The Week That Was: 2022-07-16 (July 16, 2022)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein
Number of the Week: $3 Billion per year
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: Patrick J. Michaels died suddenly. A member of the SEPP board, Pat Michaels was an honest, diligent climate scientist with great integrity. He will be missed.
SEPP submitted comments on the draft U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031). These comments differed from comments submitted to SEC two weeks ago. One, the Kagan dissent to West Virginia v. EPA was discussed. Two, the filing of William Happer and Richard Lindzen in The State of Louisiana, et al. v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. et al. was cited as presenting the deficiencies of the reports by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1995. Three, the latest description of the HITRAN database from its website was presented including specifically named greenhouse gases and an updated article in Nature. Four, the successes of infrared devices such as night-vision goggles and precision infrared guided weapons were used to assert the validity of the HITRAN and MOTRAN databases. These would not work if greenhouse gases “trap” all heat energy (infrared) leaving the surface of the earth (a common misunderstanding). Finally, a new conclusion was submitted.
Jim Steele has a video on the decline of integrity of one of his former heroes – David Attenborough.
In Sri Lanka and Europe, farmers are protesting “green” policies by shallow-thinking politicians. One can express it as the farmers of the green revolution fight the city folk of green policies.
A research report from glaciers in the Andes gives a clear example of how research is distorted by political ideology.
Perhaps the absurdity of the week is the claim that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is an example of white colonialization of the atmosphere.
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RIP Patrick J. Michaels: Born in 1950, Pat Michaels obtained an A.B. in biological science in 1971 and an M.S. in biology in 1975 from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in ecological climatology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was a research professor of Environmental Sciences at University of Virginia for 30 years, where he was a close friend and colleague of S. Fred Singer, who founded SEPP.
Michaels is a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists and was program chair for the Committee on Applied Climatology of the American Meteorological Society. For twenty-seven years he was the Virginia State Climatologist, whose office is located at the University of Virginia. The University of Virginia treated Michaels shabbily when he left. Many university officials were more concerned with political conformity than scientific integrity.
Later, Michaels was the director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute. Then, he became Senior Fellow at the CO2 Coalition and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
His writings have been published in major scientific journals, including Climate Research, Climatic Change, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Climate, Nature, and Science, as well as in popular serials worldwide. He is the author or editor of six books on climate and its impact, and he was an author of the climate “paper of the year” awarded by the Association of American Geographers in 2004, One of his books is Scientocracy: The Tangled Web of Public Science and Public Policy (2019); along with Paul Knappenberger he authored Lukewarming: The New Climate Science that Changes Everything (2016).
The second title demonstrates his efforts to bridge the difference between so-called climate deniers and advocates of dangerous warming. Michaels, Knappenberger, et al authored a paper titled “Revised 21st century temperature projections” published in 2002 by Climate Research. The abstracts states:
Temperature projections for the 21st century made in the Third Assessment Report (TAR) [AR3, 2001] of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate a rise of 1.4 to 5.8°C for 1990–2100. However, several independent lines of evidence suggest that the projections at the upper end of this range are not well supported. Since the publication of the TAR, several findings have appeared in the scientific literature that challenge many of the assumptions that generated the TAR temperature range. Incorporating new findings on the radiative forcing of black carbon (BC) aerosols, the magnitude of the climate sensitivity, and the strength of the climate/carbon cycle feedbacks into a simple upwelling diffusion/energy balance model similar to the one that was used in the TAR, we find that the range of projected warming for the 1990–2100 period is reduced to 1.1–2.8°C. When we adjust the TAR emissions scenarios to include an atmospheric CO2 pathway that is based upon observed CO2 increases during the past 25 yr., we find a warming range of 1.5–2.6°C prior to the adjustments for the new findings. Factoring in these findings along with the adjusted CO2 pathway reduces the range to 1.0–1.6°C. And thirdly, a simple empirical adjustment to the average of a large family of models, based upon observed changes in temperature, yields a warming range of 1.3–3.0°C, with a central value of 1.9°C. The constancy of these somewhat independent results encourages us to conclude that 21st century warming will be modest and near the low end of the IPCC TAR projections.
This resulted in the usual accusations of being funded by fossil fuel entities, with little or no supporting physical evidence. Despite these attacks, Pat Michaels remained positive in outlook and maintained his professional integrity throughout his life. He will be missed.
See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy – RIP and https://www.int-res.com/articles/cr2003/23/c023p001.pdf
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Call for Public Comment USGCRP: SEPP submitted comments on the draft USGCRP Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031). Excluding endnotes, SEPP’s summary stated:
“Summary: In her dissent in West Virginia v. EPA (2022), Justice Kagan treated the U. S. Global Change Research Program, Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4, 2017) as if it were scientific evidence. It is not. It is not physical evidence, and it is not even a sound assessment of the physical evidence. It is a political opinion by those with degrees in science who have abandoned the scientific method to persuade others, special pleading.
To set the stage, we briefly discuss the scientific method and then show how the results in NCA4 derive from speculations about the greenhouse effect. The results are contradicted by fifty years of observations of what is actually occurring in the atmosphere. These observations and associated calculations support forty-three years of atmospheric temperature trends showing there is no climate crisis from the use of fossil fuels.
If the strategic plan of the upcoming USGCRP does not include the extensive physical evidence proving that greenhouse gases are warming the atmosphere modestly, not dangerously, then it is nothing more than a political effort to mislead the American public and the Federal Courts.
[The deficiencies of the reports by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1995 are ably discussed by professors William Happer and Richard Lindzen in their Amicus Curiae brief in The State of Louisiana, et al. v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. et al. filed on June 22, 2022, and will not be discussed here except to say that the IPCC has corrupted the peer review process and the studies used by those who try to justify the IPCC findings.]”
As with SEPP’s comments to the SEC a brief description of the development of the scientific method was provided. This was followed by a description of discovery of greenhouse gases by John Tyndall and the misunderstanding of Tyndall’s experiments by Svante Arrhenius. This was followed by a description of MODTRAN and a new description of HITRAN from its website:
“HITRAN is an acronym for high-resolution transmission molecular absorption database. HITRAN is a compilation of spectroscopic parameters that a variety of computer codes use to predict and simulate the transmission and emission of light in the atmosphere. The database is a long-running project started by the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories (AFCRL) in the late 1960s in response to the need for detailed knowledge of the infrared properties of the atmosphere. A history of the HITRAN database has recently been summarized in the following article: [Boldface added]
“L.S. Rothman, History of the HITRAN database, Nature Review Physics 3, 302-304 (2021) https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-021-00309-2
“For almost 50 years the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database has been the standard archive for transmission and radiance calculations. Laurence Rothman reviews its history and some applications.”
“The HITRAN compilation, and its associated database HITEMP (high-temperature spectroscopic absorption parameters), are developed and maintained at the Atomic and Molecular Physics Division, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.”
“HITRAN online provides access to the latest version of the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database.”
“Scientific Objectives
The simultaneous developments of high-resolution laboratory instrumentation (such as the Fourier transform spectrometer), the digital computer and storage, and sensitive detectors and the means to carry them on board high-altitude balloons and space craft provided the stimulus to create a machine-readable archive of the fundamental properties of molecular transitions. It was then possible to simulate transmission and radiance in the terrestrial atmosphere by applying known radiative-transfer equations. Thus, was born the original HITRAN molecular absorption line parameters database.
“The initial HITRAN was limited to the seven main telluric atmospheric absorbers in the infrared: H2O, CO2, O3, N2O, CO, CH4, and O2. The most significant of the isotopologues of these molecular species was also included. The initial HITRAN database included only the basic parameters necessary to solve the Lambert-Beers law of transmission, namely the line center of a transition, the intensity of the transition, and the lower-state energy. In addition, the air-broadened Lorentz width was included as well as the unique quantum identifications of the upper and lower states of each transition.
The description continues but interested readers can find it at the link below. SEPP added a statement regarding validation of the databases:
“Validation of Databases: The publicly available databases are validated by the use of optically guided precision munitions and “night vision” devices operating in the infrared range of electromagnetic energy, which is precisely the range involved in the earth’s surface losing heat to space.
For example, the Sidewinder air-to air-missile was first deployed in 1956 and with refinements is still in use today. The guidance system does not need to “see” the exhaust of a jet engine, just the heat signature on the fuselage is sufficient. With a range up to 22 miles, the latest versions can operate “head on” and can be launched from a wide variety of ground launches and aircraft with operating altitudes up to 50,000 feet. For the missile to operate properly, the calculations on how greenhouse gases influence infrared radiation have to be correct. The missiles cannot operate effectively in frequencies were greenhouse gases effectively block infrared radiation.”
The comments go through the work of van Wijngaarden and Happer and the amplification by Hayden. It concludes:
“Conclusion: The reports produced by the UN and the US government greatly exaggerate a warming from a doubling of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The temperature data taken by over forty-three years of satellite observations and weather balloon observations plus weather reanalysis data show this deficiency. Using the proper field of physics to understand the greenhouse effect, the proper mathematics (which includes integral and differential calculus as well as probability theory), and the proper databases based on atmospheric observations and calculations therefrom, competent physicists have calculated the maximum extent to which a doubling of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will increase temperatures is less than twenty-five percent of the average speculated in the Charney Report, repeated in the NCA.
If the USGCRP continues to use results based on speculative assumptions made over forty years ago and continues to ignore that these assumptions are contradicted by over fifty years of data from observations and experiments from validated databases, it will betray the trust the public and the Supreme Court has placed in government-funded science.”
Of course, TWTW does not have any expectations that this administration will make any changes, but the comments provide grounds for questions.
See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy
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A Fallen Hero: In his video “Attenborough’s ‘Breaking Boundaries’ documentary; Distorting Science to Shill for One World Government” Jim Steele begins:
“Today I will look at how one of my environmental heroes is now betraying the science. When I taught ecological classes, I would eagerly incorporate many of Attenborough’s beautiful wildlife videos.
“But after just recently viewing his 2021 video, “Breaking Boundaries: the science of our planet”, I’ve been disturbed to see Attenborough’s magnificent cinematography increasingly used to distort the science, instill fear and shill for ‘a globalist agenda.’
“The video alternates between parallel narratives from Attenborough and narratives by a Swedish scientist, Johan Rockstrum. Together they pushed a myth that we are turning a planet that was once our friend, into a planet that is our foe.”
Steele then provides evidence contradicting major points in Attenborough’s documentary. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Green v. Green: One of the latest fads in “green” policies by politicians who are clueless is organic farming – no synthetic fertilizers. After all, synthetic fertilizers are made from petroleum. For example, nitrogen fertilizer is made by combining the nitrogen in the air with hydrogen in methane to produce ammonia (NH3). The ammonia is then used to create other forms of nitrogen including ammonium nitrate and urea (ammonia + CO2). Many agriculture experts consider the Haber-Bosch process for fixing nitrogen with hydrogen to produce ammonia is one of the great advances of the 20th century. Now green politicians condemn it?
In the Wall Street Journal, reporter Tunku Varadarajan writes:
“The Green Revolution of Norman Borlaug, the American agronomist who did more to feed the world than any man before or since, set Sri Lanka on the path to agricultural abundance in 1970. It was built around chemical fertilizers and crops bred to be disease-resistant. Fifty-two years later, Sri Lanka has pulled off a revolution that is “antigreen” in the modern sense, toppling its president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In an uprising that has its roots in Mr. Rajapaksa’s imperious decision to impose organic farming on the entire country—which led to widespread hunger after the agricultural economy collapsed—Sri Lanka’s people have wrought the first contra-organic national uprising in history.”
Mr. Rajapaksa was an American citizen until 2019, the year he was elected Sri Lanka’s president. He has now fled the country. After discussing the political turmoil that griped Sri Lanka for years reporter Varadarajan states:
On April 27, 2021—with no warning, and with no attempt to teach farmers how to cope with the change—he announced a ban on all synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Henceforth, he decreed, Sri Lankan agriculture would be 100% organic. Agronomists and other scientists warned loudly of the catastrophe that would ensue, but they were ignored. This Sri Lankan Nero listened to no one.
Except, of course, to Ms. Shiva [not identified in the article] and other woke environmentalists, who rejoiced at the epochal nature of Mr. Rajapaksa’s decision. ‘Let us all join hands with Sri Lanka,’ Ms. Shiva tweeted on June 10, 2021, ‘taking steps towards a #PoisonFree #PoisonCartelFree world for our health & the health of the planet.’ Lost in all the ideological ululation was another likely explanation for Mr. Rajapaksa’s action: So debt-ridden was Sri Lanka—to China, in particular—that he may have decided to forgo imported fertilizer and pesticide as a money-saving measure.
After discussing the collapse in rice and tea production and farmers allowing fields to go fallow, the reporter continues:
So extensive was the damage done by his organic diktat that Mr. Rajapaksa had to reverse himself by November 2021. His scientific ineptitude was now matched by his economic illiteracy. Battling to salvage his political reputation, he agreed to compensate farmers for their losses, the bill for which totaled more than the money he’d ostensibly saved the country by banning imports of fertilizer in April 2021.
Organic activist groups are still in denial. The U.K.-based Soil Association tweeted this: ‘Lots of lessons to be learnt from Sri Lanka, but ‘see, organic doesn’t work’ isn’t one of them.’ Mr. Rajapaksa, for his part, has had to pay for his hubris with his job. Had he not fled the country, it is more than likely that he would have paid for it with his life. Would that have made him a Green Martyr? We’ll never know. Sri Lanka must now turn to better ways: accountability, democracy, the rule of law and yes, modern scientific farming that can feed all of its 22 million people.
See Article # 1 and links Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
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White Colonization of the Atmosphere: A UN press release Human Rights, Special Procedures press release stated:
“World faces ‘climate apartheid’ risk, 120 more million in poverty: UN expert.”
“’Even if current targets are met, tens of millions will be impoverished, leading to widespread displacement and hunger,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston.”
According to Our World in Data, in 2020 Total emissions equaled 34.8 billion tonnes; China emitted 10.7, India 2.4, Rest of Asia 7.2; US emitted 4.7, Rest of North America 1.0; EU emitted 2.6, and Rest of Europe 2.4. Thus, Asia emitted 20.3 billion tonnes, 58%. North America and Europe combined emitted 10.7 billion tonnes 31%.
The concern is what will happen in the future, not what happened in the past. The UN does not bother to get its numbers right. See links under Below the Bottom Line and https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions
SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD – THE JACKSON
SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving. The entire Biden Administration won in 2021, so individuals in it are still eligible.
The voting will close on July 30. Please send your nominee and a brief reason the person is qualified for the honor to [email protected]. The awardee will be announced at the annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness on August 14 to 16 at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Registration: https://aaps.wufoo.com/forms/qb79fo31o62uh1/; Hotel: https://be.synxis.com/?adult=1&arrive=2022-08-14&chain=6903&child=0¤cy=USD&depart=2022-08-15&group=DOC0811&hotel=11548&level=hotel&locale=en-US&rooms=1
Number of the Week: $3 Billion per year. The opening paragraph of the Executive Summary of the draft U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031) states:
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates research across 13 Federal agencies to understand the human-caused and natural processes that influence our planet. Building on a foundation of more than $3 billion in annual investments in Federal research and development, science conducted by USGCRP agencies informs the Nation to navigate the challenges of a changing environment and identify opportunities for a more resilient future. Over more than three decades, USGCRP and its member agencies have worked together to understand the processes—particularly climate change—that are reshaping Earth’s environment and capacity to sustain life.
Thirty years with thirteen agencies now spending $3 billion per year have not figured out where the greenhouse effect occurs, much less how to measure it? The best it can do is cite the deficient reports of the IPCC, 2021?
LinkedIn Shuts Out Truth — Again
By Gregory R. Wrightstone, CO2 Coalition, Via Real Clear Energy, July 13, 2022
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/07/13/linkedin_shuts_out_truth__again_841846.html
Team Biden, Big Tech and media want to censor climate debate
As with COVID-19, the government is looking to control narrative
By David W. Kreutzer, Washington Times, July 11, 2022
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/11/team-biden-big-tech-and-media-want-to-censor-clima/
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://store.heartland.org/shop/ccr-ii-fossil-fuels/
Download with no charge:
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/
Download with no charge:
https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Global Sea-Level Rise: An Evaluation of the Data
By Craig D. Idso, David Legates, and S. Fred Singer, Heartland Policy Brief, May 20, 2019
The State of Louisiana, et al., v. Joseph R Biden, et al.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Fifth Circuit of Louisiana
Brief of Amicus Curiae Dr. William Happer, Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, and the CO2 Coalition in Support of the plaintiff-Appellee States, June 22, 2022.
The HITRAN Database
Atomic and Molecular Physics Division, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Accessed 2022
https://hitran.org/about/
By Jim Steele, A Walk On the Natural Side, July 13, 2022
Text: https://perhapsallnatural.blogspot.com/2022/07/attenboroughs-breaking-boundaries.html
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8IbgqVgxP8
Europe’s Rendezvous with Destiny
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, July 12, 2022
Children Die When ‘Eco-Lies’ Disrupt the War Against Mosquitoes
By Vijay Jayaraj, WUWT, July 14, 2022
“DDT is a life saver, and any country with mosquito-borne diseases should allow its use. Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948 “for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods,” including mosquitoes. Let not the lies of Rachel Carson [and the EPA] rob millions of African children of their very lives.”
Knowing the Great Barrier Reef – Two New Short Documentaries
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, July 15, 2022
Dutch warming has nothing to do with CO2
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
Link to paper: Winds are changing: An explanation for the warming of the Netherlands
By Jippe Hoogeveen and Han Hoogeveen, International Journal of Climatology, June 17, 2022
https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/joc.7763
From the abstract: “For each day from January 1, 1836, onwards, we have determined the corresponding weather pattern on basis of the weather maps from Reanalysis archives at wettercentrale.de. Using a statistical test, we can see that a shift has occurred in the weather patterns, which has resulted in a significant increase in airflow coming from warmer directions.”
The Global Warming Golden Goose
By Norman Rogers, American Thinker, July 12, 2022
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/07/the_global_warming_golden_goose_.html
“I don’t see an end to junk science because there’s too much money in it and the credible institutions that could puncture it lack objectivity and expertise. The ideological bias of the mainstream media attracts them to any crackpot theory that calls for more government money and power mobilized to solve the “problem.” For them the global warming narrative is wonderful because it provides an excuse for the government to regulate nearly everything.”
Challenging the Orthodoxy – RIP
RIP – Dr. Patrick Michaels
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, July 16, 2022
Defending the Orthodoxy
White House Office of Science & Technology Policy and U.S. Global Change Research Program Request Comment on Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022–2031
OSTP Blog, June 6, 2022
https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/06/06/white-house-office-of-science-technology-policy-and-u-s-global-change-research-program-request-comment-on-draft-decadal-strategic-plan-2022-2031/
Call for Public Comment on the Draft U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/05/26/2022-11108/call-for-public-comment-on-the-draft-us-global-change-research-program-usgcrp-decadal-strategic-plan
If you want to know how Sri Lanka’s president destroyed his country, read his COP26 speech
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 11, 2022
Link to: Speech by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the COP 26 Side Event, on 31 Oct 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Posted by: High Commission of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in the United Kingdom, November 1, 2021
“Politicians like Rajapaksa love to grandstand on the world stage. But it is always their people who pay the price.”
Climate Crisis Is Driving Food Nationalism and Changing Global Trad
By Chad De Guzman, Time, July 12, 2022
https://time.com/6195984/climate-change-food-security-trade/
Link to UN report: Food Outlook – Biannual Report on Global Food Markets, June 2022
By Staff, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, June 9, 2022
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/food-outlook-biannual-report-global-food-markets-june-2022
Abstract begins: In view of the soaring input prices, concerns about the weather, and increased market uncertainties stemming from the war in Ukraine, FAO’s latest forecasts point to a likely tightening of food markets in 2022.
[SEPP Comment: When were farmers not concerned about the weather?]
With Record Heat and Soaring Energy Prices, Here’s the Fastest Way to Slow Global Warming
By Matt Watson, Real Clear Energy, July 13, 2022
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/07/13/as_record_heat_descends_and_energy_prices_soar_heres_the_fastest_way_to_slow_global_warming_842278.html
Press Release: STUDY: Cutting Methane Emissions Quickly Could Slow Climate Warming Rate by 30%
New analysis highlights dramatic benefit of swift action on a potent greenhouse gas, underscores missed opportunity if solutions are slow or delayed
By Staff, Environmental Defense Fund, Apr 27, 2021
https://www.edf.org/media/study-cutting-methane-emissions-quickly-could-slow-climate-warming-rate-30
Link to paper: Acting rapidly to deploy readily available methane mitigation measures by sector can immediately slow global warming
By Ilissa B Ocko, et al. Environmental Research Letters, 2021
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abf9c8
From the abstract: Pursuing all mitigation measures now could slow the global-mean rate of near-term decadal warming by around 30%, avoid a quarter of a degree centigrade of additional global-mean warming by midcentury…” [Boldface added]
[SEPP Comment: More non-science from the Environmental Defense Fund. Apparently, they believe they have precise knowledge of all the natural causes of global warming! Fight increasing energy costs by making natural gas more expensive!]
Washington set to be 2nd East Coast city with gas ban
The mayor of the nation’s capital is expected to sign legislation instituting a ban on most fossil fuel heat.
By David Iaconangelo, Energy Wire, July 15, 2022 [PAYWALLED]
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2022/07/15/washington-set-to-be-2nd-east-coast-city-with-gas-ban-00045837
[SEPP Comment: To show leadership, government buildings, not new construction, should be cut off first.]
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Climate change is white colonisation of the atmosphere. It’s time to tackle this entrenched racism
By Erin Fitz-Henry, Deputy Coordinator – Anthropology, Development Studies & Social Theory, The University of Melbourne, Via The Conservation, July 11, 2022
https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-white-colonisation-of-the-atmosphere-its-time-to-tackle-this-entrenched-racism-185579
Press Release: World faces ‘climate apartheid’ risk, 120 more million in poverty: UN expert [Philip Alston]
UN News: June 25, 2019
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1041261
“Climate change ‘threatens to undo the last 50 years” of development, global health and poverty reduction, a United Nations expert said on Tuesday, citing the risk of a new era of “climate apartheid’ where the rich buy their way out of rising heat and hunger.”
Commenting on: “Climate change is racist: Race, Privilege and the Struggle for Climate Justice
A book by Jermey Williams, introduced by Dr. Shola Mos Shogbamimu “a political & women’s rights activist”, ICON Books, October 2021
From reviewer Nnimmo Basseyr: “When we talk about racism, we often mean personal prejudice or institutional biases. Climate change doesn’t work that way. It is structurally racist, disproportionately caused by majority White people in majority White countries, with the damage unleashed overwhelmingly on people of colour. The climate crisis reflects and reinforces racial injustices.
Climate change exacerbates violence against women and girls
Press Release, UN Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner, July 12, 2022
https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2022/07/climate-change-exacerbates-violence-against-women-and-girls
[SEPP Comment: Life was blissful before the Industrial Revolution?]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Be Proud that we Excel
And you thought the United States had problems …
By Guus Berkhout, WUWT, July 12, 2022
Climate “Disinformation” Everywhere! (winning against alarmism)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, July 14, 2022
Fluctuations in air temperature and certain cloud parameters
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
From the CO2Science archive:
[SEPP Comment: No changes since the 1930s]
John Brewer Reef – Back to Beige
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, July 11, 2022
[SEPP Comment: The dead change to the color of the living?]
The Columbia Missourian @CoMissourian Blunder on Climate Change and the Yosemite Fire
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, July 14, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Thirty years ago, the let-it-burn movement claimed fire was necessary for propagation of Sequoias.]
They already did
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
“It’s not a hedge fund exactly. And it’s not the only one. In markets, as in any healthy ecosystem, all sorts of entities proliferate, some common, some niche, some straightforward, some “hopeful monsters”, some successful and some failures for reasons good or bad. But in the end, the fittest survive. The fittest to contribute to the good life.”
[SEPP Comment: Questioning Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG).]
Lack of Air Conditioning, Not Climate Change, Is the Real Summer Heat Wave Threat
By Ben Lieberman, EDI, July 11, 2022
https://cei.org/blog/lack-of-air-conditioning-not-climate-change-is-the-real-summer-heat-wave-threat/
“New systems designed to use one of the supposedly environmentally friendly alternative refrigerants will also carry a hefty premium, which is why their producers, including Honeywell and Chemours, joined environmentalists in lobbying Congress to push the cheaper HFCs out of their way. Thus, both repairs of existing systems or purchases of new ones have been adversely impacted.”
After Paris!
The plans of Cairo
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
“…’From that low bar, the new plan is an improvement, leading with a goal to get 42% of electricity from renewables by 2035. It still allows emissions to rise, blaming economic woes for hindering ambition.’ And here we thought cutting emissions was a great path to prosperity.”
Change in US Administrations
Manchin will not support climate spending in reconciliation package
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, July 14, 2022
Biden’s huge US Climate goals suddenly pop — leaving Senators shellshocked, and professors sobbing…
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, July 16, 2022
“Also look at the energy crisis. That is not only the fault of the Ukraine war, but also the government incompetence that forbade investing in fossil fuels. Our pension funds first! A wise Dutch proverb says: ‘Never throw away old shoes before you have bought new ones’.”
Manchin Pulls Plug on Climate Spending Plan
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 15, 2022
“Unless the Democrats win back Congress in 2024 and win that Presidential election, both extremely unlikely with the US economy heading into recession and in a far worse state than even the UK’s, the emission cuts promised at COP26 by Biden will simply not happen and the Paris Agreement will effectively be dead in the water.”
Does the Biden Administration Get Why China Dominates Intermittent Wind and Solar Manufacturing?
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, July 15, 2022
Green groups push Senate to confirm EPA enforcement chief
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, July 11, 2022
[SEPP Comment: The caption below the photo states: “Steam billows from a coal-fired power plant Nov. 18, 2021, in Craig, Colo.” Amazing, it identified steam as steam, not implying it is CO2.]
Problems in the Orthodoxy
When Boris met climate
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
“We say that, for better or worse, he got away with slippery public conduct and scandalous personal behaviour as long as he apparently stood for limited government and the common man. It was when he ditched them for his green obsession he became toxic, to voters and then his colleagues. The Boris of Brexit and deregulation might have ridden even this one out. The Boris of the Green New Deal didn’t stand a chance.”
IEA’s Fatih Birol: More Oil Now!
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, July 13, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Before the public fully realizes the childish thinking behind our glorious plans.]
What’s next after Supreme Court’s climate ruling?
Avenues for the EPA to regulate climate pollutants remain, but many will face lengthy legal challenges. Congressional and state policies remain critical.
By Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connections, July 11, 2022
“The pathway to Paris runs through Congress”
Seeking a Common Ground
In The UK, Some Political Movement On The Climate Scare
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, July 15, 2022
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2022-7-14-in-the-uk-some-political-movement-on-the-climate-scare
“But there is one remarkable thing, which is that suddenly it is no longer disqualifying to express skepticism about green orthodoxy. As of this writing, an actual overt skeptic — at least, a skeptic as to fossil fuel suppression — might even win; and whoever wins is likely at the minimum to start a quiet retreat from the existing Net Zero program.”
[SEPP Comment: Summary of the process in the Conservative Party to replace Boris Johnson.]
Science, Policy, and Evidence
Climate Alarmism Not (Manchin feels the breeze of energy freedom)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, July 15, 2022
Ottawa has a plan
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
“If you live in a city, almost regardless of where, then somewhere in the bureaucratic equivalent of the underground sewer and wiring system you will find the equivalent of Ottawa’s ‘Climate Change Master Plan’.”
Model Issues
BBC Climate Check for June
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 12, 2022
“She does go on to admit that these models are run thousands of times to simulate expected weather conditions, and often come up with ostensibly absurd and extreme numbers as this one.
“In which case, why mention it at all, unless the object is to scare viewers?”
Measurement Issues — Surface
A Lesson On 10-Day Forecasts: GFS Models Once Showing Düsseldorf 44°C Corrected Downward 14°C!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, July 12, 2022
“Reality: ‘Murder heat’ to last a whole half a day”
“The latest GFS forecast July 18 high for Düsseldorf stands at about 30°C – a whopping 14°C correction.”
[SEPP Comment: From 111 °F to 86 °F]
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
Global Temperature Report, June 2022
By Staff, Earth System Science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville
https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/
Map: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2022/June2022/202206_Map.png
Graph: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2022/June2022/202206_Bar.png
“As part of an ongoing joint project between UAH, NOAA and NASA, Christy and Dr. Roy Spencer, an ESSC principal scientist, use data gathered by advanced microwave sounding units on NOAA, NASA and European satellites to produce temperature readings for almost all regions of the Earth. This includes remote desert, ocean and rain forest areas where reliable climate data are not otherwise available. Drs. Danny Braswell and Rob Junod assist in the preparation of these reports.
“The satellite-based instruments measure the temperature of the atmosphere from the surface up to an altitude of about eight kilometers above sea level. Once the monthly temperature data are collected and processed, they are placed in a “public” computer file for immediate access by atmospheric scientists in the U.S. and abroad.”
Changing Weather
LEO McKINSTRY OK, we get it. It’s quite warm outside. Now please shut up with all your warnings and let us enjoy it
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 15, 2022
“The great American journalist Henry Mencken once defined puritanism as ‘the haunting fear that somewhere, someone might be happy’.”
Think it’s hot now? How Britain roasted in TEN-WEEK heatwave during summer of ’76
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 15, 2022
1936: “record blizzards, record dust storms, record floods, record drouth, record heat”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, July 15, 2022
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/07/july-15-1936/
Droughts Anyone?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 14, 2022
“Talk of the drought in the River Wye region brings back memories of April 2012:”
U.S. land-falling hurricane frequency since 1851 is NOT following climate claims
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 12, 2022
The Potential for Large Grass Fires in Eastern Washington this Summer
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, July 10, 2022
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-potential-for-large-grass-fires-in.html
“With such an acute wildfire threat, anyone living near large expanses of grass should clear several hundred feet of safe space around their residence. You should be ready to evacuate quickly, any time strong winds are forecast.
“The state needs to be constantly monitoring the winds and warning people when strong winds are predicted. And the state needs to ready firefighting capabilities for such events.”
Uruguay records coldest, driest June in decades
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 12, 2022
Changing Climate
Impact of Changing Climate on Andean Glaciers in Sync with Polar Ice
Press Release, University of Florida, July 13, 2022 [H/t WUWT]
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220713114542.htm
Link to paper: 700,000 years of tropical Andean glaciation
By D. T. Rodbell, et al. Nature, July 13, 2022
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04873-0
From the Science Daily summary: “Scientists have shown that glaciers in the tropical Andes mountains have been in sync with polar ice extent in Antarctica and the Arctic for nearly a million years. A new study shows that the effects of greenhouse gases and other drivers of the Earth’s temperature are impacting glaciers in the Southern Hemisphere at the same pacing as ice sheets in the north.” [Boldface added]
[SEPP Comment: No data on greenhouse gases presented in the article!]
Sudden climate change
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
“Could it get worse? Yes, if you’re an alarmist. [Don] Easterbrook also observes that oxygen isotopes from various ice cores show ‘not only the Younger Dryas cooling, but several other shorter cooling/warming events, now known as Dansgaard-Oerscher events.’”
Changing Seas
Evolving To Outpace Climate Change, Tiny Marine Animal Provides New Evidence of Long-Theorized Genetic Mechanism
Press Release, University of Wisconsin-Madison, July 14, 2022 [H/t WUWT]
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220714175702.htm
Link to paper: Genome-wide signatures of synergistic epistasis during parallel adaptation in a Baltic Sea copepod
By David B. Stern, Nature Communications, July 12, 2022
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31622-8
[SEPP Comment: They won’t die from melting ice?]
New Study Indicates Coral Presence Around Japan Has Plummeted With The Onset Of Global Cooling
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, July 14, 2022
Link to latest paper: Genetic divergence and range expansion in a western North Pacific coral
By James E. Fifer, et al. Science of the Total Environment, Dec. 20, 2021
[SEPP Comment: A cooling of the Western North Pacific is not necessarily global.]
CDN by the Sea: St. John’s, Newfoundland
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Arctic sea ice is constantly changing which means polar bears must be flexible in their requirements
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, July 13, 2022
“Polar Bears International have declared July 15 to be ‘Arctic Sea Ice Day’ to further its propaganda efforts to ‘save our sea ice’, which they claim is disappearing at an alarming rate due to global warming.”
Arctic sea ice still quite abundant for early summer
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, July 14, 2022
1948: “(Ant)arctic Ice Found Shrinking Toward Pole”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, July 15, 2022
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/07/1948-antarctic-ice-found-shrinking-toward-pole/
Changing Earth
Global-Scale Warming Events Of ‘Up To 15 °C Within A Few Decades’ Have Occurred Since The Jurassic
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, July 11, 2022
Link to paper: A Jurassic record encodes an analogous Dansgaard–Oeschger climate periodicity
By Slah Boulila, et al, Nature, Scientific Reports, Mar 9, 2022
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-05716-8
From the abstract: Earth’s past climate exhibits short-term (1500-year) pronounced fluctuations during the last glacial period, called Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) glacial events, which have never been detected in pre-Quaternary times. The record of DO equivalent climate variability in Mesozoic strata can provide constraints on understanding these events. Here we highlight a prominent 1500-year cyclicity in a Jurassic (~ 155 Ma) ice-free sedimentary record from the Tethyan Basin.
[SEPP Comment: Quite interesting records of DO events. The Tethyan basin is thought to be a sea that existed until about 66 million years ago and now includes the Tibetan Himalayas and the Alps.]
Loss Of Arctic Ice From 1988-1996
By Tony Heller, His Blog, July 15, 2022
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/07/loss-of-arctic-ice-from-1988-1996/
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
BJORN LOMBORG: Going organic might be fashionably green, but it won’t feed the world
By Bjorn Lomborg, Business Day, July 11, 2022
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2022-07-11-bjorn-lomborg-going-organic-might-be-fashionably-green-but-it-wont-feed-the-world/
Claim: Cuba Shows We can Grow Food Without Fertiliser
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, July 12, 2022
Trudeau’s nitrogen policy will decimate Canadian farming
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 11, 2022
Lowering Standards
Red Cross Peddle Climate Alarm
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 9, 2022
I Call BS On Harrabin’s Wye Drought Claims
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 14, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Evidence, not bullhorns!]
Harrabin Stays Silent Over His Fake Drought Claims
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 14, 2022
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Don’t Panic!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 13, 2022
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
US emissions inflict almost $2T in damage to other countries: study
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, July 12, 2022
“’This research provides an answer to the question of whether there is a scientific basis for climate liability claims — the answer is yes,’ Dartmouth PhD candidate Christopher Callahan, the lead author of the study, said in a statement. ‘We have quantified each nation’s culpability for historical temperature-driven income changes in every other country.’”
No link to study from Dartmouth College,
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Knitting Climate Change Into Daily News–Harrabin
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 12, 2022
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Children for Propaganda
I’m Terrified Of Climate Change
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 10, 2022
Expanding the Orthodoxy
Four companies are top sources of US greenhouse gas, methane emissions: report
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, July 14, 2022
Press Release: Greenhouse gas emissions vary dramatically across U.S. oil and gas companies, according to updated analysis
By Staff, Clean Air Task Force, July 14, 2022
“Ceres is a nonprofit organization working with the most influential capital market leaders to solve the world’s greatest sustainability challenges.”
“Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a global nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies.”
“ERM is the business of sustainability.”
Questioning European Green
Hypocritical Germany is being brought to its knees
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 13, 2022
“Once admired and envied, Germany is now the textbook example of how much damage a misguided foreign and energy policy may do.”
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Chickens, meet green roost
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, July 13, 2022
“On the other hand, the same politicians, academics, journalists and corporate PR departments told voters from the Netherlands to New Zealand that it wouldn’t hurt. And while people may have been fools to believe it [Net Zero is necessary] (and yes, here we shake our dusty economic locks at them), they were promised that what is now happening would not happen in anything like the way that it did.”
[SEPP Comment: A revolt against the “luxury beliefs” of the “laptop class” whose understanding of the physical world is embodied in laptops?]
The Political Games Continue
Democrats Vent their Fury as Joe Manchin Shelves Action on Climate Change
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, July 15, 2022
[SEPP Comment: How many quietly thank him for saving their jobs?]
Joe Goffman the Wrong Choice To Help Lead EPA
By US Senator Shelley More Capito, The Intelligencer, Wheeling news-Register, WVA, July 9, 2022
https://www.theintelligencer.net/opinion/local-columns/2022/07/joe-goffman-the-wrong-choice-to-help-lead-epa/
Litigation Issues
State judge blocks Wolf’s Administration’s signature play to continue the fight against climate change
By Charles Thompson, Pen Live, July 8, 2022
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/07/state-judge-blocks-wolfs-administrations-signature-play-to-continue-the-fight-against-climate-change.html
Supreme Court sharply limits EPA power plant authority
The Supreme Court decided on June 30 that shifting energy generation toward renewables exceeded EPA’s congressional authority, leaving our energy mix largely up to Congress.
By Lexi Smith, Yale Climate Connections, July 6, 2022
“Lexi Smith is a third-year student at Yale Law School. She studied environmental science and public policy as an undergraduate at Harvard, and she worked as an advisor to the Mayor of Boston on climate policy before enrolling in law school.”
“While the six conservatives framed the decision as the natural consequence of long-standing legal principles, the three liberals suggested that the majority departed from normal principles and precedents, upending settled doctrines without acknowledging that they were doing so. More on this below.”
EPA and other Regulators on the March
EXCLUSIVE Top U.S. LNG producer Cheniere asks Biden admin to drop pollution rule
By Valerie Volcovici, Reuters, July 11, 2022
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-top-us-lng-producer-cheniere-asks-biden-admin-drop-pollution-rule-2022-07-08/
“In its correspondence with the EPA, Cheniere said its facilities were built in accordance with regulations in effect at the time. The Sabine Pass facility, which produces about 30 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG, started operating in 2016, while the 15-MTPA Corpus Christi plant entered into service in June 2018.”
[SEPP Comment: The relationship to cancer and the emissions is based on highly speculative EPA reports, not physical evidence.]
Working Like the Devil to Raise Our Gasoline Prices
By Thomas Pyle, Institute For Energy Research, July 8, 2022
Energy Issues – Non-US
Electrical Engineering Professor: “Germany Urgently Needs An Energy Strategy Change”
The transition to green energies cannot work – a change of strategy is urgently needed
By Prof. Alwin Burgholte (Translated, edited by P. Gosselin), Via No Tricks Zone, July 13, 2022
Top on the list of What needs to be done.
- “Public clarification and verified scientific findings describing the true facts should be demanded and presented in parliaments, the media and in interviews.
- Critical conditions in the power grids need to be pointed out publicly.
- Experts and consultants should be chosen according to their professional qualifications and not according to their ideological attitudes.”
Join these dots: Renewables make half Germany’s power, and energy crisis means public halls are “warm up spaces”
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, July 12, 2022
Continue Net Zero business as usual and preside over the worst energy crisis in British history, Tory candidates are warned
Press Release, Net Zero Watch, July 12, 2022
Link to: The Net Zero Watch Guide to the Energy Bills Crisis
By Staff, Net Zero Watch, 2022
Energy Issues – Australia
And what happens when that renewable drought is 1 terawatt hour?
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, July 13, 2022
Energy Issues — US
West Virginia Plaintiffs Resisted Tyranny; Others Must as Well
By Vijay Jayaraj, Real Clear Energy, July 14, 2022
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/07/14/west_virginia_plaintiffs_resisted_tyranny_others_must_as_well_842394.html
Americans Suffering Needlessly From Self-Inflicted Energy, Inflation Crisis
By David Holt, Real Clear Energy, July 12, 2022
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/07/12/americans_suffering_needlessly_from_self-inflicted_energy_inflation_crisis_842031.html
Electricity Blackouts Are Here, and Regulation By Wishful Thinking Won’t Cut It
By Tony Clark, Real Clear Energy, July 11, 2022
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/07/11/electricity_blackouts_are_here_and_regulation_by_wishful_thinking_wont_cut_it_841538.html
Texans hit with second power conservation request this week as temperatures hit triple digits
By Julia Mueller, The Hill, July 13, 2022
“Monday’s appeal cited ‘record high electric demand’ and low wind to power turbines. Wednesday’s appeal adds two new issues: cloud cover reducing solar power in West Texas and a number of forced thermal power outages that ‘exceeds ERCOT forecasts.’”
Tesla tries to help Texas grid amid heat wave with its cars until it can with Powerwalls
By Fred Lambert, Electreck, July 12, 2022
‘Texas has a notoriously fragile grid that is having issues supporting increasing peak electricity demand.”
[SEPP Comment: The only reason that the Texas grid is fragile is that Texas politicians believed ENRON, now bankrupt, when it claimed wind power can be reliable.]
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Why Is Oil Priced The Way That It Is?
By Robert Rapier, Oil Price.com, Jul 13, 2022
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Why-Is-Oil-Priced-The-Way-That-It-Is.html
[SEPP Comment: Economics this administration does not understand.]
Return of King Coal?
The transformation to coal continues: Hungary declares emergency, revives brown coal, Greece aims to quadruple coal
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, July 15, 2022
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Court Decision Spotlights Best Tool to Combat Climate Change
Let fission power compete with fossil power.
By Robert Hargraves, Real Clear Energy, July 12, 2022
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/07/12/court_decision_spotlights_best_tool_to_combat_climate_change_842032.html
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Texas’s Wounded Grid (yes, it’s windpower again)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, July 12, 2022
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Bipartisan bill would streamline hydroelectric permitting
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, July 14, 2022
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Watch: Youturbes Claim Experiment with Electric Truck Ends after Mere 85 Miles
By Amy Furr, Breitbart, July 7, 2022 [H/t No Tricks Zone]
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2022/07/07/watch-youtubers-claim-experiment-with-electric-truck-ends-after-mere-85-miles/
California Dreaming
California cities ban new gas stations in battle to combat climate change
By Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, Via Yahoo finance, July 11, 2022
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/california-cities-ban-gas-stations-120054007.html
[SEPP Comment: Existing gas stations love it.]
Other Scientific News
James Webb Space Telescope 1st Image: It Blows Hubble Space Telescope Away
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, July 12, 2022
Not doing this experiment again soon: 60 years ago, the US created the first man-made aurora and EMP
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, July 12, 2022
Return of large fin whale feeding aggregations to historical whaling grounds in the Southern Ocean
By Helena Herr, Science Reports, Nature, July 7, 2022
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13798-7
Other News that May Be of Interest
Federalism Is The Key To Demonstrating The Disaster Of Green Central Planning
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, July 11, 2022
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2022-7-11-federalism-is-the-way-to-demonstrate-the-disaster-of-green-central-planning
[SEPP Comment: In debating the Constitution, Federalism was promoted as a means where states could experiment on what works. The cultures of the several states varied considerably]
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
The “Yes, and” Solution to Our Energy Crisis
By Miles Matter & Chase Walker, Real Clear Energy, July 12, 2022
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/07/12/theyes_and_solution_to_our_energy_crisis_842029.html
“A recent International Energy Agency report said global clean energy spending is expected to increase by 12 percent this year, reaching $1.4 trillion. Domestic private investment in clean energy topped $100 billion last year, a record for the U.S. Yet we need to do more just to keep pace with other countries racing ahead, with both China and Europe investing over $100 billion more than America in renewable energy technologies and infrastructure in 2021.
“In fact, China is tripling its solar-energy footprint by spending billions to accelerate its renewable push even further. Likewise, the United Arab Emirates just announced a $400 million energy transition strategy to develop solar-energy projects across the world.”
[SEPP Comment: No matter how many trillions are spent, if the bureaucracy does not understand the problem, it cannot solve it.]
Climate change is white colonisation of the atmosphere. It’s time to tackle this entrenched racism
By Erin Fitz-Henry, Deputy Coordinator – Anthropology, Development Studies & Social Theory, The University of Melbourne, Via The Conservation, July 11, 2022
https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-white-colonisation-of-the-atmosphere-its-time-to-tackle-this-entrenched-racism-185579
Press Release: World faces ‘climate apartheid’ risk, 120 more million in poverty: UN expert [Philip Alston]
UN News: June 25, 2019
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1041261
“Climate change ‘threatens to undo the last 50 years” of development, global health and poverty reduction, a United Nations expert said on Tuesday, citing the risk of a new era of “climate apartheid’ where the rich buy their way out of rising heat and hunger.”
Commenting on: “Climate change is racist: Race, Privilege and the Struggle for Climate Justice
A book by Jermey Williams, introduced by Dr. Shola Mos Shogbamimu “a political & women’s rights activist”, ICON Books, October 2021
From reviewer Nnimmo Basseyr: “When we talk about racism, we often mean personal prejudice or institutional biases. Climate change doesn’t work that way. It is structurally racist, disproportionately caused by majority White people in majority White countries, with the damage unleashed overwhelmingly on people of colour. The climate crisis reflects and reinforces racial injustices.
Rivers Left “Crying Out For Water”, Because Of Climate Change
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, July 11, 2022
ARTICLES
1. Sri Lanka’s Green New Deal Was a Human Disaster
An ill-advised national experiment in organic farming yielded starvation, poverty and political chaos.
By Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, July 14, 2022
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sri-lankas-green-new-deal-was-a-human-disaster-gotabaya-rajapaksa-borlaug-synthetic-fertilizers-hunger-organic-agriculture-11657832186?mc_cid=c1d154da9e&mc_eid=41f0ea7dfc
TWTW Summary: Key points discussed under This Week
*********************
2. California Power Problems Hit Texas
Another state where unreliable renewable energy leads to power outages.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, July 15, 2022
https://www.wsj.com/articles/californiapowerproblems-hit-texas-blackouts-electricity-heat-wave-11657919178?mod=hp_opin_pos_6#cxrecs_s
TWTW Summary: The editorial states:
“California transplants who moved to Texas no doubt thought they had escaped electric power outages. Think again. Texans this week were told to crank up their thermostats amid a brutal heat wave to avoid rolling blackouts. Some ultimatum: Swelter, or bake without power.
Temperatures in Texas climbed into the triple digits this week but this isn’t unusual. The problem is that wind power faltered, as it often does during hot spells. Wind accounts for about 30% of Texas’s power supply, but unlike fossil-fuel powered generators, wind can’t provide power when it doesn’t blow. Then gas-powered plants have to pick up the slack.
But gas plants alone couldn’t compensate for wind and meet surging demand for power. Texas’s grid operator had to urge residents to conserve electricity. Bitcoin miners were asked to power down to free up 1,000 megawatts of electricity—enough to power about 200,000 homes on a hot day. Soaring power prices gave them an incentive to do so.
Manufacturers also reported curtailing production owing to grid strains and surging prices. Toyota said Thursday it scaled back production at its San Antonio plant. Reuters reported that Toyota is considering stopping production most days before 2 p.m.—when demand for power increases—and shortening night shifts through mid-August.
One of Texas’s selling points to businesses has been its cheap and reliable energy. Under former Republican Gov. Rick Perry, the state invested heavily in building transmission lines to carry heavily subsidized wind power from West Texas to big cities. For a time, wind pushed down prices in the state’s deregulated power market.
But coal and nuclear plants have struggled to turn a profit running at reduced capacity, causing many to retire. As a result, the grid has become more dependent on gas-fired generators to compensate for unreliable renewables. Meantime, demand for power is increasing as Texas’s population grows. All of this pushed the state’s grid to a near-breaking point.
Gas and power prices are also increasing as regulatory obstacles to building new pipelines constrain supply. Texas’s residential electric rates have surged 70% since last June, costing the typical family $80 more per month.”
The editorial concludes on how Texas power problems have become a political game.
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