EVIDENCE THAT PROVES THE ALPS WERE WARMER 4000 YEARS AGO

Some people think that we are living in the hottest  period in the last 100,000 years. This is simply not the case and the evidence comes from research by a very distinguished Swiss scientist, Dr. Christian Schlüchter, who discovered 4,000-year-old tree stumps lying underneath a retreating Swiss glacier.

This finding indicated that the Alps were pretty nearly glacier-free at that time, disproving accepted theories that they only began retreating after the end of the little ice age in the mid-19th century. As he concluded, the region had once been much warmer than today.

Dr. Schlüchter has a distinguished reputation as a giant in the field of geology and paleoclimatology and has authored/co-authored more than 250 papers and is a professor emeritus at the University of Bern in Switzerland.  However following the ancient forest discovery some scientists tried to undermine its significance. As he observes in a recent interview, “I wasn’t supposed to find that chunk of wood because I didn’t belong to the close-knit circle of Holocene and climate researchers.  My findings thus caught many experts off guard."

Other evidence exists that there is really nothing new about dramatic glacier advances and retreats. In fact the Alps were nearly glacier-free again about 2,000 years ago. Schlüchter points out that “the forest line was much higher than it is today; there were hardly any glaciers. Nowhere in the detailed travel accounts from Roman times are glaciers mentioned.” His studies and analyses of a Rhone glacier area reveal that “the rock surface had [previously] been ice-free in 5,800 of the last 10,000 years."

Such changes can occur very rapidly. His research team was stunned to find trunks of huge trees near the edge of Mont Miné Glacier which had all died in just a single year. They determined that time to be 8,200 years ago based upon oxygen isotopes in the Greenland ice which indicated marked cooling.

Clearly these discoveries leave some interesting questions about what caused the glaciers to grow and then retreat over the past 10,000 years. There must be important mechanisms at work that we are at present unable to understand.

UPDATE - link replaced as it did not work. here it is.

CLIMATE EXTREMISTS TO TARGET MEDIA IN MAJOR DISRUPTION

This article explains what is being planned. Clearly freedom is under attack by these people who think they can do as they like because they have been treated so leniently by the law in previous demonstrations. Unless the authorities show they can stand up to them we are in for some serious disruption.

CLIMATE SCEPTIC EDITS TODAY PROGRAMME

Yesterday morning the BBC's flagship current affairs radio programme was edited by a guest, Charles Moore, who holds strong views on a number of issues including climate change. He succeeded in getting two interviews with members of the Global Warming Policy Foundation on the programme. You can listen to the whole two hour programme here. Some of the key points are highlighted on Paul Homewood's excellent blog here.

UPDATE
Paul has published an excellent piece on BBC bias here.

USA TO ABOLISH SUBSIDIES FOR WIND AND SOLAR ENERGY

This article gives the details. After years of supersonic growth — wind and solar accounted for more than 60 percent of new generation on the U.S. power grid this year — the end of the tax credits could well mark the beginning of a sobering period for wind and solar developers. Of the approximately $18 billion the federal government spends on energy subsidies each year, more than 60 percent goes to renewable energy.

MORE EVIDENCE TO SHOW LACK OF CORRELATION BETWEEN CO2 AND TEMPERATURE

Here is another article looking at the link between CO2 levels and Earth's temperature.

NO CLEAR LINK BETWEEN CO2 AND WARMING IN LAST 425 MILLION YEARS SAYS STUDY

Here is the article. In a linked article other researchers document 8-16°C climate warmings in Greenland that extended to both hemispheres between about 80 and 15 thousand years ago. (Though global in scope, temperature changes were less pronounced outside Greenland.)

These abrupt warmings occurred within decades (or less), and they occurred without any CO2 fluctuation before or after the change. CO2 hovered around 190 ppm to 200 ppm throughout each warming and cooling event.

THE AUSTRALIAN HEATWAVE

There has been a lot of coverage of the current heatwave in Australia. Here is a good article to put it into context. It shows that the current heatwave is not unprecedented and relates it to some extreme weather in 1896 which the authorities seem reluctant to admit was real.  A story which sounds familiar. 

More here.

SHORT VIDEO TO DEBUNK CLIMATE ALARMISM

Here is a short video which debunks the fear-mongering of climate alarmists, such as Greta Thunberg. It is time for more of this to counter the daily alarmism which is pumped out by our main media.

NEWS MEDIA VASTLY EXAGGERATE THE HOT WEATHER IN AUSTRALIA

This short video by Tony Heller explains why claims of the "hottest day in Australia's history" are clearly exaggerations, or lies. There seems to be concerted effort on the part of the media to publicise any claims of heat records or wild fires to fix the idea in people's minds that something very scary is happening, when in fact these are simply extreme weather events which have happened in the past and are part of the kind of weather that we have to cope with.

TAKE THE CLIMATE PREDICTION QUIZ

This quiz will remind you of all the predictions of doom that alarmists have made over the years and more importantly that none of them came true. We need to remind ourselves of this every time the media tell us of yet another one. 

INDIA'S FOSSIL FUEL FIRST POLICY MEANS ANY CLIMATE DEAL IS HOPELESS

India’s Fossil-Fuel-First Policy Unyielding To Paris Climate Deal Pressure
Vijay Raj Jayaraj, Global Warming Policy Forum, 12 December 2019
 
The Indian government has adopted a fossil-fuel-first attitude and has made clear it will not compromise on India’s developmental goals.
 

Source: The Economic Times of India
 
The Paris Agreement is the United Nation’s flagship climate treaty aimed at reducing global CO2 emissions.
India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the country’s official commitment to Paris agreement, states that the total preliminary estimated cost for India’s climate change actions (between 2016 and 2030) are $2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices).
 
However, the proposed actions include no significant measures to curb India’s fossil fuel use or production. Moreover, the NDC states that the country reserves the right to overturn its commitments if the proposed climate mitigatory actions causes any impedance to the growth of individual economic sectors.
 
Earlier this year, the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, responding to Michael R. Bloomberg’s question on reducing coal, remarked,
 
This is right that the world’s third largest coal reserves is in India. In a poor country like India, we cannot ignore it but there is a solution to it…. We cannot deny the resources and assets that India has but we want to see how can we make use of these assets in an environment-friendly way. That is what we are focusing on.”
 
He reiterated on India’s renewable energy installations and said India is on track to achieve its 175 gigawatts capacity target from solar, wind and biomass (by 2022) and that he hopes India will increase the renewable target to 450 gigawatts in the near future.
 
India is also the key member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) which aims to reduce the cost of solar power installations across the globe. ISA has pledged a trillion US dollars towards the cause.
 
In August, during his speech at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, PM Modi mentioned that India is looking forward to “create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.”
 
Though India has increasing its renewable installations and desires to create carbon sinks, its dependency on fossil fuels remains unaffected and unaltered. The scope for any reduction in fossil fuel consumption is slim to none, as India has excluded the fossil fuel sector from its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted to the Consortium of Parties (COP) of the Paris agreement. 
 
Currently, coal contributes about 72% of the total electricity generated in the country. India’s coal reserves are the third largest in the world. According to country’s long-term energy plan, coal is expected to contribute around 50% of total electricity demand in 2047, as renewables are expected to increase in India’s energy mix.
 
It is to be noted that the Indian government is also investing heavily in domestic coal infrastructure. Most of the current coal mining and handling systems at the state-run Coal India limited (CIL) are non-mechanized and the government is injecting 2.1 billion GBP to mechanize 35 projects.
 
Coal mining target is set at around 880 million tonnes for 2024. But the government is pushing to achieve 1 billion tonnes as soon as possible. News reports indicate that the government is set to announce key measures, including a relaxation of norms and issuance of global tenders, to attract large international miners to operate in the country.
 
Both the coal secretary and the coal minister have stressed the need to “urgently expand coal production” and “achieve the 1 billion tonnes target at the earliest”. In order to boost the domestic production, the Modi government is keen on liberalizing the coal sector and pushing for the maximum possible foreign direct investment. Under PM Modi’s rule, the country has added around 82 Gigawatts of coal power plants.
 
India’s thermal coal import grew by 19 percent in 2018, the highest ever, amounting to an total import of 172 million tonnes. In November 2019, Indian energy executives met Russian counterparts and the Russian ambassador to India in order to expediate the coal import from Russia.
 
The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, said “Long-term cooperation with Russian Far East in the coal sector will help India bridge the demand gap of coking coal in the country”. He also mentioned that the country is looking to “secure more coking coal for the domestic steel industry.”
 
Coal is just one aspect of India’s fossil aspirations. Oil import is also on a constant increase. The import from U.S. especially is at an all-time high and has skyrocketed in recent years owing to geopolitical tensions in the middle east. Energy trade was an important agenda of PM Modi’s visit to the U.S. in 2019 and the India’s trade with them is likely to increase by 40 percent in 2019-20, amounting to USD 10 billion.
 
Just days before the New York climate summit this year, Modi’s government released an update to their climate and finance policy in a document titled “Climate Summit for Enhanced Action: A Financial Perspective from India”. It outlaid India’s course of climate action and its reservations about the lack of climate funding from the developed nations (around 40 percent short of the USD 100 billion).
 
The report explicitly states “Despite the various climate finance decisions, there are attempts by some developed country Parties to shrug off even their modest past responsibilities.” While the document reiterates the country’s commitment to climate action (including mitigate climate change and promoting renewable energy), it clearly communicates that its efforts are on “best effort” basis.
 
Full post

TEN YEARS ON FROM THE COPENHAGEN CLIMATE AGREEMENT - WHAT'S HAPPENED?

This article explains that there has been very little progress. In fact things are much worse if you believe that CO2 emissions should be falling. Most countries actually don't believe that at all. As for giving money to poorer countries, that has hardly materialised at all, apart from the UK, who seem to be the prize mugs in dishing out overseas aid like a drunk spending his inheritance.

OXFORD CITY COUNCIL TO SPEND £19 MILLION TO BE CARBON NEUTRAL BY 2020

This report gives the details. Lucky taxpayers of Oxford! I am sure they are delighted to hear this news, knowing that as world wide emissions go on rising they can feel smug in the knowledge that their council is making a futile gesture principled stand to show the world how much they care, even though it will not make the slightest difference to the weather or climate.

POST DELETED

This post has had to be deleted as it caused big problems by forming a page that completely covered the front of the blog. It linked to an article on Cfact

TRUMPED UP CLIMATE CHARGE REJECTED BY USA COURT

This article explains how a New York Supreme Court judge has rejected the state of New York’s claim that Exxon Mobil misled investors in accounting for the financial risks of global warming 
New York Assistant Attorney General, Jonathan Zweig announced during his closing statement that the state would no longer be claiming that Exxon knowingly and wilfully misled investors on how it accounts for the financial risks of climate change.

Serves the numbsbulls running New York State right for wasting the court's time and the people's money in bringing such a ridiculous claim to court in the first place. 

SURVEY TO BAN CHRISTMAS LIGHTS TO SAVE PLANET

This article looks at this survey. The thing about surveys is that they record the answer to a hypothetical question. People often claim they would do something, but that does not actually mean they would do it. It would be extraordinary if any government proposed to ban Christmas lights.

UK GENERAL ELECTION - CLIMATE ALARMISTS MARGINALISED

Despite all the prominence given in the news to climate alarm the UK General Election showed no enthusiasm towards parties like the Greens or the Lib Dems or Labour who had featured key policies to spend large amounts of money on it. In fact the result showed the public were far more concerned with deivering Brexit. 

The climate sceptic candidate I mentioned unfortunately did not get elected, but I don't think his scepticism was a factor  - it was most likely because he stood in a seat where the voters were for remaining in the EU and he was for Brexit.

However this MP got re-elected again despite making clear his sceptic views on the climate change issue.

I really hope that more MPs will feel able to speak up against the cult of climate hysteria. They will be doing a real service to their constituents.

PROMINENT SCIENTISTS REFUTE THE GW CONSENSUS

Prominent scientists are bailing out of the so-called “consensus” on “global warming.” 

Renowned Princeton Physicist Freeman Dyson: "I’m 100% Democrat and I like Obama. But he took the wrong side on climate issue, and the Republicans took the right side." Dyson: “The effects of CO2 on climate are really very poorly understood …  The experts all seem to think they understand it, I don’t think they do.  … Climate is a very complicated story. And we may or may not understand it better (in the future). The main thing that is lacking at the moment is humility. The climate experts have set themselves up as being the guardians of the truth and they think they have the truth and that is a dangerous situation.”

Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist Dr. Ivar Giaever, Who Endorsed Obama Now Says Prez. is "Ridiculous" & "Dead Wrong" on "Global Warming." Dr. Ivar Giaever: “Global warming is a nonproblem” – “'I say this to Obama: Excuse me, Mr. President, but you're wrong. Dead wrong.” “Global warming really has become a new religion.” 10

Climate scientist Dr. Anastasios Tsonis retires, then declares “I am a skeptic” in 2019 – Offers to debate – Rejects ‘denier’ label: ‘We don’t live in medieval times.” Tsonis, an emeritus distinguished professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, authored more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and nine books. “I am a skeptic not just about global warming but also about many other aspects of science.  … Climate is too complicated to attribute its variability to one cause. We first need to understand the natural climate variability (which we clearly don’t; I can debate anybody on this issue). Only then we can assess the magnitude and reasons of climate change.” “If science were settled, then we should pack things up and go home,” he added. “The fact that scientists who show results not aligned with the mainstream are labeled deniers is the backward mentality. We don’t live in medieval times,” he added. 

Green Guru James Lovelock reverses belief in "global warming": Now says "I’m not sure the whole thing isn’t crazy." Condemns Green movement: “It’s a religion really, It’s totally unscientific.” 11

UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist: Global warming fears are the “worst scientific scandal in history … When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.” 12

UN IPCC Lead Author Dr. Richard Tol ripped the  warmist narrative: Tol called  Gore’s claims “complete madness.” “It disturbs me hearing people like Al Gore say that he is worried about the future of his grandchildren. Complete madness.” 13


10 65th Nobel Laureate Conference in Lindau, Germany - July 1,, 2015
11 UK Guardian - Sept. 30, 2016
12 Climate Depot Special Report - August 21, 2013
13 Climate Depot Special Report - January 7, 2016

GLOBAL TEMPERATURES HOLDING STEADY FOR TWO DECADES

Global temperatures have been holding nearly steady for almost two decades according to satellites from the Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH).6 You will never see that in the mass media.

2018 is the 3rd year in a row of cooling global temperatures – So far 2018 was the third year in a row that the globe has cooled off from its El Nino peak set in 2015.

Norwegian Professor Ole Humlum explained in his 2018 “State of the Climate Report”: “After the warm year of 2016, temperatures last year (in 2018) continued to fall back to levels of the so-called warming ‘pause’ of 2000-2015. There is no sign of any acceleration in global temperature, hurricanes or sea-level rise. These empirical observations show no sign of acceleration whatsoever.”

While 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2016 were declared the “hottest years” or “near -hottest,”  based on heavily altered surface data by global warming proponents, a closer examination revealed the claims were “based on year-to-year temperature data that differs by only a few HUNDREDTHS of a degree to tenths of a degree Fahrenheit – differences that were within the margin of error in the data.” 7

MIT climate scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen ridiculed “hottest year” claims. “The uncertainty here is tenths of a degree. It’s just nonsense. This is a very tiny change period,” Lindzen said. “If you can adjust temperatures to 2/10ths of a degree, it means it wasn’t certain to 2/10ths of a degree.”

In 2015, the Associated Press was forced to issue a “clarification” on “hottest year” claims, stating in part: “The story also reported that 2014 was the hottest year on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, but did not include the caveat that other recent years had average temperatures that were almost as high  – and they all fall within a margin of error that lessens the certainty that any one of the years was the hottest.”

Climatologist Pat Michaels explained that, in any case, the world’s temperature “should be near the top of the record given the record only begins in the late 19th century when the surface temperature was still reverberating from the Little Ice Age.”

“Hottest year” claims are purely political statements designed to persuade the public that the government needs to take action on man-made climate change. In addition, the claims of “hottest year” are based on surface data only dating back to the late 19th century, and also ignore the temperature revisions made by NASA and NOAA that have enhanced the warming trend by retroactively cooling the past. 8

 6 The Pause Lives on: Global Satellites: 2016 not Statistically Warmer than 1998 – Climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer - January 4, 2017
7 Dr. David Whitehouse noted the 'temperature pause never went away' - January 19, 2017
8 Climate analyst Tony Heller - Real Climate Science - February 14, 2017

SOMETHING TO TELL THE WIND ENERGY ENTHUSIASTS

Next time someone talks about wind energy as a means to save the planet tell them about the following: 

Time Magazine’s ‘Hero of the Environment’ Michael Shellenberger exposed wind/solar power claims in 2019, explaining that “renewables can’t save the planet.”  "I came to understand the environmental implications of the physics of energy. In order to produce significant amounts of electricity from weak energy flows, you just have to spread them over enormous areas. In other words, the trouble with renewables isn’t fundamentally technical—it’s natural. Dealing with energy sources that are inherently unreliable, and require large amounts of land, comes at a high economic cost,” Shellenberger wrote. 

Shellenberger continued: "As for house cats, they don’t kill big, rare, threatened birds. What house cats kill are small, common birds, like sparrows, robins and jays. What kills big, threatened, and endangered birds—birds that could go extinct—like hawks, eagles, owls, and condors, are wind turbines. In fact, wind turbines are the most serious new threat to important bird species to emerge in decades. The rapidly spinning turbines act like an apex predator which big birds never evolved to deal with."

He added: "In order to build one of the biggest solar farms in California the developers hired biologists to pull threatened desert tortoises from their burrows, put them on the back of pickup trucks, transport them, and cage them in pens where many ended up dying."

NEW SHORT VIDEOS DEBUNK ALARMIST JUNK SCIENCE

Two new short videos from Tony Heller can be viewed here and here from the master of communication on climate. Simplicity, clarity and brevity makes for a powerful message. Tony should get an award for his contribution which deserves a much wider audience.

UK CLIMATE OUTLOOK - NEW VIDEO

Here's a great new brief video from Tony Heller showing how the climate alarmists are having great difficulty in deciding what the climate of the UK is going to be like. His gentle humour combined with actual press cuttings make his point in a very effective way. Humour is a great weapon if used effectively as Tony does. 

JOURNALIST ASKS AWKWARD QUESTIONS OF CLIMATE EXTREMISTS

Here is the article containing some excellent probing questions leading to some revealing answers. If only all journalists would do the key work of interrogating the wild claims of these activists we might get a more sensible debate instead of one-sided propaganda forced on us day after day with ever more ludicrous claims which, when they don't materialise, will only increase doubts over the whole hypothesis.

CLIMATE HYSTERIA MEETS DIPLOMACY IN MADRID

This article highlights the growing gulf between what the governments of the world are prepared to do and what the hysterical climate zealots, such as teenager Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion want. 

Here is a short extract: "COP 25 is real negotiations, by real countries, over real issues. The issues are stupid, but still real, because they can lead to really stupid national actions. This I call the moderate camp of alarmists. The hysterics want impossible actions, stuff that cannot happen, which sets them against the moderates."

HOW MUCH WARMER WAS THE LAST DECADE THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE?

This piece attempts to give an answer. The figure they give is 0.158 +/_ 0.096 which equates to between 0.062 and 0.254 degrees C. I admit I am not an expert in statistics but for such a small number the range seems huge with the second figure being over four times the first. I wonder if it is even possible to measure such a small amount with any certainty. It could not be noticed by humans using their senses. 

PROOF THAT 98% OF AIR PASSENGERS DON'T CARE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Here is the proof.  Fake surveys keep telling us how much the public want action on climate change. Part of the aim is to scare politicians and trick them into thinking that voters won’t vote for sceptics and will be happy to pay more for electricity, food, cars, and everything. But the awful truth is that the voters “vote” with their own wallets every time they fly, and 98% of them don’t care enough to spend a single dollar. That’s even when the airlines do all the work and just ask their customers to “tick a box”.

That tells us exactly how much the punters are panicking about climate change, and suggests that most western democracies are absolutely ripe-for-the-picking for any politician with the balls to make the case that trying (and failing) to change the global weather will cost a fortune, and the costs will all go back to voters, and it’s an insane waste of money.

The only reason voters ever tick the “we should do more” box is when they think “the government”, i.e. someone else, will have to pay for it.

BANK OF ENGLAND GOVERNOR TO TAKE UP UNPAID UN CLIMATE JOB

This article confirms that the current Bank of England governor, Mark Carney,has been appointed UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. It is amazing how many well-educated people have become completely convinced that fighting climate change is so vitally important. My first thought was that this was a well-paid job, but no it is an unpaid position. I'm sure Mark Carney is not in need of a paid job, but it seems that he must actually believe in what he is doing.

GRETA THUNBERG REVEALS HER TRUE AIM - COMMUNISM

This article reveals that Danish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, is not just a climate change activist, but in fact a communist who, like Extinction Rebellion wants to redistribute the world's wealth. Like every communist before her she believes she can create a more equal world, but as she will learn as she gets older,  not only does every communist have a different idea about how this should be done, but also she will discover that the leaders will always corrupt the system to suit themselves.

EU POLITICIANS BEGIN TO BREAK RANKS OVER CLIMATE

See here for details. While they were still defeated it is remarkable that so many voted against, as the EU has been so vocal in demanding action on climate change. It marks a departure from the consensus that has been in place for so long. Could it be that some politicians are beginning to realise the dark tunnel that they are about to enter if they pursue the present course.

CLIMATE SCEPTICS CAN, AND DO, WIN ELECTIONS

Here is some news from earlier in the year that somehow escaped me at the time. It concerns elections held in the Netherlands in which a political party campaigned specifically against the policies being put forward by the governing party and other opposition parties to deal with climate change. The result was that they actually became the largest party. This shows that despite the non-stop one-sided propaganda being put out by the media, when given an alternative to the costly climate policies, a substantial number of voters are ready to vote for them.

THE CRAZY WORLD OF THE IPCC

Here is a good piece which shows the crazy way the IPCC reaches decisions on the final text of climate change reports. What it shows is that these so-called Summaries for Policymakers are nothing more than the result of political bargaining and do not actually represent what scientists think at all. More on this Here.