For years we at the Cornwall Alliance have been saying that the disagreement between model predictions (or projections or simulations, call them what you will) of global temperatures and real-world observations means the models are invalidated and therefore provide no rational basis for predictions of future temperature and therefore no rational basis for policies meant to respond to such predictions. Now one of the world's leading climatologists, recently retired Professor Judith Curry, Chair … [Read more...]
Has NOAA’s “Pausebuster” Been Busted?
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”—Proverbs 18:17 Major news outlets and the climate change-focused blogosphere erupted over the last few days with the The Daily Mail’s publication February 4 of David Rose’s “Exposed: How world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data.” Rose reported serious data mishandling behind a study published in Science (Karl et al.) in 2015 by NOAA’s Tom Karl, Thomas … [Read more...]
Is Sea Level Rise Accelerating—or Approaching a Tipping Point?
As medium-term global average atmospheric temperature trends continue to diverge sharply from predictions based on global warming alarmists' hypotheses about CO2's warming effect, climate feedbacks, and computer models expressing those hypotheses, the alarmists have increasingly turned to other reasons for pursuing the economic (especially energy) policies they prefer: "weather weirding," "extreme weather," ocean "acidification," "coral bleaching," species extinction, and particularly … [Read more...]
Are Global Warmists Fudging Temperature Data?
COP21 in Paris ended with a legally unenforceable but politically dangerous agreement among about 180 countries to reduce their CO2 emissions or slow their growth. Here in the United States Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) stands by his claim that manmade global warming is our greatest security threat, while President Obama treats it as a greater threat than radical Islamic terrorism, a nuclear Iran, a thermonuclear North Korea, and restive Russia and China. The mainstream news media continue to … [Read more...]
Inside Big Green’s Sausage Factory
When my wife was a student at Hillsdale College __ years ago (Nope! Not telling!), some student friends worked in a sausage factory nearby. They literally waded in hip boots in vast vats of various parts of cattle and pig carcasses headed for massive grinders. “I’ll never eat sausage again!” was their common reaction. That’s not to say (properly cooked) sausage isn’t really safe, but it gives some idea how the saying arose that you never want to watch legislation being crafted because it’s a … [Read more...]
Responding to Risks of Climate Change—and to Risks of Responding to Climate Change
Judith Curry delivers a (typically) very thoughtful analysis of one attempt to push people into applying the "Precautionary Principle" so as to embrace major policy initiatives to mitigate "climate change" to avoid its risks. I'll not try to summarize here other than to say she shows clearly that the arguments fail. Read her post here. Featured image courtesy of Got Credit, Creative Commons. … [Read more...]
What the Dems said about climate change
The money quote on climate change in the first Democratic presidential "debate" was Senator Bernie Sanders's response to moderator Anderson Cooper's question, "what is the greatest national security threat to the United States?" "The scientific community is telling us," Sanders said, "that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we’re going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may … [Read more...]
20 Scientists Call for Prosecution of CAGW Critics—Judith Curry Puts them to Shame
Recently 20 scientists, firm believers in CAGW and proponents of policies to reduce it, sent a letter to the White House supporting a call by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) for criminal prosecution under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act of scientists who disagree with them. Hello?! Anybody ever heard of the First Amendment---you know, that stuff about freedom of speech and of the press? Or, for those who don't like America's Constitution and Bill of Rights, … [Read more...]
Curry Deals Another Blow to Climate Consensus
Georgia Tech climatologist Judith Curry dealt a serious blow to the appeal to consensus on climate change in her paper "Climate Change: No Consensus on Consensus," three years ago. She pointed out (among lots of other valuable things) that, whatever value consensus might have in science (as opposed to politics), consensus is significant only if it arises spontaneously, but the alleged consensus on climate change had been assiduously manufactured by the IPCC. She's followed the subject a good … [Read more...]
Getting Down to Nitty Gritty: Why Wind and Solar Threaten Electricity Grids and People’s Health and Safety
Rud Istvan has a very instructive article at Judith Curry's Climate Etc. blog about the challenges of bring wind and solar power into use through electricity grids. Bottom line: Their intermittency greatly increases the costs of electricity while reducing its reliability, bringing threats to people's health and safety wherever they begin to make up a significant percentage of total power supplied to the grid. The higher the renewable penetration, the greater this intermittency burden becomes. … [Read more...]
