The Week That Was: 2024 12-28 (December 28, 2024)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies” – Winston Churchill to Stalin Nov 30, 1943
Number of the Week: 4,000; 40 floating
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This Week begins with an alternative interpretation of the actions of the IPCC and its collaborators than the one given in the December 14 TWTW. It then discusses some of the important issues in climate change and our understanding of climate change at the end of 2024. TWTW discusses some new issues such as the view that Net Zero is unaffordable and unnecessary, the blackout by the UN IPCC of the flourishing of life on Earth from enhanced atmospheric CO2, and a possible major breakthrough in promoting photosynthesis. TWTW concludes with a description of fanciful claims by the EPA and the World Health Organization and long-term meteorological droughts which hit the US Southwest.
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Another View: The December 14 TWTW featured a quote from Richard Lindzen that may fit the actions of the UN IPCC and its collaborators.
“What I learned: If you want to get a narrative established, the crucial thing is to pepper it with errors, questionable things. So that the critics will seize on those and not question the basic narrative.”
This week, TWTW quotes Winston Churchill from his comment to Stalin on November 30, 1943, at the World War II strategy meeting of Allied powers held in Tehran, Iran, when the British and Americans agreed to invade northern Frances in 1944. This quote may better fit the actions of the UN IPCC and its collaborators.
“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
The British were extremely clever at deception to include Operation Bodyguard, the code name for deceiving the Germans into believing that the main invasion will take place at the Pas-de-Calais in northern France, or in southern France, or Norway. The purpose was to divert attention of the Germans from the main force that was assembling in southern England.
The diversion of German attention to the Pas-de-Calais rather than the actual invasion point of Normandy, was particularly effective. It involved putting the aggressive General Patton in charge of a largely fictious force made up of tanks and trucks that were inflatable and when moved, left tracks behind, fooling photo aerial surveillance. Further, phony radio messages were frequently exchanged. All this gave German intelligence the impression that a large force was being assembled to invade across narrowest part of the English Channel to the most logical point of attack, the Pas-de-Calais.
The diversion was so successful, that after the invasion started it took hours to convince Hitler that the actual invasion was taking place at Normandy. This delayed moving the tanks and troops held in reserve to counter the invasion forces until the invasion forces succeeded in establishing a beachhead for large scale operations.
Bits and pieces buried deep in the IPCC physical science reports indicate that at least a few scientists involved in the IPCC process understand the precious truth – that carbon dioxide has a trivial influence on temperatures and increasing it is benefiting life on Earth with plant life flourishing, benefiting all. This precious truth is buried in a bodyguard of lies, particularly in the Summaries for Policymakers.
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Where Are We in 2024? Below is a short review of where we are in our understanding of climate change including the role of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It will discuss some of the advances in our understanding made over the past few years, especially those made in 2024, emphasizing recent explanations of that understanding. It is not all-inclusive nor is it intended to be. Also excluded are political actions such as policies implementing the concept of no carbon dioxide emissions from energy use.
Atmospheric Temperature Trends: We have forty-five years of atmospheric temperature trends that show the global area-averaged temperature trend (January 1979 through November 2024) is increasing by 0.15degrees C per decade (+0.21°C/decade over land, +0.13°C/decade over oceans). The average increase is 0.27 degrees F per decade. The globe is warming slower in a decade than Northern Virginia warms in ten minutes on a sunny spring morning (outside of Washington, DC). There is no physical evidence to claim this warming is a climate emergency or crisis as Washington bureaucracies have claimed.
Greenhouse gases influence the temperatures of the lower atmosphere far more than they influence surface air temperatures. Thus, the claims of a climate crisis are false. Roy Spencer has explained that the group at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, whose temperature reports TWTW uses, has slightly reduced recent record global warmth bringing their calculated global temperatures more in line with the RSS and NOAA satellite datasets over the last 2-3 years. So, we are seeing a convergence of three different calculation methods – something that is not occurring with global climate models. Thus, we cannot attribute the warming reported in surface-air temperature trends or the models to increasing carbon dioxide, though there is some influence. The UN IPCC and its collaborators are falsely claiming that CO2 is responsible for the current warming. https://www.drroyspencer.com/2024/11/uah-global-temperature-update-for-october-2024-truncation-of-the-noaa-19-satellite-record/
The current warming of the atmosphere is tiny, compared with the warming and cooling that occurs during periods of glaciation over the past approximately three million years while Earth has been in what is called Icehouse Earth, with icecaps on both poles. The oldest continuous ice core from Greenland goes back about 120,000 years; the oldest from Antarctica goes by about 800,000 years. https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/publication/ice-cores-and-climate-change/
Further, ice cores and other physical evidence such as marine sediments show Heinrich events and 25 Dansgaard–Oeschger (D-O) events. These are periods of rapid warming followed by slow cooling. These cannot be explained by changing carbon dioxide and the causes are not known. There is no reason to assume that these events have stopped. The current warming may be more due to a D-O than carbon dioxide, The UN IPCC and its collaborators do not address such events. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-11/2%20Heinrich%20and%20Dansgaard%E2%80%93Oeschger%20Events%20-%20Final-OCT%202021.pdf
Benefits of Increasing Carbon Dioxide: John Robson and his team has gone over the detailed reports of the UN IPCC and found a brief discussion of the importance of increasing CO2 for the greening of Earth in the lengthy Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group I, “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis” (2021). There was no mention of this important finding in the report by Working Group II, “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” (2022) or in the report by Working Group III, “Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change” (2022). Further, there is no mention of these benefits in “Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report” (2023). The synthesis reports form the basis for the claims of the UN IPCC and its collaborators to demonize carbon dioxide. These reports are highly politicized and biased. They are not physical science.
The report by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) “Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts” (2014) provides a strong basis for understanding the importance of carbon dioxide for life on Earth and the value of increasing its concentration in the atmosphere. Its Executive Summary is of particular value.
Unimaginatively, critics of the flourishing of life on Earth from CO2 enrichment forget that for most of human existence, and for most animal life, scarcity of food is a severe limitation. Instead, they focus on the most nutritious food, which is usually a luxury. Thus, they have emphasized a slight decline in the nutritional value of food production from use of fertilizers including carbon dioxide fertilization.
Fortunately, this year the CO2 Coalition produced two studies based on physical evidence to explain how human carbon dioxide emissions enrich life on Earth. In April, the Coalition released “Nutritive Value of Plants Growing in Enhanced CO2 Concentrations.” This study demonstrates the:
“numerous desirable and beneficial effects of more CO2 in the atmosphere greatly outweigh ‘climate-damaging’ or ‘nutrient-damaging’ impacts, to the extent that these even exist. There is no ‘social cost of carbon,’ as is unfortunately and incorrectly claimed in numerous recent publications. In fact, there is a social benefit from more CO2 in the air.”
In December, the CO2 Coalition released “The Human Contribution to Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: How Human Emissions Are Restoring Vital Atmospheric CO2.” This goes to removing doubt that humans are the primary cause of increasing atmospheric CO2 while recognizing that the warming of oceans also contributes to increasing CO2. The CO2 concentration in today’s atmosphere is above that found in Antarctic ice cores taken which cover the past 800,000 years.
For an example of claims that CO2 is making plants less nutritious see link under Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science.
Upsetting the Orthodoxy: After John Clauser received the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics in Quantum Theory, he began to challenge the work of the UN IPCC and its collaborators (his term) by demonstrating that the work contains ignorance of the role of clouds in Earth’s climate. This demonstrated that “the science” is far from settled. Clauser is a theoretical physicist and experimenter, as was Richard Feynman who stated that Nature is the final and ultimate judge. If Nature disagrees with your work, you are wrong. The June 1 and the June 8 TWTWs gives a fuller description of Clauser’s work. See https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2024/TWTW%206-1-2024.pdf and https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2024/TWTW%206-8-2024.pdf. For Clauser’s presentation to the Irish Climate Science Forum and CLINTEL see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpcqzZliE
Different Interpretations: The CERES-Science team demonstrated that there are 27 possible interpretations based on physical evidence of what is happening on the Sun and its role on Earth’s climate. Not all of them can be correct. The UN IPCC and its collaborators chose the extreme interpretation, that the changing sun has little influence on Earth’s climate today or in the recent past. For a more complete explanation and additional links see the December 14 TWTW https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2024/TWTW%2012-14-2024.pdf.
Earth’s Multiple Climates: Richard Lindzen presents physical evidence that Earth has multiple climates for which temperature is but one necessary measurement. Using average global temperature alone to represent these climates is absurd. There is no agreement even where and how these measurements should be taken and what instruments should be used. There is no consistency. For Lindzen’s paper on “What Is Climate” published by Net Zero Watch see: https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/what-is-climate
Model Failure: The UN IPCC and its collaborators rely on global climate models, previously called general circulation models, to claim dangerous global warming from carbon dioxide. Yet when tested against physical evidence (nature) the models fail. In January 2024, the Heritage Foundation published “Global Warming: Observations vs. Climate Models” by Roy Spencer. The analysis shows that over the past 50 years the warming of Earth is far less than that claimed by the UN IPCC and its collaborators. See https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/global-warming-observations-vs-climate-models.
Legal Issues: Although TWTW generally avoids legal issues, two Supreme Court decisions require mention. One is a 2022 decision in West Virginia v. EPA, by which the courts will presume that Congress does not delegate to executive agencies issues of major political or economic significance. The definitions of major political or economic significance are not yet clear but the decision restricts the flexibility of government agencies to interpret the law. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1530_n758.pdf
The second decision cut back sharply on the power of federal agencies to interpret the laws. In Loper Bright v. Raimondo, the Court decided that if the law is vague, it is the responsibility of Congress to clarify it, not Federal agencies. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf
These decisions may reduce the “administrative state” by which government agencies make and interpret law without responsibility or accountability.
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Some Current Issues
Unaffordable and Unnecessary: Physicist Steven Koonin and Manhattan Institute energy fellow Mark Mills authored an article articulating that The Paris Accords as “Climate Insurance” are unaffordable and unnecessary. They write:
“A decision to exit the Paris Accords is no mere gesture. The central fact for citizens everywhere is that putative ‘climate solutions’ would deploy trillions of dollars and implement mandates and diktats for the supply and use of energy in every aspect of society.
The stated rationale for proposals to alter completely how civilization is fueled is the need for an ‘insurance policy’ against future climate catastrophes. In that framing, the climate-fearful argue that some possibility of consequential future harms warrants the ‘responsible’ decision to ‘buy’ insurance now. But this often-argued ‘insurance’ construct assumes that we know enough to say that the consequences of future climate change justify paying for the insurance—and collaterally, that we know the ‘insurance’ itself will be affordable.
It turns out that we do know quite a bit about both those domains. As we outline below, reality tells us that the climate-change consequences that we’re trying to avoid will be modest—and that the costs of the ‘insurance’ are staggering.”
After giving their reasons for concluding that the Paris Accords are unaffordable, they discuss some of the problems with “The Science” and the problems involved in implementing programs to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Then they give suggestions on how to improve “The Science.” They conclude with:
“Meanwhile, civilization needs enormous amounts of low-cost energy, and it needs it from the technologies and systems that we know how to build right now. Engineers, entrepreneurs, and businesses can meet that challenge—but mainly using hydrocarbons.
See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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The Green Blackout Part V: As mentioned above John Robson and his team have reviewed the IPCC reports and found little information on the greening of the globe from carbon dioxide fertilization. In a December 18 post they write:
From Robson: “The code works by focusing the discussion on the ‘seasonal amplitude’ of the annual CO2 level. Here’s what they say in the Chapter summary (p. 427):
‘The main driver of the observed increase in the amplitude of the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2 is enhanced fertilization of plant growth by the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2 (medium confidence). However, there is only low confidence that this CO2 fertilization has also been the main driver of observed greening because land management is the dominating factor in some regions.’ [From the IPCC Boldface added]
IPCC- AR 6, Part 1. The Physical Science Basis (2021)”
See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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An Important Breakthrough? Most plants such as trees and most crops evolved in a world rich in high concentrations of carbon dioxide, which is essential for photosynthesis. These plants are called C-3 plants, and they use carbon dioxide inefficiently. Later evolving plants such as maize, sorghum and sugarcane evolved in a world in which carbon dioxide was scarce, and they use carbon dioxide more efficiently. These are called C-4 plants. Paul Homewood draws attention to what may become an important breakthrough in crop production.
At issue is an enzyme called Rubisco. An enzyme is a substance, usually a protein, developed in an organism that acts as a biological catalyst in accelerating chemical reactions (speeds up metabolism). Humans may have around 75,000 different enzymes. In plants Rubisco is the enzyme that plays a critical role in photosynthesis because it captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and incorporates it into plants. This leads to carbohydrates, sugars, lipids and all the foods needed by complex life.
C-3 plants are benefiting greatly from carbon dioxide fertilization, C-4 plants are not benefiting as much. The paper “Increasing Rubisco as a simple means to enhance photosynthesis and productivity now without lowering nitrogen use efficiency” may lead to methods in increasing photosynthesis in the C-4 plants such as maize, sorghum, and sugarcane. TWTW will explore this issue further, and report back next week.
See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Fanciful Claims: Among the more fanciful claims of the EPA and the World Health Organization are the huge number of deaths from tiny particulate matter (dust), PM2.5 (2.5 microns in diameter or less) which passes to our lungs and back out again. This dust is unpleasant, but there is little physical evidence that it shortens life. This lack of evidence has not stopped unscrupulous agencies from declaring multiple deaths from PM 2.5 as S. Stanly Young and Warren Kindzierski state. They write:
“The Fourth National Climate Assessment for the United States claims that particulate matter (PM2.5) causes heart attacks, deaths, and other harms and that these may be worsened due to climate change. There are persistent, hidden problems in PM2.5 health effects research that people, in general—and air quality researchers and policymakers, in particular—either are not aware of or ignore. These include use of questionable research practices, multiple testing bias, and irreproducibility (falseness) of research claims. This Special Report shows that the research cited by the EPA does not show a causal relationship between PM2.5 and poor health outcomes. Hence, the link between PM2.5 and public health should not be taken seriously.”
See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Droughts: Andy May has a discussion on “Drought in the Southwestern U.S.” He draws an important distinction which many fail to make:
“We should distinguish between a) meteorological droughts which are a long-term reduction in precipitation (IPCC AR6 WGI, pages 1157 & 1760) caused by persistent high atmospheric pressure that reduces cloud formation and b) agricultural drought which is a reduction in soil moisture and reduced flow in waterways (also called hydrological drought). Meteorological drought is a climatic phenomenon, and agricultural drought is only partly meteorological since it can be alleviated by irrigation, dams, and other man-made changes to drainage systems designed to reduce the flow of valuable fresh water into the oceans. This post is about meteorological drought and long-term drought cycles.” [Lightly edited]
TWTW further comment: The southwest US is subject to long-term drought cycles. The noted Colorado River Compact was agreed upon by many southwestern states even though it was based on a time of plenty of water. Now water is becoming scarce, causing considerable concern. Blaming shortages of water on “climate change” only deflects attention from the real problem, human ignorance when reaching long-term agreements. See link under Changing Climate.
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Number of the Week: 4,000; 40 floating. As stated in the June 29 TWTW, the fossils used by Tom Gallagher in estimating 67 million years of temperature and carbon dioxide trends are Foraminifera (forams for short), single-celled organisms (protists) with shells or tests (a technical term for internal shells). Although of low time resolution, in millennium to millennium rather than century to century, forams provide consistent proxy evidence over the 67-million-year period.
According to a description posted on the University of California – Berkley website:
“They are abundant as fossils for the last 540 million years. The shells are commonly divided into chambers that are added during growth, though the simplest forms are open tubes or hollow spheres. Depending on the species, the shell may be made of organic compounds, sand grains or other particles cemented together, or crystalline CaCO3 (calcite or aragonite). There are an estimated 4,000 species living in the world’s oceans today. Of these, 40 species are planktonic, that is they float in the water. The remainder live on or in the sand, mud, rocks, and plants at the bottom of the ocean. Foraminifera are found in all marine environments, from the intertidal to the deepest ocean trenches, and from the tropics to the poles, but species of foraminifera can be very particular about the environment in which they live. Some are abundant only in the deep ocean, others are found only on coral reefs, and still other species live only in brackish estuaries or intertidal salt marshes.
Foraminifera are among the most abundant shelled organisms in many marine environments. A cubic centimeter of sediment may hold hundreds of living individuals, and many more dead shells. In some environments their shells are an important component of the sediment.”
See https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Wetmore.html#:~:text=WHAT%20ARE%20FORAMINIFERA%3F,the%20last%20540%20million%20years.
These fossils provide the finest long-term record of the relationship between carbon dioxide and global temperatures. There is no strong relationship.
Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?
New Study: The Warming Trend Since 2013 Explained By Increases In Absorbed Solar Radiation, Not CO2
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Dec 23, 2024
Link to paper: Recent global temperature surge intensified by record-low planetary albedo
By Helge F. Goessling, et al., AAAS Science, Dec 5, 2024
https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.adq7280
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
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
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
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
https://wvanwijngaarden.info.yorku.ca/files/2020/12/WThermal-Radiationf.pdf?x45936
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Short Summary of Observations Until November 2024
By Ole Humlum, Climate4you, Accessed Dec 21, 2024
https://www.climate4you.com
The Paris Accords As “Climate Insurance”—Unaffordable and Unnecessary
By Steven E. Koonin and Mark P. Mill, Real Clear World, Dec 13, 2024
https://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2024/12/13/the_paris_accords_as_climate_insuranceunaffordable_and_unnecessary_1078413.html
Meanwhile, civilization needs enormous amounts of low-cost energy, and it needs it from the technologies and systems that we know how to build right now. Engineers, entrepreneurs, and businesses can meet that challenge—but mainly using hydrocarbons.
The Green Blackout Part V: Chapter 3 and Worse
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 18, 2024
Climate Models, Clouds, OLR, and ECS
By Andy May, WUWT, Dec 17, 2024
As I’ve written before the current group of IPCC/CMIP climate models do not compare well with observations, and unfortunately, in the tropics they do better if the man-made portion of the enhanced greenhouse effect is removed. It seems that the conceptual model they have pursued since 1990 (the first IPCC report) that CO2 is the “control knob” for global warming is flawed.
Genetic tweak to three key crops massively boosts their growth
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 26, 2024
Link to simple explanation: Genetic tweak to three key crops massively boosts their growth
A simple change to maize, sorghum and sugarcane that allows them to take advantage of rising CO2 levels can boost their growth by around a fifth
By Michael Le Page, New Scientist, Dec 19, 2024 [Paywalled]
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2460964-genetic-tweak-to-three-key-crops-massively-boosts-their-growth/’’
Link to paper: Increasing Rubisco as a simple means to enhance photosynthesis and productivity now without lowering nitrogen use efficiency
By Coralie E. Salesse-Smith, Yu Wang, and Stephen P. Long, New Phytologist, Dec 17, 2024
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.20298
The Climate Change−Air Quality−Public Health Fallacy
Guest post by S. Stanley Young and Warren Kindzierski, WUWT, Dec 19, 2024
Link to one report: Air Quality and Public Health: Is There a Link?
By S. Stanley Young and Warren Kindzierski, The Heritage Foundation, Dec 5, 2024
https://www.heritage.org/climate/report/air-quality-and-public-health-there-link
Link to second report: Climate Change, Ozone, and Asthma: Is There a Connection?
By S. Stanley Young and Warren Kindzierski, The Heritage Foundation, Dec 4, 2024
https://www.heritage.org/climate/report/climate-change-ozone-and-asthma-there-connection
The Fairy Tale Of The CO2 Paradise Before 1850…A Look At The Real Science
By Fred Mueller, Via P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Dec 14, 2024
Frankenstein Datasets and the Crisis in Climate Science Integrity
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Dec 23, 2024
Link to Preprint: Do Not Use the ICAT Hurricane Loss “Dataset”: An Opportunity for Course Correction in Climate Science
By Roger Pielke Jr, submitted to the Journal.of.Applied.Meteorology.and.Climate, Dec 20, 2024
https://osf.io/preprints/osf/x2dgy
From the abstract: This paper explains the origin of the flawed dataset and demonstrates its many biases. The errors are so obvious and consequential that papers published in the peer-reviewed literature that rely on the flawed dataset should be retracted. While mistakes happen in science, what matters more is what we in the community do when mistakes are discovered.
Another Climate Sensitivity Study Finds Doubling CO2 Leads To 0.5°C Warming At Most
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Dec 20, 2024
Link to paper: CO2 Back-Radiation Sensitivity Studies under Laboratory and Field Conditions
By Ernst Hammel, et al., Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, Oct 9, 2024
From abstract: Our results and their interpretation are another indication for having a more critical approach in climate modelling and against monocausal interpretation of climate indices only caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Basic physics combined with measurements and data taken from the literature allow us to conclude that CO2 induced infrared back-radiation must follow an asymptotic logarithmic-like behavior, which is also widely accepted in the climate-change community. The important question of climate sensitivity by doubling current CO2 concentrations is estimated to be below 1˚C.
8 Taiwanese Engineers Determine The Climate Sensitivity To A 300 ppm CO2 Increase Is ‘Negligibly Small’
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Dec 17, 2024
Link to paper: Thermal processes affected by carbon dioxide near ground surface
By Peng-Sheng Wei, et al., Results in Engineering, December 2024
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123024015548
[SEPP Comment: The study provides evidence questioning the UN IPCC’s use of surface air temperatures.]
Humans Like Warmer Climates
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 18, 2024
Most of the world’s population lives in or near the tropics.
Defending the Orthodoxy
Actions before agreement
By Staff, Nature Climate Change, Dec 23, 2024
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-024-02223-8
Trump 2.0 will hurt planet, open door for America’s green rivals: EU climate chief
In an interview with POLITICO, Teresa Ribera said Donald Trump’s expected climate withdrawal presents an opportunity for others to boost their clean industries.
By Karl Mathiesen, Zia Weise and Francesca Micheletti, Politico, Dec 16, 2024
https://www.politico.eu/article/teresa-ribera-america-clean-energy-donald-trump-reelection-climate-change-competition
“It is not good news that a big player such as the United States decides to go in a different direction,” Teresa Ribera [a European Commission executive vice president] said in an interview in her office in Brussels. “It is not good news for anyone. But … whenever there is a big player that decides to abandon a room, there will be other players entering.”
[SEPP Comment: Fools will rush into a losing position?]
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Climate change is making plants less nutritious − that could already be hurting animals that are grazers
By Ellen Welti, The Conversation, Dec 20, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-making-plants-less-nutritious-that-could-already-be-hurting-animals-that-are-grazers-240068?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%2020%202024%20-%203208632725&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%2020%202024%20-%203208632725+CID_0fd4cb04563ce2245cd5dfb849eb7a45&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Climate%20change%20is%20making%20plants%20less%20nutritious%20%20that%20could%20already%20be%20hurting%20animals%20that%20are%20grazers
Europe’s Medical Students Being Trained to Consider Climate Impact of Inhalers and “Green Prescribing”
Meanwhile, Association of American Medical Colleges did a survey and found that 55% of medical schools reported that the health effects of climate change were a required topic in their courses.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Dec 25, 2024
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/12/europes-medical-students-being-trained-to-consider-climate-impact-of-inhalers-and-green-prescribing
Dr. Jyothi Tirumalasetty, M.D., says research is zeroing in on propellants known as HFCs or hydrofluorocarbons. They push the medicine out of the inhaler in measured doses but can also escape into the atmosphere at alarming levels.
Questioning the Orthodoxy
IPCC U-Turn as it Prepares to Start Blaming Humans for Bad Weather
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Dec 14, 2024
Fears are growing that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) could water down or even ditch its current finding that almost all types of extreme weather events have little or no sign of past human involvement, or any going forward to 2100.
The finding in its recent sixth assessment report is a major thorn in the side of alarmists since ‘extreme’ weather event attribution has recently risen to become the major scare tactic used to promote the Net Zero fantasy.
Dreary climate leftovers for Christmas
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 18, 2024
It then goes on to say that a big problem with tipping points is that we don’t know what the term really means or how likely any of them are. Which might almost inspire some humility in lesser mortals. But they [climate activists] don’t have such, and so instead they rant: [followed by example]
Report That Wyoming Lost Winter Days To Climate Change Is Misleading, Says Don Day
A non-profit environmental group’s claim that Wyoming has lost two days of winter because of climate change is misleading and incorrect, says Wyoming meteorologist Don Day. “I almost laughed when I saw that,” Day told Cowboy State Daily.
By Andrew Rossi, Cowboy State Daily, Dec 18, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/12/18/report-wyoming-is-losing-winter-days-to-climate-change-is-climate-porn-says-don-day/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&_kx=21VKAih97YeHe8fHF8Ao3wnuHs7JHqCw17MxP7toSAg.UXPtrV
Surprise! We thought trees emitted methane, but instead they absorb it… (What else don’t we know?)
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 20, 2024
Link to paper: Bark-dwelling methanotrophic bacteria decrease methane emissions from trees
By Luke C. Jeffrey, et al., Nature Communications, Apr 9, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22333-7
From the abstract: Tree stems are an important and unconstrained source of methane, yet it is uncertain whether internal microbial controls (i.e. methanotrophy) within tree bark may reduce methane emissions…. Finally, field-based methane oxidation inhibition experiments demonstrate that bark-dwelling MOB reduce methane emissions by 36 ± 5 %. These multiple complementary lines of evidence indicate that bark-dwelling MOB represent a potentially significant methane sink, and an important frontier for further research.
Energy & Environmental Review: December 23, 2024
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, Dec 23, 2024
After Paris!
Foreign Office Don’t Know How Much COP29 Pledge Will Cost UK
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 18, 2024
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
How CO2 Starvation and Plate Tectonics Caused the Greatest extinctions on Earth, the Permian
By Jim Steele, A Walk On The Natural Side, June 11, 2023
Text: https://perhapsallnatural.blogspot.com/2023/06/co2-starvation-and-plate-tectonics.html
Video: https://youtu.be/89imeYT_shs
Evolution and origins of rubisco
By Leah J Taylor-Kearney, et al., Pub Med, National Library of Medicine, Aug 19, 2024
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39163833/#:~:text=Rubisco%20(D%2Dribulose%201%2C,help%20elucidate%20its%20cryptic%20origins.
Due to its central role in the global carbon cycle, rubisco has been the subject of intense research for over 50 years. Rubisco is often considered inefficient due to its slow rate of carboxylation compared with other central metabolism enzymes, and its promiscuous oxygenase activity, which competes with the productive carboxylation reaction. It is hoped that engineering improved CO2 fixation will have significant advantages in agriculture and climate change mitigation. However, rubisco has proven difficult to engineer, with decades of efforts yielding limited results.
Holly-Leaved Daisy Bush growth under elevated CO2
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 18, 2024
From CO2Science
Seeking a Common Ground
NOAA’s Future and Project 2025
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Dec 15, 2024
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/12/noaas-future-and-project-2025.html
In a future blog, I will lay out the details of how NOAA could be reformed and become MUCH more effective. With insightful reorganization and better management, NOAA could provide profoundly better forecasts and environmental information to the American people.
[SEPP Comment: Balanced comments from an experienced Meteorologist. At this point, one could argue that NOAA should stick with weather prediction and junk all climate forecasts. Their models are far too simplistic for such a complex topic with many unknowns. Reducing the grid size of the models only produces unknowns disguised by great precision.]
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Megalodons, Mermaids, and Climate Change’
Navigating the wonders of the ocean and atmosphere
By Anthony Sadar, Washington Times, Dec 23, 2024
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/23/book-review-megalodons-mermaids-climate-change
Fixing Universities
Politicization of the American University, Part 5
By Roger Pielke, Jr., His Blog, Dec 23, 2024
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/fixing-universities?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=119454&post_id=153527984&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f7h7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
In my courses on policy analysis, I teach my students to focus on problem definition before even thinking about policy options.
Science, Policy, and Evidence
How NEPA Stands in the Way of American Mineral Security
By Farrell Gregory, Real Clear Energy, Dec 23, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/12/23/how_nepa_stands_in_the_way_of_american_mineral_security_1080490.html
More Road Crashes Ahead in Britain’s Dim Future
By Austin Gae and Alexander Gonzales, The Heritage Foundation, Dec 13, 2024 [H/t Cornwall Alliance]
https://www.heritage.org/climate/commentary/more-road-crashes-ahead-britains-dim-future
[SEPP Comment: Government putting meaningless carbon dioxide reduction policy above human lives?]
Model Issues
Blockbuster honesty: Expert modeler admits they can’t predict extreme events, El Nino, tipping points, rain or river flows
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 19, 2024
More details in: Climate Science You Can Believe
By Tony Thomas, Quadrant, Dec 9, 2024
Was Yesterday’s Forecast a Success?
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Dec 27, 2024
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/12/was-yesterdays-forecast-success.html
[SEPP Comment: Explaining that the uncertainty in the models leads to uncertainty in the forecast – something that climate modelers and the UN IPCC forget.]
Changing Weather
An Intense Christmas Atmospheric River. No California Drought This Year
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Dec 20, 2024
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/12/an-intense-christmas-atmospheric-river.html
One of the most overused terms used by the media is “atmospheric river”. Yes, even more hyped than “bomb cyclone.” But this week there will be an atmospheric river worth noting…
Strong Winds, Heavy Precipitation, Massive Snowfall, and Big Waves
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Dec 25, 2024
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2024-12-25T20:50:00-08:00&max-results=2
Sometimes the atmosphere throws the kitchen sink at us.
This is such a time.
Heavy rain and local flooding. Check. Strong winds and some power outages. Check. Massive snowfall and temporarily closed passes. Check. Huge waves and coastal impacts. Check and more checks.
Pretending. About the Weather too
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Dec 17, 2024
In reality southeast Queensland, especially the Brisbane catchment has always and often experienced heavy rain. The highest 24-hour rainfall total for anywhere in Australia is 907 mm at Crohamhurst, in the Brisbane catchment, recorded on February 3, 1893.
2024 Natural Climate Factors: Snow
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Dec 21, 2024
Since the poles function as the primary vents for global cooling, what happens in the Arctic in no way stays in the Arctic. This post explores data suggesting changes in snow cover drive some climate changes.
Do Insurers Know What A Storm Is?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 20, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Wind gusts are not wind speeds averaged over 10 minutes.]
Big Waves in Hawaii. Why?
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Dec 22, 2024
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/12/big-waves-in-hawaii-why.html
Changing Climate
Drought in the Southwestern U.S.
By Andy May, WUWT, Dec 27, 2024
Changing Seas
Ocean Temperatures and Climate Hysteria: A Lesson in Perspective
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Dec 20, 2024
Maldives Underwater By 2050
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 18, 2024
In 1988 experts predicted the Maldives would be underwater by 2018, but instead the islands grew larger. Now experts say the Maldives will drown by 2050.
“pushing nature past its limits”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 21, 2024
Link to: The Maldives New Resorts Scheduled For Opening In 2025
Dreaming of Maldives, Blog, Accessed Dec 27, 2024
https://www.dreamingofmaldives.com/maldives-blog/the-maldives-new-resorts-scheduled-for-opening-in-2025
From the PR blog: 7 new resorts are expected to open in 2025 in the Maldives
[SEPP Comment: As the UN claims a dire future with islands drowning, luxury waterfront resorts spring up?]
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
New Study Finds 1970s-Present Antarctic Ice Loss Is ‘Unexceptional’ And Not Due To ‘Climate Change’
By Kenneth Richard, Net Zero Watch, Dec 26, 2024
Link to paper: 47 Years of Large Antarctic Calving Events: Insights From Extreme Value Theory
By Emma J. MacKie, et al., Geophysical Research Letters, Accepted Nov 1, 2024
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2024GL112235
Scientists share concerns over phenomenon observed in Antarctica: ‘It’s bonkers’
“I think it is still too soon to say for sure, … but if it were to be the case, this is what it would look like.”
By Mike Taylor, TCD, Dec 19, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to report: 2024 Antarctic sea ice winter maximum second lowest on record
By Michon Scott and Rebecca Lindsey, NOAA, Oct 8, 2024
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/2024-antarctic-sea-ice-winter-maximum-second-lowest-record
[SEPP Comment: In February 1774 Captain Cook reached 71°10’ South Latitude 106°54’ West Longitude. Is that in NOAA’s “record”?]
Antarctic Sea Ice Volume Higher Than 1980s
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 20, 2024
“Rapid Antarctic sea ice loss is causing severe storms”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 21, 2024
Antarctic sea ice extent is higher than 1979, 1982, 1989, 1996, 2000, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. It has increased 18% since 2016.
Greenland is cool, man
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 18, 2024
Link to paper: Spatial and temporal patterns of land surface temperature in Greenland from 2000-2019
By Nitinun Pongsiri, et al., Mausam, Thailand, April 2024
[SEPP Comment: NOAA’s Arctic Report Card does not discuss such findings.]
Lowering Standards
On Your Bike, Met Office!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 22, 2024
Since when was it the Met Office’s job to tell us how to travel?
Oh, the weather outside is frightful
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 18, 2024
And Environment and Climate Change Canada, determined to politicize weather forecasting then complain about it, turns their traditional December wrap-up of wacky weather stories into dreary polemics in the 2024 edition by saying “With each year, Canada sees the impacts of climate change on weather events, making many extreme weather events more likely.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Hey Media, Remember in 2017 When an Iceberg in Antarctica Freaked You Out? Science now says: ‘Never Mind’
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, Dec 20, 2024
Link to paper: 47 Years of Large Antarctic Calving Events: Insights From Extreme Value Theory
By Emma MacKie, Millstein, Serafin, Geophysical Research Letters, Nov 29, 2024
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2024GL112235
From abstract: We use 47 years of iceberg size from satellite observations. Our analysis reveals no upward trend in the surface area of the largest annual iceberg over this time frame.
From Key Points: A once in a century calving event would yield an iceberg surface area approximately the size of Switzerland
Just how fast is Miami sinking into the Atlantic Ocean?
By Nadirah Sabir, CBS News, Miami, Dec 17, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/just-how-fast-is-miami-sinking-into-the-atlantic-ocean
[SEPP Comment: At least the article got the issue right, Miami is sinking, then went off course.]
Newsweek Claims U.S. Cities Would be Underwater by 2050, Forgets the Same Predictions Were Made for 2000 and 2020
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, Dec 11, 2024
[SEPP Comment: A permanent tidal wave in 2050?]
Wrong, NBC News, Climate Change Isn’t Causing Rising Coffee Prices, Production Is Increasing
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Dec 16, 2024
No, Associated Press, Extreme Weather Events in a Single Year Are Not Climate Change
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, Dec 23, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
U.S. Water Woes – Northeast
By Kip Hansen, WUWT, Dec 17, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Both High And Low Sea Ice Extent Caused By Global Warming
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 22, 2024
NOAA
Andrew Montford slams DESNZ for Net Zero lies
Video, Net Zero Watch, Dec 13, 2024
https://www.netzerowatch.com/videos/v/andrew-montford-slams-desnz-for-net-zero-lies
DESNZ is the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
6.3 Million Properties At Risk Of Flooding–Say Env Agency
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 17, 2024
Our house is classified as “Low Risk”, despite the fact we live on the side of a hill and have never had any remote risk of flooding, even during the Sheffield floods in 2007.
Anxious NOAA scientists feel Trump’s “target on their back”, drop climate change and call it “air-quality”
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 18, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
‘Actually,’ MSNBC, Trump’s Energy Secretary Pick is Right, Climate Change Does Have Benefits
By Linnea Lueken, Climate Realism, Dec 18, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Darragh Stronger Because Of Global Warming–BBC
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 20, 2024
There’s another pseudo-science Weather Attribution organization to add to the list, called ClimaMeter, which the BBC has been bigging up lately.
From HH Lamb:
“It is not exactly rocket science. Any half competent meteorologist knows that extratropical storms feed off the temperature differential between warm and cold air. The bigger the differential, the stronger the storm. And with the Arctic warming faster than the tropics, this differential is reducing.”
Climate change led to 41 extra days of extreme heat this year on average: Analysis
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Dec 27, 2024
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5057573-climate-change-extreme-heat-study
Link to press release: When Risks Become Reality: Extreme Weather In 2024
By Staff, World Weather Attribution, Dec 27, 2024
More Polar Bear Propaganda From The BBC
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 19, 2024
According to a so-called polar bear expert, Alysa McCall, who is ferrying the BBC team around, half of the bears in the region have disappeared since 1980, due (you guessed it) to global warming.
Unfortunately, Alysa is not a reliable source of information, because she works for Polar Bear International, (PBI), a lobbyist organization. Their own website says they are a “conservation organization”, and they are constantly appealing for donations, and publicity stunts like this one are crucial for their funding.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
Mission Accomplished
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 22, 2024
It has been almost twenty years since Al Gore started his mission to drive young people insane with climate propaganda, and it appears he has been largely successful.
They Just Won’t Leave the Kids Alone
By Tony Thomas, Quadrant, Dec 21, 2024
I’m sure a peer-reviewed paper last March from its Disasters, Climate and Adversity Unit made a small contribution to this on-campus glory. The study is Growing up in Victoria, Australia, in the midst of the climate emergency. In this paper the all-female cohort of authors describe how they are turning schoolkids from the age of 12 into “Climate Superpowers” — shock troops, in other words, for the green blob — “developing themselves as agents of change”.
Teaching school children to be better leftist activists
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 27, 2024
In the ecosystem of civilization, the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] is just another batch of multinational barnacles slowing the ship down. These invertebrate filter feeders use taxpayer money to bore the taxpayers kids into submission to The Blob. They presumably hope the kids will grow up to vote for the Big Government Blob, thus boosting the river of money that flows past the barnacles.
OCR Want Climate Indoctrination Put Into School Curriculum
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 14, 2024
Forget teaching of Maths, English, Foreign Languages, History, Geography and Science, all of which need to be radically improved. Resources must be switched away from and towards indoctrination about the climate:
From Wikipedia: Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) is an examination board that sets examinations and awards qualifications (including GCSEs and A-levels). It is one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s five main examination boards.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Children for Propaganda
Fifteen-Year-Old Children In Australia Control The Weather
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 26, 2024
OECD Pushes Recruiting 15yr Old Child Climate Activists
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 26, 2024
Expanding the Orthodoxy
Why is the DoD focused on fighting climate change?
By Chris Talgo, American Thinker, Dec 13, 2024
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/12/why_is_the_dod_focused_on_fighting_climate_change.html
As Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wrote, “On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, making it administration policy that climate considerations will be an essential element of U.S. foreign policy and national security.”
Questioning European Green
As Germany’s Energy Crisis Heightens, Two Brief Windless Periods Pushes Grid To The Limit!
Two brief periods of wind doldrums and Germany’s power supply reaches its limits …
German Chemical Industry Association: “It’s desperate.”
By Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt, Via P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Dec 21, 2024
Wolfgang Große Entrup, Managing Director of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI): “It’s desperate. Our companies and our country cannot afford fair-weather production. We urgently need power plants that can step in safely.”
Norway Wants To Cut Energy Links To Europe
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 14, 2024
The economics of solar power in the UK
Lecture to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Manchester, 12th November 2024
By Gordon Hughes, Cloud Wisdom, Nov 16, 2024
https://cloudwisdom.substack.com/p/the-economics-of-solar-power-in-the?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1028331&post_id=151712515&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=4jv3wz&triedRedirect=true
The third aspect brings the micro and macro perspectives together to examine the viability of investment in solar power under different scenarios. The most important question is what level of subsidies will be required to achieve the targets for a rapid increase in the solar generating capacity within the next decade?
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Cautious Optimism On The Demise Of The Green Energy Fantasy
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Dec 21, 2024
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2024-12-21-cautious-optimism-on-the-demise-of-the-green-energy-fantasy
New Mexico Should Dump Its ‘Clean Energy’ Policies
By Kenneth Costello, Master Resource, Dec 18, 2024
“New Mexico has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. Higher energy prices are in effect a regressive tax that places low-income households in the state in peril.”
Non-Green Jobs
Nissan and Honda In Merger Talks
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 24, 2024
Nissan and Honda are in merger talks, as the forced transition to EVs threatens to bankrupt both of them.
Funding Issues
More States Being Staffed by UN Foundation Bucks
By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight, Dec 16, 2024
Link to: Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, 2023 (Form 990)
By Elizabeth Cousens, President and CEO, United Nations Foundation, Inc. Nov 14, 2024
AI finds the legal bombs: The Blob can’t hide things in 1,000-page OmniPork bills anymore
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 21, 2024
[SEPP Comment: The 1500-page US continuing resolution bill with sugar plums for the politically favored was objected to by the incoming President and failed.]
Internal Watchdog Urges Biden’s Green Loans Office To Stop Working On New Loans Amid Conflict-Of-Interest Concerns
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Dec 17, 2024
https://dailycaller.com/2024/12/17/internal-watchdog-urges-bidens-green-loans-office-to-stop-working-on-new-loans-amid-conflict-of-interest-concerns
Department of Energy (DOE) Inspector General Teri Donaldson wrote to Under Secretary of Energy for Infrastructure David Crane on Tuesday to inform him of preliminary findings that the Loan Programs Office (LPO) does not keep track of conflict-of-interest disclosures or waiver requests for its loans. Donaldson also said the LPO should “put into abeyance all loan and loan guarantee packages” until LPO can ensure that all appropriate safeguards are being observed.
The Political Games Continue
DoE Sued for “Pause” Docs Again
By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight, Dec 17, 2024
GAO has filed suit against the Biden-Harris DoE for the documents DoE identified as meeting the description of the 2023 LNG export study that, we are reliably informed, was performed, buried, then effectively lied about with the 2024 “pause-to-study” announcement.
Litigation Issues
Loper Bright Restores Balance Between Congress and Executive Branch
By Thom Golab, ACSH, Dec 18, 2024
https://www.acsh.org/news/2024/12/18/loper-bright-restores-balance-between-congress-and-executive-branch-49181
Let me give you some examples of administrative agencies, focusing on the EPA, because I have worked with them the most. Much of the research the EPA uses in drafting regulations is not available to the public. While the stated results are public, the methodologies and data are not. Of course, that violates the Founders’ view that the government must be transparent to keep it in check.
But the EPA wants new regulations requiring even further reductions on PM2.5 because asthma rates are still climbing. But the mere fact that our PM2.5 levels have dropped dramatically while asthma rates have increased should be a sign that PM2.5 isn’t the only cause of asthma.
[SEPP Comment: The Loper Bright decision overturned the “Chevron Deference.”]
Montana Supreme Court’s Held Decision: A Loss for Climate Realism and Common Sense
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Dec 19, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Montana Code Annotated 2023 states:]
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
ARTICLE IX. ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Part IX. ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Protection And Improvement
Section 1. Protection and improvement. (1) The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.
(2) The legislature shall provide for the administration and enforcement of this duty.
(3) The legislature shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources.
https://archive.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0000/article_0090/part_0010/section_0010/0000-0090-0010-0010.html]
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Denmark Passes the World’s First ‘Fart Tax’—But This is No Laughing Matter
By Paul Schwennesen, The Daily Economy, Dec 13, 2024 [H/t Ron Clutz]
Cow farts are a distraction, and the joke’s on us. The Danish tax is a significant step toward the state ownership of the means of production.
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
How a Small Chinese Company Tricked the German State | DW Investigation
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Dec 17, 2024
Video
DW uncovered that dozens of Chinese climate projects, certified by the German authorities as carbon credits under the upstream emission reduction scheme, failed to deliver on promises to save millions of tons of carbon emissions. A joint investigation by DW and ZDF reveals how Germany was deceived – and exposes the shadowy company Beijing Karbon behind the alleged fraud.
System Balancing Costs
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 15, 2024
Data from the Renewable Energy Foundation confirms that in the last 12 months, Seagreen supplied 1412 GWh to the grid, but was paid £62 million to not send 3020 GWh, which otherwise would have been generated and transmitted.
Why Wind Farm Constraint Payments Are Not The Same As CCGT Ones
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 20, 2024
Link to analysis: Notes on Wind Farm Constraint Payments
By Staff, Renewable Energy Foundation, Accessed Dec 20, 2024
https://ref.org.uk/energy-data/notes-on-wind-farm-constraint-payments
Homewood: The important point he [John Constable] stresses is that all generators receive the income for the electricity they have contracted to supply, even if they switch off at the request of the grid. For a gas generator, this means they still get their income, but don’t have to pay for fuel. They are therefore more than happy to pay the Grid to switch off.
Wind farms are the opposite. If they switch off, they lose their subsidies, which are payable over and above the market price they will receive anyway.
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Legal Expert Braden Boucek: Federal Government Rule Proposal Would ‘Make Boating Impossible’ in the Atlantic
By Kaitlin Housler, The Tennessee Star, Dec 11, 2024
In an attempt to protect the endangered Right Whale, the Biden administration’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed a new rule that would bar boaters from traveling over 10 knots, which is approximately the speed of a golf cart, through North Atlantic Right Whale seasonal management areas.
The new rule would apply to all vessels 35 feet in length.
Energy Issues – Non-US
Germany’s Economic and Political Suicide
By Tilak Doshi, The Daily Sceptic, Dec 27, 2024 [H/t Ron Clutz]
Germany Gets Dunkelf**ked Again, Norway to Dismantle Power Cables To Europe
By Robert Bryce, Via WUWT, Dec 5, 2024
Can Germany reboot its nuclear power industry?
By Doomberg, Dec 20, 2024
https://newsletter.doomberg.com/p/ctrlaltdelete?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=343139&post_id=153367837&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f7h7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
In the least surprising development of 2024, the wind stopped blowing across Europe for an extended period in mid-December. Further research reveals that solar intensity is likewise reduced in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter months, especially at night. Disturbingly, even an infinite installed capacity of wind and solar energy facilities is of little use against the deportment of Mother Nature, and neither stilled turbines nor dormant solar panels can charge a cell phone, let alone power an entire country.
Europe Wind power “sh*t situation”: Norway vows to cut cables, Sweden “furious” blames Germany
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 16, 2024
Unrealistic Plans For CCGTs
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 23, 2024
Link to analysis: Unrealistic plans for the CCGT fleet
By Kathryn Porter, Watt-Logic, Dec 19, 2024
CCGTs are inherently more complex than the simple steam cycle oil-based machines that operated on this basis in the past. The engineering of GTs is less robust and more “finicky” than STs. Some of the physical challenges associated with very low utilization include: [states 11 issues].
Ed Miliband’s offshore wind expansion is already doomed
By David Rose, UnHerd, Dec 13, 2024 [H/t Paul Homewood]
https://unherd.com/newsroom/ed-milibands-offshore-wind-expansion-is-already-doomed
If you venture 17 miles out to sea east off the Angus coast, you’ll find Seagreen, Scotland’s newest and biggest offshore wind farm.
Having become fully operational in late 2022, Seagreen generated an impressive quantity of power in the first 10 months of this year, which earned its operators some £70 million. But they were paid almost as much to switch its turbines off – at least £57 million.
How the Blob Sneaks Net Zero Amendments into British Laws
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Dec 19, 2024
But not so the unelected members of the British House of Lords, who have considerable powers of altering proposed legislation from the elected House of Commons. It is hardly surprising that the noble lords and ladies have been targeted by the Blob given the potential for inserting Net Zero mischief into almost every type of legislation. Step forward Peers for the Planet (P4P), which claims a ‘caucus’ of 160 members, but was started as an activist body and is funded by sizeable contributions from the usual billionaire foundations.
Households Drop Out Of Energy Rationing Scheme
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 15, 2024
If demand is not reduced voluntarily, the only other option is rolling blackouts.
Like Net Zero–But Worse
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 20, 2024
It is inevitable that Net Zero targets will increasingly fall by the wayside, as they become increasingly expensive and impractical. When that happens, we will surely see more, coordinated attempts by the likes of the CCC, the Green Blob and the Milibands of the world to force the UK into submission to their suicidal policies.
Labour has walked into a net-zero trap of its own making
By Rupert Darwall, The Spectator, Dec 20, 2024 [Paywalled]
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-has-walked-into-a-net-zero-trap-of-its-own-making
Excerpts: UK Labour Caught in Own Net-Zero Trap
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Dec 24, 2024
Why is energy giant Iran facing gas shortages?
By Amir Soltanzadeh, DW, Dec 19, 2024
Despite boasting massive gas reserves, Iran is facing power blackouts and industrial shutdowns. Years of mismanagement and false priorities threaten to turn the country into an energy importer.
Energy Issues – Australia
Even climate fanatics are having doubts
By Alan Moran, Regulatory Review, Dec 20, 2024
https://amoran.substack.com/p/even-climate-fanatics-are-having?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1824724&post_id=153434408&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f7h7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Time for another review of the electricity market…? Commonwealth and state ministers have established a new four-person commission, the NEM Wholesale Market Settings Review Panel, to advise on how better to administer an electricity market that endless subsidies and regulatory meddling has transformed from a world beater to among the developed world’s highest cost and unreliable supply.
Nuclear cannot match coal as a competitive electricity supply
By Alan Moran, Spectator Australia, Dec 17, 2024
Energy Issues — US
Energy Predictions: Reliable and Affordable Required
By Daniel Turner, Real Clear Energy, dec 17, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/12/17/energy_predictions_reliable_and_affordable_required_1079192.html
Energy Policy Is Now National Security Policy
By Mark Freedman, Jeff Kupfer, Real Clear Energy, Dec 19, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/12/19/energy_policy_is_now_national_security_policy_1079829.html
Securing the U.S. Electricity Grid Requires Major Reform
By Eric Olson, Real Clear Energy, Dec 23, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/12/23/securing_the_us_electricity_grid_requires_major_reform_1080499.html
America needs a subzero blackout prevention program
By David Wojick, CFACT, Dec 18, 2024
https://www.cfact.org/2024/12/18/america-needs-a-subzero-blackout-prevention-program
Our national vulnerability became clear in PJM’s near blackout during late 2021 Winter Storm Elliot. With little renewables capacity it was the gas supply system that nearly failed. We now know that switching from coal to gas makes America seriously vulnerable to deadly subzero blackouts.
[SEPP Comment: Storage for power generation during severe cold is vital. Unfortunately, storage is being ignored by utility regulators.]
International and state interference in US energy policy must end
By Paul Driessen, WUWT, Dec 19, 2024
Federal gas export study not the final word on LNG projects
A new analysis shows super-chilled methane harms the climate — but stops short of recommending a halt to the booming industry
By Pam Radtke, Floodlight, Dec 18, 2024
Link to report: Energy, Economic, and Environmental Assessment of U.S. LNG Exports
By OnLocation, Inc., for U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Resource Sustainability, December 2024
[SEPP Comment: The conclusions of the report rely heavily on carbon capture and storage.]
2025: The Year of the Gigawatt AI Project
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 26, 2024
How the Eco-Left Tried to Sneak a Little Green New Deal Into Your Gas Tank
By Larry Behrens, Real Clear Energy, Dec 20, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/12/20/how_the_eco-left_tried_to_sneak_a_little_green_new_deal_into_your_gas_tank_1079870.html
As Congress recently considered the 1,500+ page continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government, there was a sneaky provision tucked away in the bill designed to hit Americans where it hurts most: at the gas pump. Hidden in the text was a measure to allow for the year-round use of E15, a fuel blend containing 15% ethanol. It was clearly a Trojan horse provision for costly ethanol mandates that will drive up fuel prices and harm everyday consumers.
[SEPP Comment: In the summer ethanol can contribute to smog, a year-round mandate is a Trojan Horse given by the EPA. E15 is harmful to fuel-system parts made of plastic.]
Vineyard Wind 2 Project In Jeopardy After Connecticut Withdraws From Deal
By Colin A. Young, Nantucket Current, Dec 20, 2024
https://nantucketcurrent.com/news/vineyard-offshore-retreats-from-major-wind-project
Vineyard Offshore confirmed Friday afternoon that it is pulling the 800 megawatts that Massachusetts had selected from its 1,200 MW Vineyard Wind 2 project back from contract negotiations, saying the deal with Massachusetts was conditioned on Connecticut buying the remaining 400 MW.
Officials in Connecticut announced earlier Friday that their state selected new solar and electric storage projects, but not any new offshore wind projects, in its latest procurement round.
[SEPP Comment: The New England power dilemma: Without politically demonized fossil fuels and nuclear, only bad choices remain for reliable, affordable power – which is less bad?]
To Achieve American Energy Dominance, Trump Must Avoid ‘All-of-the-Above’ Rhetoric
By André Béliveau, Gabriella Hoffman, Real Clear Energy, Dec 17, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/12/17/to_achieve_american_energy_dominance_trump_must_avoid_all-of-the-above_rhetoric_1079282.html
There’s no reason to hide behind euphemistic rhetoric. The incoming administration should feel empowered to send eco-fundamentalists’ hyperbole and climate alarmism to the dustbin of history. It’s time to embrace energy abundance and responsible environmental stewardship.
[SEPP Comment: Until the costs of making wind and solar reliable are lower than the costs of fossil fuels, “All of the Above” is a futile strategy.]
Washington’s Control of Energy
Biden Admin Invoked ‘Indigenous Knowledge’ To Cut Alaska Drilling, But Some Tribal Leaders Are Ready For Trump
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Dec 26, 2024
https://dailycaller.com/2024/12/26/biden-administration-drilling-alaska-tribes-trump
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
‘Abject Nonsense’: Biden Admin’s New Report On Gas Exports Basically Undermines One Of Its Key Conclusions
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Dec 20, 2024
https://dailycaller.com/2024/12/20/biden-admins-report-lng-exports-undermines-conclusions
Outside Study Confirms Natural Gas Needed to Run Data Centers
By Stephen D. Haner, Thomas Jefferson Institute For Public Policy, Dec 16, 2024
The energy consulting firm Energy + Environmental Economics (E3) was retained by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to look at the future electricity demand created by Virginia’s prominent role in the data center industry. It produced several possible scenarios but all included expansion of natural gas and all caused significant rate increases, also a parallel conclusion from the Dominion IRP.
Return of King Coal?
Coal Use Hits Record High in 2024 Thanks to India and China
As media pushes fear about record “hot” temperatures, a review of the science shows our main focus should be energy security.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Dec 19, 2024
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/12/coal-use-hits-record-high-in-2024-thanks-to-india-and-china
The only takeaways from the coal use data are that countries with sensible leaders are looking to the energy needs of their citizens and that climate is too complex an issue to attribute to a gas that is 0.04% of Earth’s atmosphere.
IEA Coal Outlook Bad News For Miliband.
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 18, 2024
Link to report: Coal 2024
Analysis and forecast to 2027
By Staff, IEA, December 2024
https://www.iea.org/reports/coal-2024
From Executive summary: Global coal demand is set to reach a new all-time high in 2024…… but demand could plateau through 2027, depending on China
Faster growth in electricity use in China is pushing up coal demand there
[SEPP Comment: The IEA assumption depends not only on China but also India, Indonesia, and the rest of the BRICS countries who have had enough with UN claims and the IEA.]
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Nuclear Waste could be the game-changer to unlimited electricity
By Ronald Stein, Oliver Hemmers and Steve Curtis, America Outloud News, Dec 23, 2024
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Jigar Shah: End DOE’s Loans/Grants Now!
By David Bergeron, Master Resource, Dec 20, 2024
The author is a solar technologist and founder/CEO of SunDanzer, a free-market, off-grid solar company based in Tuscon, Arizona. Jigar Shah is director of the $400 billion Loan Programs Office in the U.S. Department of Energy.
Strong Winds Tonight and Tomorrow
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Dec 17, 2024
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/12/strong-winds-tonight-and-tomorrow.html
[SEPP Comment: At the end of the article, Mass gives a graph of the BPA Balancing Authority Total Wind Generation, Base Schedule, Basepoint and Oversupply Mitigation for the week ending Dec 17. BPA has the nation’s greatest hydropower, but elsewhere how does one balance such wind power without fast acting power plants such as natural gas turbines?]
When solar met wind
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 18, 2024
TotalEnergies Halts Offshore NY Wind Farm
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 20, 2024
Link to report: TotalEnergies halts planned New York offshore wind farm, cites Trump win as reason
CEO Patrick Pouyanne indicates that the Attentive Energy project could be revived in four years.
By Staff, Offshore, Nov 27, 2024
https://www.offshore-mag.com/renewable-energy/news/55246370/totalenergies-totalenergies-halts-planned-new-york-offshore-wind-farm-cites-trump-win-as-reason?o_eid=2438G1845512E3G&oly_enc_id=2438G1845512E3G&rdx.ident[pull]=omeda|2438G1845512E3G&utm_campaign=CPS241202202&utm_medium=email&utm_source=OFF+Renewable+Energy
Osage Tribe Wins Again, Federal Judge Orders “Ejectment” Of 84 Wind Turbines By Next December
Enel must spend $300 million to remove the turbines and pay $36 million in damages and attorney’s fees. Former head of Osage Minerals Council: “I’m so happy I can barely talk.”
By Robert Bryce, His Blog, Dec 20, 2024
https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/osage-tribe-wins-again-federal-judge?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=630873&post_id=153394676&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f7h7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
How U.S. Maritime Drives Offshore Wind Development
By Jennifer Carpenter , Anne Renyolds, Real Clear Energy, Dec 17, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/12/17/how_us_maritime_drives_offshore_wind_development_1079210.html
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Study: A Switch to Hydrogen Could Cause “Non-negligible” Global Warming
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 18, 2024
Link to paper: On the chemistry of the global warming potential of hydrogen
By Candice Chen, Susan Solomon and Kane Stone, Frontiers in Energy Research, Oct 27, 2024
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2024.1463450/full
The abstract begins: Hydrogen (H2) is considered a promising fuel to contribute to net-zero carbon emission goals.
[SEPP Comment: On Earth, pure Hydrogen is not a natural fuel – it must be manufactured, and it is extremely flammable.]
On the Origins of the US Forest Service
By Jane Shaw Stroup, Master Resource, Dec 16, 2024
The fundamental problem, however, was that the United States was not like Germany. Land, including timberland, was widely available and cheap. There was so much wood in the United States that prices weren’t high enough to justify regrowing the forests.
And consumption of wood was about to drop, as coal replaced wood as fuel, and brick replaced some of the wood used for housing. In 1907, two years after Roosevelt’s “timber famine” speech, wood consumption peaked in the U.S., not to return to such a height for 70 years.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage
Lithium Battery Incidents on US Flights Occur Weekly on Average, FAA Data Show
Federal legislation that seeks to tackle the fire risk posed by lithium batteries is being considered.
By Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times, Dec 20, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/lithium-battery-incidents-on-us-flights-occur-weekly-on-average-faa-data-show-5779707?utm_source=Goodevening&src_src=Goodevening&utm_campaign=gv-2024-12-20&src_cmp=gv-2024-12-20&utm_medium=email&est=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY%2B8gfwEs0MDA47xAvWpUyKDc724qoB4H4MMrPANDaQ%3D%3D
Battery packs and batteries accounted for the bulk of these incidents, with 229 events, followed by e-cigarettes/vape devices with 122, cell phones with 81, laptops with 70, and the rest involving other electronic and medical devices.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Biden administration grants California waiver to ban gas car sales in 2035
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Dec 18, 2024
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5046264-california-emissions-rules-gas-car-sales-ban-epa-approves
Link to: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Omnibus Regulation and Associated Amendments
By Staff, California Air Resources Board, Dec 22, 2021
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/rulemaking/2020/hdomnibuslownox
Next EV Battle Pits Truckers And Red States Against California-Led ‘Cartel’
By Ireland Owens, Daily Caller, Dec 26, 2024
https://dailycaller.com/2024/12/26/electric-vehicle-battle-red-states-truckers-california
Government Disinformation On EVs
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 26, 2024
The so-called “industry research” comes not from the car industry at all, but from the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), who would be better described as a Disinformation Unit. [SEPP Comment: Deceptive practices infect UK government entities as well as US government entities.]
Carbon Schemes
Mad Miliband’s Carbon Capture Will Be Funded From Energy Bills
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 16, 2024
California Dreaming
Biden administration offers California’s PG&E up to $15B loan to boost climate resilience
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Dec 17, 2024
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5044292-biden-loan-guarantee-pge
The funds, which would come from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, would serve PG&E’s Project Polaris — a portfolio of initiatives to expand hydropower generation and battery storage, upgrade grid transmission capacity and enable the establishment of virtual power plants.
[SEPP Comment: After years of neglect to clear vegetation from power lines, now the state qualifies for billions claiming “climate change” did it? California is shutting down hydropower in the Klamath River. According to DOE: “Virtual power plants, generally considered a connected aggregation of distributed energy resource (DER) technologies, offer deeper integration of renewables and demand flexibility, which in turn offers more Americans cleaner and more affordable power.]
https://www.energy.gov/lpo/virtual-power-plants
California Gets a Climate Bailout
As electricity rates soar, Biden gives PG&E a $15 billion low-cost loan.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, Dec. 18, 2024 [Paywalled]
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/california-climate-bailout-biden-energy-department-pacific-gas-and-electric-subsidies-8495cf2d?mod=opinion_lead_pos3
The DOE loan is intended to reduce the cost to Californians of their green-energy buildout. But on the day it was announced the Energy Department Inspector General recommended that loans be halted after finding inadequate controls for financial conflicts of interest to prevent waste, fraud and abuse.
Debunking the Myth of Oil Refiner Price Gouging in California
By Robert Rapier, Oil Price.com, Dec 21, 2024
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Gas-Prices/Debunking-the-Myth-of-Oil-Refiner-Price-Gouging-in-California.html
SB-1322 may have been designed to shine a light on oil refiners, but its findings reveal a fundamental truth: California itself profits more from gasoline sales than the refiners do. When operational costs are factored in, the profits earned by refiners are minimal.
EPA Must Stand Up for Common Sense Sustainability in California
By Jennifer Carpenter, Real Clear Energy, Dec 18, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/12/18/epa_must_stand_up_for_common_sense_sustainability_in_california_1079296.html
Jennifer Carpenter is President & CEO of the American Waterways Operators, the trade association of the American tugboat, towboat and barge industry.
Health, Energy, and Climate
Cold weather-related deaths rising in US: Study
By Filip Timotija, The Hill, Dec 20, 2024
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5051475-deaths-cold-weather-rises-study
Link to paper: Cold-Related Deaths in the US
By Michael Liu, et al., JAMA, Dec 19, 2024
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2828342
Claim: 1300 People Dying of Heat Stress on the Pilgrimage to Mecca is Proof of the Climate Apocalypse
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 20, 2024
Link to Article, More than 1,300 Hajj pilgrims died this year when humidity and heat pushed past survivable limits. It’s just the start
By Emma Ramsay and Shata Barley, The Conversation, Dec 28, 2024
https://theconversation.com/more-than-1-300-hajj-pilgrims-died-this-year-when-humidity-and-heat-pushed-past-survivable-limits-its-just-the-start-245271
[SEPP Comment: Another example why climate acclimation is important for ground troops.]
Environmental Industry
Attacking Newsom’s climate agenda, environmental activists launch ad campaign in battleground states
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Dec 16, 2024
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5043185-newsom-climate-agenda-aliso-canyon-ad-campaign
Food & Water Action, the lobbying arm of the national group Food & Water Watch, is behind a 30-second ad slamming Newsom for failing to make good on promises to shut down the contentious Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility.
[SEPP Comment: Another green group that detests reliable energy.]
The Sierra Club’s Temper Tantrum
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Dec 27, 2024
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
California Reported to Have Quasi-Cannibal Ground Squirrels
State’s squirrels spotted hunting and decapitating voles (another member of the rodent family). The study’s leader cited human-caused “climate change” while praising this adaptive dietary flexibility.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Dec 22, 2024
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/12/california-reported-to-have-quasi-cannibal-ground-squirrels
[SEPP Comment: Naive ecologists: Squirrels are omnivores and will eat small snakes, lizards, mice, insects and eggs, a trait long observed in California ground squirrels.
Tampering with Milk: The Backlash Against Bovaer and the Hubris of Climate Zealots
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Dec 16, 2024
Bovaer, a feed additive designed to reduce methane emissions from cows, marketed as a “climate-friendly” solution. It’s now being shelved by Norwegian dairy producer Q-Meieriene after consumers flatly rejected its so-called “climate milk.”
GM High Yield Potatoes are Now “Climate Change Resistant”?
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 19, 2024
A new twist in European Genetically Modified Food politics?
How Feminism Can Guide Climate Change Action
Feminism gives us the analysis, tools and movement to create a better climate future for everyone. It’s time to embrace it.
By Laura Turquet, Silke Staab & Brianna Howell, Scientific American, Dec 21, 2024 [H/t Dennis Ambler]
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-feminism-can-guide-climate-change-action
[SEPP Comment: When the next Ice Age comes, will feminists stand in front of glaciers demanding them to stop, or will they deny sex to males as in Lysistrata by Aristophanes to stop a war?]
Feminism Can’t Fix Climate Change (But Nothing Else Can Either)
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Dec 23, 2024
See link immediately above
Homophobic Greenhouse Gases
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 17, 2024
UCLA experts have determined that carbon dioxide is targeting homosexuals.
Let the Hate Flow: 13 Types of Climate Activist Anger
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 23, 2024
Link to paper: The various forms of anger about climate change in Australia and their relations with self-reported actions, intentions, and distress
By Samantha K. Stanley, et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology, February 2025
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494424002639?via%3Dihub
Is Nothing Sacred? NOAA Maligns Climate and Christmas Trees
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Dec 26, 2024
ARTICLES
The Right Way for Trump to Ditch the Paris Agreement
Trump plans to withdraw from it. In doing so, he can show the world a better way to reduce emissions.
By Steven E. Koonin, WSJ, Dec. 16, 2024
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-right-way-to-ditch-the-paris-agreement-trump-energy-emissions-2e84fe21?mod=opinion_lead_pos8
The senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and author of “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters” begins:
“Donald Trump intends to leave the Paris Agreement on climate change again. He could do so in a way that benefits not only the U.S. but also the rest of the world and the climate.
The Paris Agreement has foundered on fundamentals. Despite years of effort, global greenhouse-gas emissions continue to increase. Developed countries are falling short of their aggressive emission-reduction goals, and their economies can’t handle the costs and disruptions of rapid decarbonization. Developing countries are focused on securing a ‘green climate fund’ of $1.3 trillion a year from the rich countries, as discussed at last month’s United Nations climate summit. Never mind that developed countries can’t even afford their own green efforts.
Mr. Trump should highlight these failings and the absent evidence of a ‘climate emergency’ as part of an explanation for the country’s exit from the agreement. Providing this rationale would create a moment for European countries to admit that the climate emperor has no clothes, giving them license to confront the awkward and obvious truths they’ve been avoiding for years.
In its withdrawal, the U.S. should urge all nations to eliminate energy poverty. Energy inequalities across the globe are astounding. On average, an American citizen uses 30 times as much energy as a Nigerian does. There are also inequalities within our own borders: More than a third of U.S. households experience some form of energy insecurity. That fraction will increase if decarbonization efforts continue their current course.
Washington’s goal should be energy for all. Providing affordable and reliable energy, no matter the source, would do far more good for humanity than discouraging fossil fuels based on fear of some vague climate catastrophe. U.S. leadership on this front would counter China’s influence in the Third World through its Belt and Road Initiative. American efforts would increase demand for U.S. energy and energy-technology exports, setting the stage for the future deployment of cost-effective clean technology around the globe.”
After discussing the importance of developing energy technology, Mr. Koonin concludes:
“It will take a year for a withdrawal from the Paris Agreement to take effect. Mr. Trump could use that time to highlight the agreement’s failures, plan a global ‘energy for all’ program and strengthen efforts to develop cleaner tech. Doing so would show how futile and destructive the world’s current efforts to reduce emissions really are, and chart a healthier path for the planet.”
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