climate skeptics

Mr. Smith’s War Against Science

Further harassment of climate scientists from the House Science Committee.

Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, doesn’t believe in climate change.  Still, by current political standards, I guess we should be glad that he hasn’t accused them of cheering when the Twin Towers fell, as his party’s leading contender for the Presidency did to what he called “thousands …

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What’s New in Environmental Economics?

Some interesting recent publications.

It sometimes takes awhile for journals to reach my desk as they circulate among faculty, so this isn’t hot off the presses.  But I’ve been looking at some recent issues of JEEM (the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management), and I found a number of very interesting articles.  Fully grasping the articles would require a …

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It’s All Greek to Me

Via E&E News, here’s a leading climate skeptic’s explanation of his qualifications to pass judgment on climate science: While he acknowledged he had no scientific credentials that would allow him to speak with authority on climate science, Monckton said he was uniquely qualified to explain the various logical fallacies that supporters of man-made climate change …

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Murderers, Tyrants, Global Warming and the Heartland Institute

The image to the left is not a joke.  It’s instead part of a just-cancelled Heartland Institute campaign — cancelled after howls of protests, including from a climate skeptic who refused to participate in a Heartland event if it went forward.  The Unabomber billboard showed up on the Eisenhower Expressway in Chicago (home of the …

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Peter Gleick and the Heartland Institute Expose

Jonathan focused last week, appropriately in my view, on the ethics of the way in which Peter Gleick got documents from the climate-denying Heartland Institute.  His conclusion is that as a scientist Gleick’s deceptions to get the documents were unethical. A new column in The Guardian comes out in the opposite place, arguing that Gleick …

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Tell Your Reverend To Go Jump In The Lake

Dan, your post is thoroughly persuasive to me, but I’m not sure that it would persuade many climate skeptics.  There are two reasons for this: 1)  You assume that there is at least a 50/50 chance of climate change occurring.  That is a highly conservative assumption — except for climate skeptics.  Most climate skeptics are …

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Obama’s Science Advisor Speaks at Berkeley

On Earth Day, Presidential science advisor John Holdren delivered the ERG Annual Lecture at Berkeley.  His topic was Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being: Priorities and Policies in the Obama Administration. He had many insights to offer on science and public policy, particularly with regard to energy and climate issues.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsMyTG4ZXcM&feature=channel]

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IPhone App to Counter Climate Skeptics

Jonathan and I have had a somewhat spirited debate about what to do about Climategate (see here and here).  I just found one perhaps small but very smart answer:  an IPhone app that lists top arguments from climate skeptics and succinct rebuttals. The arguments are divided into three categories:  “it’s not happening,” “it’s not us” …

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Winning Hearts and Minds on Climate Change: Climategate, EPA Announcement and Copenhagen

Proponents of rigorous regulation of greenhouse gas emissions finally have the international stage today as all attention shifts to Copenhagen.  And the EPA has chosen this opening day to announce the finalization of  its finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare and therefore must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.  Moreover 56 …

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