Self-Correcting Science: A Slow & Haphazard Process
The celebrated ability of science to self-correct is accompanied by some major caveats.
Perverse Scientific Incentives
There are structural reasons for the low quality of much scientific research.
Science is Not Truth
We need to lose our naivete. Many scientific findings are neither crisp nor clear.
Polar Bears & the Sleazy New York Times
A gang of 14 scientists attack a lone scientist in an academic journal. Erica Goode justifies & amplifies the assault in the Times.
The Sierra Club: Usurping Power from Elected Officials
When you give money to the Sierra Club, you’re doing three bad things.
Support the Sierra Club, Enrich the Lawyers
The Sierra Club is a lawsuit factory. Responding to its legal assaults wastes mountains of public money.
The Sierra Club’s Grassroots Deception
The Sierra Club is swimming in money from affluent individuals, wealthy foundations, and blue chip companies. This is not a grassroots organization.
Climate Change in the Courts
For well-funded green groups (and a growing list of governments), lawyers are weapons and courtrooms are a political battleground.
Is Fruit Good for You?
Fruit may be natural, but its sugar content has increased due to selective breeding.
First Quarter Report
Since relaunching this blog on January first, I’ve published 38 new posts – including one in Swedish. Please help me continue.
Chicken Wings & Potato Skins: My New Health Food
If fat were the villain we’ve been told it is, I should have gained 40 pounds.
When Scientific Evidence is Ambiguous, Private Philosophies Matter
Some discoveries are easy to measure and easy to verify. But much of science is about groping in the dark.
For Greenpeace, Honesty is Just a Word
Greenpeace tells a court that everyone knows its campaigns are based on opinions & interpretations rather than hard facts.
Free Speech Hypocrisy at Greenpeace
Greenpeace thinks people who spread ‘misinformation’ have no right to be heard. Yet, suddenly, it’s waving the free speech flag.
Forget Left/Right Politics, Read This Book
No thinking person should hold strong climate opinions unless they’ve carefully considered a range of viewpoints.
Defining High Blood Pressure
Changing definitions of ‘normal’ blood pressure means larger numbers of people are coping with drug side effects.
Bogus Blood Pressure Readings
Doctors and nurses rarely follow the rules when collecting important info about our health.
Medical Flip-Flops
Standard medical practice is often pointless, risky – and a waste of money.
Sverige Begår Självmord
I Sverige dog pressfrihet för 25 år sedan.
[Swedish translation of previous post]
Muzzling the Tolerant, Celebrating the Intolerant
Journalists think their job is to shame ordinary people into silence lest they say something politically incorrect about the scale and pace of European immigration.
Numbers Matter
If nearly 10 times more immigrants turn up than were predicted by government experts, where’s affordable housing supposed to come from?
Immigration is a Class Issue
Elites make immigration decisions, while the working class lives with the consequences.
Why We Need Jordan Peterson
While the rest of us are playing hopscotch, he’s battling humanity’s demons.
Jordan Peterson: Making Me Laugh
Taking a fresh look at some fundamental moral ideas.
Indoctrination 101
Learning to be shrill. Apparently, this is now the goal of higher education.
Taught to Think Like Censors
Young people are being systematically taught to disdain free speech. And your tax dollars are paying for it.
Freedom to Speak, Freedom to Hear
University activists now behave like fascists: stifling unpopular perspectives and denying others the opportunity to hear those perspectives firsthand.
Fossil Fuels Save Lives
It is immoral to deny needy people access to fossil fuels because experts have made dire predictions about the future.
Don’t Be Prejudiced
Our analysis of fossil fuels needs to be wholistic – not one-sided.
Experts Suck at Predicting the Future
Being an expert in a particular field doesn’t make you smart about the big picture.
Jordan Peterson: Helping Young Men Reboot Their Lives
Young people are told incessantly that everything they might want to do with their lives harms the planet.
Crucial Climate Verdict, Naked Conflict-of-Interest
IPCC scientists routinely evaluate their own work. What could possibly go wrong?
Crucial Climate Verdict, Fledgling Evidence
History’s most momentous climate decision was based on research so preliminary it wasn’t published in a scientific journal until seven months later.
Unethical Behaviour at the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association didn’t bother to replicate pivotal research before it told the public to change its behaviour. The result was an uncontrolled public health experiment.
About That French Paradox
When scientists began believing that high fat diets & heart disease went together, this wasn’t true in eight European countries.
When Government Makes You Fat
After the high-carbohydrate Food Pyramid was introduced, diabetes shot through the roof.
Were Aerosol Spray Cans Really a Threat?
Politicians will pass laws – and regulators will issue bans – long before there’s strong evidence of harm.
The Harvey Weinstein of the Climate World
Some news outlets still haven’t reported on the 3-year-old sexual harassment allegations against prominent climate official, Rajendra Pachauri.
Lightweight Climate News
When governments manipulate the news, most journalists fall into line.
Politics Always Win
Scientists aren’t in charge of interpreting climate research. They’re cogs in a political machine.
Dangerous Climate Change: No Smoking Gun
The claim that human activity is triggering a climate apocalypse is based on expert opinion and best estimates.
Climate Change is Normal
Insisting that ‘climate change is real’ is like insisting that blood is red.
Change is Natural
The bees and the butterflies have their own story, their own rhythms.
Nature Wants You Dead
The natural world isn’t kind or pristine. We need to stop telling children that disturbing it is sinful.
Re-Launching January 1st
This blog is adopting a new format. Posts will appear every Monday, Wednesday & Friday.
Obesity, Diet Pills & Death
Whether it’s climate science or medical science, a fake crisis leads to bad decisions that harm real people.
Suddenly Sick: The Foibles of Medical Science
Climate science and medical science have things in common. Including suspect behaviour on the part of the United Nations.
Steven Chu’s Juvenile Score Keeping
When someone’s won a Nobel Prize, who cares how long they served in Cabinet?
Science Funding Misinformation
A headline on a news story falsely claims that ‘9 countries outspend the US on science.’ In fact, America spends more than all nine combined.
Bill Nye, Fake Facts & the New York Times
I’m aware of two occasions in which the Science Guy has misled the public. But the New York Times says he’s saving us from misinformation.
Science and the Issue of Trust
Many messages emanating from the world of science are entirely bogus.
Trump, Stalin & Fake News
Australia’s chief scientist falls for a fake news story, compares President Trump to Joseph Stalin.
US Scientific Integrity Rules Repudiate the UN Climate Process
The US government says it’s a violation of scientific integrity for political officials to alter scientific findings. But political revision is central to how IPCC reports get produced.
Politicizing Science at the US Dept. of Energy
How does encouraging scientists to criticize government policy enhance scientific integrity?
Obama’s War on the Media
After promising the most transparent government in history, President Obama sharply curtailed press access, aggressively prosecuted leaks, and spied on journalists.
Medical Researchers vs the UN Climate Panel
An organization representing medical researchers believes unpublished work is too shaky to be included in grant applications, yet the world’s most important climate body has long relied on such research.
Wind Turbines: Lots of Problems, No Free Energy
In the dying days of 2016, three serious wind turbine malfunctions occurred in a small corner of Europe.
Our Ignorance is Breathtaking – We Should be Humble
We humans consistently miss the big picture. The world is improving dramatically, but our brains are addicted to worry and fear.
Fake News: Not New and Not Rare
The fairy tale about Nobel laureate climate experts demonstrates that just because you hear it on the BBC or read it in The New York Times doesn’t mean it’s true.
Greens & Feminists: Equally Nasty
Preparing a 20th anniversary edition of my first book helped me realize that environmentalism and feminism both began as reasonable social movements. But then they turned intolerant and extremist.
Left-wing Climate Reexamination
UK Labour Party veteran says climate policies that hurt the poor must be abandoned.
Empty Bellies and Carbon Taxed Food
Carbon taxes at the gas pump are just the beginning. Oxford University researchers think we should pay carbon taxes on food.
How Peer Review is Used to Shut Down Debate
Some inhabitants of the Ivory Tower are using peer review – a process that helps scholarly journals decide what to print – as a shield to hide behind. Delegitimizing public input about publicly-funded science is arrogant and counterproductive.
Peer Review Is Bunk
A report I wrote for the Global Warming Policy Foundation was released today. It explains that peer-reviewed research is as likely to be wrong as right. Basing public policy on findings that haven’t yet been reproduced is nuts.
Canada’s Carbon Tax Drama
A tax that will take an extra $1,250 from the pockets of struggling Canadian families is applauded by corporations.
Obama’s Electric Car Fail
Only 40% of Obama’s electric cars are on the road. None meet the 150-mile-per gallon standard he promised.
Michael Mann’s Peer Review Dogma
Academics insist that peer-reviewed research is sound and that everything else is inferior. But scholarly journals are actually littered with muck.
Climate Hustle: Moi on the Big Screen
I’m on screen for a few seconds in a documentary film that will be shown in movie theatres across the US on May 2nd.
The Climate Inquisition: Attorneys General Go Rogue
No matter what voters say in the upcoming US election, a coalition of Attorneys General intends to push for ‘even more aggressive’ climate action.
Is Science Really Self-Correcting?
No one wants to confront scientific fraud. Not managers, not journals, and not lab colleagues. So the system isn’t designed to prevent it.
Another Look at Science
Since the early 1980s, grave concerns have been raised about the process by which scientific evidence gets produced.
Pachauri Criminal Charges Total 1,400 pages
The former head of the world’s most important climate body has been charged with a long list of sex offences.
The WWF: Thugs & Guns Against Pygmies
The WWF may have a friendly panda for a logo, but amongst the poorest of the poor it’s known for something else: violent thugs called ecoguards.
David Suzuki: Enemy of Free Speech
For eight years, this environmental leader has called for the imprisonment of those who disagree. Why is he still welcome in polite society?
Carbon Taxes: Real Misery, Imaginary Results
Carbon taxes aren’t merely pointless, they’re regressive. Politicians earn ‘green’ cred by making life worse for the poor.
Bob Carter: Scientist, Mentor, Extraordinary Human Being
A shining beacon of how to lead by example, I am fortunate to have crossed paths with him.
Beware the Green Lobby
Nothing we do to protect the environment will ever be good enough. Like the Nazgûl in The Lord of the Rings, green lobbyists are relentless.
Power Transfer at Greenpeace
Why did Kumi Naidoo leave Greenpeace’s top job before a replacement was found? The Guardian prints clichés and asks no hard questions.
Back to Basics
Fire is about more than burns. Water is about more than floods. We’re so obsessed with carbon dioxide’s risks, we’ve become blind to its benefits.
Climate Question of the Year
Why aren’t we celebrating last week’s Paris climate deal? Where’s the joy and the gratitude – the dancing in the streets and the fireworks?
The IPCC’s Post-Paris Political Rallying Cry
IPCC official Chris Field claims the latest IPCC report set the stage for a Paris climate deal. An e-mail he sent colleagues three days ago is pure politics.
Paris and the Poor
Rich countries that try to meet their Paris commitments will spend huge amounts of money replacing cheap, higher-emissions energy sources with expensive, lower-emissions sources. This will harm the poor and do nothing for the climate.
As the Paris Climate Summit Fades Into History, A Real News Story
A US Senate committee hears that climate science is so intolerant and close-minded, the integrity and reputation of science itself is threatened.
COP21’s Green Gibberish
The Paris climate summit is many things, including a cultural spectacle wrapped in lightweight media fluff.
Doom Mongers: the Quiz
Activists have predicted environmental catastrophe for decades. In addition to a poor track record, they share similar arguments, language, and metaphors.
The Climate Show Carries On
The Paris climate summit is a gigantic photo op – where ineffectual political leaders will pretend to be environmental superheroes.
(includes details of my Dec. 2 talk in Paris)
The Naked Climate Change Emperor
Strip away the pseudoscience and you’ll find one thing: politics. People attempting, via international treaties, to constrain human lives. For the sake of Mother Gaia.
21 Days Until Paris
Millions of children perish each year, but world leaders think a problem that’s unlikely to become worrisome for decades is the world’s most pressing concern.
(photo credit UNICEF: http://tinyurl.com/pekcx2g)
Journalist Philippe Verdier Terminated (No Climate Free Speech, Part 6)
French weatherman Philippe Verdier is a free speech hero, a heretic whose livelihood has been stolen by the intolerant Church of Climate Change.
Flagrant Climate PR from the Australian Associated Press
A polar explorer is falsely described as a climate scientist in a news story; his activist connections aren’t reported.
Private Jet Airport Hosts Paris Climate Summit
December’s climate conference is being held on the grounds of Europe’s busiest private jet airport. If we were serious about fighting climate change, wouldn’t private jets have been banned long ago?
The Preposterous Green Institute and the IPCC
The man now in charge at the IPCC belongs to a privileged, protected, secretive entity headed by the UN’s former top climate official.
French Weatherman Taken Off Air (No Climate Free Speech, Part 5)
Government official urges television weather presenters to use loaded language to help the climate cause. When one writes a critical book instead, he’s suspended from his job at a government-owned station.
Hoesung Lee: New IPCC Leader
The new IPCC chairman is an economist who, ironically, began his career with oil giant Exxon.
The Courts & the Climate
What lessons does the environment arm of the United Nations intend to learn from the Chief Justice of Malaysia – whose court has been condemned by Amnesty International?
(includes links to other voices on the proper role of courts in the climate debate)
The Unseemly Lord Carnwath
Why is a Supreme Court judge part of an unsavoury UN advisory panel?
Supreme Court Justice Carnwath: Climate Activist
A sitting UK Supreme Court judge took part in a Rio+20 event that said the UN (a political body) should be given more scope & authority.
Climate Secrets at the UK Supreme Court
Organizers of a climate conference co-sponsored by the UK Supreme Court won’t reveal who attended, how much the event cost, or how many participants had their airfare paid by the United Nations.
RICO20 Letter to President Obama Disappears
The institute that published a letter demanding mobster-style investigations of non-mainstream climate views has removed it. But the letter was archived in at least three other places.
Silencing Dissent Via the Courts (No Climate Free Speech, Part 4)
A British academic wants an international court to declare climate skeptics wrong, once and for all.
Silencing Dissent Via the Police (No Climate Free Speech, Part 3)
20 American academics think unorthodox climate views should be subjected to an organized crime investigation.
In League with the Devil (No Climate Free Speech, Part 2)
Climate activists have redefined the venerable concept of free speech. According to them, it means the polar opposite of what John Stuart Mill famously wrote about.
No Climate Free Speech – Part 1
Climate activists are behaving like tyrants. If my four-year-old acted this way, I’d be worried.
Getting Serious About Climate
For 15 years, we’ve been scolded and cajoled. As the December climate summit approaches, global warming rhetoric has grown seriously threadbare.
Greenpeace: Employer from Hell
Greenpeace canvassers say their workplace is no compassionate, supportive utopia.
3 Things Scientists Need to Know About the IPCC
Slides and text of my presentation to the World Federation of Scientists, 20 Aug. 2015.
See You in September (And a Few Words About the Pope)
New material won’t be added to this blog until Autumn. You are invited to explore the six-years-worth of content already published here – as well as my two books.
The Future Isn’t Ours to Dictate
It is not the business of today’s politicians to decide which energy sources will be used 85 years from now.
Will Rajendra Pachauri Be Held Accountable by Green Activists?
The environmental movement routinely demands accountability from third parties. When will it acknowledge the creepy sexual misconduct of one of its leaders?
Pachauri Accuser ‘Vindicated’
The former head of the IPCC has long posed as a saviour of the planet. In reality, he’s been a systematic sexual predator – the kind of boss no young woman should have to endure.
Petition to Oust Pachauri
People who once worked at Rajendra Pachauri’s TERI aren’t surprised by the sexual allegations leveled against him.
Pachauri Tries to Ban Sex Scandal Reporting
The former IPCC chairman says he’s the victim of a conspiracy. But conspiracies can’t be exposed if journalists are silenced.
Oh No, the Weather’s Going to Be Superb!
Government forecasters are apparently from a different planet. They think warm, sunny weather is cause for alarm.
Kofi Annan’s Infantile Climate Morality
The disgraced former head of the UN smears skeptics while ignoring the dubious motivations of green opportunists.
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele: The Activist Who Wants to Run the IPCC
A Belgian activist scientist seeking leadership of the UN climate panel flies to Pakistan – and is fawned over by the media.
The Nobel Lie That Just Won’t Die
The Guardian newspaper once again wrongly calls Rajendra Pachauri a Nobel laureate. For good measure, it publishes a photo of him looking pious – while neglecting to mention the serious sexual offenses for which he is being investigated.
Indian Courts to Pachauri: No Travel For You
A man who used to joke that he lived “at 30,000 feet” is well and truly grounded. This week two courts denied the former IPCC chairman permission to leave the country.
The United Nations’ Fake News Machine
A UN official delivers a speech. An account of that speech is written up to look like a news story. It gets published on a website funded by the UN. Casual readers are unlikely to appreciate that this is 100% spin.
Court Rejects Pachauri, Water Summit Still Says He’ll Be Keynote Speaker
A lawyer for Rajendra Pachauri says that preventing the former IPCC chairman from delivering a speech at a trade show in Greece will damage India’s image and harm Pachauri’s reputation.
Do Science Bodies Know Whereof They Speak?
The American Geophysical Union is led by a climate evangelist with zero climate science credentials. When the American Physical Society produced its latest climate statement, it failed to consult members with the most relevant expertise.
The Al Gore Alarm-o-rama
Al Gore has been threatening us with environmental apocalypse for more than a quarter-century. Why should we believe him this time?
Asking the Wrong Question
The climate scare rests on predictions produced by mathematical modeling. Freeman Dyson, one of the world’s finest scientific minds, says prediction isn’t what those models do – and that the climate conversation is ignoring important facts.
Climate Change Special Interests Condemn Special Interests
Many of the scientists who signed an open letter against museums taking money from special interests are themselves linked to special interests. Part 3 of 3.
Scientists Object to Intellectual Freedom
Libraries define intellectual freedom as the public’s right to examine all points-of-view. These climate scientists are trying to stifle alternative perspectives. Part 2 of 3.
Do Joe Romm and Fellow Climate Scientists Think Sexual Misconduct is OK?
Climate science is a world in which people who donate money to museums are targeted and ostracized. Yet creeps who write about urinating on women get a free pass. Part 1 of 3.
Another Reason Pachauri’s Book May Be Disappearing
A passage in his 2010 novel makes it clear the former IPCC chairman understands that it’s wrong for an older male boss to hit on a young woman new to his organization.
Pachauri’s Dirty Memoir: So Hot it’s Radioactive?
In the wake of sexual misconduct allegations, Rajendra Pachauri’s semi-autobiographical novel is being taken out of circulation. What possessed him to publish it under his own name while still chairman of the IPCC?
Pachauri vs the Police
New Delhi police say the former IPCC chairman is violating his bail conditions by hampering their investigation and influencing witnesses.
Pachauri’s TERI: Not a Safe Place for Women
Men who try to get women into bed via premature, extravagant professions of love aren’t uncommon. But only bosses who view female employees as their personal harem try this within days of a woman joining an organization.
How Much Did Greenpeace Pay van Ypersele?
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele became an IPCC official in 2002. Two years later he got into bed with Greenpeace. Part 2 of 2.
Van Ypersele: A Terrible Choice for IPCC Chairman
The second-in-command at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change wants a promotion, but has no intention of addressing critics’ concerns. Part 1 of 2.
My Interview with India’s Sify News
The Indian media is examining the wider implications of Rajendra Pachauri’s resignation while Western journalists pretend not to see the sex scandal.
An Open Letter to the Men of TERI
TERI women have summoned the courage to speak up about the nature of their workplace. Will TERI’s men step forward and do their part?
Pachauri Talks Ethics in Gender Justice Book
Invited to deliver a lecture in memory of a talented and successful feminist judge, Rajendra Pachauri didn’t think her half of humanity was worth mentioning.
Rajendra Pachauri & International Women’s Day
Why is a man accused of egregious sexual harassment still the chancellor of a university? Why is he still on a UNESCO panel when that entity says gender equality is a global priority?
Pachauri’s Sofa
Electronic messages cited in a Delhi police report tell the story of a spirited young woman who effectively lost her job because she wouldn’t let her boss grope her.
Mumbai Columnist: ‘Creepy Crawlie’ Pachauri
In his home country, the former chairman of the IPCC is being called ‘Dr. Lecherous.’ A female journalist says she was ‘repulsed’ by the vain, pompous Pachauri she once met in person.
Pachauri’s Incredible Shrinking Footprint
A court has barred the former IPCC chairman from his workplace and forbidden travel abroad without permission. A conference at Harvard University has withdrawn his guest speaker invitation.
Pachauri Admitted to Hospital
Is the former chairman of the IPCC genuinely ill – or is this a ‘strategic move’ on the part of his legal team to forestall his arrest?
Rajendra Pachauri’s Resignation Letter
The resignation letter of the IPCC chairman is a two-page love letter to himself – in which he openly admits that saving the planet is his ‘religion’. The world’s most important climate body has not been led by a dispassionate scientist.
Woman #2’s Story
Rajendra Pachauri’s TERI institute appears to be a workplace in which female employees are habitually invited to spend private time with the boss.
More Women Accuse Pachauri
Additional women are stepping forward with tales of inappropriate behaviour on the part of Rajendra Pachauri, who has chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2002.
Chairman Pachauri’s Messy Messages
Texts and emails allegedly sent by IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri tell a disturbing tale. Months after a female subordinate objected repeatedly and strenuously to his sexual advances, the head of a UN body continued to physically and electronically stalk her.
Indian Court Rejects Pachauri Publication Ban
An Indian court has ruled against Rajendra Pachauri and in favour of press freedom. The IPCC chairman sought to prevent the media from reporting on a police investigation concerning allegations of sexual misconduct.
Police Ponder Pachauri Assault & Stalking Charges
IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri is being investigated under four sections of the Indian Penal Code. Maximum prison sentences of two, three, and seven years apply.
