Unfortunately, some misuse science. Some of their intentions, are far from benevolent. They see science as a mechanism for political power and control. There is great danger from those who would use science for political control over us.

How do they do this? They instill, and then continuously magnify, fear. Fear is the most effective instrument of totalitarian control.

Chet Richards, physicist,

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/03/science_in_an_age_of_fear.html

Saturday 9 February 2019

A New(ish) Climate Comic Book: more self-indulgent, shallow exhibitionism

Behold another person enjoying the frisson of climate doom, and the gratification of being seen to be doing something about it:

'French cartoonist Philippe Squarzoni has taken up the huge task of trying to convey the complex science of climate science and the global emergency that it implies in the form of his autobiographical/documentary graphic novel titled ‘Climate Changed’. '
Source

'Hopefully, this will enable the general public, which does not always seem inclined to wade through dense texts on scientific topics, to get a better appreciation of the challenges of global warming.' [published 2014]

Source:  https://www.dhakatribune.com/feature/2019/02/09/climate-changed-a-comic-book-warning-about-global-warming


But the evidence for a 'global emergency' is lacking.

Merely pointing to adverse weather events is not good enough.  Even pointing to the modest warming that has taken place over the last 150 years or so is not good enough.  Both can be explained by 'business as usual' in the weather system.  The bar really ought to be set a lot higher when it comes to promising doom and destruction to us all unless we wreck our current way of life.

There have been plenty of publications from scientific experts to warn us about being too hasty and getting into a panic about our CO2 emissions - some can be found in this listing for example. 

But here's an extract from a very recent critique of climate scaremongering from Belgium:

'The current climate model (‘IPCC model’) systematically yields highly overstated predictions compared to measurements and can therefore not be used to form climate policy – especially if that policy results in extremely high costs and destabilises vital parts of the energy infrastructure.

We are not just saying that. Already some of the most renowned scientists have preceded us (e.g. Freeman Dyson, Frederic Seitz, Robert Jastrow, William Nierenberg), including Nobel Prize winners (e.g. Ivar Giaever and Robert Laughlin). They also argue that the earth’s climate is far too complicated to be explained by a simple one-dimensional CO2 relationship.'

And later on, they comment on the strategy of using children to promote climate alarm:

'Child being misused by alarmists
b). In Belgium, the climate movement has now also started using children for their ideological cause. A rather peculiar strategy. What children need to learn is to take a critical look at the facts. So what is happening now goes against everything that education should stand for. We are increasingly seeing children being abused to achieve goals.
Who remembers that washed ashore refugee boy on the beach, an image that was frequently used by refugee organisations, or the asylum boy who had a microphone pushed under his nose with TV crew chairman Dijkhoff, or the crying Lili and Howick in the NOS news, etc.? Anyone who wants to be proved right by putting children at the front of their causes is morally reprehensible. Teachers who work in this manner should be deeply ashamed.'
Source: Climate Intelligence Foundation, as reported by WUWT:  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/02/08/refutation-of-the-the-belgian-climate-manifesto-by-the-climate-inteligence-foundation/

Saturday 26 January 2019

Evil is as evil does: developing ways to strike eco-terror into children

There are lots of examples in this blog alone of deliberate efforts to scare children about our supposed impact on climate and the environment in general.  Here is one which as far as I know was never deployed widely (but it was, for example, used in a primary school in Las Vegas in 2013), but it nevertheless won an 'NNSA award' for its instigator.  That's the National Nuclear Security Administration -see https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/about-nnsa.  Who knew they were on the eco-alarm bandwagon?  Why, I wonder?  What was in it for them?  Looking good to their government masters I suppose by aping and abetting the 'sustainability aka eco-alarm' fad.  Bit of a sideshow for an agency charged with looking after nuclear weapons, but there you go, that's politics for you.



There it is, on the left, the 'Green-Reaper'.  




Eric Boehm describes it all very neatly in his article on the Reason site two days ago:

'...
Thanks to a FOIA request from journalist Emma Best, the details of which were published this week at Muckrock, we now know a bit more about the history of the Green Reaper—a verdant version of the Grim Reaper that manages to combine the ominous presence of the original with the vacant eyes of a cartoon character. While the mascot seems best suited to shatter children's innocence by informing them about the inevitabilty of their own deaths, the documents show that the Green Reaper, which was designed in 2012, was intended to be used in "community outreach presentations to local elementary school children" and in internal memos reminding government workers to conserve energy and carpool when possible.
One of the most terrifying details in the FOIA'd documents is the claim that—in addition to making appearences at schools—the Green Reaper shows up "randomly" at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Um, no thank you.
The Green Reaper costume cost about $5,000 to manufacture, but the documents provided to Muckrock don't give a full accounting of how much time public employees spent brainstorming and designing it. Regardless, the government liked the design so much that Dawn Starett, the program manager who invented the Green Reaper, won a 2013 Environmental Stewardship Award from the NNSA for it.

...'
Hat-tip: Glenn Reynolds  who provided this link to a piece by Ann Althouse:
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-green-reaper-mascot-department-of.html

Details of the FOIA request that uncovered this 'piece of work' are here: https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/green-reaper-53571/

Note added 25 Mar 2019.  A video highlighting the Green Reaper, and going to look at climate anxieties, and climate scare propaganda aimed at children:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsXIxk5fBfo

Friday 21 December 2018

Christmas Greetings

J S Bach wrote some pretty good music!  His Christmas Oratorio has added to the joy and beauty of this time of year.

Also a time of good cheer!

Here's to 2019.  May it be a great year for the sharing of
rational analyses of climate variation, and may that lead to
better informed teachers and children everywhere.