For 20 years or more, dire warnings about global warming and “climate change” have taken the mass media of entertainment by storm. Every few years, climate change doomsayers have claimed that the world only has 12 years to turn the tide. They said practically the same thing 12 and 15 years ago; however, that they’re saying this year! Many news stories, many news programs and many movies, including many documentaries, have sounded the alarm about global warming and climate change, such as Al … [Read more...]
Climate Science Is Changing from Alarmism to Realism
Climate science is about to make a tectonic shift. Here is why. Lately, political groups have heavily influenced climate science. Carbon dioxide emissions from anthropogenic sources such as coal plants and industries have been accused of causing a dangerous increase in global temperature. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—alarmists’ preferred source for the scientific understanding of climate change—has become a ministry of propaganda. Policies it advocates, like the … [Read more...]
Ocean Acidification—Well, Maybe Not So Much
As global temperature remains well below alarmists' predictions, environmentalists continue to promote devastation from "ocean acidification" as their next rationale for clamping down on CO2 emissions. But as a new article in the ICES Journal of Marine Science makes clear, the actual scientific evidence for such devastation is slim, and the primary reason why so much gets published about it seems to be not scientific but political/sociological. As Ben Webster summarized in The Times (London): … [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...]
Why It’s Misleading to Speak of “Ocean Acidification”
Calling a decline in pH of ocean water from 8.2 to 8.1 (which is calculated to have happened over recent decades, perhaps in response to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration though other causes are possible) “acidification,” meaning “becoming more acidic,” is misleading at best. Something can’t become “more acidic” unless it’s already acidic, and a solution with a pH higher than 7.0 is by definition not acidic but basic. Earth's five oceans vary in pH from about ~7.9 to ~8.3, and pH … [Read more...]
Why do I Think Climate Alarmists Are Overreacting?
Religion Dispatches posted Jacob J. Erickson’s interesting article “Falling in Love with the Earth: Francis’ Faithful Ecology,” about a week ago, and one follower, “Whiskyjack,” chastened Catholic Republican Presidential candidates for hypocrisy on the grounds that they accept his authority on abortion and homosexuality but not on climate change. I replied: Catholic dogma holds that papal authority is only in matters of faith (doctrine) and morals. It doesn't extend to science, economics, or … [Read more...]
