Month: May 2017

Climate skeptic instructor fired from Oregon State University

Older article – one of the first political firings….

Watts Up With That?

Gordon Fulks sends this summary of the situation and asks that it be distributed. I’m happy to oblige. For some background on Dr. Drapela’s skeptical views, this slideshow “Global Warming Cracked Open” might give some insight into OSU’s booting him out.  – Anthony

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From Gordon Fulks:

Hello Everyone,

In theory at least Oregon State University (OSU) seems to be a bastion of academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance. A wide range of ideas are openly discussed. The most viable rise to the top and the least viable fade away. But it is all a fairy tale, because OSU operates under a politically correct regimen that dictates what is acceptable to say and what is not. Transgressors who dare to be different are eventually weeded out so that the campus maintains its ideological purity.

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California Governor Brown imposing massive regulations for meaningless climate goals

Watts Up With That?

Guest essay by Larry Hamlin

California Governor Brown’s SB 32 law requiring the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to levels 40% below levels measured in 1990 is necessitating the development of massive numbers of new regulations and policy that will allow the state government to control and dictate virtually every aspect of Californian’s lives including:

  • where and how they can live,
  • what kind of jobs and businesses they can work in,
  • what kind of housing they can have,
  • what kind of car they can drive (if any),
  • how many miles can they drive,
  • what kind of public transportation they must use,
  • how many times they must walk and bicycle,
  • how much and what kind of energy they can use,
  • what kind and how food can be farmed,

etc, etc.

The AB 32 year 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets (year 2020 levels reduced to year 1990 measured levels) could…

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How do climate models work?

ClimateSight

Also published at Skeptical Science

This is a climate model:

T = [(1-α)S/(4εσ)]1/4

(T is temperature, α is the albedo, S is the incoming solar radiation, ε is the emissivity, and σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant)

An extremely simplified climate model, that is. It’s one line long, and is at the heart of every computer model of global warming. Using basic thermodynamics, it calculates the temperature of the Earth based on incoming sunlight and the reflectivity of the surface. The model is zero-dimensional, treating the Earth as a point mass at a fixed time. It doesn’t consider the greenhouse effect, ocean currents, nutrient cycles, volcanoes, or pollution.

If you fix these deficiencies, the model becomes more and more complex. You have to derive many variables from physical laws, and use empirical data to approximate certain values. You have to repeat the calculations over and over for different parts of…

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Global Fatcats Urge More Carbon Pricing, Climate Policy Continuity

Watts Up With That?

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, whose members control eighteen trillion dollars in assets, has urged the world’s governments to shovel more taxpayers’ money into their pockets.

https://cloudup.com/cmQNgtS76xE

Source: http://www.iigcc.org/files/publication-files/Briefing_Paper_for_G7__G20.pdf

The most interesting point is the demand for carbon pricing. From page 5;

2. Include carbon pricing in climate-energy action plans – Investors reiterate the need for governments to provide stable, reliable and economically meaningful carbon pricing that helps redirect investment commensurate with the scale of the climate change challenge. This will level the playing field for low carbon technologies and factor in the costs of GHG externalities. These mechanisms are most effective when supported by complementary mechanisms such as public procurement measures, regulations, energy targets, carbon performance and energy efficiency standards.

  • To ensure that carbon pricing assumptions are as representative as possible of the true cost of carbon – and in alignment…

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English vineyards report ‘catastrophic’ damage after severe April frost

NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

h/t Quaseoveritas

From the Guardian:

image

English winemakers are reporting “catastrophic” crop damage after the worst frost in a generation wiped out at least half of this year’s grape harvest.

Chris White, the chief executive of Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey, said up to 75% of its crop was damaged by last week’s sub-zero temperatures: “The temperature dropped to -6C and at that level it causes catastrophic damage to buds,” he said.

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