The Paris Agreement is all set to become a massive failure. Major member states of the Paris agreement are set to miss the deadlines to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. Why is it a debacle? The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) states that the Paris Agreement’s aim is to limit the global temperature rise to below 1.5–2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, by the end of this century. To accomplish this target, it required member states to commit … [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...]
A Great Disturbance in the Force?
Earlier today we posted a blog piece, "Cracks in the Empire's Armor Appear," by Dr. Roy W. Spencer, that commented humorously on how the media have responded to a new study by climate scientists who heretofore have reliably toed the alarmist line. Observing that actual warming trends are far smaller than those projected by the computer climate models on which the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and various national agencies depend, the authors concluded that therefore there's … [Read more...]
On global warming, the American public gets it!
This is simply amazing. After all the hype by media, politicians, entertainers, alarmist climate scientists, and even a Nobel Peace Prize-winning former Vice President, only 28% of Americans think climate scientists understand the causes of climate change "very well." That's one finding of a Pew Research Study on which Scott Rasmussen reports in his #Number of the Day for August 21, 2017, which begins: Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Americans think that climate scientists understand the … [Read more...]
Why do Bootleggers and Baptists Love Paris?
Huh? Does it even make sense to ask "Why?" if we don't know "if"? Do bootleggers and Baptists both love Paris? Well, yes---if "Paris" is the Paris climate accord, the "bootleggers" are industrial giants with a lot to gain from policies needed to implement the accord, and the "Baptists" are the environmentalists who support the accord because they think it'll save the planet. As I explained here and here: Corporations that stand to benefit from mandates and subsidies to renewable … [Read more...]
You’re “Still In”? Too Bad for You. We’re Out
Pure symbolism. That's what "We Are Still In" really is. "We Are Still In" is the petulant response of 9 states, 8 Blue (CA, CT, HI, NY, OR, RI, VA, WA) and 1 Red (NC), out of 50, 202 cities and counties (mostly in Blue states) out of 3,144 (cities, counties, and county equivalents), 308 institutions of higher learning out of 4,140, and 1,530 "businesses and investors" out of 18.2 million businesses and about 160 million owners of stocks to President Trump's … [Read more...]
Global Temperature and CO2—Which Drives Which?
The climate alarmist crowd never tires of insisting that anthropogenic additions to atmospheric carbon dioxide---up by 45 percent, from 280 to about 407 parts per million, since before the Industrial Revolution---are driving historically unprecedented and likely-to-become catastrophic global warming, and that they're exacerbated by increases in atmospheric methane (CH4) driven by the rising temperature, making methane a positive feedback. The claim rests on the notion that carbon dioxide level … [Read more...]
Do America’s Science Teachers and Students Need a Ministry of Truth?
Four liberal Democratic Senators---Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Brian Schatz (HI), and Edward Markey (MA)---are upset because Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement an "example of his commitment to rolling back the unrealistic and overreaching regulatory actions by the previous Administration." Thank heavens! These gallant Senators, painstakingly working to protect the American people, have taken … [Read more...]
“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”—Yogi Berra
In his 1968 book The Population Bomb Paul Ehrlich predicted mass famines in America and lots of other countries around the world before 1980, and that we would run out of lots of minerals by then, too. His predictions turned out false. He remains the idol of environmentalists worldwide. In 2007 Al Gore predicted, "“The North Polar ice cap ... could be completely gone in summer in as little as seven years. Seven years from now.” That would have been 2014. In 2011, he said, “the entire North … [Read more...]
Was Exiting Paris Wise or Unwise?
Was it wise for President Donald Trump to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement? The President offered mostly economic reasons for his decision. Although they’re important, it’s also important to know whether there’s good scientific basis. As some critics reason, “So what if the economy booms? What if the earth dies?”So here’s a 15-point summary of relevant facts, mostly scientific but some economic: 1. Global average temperature has risen and fallen cyclically, driven by … [Read more...]
