Cold logic on climate change policy

Posted on December 26, 2014 by | 577 comments

by Judith Curry

Politically correct climate change orthodoxy has completely destroyed our ability to think rationally about the environment. – Richard Tol

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577 Comments

Posted in Policy

Climate blogosphere discussion thread

Posted on December 24, 2014 by | 568 comments

by Judith Curry

How has the terrain of the climate blogosphere changed over the past 5 years?

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568 Comments

Posted in Communication

Ethics and climate change policy

Posted on December 17, 2014 by | 518 comments

by Judith Curry

Every aspect of climate change is shaped by ethical dispute: from scientific practice to lobbying and activism and eventually, at national and international levels, the setting and implementation of climate policy. – Peter Lee

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518 Comments

Posted in Ethics, Policy, Sociology of science

Will a return of rising temperatures validate the climate models?

Posted on December 15, 2014 by | 598 comments

by Donald C. Morton

The coincidence of the current plateau in global surface temperatures with the continuing rise in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has raised many questions about the climate models and their forecasts of serious anthropogenic global warming.

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598 Comments

Posted in climate models

All megawatts are not equal

Posted on December 11, 2014 by | 409 comments

by Planning Engineer

Some of the Climate Etc. denizens have requested a post on the generation planning process to help them better understand cost issues surrounding the large scale addition and integration of renewable resources.

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409 Comments

Posted in Energy

Spinning the ‘warmest year’

Posted on December 9, 2014 by | 510 comments

by Judith Curry

The buzz is intensifying about 2014 possibly being the warmest year globally in the historical temperature record.

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510 Comments

Posted in Data and observations

Super Pollutants Act of 2014

Posted on December 7, 2014 by | 368 comments

by Judith Curry

The Senate held an interesting and potentially important hearing on super pollutants.

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368 Comments

Posted in Policy

The legacy of Climategate: 5 years later

Posted on December 1, 2014 by | 595 comments

by Judith Curry

UPDATE: new email from student that motivated “An open letter . .”

Every year at Thanksgiving, I am reminded of Climategate.

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595 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Gravito-thermal discussion thread

Posted on December 1, 2014 by | 957 comments

by Judith Curry

There has been much discussion of this topic on open thread, which is getting unwieldily.  Here is a new thread to continue this discussion.

957 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Groups and herds: implications for the IPCC

Posted on November 25, 2014 by | 404 comments

by Judith Curry

Group failures often have disastrous consequences—not merely for businesses, nonprofits, and governments, but for all those affected by them. – Cass Sunstein and Reid Hastie

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404 Comments

Posted in Consensus, IPCC, Sociology of science

Can cows help save the planet?

Posted on November 19, 2014 by | 513 comments

by Judith Curry

Some interesting new ideas about the role of soils, farming and livestock in fighting global warming.

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513 Comments

Posted in Soils and food

Climate/Energy Policy and the GOP Congress

Posted on November 16, 2014 by | 639 comments

by Judith Curry

With the Republicans in majority for both Houses of the 114th Congress, what are the implications for U.S. climate and energy policy?

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639 Comments

Posted in Energy, Policy, Politics

We are all confident idiots

Posted on November 13, 2014 by | 725 comments

by Judith Curry

Stumbling through all our cognitive clutter just to recognize a true “I don’t know” may not constitute failure as much as it does an enviable success, a crucial signpost that shows us we are traveling in the right direction toward the truth. – David Dunning

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725 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science, Uncertainty

Challenges to understanding the role of the ocean in climate science

Posted on November 12, 2014 by | 386 comments

by Carol Anne Clayson

A significant area of uncertainty in climate science and one of the biggest limitations on our ability to predict the timing, location and impacts of climate change is our limited understanding of ocean processes and their interactions with the atmosphere, land, and ice systems.

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386 Comments

Posted in Data and observations

Sagan’s baloney detection rules

Posted on November 9, 2014 by | 404 comments

by Judith Curry

On this 80th anniversary of Carl Sagan’s birthday.

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404 Comments

Posted in Scientific method

Climate dynamics of clouds

Posted on November 6, 2014 by | 177 comments

by Judith Curry

So, what’s going on in the world of research on the climate dynamics of clouds?

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177 Comments

Posted in Attribution

More renewables? Watch out for the Duck Curve

Posted on November 5, 2014 by | 462 comments

by Planning Engineer

It can be very misleading to compare the energy costs for wind and solar to the energy costs for more conventional generation technology and assume the difference is the cost of providing for “clean” energy.

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462 Comments

Posted in Energy

JC’s book shelf

Posted on November 4, 2014 by | 212 comments

by Judith Curry

Some new books that I’ve been reading, by  Roger Pielke Jr., Rud Istvan, George Marshall and James Gleick.

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212 Comments

Posted in Communication, Policy

Cognitive bias – how petroleum scientists deal with it

Posted on November 3, 2014 by | 385 comments

by Peter Rose

Everyone complains about the Weather but nobody does anything about it!

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385 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science, Uncertainty

How urgent is ‘urgent’?

Posted on November 2, 2014 by | 344 comments

by Judith Curry

I think we have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change . . . no longer than a decade at most. – James Hansen 2006

We have only four more years to act on climate change. – James Hansen 2009

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344 Comments

Posted in Policy

Bertrand Russell’s 10 commandments

Posted on October 31, 2014 by | 397 comments

by Judith Curry

Here is some more help for climate scientists suffering from pre-traumatic stress syndrome.

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397 Comments

Posted in Uncertainty

Pre-traumatic stress syndrome: Climate trauma survival tips

Posted on October 29, 2014 by | 517 comments

by Judith Curry

Climate depression is real.  Just ask a scientist. – Madeleine Thomas

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517 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Book publishing in the 21st century

Posted on October 28, 2014 by | 103 comments

by Judith Curry

Here’s a little real talk about the book publishing industry — it adds almost no value, it is going to be wiped off the face of the earth soon, and writers and readers will be better off for it. – Matthew Yglesias

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103 Comments

Posted in Open knowledge

Climate Dialogue: influence of the sun on climate

Posted on October 27, 2014 by | 297 comments

by Judith Curry

Climate Dialogue has a very interesting discussion What will happen during a new Maunder Minimum?  This is my favorite Climate Dialogue so far.

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297 Comments

Posted in Solar

Root Cause Analysis of the Modern Warming

Posted on October 23, 2014 by | 351 comments

by Matt Skaggs

For years, climate scientists have followed reasoning that goes from climate model simulations to expert opinion, declaring that to be sufficient. But that is not how attribution works.

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351 Comments

Posted in Attribution