arctic Ever? Arctic Climate Change Fairytales vs. Reality
Last week, social media and mainstream media were abuzz with news about the record Arctic heat and how we humans are destroying our planet through climate change. While we brace for a barrage of climate doomsday news, here is the actual reality of climatic conditions at the Arctic and reasons why we are not in imminent danger. On 26 February, temperatures in some regions of the Arctic hovered around the freezing point (zero degree Celsius)—a record high for this time of year in the satellite … [Read more...]
To Magnify Apparent Climate Risk, Magnify Temperature Data
In the early 1990s, working partly as a freelance book editor, I had the privilege of being the main managing editor of Julian L. Simon's (edited) The State of Humanity (Blackwell, 1995). One of my responsibilities was turning raw data from the book's 60 authors into graphs so people could grasp them better. But the graphs could enhance understanding only if they handled the data objectively, and one of the things Julian drummed into me was that whenever possible a graph should have a zero … [Read more...]
2015 Will be the 3rd Warmest Year in the Satellite Record
Way back in June, John Christy and I called 2015 as being the warmest year on record … in the surface thermometer data. Given the strong El Nino in progress, on top of the official thermometer data warming trend, this seemed pretty obvious. Of course, everyone has their opinions regarding how good the thermometer temperature trends are, with periodic adjustments that almost always make the present warmer or the past colder. But I’m not going there today …. Instead, I’m going to talk about our … [Read more...]
Why 2014 was, and was not, the ‘hottest year in recorded history’
Media all over America and around the world have trumpeted the news: “2014 Was Hottest Year on Earth in Recorded History,” to quote the New York Times headline. The Times’s lead paragraph touted this as “underscoring scientific warnings about the risks of runaway emissions and undermining claims by climate-change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped.” But it’s time to look below the surface—or, as you’ll see in a moment, above it. Let’s dispense with the simplest error … [Read more...]
