Presentation by Ross McKitrick: is a worst case scenario (of Climate Change) really bad?

With uncertain climate effects, very costly abatement policies (applies both for Kyoto and Paris), overestimation of both the CO2 and temperature trends, low to zero estimates for the Social Cost of Carbon (if you use observational estimates for climate sensitivity and take into account the benefits of higher CO2 levels for agriculture), there is only one conclusion possible: “We are on pretty safe ground to prioritize economic growth over very ambitious climate policies”.…

North Atlantic Nonsense

So the myth of the maritime, equable climate brought to Europe by the Gulf Stream really needs to be seen for what it is – a myth. It is perhaps appropriate to the British Isles and Scandinavia, but certainly not to the sub-continent as a whole. And, that “Gulf Stream at its lowest in 1000 years” of Potsdam that was trumpeted by a scare-hungry press is perhaps also mythical – but is certainly unhelpful in understanding how the real world actually works.…

How are polar bears doing 15 years after the IUCN declared them ‘vulnerable’ to extinction?

What we’ve learned over the last 15 years is that polar bears only require sea ice until about mid-May or mid-June (depending on the latitude) and again in the late fall (November) through the winter. As long as ice is present at those times the bears will be fine. The idea that summer sea ice is essential for polar bear survival was an early assumption made by polar bear specialists that turned out to be wrong.…

BOMBSHELL: NAOMI ORESKES ON RETAINER WITH PLAINTIFFS’ LAW FIRM

A major bombshell dropped today about the nationally coordinated climate litigation campaign after it was revealed that Naomi Oreskes – the Harvard researcher and well-known “Exxon Knew” activist – is on retainer with Sher Edling, the plaintiffs’ law firm serving as the outside counsel for more than a dozen states and municipalities that have filed climate lawsuits around the country.…

Landmark study casts doubt on controversial theory linking melting Arctic to severe winter weather

Every time severe winter weather strikes the United States or Europe, reporters are fond of saying that global warming may be to blame. The paradox goes like this: As Arctic sea ice melts and the polar atmosphere warms, the swirling winds that confine cold Arctic air weaken, letting it spill farther south. But this idea, popularized a decade ago, has long faced skepticism from many atmospheric scientists, who found the proposed linkage unconvincing and saw little evidence of it in simulations of the climate.…