Green Energy Train to Energy Poverty: How Environmental Activists and Liberal Politicians Are ‘Grubering’ America on Climate and Energy
Guest essay by Joseph D’Aleo, CCM MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, who was an advisor to Obama on the Obamacare Act mocked the “stupidity” of American voters and boasted of the Obama Administration’s ability to take advantage of it. They did that for Obamacare but also, in partnership with the environmental left for their regulatory siege,
White House Approval of the CSSR
As reported last week my understanding is that issuance of the Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) was approved by the White House. Approval reportedly came at a meeting chaired by Gary Cohn, the Director of the National Economic Council and chief economic adviser to President Trump. He previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer
The Unfortunate Apparent Approval of the CSSR by the Trump Administration
The Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) was released last week by the US Government. It was reported by some newspapers that the Report had received the approval of the White House for its release. If so, this would appear to rule out inattention by the Trump Administration as the reason for the approval, especially given
The Carbon Tax Option
Given the tax reform effort currently under way in Congress this would seem an appropriate time to consider the usefulness of a carbon tax to increase Federal revenue even though no such proposal (happily) is in the current tax bill. The first question, of course, is whether this perennial idea has any intrinsic merit. The
Scott Pruitt is Dead Right: EPA Never Seriously Considered the Science Used in Its 2009 GHG/CO2 Endangerment Finding
Last week I reported on a petition signed by over 60 climate experts (others can still do so) asking EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to reopen EPA’s GHG Endangerment Finding (EF). Late in the week it was reported that he had stated that: “This is the first time in history that this ever occurred. This Agency
Letter to EPA Administrator Pruitt Signed by Over 60 Climate Experts Urges Revocation of the GHG Endangerment Finding
As I argued in an August post, the most important thing that USEPA could accomplish is the revocation of their 2009 GHG Endangerment Finding (EF). Last week EPA proposed to accomplish some of what needs to be done by proposing the repeal of its “Clean” Power Plan (CPP), but this is just one of the
EPA’s CPP Repeal Gambit
The major climate news this week has been EPA’s decision to propose repealing its “Clean” Power Plan (CPP) regulation promulgated in 2015, primarily on the basis of the very bad law and economics used by the Obama Administration in its promulgation, as explained in some detail in my 2015 book. The one clear winner will
Climate Alarmism Is a Typical Scientific Scam but with Much More Serious Consequences
Climate alarmism is an all too typical scientific scam replete with failure to follow the scientific method and many of the common illogical fallacies going back to Aristotle. The difference is that its proponents have had almost infinite resources to sell their scam, especially taking into account the “free” media support supplied by the mainstream
No Post Last Week
Due to extensive travel this past week it has not proved possible to prepare a blog post. I plan to do so during this upcoming week.
How the Democratic Party Has Incurred Major Electoral Losses by Its Mistaken Support for Climate Alarmism
For inexplicable reasons the Democratic Party has in many ways made itself the “Green Party,” and thereby has incurred major electoral losses. Each time it loses as a result of its increasingly green ideology, it has responded by doubling down on its green bet. The underlying miscalculation they have made is a result of the
How the CIC Is Working to Prevent EPA from Using Good Science
After several decades of pioneering work, the “environmental” movement was captured by environmental extremists during the last few decades of the last century; EPA, in turn, was effectively captured by the “environmental” movement starting during the Clinton Administration and in a very accelerated way during the Obama Administration. This capture of EPA was not limited
The Real Potential Climate Problem Is Caused by the Climate Alarmists Themselves
The climate alarmists would like you to believe that Planet Earth is in danger of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW). Their “evidence” are sophisticated global climate models that they claim can predict future temperatures. The models, of course, are built by the alarmists and, of course, yield the results they desire. They are basically worthless
Reducing CO2 Emissions Is Not a Useful Substitute for Effective Stormwater Management
Hurricane Harvey has undoubtedly caused great damage to Houston and surrounding areas on the Texas Coast. The climate alarmists have immediately tried to blame carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by humans, of course. My comment is that if the US had devoted the resources wasted on CO2-oriented climate research and building “renewable” sources of energy on
The Idea of Renewable Energy Is Reported to Have Originated with the Nazis; at Least They Were Wise Enough to Reject It
The renewable energy zealots have never publicized where their renewable energy idea originally came from. It has now been reported that it came from the Nazis. But in 1936 the Nazis had the good sense to reject it as one of their guiding principles for their energy supply. They realized that it would cost too
Why Revoking the EPA GHG Endangerment Finding Is the Most Urgent Climate Action Needed
Last week I explained in general terms why the basic methodology used by the UN to justify its climate alarmism is hopeless for the purpose and proves nothing other than how gullible the Climate-industrial Complex (CIC) thinks the world is. This week Fox News has published an analysis showing how the Draft National Climate Assessment
Why Climate Alarmist Reports Should Be Ignored Where They Use Bad Methodology and Data
Like other liberal news outlets, the New York Times has been busy printing unapproved internal Trump Administration material this year. On August 8, 2017 they printed a Draft Report as part of a new National Climate Assessment. It was prepared primarily during the Obama Administration by a Federal inter-agency group and is still residing on
How Your Tax Dollars May Save Energy but End Up Penalizing Homeowners
Governments often intervene in markets. In a very few cases this can be justified because markets may provide important misleading signals because they do not take into account the effects of particular activities or products on those not involved in these activities or production or consumption of various products. This is the justification for many
Why the Fossil Fuel Revolution Is Good for Both Humans and the Environment
The fossil fuel revolution that started in the Eighteen and Nineteenth Centuries was not planned by governments. It occurred because humans found fossil fuels useful in their daily lives. In later years fossil fuels made possible even more useful forms of energy generated using fossil fuels, particularly electricity. With assistance from increasing human ingenuity, the
Electricity Consumers Group Adds New Study into Their Call for EPA to Reopen Its Endangerment Finding
Three weeks ago I posted information on a new research report authored by Drs. James Wallace III, Joseph d’Aleo, and Craig Idso which concluded that the surface temperature data used by most climate alarmists lack the credibility required for policy making or climate modeling. This includes the repeated claims made by climate alarmists that new
The Climate Alarmists’ Gross Perversion of the Word Clean
Climate alarmists have gone to endless efforts to gain public acceptance of their doomsday premise that the world must greatly reduce its use of fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic anthropogenic global warming. They have fudged the surface temperature data, used meaningless climate models, argued that human emissions of carbon dioxide will warm the planet despite
A Modest and Equitable Solution to the “Climate”/Energy “Problem”
I would not object if the so-called “environmentalists” swept away all the trappings of modern civilization in their own lives that involve use of fossil fuels, including cars, airplanes, washing machines, trucks and the rest and went to live as their ancestors did. In fact, all that they would need to do would be to
New Research Report on the Validity of Global Average Surface Temperature Data and EPA’s GHG Endangerment Finding
A new report finds that the three Global Average Surface Temperatures (GAST) data sets used by climate alarmists are not a valid representation of reality, including their repeated claims of highest recorded average temperatures. Authored by Drs. James P. Wallace III, Joseph S. d’Aleo, and Craig D. Idso, the new extensively peer reviewed research report
How the Climate Doomsters Are the Problem, Not the Solution They Claim to Be
Climate alarmists are basically failed doomsday forecasters. For a few examples see here. They believe that the world as we know it will disappear, usually because of global warming, more recently renamed climate change, often in ten years or so. But they hold out one ray of hope. If the world greatly decreases emissions of
Why I Spend So Much Time and Effort on Climate Skepticism
I am sometimes asked why I spend so much time on climate skepticism. Why not just ignore the climate issue and let the climate alarmists have their way at the expense of everyone else, particularly the less wealthy? The full answer can be found in my book, but the short answer is that there is
Clouds Cannot Be Usefully Modeled but Appear to Play a Very Important Role in Climate Change
What if the climate alarmists are looking in entirely the wrong place for what controls global temperatures? They claim the answer is emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by human activity and that humans must redirect vast scarce resources to reduce such emissions. Most of the best scientific evidence points away from their favorite bogeyman (CO2),
The Deplorable Truth about Decarbonization
The deplorable truth is that the Climate Industrial Complex (CIC) is pushing exactly in the wrong direction even if what they advocate were free (which is very very far from being the case). The CIC includes the mainstream media, the Democratic Party (which publicly adopted decarbonization last year as part of its Party platform), the
Three Cheers for President Trump’s Action Today
I have to hand it to President Trump. He has now done what he said he would do by removing the US from the Paris climate non-treaty “Treaty.” The climate alarmists have predictably gone bonkers even though there is no objective basis for their concerns. Mr. Trump based his decision on the disproportionate cost of
Statements by President Trump and EPA Administrator Pruitt on the Paris Climate Accord
THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 1, 2017 STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT TRUMP ON THE PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD Rose Garden 3:32 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. I would like to begin by addressing the terrorist attack in Manila. We’re closely monitoring the situation, and
Trump Announcement on US Role in the Paris Climate Non-treaty “Treaty”
Reuters reported this evening that President Trump will announce his decision on the US role in the Paris climate non-treaty “Treaty” at 3 pm EDT on Thursday, June 1, 2017.
The Looney Effort to Keep the US in the Paris Non-Treaty “Treaty”
The Climate-Industrial Complex (CIC) is fighting hard to keep the US in the Paris Accord (to the extent it ever was in it given that the Senate has never consented to it), which I call the Paris non-treaty Treaty. And President Trump promises a decision after the G-7 meeting this weekend. The CIC is being
The Concerned Household Electricity Consumers Council Once Again Calls on President Trump and EPA to Revisit and Revoke the Scientifically Invalid CO2 Endangerment Finding
I have previously discussed how important it is for the US Environmental Protection Agency to revisit and revoke the EPA Endangerment Finding for Greenhouse Gases issued in 2009. To date the USEPA has not decided to do so. I have suggested how anyone who pays electric bills can petition the USEPA to do this. What
A Particularly Lunatic Week for Climate Alarmism
The Climate Industrial Complex (CIC) cannot be accused of thinking small. At the state level, the approval of California bill SB52 by both houses of the state legislature means carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must be lowered to levels 40% below levels measured in 1990. This is expected to necessitate the development of massive numbers of
Why the UN Climate Models Are Inherently Unreliable, and Should Be Abandoned in Favor of More Top-Down Approaches
Those who have examined the Wallace, Christy, and d’Aleo (WCD) 2016 and 2017 reports discussed in recent months on this blog may be understandably confused as to how they relate to the numerous climate models used by the UN IPCC and the USEPA over many years in support of their climate alarmism. The methodologies used
The Strange Absence of Science in the Paris “Treaty” Discussion
The climate topic du jour is whether President Trump should abandon the Paris non-treaty “treaty.” Most of the discussion seems to revolve around esoteric legal issues concerning what the US is allowed and not allowed to do as a result of President Obama’s agreement to the “treaty” without Senate consent. I find most of the
The Major Effects an Invalid Scientific Hypothesis Can Have
Scientific hypotheses can have an enormous effects even if they are invalid, especially if they are widely believed. Can you guess which one I am describing? Here are some clues: What scientific hypothesis has been shown to be invalid? [See here and here for specific problems; for more general discussion see here.] leads to policies
Shots Fired at Office Floor of Co-author of Research Report Showing Carbon Dioxide Has No Significant Effect on Global Warming
Over the weekend seven shots were fired at the office floor occupied by Dr. John Christy’s office on the campus of the University of Alabama at Huntsville. The “March for Science” went past the building on Saturday. Dr. Christy is Alabama State Climatologist, a prominent climate researcher, a climate skeptic, and co-author of a pathbreaking
Second Edition of Pathbreaking Research Report Shows the Orwellian Nature of the “March for Science”
Despite Saturday’s so-called “March for Science,” the almost simultaneous release of a Second Edition of a Research Report showing the exact opposite of what some of the marchers claim to be the conclusions of climate science has brought home the Orwellian reality that the marchers have gotten their claims concerning what the science says exactly
How the WSJ Gets It Wrong on Reconsideration of EPA’s GHG Endangerment Finding
On April 18, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial supporting EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s position against reconsidering the Endangerment Finding (EF) on Greenhouse Gases. The editorial makes six basic points: 1. WSJ: Finding has been upheld by the courts. My comment: The issue is not whether the current EF was upheld, the issue is
Why the Private Marketplace Is a Better Bet than Government Fiat on Climate Issues
What the climate alarmists are basically arguing is that decisions on energy use and production should be determined by government on the basis of their preferences. If they were being logical they would need to find that the long used decision making system on these issues consisting largely of private decisions in the economic marketplace
News Reports on Endangerment Finding Petitions to USEPA
On Sunday I added a post concerning one of two petitions I know of to the US Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its Endangerment Finding (EF) for Greenhouse Gases issued in December, 2009. The EF is the legal basis for EPA’s subsequent efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). If it should be rescinded
The Concerned Household Electricity Consumers Council Calls on President Trump and EPA to Reconsider and Vacate the Scientifically Invalid CO2 Endangerment Finding
I have previously discussed how important it is for the US Environmental Protection Agency to revisit and revoke the EPA Endangerment Finding for Greenhouse Gases issued in 2009. To date the USEPA has not decided to do so. I have suggested how anyone who pays electric bills can petition the USEPA to do this. What
Why “Environmental” Groups Have Gone Mad
I am sure that I have long since been ex-communicated by most “environmental” groups, but I still regard myself as an environmentalist in that I believe that the natural world should be preserved when it can be shown that such action will also be economically beneficial. My goal is to improve both human welfare and
Trump’s Energy Executive Order: A Good Beginning but Much More Is Needed
This week has been an important one in the battle over climate change. On March 28 Trump signed and released a new Executive Order (EO) on “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth.” On March 29 the House Science Committee held a hearing on “Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy Implications, and the Scientific Method.” Trump’s Executive Order
The Fundamental Issue in Climate Science Resolved
It has been a long time in coming, but we can now say with some confidence what the answer is to the most important question in climate science. As is all too well known, the climate alarmists have one fairly uniform answer, which they claim is part of their “consensus.” Climate skeptics, on the other
A Particularly Troublesome Aspect of Climate Alarmism
Last week EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt stated that: “I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do, and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.” I can only
Government Intervention in the Energy Markets Is the Main Danger, Not CO2
The rumors concerning the Trump Administration’s climate policies are not all favorable. The Daily Caller says that the Trump Administration will issue an executive order to rescind or revise the Obama Administration’s so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP) next week. I count that as a plus and consistent with Trump’s campaign promises. But there is also
Why the Climate-industrial Complex Needs to Be Publicly Attacked and Deligitimized
The first indications of climate policy equivocation by the Trump Administration have appeared in the past week. It has also become clear that two members of the Trump family support the Climate-industrial Complex (CIC), as defined in my book, Environmentalism Gone Mad. I had hoped for better, but this is not exactly unexpected. The CIC
How Climate Alarmists’ “Solution” Ignores Readily Available Scientific Evidence
Suppose you believe that the Earth is about to experience a catastrophic increase in its ground-level temperatures because of minor (compared to natural sources) human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a very weak greenhouse gas. Additional effects are particularly minor at the higher atmospheric concentrations now being experienced. But you advocate reducing these emissions. This
The Time Has Come to Implement Trump’s Environmental Campaign Promises
The Trump campaign promises to rationalize Federal Government environmental policy may be about to face their first major test. Trump’s nominee to head the US Environmental Protection Agency was confirmed today by the US Senate. Trump’s strong stand against environmental extremism during the campaign may have been delayed in its implementation by the need to
The Carbon Tax Proposal that Never Dies Despite the Lack of Any Need for It
This week some Republican Party elders argued for a carbon tax as a replacement for the Obama Administration’s regulations mandating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reductions in the electric power generating industry, among others. I agree that if it were actually advantageous to reduce such emissions, a carbon tax approach offers advantages, including its greater efficiency
Climate Stability and Political Stability
The basic scare tactic spread by climate alarmists is that climate is so unstable that a slow increase in a very minor but vital constituent of the atmosphere will result in runaway increases in global temperatures. It turns out that the climate system is actually amazingly stable, however, so none of the alarmists’ predictions have
The Urgency of Revoking the USEPA’s GHG Endangerment Finding
The Trump Administration has been rolling out Executive orders on a daily basis to implement many of President Trump’s campaign promises. These include a number of orders related to environmental and energy policy. But possibly because Trump never made any promises related to revoking the USEPA Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding (EF), there has been
An America First Energy Plan
As expected, the Trump Administration has lost no time in emphasizing its plans to develop US energy resources, particularly on Federal land. This appeared in the last few hours on the White House website: Energy is an essential part of American life and a staple of the world economy. The Trump Administration is committed to
A Major Gap in the Climate Alarmist Narrative
The UN and other climate alarmists claim that the climate will warm catastrophically unless immediate action is taken to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels. They claim that the very minor increases in heat generated by human-caused added CO2 will cause the alarming warming. This is highly unlikely because virtually all of the
Why the Green Climate Scare Defies Millions of Years of Climate History
The UN IPCC reports on climate are truly unusual scientifically. Without any serious discussion or even an attempt to point out their unusual nature, they try to convince readers that the basic nature of Earth’s climate has been radically changed after millions of years, all because one very minor constituent of the atmosphere has been
How the Developed World Wastes $1.5 Trillion PER YEAR on the Basis of Useless Models
One estimate is that the world is spending about $1.5 trillion per year on “green energy.” Never in the history of the world has so much been spent on the basis of so little valid science. The general circulation (computer) models (GCMs) relied upon by the UN and EPA consistently substantially overestimate the actual temperatures
Why Climate Alarmists Have Missed the Big Picture
Climate alarmists are primarily concerned that man’s activities will result in Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW). They appear to have missed the big picture. Global atmospheric temperatures as well as atmospheric CO2 have been gradually and erratically falling for significant portions of Earth’s history, but not in unison. Successive ice ages are gradually and unevenly
After a Tumultuos Year, 2016 Appears to Hold Out Hope for the Demise of Climate Alarmism
As the end of the year approaches, perhaps it is time to make an accounting of 2016 from a climate viewpoint. The high points of the year included the stay by the Supreme Court on implementation of the EPA’s so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP) on February 9. This stay remained in effect for the rest
Fossil Fuel Energy Development: The Trump Administration’s Priority
It became ever clearer during the last week that the Trump Administration wants to emphasize low cost, reliable fossil fuel energy development and to deemphasize expensive and unreliable wind and solar development. Their latest nominations for Federal department heads in natural resource and environmental areas are uniformly climate skeptics and strong supporters of fossil fuel
How Trump’s Climate Skepticism Can Play a Crucial Role in Achieving His Larger Objectives
It is all too clear that the Climate-industrial Complex (CIC) has not abandoned its support for climate alarmism despite the shock of Donald Trump’s election. Instead, the last few weeks have witnessed their first counterattack–to try to persuade Trump of the virtues of their cause. The first effort was launched by the New York Times
Reducing Human CO2 Emissions: A Non-Solution to a Non-Problem
The climate alarmists maintain that continued burning of fossil fuels will bring about catastrophic global warming/climate change and the world should not only greatly decrease CO2 emissions but recently that the world should even keep fossil fuels in the ground. They claim that the fossil fuels can be replaced by wind and solar (but not
Why Climate/Energy Will Be the Real Test of the Trump Administration
There is probably no policy area where the “progressive” left has gone further off the deep end than climate/energy, especially during the Obama Administration. The policies they advocate have simply been insane since they make no economic, scientific, Constitutional/legal or even environmental sense. They make no economic sense because they would seriously decrease US competitiveness,
An Unanticipated Opportunity to Change Course on Climate before Even More Damage Is Done
My climate book emphasized the critical role that the 2016 Presidential election was likely to play in the ultimate outcome of the climate issue. This turned out to be the case even though climate was not a major issue in the campaign. Just when it appeared all too likely that the climate hoax/scam was about
A Proposed Early Priority for the Trump Administration: A Letter to USEPA to Reconsider and Withdraw Its GHG Endangerment Finding
In March, 2009 I prepared almost 100 pages of comments to EPA concerning the need to revise the draft Technical Support Document (TSD) for the EPA Endangerment Finding for Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). The three main points in my comments were that the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW) hypothesis is invalid from a scientific viewpoint because
How Economists Had the Best Tools for a Basic Understanding of Climate All the Time but Failed to Use Them until Very Recently
One of the curious things about climate economics is that a number of climate economists have spent considerable time and effort to try to develop a concept called the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), but have only very recently asked whether the basic alarmist hypotheses concerning the effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) are correct. If
Why You Should Trust the New Sophisticated Statistical Analysis and Other Evidence-based Studies on Climate, Not Politicians or the UN
President Obama and some other politicians want the world to spend tens if not hundreds of trillions of dollars to reduce the relatively minor (compared to other sources) human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide on the premise that that will reduce “global warming,” “climate change,” and (more recently) unusual and extreme weather. These enormous costs would
Letter to 31 Scientific Societies Concerning a Letter They Sent to the US Congress on Climate Policy
In recent weeks I have described a very interesting new report using sophisticated econometric techniques to test a number of the hypotheses offered by alarmist climate scientists in a scientifically rigorous way. The findings of this new report add considerably to a developing alternative to “consensus” climate science. My book, Environmentalism Gone Mad, suggests some
Left-wing Street Tactics Appear to Have Been Deployed Against Climate Skeptics Too, Not Just Trump
The non-MSM media are filled currently with video-supported accounts of staged demonstrations using what Breitbart calls “trained provocateurs” against Trump rallies using paid demonstrators. A prominent skeptic climate blogger even has a summary. It is reported, again with video support, that the organizations responsible for this have been paid indirectly by the Clinton campaign and
Two Examples of the Enormous Real Costs of “Green” Power
As discussed more generally in my book, Environmentalism Gone Mad, the costs of wind and solar are not really understood by most citizens even though they will end up paying the enormous costs. Although when these costs are calculated they generally do not include the transfer of jobs and income to countries such as China
How Obama Is Burning the Constitution to Make Your Electric Power Bills Skyrocket
President Obama has been willing not only to use invalid science in pursuit of his impossible climate goals but also to burn the Constitution as a prominent liberal constitutional law professor has pointed out. Presumably Hillary Clinton would do the same. When Congress turned down Obama’s cap and trade bill in 2009-10, Obama decided to
A Devastating Reassessment of Alarmist Climate Science
In recent years, important hypotheses of alarmist climate science have been shown to be scientifically invalid despite alarmists’ claims that their hypotheses represent a “consensus” among climate scientists. Very generally, alarmists have supported dubious climate science that consistently blames carbon dioxide (CO2) for speculative future climate disasters, perhaps because it allows them to blame humans
New Report Definitively Shows UN CAGW Hypothesis and IPCC Reports Invalid and Thus CPP and Paris Treaty Total Wastes
(Revised September 23, 2016 by addition of a new final section by Dr. James Wallace) As discussed in my book, Environmentalism Gone Mad, two of the reasonable inferences from the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW) hypothesis (the scientific basis for the world climate scare pushed by the United Nations and the Obama Administration) are that
Where the 2016 Presidential Election May Come Out on Climate
As I and others have pointed out, the US 2016 Presidential election may well be pivotal in determining the outcome of the long, bitter conflict over climate. There is still a little time before the Obama Administration’s climate regulations start seriously impacting and misdirecting electrical energy source selections and thus the US economy. But the
How Continued Life on Earth Depends on Humans—Too Many of Whom Misunderstand the Problems
Most people understand that our green planetary oasis in the immense universe is highly unusual in terms of the favorable conditions it offers for life on Earth. But from a long-term perspective, there are some troubling signs. The Earth’s internal temperatures are gradually cooling and less carbon dioxide is being naturally emitted into the atmosphere
Where Climate “Let’s Pretends” Lead
Whenever climate alarmism hits a roadblock, the alarmist response is always “let’s pretend.” And sure enough the problem goes away as far as the alarmists are concerned. After numerous previous “let’s pretends,” the movement pretended that the Paris agreement would solve the alleged climate problem if it were only ratified despite its many obvious flaws
How Climate Cultists in the Democratic Party Have Lost Touch with Reality and the Needs of the Less Wealthy
My last post concerned the misplaced faith by climate alarmists in the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) hypothesis despite the lack of valid evidence for it. This post concerns one of their other major articles of faith–that substitution of wind and solar for fossil fuel energy can meet US needs for energy to maintain our
Climate Alarmism: Probably the Greatest Hoax/Scam in World History
Climate alarmism is probably the greatest hoax/scam in world history. The main evidence for catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW), the principal alleged adverse effect of human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), is climate models built by CAGW supporters in a field where models with real predictive power do not exist and cannot be built with
Another Fundamental Problem with Alarmist Climate Science
There are so many holes in the climate alarmist narrative that it is difficult to even keep track of them. The wonder is that the alarmists have gotten as far as they have with so many holes in their narrative. This blog has discussed a number of them, including: The high costs/even impossibility of fully
The Lunacy of Pledging to Eliminate Fossil Fuel Use since Wind and Solar Are Not the Answer to Much of Anything
Greatly increased human prosperity in some areas of the world over the last 150 years can be traced in large part to progressively greater access to and use of more efficient and more reliable energy sources to supplement human efforts. This progress has been encouraged and shaped by the market economy because it met human
How the Climate Alarmists Attempt to Mislead the Public and Dupe the Gullible: An Actual Example
Perhaps because of my environmental background, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and other environmental organizations continue to hope that I will financially support their “fight” against climate change and waste postage and printing expenses in pursuing me. EDF’s latest form letter arrived in my mail box on July 25 signed by EDF’s Membership Director, Sam
It’s Official: The Democratic Party Platform Supports Abandoning Fossil Fuel Use by 2050
The final draft of the Democratic Party platform as drafted by the Platform Committee states that: Democrats share a deep commitment to…reducing greenhouse gas emissions more than 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050; and meeting the pledge President Obama put forward in the landmark Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global temperature increases to
Why We Need More CO2 Emissions, Not Less
Several blog posts (see here and here) last week raised the question whether the world would be better off with human-engineered higher CO2 levels. I believe it would be, although our understanding of global climate is sketchy at best so absolute confidence is not appropriate. Higher atmospheric levels of CO2 have been shown to result
German Energy Policy Sticks It to the Poor and Small Businesses
Like a number of Western European countries, Germany fell for the climate hoax and then added to its energy problems by deciding to phase out nuclear energy as well after Fukushima. In order to fulfill its green ideology, Germany has heavily subsidized solar and wind in recent years. The result is that German electricity costs
Dem Party Platform Calls For Prosecuting Global Warming Skeptics and Ending Use of Fossil Fuels by 2050
For the first time the 2016 Presidential election may turn at least in part on climate policy. According to the Daily Caller: Democratic operatives responsible for creating their party’s platform this year have unanimously adopted a provision calling for the Department of Justice to investigate companies who disagree with Democrats on global warming science. A
How a Court Threw Out a Major Obama Environmental Regulation and EPA Refused to Say How Global Temperatures Would Change under the Paris Treaty
One of perhaps the two major climate-related events this week was a court decision in Wyoming overturning a Department of the Interior regulation setting stricter standards for fracking on Federal lands. The judge (an Obama appointee) said that Congress had never given the Department authority for such regulations. The importance of this ruling is that
The Allarmists’ Attempt to Villify Carbon Dioxide
Most environmentalists and sympathetic politicians want you to believe that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a “dirty,” dangerous air pollutant and human emissions of it must be reduced by any means possible if the world is to survive. This claim ignores the fact that CO2 is a natural but very minor constituent of the atmosphere that
Government Interventions in Markets Are Often Not Justified and Yield Dismal Results
When governments usurp the roles that are most efficiently played by markets by interfering in them, the results are almost uniformly disastrous. There are cases, usually serious, proven pollution problems, where such government intervention is advisable, but these are rarer than widely believed. A case in point is government selection of energy sources. No valid
It is Increasingly Clear that the Presidential Election Will Determine the Outcome of the Climate Debate
As I reported last week the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has clearly laid out a policy position opposed to the Obama Administration’s climate/energy policy. This contrasts strongly with the two Democratic Presidential candidates, who are far to the left of the Administration. Sanders advocates an end to the use of fossil fuels. This
Trump Proposes a Radically Different and Better Energy Policy
The major climate news of the week was undoubtedly Donald Trump’s energy policy speech on May 26 in North Dakota. He offered a very different approach compared to that of President Obama and the even more radical proposed policies by the two Democratic Presidential candidates. Trump’s approach offers hope that the US may avoid the
How Environmentalists Try to Defeat Their Own Primary Climate Goal
Environmental organizations would like you to believe that if you just send them more contributions and send more letters to your legislators advocating increased government intervention in the electric power sector to mandate reductions in carbon dioxide emissions that you will help save the world from whatever current version of climate apocalypse they claim will
EPA Is At It Again
On May 12 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final methane emissions regulation for new or modified oil and gas facilities. It requires that specified technology be used to reduce methane emissions. The effects on global temperatures will not be measurable even if the regulation achieves everything EPA claims it will. It will,
Clinton’s “Misstatement” on Coal
It is becoming ever clearer that the 2016 Presidential election will determine the outcome of the US climate debate for at least the next four years rather than any scientific discussion. And except for a minor question mark concerning the faint possibility of a Sanders nomination, the 2016 election contest is coming down to Clinton
The Major Problems with the Climate Alarmist Narrative
Over the last seven years I have outlined a number of serious problems with the warmist/climate alarmist narrative, including the following: (1) The alleged “problem” that the alarmists/warmists are trying to solve is Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW)–the hypothesis that catastrophic increases in global temperatures will be caused by expanded or even continued human use
The Paris Climate Treaty Signing Debacle
Today Secretary of State Kerry signed the proposed Paris climate treaty for the US. His signature will not actually commit the US to do anything, of course, since the treaty will not become an obligation of the US unless and until it is ratified by the Senate, which is highly unlikely. As in a number
Government CO2 Emissions Regulations: There Is a Much Better Approach in the US
As explained in much more detail in my book, Environmentalism Gone Mad, one of the many curious characteristics of the US Climate-Industrial Complex (or CIC, as defined in my book) is that it is doing everything it can do to avoid the easiest and most effective way to reduce CO2 emissions, which it claims is
How Britain and Germany Have Led the Way to Energy Bankruptcy
There are many shortcomings in the climate warmist narrative, as explained in much more detail in my book, Environmentalism Gone Mad. It is actually hard to paper over all of the problems, but the warmists of the Western World have been quite imaginative in this regard. I find the climate science promoted by the warmists
Is It Worth Tripling US Electricity Rates as a Symbolic Gesture?
On July 9, 2015 EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy claimed that the purpose of EPA’s “Clean Power Plan” to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plant emissions, was “in showing strong domestic action which can actually trigger global action to address what’s a necessary action to protect” [presumably against climate change]. I have argued that the
Future of “Green Energy” Likely to Be Determined Largely by 2016 Election
As discussed in my book, Environmentalism Gone Mad, “green energy” (basically wind and solar) and its supposed major selling point (“controlling” climate change) has never made much economic or scientific sense. In the last few years it has made even less given the rapid fall of oil, coal, and natural gas prices, which have made
How EPA Abdicated Responsibility for Flint but Pursues CO2 Emission Reductions at All Costs
As discussed here in recent weeks, it is abundantly clear that the Obama Administration has shifted sharply leftward on energy and climate issues in recent months. A similar shift is also evident by the two remaining Democratic Presidential candidates, Clinton and Sanders, who have announced opposition to fracking and even continued use of fossil fuels.
Scientifically Unsupported Climate Fears Spread to Fracking
I have previously pointed out that Hillary Clinton, the leading US Democratic Party Presidential candidate, has positioned herself to the left of President Obama on climate. A few weeks ago she told an environmental activist that she wanted to end the use of fossil fuels in the US. She has now stated she is effectively