Atmospheric carbon dioxide: you can’t see, hear, smell or taste it. But it’s there - all around us - and it’s crucial for life. Composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms, this simple molecule serves as the primary raw material out of which plants construct their tissues, which in turn provide the materials out of which animals construct theirs. Knowledge of the key life giving and life sustaining role played by carbon dioxide, or CO2, is so well established, in fact, that humans - and all the rest of the biosphere - are described in the most basic of terms as carbon-based lifeforms.
We simply could not and would not exist without it. Ironically, far too many demonize and falsely label this important atmospheric trace gas a pollutant. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of being shunned like the plague, the ongoing rise in CO2 should be welcomed with open arms. Why? Because plants love CO2. Far from being a pollutant, this colorless, odorless, tasteless and invisible gas is better than the best fertilizer ever invented. Essentially, it is the “food” that sustains all plants on the face of the earth. And the more of it they “eat” (or take in from the air), the bigger and better they grow.
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Conversations That Matter
Dr. Patrick Moore takes issue with NGOs over climate, genetically modified organisms and the “truth” about carbon
He says we were literally running out of carbon before we started to pump it back into the atmosphere. “CO2 has been declining to where it is getting close to the end of plant life, and in another 1.8 million years, life would begin to die on planet Earth for lack of CO2.”
According to Moore, it is life itself that has been consuming carbon and storing it in carbonaceous rocks. He goes on to say, “Billions of tons of carbonaceous rock represent carbon dioxide pulled out of the atmosphere, and because the Earth has cooled over the millennia, nature is no longer putting CO2 into the atmosphere to offset this.”
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No sooner had fires erupted around Los Angeles than the vultures swooped hissing that it was climate change. Why, you might even get told “Human use of fire has produced an era of uncontrolled burning: Welcome to the Pyrocene”. And when it snowed in Florida, well, the Climate Adaptation Center went ‘How climate warming contributed to record snow in Florida’, to which Roger Pielke Jr. replied, “like clockwork”. And of course should it snow in LA, burn in Pensacola, flood in Kapuskasing or go dry in Managua, the little cuckoo will pop out and go “climate change” over and over as it always does.
The ravages of global heating in Pensacola, Florida Jan. 22, 2025 (courtesy of an alert reader who lives there)
One California news outlet admitted that “The snow comes during an exceptionally cold pattern for the south.” But then it insisted that:
“According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Earth’s global average temperature has been rising since about 1850. Human activity including the burning of fossil fuels is accelerating the pace of that warming beyond what would occur naturally… NOAA analyses show that ocean surface temperatures are rising faster than air temperatures. Warmer oceans can drive more intense evaporation and send more water vapor into the air for developing storms. More water vapor typically means heavy rain and snow rates.”
OK. So more snow despite that stuff about the end of winter. Got it. But in Florida?
Oh yes. You see:
“Of all regions on Earth’s surface, the Arctic is warming the fastest. This warming creates imbalances in the polar vortex, an area of powerful winds near the Arctic Circle.”
Oooh imbalances. It never used to happen, which we know because we don’t. But it must be so:
“When the polar vortex weakens, lobes of bitter, cold air can drop south and bring prolonged cold spells to the United States and other countries at the middle latitudes. This phenomenon led to the intense cold in the Eastern U.S. this week.”
No hesitation about causation. And then a fearless prediction that weather may happen:
“As climate change continues, snowstorms are still going to be part of the weather we experience. Shifts in moisture and temperature patterns will change where we see that snow and how much. Some regions could see significantly less snow in the long run as warming air favors more rain than snow. This is a concern for California, which relies on Sierra snowmelt as part of the state’s water supply. Changes in storm track patterns could also lead to relatively infrequent but unusually big snow events like what fell this week in the southern Gulf states.”
Could. Might. Unless it doesn’t.
Bloomberg wrote that:
“The region’s worst snowstorm in 130 years has seen as much as 10 inches pile up in New Orleans, according to public reports, smashing a record of 2.7 inches set in 1963. Temperatures fell to 26F (minus 3C) overnight. Similar accumulations of snow were recorded in Pensacola, Florida, and more than four inches hit the Houston area.”
And normally when you get a once-in-a-century event the media tell you it’s definitely proof that climate change has made it more frequent even with no data to support the claim. But in this case, crickets. Or not even those, given the temperature.
In fact often-loose talk of smashing records is appropriate here. As an AP story in the Winnipeg Free Press observed:
“Milton is just northeast of Pensacola, where 8.9 inches (22.6 centimeters) shattered the city’s previous all-time snow record of 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) set in 1895.”
As in nearly three times as much fell. So tell us the one about the end of winter again?
London, 28 January: The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has today published its periodic review of global hurricane activity. The review is based on the findings of key scientific bodies, comparing them to sensationalist news reporting and popular perceptions.
Trends in landfalling Atlantic/western Pacific hurricanes have been stable or decreasing since 1950.
There is also no global trend in overall hurricane frequency since reliable records began in the 1970s.
The apparent increase in the number of hurricanes since the 19th century has been due to changes in observation practices over the years, rather than an actual increase.
Data show no long-term trends in US landfalling hurricanes since the mid-19th century, when systematic records began, either in terms of frequency or intensity.
Similarly, after allowing for the fact that many storms were not spotted prior to the satellite era, there are no such trends in Atlantic hurricanes either.
There is growing evidence that wind speeds of the most powerful hurricanes may now be overestimated in comparison to pre-satellite era ones, because of changing methods of measurement.
The increase in Atlantic hurricanes in the last fifty years is not part of a long-term trend, but is linked to a recovery from a deep minimum in hurricane activity in the 1970s, associated with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.
The author, climate researcher Paul Homewood, said:
“The observational findings of meteorological agencies in 2024 once again confound those who claim to see a ‘climate crisis’ in the hurricane data. It is clear that we have not seen an increase in hurricane frequency, even though the public have been scared into thinking that tropical storms are getting worse.”
GWPF Director, Dr Benny Peiser, said:
“The gap between media hype, popular perceptions and the reality of empirical data is becoming ever more evident. This report sets out the facts and is a welcome corrective to misleading news coverage of hurricanes.”
Read the full paper here: The 2024 Hurricane Season (pdf)
NOAA has started tampering with their “RAW” temperature data, increasing all post-2007 temperatures. The graph below shows changes in the “RAW” maximum temperatures made over the past two years.
See the before and after images of the data here. Yes there is man made global warming but the men are at NOAA.
See animating before and after images at Tony Heller’s site here.
Weather Rant by Professor Art Horn, Meteorologist AMS
"The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction.” - Bertrand Russell 10/10/21
Published at theartofweather.net
Wednesday June 7th, 2023
There’s just too much going on not to talk about it. To quote Jack Klompus from Seinfeld “I’m sorry. I’m sitting here, the whole meeting, holding my tongue. I’ve known you a long time Morty, but I cannot hold it in any longer.”
I’m referring to the current situation of the Canadian wildfires and the resulting and persistent smoke issues down here in the United States. Under normal conditions a large very slow-moving storm rotating counterclockwise in the Canadian Maritimes would be circulating cool, dry, clean Canadian air into the New England. There is such a storm present in that location now. But with all these fires in Quebec Province the storm that is situated in the Maritimes is doing the opposite! The smoke from the fires is whirling around the storm and blowing into portions of New England.
Of course, predicably the media outlets are blaming climate change for the fires. But wildfires have always been part of nature’s balance between too much forest and too little. The “culling of the herd”, in this case old or weak trees, has historically been in part accomplished with what are called wildfires.
One of the most spectacular examples of this phenomena occurred on May 19th, 1780 during the revolutionary war. General George Washington noted in his diary that on that day darkness enveloped the sky. It was so dark during the morning that candles were lit to see their way about. People left their jobs and school children were sent home. Some prayed while others cried or went to taverns. Washington noted that the darkness varied and that the sun came out in the afternoon perhaps indicating that it was entirely hidden by the smoke in the morning.
Research indicates that the fires that caused the darkness were in the Algonquin Highlands of Ontario Canada. The meteorological conditions that brought the dense cloud of smoke to the region in 1780 is unknown but likely similar to what is happening now.
Today there are wildfires around the world every day just as there have been for millions of years. But today we have a new culprit of combustion that is not related to the doings of nature. I’m speaking of eco-terrorists. Nobody in the media seems to want to even suggest the idea that at least some of the current wildfires are the result of eco-terrorists. It’s not a far-fetched idea based on what’s been gong on around the world these days.
For instance, there’s the group “Just stop Oil” that’s made news with their adolescent, attention grabbing stunts of despoiling priceless works of art around the world. The group known as “Extinction Rebellion” and their antics such as holding protests in roadways to block traffic to call attention to their believe that climate change is going to end the world as we know it.
Another ultra-fringe climate change gang of bizarre individuals that calls themselves “Tyre Extinguishers” has claimed responsibility for deflating 100 sport utility vehicles in Copenhagen yesterday. They claim they are “defending themselves from climate change, air pollution and unsafe drivers. Gee, I guess climate change is so bad now that it causes unsafe drivers! They claim to have destroyed tires of people that own SUV’s in multiple countries. People have tried to reason with them but the negotiations fell flat!
The people that populate these extremist groups are, in my opinion hopeless malcontents. If it wasn’t climate change that they are fighting to stop, they would find some other cause to bring about their delusional mayhem.
Then we have the case of Audrey Elaine Dunham of Glendon Alberta. In court on February 15th, 2022 she was convicted on four counts of mischief against property in connection with multiple arson fires in the Bonnyville area of Alberta Canada. She actually admitted to setting 32 fires at the hearing! Apparently she was quite proud of her destruction. She was sentenced to 9 months in jail but amazingly she served no jail time.
Can I prove that at least some of these current fires have been deliberately set by eco-terrorists? No, not until someone claims responsibility or is arrested but it seems plausible to me.
Why would someone want to destroy forests that they claim they are trying to save? At least part of the answer is that by starting the fires and then blaming the cause on climate change they get the news coverage they couldn’t get any other way. The news media actually does the work for them since they are obsessed with climate change causing everything! Today every natural disaster they report about is now the result of climate change.
As a side note I saw yet another of the seemingly endless stories about sea ice loss in the Arctic. This story from the thedailybeast.com reports that another computer model study forecasts that after the year 2030 there will be no sea ice in the Arctic Ocean by the end of the summer.
Of course, one has to only go back to 2007 when there were similar predictions warning that by 2022 summer sea ice would be long gone from the Arctic. Another in the long line of climate change forecasts fails. Actually, sea ice data from the Danish Meteorological Institute reveals that as of today the amount of Arctic sea ice is within 75 percent of the 1981 to 2010 average for this time of year. Where are you going to see that in the news? Nowhere!
The 2024 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, recently wrapped up. The summit can be summed up in one phrase: The orange man derailed it.
The election of former President Donald Trump a few days before the Conference of the Parties, known as COP29, began had a profound impact on zapping any potential success from the summit. The Times of London wrote that the “wind was taken out of [COP29’s] sails before it even started with the election of climate-skeptic Donald Trump in the U.S.”
The disillusionment of COP29’s attendees was palpable. No major Western leaders bothered to show up in Baku except the U.K.[s newly minted prime minister, Keir Starmer.
‘Total waste of time’
The supposedly sinking Pacific island nations could not even muster up enthusiasm for COP29 as the nation of Papua New Guinea boycotted the confab, declaring it a “total waste of time.”
France boycotted attending COP29. Politico reported, {The French climate minister’s withdrawal means Paris will not send any high-level political representative to Baku, as French President Emmanuel Macron will also skip the event.” Oui oui!
Oil is a ‘gift of God’
It gets better. In what can be described only as the “Trump effect,” Argentina withdrew its negotiators from the summit after President Javier Milei held talks with Mr. Trump; Argentina’s entire team was ordered home.
“We have instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to no longer participate,” Argentina’s top environmental official told The Guardian.
There’s more.
The opening day of the U.N. climate summit featured Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, declaring oil a “gift of God” and said people need oil. As you can imagine, Mr. Aliyev’s invoking God to defend the use of oil enraged and demoralized the attendees of COP29.
The BBC reported on the oily mess, noting in a headline: “UN climate talks ‘no longer fit for purpose’ say key experts.”
U.N. officials turn on - the U.N.
The COP process needs “an urgent overhaul,” according to an open letter by the former U.N. secretary-general, the former U.N. climate chief and other U.N. supporters, the BBC reported. The erstwhile U.N. officials demanded that {countries should not host the talks if they don’t support the phase-out of fossil energy.”
Former Vice President Al Gore agreed, saying: “I think that there should be a test for who is qualified to be a delegate to these COPs. Are they coming to try to find a solution or are they coming in order to block a solution?”
In other words, censor and ban any nation from the U.N. climate process that dissents in any way from the U.N. agenda. They appear to want to run the U.N. climate summits like a “woke” social media platform.
‘Worst U.N. climate summit’ ever!
COP29 was initially billed as the COP finance summit. The original $100 billion-a-year climate slush fund was pledged to increase to $300 billion a year. But no one seemed happy about these “pledges.”
The Times of London reported on the utter failure of the summit. “Cop29 was described by veteran negotiators as the worst UN climate summit they had experienced.”
And here[s one more scoop from CNN: “COP29 was described by climate activists as ‘an insult, a joke and a betrayal… A conference of chaos.”
A fake dead whale
One final bizarre note: COP29 featured a dead fake whale made of what appeared to be petroleum-based products on display in downtown Baku. The fake whale carcass had a backdrop of COP29’s neon messaging on a building, complete with a windmill. Just to be clear, the climate activists who sponsored this fake dead whale stunt believed that climate change is a threat to whales - and windmills will somehow save the whales.
No irony is lost in the fact that since the rapid ascent of offshore wind, deaths of actual whales have skyrocketed.
As with every U.N. climate summit, many studies are timed to be released in the weeks and days before the conference to maximize the alleged importance of the U.N.’s mission. This year’s round of studies was quite humorous. A study in the journal Lancet claimed that “Climate change is causing sleep loss.”
Not to be outdone, a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environment, Development and Sustainability actually claimed that ‘climate change is encouraging unsanitary toilet practices among vulnerable communities.” How? “"Climate change makes toilets more likely to break, which leaves people more likely to ‘go’ outside.’”
Remember: Don’t ever question “the science”!
Meat tax for thee
The conference featured prominent speeches calling for meat rationing and a global “meat tax” to limit “cow emissions.” Willem Branten of the group True Animal Protein Price Coalition called for meat taxes :so that we can pay for the damages done by our past consumption of meat and animal proteins.”
The U.N. was full of meat hypocrisy as delegates chowed down on beef, chicken and hot dogs at the restaurants and food courts of COP29.
As Mr. Trump prepares to return to the White House, we must remember: The failure of a U.N. climate summit is great news for humanity!
* Marc Morano manages the award-winning ClimateDepot.com news and information service. He served as a reporter for Rush Limbaugh’s television show and as a senior adviser to Sen. James Inhofe.
