Climate change causes time travel? Humans turning clock back 50 million years

The Pliocene is coming to get you.

The shocking news is that the world cooled for 50 million years, then, just like that, two hundred years ago, humans stopped the cooling, and turned the global clock, or thermometer, whateveryoucallit, around. Now, unleash the disaster — by 2030 Earth is going to resemble the mid-Pliocene. So in just 11 years time, it will be like 3 million years ago. Apparently we are losing 250,000 years every year. Buy a solar panel now!

You think I’m joking:

Humans may be reversing the climate clock, by 50 million years

Our future on Earth may also be our past.

In a study published Monday (Dec. 10, 2018) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show that humans are reversing a long-term cooling trend tracing back at least 50 million years. And it’s taken just two centuries.

By 2030, Earth’s climate is expected to resemble that of the mid-Pliocene, going back more than 3 million years in geologic time.

How bad was the Pliocene?

In the Pliocene, North and South America joined tectonically, the climate was arid, land bridges allowed animals to spread across continents and the Himalayas formed. Temperatures were between 3.2 and 6.5 degrees Fahrenheit (1.8 to 3.6 degrees Celsius) warmer than they are today.

Look out for land bridges. Seriously, if you keep using coal power your only friends will be Australopithecus.

But worse is coming

It’s the Dr Who Hockey stick from hell. The Tardis is taking off.

By 2150, the Eocene will be upon us again:

Without reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions, our climates by 2150 could compare to the warm and mostly ice-free Eocene, an epoch that characterized the globe 50 million years ago.

During the Eocene, Earth’s continents were packed more closely together and global temperatures averaged 23.4 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius) warmer than they are today. Dinosaurs had recently gone extinct and the first mammals, like ancestral whales and horses, were spreading across the globe. The Arctic was occupied by swampy forests like those found today in the southern U.S.

Well, that’s it. A world full of primitive horses and swampy forests? And who wants our continents to be packed more closely together?

I wasn’t worried about climate change before but if the dinosaurs have to go extinct again, I think I’ll buy a Hybrid car.

What’s really scary is that some people think this is scientific work

This paper is a naked politicized plea for renewables with no scientific skerrick of merit, they have practically no data, junk resolution, and error bars bigger than the Roman Empire — and yet PNAS published it.

The basis of the 50 million year analysis are the same models that can’t even predict the cooling back in the 1970s.

Image created by Robert A. Rohde / Global Warming Art

All our ancestors survived this for millions of years, but we’re in uncharted territory:

All of the species on Earth today had an ancestor that survived the Eocene and the Pliocene, but whether humans and the flora and fauna we are familiar with can adapt to these rapid changes remains to be seen.

So life’s done this before, but this is new”?

Faster than we’ve ever seen?

The biggest flaw in this joke of a paper is that we have any meaningful idea of what speed the climate was changing at millions of years ago on a resolution remotely close to 100 years.

The accelerated rate of change appears to be faster than anything life on the planet has experienced before.

Shall we just phone up the old Eocene Bureau of Met and ask if they are really sure there was not a two degree rise from 17,580,100 BC to 17,580,000BC?

What are the error bars? Perhaps they were like  Zhang et al 2017 who reported that their dating on Miocene carbon readings 21 Million years ago were “plus or minus 30,000 years”. Are temperature readings much better?

The numbers needed to analyze this stupendous era of history are mindboggling. There have been 500,000 centuries since the Eocene, yet these researchers are saying they know for sure that not one of half a million centuries warmed faster than today?  Are we kidding?

This paper is so obviously a political activist sheet

Look, modelers who investigate 50 million years ago also find man-made storms, and dead people now:

“The further we move from the Holocene, the greater the potential that we move out of safe operating space,” says Williams, a faculty affiliate with the UW-Madison Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research. “In the roughly 20 to 25 years I have been working in the field, we have gone from expecting climate change to happen, to detecting the effects, and now, we are seeing that it’s causing harm. People are dying, property is being damaged, we’re seeing intensified fires and intensified storms that can be attributed to climate change. There is more energy in the climate system, leading to more intense events.”

Commenter Spetzer86:

“The obvious issue is that this guy has been doing this for almost 3 decades and is just making the climate worse. He should just stop…”

Somehow they need to strike a balance between fear and hope that is exactly like the one struck by the IPCC and every other registered climate scientist:

In their paper, the researchers try to strike a balance between alarm and optimism. On the one hand, Earth is headed into the unknown in our children’s and grandchildren’s lifetimes. On the other, life has long proven to be resilient. And, Williams says, in many places we are moving away from fossil fuels toward more sustainable and carbon-free energy sources. But more needs to be done.

Was the point of this study to understand our climate or to find a new way to scarify media stories? Do you need to ask? The researchers admit this was an exercise to train plebs to “think” about climate change with geologic analogs.

“We can use the past as a yardstick to understand the future, which is so different from anything we have experienced in our lifetimes,” says Williams. “People have a hard time projecting what the world will be like five or 10 years from now. This is a tool for predicting that — how we head down those paths, and using deep geologic analogs from Earth’s history to think about changes in time.”

Are we feeling patronized yet? Do you find it hard to predict five years in advance like Al Gore or Prince Charles does?

Some of this advertising was generated out of cosmetic surgery catalogues:

While not without their flaws, each of these models represents the best available data and state-of-the-art techniques.

Get ready, models that don’t work next summer can tell you Wisconsin “in the Eocene” will be warmer than Seattle:

The models showed these deep-geological climates emerging first from the center of continents and then expanding outward over time. Temperatures rise, precipitation increases, ice caps melt and climates become temperate near the Earth’s poles.

“Madison (Wisconsin) warms up more than Seattle (Washington) does, even though they’re at the same latitude,” Williams explains. “When you read that the world is expected to warm by 3 degrees Celsius this century, in Madison we should expect to roughly double the global average.”

US taxpayers paid for this wanton drivel:

THE STUDY WAS FUNDED BY THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (DEB-1353896) AND THE WISCONSIN ALUMNI RESEARCH FOUNDATION.

Do I have that grant right? $733,042. Sigh.

More warmist irrational fears,
Reviewed by more warmists, their peers,
Now claim that Earth’s fate,
Due to warming of late,
Is,to bring back the Pliocene years.

–Ruairi

REFERENCES

  1. K. D. Burke, J. W. Williams, M. A. Chandler, A. M. Haywood, D. J. Lunt, B. L. Otto-Bliesner. Pliocene and Eocene provide best analogs for near-future climatesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018; 201809600 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1809600115
9.8 out of 10 based on 74 ratings

107 comments to Climate change causes time travel? Humans turning clock back 50 million years

  • #
    Mary E

    The models showed these deep-geological climates emerging first from the center of continents and then expanding outward over time. Temperatures rise, precipitation increases, ice caps melt and climates become temperate near the Earth’s poles.

    Huh. MIT reports that the midwest – center of the USA – has been cooling. Of course, the cooling is credited to farms for bio-fuels (corn) and export (soy.)

    http://news.mit.edu/2018/intensive-agriculture-influences-us-regional-summer-climate-0213

    Maybe we just need more farms.

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  • #
    Michael Reed

    We’ve all seen the usual Hollywood disaster movies .Their plots seem kind of” believable”at the beginning of the movie then the the catastrophe strikes and it looks
    like the end of the world for sure but some really dumb way out of the holocaust is found -like reminiscent of that famous script writer (or should I say preacher charlatan
    All Gore) who proposed changing light globes would help prevent global warming and its soon to be scripted cousin -CLIMATE CHANGE !!!
    Yep I don’t think even Hollywood Directors and Producers would accept this scientific study or should I say script -even though The Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences did .So post modern science has now reached the point where “researchers” (or should I say script writers the ones that even John West would reject) get to publish outlandish ,unverifiable with no apparent hard -data papers that are hilarious accept that their authors are deadly serious and they don’t really believe they are waiting comedy.
    Cheers Mike Reed

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    • #
      Len

      Light bulbs a la Turnbull.

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    • #
      R2Dtoo

      This may be a new low for PNAS. I really wonder if the Vikings on Greenland would believe this just a few centuries ago. Or the folks (mine) who survived the Dust Bowl just 80 years ago.

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      • #
        Mary E

        Ahhh, the dustbowl. Dry winds, little rain, new farming machines (no more ox-drawn plows!) and the wonderful advice (government) ag experts gave all farmers to increase harvest yields using mechanical harvesters- plow straight lines. Add the depression and massive monetary losses the farmers endured, leading to abandoned farms and fields, etc. It was a bad time for all, the 30s, but the dust-bowl farmers, encouraged and able to plant ever-larger fields, lost everything.

        That was a man-made disaster. No one understood prairies, the difference between deep-rooted prairie flowers and grasses and shallow-rooted wheat, and no one expected a decade of wind and dry. It wasn’t deliberate, nor was it climate change (just bad weather) or pollution.

        It was hot in a lot of places, which didn’t help dry soil at all.

        http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/06/the_heat_waves_of_the_1930s.html

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  • #
    tom0mason

    If only we could turn the ‘climate clock’ back to the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) or Roman Warm Period (RWP), maybe we would recognize that high CO2 levels and a warmer planet are very beneficial for all forms of life.
    Back to those halcyon days of the MWP (or the RWP) with glorious summers, cool winters, and abundant crops.

    However, current indications with this oncoming solar minimum, is a prognosis appearing to turn the ‘climate clock’ back to cooler time, with similar events to 1960-1970, or maybe even another Dalton minimum, hopefully nothing worse.

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    • #

      If these scare mongers get their way, we’ll most certainly be living a Medieval lifestyle if nothing else.

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    • #
      Craig Thomas

      The “MWP” was a 0.5 degree upward temperature blip. Some people attach altogether more importance to this “MWP” than it deserves.

      07

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Whereas Craig Thomas attaches altogether more importance to him views (not knowledge) than it deserves.

        P.S. If you ever go to Norway do try to go to Trondheim (the original Capital during medieval times) and see the medieval cathedral.

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      • #
        AndyG55

        Almost certainly MORE than that.

        Arctic sea ice was much less than now.

        Greenland had viable farming

        Glaciers now exist where tress used to grow.

        CT has NO EVIDENCE that human CO2 has caused any warming whatsoever.

        CT is yapping mindlessly yet again

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      • #
        AndyG55

        “Some people attach altogether more importance to this “MWP” than it deserves.”

        Classic CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL by little craig.

        10

      • #
        bullocky

        Craig Thomas:
        ‘Some people attach altogether more importance to this “MWP” than it deserves.’

        Michael Mann?

        40

  • #
    Michael Reed

    Sorry the word waiting should have been writing.Not me but I think spell check that I didn’t check .Anyway I think that these “researchers”would have presented a real and present threat to the Monty Python team but its OK as they have mostly retired from the scene now.
    Cheers again Mike R

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  • #
    Spetzer86

    “In the roughly 20 to 25 years I have been working in the field, we have gone from expecting climate change to happen, to detecting the effects, and now, we are seeing that it’s causing harm. People are dying, property is being damaged, we’re seeing intensified fires and intensified storms that can be attributed to climate change. There is more energy in the climate system, leading to more intense events.”

    The obvious issue is that this guy has been doing this for almost 3 decades and is just making the climate worse. He should just stop and we could all go about our business without his making this worse and all.

    210

  • #
    el gordo

    ‘“When you read that the world is expected to warm by 3 degrees Celsius this century…”

    Hmmmm ….. just stop right there while i nip the bud.

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  • #
    Jonesy

    Just keep churning out this propaganda, the goal is in sight! Make every last person afraid of the weather.

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  • #
    Robert R

    Well, we are well and truly in the age of lefty political groups using infiltration of everything aided by fake news and fake concepts to get political control and power. And history shows that the danger is, that the stronger the reaction to these types gets, the more aggressive they get.

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    • #
      Latus Dextro

      This paper is a naked politicized plea for renewables with no scientific skerrick of merit, they have practically no data, junk resolution, and error bars bigger than the Roman Empire — and yet PNAS published it.

      Had PNAS not published it they would have opened themselves to the usual polemic of Leftist excremental verbiage. On the other hand, now that it is published the propagators (media) have free rein to continue the climatism polemic, under the aegis of “a recent scientific study…” blah blah blah with a bit of free journal advertising thrown in. It is worth recalling that PNAS also published the Epstein et al. (2015) paper highlighting the Goolag search-engine manipulation effect. Perhaps the journal has been ‘enculturated’ by the Rainbow Cult since then?

      That the paper is singularly deserving of comedic dismissal is spot on. But it is only part of a wider barrage of desperation. For if we plunge in the direction that a Grand Solar Minimum suggests and wider declining temperatures indicate, its absolutely game-over … and they will pay. No amount of post hoc fiddling, adjustments, concealing, inventing, smoothing or pseudo-paleoclimatism will make the slightest difference.

      the stronger the reaction to these types gets, the more aggressive they get.

      Bring it on.
      The Left are a murderous collectivist at heart, hiding individual psychosis under the mantle of diffused collective insanity. No personal responsibility. Never. These are the folk that cherish the tired, hackneyed line allowing the slaughter of 100M people in the 20th Century, “we were only following orders.” Today’s lingua franca is more insidious and sinister; “we know best for your own good” coupled with the trinity of the neo-Marxists, identity politics, political correctness and cultural Marxism, all paraded about under the Rainbow banner to the nauseating chant of diversity, inclusion, equality, and equity.

      Just recently, at the hands of the University of Washington, College of the Environment’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (the title should be a major red flag to most – no pun intended). Without a collusive university administration the ideological nonsense would be extinguished very fast. Instead, they act like a megaphone …

      University of Washington atmospheric scientist Cliff Mass has been called plenty of names, including climate “denier,” but it wasn’t until he came out against the state’s proposed carbon tax last month that he was accused of being a racist.

      “It’s really a minority of graduate students and just one or two faculty that are the real activists. I don’t want to make it seem like everybody’s like this, they’re not. But it’s poisoning the place, the fact that you’ve got to watch your step here.”

      Last week, Dale Durran, chairman of the atmospheric sciences department, held a department-wide meeting to discuss the issue, which did not go well for Mr. Mass. “So he invited everybody to talk about it — with food, too — and it basically was an inquisition, just an hour of me being attacked,” Mr. Mass said. “And when I tried to talk about incivility, which was the topic, he was screaming. He wouldn’t let me talk. So it was just an absolute disaster.”

      Never stope calling ’em out now, or winding up the the anti. Separate individuals from the herd, observe the cowardice and weakness very quickly. Reflect Alinsky at them.

      History surely taught that appeasement (particularly of a bully, institutional or otherwise) is unfailingly a fools errand.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      “In a study published Monday (Dec. 10, 2018) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show that humans are reversing a long-term cooling trend tracing back at least 50 million years. And it’s taken just two centuries.”
      Yes, well tell me when humans make more energy than the Sun at 10^36W!
      Maybe go forward in time 4.5 billion and see what happens when the Sun a red super giant, might even get hotter! fizzzzzzz….

      00

  • #

    So we’ll soon be back in the mid-Pliocene, maybe in the time it takes to play a few Ashes series. And a few of seasons of Home and Away will then see us in the Eocene. Just like that. However…

    Since we’re not even close to the high temps of the last interglacial a mere hundred and twenty thousand years back…

    And since we’re not even close to the high temps of this present interglacial a mere eight to six thousand years back…

    And since it’s doubtful that the Modern Warming is compararable to the Medieval and previous major warmings…

    And since we can’t even paddle canoes where Romans parked fleets at Ostia and Ephesus (and good luck landing in Britain like Claudius’ troops or William the Conqueror)…

    I think the word “bunk” is in order. And I’m starting to think they know it’s bunk, because it’s all so obvious. Like they don’t even have to try to be plausible. Like we don’t don’t have to believe to go along any more. Like the more absurd the yarn the greater the proof of their power over us.

    Which can only lead to even worse conclusions about the intentions of globalism, sustainable development and the burgeoning surveillance society. Namely, it’s pure devilry.

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    • #
      glen Michel

      Tonight it will head the bulletin on the ABC “news”. Next the Rhine will freeze over and the barbarians will be at the gates of Rome.

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        They’re used to it.
        In either 390 or 387 BC, Brennus of the Senones, a Gaulish warlord, allegedly sacked Rome. Some have claimed that this is myth with no grounding in reality, but either way the Romans regarded it as one of the darkest moments in their history.
        In 69 AD Rome was occupied by two hostile Roman armies; first that of Vitellius, and secondly that of Vespasian. Though there were riots and sporadic violence, there was no serious opposition.
        In 193 AD Septimius Severus took Rome after scattering Didius Julianus’ green army.
        In 410 AD, Alaric the Visigoth famously sacked the “Eternal” City.
        In 455 AD, Vandals and African allies under the command of Gaiseric and Huneric sacked Rome with much more violence than the Goths.
        Rome was occupied by Roman forces, and subsequently put up to an unsuccessful siege by the Goths under Witigis, in the 6th Century.

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        • #
          sophocles

          You forgot the Punic Wars, Rome butting heads with Carthage in a series of three wars from 264 BC to 146 BC, the then equivalent of our WW2 x 3. (Hannibal and his alpine elephants …it was a time of Global Warming or Hannibal wouldn’t have been able to get the Mastodons … Ummm … Heffalumps over the Pyrenees and into northern Italy.

          The seat of power moved from Rome to Constantinople in 330AD (“New Rome”) so Alaric and the later Goths and Vandals had an easy time beating of it up a very diminished city.

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        • #
          glen Michel

          Many moons ago I went to see Theoderic’s mausoleum in Ravenna , Italy. No sign of the Ostrogoth leader but apparently it was connected to the sea back then. Not now though.

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          • #
            glen Michel

            An interesting thing is the dome,which weighs over 250 tonnes.One piece of Istrian Granite.How they got it up there has me blowed.

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        • #
          Bruce of Newcastle

          I read Livy not long ago. English translation thereof. He writes very well and his history is an entertaining read. He described Brennus’s actions very precisely, and did so on the basis of reading a lot of bureaucratic documentation they still had in his time – basically government year books.

          Good Christmas present for someone who likes history in the raw.

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      • #
        me@home

        The Danube is closed to shipping right now from ice.

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  • #
    Critical Mass

    The [snip] don’t even realise that they have negated two axioms central to their cockamamie hypothesis:

    1. They conjecture that the mid-Pliocene climate of more than 3 million years will be similar to that caused by future global warming. Were dinosaurs burning fossil fuels back then? Cremating their dead brethren?
    2. They state that when this specious Back To The Future global warming happens, land bridges between the continents will emerge. Wouldn’t rising sea levels cause the submersion of these land bridges?

    A conclusion based on a scientific method riddled with logical fallacies and propped up with fraudulent data is self-defeating, and is bound to collapse in on itself, as will the whole Anthropogenic Global Warming construct.

    “Baby, It’s Warm Outside”

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    • #
      sophocles

      To Critical Mass @ #10:

      You’re being far too generous when you conclude their dogmatic hypothesis even approaches a Scientific method. The Solar System won’t be anywhere in the galaxy near where it was during the PETM, when it was pursuing the Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm. That’s roughly another 200 Million Years away. We are only 3 Million Years into crossing the Orion spur (between the Sagittarius-Carina arm and the Perseus arm) with maybe another 28 or so Million Years to go.

      The current Ice Age—the Quaternary Ice Age—has got about that time left to run, so no, the climate will continue to oscillate from short bursts of warmth to long periods of cold as it has for the last 2.8 Million years: an cheerful oscillation between 100,000 year periods of cold (stadials) and 10,000 – 14,000 year long mildy warm periods or interstadials. Our climate is under the control of the Solar System’s orbit of the Milky Way Galaxy and our type G main sequence highly variable star which we call The Sun. Ice Ages such as the present Quaternary, are caused by Galactic Spiral Arm crossings and warm eras, such as the PETM are caused by lack of cosmic rays so there are long periods of few clouds for the Solar TSI to do its job and warm the planet. The climate is modified and paced by the Milankovic Cycles, by our galactic neighbourhood (intensity of Galactic Cosmic Rays) and our star’s magnetic cycles.

      We’re dealing with microcephalic morons for whom geological time (thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of years etc) does not exist. They don’t look up or out but focus on their feet. No wonder they stumble so badly. For Example: for their own purposes, the IPCC has declared a Solar Constant …yes … for a variable star … whereby the only solar parameter which matters is TSI which varies only +/- 0.1 % and the TSI in question omits all UV. (IR to top of the visible spectrum only). This is one of the reasons why their models haven’t yet succeeded in predicting projecting anything which actually happens, ever. Sure, they’re modeling an atmosphere—but it sure isn’t the one we live in.

      For more information, visit Nir Shaviv’s blog and read his (peer reviewed and published) research on Ice Ages … and their cause.

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      • #
        Critical Mass

        Thank you, sophocles, for your very interesting and clear explanation of galactic cycles and phenomena as they affect geologic time and climate. The universe is truly wondrous and immense in time and scale, and it is comments such as yours which give a sense of this.

        However, it seems to me that you may have missed the point of my comment which was to expose the internal logical inconsistencies of the alarmists. It is quite clear from my statement that I give no credence whatsoever to the justifications and evidence for their delusional nonsense. Your opening sentence then comes across as somewhat carping and curmudgeonly. There was no need for this, as there are many people such as myself who have respect for and great interest in the erudition and illuminating perspective of someone such as yourself.

        After observing and analyzing the dynamics of the climate debate for many years, I have come to the conclusion that the alarmists have hijacked the high ground and won the battle because of their colorful use of language and appeal to sensationalism, which some would call rhetoric. In fact, it is not rhetoric, but a distortion and travesty of the art of rhetoric which is a highly disciplined and rigorous command of language and logical structures.

        Therefore it may be more effective to debunk the framework of their construct by honing in on the logical fallacies of their arguments. Bombarding them with information serves no purpose, since they are clearly fact and science averse.

        Since this battle is being fought in the agora, persuasive polemic may be a better weapon than a prolonged phillipic.

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        • #
          sophocles

          My apologies. I truncated my post because it had grown too much and that might have slanted it to seeming as though I had missed your point. I don’t think I had. My opening paragraph: “You’re being far too generous …” I think shows that. I meant you were being softer on foolishness than it possibly deserved.

          I apologise, too, if you thought it “carping and curmudgeonly” because it certainly wasn’t intended to be. Given the sheer scale of the nonsense in the paper we were both trying to criticize—and I agreed with everything you said—I felt you could, justifiably, have been stronger, quite vigorous in fact, in your criticism of it. Maybe you’re much better mannered than I. 🙂

          One item of sheer nonsense was the author’s surmise of “returning to the climate of the Eocene.” Oh dear. That will happen again in about another 190 million years when our Solar System is cruising the Cosmic Ray Void, the interstellar space between the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm and the Sagittarius Spiral Arm once more. Lack of Cosmic Rays means a great lack of low to medium altitude clouds (the cooling ones). Clear skies allows lots and lots of warming. It was a 15 or so million year heatwave and about as hot as the planet can possibly get. The cooling started at entry into the Sagittarius arm — from behind. The sudden cooling at 33MYA was when we came out the front of the spiral arm into the far more intense Cosmic Rays on the Spiral Arm’s leading edge. Antarctica started building its ice cap. Ergo the claim about the Eocene climate being “a valid analogue” for near future climate is as valid as two fleas on a dog’s tail arguing over whose turn it was to steer the dog. It was just begging for trouble.

          So was the bit about land bridges. A land bridge between two continents can occur in one of two ways: take away the sea (dump it as ice on Antarctica, the Artic and as big glaciers all over the globe, as it was 20,000 years ago towards the end of the last stadial), or lots of volcanic action as it was/is in Central America. There was plenty of room for a good savaging of those oh so ignorant authors.

          We’re both on the same side, and there were opportunities we both left begging. Anyway, I hope this goes some way to repairing my “curmudgeonly” manner, and towards clearing matters up. I had no intention whatsoever to upset or offend and do apologize for any caused.

          Very recently, I came to the realization that we might be fighting the wrong battle; that the Climate `agora’ was the wrong one and climate doesn’t really matter. It’s Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030 which is being currently foisted on us while we’re all deflected and distracted by the climate debate (or running in the direction we’re supposed to be running in) This Video at youtube Patrick Woods I found very scary. You may already know of this. It explains how some research (into eg: RFID chipping etc ) money is so easy to obtain. Chipping we do for pets. Soon it will be for us.

          Thank you for your kind words about my explanations. Flattery will get you … umm, yes, well! 🙂
          If I have explained anything in a way you like, feel free to use it as you like but, please, validate it first 🙂 ) Here’s a detailed graphic of the milky way galaxy if you’re at all interested. The galaxy rotates clockwise and our solar system’s orbit is also clockwise. It’s a little faster than the spiral arms. One galactic year is c. 250 – 251 Million Years. Clicking a mouse on the graphic exposes plenty of detail. Enjoy.

          Bye for now.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Was that when there was 7% CO2 levels, the temps similar to today, LOTS of plant growth, exact epoch (correct me) paleozoic some time.
      All these fake papers are absurd, goes to show the complete bias in any review which has nothing to do with real world science. The complete hijacking of the journals for political ends.

      10

    • #
      Craig Thomas

      1. Could you perhaps conceive that maybe, possibly there are climate forcings *other* than atmospheric CO2 content?

      2. That makes no sense whatsoever. What kind of a maniac would imagine that temperature could cause sudden tectonic changes?

      02

      • #
        AndyG55

        CT has ZERO evidence of that any of the NATURAL WARMING out of the LIA was by human enhanced atmospheric CO2.

        10

  • #
    graham dunton

    Climate change causes time travel? Humans turning clock back 50 million years
    This revolutionary project, known as ..
    “The Green Tardis”
    The chief navigator is a Dick (Richard)- and his relentless babysitter is the young Hanson.
    They were chosen from their green minions, for their regressive gene’s they ware. So, going back into the distant past will not phase them.
    And bon voyage.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      The navigator is the only person I’ve seen with a permanent smacked rear end “How dare you? I’m offended by everything!” whiplash sneer…….

      Ah teenagers….

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Why go so far when you can have “the benefit” of a climate unaffected by CO2?
      “Historically, the first evidence of a frozen Bosphorus was noted during the time of Herodotus. Analysis of the historical data about freezing events in the Bosphorus (at Istanbul) reveals the existence of four main cold periods since 1 AD. The first occurred around the 1st century. Although the temperature was close to, or perhaps a little lower than, that of the present, three successive freezing events are indicated between 7–17 AD. The second cold period was in the 4th century, when another freezing event was reported in 401 AD. After a slight temperature increase up to the beginning of the 8th century, the third cold period extended from the mid-8th to the 13th century, during which the Bosphorus and even parts of the Black Sea were repeatedly frozen, and floating ice masses entered the Sea of Marmara. Winters were markedly mild for 400 years starting from the mid-13th century. The fourth cold period began early in the mid-17th century and has lasted to the present day; it has been characterized by severe winters, however, the intensity of the winter cold has gradually diminished during this interval.”
      They seem to have missed the Roman warming and the Medieval warm period.
      Another view “Historically,Bosphorus frozen three times in 673,801,802 AD and several times floating ice masses were present in bosphorus strait in 739, 753, 755, 762, 928, 934, 1011, 1232, 1620, 1669, 1755, 1823, 1849, 1862, 1893, 1929, 1954”.

      Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/weather/1987623-can-istanbul-bosphorus-freeze-again.html#ixzz5ZhbXea8t

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    Bruce of Newcastle

    So they are ignoring the Holocene Climatic Optimum now? Which in higher latitudes was about 4 C warmer than today. It is a mystery to me that a period called a ‘climatic optimum’ can have been so bad that climatistas think it would be the end of the world if we had another one.

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    • #
      el gordo

      ‘While temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere were warmer than average during the summers, the Tropics and parts of the Southern Hemisphere were colder than average.’

      Definitely a bipolar seesaw and the ITCZ may have shifted.

      50

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Because Bruce some “Climate Scientists” confuse natural climates with political ones.

      Like the highs and lows with weather scientists can turn left depending what part of the world their from.

      52

    • #
      sophocles

      Bruce of Newcastle said:

      t is a mystery to me that a period called a ‘climatic optimum’ can have been so bad that climatistas think it would be the end of the world if we had another one.

      Climistas are a particularly conservative and mentally sluggish animal: anything which departs from the prevailing climate of 1690 is to be avoided because they might go into (thermal) shock. Can’t possibly have that. So they make their big mistake by assuming all the rest of us will go into thermal shock too.

      I’m really looking forward to when they get their 1690 Ideal Climate with their 1690 Ideal Temperature. Their reactions are going to be fun—just as long as I’m not freezing my butt off.

      51

  • #
    Binny Pegler

    My main concern when I read this sort of thing is ‘Do these guys actually believe this’
    I mean if this is just a cynical, but clumsy and lazy attempt to burn up some grant money.
    That’s not good, but understandable.
    If however they really believe, that this is. A: Science and B: True
    Then that is a little frightening, C S Lewis quote on Tyrannies comes to mind

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  • #
    Mark M

    Since when did the retreat of the ice become a bad thing ?

    A mere ~14,000 years ago Chicago was buried by a mile of ice.

    No-one denies that particular climate change.

    Personally, I prefer the current climate.

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    • #
      el gordo

      There was a lot happening at the time.

      ‘Meltwater pulse 1A was followed in Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere by a renewed cooling, the Antarctic Cold Reversal, in c. 14,500 BP, which lasted for two millennia — an instance of warming causing cooling.

      ‘The ACR brought an average cooling of perhaps 3 °C. The Younger Dryas cooling, in the Northern Hemisphere, began while the Antarctic Cold Reversal was still ongoing, and the ACR ended in the midst of the Younger Dryas.’ wiki

      40

    • #
      el gordo

      One final point worth considering, CO2 level was unaffected over those thousands of years.

      40

  • #
    PeterS

    “Climate science” has become the voodoo magic of today. Next they will be telling-us if we don’t reduce our CO2 emissions we will cause the whole Universe to heat up and melt everything.

    81

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      And here’s me thinking the Left didn’t believe in a deity……

      Will they start pulling heads of chickens and trying to put them back on?

      90

    • #
      el gordo

      Clearly the paper is a French farce because the authors fail to acknowledge the Holocene Climate Optimum.

      100

    • #
      Yonniestone

      We all laughed at this years ago but prophetically its coming to pass, Life Of Brian Prophets, I believe the last one is representative of our Green Soothsayers.

      81

    • #
      RicDre

      I had been led to believe that the reason that MacArthur’s Park melted in the dark and all its sweet green icing flowed down was because someone left it out in the rain, but now it seems more likely that that the melting was caused by humans emitting CO2 into the atmosphere. The good news is that if we emit additional CO2 into the atmosphere it may cause the arrow of time to reverse and MacArthur’s Park will unmelt. (apologies to Jimmy Web)

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    • #
      sophocles

      Do you mean they aren’t doing that already?

      10

  • #
    Robber

    It is clearly time for these alarmists and their followers to take urgent action.
    They have tried earth hour (next one is 8.30-9.30 pm (eastern Australia time) on Saturday March 30.
    What I suggest is that they make it earth day – no driving, no electricity (unless off grid solar or some if the wind is blowing), no flying for a whole day.
    And the following year 2020 it becomes earth week – what a pleasure it will be to drive with 50% (?) less traffic. And all those who opted for green energy can only use electricity from solar, and wind when it blows.
    And then in June 2022, to discuss the IPCC’s AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2022, all those delegates will travel to their meeting in solar/wind-powered wooden boats, meet in tents in Greenland(?), and celebrate earth year by switching themselves off. And the rest of us can get on and enjoy life.

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    • #
      Bobl

      Great idea, why not earth week, all the coal, gas , and diesel plants can be taken offline simultaneously for some well earned maintenance so the whole country can learn what it’s like.

      I remember advocating for a coal generation strike back when the act was being enacted.

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  • #
    OriginalSteve

    O/T but interesting – should send the Left into complete melt down…..
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-15/government-recognises-west-jerusalem-but-keeps-tel-aviv-embassy/10614226

    Question of the Day – what country is Jerusalem in? Its not a trick question…..

    “The Australian Government will recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but will not immediately move its embassy from Tel Aviv.

    Key points:

    * The Federal Government has ended a long-standing policy of recognising Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel
    * Prime Morrison Scott Morrison is expected to acknowledge the aspirations of Palestinians for a future state with its capital in East Jerusalem
    * Palestinians reacted with dismay when Mr Morrison first floated moving the embassy
    * It is understood Prime Minister Scott Morrison will announce the decision during a speech in Sydney today.

    He is also expected to acknowledge the aspirations of Palestinians for a future state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

    Mr Morrison, in the final days of the Wentworth by-election, announced he was reviewing Australia’s long-standing policy of recognising Tel Aviv as the capital, where the embassy is located.

    At the time, he denied it was aimed at winning over Jewish voters in the seat which the Government ultimately lost to independent Kerryn Phelps.

    Palestinians reacted with shock and dismay at the suggestion of moving the embassy and warned Australia was at risk of becoming an “international pariah”.

    Top officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed in October that they had not been consulted by the Prime Minister before he announced he was contemplating moving the embassy.

    The announcement of a review came at the expense of ratifying a landmark free trade agreement with Indonesia.”

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  • #
    Lawrie

    Once a ridiculous paper like and the writers would be the subject of ridicule and cartoonists would lampoon them in the national papers but today leaders such as Bill Shorten will react by demanding even more useless windmills.

    160

  • #
    ivan

    Oh dear, the UN has realised that the peasants are revolting and escaping from the fear provided by the church of climatology. The more the peasants revolt the more likely the governments are to listen and stop paying the high taxes to reduce what is not happening. The UN are so afraid of the truth that they authorised (paid?) activists to silence the American delegation at COP 24.
    http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/12/10/un-colludes-with-climate-protesters-to-disrupt-shut-down-trump-admin-pro-energy-event-at-un-summit/

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      The Elite may start a war or similar to distract people….it seems there was a shooting France at a “convenient” time for Macron….

      I think its health to ackniwledge the Elite have all these little tricks they can pull, so we dont get sidetracked.

      Now we need to step up the pressure on the Church of Climatology….

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Its also healthy to acknowledge the UN as a clear danger to Democracy globally…..

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      • #
        sophocles

        While you’re at it Steve, see if you can get the UN acknowledged as a clear danger to both planet Earth and the Human Race.

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  • #
    Dennis

    The female minister at the Sydney City Uniting Church has rewritten Christmas Carols to protest against burning Coal.

    The Weekend Australian and other sources report.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      So they will meet in darkness? They cannot use coal fired electricity and those candles obviously put out enough CO2 to cause brain damage in the congregation.

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      • #
        Dennis

        Apparently the Christmas 2018 coal carol protest is spreading including to a Brisbane CBD Church.

        Graeme they are being led into the darkness by naive people.

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      • #
        Another Ian

        Yesterday’s Tractors had a post up on prospective Christmas songs to ban and the reasons for that.

        I didn’t take a copy and it must have got a bit risque because it has “disappeared” today.

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  • #
    PeterPetrum

    When I was 4 (in 1944) living in Swansea (UK) I decided to jump from the top of a wall into a 4’ deep snowdrift, just for fun (yes it snowed in S Wales in 1944). I could not get out and it took my mother 30 minutes to find me.

    My climate changed completely in 30 minutes – I win!!

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  • #
    pat

    TWEET: Nitin Sethi 3min ago
    #COP24. 10 past midnight. Bilateral meetings almost done. New text under prep. 4 am, the earliest, everyone will meet to see if it is the penultimate or final version. Or neither. Outside the city sleeps
    PIC: COP24 NOTICE
    https://twitter.com/nit_set/status/1073717347330994181

    14 Dec: ClimateDepot: Marc Morano: Special Report: Scientists Expose The Truth Behind the Plastic ‘Crisis’ – Greenpeace Co-Founder: The ‘sea of plastic is a fiction. The ultimate in Fake News’
    New report by team of scientists debunks the media and Greenpeace hyped ‘plastics crisis’
    An independent report by Dr. Michael Connolly, Dr. Ronan Connolly,
    Dr. Willie Soon, Dr. Patrick Moore and Dr. Imelda Connolly
    Excerpted from new report: ‘Greenpeace wants a piece of your green’
    Released During the UN Climate Summit in Katowice Poland (COP 24)
    Full 41-page PDF Report: The Truth Behind the Plastic ‘Crisis’ – Excerpted from “Analysis of Greenpeace’s business model & philosophy”
    http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/12/14/special-report-scientists-expose-the-truth-behind-the-plastic-crisis-greenpeace-co-founder-the-sea-of-plastic-is-a-fiction-the-ultimate-in-fake-news/

    50

  • #
    el gordo

    Geologic Analog is Play School

    ‘Analogue Modelling (Geology) is a laboratory experimental method using uncomplicated physical models (such as a sandbox) with certain simple scales of time and length to model geological scenarios and simulate geodynamic evolutions. There are numerous limitations for the direct study of Earth.’ wiki

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  • #
    Roy Hogue

    Is there anyone around who can call, “Time out.” in a voice loud enough to be heard. I guess not because there seems to be a contest going on in which each “scientist” — and I use that term loosely — is required to come up with a theory more ridiculous than the preceding one.

    This can only end up with everyone at the bottom of a hole so deep they can’t get out.

    Maybe the human race was always this way but I don’t remember time travel except in those science fiction novels I read, most notably, H G Wells or TV on Star Trek, all places where fantasy was king and everyone knew it.

    I wonder what the grand prize is because I might be interested in entering the contest. My imagination works as well as anyone’s.

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  • #
    Bobl

    This physically impossible tipping point argument has been trotted out yet again. That paper is a blatant opinion piece disguised as science supported by 3/4 million dollars of taxpayer sweat and toil. This short of funding needs to be cut off completely.

    In Australia the Australian research council needs to likewise be restricted. I advocate the government remove all environmental research funding or at least require 70% industry funding (while banning environmental NGOs) for 5 years putting the money into medicine and physical sciences.

    Finally let me call upon the government to declare greenpiss and WWF as the political lobby groups they are and remove their charity status. Finally I call on them to ban foreign funding of political activism, either directly or indirectly. Soros funding of Getup for example.

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  • #
    ian allchin

    Here we go again ,a new gutfull of doom , gloom & fake news from the non-achievers in society.I suggest that everybody focus on the upcoming federal election. Put Shorten in the big house then the double adaptors , femmen, genderbenders, dole bludgers ,the list is full of lefty parisites that will be dictating the agenda not to forget a flood of Centrelink so called refugees. Wake up Aussies.

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  • #
    Crakar24

    The COP meetings tend to trigger an avalanche of papers leading to the ultimate crescendo of stupidity which I believe with this paper we have now reached.

    I get a sense the stupid has been a little more intense this year anyone else get that feeling?

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      Hard to tell as there’s so many colours of it throughout the alarmists camp, remember the question of “peak stupid” and have we reached it?

      I’d put the increased panic this year down to the Trump Effect Crakar. 🙂

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      • #
        Crakar24

        A collection of red thumbs, good to see we are keeping a simpleton employed and not sucking on the teat of government welfare and thus our tax $$$$

        40

  • #
    pat

    no need to read the rest:

    14 Dec: EurActiv: Two of 196 signatory countries to Paris Agreement have raised their climate ambitions
    By Aline Robert
    For the time being, only Fiji and the Marshall islands have done so…

    14 Dec: BusinessStandardIndia: I won’t justify Trump’s climate change policy for a second: Todd Stern (Obama’s chief negotiator, COP 21, Paris)
    by Nitin Sethi
    NITIN SETHI: A perception floats in public that under President Trump the US has stepped out of the Paris Agreement. But, at Katowice we find that the US is as deeply engaged at the moment in several negotiations behind closed doors. Some portray the US here attempting to rework the Paris Agreement through the rulebook in a shape that President Trump would also accept eventually. Would you agree with that view?

    TODD STERN: Definitely No.

    NITIN SETHI: Could you then explain what is the US doing here at Katowice then?

    TODD STERN: I disagree with that actually. I would not take one second to try to justify President Trump’s policy on climate change, either internationally or domestically. I disagree. With basically everything he’s doing. I think he’s completely wrongheaded – his approach and the approach of many of the political people he’s brought in to EPA etc. So what I’m saying now has nothing to do with defending top administration. I could not disagree more. On climate change and most other things.

    But, I think that the career civil service diplomats who have been doing what they’ve been doing over the last two years – many of them have been there for a long time – they worked with President Bush, they worked with democrats and with republicans.

    I am a political person but I have enormous respect for the career people who serve administrations of both kinds. The people who have been in the lingo of international diplomacy those are the technical people and then there are political people in the sense that they’re basically ministerial level and above. So our technical people have been acting in a professional manner in a way that has been designed to implement the Paris agreement, to bring it to life with these rules and procedures and guidelines and so forth and have been doing that in a way meant to be faithful to the Paris Agreement.

    So the Paris agreement means sort of different (things?) to different people and lies in the eyes of the beholder. But I don’t have much disagreement at all with what I’ve seen come out of the US side when it comes to mitigation, transparency or other things, they have been pretty straight up…

    It’s not like anybody’s been doing something that they’re not supposed to be doing. Top administration could cut-off completely and…switch(ed) off the US team anytime they want. They could have switched off the US team the day after the President gave his speech in the Rose Garden. But they’ve made the judgment that made sense to have US team. It is a much smaller team. They have not at all had the kind of prominent role that the US had in the past. But they are honest people. I think there are many, many negotiators from countries who tend to agree with the United States…
    https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/i-won-t-justify-president-trump-s-climate-change-for-a-second-todd-stern-118121401268_1.html

    15 Dec: The Intercept: From Obama to Trump, Climate Negotiations Are Being Run by the Same Crew of American Technocrats
    by Kate Aronoff
    In fact, that agenda is being carried out by many of the very same people, a largely overlapping crew of career technical negotiators…
    “They are actively engaging and they are making sure that the interests of the United States are represented. They are not innocent bystanders. They are active participants,” said Meena Raman, a senior researcher at Third World Network, who has tracked the talks closely for decades…
    https://theintercept.com/2018/12/14/cop24-climate-change-talks-paris-agreement/

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  • #
    Ruairi

    More warmist irrational fears,
    Reviewed by more warmists, their peers,
    Now claim that Earth’s fate,
    Due to warming of late,
    Is,to bring back the Pliocene years.

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  • #
    aussiepete

    I have been pondering this “going back in time” thing for a while and I get back to about 300 million years and the formation of coal and here i find a dichotomy.
    The alarmists would have us believe that with all that coal floating around in the atmosphere in the form of CO2 it was the planet from hell. Unbelievably hot and dry, massive hurricanes and storms. Raging fires across the world with oceans of boiling acid.
    And yet;
    Somehow in this inferno worse than Dante’s Hell, life evolved. Massive life, dinosaurs and trees in such numbers as to suck the CO2 out of the air and form the coal seams we have today.

    Feel free to tell me i’m an idiot and where my logic has gone wrong.

    120

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Yes and still the world turns, its perhaps the best argument against CAGW as to why didn’t the Earth succumb to all the hypothesised climate death spirals in the past where empirical evidence today shows Earth experienced cyclic changes that exceed the ‘dangerous tipping points’ set by alarmists?

      92

  • #
    Terry

    “Scientists”

    Where is the ACCC?

    Clearly false and misleading claims.

    131

  • #
    ZombieDawg

    But worse is to come indeed.

    You have got to be kidding me !
    Harvard are really effing stupid and ignorant beyond words if they believe they’re going to help the planet.
    An ELE ? If we’re in a 1,000 year cooling cycle and given the climatic changes/global crop losses (already at very concerning levels)/starvation/deaths in solar cycle 25 and to then artificially compound all that…
    Don’t even mention the idiocy of rolling out solar into an increasing cloud cover climatic shift and then Harvard screw it up more by reflecting more sunlight. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

    How do I get off this rock ? NOWWWWW !!!!!

    10

  • #
    pat

    a couple of fun tweets found on Nitin Sethi’s twitter page, as the count-down continues:

    TWEET: Brady Dennis, WaPo
    Ticking toward 1 a.m. here at #COP24 in Poland. No end in sight. Press room a ghost town. Sounds of Bowie’s “Under Pressure” faintly wafting over the few sad souls who remain.
    PIC
    14 Dec 2018
    https://twitter.com/brady_dennis/status/1073723868966252545

    TWEET: Patrick Galey, AFP
    We are officially well into stoppage time at #COP24.
    Delegates are locked in negotiations but the rest of the centre has taken on the air of the last night of the world’s worst music festival.
    The toilets smell, piles of food packaging everywhere, people asleep on the floor
    14 Dec 2018
    https://twitter.com/patrickgaley/status/1073726226257403904

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  • #
    Robber

    Meanwhile this morning that wonderful wind has been delivering just 1000 MW into the AEMO grid, that’s 18% of nameplate capacity of 5450 MW. So that’s 82% of $10 billion investment just not blowing in the wind. Fortunately we still have coal/gas delivering a reliable 18,000 MW.

    100

  • #
    RicDre

    “… piles of food packaging everywhere …”
    It sounds like the typical aftermath of just about every liberal demonstration ever held on the Mall in Washington DC.

    91

  • #
    pat

    some bits & pieces:

    14 Dec: ClimateChangeNews: Live: Final scramble for deal at climate talks in Poland
    19:13 – Megan Darby – Crunch time for carbon markets
    Ministers are piling into closed meetings on Article 6, the section of the agreement dealing with carbon markets and trading across borders.
    This one worries the wonks. The idea is to give countries flexibility to meet some of their emissions targets by investing in low carbon projects overseas. In principle, this can spur more private sector activity and lead to deeper, cheaper carbon cuts, but it is fraught with issues.

    Earlier in the year, Environmental Defense Fund warned certain loopholes could, if fully exploited, allow billions of tonnes of emissions – equivalent to the carbon footprint of the US and China combined – to be double counted. That would create an illusion of progress while blowing the Paris Agreement temperature targets.
    Experts tell CHN the latest text addresses some concerns about the system’s environmental integrity, but could still allow significant double counting. Brazil and the Arab Group in particular are said to be pushing for accounting tricks to benefit their industries.
    Technical negotiators are biting their nails about how ministers, who cannot be expected to understand all the minutiae, will land this complex matter…

    13:20 – Sara Stefanini – Germany came out swinging against Donald Trump on Friday, taking aim at his claim that pulling out of the Paris Agreement will save “trillions of dollars”…
    “If we let entire stretches of this planet become uninhabitable, then it will trigger gigantic costs,” German environment minister Svenja Schulze said in Katowice, according to the Associated Press. ***Investing in clean technologies to stem climate change would give Germany “an enormous competitive advantage”, she added…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/12/14/live-final-scramble-deal-climate-talks-poland/

    20

    • #
      aussiepete

      “If we let entire stretches of this planet become uninhabitable, then it will trigger gigantic costs,” German environment minister Svenja Schulze said.
      My back of the envelope calculations suggest a 2 kilometre wide strip of windmills stretching from Sydney to Melbourne, just to accommodate Shorten’s 50% renewable lunacy.

      60

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        My calculations are that we would need a corridor 124 km wide if we copied the “success” of Germany.

        Bear in mind that no-one has proved that X % of turbine output = X % reduction in emissions. Quite the reverse, there being figures such as Ireland 17% wind = 9% reduction in emissions. That was achieved with more efficient CCGTs rather than coal fired.
        Unfortunately Germany is more complicated but Peter the Fabricator (christened so as he fabricates favourable figures when commenting in THe Australian) estimated that 40% renewables had cut emissions by 15%. For all that Germany hasn’t cut its overall emissions since 2009.

        Of course if we levelled those mountains we might get away with less area, and it would probably be cheaper than options such as battery storage.

        20

  • #
    pat

    CAGW is merely a marketing tool for “renewables”. clearly, Ireland should ditch Paris:

    behind paywall:

    14 Dec: UK Times: Ireland ‘must speed up’ in race to meet climate target
    by Ellen Coyne
    Ireland needs to accelerate the pace of change towards renewables after a study found that fossil fuels accounted for 90 per cent of energy use last year, the head of a state agency has said.

    The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) called for urgent action on climate change and said that the country faced a significant challenge over its use of oil, gas, coal and peat.
    A report from the SEAI said that Ireland was overly reliant on fossil fuel for transport, heating and electricity. The use of coal fell by 20 per cent last year while peat dropped by 5.3 per cent respectively…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/gas-and-oil-reliance-puts-emissions-targets-at-risk-bv82c6cnh

    13 Dec: RTE Ireland: Fossil fuels account for over 90% of energy used – SEAI
    by George Lee
    In its latest report (LINK), the SEAI says despite a record level of wind energy last year, Ireland still has a considerable way to go to meet its renewable energy targets for 2020.
    Last year, thanks to the operation of the Corrib gas field, domestically-produced gas in Ireland was at its highest level ever, equivalent to almost five million tonnes of imported oil.

    The amount of electricity generated by wind turbines also hit record levels – as high as 72% ***on one occasion during April, with wind alone saving €278m in fossil fuel imports…
    Yet the SEAI says Ireland still faces huge and urgent challenges.

    As the economy expands, energy demand is continuing to grow.
    Transport dominates, accounting for 43% of energy used in Ireland and rising.
    Total mileage by private cars here is now over 35 billion kilometres per year, a 52% increase since the year 2000.
    SEAI Chief Executive Jim Gannon said we need a rapid transition from diesel and petrol to electric vehicles.
    He said Ireland is well suited to electric cars and we must make sure that it is considered to be a real option for the majority of new car purchases from now on.
    https://www.rte.ie/news/enviroment/2018/1213/1016880-seai_energy/

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  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:
    Energy customers confused over smart meter rollout
    Financial Times – 14 Dec 2018
    Energy customers with smart meters have been left in the dark over which suppliers will be compatible with their devices should they switch in future, after Ofgem, the energy regulator, declined to publish a list of providers to have …

    14 Dec: BusinessGreen: Government sets EV ‘smart’ charger deadline
    by Michael Holder
    All government-funded home charge points for electric vehicles (EVs) must use innovative ‘smart’ technology from July 2019 under plans announced by the Department for Transport (DfT) today that are designed to boost EV infrastructure and ease pressure on the UK power grid.

    Confirming an ambition set out in the Road to Zero strategy launched earlier this year, the announcement means that from next summer EV chargepoints must be capable of being remotely accessed, as well as receiving, interpreting, and reacting to digital signals, the government explained. Smart charging technologies can reduce high peaks of electricity demand, thereby minimising pressue on the electricity system and helping to keep costs down for consumers by encouraging off-peak electric car charging, according to DfT.

    Advocates of the technology maintain it can also integrate with smart grid functionality to help support a grid that is more reliant on renewable power, potentially allowing for EV batteries to act as additional storage capacity. It comes as an increasing numbers of energy companies – such as British Gas, Engie and Scottish Power – start to offer tariffs specifically designed for EV drivers, enabling them to power up their cars at times of the day when electricity is cheaper.

    Recent findings from a trial by Octopus found its smart EV tariffs help its customers save money, reduce energy use, lower pressure on the power grid and curb CO2 emissions.
    https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3068239/all-subsidised-ev-chargers-must-be-smart-in-the-uk-by-july-2019

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  • #
    pat

    13 Dec: Guardian: Global warming should be called global heating, says key scientist
    by Jonathan Watts
    “Global heating” is a more accurate term than “global warming” to describe the changes taking place to the world’s climate, according to a key scientist at the UK Met Office.
    Prof Richard Betts, who leads the climate research arm of Britain’s meteorological monitoring organisation, made the comments amid growing evidence that rising temperatures have passed the comfort zone and are now bringing increased threats to humanity.
    “Global heating is technically more correct because we are talking about changes in the energy balance of the planet,” the scientist said at the UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland. “We should be talking about risk rather than uncertainty.”

    “Global warming doesn’t capture the scale of destruction. Speaking of hothouse Earth is legitimate,” he said.
    The Paris pact was a firewall, he said. “It’s not helping us to keep the world as it is now. We’ve lost this opportunity already. It’s a firewall against climate chaos.”…
    “Things are obviously proceeding very slowly,” said Betts. “As a scientist, it’s frustrating to see we’re still at the point when temperatures are going up and emissions are going up. I’ve been in this for 25 years. I hoped we’d be beyond here by now.”…
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/13/global-heating-more-accurate-to-describe-risks-to-planet-says-key-scientist

    20

    • #
      neil

      Pat, I look forward to the day you have an original thought rather than submit us to your endless postings of others.

      13

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        Annie

        Pat gives us a really good roundup of news from all over the place. You can read and follow the links, as you choose. I think it’s an amazing service and, speaking personally, I would never manage to discover the half of what Pat finds out. Cheers Pat! And thank you. 🙂

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        Kinda’mean N. What’s to criticize re the information highway. Don’t like, don’t read.

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    neil

    Humans are the most successful species that has ever existed on Earth for one reason, we have evolved to adapt to climate variation. That is why we are the only species to live on every continent, we can live on the oceans, under the oceans, in the air and even in space and soon on other planets. Our big brain allows us adapt ourselves to suit every environment and adapt the environment to suit us.

    We can keep warm when it’s too cold and cool when it’s too hot, we can grow food where it would not grow naturally, we can make potable water from the sea, from sewage and even from the air. And possibly most important of all, we have mastered energy to do our bidding. Why would we care if the climate changed again we can adapt or simply move to a more suitable climate.

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    WXcycles

    In a study published Monday (Dec. 10, 2018) in the Proceedings of the show that humans are reversing a long-term cooling trend tracing back at least 50 million years. And it’s taken just two centuries. By 2030, Earth’s climate is expected to resemble that of the mid-Pliocene, going back more than 3 million years in geologic time.

    The thing one could at least honor about the old-school Japanese warrior caste was that if they completely dishonored themselves or failed spectacularly at doing their jobs they would feel obliged to commit Harikari, but these chaps at the National Academy of Sciences will just go on dishonoring themselves again and again, without any sense that Harikari is a more redemptive option.

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