“The Illusion Of Debate”: A History of the Climate Issue—Part 1

John Cook, history buff

History buff: Cook, who believes in learning from the great men of the past, dresses up as a beloved figure from the golden age of Consensus Science.

This timeline, like the climate debate, is best taken with whiskey. Strictly for climate-tragics, it’s layered deep, well aged, and may not make any sense at all. It’s art. It’s been a looong time coming (the second longest draft post ever under development on this blog).  Thanks to Brad Keyes. Smile :- ). — Jo

Introduction by J. Cook

The great Hoofnagle Brothers define climate Menshevism as a trick to ‘create the illusion of debate.’

Opponents of the climate don’t even need to win the debate—though they usually do—they just need the audience to think we’re debating. (Which is why we must never, ever do so.)

Please enjoy as Brad Keyes, my boss at Climate Nuremberg, looks back on some of the most colorful, least edifying moments in a decades-long debate that never happened.

— J. Cook
Twisted Tree Heartrot Hill
2016

_________________

c. 1850 AD

  • Fossil fuel revolution begins
    Environmentalists hail the switch to alternative energies—coal, natural gas and petroleum—as mankind’s best hope of kicking its whale-oil addiction.

1945

  • Peak Hiroshima occurs: there are more Hiroshimas this year than ever on record. (Scientists stress, though, that it’s too early to attribute any specific Hiroshima to climate change.)

1974

  • For 20 minutes Dr Stephen Schneider enjoys the only panic-free period of his adult life en route from cooling to warming alarmism.

1975

  • ‘Tobacco Strategy’ devised
    • Unknown marketing geniuses at Big Nicotine come up with the truly game-changing idea of disagreeing with claims you don’t agree with.
    • The tactic is so diabolical it will take humanity’s leading thinkers, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, almost 35 years to put their finger on it.

1988

  • The Science Awakens
    • The global warming movement is born when a scientist and his politician friend sneak into a government building and set the thermostat to a balance between truth and effectiveness.
    • The following day Dr James Hansen urges sweaty lawmakers to act on the 170-year-old process of “global warming,” calling any delay “criminal.”
    • Within a year, climatology—an academic backwater where data comes to die—will become the sexiest discipline ever. The field also goes by the name climate science, leading to speculation that it was once one of the sciences.
    • The abstract noun ‘science’ has never had a definite article, but climate thinkers welcome it as a way of capturing the fundamentally inert, static nature of the canon of human knowledge. (Science Is A Process, Not A Position, in the minds of high-school graduates everywhere: yet another myth Big Climate urgently needs to re-educate us about.)
    • Bewildered academics are now dragged, kicking and screaming, into the political spotlight. In time they learn to suffer celebrity in silence.
  • IPCC created
    • The Panel’s function is to periodically provide a big room—ideally in a hotel or resort—where Policy gets a unique chance to tell Science what to tell Policy to do, in a policy-neutral way.
    • IPCC estimates of certainty, confidence and risk will be determined subjectively, using NASA’s 1986 wisdom-of-crowds system—the same technology that put our Challenger astronauts in space.
  • Today ‘the [sic] science [sic]’ is credited with an explosive growth in human opinion about nature—not to mention a profusion of new, climate-prefixed job titles nobody could have imagined necessary.

1989

  • Stephen Schneider, interviewed in Discover, calls on climate scientists to communicate more carefully, or ordinary people could get the wrong idea and stop panicking.
  • A coalition of Big Oil, Big Tobacco, Medium Tobacco, Republicans and the Murdochracy meets in secret to concoct the absurd myth of a climate ‘conspiracy.’

1995

  • Working late into the night, IPCC author Ben Santer single-handedly discovers what 2500 of the world’s leading scientists are saying.

1997

  • Almost every climate scientist in the world finds the upcoming 20-year-plus plateau in temperatures too obvious to mention. The Pause quietly begins.

1998

  • A young PhD called Michael Mann rewrites temperature history with a paper so good it’s not even necessary to check his working.
  • Greatest moral and economic challenge of a generation quietly cancelled
    • In a rare win-win for us and the fishies, nature solves AGW this morning by rerouting deadly warmth from the atmosphere to the bathysphere where pentillions of joules can vanish unnoticed.
    • Meanwhile, above the surface, there’s even more reason to rejoice. Ever since we discovered climate change, it’s been killing 300,000 people a year—mainly by lengthening the flowering season and expanding the range of some butterflies—say leading UN politicians. The latest scientists agree, calculating that everybody on earth is now either dead, or knows somebody who knows somebody who is.
    • Paradoxically, however, word of the last-minute planetary pardon is slow to spread on the street. (Years after the average sea cucumber has got the memo, many a Westerner is still none the wiser or calmer.) According to one school of fish, information travels slower in an ultra-dense medium like the human population.

1999

  • ‘Serengeti Strategy’ debuts
    • Lions don’t attack the most vulnerable member of the zebra herd; likewise, skeptics would never target the weakest papers in the pack. That’s why Dr Mann considers it a badge of pride when they keep jugulating his work.

2000

Climate English

Stephen Schneider’s 1989 interview in Discover was seen as a kind of manifesto for a new school of science communication. But this would mean a whole new language: a clearer, punchier and more effective dialect of English designed to anticipate and correct for misunderstandings further down the intellectual slope.

What emerged, say linguists, was a nograj called Climate English [CE].

Historically, the problem with scientific jargon is that it only makes sense if you understand science. CE, by contrast, only makes sense if you don’t.

It speaks, not to the exclusive few, but to the excluded many—exclusively. We Are The 97 Percent Who Never Got Further Than A BSc.

Science—as a body of knowledge—is sensitive only to new evidence, and new evidence can only make it better. To a scientist, this is all too obvious for words; which is why, to a scientist, the CE idiom ‘attacking science‘ would be gibberish. But in the mental model of the mere muggle, it’s a perfect description of the sort of activity skeptics are engaged in.

Technically it’s called ‘doing science,’ but that sounds too much like what scientists do, and would only confuse the illiterati.

Thanks to a panoply of further linguistic innovations (‘carbon pollution,’ ‘the weight of scientific opinion,’ ‘more and more evidence‘ for no particular hypothesis, ‘drastically‘, ‘ocean acidification‘ and many more), scientists can finally talk down to us in a crowded theatre without giving the impression it isn’t on fire.

Climate English has been described as the fulfillment of Schneider’s dream:

Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. I hope that means being both.

Yes, We Can.

2001

  • Michael Mann’s ‘Hockey Stick’ graph is reproduced not once but six times in the IPCC’s Third Assessment Report, making it one of the most repeatedly reprinted findings in science. Even if one copy is debunked it will have no impact on the scientists, say the scientists.

2003

  • Five years late, the world’s first attempt to replicate MBH98 is complete—but gets the wrong shape. Stephen McIntyre admits his efforts have fallen far short of the original Hoccobacilliform curve, despite advantages Dr Mann never had:
    • correct statistical procedures,
    • today’s faster computers,
    • the luxury of time (academics only have 8 months a year to get all their work done),
    • millions of dollars in undisclosed, undocumented and completely unevidenced oil money for his trouble
    • and last but not least, generous mentoring by Mann himself, who’s risen above centuries of internecine scientist/skeptic loathing to give his enemies copious hints, data and other enabling details he’s never even shared with his own readers!
  • Mann shakes his head in faux-sadness, drunk with champagne and the knowledge that his achievement is in little danger of being repeated in the annals of science. One day, when he looks back on this moment in his autohagiography, he will write:

That’s how the Age of the Citizen Scientist ended: not with a bang but a flaccid, wobbly shaft. As scientists, we’d always left skepticism to the skeptics. Now that they’d found out the hard way that the Hockey Stick wouldn’t appear to just anyone, would the skeptics finally agree to leave science to the scientists?

  • In unrelated news, a retired mining executive subtracts from human knowledge by debunking an important graph; scientists now waste years in their bunker rebunking it.

2004

  • Professor Phil Jones redefines what ‘peer reviewed literature’ means, making it much easier for scientists to reject science that challenges their worldview: science-rejectionist science, for instance.
  • The Canadian statistician who proved science wrong begins to realise what an ungrateful, narcissistic, bald little enemy it can be.
  • The dawn of scientific progress.
    • Just because every modern scientist in every field of modern science on the planet has always said consensus is irrelevant in science, doesn’t make them right. This is the mantra Naomi Oreskes—lone genius—repeats to herself as she works up the courage to submit her magnum opus The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change to the editors of Science.
    • Like any truly seminal work, Oreskes04 belongs to a field that won’t exist until it’s published. Absent any consensuologists to act as peer reviewers, the journal  is forced to ask Oreskes’ consent to put herself in the shoes of a pair of her own peers reading the piece. Oreskes consents. Almost immediately, she unanimously grasps the epochal impact of her own article, even if sections of the argument go over her head, and urges Science to have the courage to run it as a cover story.
    • It’s remarkably good scholarship for something unchecked by non-sycophantic eyes. Not just because it’s more than half-true (Oreskes correctly recalls 2 of the 3 words in her search phrase, making replication a breeze!)—but because it’s the Citizen Kane of methodological innovation. It will be a whole decade before its closest imitator, Cook13, succeeds in violating as many rules of scholarship in a single paper.
    • Without the benefit of Oreskes’ insight—that science works by consensus—is it any wonder scientists haven’t discovered anything in 300 years? They’ve been too busy having heterogeneous beliefs to get science done.

2005

  • With the theatrical release of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore becomes the moral face of the climate movement. A life peddling tobacco, Southern-style religion and Clintonian “values” tells Gore it will take a full 108 minutes to sell the science of global warming.
  • Professor Phil Jones is nearly forced to destroy a priceless library of knowledge about the weather so that anti-scientists don’t discover and publish it.
  • Showing a level of maturity and sportsmanship all too rare in the climate wars, Michael Mann acknowledges that his critics’ work is “pure” and “scientific” (adjectives nobody has ever had the grace to apply to his research).

pure scientific 2

Dr Mann keeping it classy. Skeptics often distort the meaning of this email by cherry-picking the word ‘fraud,’ refusing to focus on all the words preceding it.

2007

  • A feature-length infomercial for Generation Investment Management wins the advertising industry’s highest honor, the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • John Cook launches Skeptical Science, an anti-skeptical site for non-scientists.
  • After browsing Climate Audit, Dr Ben Santer would “really like to talk to a few of these ‘Auditors’ in a dark alley.” Tragically, Santer’s offer of conversation has never been taken up.

talk to these auditors

Dr Santer refuses to give up on interfaith communication. He still dreams one day of explaining to skeptics “how science is actually done”: not on blogs, but at conferences, where legitimate scientists meet to beat the crap out of their critics.

2008

  • Prof. Jones writes a hilarious email ‘conspiring’ in the despoliation of material subject to FOI; Michael Mann’s deadpan reply plays along with the gag, which becomes a recurring in-joke for these best of pals.
  • June 4: the dawn of Hope and Change
    • Sea levels stopped accelerating this morning because registered Democrats stopped being racist, in a theory climate psychiatrists call ocean Obamification.
    • But scientists privately ridicule the whole idea as pseudoscientific magical thinking. The physics is crystal-clear: global warming causes racism, not vice versa.
  • As the absence of evidence of warming gets stronger, the evidence of absence of warming gets clearer. It all keeps piling up, increasingly pointing to a single conclusion! And for ‘pause deniers’ ‘slowdown skeptics,’ the cognitive escape-artistry involved in pretending otherwise is taking a toll. ERs everywhere see the sequelae of climate contortionism up close: injuries ranging from strained credulity to arm-waver’s elbow; willful blindness of one or both eyes; even the dreaded hiatus hernia. The importance of warming up and stretching before and after all climate apologetics is the theme of a $1.2m NSW Health billboard and radio campaign. ◼︎

When we continue in Part II: Climategate changes nothing.

9 out of 10 based on 130 ratings

218 comments to “The Illusion Of Debate”: A History of the Climate Issue—Part 1

  • #
    ianl8888

    Steve McIntyre (Climate Audit) had that picture of Cook with one of his posts. I begged him to take it down; it’s just so ugly in every sense, I cannot bear it.

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    • #
      Mike

      You forgot…’i said “pet”, i said “love”,……..then, i said “pet” i said “love”, again!!!!. At the time, i felt like i was talking to myself.

      I feel your pain.

      “John Cook launches Skeptical Science, an anti-skeptical site for non-scientists.”

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      • #
        Mike

        Sorry i was just projecting. I am the one who forgets.

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        • #
          Mike

          From a free speech perspective, i found this rivetting, personally……. in the gut like you i suppose.

          It looks as though we here in the Latrobe Valley, home of privatised coal we have other emissions to worry about.

          From: http://emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/#!/warning/29678327/moreinfo


          Advice – Health
          Advice
          Message reference number: 218181

          Issued For: Latrobe Valley
          Issued: 20/04/16 3:00 PM

          This Advice message is being issued by Emergency Management Victoria and the Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS).

          Smoke from private property burns, planned burns on public land is currently affecting air quality in the Latrobe Valley

          Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently monitoring air quality in these areas.

          Health and Wellbeing Information:

          The Chief Health Officer advises that when there are planned burns occurring inyour area it can become smoky or hazy, and there are steps you can take toprotect your health and the health of your family:

          · People over 65, children 14 years and younger, pregnant woman andthose with an existing heart or lung condition should limit prolonged or heavyphysical activity. Where possible, these people in the community should alsolimit the time spent outdoors.

          · Anyone with a heart or lung condition should take their medicationas prescribed by their doctor.

          · People with asthma should follow asthma management plan.

          · Anyone with concerns about their health should seek medical adviceor call NURSEON-CALL on 1300 60 60 24 “

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      • #
        Leonard Lane

        Mike. Thanks.
        I loved this definition in the article: “Historically, the problem with scientific jargon is that it only makes sense if you understand science. CE, by contrast, only makes sense if you don’t.”
        Climate English (CE) is surely the greatest of warmistas tactics.

        70

      • #
        Griffo

        I cannot believe these rambling off -topic posts from Mike have received so many green thumbs,it must be happy hour and the drinks are flowing freely,I’ll go and open a bottle myself

        50

    • #
      • #

        Amazing. So the mystical Evidence™, which has eluded five Manhattan Projects’ worth of scientists for millions of scientist-years, can at last be found in the pages of the Sydney Morning Herald?

        I guess stranger things have happened!

        Wait, no they haven’t.

        350

      • #
        AndyG55

        Even more amazing when real data shows Australia hasn’t warmed this century.

        http://s19.postimg.org/539zid2yb/Australia.jpg

        282

        • #
          climateskeptic

          Even more amazing when real data shows Australia hasn’t warmed this century.

          Only if you live in a balloon at 6000m altitude, or like Noddy if you are full of hot air. No-one thinks that some unsourced UAH graph fiddled by Noddy reflects surface temperature except the deluded.

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          • #

            1.1.1.1.3 applies.

            Tony.

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            • #
              Rereke Whakaaro

              Tony,

              Us folks on the budget subscription plan, didn’t get to see comment 1.1.1.1.3, which just bloody typical.

              60

          • #
            RB

            Make up your mind! Is it fake or only for 6000m (which has to warm first before the ocean can eat it). It looks a lot like what comes from UAH (from Jo’s post) for the lower troposphere which is from the ground up.

            62

            • #
              climateskeptic

              the lower troposphere which is from the ground up.

              Hahahaha

              113

              • #
                RB

                Its not or you can’t make up your mind again?

                Its the temperature from the ground to about 10km up. The greenhouse theory says the troposphere should warm at a rate about 50% more than the surface.

                90

              • #
                James Bradley

                climateseptic,

                well then, where’s the Tropical Hotspot?

                101

              • #
                climateskeptic

                Hahahaha

                The greenhouse theory

                Which greenhouse theory is that then? Does it include the spot or not? If you find it tell Noddy#2

                19

              • #
              • #
                James Bradley

                climateseptic,

                You’re telling lies again. The stutter is getting worse.

                111

              • #
                AndyG55

                roflmao.. The Sherwood paper got absolutely eviscerated by real statisticians.

                It is a load of manic statistical mayhem, with one aim in mind.. to find/create something that doesn’t exist.

                Torture the data long enough, with enough assumptions and models, and there it was……. no.. gone again.

                You really need to get up to date with stuff, if you don’t have an apoplectic fit first. You really are woefully behind.

                141

              • #
                climateskeptic

                Back to conspiracy

                112

              • #
                climateskeptic

                Here is something up to date for you
                http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00382-016-3079-6

                Consistent with the last IPCC assessment report, we find that most of the observed warming over this period (+0.65 K) is attributable to anthropogenic forcings (+0.67 ± 0.12 K, 90 % confidence range), with a very limited contribution from natural forcings (−0.01±0.02 K).

                111

              • #
                AndyG55

                IPCC.. roflmao.

                You serious have to produce some actual science.

                You are looking seriously LOST !!!

                121

              • #
                AndyG55

                And please at least read the abstract first… to avoid make a complete ass of yourself.

                “Our approach is based on the “models are statistically indistinguishable from the truth” paradigm,”

                Roflmao.. you are so, so funny. 🙂

                81

              • #

                Climateskeptic,

                A simple ctrl-F (or cmd-F) on this comments thread reveals that the word “conspiracy” has been used 4 times so far.

                Interestingly, all 4 uses are by someone called ‘climateskeptic’…

                …while accusing others of whining about conspiracies.

                (The word also appears once in the original post, where I use it to make fun of irony-blind hypocrites like you.)

                151

              • #

                Commenters like ‘climateskeptic’ seem to exist for the sole purpose of putting satirists out of work.

                Dude, your fixation with the idea that we’re all plotting to ideate conspiracistically is a classic example of the old saying about climate alarmists: you people can’t predict squat, but you sure can project.

                151

              • #
                James Bradley

                climateseptic,

                Here’s another Springer for you:

                http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-010-0373-2

                The topic is drug detection dogs, but the conclusion applies to you – preconceived beliefs affect outcomes.

                92

              • #
                James Bradley

                climateseptic,

                There may actually be a fair bit in that paper that applies to you.

                80

              • #
                AndyG55

                Brad, I think it is more just pre-pubescent attention seeking…

                70

              • #
                AndyG55

                “Back to conspiracy”

                No just basic incompetence on Sherwood’s behalf.

                Its seems to be his only attribute.

                90

              • #
                AndyG55

                @ RB..”The greenhouse theory says the troposphere should warm at a rate about 50% more than the surface

                Yet the comparison of pristine surface temps and satellite temps over the USA shows that:

                1. the trends are almost exactly the same

                2. the surface has more of a transient response than the atmosphere.

                I need to think a bit more about what this implies, but it appears to follow what I have said all along, that the atmosphere is a “regulator” of surface temperature, which is totally dependant on atmospheric pressure and incoming energy, rather than miniscule changes in composition.

                50

              • #
                RB

                AndyG65, the rate for both are essentially 0 so one could still be 50% more (either one).

                I know that these sites are setup so that there would be no issues with adjustments and the differences with the satellite data are up to 1°C+ but I’ve lost all faith in NOAA. Cynical rather than sceptical about the measurements being even that close. Even if that good, any difference could be error. Its still just 114 or so stations spread out over a very large area.

                LWIR energy is being absorbed by the atmosphere. Warm air rises. CO2 concentration (by volume) decreases going up. The only way more energy can go down is by the troposphere warming up and emitting more LWIR to the surface. If it doesn’t warm, it doesn’t warm the surface more and the surface don’t warm, at least not because of the GHE. That a climate scientist would come up with the “where we live” argument just exemplifies how stupid the field is.

                30

          • #
            AndyG55

            Admitting that you don’t have the competence to do the graphs to verify them. 🙂

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          • #
            AndyG55

            Trouble is CS, that ANYONE with the capability can VERIFY my graph from UAH V6 data.

            Even you could…. if you could.

            The data is freely available from Roy’s site, just learn to do basic MS Excel stuff.

            Get ahead of Phil Jones, in other words.

            51

          • #
            AndyG55

            “UAH graph blah-blah reflects surface temperature”

            The only pristine, un-uhi-affected data set available shows that satellite temperature trends match almost exactly

            Yes, surface temps show a greater response to transient effects, as anyone with any basic knowledge would expect, but the trends .. almost a perfect match.

            This is what the reliable data shows, as anyone with the capability can easily verify…

            … and there is NOTHING you can do about that, except RANT, as is your meme.

            41

      • #
        AndyG55

        Also been no warming in the SH outside of the tropics. (Tropics were affected by a strong El Nino transient event.)

        http://s19.postimg.org/6i8mcowfn/UAH_So_Extropical.png

        172

      • #
        Anne Ominous

        El Niño is not climate, Maxine.

        The massive El Niño is in the process of collapse now, and (based on historical experience) is likely to presage 2-3 years of cooler weather.

        People forget (or lie by omission) about what El Niño actually does: it brings warm ocean water up to the surface, where that water radiates its heat out to space.

        The result is a temporary warming of the surface, but the overall effect is COOLING of the Earth.

        If you were to learn some of the physics of how all this really works, you’d probably worry a lot less about it.

        202

        • #
          climateskeptic

          El Niño is not climate, Maxine.

          So why is it climate when the contrarian say,”no warming since 1998???”. The desperation is starting to show.

          117

          • #
            RB

            Why do does the thermometer record pick up the El Nino spike better than RSS this time but hardly registered last time? Now that’s cherry picking!

            71

            • #
              climateskeptic

              Cause its hotter this time around than last. The planet has warmed, draw a trend line through the data you linked to.

              115

              • #
                RB

                Your point being?. A little fudging goes a long way.

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              • #
                climateskeptic

                When there are no answers, simple, revert to conspiracy. So Spencer is a fudger as well now is he? and here I was thinking you had a higher opinion of him than that.

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              • #
                AndyG55

                No, both UAH and RSS show essentially ZERO WARMING apart from the effect of El Ninos, as the methodology you suggested of removing the El Nino effects CLEARLY SHOWS in #1.2.4.1.2

                92

              • #
                RB

                A few extra thumbs down I assume because of the fudging accusation but the reality has to sink in soon.

                I showed RSS, Climateskeptic. Its run by an alarmist. The problem is with the thermometer record. This is the HadSST3 comparison. Why did the land warm up this time and not last time? And looking at the hemispheres separately leads to more questions. Why the good correlation of NH SST with RSS before 2004 and then the other way around after? The NH clearly shows seasonal variation all of a sudden when fake numbers for the Arctic are added, but only after 2004. If this was in the finance industry, regulators would be called in and questions asked.

                41

          • #
            el gordo

            No warming since 1998 is a trend, ENSO has a mind of its own and has nothing to do with AGW.

            There’s no desperation on our side sunshine, even Matthew England recognizes its going to get a little cooler over the next couple of years.

            102

          • #
            AndyG55

            UAH before 1998 El Nino.. NO WARMING

            http://s19.postimg.org/f3dhdpmlv/UAH_before_El_nino.png

            UAH between El Ninos… NO WARMING

            http://s19.postimg.org/nmwvbguyb/UAH_after_El_nino.png

            Now off you go and use the El Ninos to create a fake trend.

            72

            • #
              climateskeptic

              where do you get these unsourced nonsense graphs from? Here is the reality.
              http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_March_2016_v6.png
              It shows a warming trend for the last 45 years. Ill send you a Braille version if you like

              113

              • #
                AndyG55

                Yawn.. the only warming is from the El Ninos,

                You HAVE to use them to create any trend, as shown by Roy’s graph.

                El Ninos are nothing to do with CO2

                If you can’t figure that out for yourself, so be it.

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              • #
                climateskeptic

                The El Ninos make no difference to the trend, its there with or without them. Take away 1998 and 2016 and the trend is the same. I’ll find you a lint to that Braille version.

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              • #
                AndyG55

                My graphs show categorically that the trend is NOT the same, and is in fact basically zero once the effect of the El Ninos is removed..

                Roys graph clear shows the step up at the 1998 El Nino, and two basically flat trends before and after, stopping before the current El Nino.

                My two graphs use EXACTLY the data that is in Roy’s graph.

                I feel really sorry for you that you keep showing you are incapable of grasping that basic fact.

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              • #
                AndyG55

                “Take away 1998 and 2016”

                That is EXACTLY what my two graphs do, and they show NO WARMING.

                Thank you for verifying my methodology.

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              • #
                climateskeptic

                Really??? So where do they come from? Unsourced rubbish, thats all they are.

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              • #
                climateskeptic

                Why dont you put all the data on one graph and see what it looks like then.

                110

              • #
                AndyG55

                “unsourced”… No, exactly the same data Roy uses. UAH v6

                Do you want the RSS ones as well?

                You could even do them yourself if you could.

                They show EXACTLY the same thing.

                Remove the effect of the El Ninos…

                … and there is basically NO WARMING AT ALL, apart from El Ninos, in the whole satellite record.

                81

              • #
                AndyG55

                Tough for you, isn’t it. Your lack of basic understanding and capabilities.

                You say the El Ninos don’t affect the trend, but when shown that removing them gives two near ZERO TREND periods, you get all huffy and fluffy.

                Hilarious 🙂

                102

              • #
                AndyG55

                “Why don’t you put all the data on one graph “

                Why don’t you?

                The data is readily available.

                And yes, the step change from the 1998 El Nino exists, is that what you are stuttering to say?

                101

        • #
          Andrew McRae

          Although it sounds nice to brush off the warm 2015 as entirely due to El Nino, the problem there is giving a quantitative answer. You have to start with a quantitative definition of “El Nino”, and if you choose the NINO3.4 index the conclusion is not quite so neatly reassuring…
          http://realclimatescience.com/2016/03/spike-is-100-due-to-el-nino/#comment-7361

          I am unsure why anyone would use a sea-level phenomenon to explain a 6km altitude temperature trend. If ENSO is the cause then sea surface temperature is the place to look for its effects.
          For comparison, perhaps “AndyG55” or “Anne Ominous” could repeat my analysis method above but use UAH data instead, just to see what removing ENSO from UAH actually shows – quantitatively.

          10

      • #

        Yes, Maxine, hurting people’s pockets through subsidies for inefficient renewable energy and
        imopacting on personal liberty through top down regulations,government not to serve the people
        but the arbitrary ruler of the people, even
        when not elected,like the ruling bureaucrats
        of the EU, that machine from Hell. (

        71

    • #
      Bulldust

      Pinning this near the top because it lays bare the grasping hands of climate scientists. The CSIRO is being told off by various vested interests because it is not climate sciency enough:

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-20/csiro-changes-risk-losing-millions-in-grants-scientists-say/7343750

      I think it is pretty easy to see this is all about the money and nothing to do with real science – take some juicy quotes:

      Some of Australia’s leading scientists say the CSIRO is at risk of losing millions of dollars in international grants due to changes being implemented under CEO Larry Marshall.

      Billions of dollars worth of grants were pledged for climate research and mitigation at the Paris climate talks last year.

      And what is the CEO’s crime?

      Mr Marshall’s vision for the organisation is focused on getting financial returns for the funding it receives.

      Heretic! Doesn’t he understand the CSIRO should simply regurgitate scary myths about climate change and watch the millions roll in? He wants to do science that yields benefits to society? What an idiot…

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      OriginalSteve

      Heres a giggle:

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-21/leading-scientists-urge-the-times-to-improve-climate-coverage/7345480

      Leading scientists urge UK newspaper The Times to improve ‘sub-standard’ climate reporting

      Some of the world’s most eminent scientists have written to the editor of UK newspaper The Times to complain about its coverage of climate science.

      Key points:
      •The scientists believe the paper is unduly influenced by a lobby group
      •The claim the coverage has made the paper a “laughing stock”
      •The say The Times has on occasions misrepresented good science

      They suggest the newspaper may be unduly influenced by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which, despite its name, denies humans are causing climate change.

      Baron John Krebs, a highly decorated biologist is behind the push, writing that the newspaper has become a “laughing stock” for publishing poor quality science.

      “The implications for your credibility extend beyond your energy and climate change coverage,” he said in the letter.

      “Why should any reader who knows about energy and climate change respect your political analysis, your business commentary, even your sports reports, when in this one important area you are prepared to prioritise the marginal over the mainstream?”

      The letter was signed by Krebs and 12 other peers, including:
      •Baron Robert ‘Bob’ May, a former chief scientist of the UK
      •Baron Martin Rees of Ludlow, the Astronomer Royal
      •Baron Julian Hunt of Chesterton, former chief executive of the British Meteorological Office
      •Baron David Puttnam, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Chariots of Fire and The Killing Fields

      The peers took particular issue with two articles by environment editor Ben Webster, both of which were republished by The Australian.

      One article – Planet is not overheating, says Professor – reported on science which was sponsored by the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

      The Global Warming Policy Foundation, which has five peers of its own on its board of trustees, describes itself as “open-minded on the contested science of global warming”.

      Ah yes…we cant have an open mind, only a closed mind beholden tot eh Klimate Kult.

      The warmists are a huge joke.

      No one cares *what* they think…..

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      Santa Baby

      When something has to label it self as a science it’s not?

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    Steve McIntyre (Climate Audit) had that picture of Cook

    I don’t think so. Look closely 😉

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      To bad that image is not a JIF, like your several of Prof. Stephan!! 🙂
      Perhaps John never moves! Ha! I’m sure you are up to it.

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      Greg Cavanagh

      Just in case you’re new to it; this is a picture of John Cook, doctored by John Cook himself and placed on the web by John Cook too.

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        KinkyKeith

        Thanks. Wasn’t sure what was going on.

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      • #

        …then further Photoshopped by me in a chivalrous attempt to offend the eye a bit less. It’s a subtle improvement, but I do think I’ve brought it closer to compliance with Aryan standards and taken some of the Untermenschlich edge off.

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          ianl8888

          It’s still as ugly as can possibly be.

          30

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          Greg Cavanagh

          The article doesn’t identify who wrote it. Are you saying that you wrote the above article?

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          Rereke Whakaaro

          The deaths-head cap badge doesn’t match the lapel insignia.

          But there again John’s views of the climate don’t match reality, so it is probably quite appropriate.

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      ianl8888

      And what on earth makes you think I’d want to “look more closely” ?

      I suppose some people may find humour in that image. The only point I can find is deliberate, malicious insult … but there you go

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      • #

        “And what on earth makes you think I’d want to “look more closely” ?”

        Well, being a science-blog junkie, sheer intellectual curiosity and auto-skepticism.

        “The only point I can find is deliberate, malicious insult”

        And I look forward to the day when psychologists explain John Cook’s deliberate decision to maliciously insult himself. Until then, all you can do is laugh. Er, well not YOU per se, but the average person.

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    Brilliant piece! Humour, a deadly weapon only we possess and which they’ve no answer too.

    Pointman

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      Thanks Pointman! Deride And Conquer.

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      • #

        “which is just one carbon atom doing a ménage à trois with two hunky oxygen atoms.”

        Not to stomp on your well done parade pointy! Very very well done! 🙂
        Especially in this atmosphere/hydrosphere we have many just one oxygen atom doing a ménage à trois with two dainty hydrogen atoms. When the oxygen atoms get reduced via insolation power/flux, to atmospheric O2 23% of such. Then the results from the plants is the long chain hydrocarbons that can first barely creep from momma plant. Then the same hydrocarbons eventually learn to further construct from mommas guidance, the ability to move through the dense N2 O2 atmosphere at 3x the speed of sound in that compressible fluid. They even demonstrate they can escape from the Earth’s gravitational well. This causes much consternation in the community of GODs as the Greeks have shown!
        Do the Naomi O. and Carolina F.C. that cannot even dream of such fun with a ménage à trois, ever ever get to tell anyone else what to do?
        All the best! -will-

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        Roy Hogue

        A brilliant exploration of Her Evil Majesty, Ms. Carbon. You’ve outdone yourself, Pointman.

        But this statement you make leaves me wondering about something.

        I’ve had the discussion with several environmentalists and was stunned to realise that they thought we evil humans actually create carbon.

        I never realized how much this must be happening until I read, SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY. How would anyone who hasn’t been through at least a basic course in chemistry ever be able to even guess at the truth about carbon? And unfortunately the number of us who’ve never been through basic chemistry probably far exceeds the number who have. So our expectation that someone riding the global warming band wagon understands anything about carbon is a mistake. We shouldn’t be arguing the science of climate change, we should be arguing, “You need to study basic chemistry!” Just inorganic chemistry should do a lot to straighten out a student’s understanding of carbon. But even getting that far leaves so large a gap in understanding of the role of carbon that it still looks almost hopeless.

        Most of the general population doesn’t have the knowledge foundation to understand why climate change isn’t a worry for anyone.

        Both sides of the debate argue carbon continually but the word tickles nothing useful as it enters their ears and gets looked up in the their dictionary — oops, nothing there, so a guess is substituted for understanding.

        How do we change this? And it looks as tough as arguing the science.

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        OriginalSteve

        Pointman, I think we are missing an opportuinity ( and one of my fave topics to pursue ) is hydrogen.

        Its an opportunity to beat the CAGW camp collectively ( metaphorically ) over the noggin for not have done enough for it, as it will do multiple things :

        (1) Reduce output of the “evil” the leftists so crave to have reduced
        (2) Provide jobs building the technology ( and provide fuel for everything )
        (3) We can sugegst that the eco lons havent truly done anything in this space despite it being a logical answer for the “crisis” they have invented….its akin to trying to look Victorian-era serious posed next the PM, allt he while forgetting to zip up ones fly…and then everyone noticing….

        Food for thought perhaps….

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        Annie

        I did click and had a good ‘larf’. Thanks Pointman.

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    • #

      Gawd, I’ve just noticed that “too”. No way I’d make that mistake. F**king autocorrect strikes again. Jesus Christ, it’s hard enough spotting your own typos, never mind the computer generated ones.

      Pointman

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      Bill_W

      I don’t think you got the memo from MM. Satire is not allowed to be used against climate scientists. I am predicting a lawsuit any day now (like that against old what’s his face).

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    Mike

    Strewth !!

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    This has already got the ‘verse all atwitter. One twit twote:

    ‘My word, what a pathetic excuse of an aregument. Actual science and valid research escapes you doesn’t it. @BradPKeyes. & congratulations on going a full immature Godwin on @skepticscience at the start – really shows depths you plummet.’

    https://twitter.com/adlrope/status/722739914714910720

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      OriginalSteve

      Ah yes…..funny how the science of thich this person speaks doesnt actually stand up to analysis…typical leftist appeal to authroity ruse….

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    Analitik

    A key date that should be added

    1948 – Albert Arnold Gore Jr is born

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    • #

      Are you sure he was born? I always figured it was left on top a stump to hatch in the Sun like many others! 🙂

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      …released by Mattel, you mean?

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      Roy Hogue

      1948 – Albert Arnold Gore Jr is born

      I can think of a few even more unfortunate birth dates.

      Let’s start with James Hansen — March 29, 1941. He was Gore’s mentor and taught Gore all he knows about climate change, or so the story goes.

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        Analitik

        Well it was actually Roger Revelle who introduced Al Gore to the concept of fossil fuel CO2 emmissions inducing global warming during Gore’s student Harvard years. Ironically, while still a warmist, Revelle thought that the extent of warming was uncertain and that drastic economic changes were not appropriate leading Gore to denounce him as senile in 1991, even though Revelle did recommend mitigation via energy conservation, a switch away from fossil fuels and trees.

        I still nominate Al Gore as being the most influential figure on CAGW due to his political sponsorship of the corruption of the scientific community in the early ’90s to promote the warmist meme.

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        Robk

        Mr Maurice Strong.

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    Gee Aye

    This history has my full most endorsement.

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      Mike

      Not bad at all.

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      Dariusz

      This history has two sides. Whist quite illuminating, I would like to see the sceptical side as well. The history of response and counter response, the history of debates and non-debates. The development of non-communication and unwillingness to listen. The history of new vocabulary, new terms, old terms like the rise of the ” denier” and other ad hominem arguments. Why science has lost its roots?. Why in the 21st century in the age of communication we feel threatened with Nurember trials, compared to Nazis or threatened with beh…ings.
      This in not just about money, it goes deeper than that. Why a scientist feels compelled to go political and or personal?
      Hope we get some of this flavour in the next part(s).

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        Thanks Dariusz—I appreciate your advice and will bear those requests in mind when completing Part 2. But I wanted to ask you about this:

        Whist quite illuminating, I would like to see the sceptical side as well.

        Which “side” of the story would you say the OP tells? (If it wasn’t overtly skeptical, that’s probably because I was going for cynical but I got a too clever for my own good.)

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        tom0mason

        Dariusz,
        Please notice that the use of terms like the ”denier” is just so heartwarming for the today’s Nazis as it is for ‘climate scientists™.

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    Dennis

    Man-made global warming climate change reminds me of the children’s story about the little boy who cried Wolf once too often, and was ignored.

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    graphicconception

    For all of 1975 and 2004 point 2 I think a coffee warning should be put in place. 🙂

    However, I think it shows a certain kind of sadness when I can read an article like this and recognise the basis of each of the points. 🙁

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      1974. 1989, poignant moments in the debate.
      Capture, so aptly, the Schneider syndrome
      Double-Ethical-Binding-Anxiety.

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      “i think it shows a certain kind of sadness when I can … recognise the basis of each of the points”

      Sure does. That’s why they call us ‘climate-tragics’ (h/t Jo).

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  • #

    And this on the 20th of April?

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    Roy Hogue

    Cook looks so handsome and, well, manly in his uniform. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t have a large crowd of women following him around all the time, given how much women have fallen for uniforms in the past. And it’s such an appropriate uniform for the times.

    Mr. Cook is a very lucky guy with everything a man could want in life.

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      Roy Hogue

      And now that the fantasy is over, I still think his uniform is very appropriate for both the times and Mr. Cook, who does act the part so very well.

      Oh! But wait — isn’t he one of the worlds biggest single proponents of climate change caused by mankind? Doesn’t he act the part of savior of the human race? Of course he does. So maybe his uniform should include tights, a cape and a big red logo “CS” on his chest — Climate Savior. He could even practice flying, leaping tall buildings and so-on. I’m sure he could master that as well as he’s mastered climate change.

      So why is he wasting his time dressing up in the fashion of a time now long past when he could cashing in on the current super hero craze?

      I think he’s missing a bet and someone should tell him so he can get stated right away.

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        Roy Hogue

        And now that the fantasy is over for real, what a sad pathetic man he must be. I could almost feel sorry for him. 😉

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        Graeme No.3

        I, and I think a lot of others, would like to see him practicing leaping FROM tall buildings. Especially if his mate Steven is just below.

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          AndyG55

          Sorry about that.. I saw the jumping of buildings bit, and asked myself who had been studying this, with blindfolded assistants, recently.

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            AndyG55

            DOH.. “jumping OFF buildings” not, “jumping of buildings” !!!

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              RoHa

              Global warming causes earthquakes, they say, so the jumping of buildings probably fits as well.

              30

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              James Murphy

              I’m not sure if you quite see the gravity of the situation – the problem with jumping off buildings is that it always causes a sudden loss of potential.

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                James Murphy

                This was supposed to be a reply to…well…i’m not sure now, one of the many people talking about buildings and the jumping-off thereof.

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                Kratoklastes

                buildings and the jumping-off thereof

                Or the jumping thereoff.

                I realise that thereoff is not a word, but it should be: it should be the antonym of thereon. I am going to keep using it and hector anyone who disagrees as a thereoff-denier.

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          AndyG55

          to Fly and AZ…

          I can accept the moderation of the comment.. and will avoid that context in future. 🙂

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          Roy Hogue

          Graeme,

          I tried to imply just that when I said,

          I’m sure he could master that as well as he’s mastered climate change.

          because he certainly hasn’t mastered climate change.

          But one way or the other, a lot of us wish for him to try for the glory of heroic behavior that comes with being the savior of the world. 😉

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        • #

          “Steven”?

          Are you referring to respected punitive psychologist Stephe, Stevan, Steffen, a.k.a. Stefan (nee Esteban) Lewandowsky?

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        Eugene WR Gallun

        Roy Hogue

        “Climate Crusader” is ground already staked out by
        Scott Mandia or “Supermandia”. He dressed up so wielding
        a hockey stick. Pictures of him can be found on WUWT.
        I recently wrote this poem about him.

        SCOTT MANDIA — Supermandia

        The climate crusader
        Our costumed savior
        Supermandia, man of vinyl
        Leaping over data,
        “Res judicata”,
        He shouts! “Hockey stick up your anal!”

        Found within the pages
        Of long dead sages
        We read — Some things have no concealing
        Like a leopard’s marking
        A dog its barking
        And all idiots self-revealing

        Of course, the truism “All idiots self-revealing”
        certainly also applies to John Cook The Books. I wrote
        an entirely forgettable poem about John Cook The Books
        and “Loo” Lewandowsky a few years back — before the
        picture of him dressed up in a Nazi uniform was made
        public. In it I used the phrase “fashionism of the
        future”. With the passage of time I am now contemplating
        whether John Cook The Books’s accumulated idiocies add
        up to enough to make him worthy of a poem of his own.

        Eugene WR Gallun

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          Eugene WR Gallun,

          your poem reminded me of another piece, from Percy Bysshe Shelley, which also includes ‘man’ in it as well, in the hope that CAGW edifice is soon looked upon as the words here indicate.

          I met a traveller from an antique land
          Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
          Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
          Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
          And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
          Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
          Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
          The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
          And on the pedestal these words appear:
          ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
          Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
          Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
          Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
          The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

          Tony.

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            Eugene WR Gallun

            Tony from Oz —

            That is one of my favorite poems.

            The word “read” creates some confusion in the poem. It is being used in the old sense of “studied”. (People attending some older universities are still sometimes called “readers”.)

            The sculptor Studied other older sculptors who had mocked individuals and studied the heart of other older tyrants who fed on those passions and used that study to create his own work about a new tyrant.

            One of the implications of the poem is that its author, Shelly, is just like that old sculptor in that Shelly is claiming to have written his own poems only after a careful “reading” of the past. In other words Shelly’s poems are not just poetic “rants” but are based on educated opinions using learned poetic techniques.

            Eugene WR Gallun

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            • #

              Nice analysis!
              The studiers, readers, can only ‘observe’ what ‘not to do’, rote remembering, never learning! To ‘learn’ requires ‘attempt to do’! Success on attempt is pleasant, but provides no learning!
              Actual learning involves both attempt and failure. A child ‘learning to ride a bicycle’ can never, ever so learn such, from reading or studying!
              Learning only begins upon doing, and mostly from failure!

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              • #

                Will,
                you seem to be claiming that we only learn through error.

                Yet legitimate climate scientists have yet to be shown mistaken, in any important way, about anything. They would appear to get it right, broadly speaking, every time. (Sure, the details may require revision, and things are always slightly worse than anyone expected, but the overall thrust has been pretty well vindicated by reality.)

                How, then, do you account for the explosive advances in human knowledge made by clisci in recent decades? How is it that we’ve learned so much about nature from people who make so few real errors?

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                Eugene WR Gallun

                Brad Keyes —

                You have got to be putting us on. “Legitimate” climate scientists predicted an inevitable and disastrously fast rise of global temperatures as the per cent of CO2 in the atmosphere increased. That did not happen and these “legitimate” climate scientists stopped talking about “global warming” renaming it “climate change”. You didn’t notice that?

                And Scott Mandia dressed as Supermandia wielding his hockey stick? He was once one of the most vocal defenders of Mann’s hockey stick but Mann’s hockey stick has been “broken” (That means discarded even by “legitimate” climate scientist. The IPCC has dropped it from its reports). Who has heard a peep from Scott Mandia lately? You didn’t notice that?

                Brad Keyes, “None are so blind as those who will not see.” Open your eyes and look around you.

                Eugene WR Gallun

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                Eugene,

                “You have got to be putting us on.”

                I’m glad the facetious nature of my comment was so obvious. I was worried for a moment there that someone could take my comment at face value—which is every parodist’s worst nightmare, not to mention a bit embarrassing for the reader who then proceeds to “rebutt” me in deadly earnest! But, as you say, my comment was patently absurd, even by climate-debate standards, so Poe’s Law is unlikely to apply.

                The gist of my comment, obviously, is that climate science hasn’t advanced human knowledge one inch in recent memory—a scandalous failure I seek to rub in at greater length in that Climate Nuremberg link—but your reply adds a whole nother level of irony: the sheer amount they get wrong. I think you’re suggesting that if we learn from our mistakes, climate science ought to be the most fertile field of discovery in modern science, not a sulfurous wasteland in which the last weed withered and died sometime in the early 90’s.

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                BK April 23, 2016 at 9:47 am

                “Will, you seem to be claiming that we only learn through error.”

                What jew mean ‘we’ white mon?

                “Yet legitimate climate scientists have yet to be shown mistaken, in any important way, about anything. They would appear to get it right, broadly speaking, every time. (Sure, the details may require revision, and things are always slightly worse than anyone expected, but the overall thrust has been pretty well vindicated by reality.) How, then, do you account for the explosive advances in human knowledge made by clisci in recent decades? How is it that we’ve learned so much about nature from people who make so few real errors?”

                Learning vs learning!!
                While learning reading of gyroscopic effects, I once designed and had constructed two motorized counter-rotating flywheels attached to the same plate for angular stabilization of optical components, without precessional effects. This resulted in laughs from others.
                Not only did the device indeed mass stabilize, it did so independent of rotational rate of the two FWs as long as the co-rates were the same. Something about trivial details!! 🙂
                All the best! -will-

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      Roy Hogue

      Help!

      I’m puzzled. How is it that I manage to get so much commentary going? I’m not really that good. In fact to this day I have struggled to make what I write make sense and usually end up editing something over and over before posting it. It was the same with professional writing on the job — 30 minutes to do a 10 minute job. And I’ve always envied those who can do it easily where I can’t.

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    Jason Calley

    Ha! Great article! The CAGW true believers have been at this scam so long I had almost forgotten just how laughable their antics have been.

    Thanks for many good laughs!

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    Radical Rodent

    With reference to your link about debate: one of the commenters is H.D. Kline: I had the feeling that was a spoof comment, lapped up by the believers unable to see the irony running riot through it.

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    • #

      HD is indeed a master ironist—he’s been known to write funnier shi…er, funnier schtick below the line than I write above it.

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        AndyG55

        “master ironist” ….. shirts and trousers always immaculately pressed .

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        • #

          He’s so irony, his favorite move is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

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            AndyG55

            Anyways Brad.. nice to see you visiting again 🙂

            Did you have a good holiday ?

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            • #

              It was good while it lasted, but 4 months is nowhere near enough. It’s an insult, really. Being an academic, my brain burns glucose much faster than that of the average Australian taxpayer who subsidises my lifestyle, so I need all the time off I can get. Quite frankly our working conditions are a sign of the deep anti-intellectual undercurrent that runs through this nation’s psyche, and which I will be deploring in greater depth in my next book, which was made possible by the generous cash of the National Important Literary Grant Board. Thank you.

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                OriginalSteve

                Ah..the sound of proper academic reasearch being funded in this country is the sound of a 20c piece landing in an empty tin mug….

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                AndyG55

                “my brain burns glucose at a far higher rate than that of the average Australian taxpayer who subsidises my lifestyle, so I need every day off I can get. “

                I know EXACTLY what you mean.. and I suspect I am somewhat older than you, and therefore need more “recovery” time and medicinal ethanol. (grape flavour being my favourite)

                And O’Steve.. I’ll have you know that my research is VERY VERY important… to someone.. maybe. 😉

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    KinkyKeith

    Great post : keeps the attention all the way through with dark irony from the whale oil thing at the start and through the sad bit about Steven Schneider and climate English.

    The whole mess is a lesson in the power of groups and how little we understand ourselves.

    Belonging Rules and Truth can go and get Fracked.

    KK

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    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    I got a grant to start a wind farm. I feed my pigs truckloads of baked beans.

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    Drapetomania

    Very funny stuff Jo !! 🙂
    Yesterday greenpeace australia had a facebook post up which talked about coral bleaching in sydney harbour.
    And then said that we have to stop using coal.
    I pointed out that “their” ABC had actually said it was due to el nino..
    And I asked if were they now claiming el nino was caused by co2 as well.
    I also asked rhetorically if all the paid greence peace staff were off the grid and did not use cars.
    And a “supporter” of greence peace answered with a hashtag that was something obscure about me not understanding.
    I agreed and said I did not understand how people can falsely link to co2 to that story..
    A “hashtag” is the new way or arguing a point it seems…newspeak in action folks.. 🙂

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    David Maddison

    OFF TOPIC: This sounds like fun. Spend some taxpayer provided research funds to circumnavigate Antartica and visit all the islands to study “climate change”.

    http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2016/s4445928.htm

    QUOTE

    KIM LANDERS: A Melbourne scientist will lead an international team of researchers examining the land-based plants and animals of Antarctica, and studying how they’re responding to climate change.

    The project is one of more than 20 to be a part of the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition, which is the inaugural expedition of the newly formed Swiss Polar Institute.

    Professor Steven Chown from Monash University will lead the team, and he’s told our reporter Simon Lauder this will be the most significant Antarctic expedition since the mid 1800s.

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    • #
      AndyG55

      ” and studying how they’re responding to climate change.”

      Do you think they mean the slight cooling trend in the Antarctic ?

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      Analitik

      the most significant Antarctic expedition since the mid 1800s.

      Chris Turney is going to have to organise another ship of fools “research” cruise to top this. Maybe they’ll count the penguins on the ice that they get the ship stuck in.

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      Greg Cavanagh

      I was going to suggest a fly over with a high resolution camera to count the penguins. But they are studying if the Ant-Artic plant life has been affected by the equatorial troposphere rise of 0.7C over the last century. Could a mould tell the difference between -30C and -31C over a hundred years, when the difference between summer and winter is 60C?

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      el gordo

      Dr Chown says the Antarctic ozone hole is rather large for this time of year and …

      Yes but he shouldn’t worry, its only negative feedback according to NASA.

      “While the current ozone hole is larger than in recent years, the area occupied by this year’s hole is consistent with our understanding of ozone depletion chemistry and consistent with colder than average weather conditions in Earth’s stratosphere, which help drive ozone depletion,” said Paul A. Newman, chief scientist for Earth Sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.’

      The Watchers / Oct 2015

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    Policy should be based on evidence. The children, after all, are our future. No puppy dog should ever die of leukemia.

    [I’m just testing the hypothesis that it’s impossible to write a comment that won’t be voted down by exactly 1 (one) anonymous lunatic.]

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    handjive

    “Almost every climate scientist in the world finds the upcoming 20-year-plus plateau in temperatures too obvious to mention. [The Pause quietly begins.]”

    I chortled. They still can’t mention it:

    2009: Matthew England, co-director of the University of NSW Climate Change Research Centre, said the world’s three leading climate data series showed claims of temperatures cooling were “patently untrue”

    Surface Air Temperatures Trashed, NASA, April 2016: “”There is far too much focus on surface temperatures.”

    Satellites Trashed , NOAA 2015:
    “Some non-scientists who deny man-made global warming have pointed to satellite temperature records – which only go back to 1979 – which show a warming world, but no record this year and less of a recent increase than the longer-term ground thermometers.
    But Mann, Dessler, Francis and others say there have been quality and trustworthy issues with some satellite measurements and they only show what’s happening far above the ground. They said ground measurements are also more important because it is where we live.”

    Sea Surface Temperatures Trashed, Melbourne Uni, 2016:
    “Most people are not fish, most people live on land,” Professor Karoly said, noting that the sustained warming over land had been about 40 per cent more than over the oceans.

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    • #
      el gordo

      ‘…the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Each of the past 11 months have now broken global temperature records, the longest such streak in the agency’s 137 years of data collection.’

      Very convenient, 1879 was the beginning of a cool cycle.

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    • #

      There is far too much focus on surface temperatures

      ROTFL

      The temperature of the actual surface (not the air above it) is used to “demonstrate” the greenhouse effect in radiative teaching models. (Physics 110) There is no atmosphere at all in that model. It is assumed that the difference between the radiative model’s surface temperature and the averages of air temperatures must be due to the greenhouse effect.

      No consideration is made at all for the ability for gases like N2 and O2 to store heat and to stratify thermally under the influence of gravity.

      The “physical” climate models inevitably fail because they require deterministic knowledge of the state of the system; where heat is stored and how as well as the sources of heat flux. When initialised, they take into account ONLY temperatures; not heat content. The “useful” heat content of air can be the same at 40°C as at 26°C; it strongly depends on the presence of water vapour. But humidity is assumed to be essentially constant. No effort seems to be made to measure and record the heat content of the air.

      If you don’t initialise a physical model to the correct starting values (boundary conditions), then it can not produce useful information.

      Another fundamental problem with physical models is that they cannot take into account non-linear, complex couplings between the various “physics” without knowing a sufficiently-precise relationship between the complex couplings. Climate modelers have historically put in largely arbitrary, constant coupling factors for those many unknowns. This brings a synthetic order to the natural chaos, but isn’t based on any rigorous physics.

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    Analitik

    OT
    The AusNet “mini-grid” (what happened to micro?) trial in Mooroolbark, Victoria we discussed in an earlier post has now been officially announced. Strangely, the ABC, RenewEconomy and the Victorian State Government are all reporting slightly different details.

    Vic gov: 16 homes, RE & ABC 14 homes
    Vic gov & RE: 10kWh batteries, ABC: 12kWh batteries

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-19/melbourne-street-to-share-electricity-with-solar-mini-grid/7337196
    https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/victorian-first-trial-of-renewable-energy-mini-grid/
    http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/utility-to-take-part-of-melbourne-suburb-off-grid-with-solar-storage-94822

    Greenslopes Drive is where this action will be.
    Whirlpool greentards are already asking why “they” don’t just start mass rollouts of free home storage and solar…

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      If Trump were to win the Presidential Election I bet the ABC tells it as:

      Public Housing Scandal; black family evicted to make way for billionaire.

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  • #
    pat

    very funnny.

    adding to the irony:

    4 April: What Will California Do With Too Much Solar?
    By Lauren Sommer, KQED (Public Radio) Science
    But the success of solar has brought about a hidden downside: on some perfectly sunny days, solar farms are being told to turn off.
    That’s because in the spring and fall, when Californians aren’t using much air conditioning and demand for electricity is low, the surge of midday solar power is more than the state can use.
    It’s becoming a growing concern for those running the grid at the California Independent System Operator. At their Folsom headquarters, a team continually manages the power supply for most of the state, keeping the lights on for some 30 million people.
    “It’s constantly solving a constant problem, meaning you’re always trying to balance,” says Nancy Traweek, who directs system operations for the grid…
    “All of a sudden you have a major cloud that comes over a solar field,” Traweek says, and that causes the solar power to drop off.
    “That [power] needs to come from somewhere else immediately,” she says.
    So grid operators have to keep the natural gas plants running in the background…
    “When it gets really bad, now we really got to start cutting as much as we possibly can,” Traweek says. “If that’s not done, then you could have a blackout.”
    So, grid operators have to tell solar farms to shut off.
    “That’s zero-carbon, clean energy,” says Keith Casey, a vice president at the California Independent System Operator. “It would just be a travesty to curtail large amounts of it.”
    Casey says the problem will only get worse as more solar and wind connect to the grid…
    So, Casey is proposing California join up with its neighbors. Instead of having lots of electric grids across the West, each doing their own thing, there would be a larger regional grid, sharing power across state lines…
    This marriage of electric grids would start with PacifiCorp, a utility that runs its own grid in Oregon, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming…
    But PacifiCorp isn’t a partner everyone wants to get in bed with.
    “PacifiCorp is by far the largest owner of coal plants in the Western United States,” says Travis Ritchie, an attorney with the Sierra Club. In 2014, more than 60 percent of PacifiCorp’s electricity came from coal power…
    “That’s a big problem for California,” he says. “We have put forth a lot of really great policy measures to stop coal for climate reasons, for pollution reasons.”…
    “Will California actually lose the ability lead on climate issues if it gives up its power to Utah and Wyoming, two states that are actively fighting everything about climate change that California is working to promote?” he says…
    https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/31394873/is-the-1-5c-climate-change-target-a-mirage/

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  • #
    RoHa

    Stalinist history.

    It leaves out Margaret Thatcher. It was her international reputation that gave the movement its global influence. The story should also give a mention of ENRON and the Big Money Boys.

    http://www.john-daly.com/history.htm

    http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/why-enron-wants-global-warming

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    • #

      ‘Stalinist history.’

      OK, you got me. That’s exactly what I was engaged in. I premeditatedly un-personed the Iron Lady because… well, he who controls the past and all that.

      When psychiatrists scour the DSM in vain, looking for an apt description of me, I have to tell them I’m simply evil.

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  • #
    pat

    20 Apr: ABC Lateline: Warnings from the nation’s top scientists that the new direction for the CSIRO could jeopardise millions of dollars in grants
    JONES: Tonight we reveal claims the United Nations warned a senior scientist that CSIRO grants, potentially worth millions of dollars, are now at risk due to the changes.
    Our political correspondent David Lipson has been investigating the story and joins us in Canberra…
    DAVID LIPSON: Claims that a senior figure in the United Nations Development Program has warned a researcher at the CSIRO that, under the current direction of CEO Larry Marshall, that the CSIRO was in danger of missing out in millions of dollars’ worth of grants.
    Now, remember that just a few months ago in Paris, billions of dollars was pledged for the type of research that the CSIRO currently does…
    NICK ABEL, DR., RETIRED CSIRO FELLOW: A 100-year-old organisation that was the national pride of Australia is turning into a national embarrassment…
    LIPSON: Lateline has obtained unofficial minutes of a staff meeting last month, where one researcher directly raised the UN DP’s concerns about the CSIRO.
    NICK ABLE: The UN told him that, in their view, the new CEO was not reliable. And they were frightened that if they did hand over a lot of money to CSIRO under contract, there was a danger that he might cancel those contracts and leave them with the ultimate embarrassment to the UN, which is a lot of unspent – millions of dollars of unspent money…
    http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4447274.htm

    19 Apr: ClimateChangeNews: Ed King: ‘Critical mass’ to support UN climate change deal
    Friday’s signing ceremony in New York has little practical value, but it’s a valuable opportunity to “keep the foot on the policymaking pedal” said veteran climate politics analyst Michael Jacobs.
    “Presidents and prime ministers will have to recommit to action on carbon pricing, fossil fuel subsidy reform, and it’s the momentum around those initiatives that needs to be accelerated.”
    For Jacobs, a one-time advisor to former UK prime minister Gordon Brown and advisor to the New Climate Economy project, what’s interesting is how emerging economies are taking the initiative…
    The immediate impact of Friday’s ceremony will be limited, especially given the absence of Barack Obama, who is instead enjoying a valedictory UK tour as US president…
    But a show of support in New York will accelerate the “pace and scale of investment of at least $1 trillion a year” in low carbon goods, said Mindy Lubber from US green business lobby Ceres.
    Lubber’s group is one of a coalition representing 400 investors holding $24 trillion of assets, which says an operational Paris Agreement will encourage business to back the green economy…
    And this week Bill McKibben from 350, one of the largest climate campaign groups, wrote of plans next month to commit civil disobedience in the US, UK, Germany, Brazil, Nigeria and Australia.
    “That’s because all around the world this month the world’s coral reefs are turning bone white, bleached by record ocean temperatures. Researchers report crying in their scuba masks as they dive, unable to cope with the death of entire ecosystems,” he said.
    “Climate change is the biggest thing human beings have ever done, and in this hottest of all years we’re moving to the very edge of catastrophe. Our political and economic systems aren’t working fast enough. They need a non-violent jolt.”
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/04/19/us-china-to-lead-climate-pact-signatures-in-new-york/

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Canadian MP “climate scientist” falsely claims being Nobel laureate.

    https://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2013/10/23/kirsty-duncan-canadas-fake-nobel-laureate-member-of-parliament/

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    Dave in the States

    The telling point in the history was climate gate. In a normal world that should have ended it. It clearly proved that the science was not on the warmist side. The fact that it didn’t end it, shows that it is not really about the science. It is a political issue, at least for the last 25 years.

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    • #

      ‘The fact that it didn’t end it, shows that it is not really about the science.’

      That’s a great insight—but I’d extend it to a couple of other events too.

      But yeah, we’re dealing with the undead here. An unfalsifiable zombie. Non-silver bullets aren’t going to avail us.

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  • #

    Can’t wait for episode two, fuchur cli-sci
    projections of phantassmagoria.
    https://skullsinthestars.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/phantasmagoria.jpg

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  • #
    pat

    20 Apr: Toronto Sun: Lorrie Goldstein: Trudeau knows climate deal’s a fraud
    When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ceremonially signs the United Nations’ Paris climate treaty in New York on Friday, it will be the same farce that occurred when Prime Minister Jean Chretien signed the UN’s Kyoto climate treaty in 1998.
    At that time, Chretien knew Canada couldn’t achieve the industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets he was agreeing to — confirmed by his top political aide Eddie Goldenberg in 2007, after the Liberals lost power in 2006.
    Trudeau knows it, too…
    A 146 Mt cut by 2020 would mean shutting down the equivalent of Canada’s agriculture sector (75 Mt) and most of our emission-intensive and trade-exposed industries (76 Mt), in less than five years.
    A 291 Mt cut by 2030 would mean shutting down the equivalent of the oil and gas sector (179 Mt), the agricultural sector (75 Mt) and half the electricity sector (42.5 Mt) in less than 15 years.
    Suggesting emission cuts of this magnitude — which the Stephen Harper government agreed to, since Trudeau hasn’t changed them — can be accomplished within these time frames is politically dishonest…
    Trudeau will be one of many national leaders on Friday signing an unenforceable treaty they know they will never implement.
    Even if they did implement it, all it would do according to climate scientists is lock the world into global temperature increases double what they say is the point of no return.
    The difference between Harper and Trudeau is that Harper knew the UN process was a farce and, while paying occasional lip service to it, also showed his contempt for it…
    Trudeau will also throw billions of tax dollars at so-called green infrastructure projects that don’t actually reduce emissions, and allow the provinces free rein on carbon pricing.
    But to actually lower emissions to the levels he’ll agree to at the UN signing ceremony on Friday? Don’t be absurd.
    http://www.torontosun.com/2016/04/20/trudeau-knows-climate-deals-a-fraud

    ***here’s a solution…keep upping the ante:

    20 Apr: Globe&Mail Canada: Adrian Morrow: Ontario likely to miss 2030 emissions target by half, report says
    Ontario’s upcoming cap-and-trade system will likely cut greenhouse gas emissions by less than half of the province’s 2030 target, a new economic analysis has found.
    The report, by ICF International for the Ontario Energy Association, suggests the government will have to introduce significantly more greenhouse gas-fighting measures if it hopes to reach its planned reductions…
    ******ICF forecasts that the price will start at $16 per tonne in 2017, rising to $95 by 2030…
    And even as the price of carbon increases through the 2020s, it won’t be sufficient…
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontarios-cap-and-trade-system-likely-to-miss-2030-target-report-says/article29699285/

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  • #
    pat

    20 Apr: CarbonPulse: Mike Szabo: German authorities reissue call for help in hunting EU carbon trading fraud suspects
    German authorities this week reissued a public call for help in tracking down three men suspected of being involved in a €136 million tax evasion and money laundering scheme linked to the EU ETS.
    Pakistani nationals Ashraf Muhammad and Mobeen Iqbal, along with British man Mohsin Usmangani Salya, are wanted by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on suspicions that they “fraudulently” dealt EU carbon allowances between 2009 and 2010.
    “Their whereabouts are believed to be outside of Germany (Dubai/UAE or Pakistan),” the BKA said in a notice…
    Authorities may link them to two British men recently charged by the Frankfurt prosecutors’ office over their role in a gang involved in committing so-called carousel fraud in the EU ETS through companies in the UAE and Germany.
    German prosecutors last year charged eight former and current Deutsche Bank employees over their suspected involvement in helping the bank’s clients evade taxes between Sep. 2009 and Feb. 2010.
    Since 2011, at least 10 individuals have been sentenced by German courts to jail terms of between two and eight years for their part in the fraud, which European authorities estimate to have cost governments more than €5 billion in lost revenues.
    http://carbon-pulse.com/18617/

    fraudsters?

    20 Apr: ClimateChangeNews: Ed King: Climate activists plan ‘global wave’ of protests in May
    Campaign group 350 announces series of protests on every continent to signal fears over weak climate policies
    “In the middle of next month, at locations around the planet, activists organized by, among others, 350.org, a group I helped found, will commit widespread civil disobedience,” writes Bill McKibben.
    “It will be by far the largest-scale moment of civil disobedience the climate movement has yet seen. And here’s why: Because so far action comes far too slowly…
    In the UK, activists from Reclaim the Power plan to “shut down the UK’s largest opencast coal mine” in Ffos-y-fran, Wales.
    Similar protests are planned in the US, Germany, Brazil, New Zealand, Turkey, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, Canada and Nigeria from 4-15 May.
    “As at a few other moments in recent human history, from the anti-colonial struggles touched off by Gandhi or the civil rights moment triggered by Rosa Parks – it’s time to underline the moral seriousness of the challenge by putting our bodies on the line,” added McKibben…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/04/20/climate-activists-plan-global-wave-of-protests-in-may/

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  • #
    PeterPetrum

    Jo, it’s just as well that it is us that are reading this brilliant piece of satire as, if it was the other side, I am sure the would take it as face value!

    One little point, of absolutely no importance if I may, as far as I (an exiled Scot)is concerned, whisky is spelt that way, not “whiskey” as the Irish and the Irish Americans do. Now I (very occasionally) do drink Irish whiskey, but there is nothing like the real thing!

    Can’t wait for the second chapter – well done – so clever.

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  • #
    pat

    20 Apr: WSJ: Liz Hoffman: SunEdison’s Failed Deals Could Bite Back in Bankruptcy
    Litigation over the transactions could result in more claims, entangle subsidiaries
    The deal-making frenzy that hastened SunEdison Inc. ’s collapse could continue to cause problems for the solar-power company during any bankruptcy.
    Potential legal damages stemming from deals SunEdison failed to close while its finances were deteriorating could total hundreds of millions of dollars, according to court filings and people familiar with the deals. Litigation over the failed deals could add to the company’s already lengthy list of creditors and possibly extend to its publicly traded subsidiaries…
    The company owes creditors nearly $10 billion, according to regulatory filings…
    Of 11 deals reached since last May, SunEdison has failed to close five with a combined value of about $3.8 billion, according to FactSet. It is in active litigation or arbitration on two of them, and other counterparties are reviewing litigation options, according to people familiar with the matter.
    The company declined to comment…
    The biggest potential claim comes from Vivint (Solar)…
    A broken deal for Globeleq Mesoamerica, known as GME, may ensnare SunEdison’s other yieldco, TerraForm Global Inc…
    GME, which owns wind-power plants in Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua, is weighing its legal options against SunEdison and TerraForm Global, a person familiar with the matter said.
    http://www.wsj.com/articles/sunedisons-failed-deals-could-bite-back-in-bankruptcy-1461182904

    19 Apr: Fox News: Pelosi’s husband invested in solar firm weeks before lucrative expansion
    by Lachlan Markay, Washington Free Beacon
    House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to a quarter million dollars of stock in a now financially troubled green energy company just weeks before it announced a major 2014 acquisition that sent stock prices soaring, public records show…
    Its 2014 purchase of wind energy company First Wind “further bolstered the reputation of the company,” wrote one market-watcher at the time. “Perhaps unsurprisingly, SunEdison’s stock soared an astounding 29% on news of this acquisition alone.”
    Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, had invested just in time. He bought between $100,000 and $250,000 in SunEdison stock on Oct. 24, 2014, according to congressional financial disclosures. The company announced its First Wind acquisition on Nov. 17.
    Pelosi’s office did not respond to questions about the timing of the purchase and whether she or her husband had any advance knowledge of the deal…
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/04/19/pelosis-husband-invested-in-solar-firm-weeks-before-lucrative-expansion.html

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  • #

    Part 1 was interesting and I can’t wait for the next 22 to see your grand theory.

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  • #
    pat

    behind every silver lining there is a cloud!

    19 Apr: UK Daily Mail: Abigail Beall: Could climate change lead to more food? Increased carbon dioxide could help wheat, rice and soybeans grow more efficiently
    Scientists say higher levels of carbon dioxide in the air helps plants build up greater biomass but can also reduce the amount of water needed to help them grow…
    ‘To adapt adequately, we need to understand all the factors involved,’ said lead author Delphine Deryng, an environmental scientist at Columbia University’s Centre for Climate Systems Research, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the University of Chicago’s Computation Institute.
    She said the study should not be interpreted to mean that increasing carbon dioxide is a good thing, but its direct effects must be included in any calculation of what the future holds…
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3546151/Could-climate-change-lead-food-Increased-carbon-dioxide-help-wheat-rice-soybeans-grow-efficiently.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&utm_term=0_876aab4fd7-81551b9fc5-303439889&utm_content=buffer71f64&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

    20 Apr: LA Times: Sean Greene: Global warming has made the weather better for most in U.S. – but don’t get used to it, study says
    Since Americans first heard the term global warming in the 1970s, the weather has actually improved for most people living in the U.S. But it won’t always be that way, according to a new study…
    Research shows Americans typically — and perhaps unsurprisingly — like warmer winters and dislike hot, humid summers. And they reveal their weather preferences by moving to areas with conditions they like best.
    A new study in the journal Nature has found that 80% of the U.S. population lives in counties experiencing more pleasant weather than they did 40 years ago.
    “Virtually all Americans are now experiencing the much milder winters that they typically prefer, and these mild winters have not been offset by markedly more uncomfortable summers or other negative changes,” write Patrick Egan, a political scientist at New York University, and Megan Mullin, professor of environmental politics at Duke University.
    It’s hard to complain about sunny days, but the researchers foresee a problem. If Americans think climate change has benefited their lives so far, they’ll have little motivation to demand action or overcome apathy in responding to global warming, the scientists write…
    http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-climate-change-weather-america-20160420-story.html

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  • #
    pat

    unbelievable:

    21 Apr: Guardian: Oliver Milman: US weather ‘preferable’ for most thanks to climate change; but there’s a catch
    Research finds most Americans have seen a pleasant mix of warmer winters and tolerable summers since 1974, but the situation is set for a radical reversal
    Even though parts of Louisiana are being gobbled up by the sea, California has experienced its worst drought in a millennium and huge storms have smashed New York and New Orleans in recent years, most of the country has been basking in more bucolic weather changes.
    But the situation is set for a radical reversal in the years ahead, the paper warns, with 88% of the US population set to experience temperature and weather trends that are extremely unfavorable by the end of the century…
    Leading climate scientist Michael Mann, of Pennsylvania State University, said the study was a “solid analysis”. Mann wasn’t involved in the research.
    “The population may have been lulled into complacency when it comes to the impacts of climate change by the fact that perceived weather conditions have improved with the moderate warming of the past century,” he told the Guardian.
    “What this neglects, however, is all of the other damaging impacts that climate change has had on our lives which many people may not be perceiving in the passage of day-to-day weather variations, such as the impacts of increasingly devastating droughts, flooding, wildfires and coastal inundation.”
    Mann said living conditions will deteriorate with further warming, meaning that the research’s findings are “sobering and they underscore once again the urgency of reducing global carbon emissions”…
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/20/climate-change-weather-changes-us-study

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    • #
      Mari

      The reason, as I was taught, back when I was in school way before AGW was a “thing” to worry about, for the shrinking of Louisiana, especially in the Mississippi delta area, was the fiddling with the natural course of the river, the levies, and the dredging – all by the Army Corps of Engineers and various State (and Federal??) needs/requirements for flood control along the river, shipping into New Orleans, etc. Back in the late 70s, early 80s, at least, it was a trade-off between farming and shipping -vs- delta growth – then the news of delta shrinkage, which was still a lesser evil than flooded farms and loss of port status to NO.

      Nothing on the interwebs, that I could quickly find at least, brings up AHA that’s it! memory to me, but this is a slightly less-AGW centric article on the issues.

      http://news.rice.edu/2014/04/20/study-centuries-of-sand-to-grow-mississippi-delta-2/

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    Gary in Erko

    A simple solution to the problem of too much CO₂ is to get more air. All we need do is add a lot more air to dilute CO₂ back to a reasonable 300ppm. I’ve got an old car gatherinmg rust round tha back. You can have the air out of its tyres if someone comes around to get it.

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    RB

    Would be funnier if you exaggerated a little. Its too close to what serious history books will write in 100 years.

    BTW “where legitimate scientists beat the crap out of their critics.
    ” link doesn’t work. Is it archived?

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    • #

      Cheers RB, I’ll have to replace it with a link like this one.

      Yeah, I did consider the use of hyperbole but decided that would make me no better than Stephen Schneider. I’m afraid there’s no alternative to sticking to the dry, drab data of historical fact.

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  • #
    LightningCamel

    Climate “science” done for a laugh
    Makes disciples excited, not half.
    Don’t challenge the cause.
    Never mention the pause.
    Its enough to make anyone barf.

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    AndyG55

    Totally OT.. from Tim Blair’s site

    A Russian immigrant to America, stays

    ““Socialism is a conspiracy of losers against achievers.”

    AGW alarmists and apostles.. .. which are YOU ? !!!

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  • #

    […] agenda, een vorm van gecontroleerde oppositie. Er is verder nooit enig serieus debat geweest, zo schrijft Jo Nova. Plots werd ‘het Klimaat’ vanuit Amerika via de Verenigde Naties geïmporteerd als Het […]

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    sophocles

    Environmentalists hail the switch to alternative energies—coal, natural gas and petroleum—as mankind’s best hope of kicking its whale-oil addiction.

    Here’s a little something you missed: Brad, for your 1850’s point:
    … and enabling cities to rid themselves of their horse manure mountains piled high on empty lots, along with the … umm …. aromatic dust, not just squadrons of flies but multiple air forces of them, and probably uncountable rats and mice. Working horses need grain feeding, so lots of attraction for mice, and dead horses in the streets feed the rats.

    What cleaned the streets up? Automobiles.

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    • #

      “Here’s a little something you missed: ”

      D’oh. You’re right of course. An huge, steaming omission like that is the point where my account loses all academic credibility, I’m afraid. From 1850 on it’s hard to take my thesis seriously, and I’m hardly in a position to demand that anyone do so.

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    Amber

    But MOM I thought vegetables were good for me ?
    ..Look kid a hand full of people
    that claim to be scientists and some stock promoters say
    there is a consensus that vegetables are not good for you.

    Heck they even made a movie. So there you have it. You don’t
    have to think about it or bring it up again because as they say the science is settled .
    Now eat your Mars bar .

    20