36 comments

1. JohnoAugust 12, 2017 at 12:56 pm

   Isn’t Scott Pruitt dropping into Oz for a visit. Pruitt is a cc denial extraordinaire with a history of suing the EPA before becoming boss of the EPA. I am hoping there is some protesting against his visit.

2. KeithAugust 12, 2017 at 1:15 pm

   I certainly hope there is much protesting as well, Johno. The whole of Trump’s cabinet are deniers. There are a few skeptical scientists who have the ear of the Republicans … Christy, Curry, and Spencer. They have been debunked several times. The inferred temperature measured by satellite is quite controversial which the Republicans cling too (Christy/Spencer). Satellite temperature cannot be compared to temperature measured by land based weather stations; satellites measure slabs of atmosphere and require modelling to assess temperature. The problem with satellites is they do not remain on a constant orbit.

3. JohnAugust 12, 2017 at 2:00 pm

   Epidemiologist and genetic statistician Paul McKeigue explains how the formal logic of probability theory can be used to evaluate the evidence for alternative explanations of an event.

   How to Weigh a Mountain of Evidence: Guest Blog by Professor Paul McKeigue (Part 1)

4. MaxozAugust 12, 2017 at 2:33 pm

   Don’t confuse me with facts: my mind is made up!

5. KeithAugust 12, 2017 at 7:28 pm

   John,

   Computers have been used virtually to back peddle, when modelling all known features about climate, it was only until CO2 was factored into the modelling that it came together. Though, climate change science has a long history beginning in the 1820s with Fourier.

   Dr Mann suggests:

   ” .There’s a 1–3% chance that 2014, 2015, and 2016 would each have been record-breaking hot years.
   .There’s a 6–12% chance that 2014, 2015, and 2016 would be the three hottest years on record.
   .There’s a 30–50% chance of three consecutive record-breaking years happening at any time since 2000.
   .There’s a 20–27% chance of 2016 being the hottest on record.

   It’s unusual to have three consecutive record-breaking years even with the aid of global warming, but without the human climate influence, it simply wouldn’t happen."


   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/aug/11/the-year-trump-was-elected-was-so-hot-it-was-1-in-a-million

   “Very high confidence” is a technical term meaning there is reams of evidence.

   Maxoz

   A problem I find in writing about climate change is that there is so much information; most information I reference is current.
   When a contrarian provides a reference I mostly follow up to learn where the mistakes are.

6. ZathrasAugust 13, 2017 at 1:17 am

   There’s a myth about Greenland that suggests it was once in fact, green – hence it’s name.
   The name actually comes from “Grund-land” meaning “homeland”.

   Vikings tried to establish a settlement there long ago but had to abandon it because it was just too inhospitable.
   .

7. guestAugust 13, 2017 at 10:24 am

   Th ScepticalScience website has a list of the kinds of arguments put forward by deniers. These “arguments” have been around for years and have been roundly debunked, yet have been wheeled out time and time again. We have scientists here in Oz who are among the culprits; they are usually associated with institutions such as the IPA, Heartland or companies associated with the fossil fuel industry.

   Interestingly, some of those deniers contradict each other; for example, whether CO2 has anything to do with global warming.

   So these denials, when put together, make a weird hotch-potch of non-science. Tony Eggleton (2013) says there is no science of climate change denial; he has look extensively. His book is clear and well documented.

   The most easily accessible source of non-science is The Australian newspaper, which repeats denial from all the usual suspects, spruiking all the usual denier “arguments” shamelessly, as if they are irrefutable. With Graham Lloyd as general purveyor and Maurice Newman as sometime accomplice, they make a struggling team of unqualified propagandists, the idea of which is to present “not what to think, but what to think about”, which amounts to denier gobbledegook.

8. KeithAugust 13, 2017 at 11:35 am

   guest

   When sighting John’s commentary about Paul McKeigue, the various contradictory views you identified that deniers make came to mind.

   Something I have noticed is that a few years ago deniers were stating that man had absolutely no influence on climate change; with the science continually becoming stronger there was a shift. The more sophisticated deniers now say that man has some influence though not enough to be worried about.

   Deniers really struggle in relation to Arctic sea ice extent and volume being lost; as well as, permafrost thawing having a number of impacts.
   An extremely serious impact being a progressive build up of mounds/pingos being found in Siberia; 7,000 have been reported, there have been a number of methane explosions from these mounds/pingos.

   2017 won’t create a record year temperature wise, though already record temperatures have been recorded in a number of countries. There have been some instances of temperatures exceeding 50C. Water for domestic purposes has been a real issue for Bolivia, Peru, and Rome in 2017. Famine and lack of water has created the situation where millions of people have been living right on the edge, it is particularly impacting babies and young children.

9. David BruceAugust 14, 2017 at 7:04 am

   There is no question we have climate change and there is no question it is man made. So I was wondering how scientists factor in the forest burn-offs in Borneo and the Amazon. Also what effect, if any, does the radiation from Fukashima cause on our weather? Finally, it was revealed recently that the so called “Chem Trails” are in fact using fly ash from coal fired power stations in North America. How does all that affect our global warming-cooling function? From my own research it appears that global warming is not consistent in all places, some places are much hotter (Middle East for example) and other places are cooler (such as continental USA). Just wondering…

10. KeithAugust 14, 2017 at 8:49 am

    David

    Climate is not consistent in Australia from one region to another, that has always been the case. Hills, mountains, proximity to sea, river valleys all have an impact on localised weather/climate. Even around a home in frosty areas, there are pockets where frost does not happen or is subdued. There are thousands of weather stations around Earth; if you just take half of those stations and calculate average temperature, the results fit quite comfortably with the results of all weather stations (Cowtan and Way). My understanding is that there are something like 600 weather stations in Australia which are used to define average yearly temperatures; there are hundreds other weather stations in Australia not used in such a way. There are millions of square kilometres of tundra and sea ice which objectively show temperatures are increasing.
    That is where the newish research on Baffin Island fits; the contrarian view is that the Medieval Warming Period was consistent; whereas, that has been shown to be wrong by the Barnes Ice Cape of Baffin Island.

    The burnoffs in the Amazon, Indonesia, and wildfires around Earth; along with methane voiding are extremely difficult to factor in on the basis of being so changeable from season to season.

    In relation to continental US, the warm Pacific Ocean has had an impact; also, changes in temperature gradients between areas perceived as being warm (Southern latitudes) and cold (Arctic) in the Northern Hemisphere. The effect of the change in warmth gradients where there is less difference in temperature gradients causes jet streams to alter. ( Professor Jennifer Francis).

    Aerolsols (small particulates) are created through emissions from coal fired power stations, volcanic eruptions, and burning processes generally. Aerosols create a negative feedback ( an unusual term), they cause cooling in the atmosphere.
    I’m really not sure about “Chem Trails”; there is discussion about geo engineering, though the allegations being made that it is happening appear more like a conspiracy theory. Dispersing fly ash would be a way of creating a greater amount of aerosols; but, whether it is happening or not I’m not sure. The concern about geo engineering is that new problems will be created.
    Sometime ago I read about if China cleans up smog then the decreased aerosols will cause temperature to increase.

    I’m not sure about Fukashima.

11. JackAugust 14, 2017 at 8:55 am

    The problem is the 90’s had it as ‘Global Warming’. Then when the planet seemed to plateau as far as warming goes, it needed a label change. Now we have ‘Climate Change’, which is another stupid moniker as the planet’s climate has always changed and will continue to do so. Trying to prove/model how much man has caused this change is open to too many variables and will always be open to argument, which means there will always be skeptics. Better to focus efforts and money on something we can knowingly control, like pollution and waste

12. havanaliedownAugust 14, 2017 at 9:05 am

    Jack, don’t forget the alarmist labels “Extreme Weather” (which can be used to explain the “Gore Effect” of chilly weather whenever he flies somewhere to earn $150,000 spruiking his guff), and the latest “Climate Chaos”.

13. guestAugust 14, 2017 at 9:22 am

    Jack, you sound just like some of the sceptics, trying to divert attention, telling us we just have to adapt. The explanation for their scepticism has usually something to do with vested interests.

    The claim that the climate has always changed is a furphy. Usually the changes have occurred over long periods of time. The Medieval Warming is one change – and a minor one at that. The increase of one degree in the last 60 years is 20 times faster than any rate of temperature change.

    That humans are involved is revealed in the isotopes of carbon in the air which come from burnt coal.

    It is the list of arguments against AGW which are stupid. See the list at the ScepticalScience website.

    I politely suggest you need to do some homework and not just make it up out of your head.

14. Matters NotAugust 14, 2017 at 9:31 am

    Jack it’s great to have an eminent scientist such as yourself telling the ‘truth’. Perhaps you could provide a link to your peer reviewed, published research. Until then ….

    Presumably you do tarot readings as well? If not – then why not? Big demand from the deluded.

15. guestAugust 14, 2017 at 9:35 am

    Not funny, havanaliedown. You sound like Rupert Murdoch. You seem to think that the seasons have gone away and we should be experiencing a raging hot summer all over the world.

    The fact is that warming is continuing. Witness the melting snow and ice. Perhaps you are expecting that we should be drowning in rising oceans by now. Certainly some sceptics have berated Tim Flannery for living near the sea.

    Keep your eyes open, havana. It is all happening, even you while you sleep.

16. havanaliedownAugust 14, 2017 at 9:46 am

    I’ll be looking for The Emperor’s New Climate, guest.

17. Kaye LeeAugust 14, 2017 at 10:08 am

    Around 93 per cent of the extra heat gained by the Earth over the past 50 years has sunk into the ocean, while 3 per cent has made ice melt, and 3 per cent has warmed the land. Only around 1 per cent has stayed in the atmosphere. So if we just measure air temperatures, we’re looking in the wrong place for climate change. Recent analyses by the World Meteorological Organisation and independent researchers have looked at deep-ocean as well as sea-surface temperatures, and both groups found that significant increases in total ocean heat content began around 1980, continuing more rapidly after 1998.

    The years 2014, 2015 and 2016 were the three hottest years on record — what are the chances of that? Now that the most recent El Niño event has ended, global air temperatures ought to be falling, but they aren’t. The world saw its third hottest January ever, followed by the second hottest February, March and April. The atmosphere and the ocean are warming in tandem, as predicted by climate models.

18. JackAugust 14, 2017 at 10:50 am

    Please read it again outrage police, you missed my point. Shouting out big picture slogans opens up the opportunity for people, businesses etc.. to absolve themselves of any sort of responsibility via the contrarian views that justified this article. The better way is to focus on the variables that can’t be denied or argued against, which is more likely to produce an agreed solution. Ever heard of divide and conquer?

19. KeithAugust 14, 2017 at 10:52 am

    Jack havanaliedown

    Just saying something is wrong in a science context is meaningless, you need to provide evidence.

    Climate science developed during the 1820s through Fourier. Foote was experimenting with greenhouse gases in the 1850s. Tyndall experimented with greenhouse gases not long after Foote, producing replicable observed results. In other words to suggest that modelling is all that climate science offers is nothing but modelling is a furphy created by contrarians.

    Objective/Empirical Evidence

    Glaciers, permafrost thawing, exploding pingos, trend lines of sea ice extent and volume in Arctic, weather station data, satellite data, greening tundra, domestic water supplies failing, changes in habitat on land and oceans, oceans warming, crops failing, extreme rainfall constantly being experienced, famine being experienced, heat stroke victims, the Chilean fishing industry being decimated 2017, extreme wildfires, drought, islands eroding off Siberia, surf up at Barrow, Iditarod dog sled race, “sunny day floods”, phytoplankton dying from heat, bodies appearing after ice has melted, communities needing to be moved, drunken trees… generally features of temperature.

    Add observable data from ice cores, pollen tree rings etc.

    Millions of people are currently being impacted by lack of water and failure of crops.
    Three inches of rain falling in 3/4 hour is extreme, it comprises a rain bomb.

    Please debunk what I have stated.

20. KeithAugust 14, 2017 at 11:35 am

    Jack

    You say “… Shouting out big picture slogans opens up the opportunity for people, businesses etc.. to absolve themselves of any sort of responsibility via the contrarian views that justified this article.”

    Contrarians produce opinions, climate scientists continually produce data which supports the view that greenhouse gases are warming Earth.
    After it was found that tobacco smoking causes cancer, contrarian Agencies such as Heartlands were still trying to create doubt, that is what is happening now with climate. As with smoking millions of people are dying as a result of fossil fuel emissions, heat stroke, drowning, famine, and wild fires. Disease vectors are changing creating more cost.

    Munich Re has costed a number of extreme weather disasters; billions of dollars have been paid out. Munich Re do not take into account uninsured government and privately owned uninsured property. Communities have moved or need to move; huge costs are anticipated as a result in Alaska.
    Miami has developed a 500 million infra-structure to deal with “sunny day floods” and heavy precipitation, except recently the new infra-structure was not abe to cope with extreme rainfall. One area was knocked by 3 inches in 3/4 hour, no area whether rural or urban, can cope with such an amount of precipitation.

    The science says a warmer atmosphere can carry more water vapour.

21. JackAugust 14, 2017 at 12:49 pm

    Keith, I have no intention of debunking any of that. I agree, they’re end results of what our planet is doing right now. You point out that contrarians only produce opinions, but its easier to do that when all the different topics are rolled up as ‘climate change’. This has been the mistake all along. Just saying climate change doesn’t foster any change in a person or group’s behaviour, because (almost) everyone thinks it’s above their own ability to make a difference. Yet if you picked off the smaller components that contribute to the bigger picture, like supermarket plastic bags, buying bottled water etc.., you’re more likely to get solutions that (almost) everyone buys into

22. KeithAugust 14, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    Jack

    I have written elsewhere about what individuals can do:

    walk more, or ride a bike
    use public transport
    don’t fly somewhere unless imperative
    buy solar panels
    drive to conserve fuel when you need to use car
    lobby politicians
    buy locally produced food

    etc

    But, the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is already at a dangerous level.
    The atmosphere is finite.

    It is what politicians agreed to in Paris which is the very minimal beginning of what needs to happen.
    The Adani proposed mine is a disaster potentially being the largest coal mine in the Southern Hemisphere. It has been suggested that if taken as an individual entity it would be place 15th behind countries in relation to emissions.
    “Clean coal” is being pushed, the technology is expensive, and still most emissions are voided into the atmosphere.

23. guestAugust 14, 2017 at 2:12 pm

    Jack, you are getting yourself into a twist. You are right that AGW/Climate Change/Global Warming are big generalisations covering many aspects. And many people are pointing out the many aspects you allude to.

    Some are pointing to carbon as a problem. There are attempts to reduce carbon emissions even though our Government is attempting to sing the praises of coal and deny the need for renewables. Car manufacturers are setting dates to stop producing internal combustion engines. People are putting solar panels on their rooves. Builders are building houses needing no artificial heating or cooling. People are finding ways to reduce waste. People are planting trees because trees make use of CO2. Electrical appliance makers are producing appliances with less use of electricity, even light bulbs; others are producing solar cookers. People are insulating their houses. Insurance agencies and banks are factoring in climate change risks, etc etc.

    Where have you been, Jack?

24. guestAugust 14, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    Havanaliedown, that bit about looking for the King’s New Clothes is even sillier than the bit about cold weather. Stop it, havana You will go blind!

25. JackAugust 14, 2017 at 3:46 pm

    Guest. I never suggested nobody is doing anything. My point is using the rallying call of climate change and expecting people and governments to fall into line, that’s silly. As I said above, there becomes more opportunity for argument and then it distracts from the actual issues, like Adani

26. guestAugust 14, 2017 at 4:08 pm

    For goodness sake, Jack, you are arguing for the sake of arguing. Adani is at the very centre of the Climate Change argument here in Oz because our ideologically Government thinks it is OK to flog off coal to be burnt.

    So you go ahead to protest Adani; other people will be working on something else – or even something else and Adani as well.

    Stay in the fight, Jack. Peace be with you.

27. HarquebusAugust 16, 2017 at 1:28 pm

    There’s so much happening; environmental destruction, heat waves, drought, rainbombs and floods occurring more and with more severity. All to satisfy a growth economy that has outgrown our planet’s ability to sustain it.

    The extreme events that are occurring in relation to weather are now so common that I can’t keep up. Here’s a few only of the many that I did read.

    “”Endless growth will destroy Australia as we know it today,” Mr Smith said of his motive for the campaign.”
    “”It is simply endless growth and endless greed – meaning the finite wealth has to be divided between more people, and that means less for most,” Mr Smith said.”
    http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/dick-smith-throws-dollar1m-behind-call-for-reduced-immigration/ar-AAq1ZwF

    “NOAA-led report tells the truth about the science behind the warmest year on record”
    https://thinkprogress.org/noaa-report-contradicts-trump-d34e2be06736/

    “Australia’s climate change credentials have suffered from a serious lack of political leadership”
    “Our current posture is a manifest failure of leadership”
    “The creation of a high-level taskforce to examine risks associated with climate change and national security is urgent and overdue.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/11/australia-potentially-disastrous-consequences-of-climate-change-inquiry-told

    “The findings suggest that “we are likely headed to a new normal where time between droughts is shorter than the recovery time”, the lead author tells Carbon Brief.
    This could lead to widespread changes to ecosystems, reducing the amount of CO2 they can take up from the atmosphere”
    “These systems eke out a very marginal existence, as it were. Such that a drought immediately exhausts any reserves or buffering capacity.”

    Ecosystems facing ‘double whammy’ due to increasing impacts of drought

    “The impending extinction factor of bluefin tuna, in certain respects, resembles the issue of global warming. Similar to mindlessly butchering fishing stock down to 3%, nobody seems to care enough to seriously tackle global warming’s impending threat of human extinction. The world wears blinders, thereby ignoring reality.”
    “Voluntarism will not save any species. The economic model of the world, neoliberal capitalism, is too focused on profits, the invisible hand of free markets, deregulation of governments, and significantly, converting public assets to private ownership, to adhere to undependable anemic voluntarism.”
    “the bluefin’s remaining shot at existence is down to 3%. Afterwards, sayonara.”
    “The reason Venus has so much heat-trapping CO2 (96.5% of its atmosphere) is because that’s where all of its carbon is located. On Earth most of the carbon is still underground or trapped under ice, for now.”

    Bluefin Tuna at the Brink

28. KeithAugust 16, 2017 at 4:22 pm

    Harquebus

    July 2017 has just tied with July 2016 and August 2016 as being the warmest month ever recorded since the Industrial Revolution. The significance being that 2017 has not been impacted by an El Nino.

    https://thinkprogress.org/hottest-july-on-record-369505237992/

    In relation to extreme weather, I agree that it is very difficult to keep tabs of all the terrible events that are occurring.

    Deniers often state we have not reached a stage of catastrophic climate change yet. But, when there are mud slides and flooding such as Sierra Leone just experienced; where numbers of people are killed or lose public and private instructure on a bi-weekly/ weekly basis, you do wonder about their lack of comprehension.

29. HarquebusAugust 16, 2017 at 9:04 pm

    Keith
    What annoys me is how little attention the various indicators receive from MSM. Sierra Leone wouldn’t rate a mention but, for the people killed. It does seem like weather extremes are now the new normal and not newsworthy.

    Here’s a couple more and I have lots.

    As someone in another forum stated recently, “Mother nature is just warming up.”

    “Temperatures in the Middle East are already soaring past 120°F, while a heat wave named “Lucifer” scorches Europe.”
    https://thinkprogress.org/super-heatwaves-coming-study-warns-955962bd275a/

    The situation in the following link is mostly man made through mismanagement. Water, soil, the oceans, forests, habitat….. The list of mismanagement is long and the harsh consequences will will be felt most by those who are the least to blame. I think our own River Murray will die just as the Great Barrier Reef is dying.

    “The Tagus river, the longest in the Iberian peninsula, is in danger of drying up completely as Spain once again finds itself in the grip of drought.”
    “https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/14/tagus-river-at-risk-of-drying-up-completely”

    People don’t get it. The creation of currency, intrinsically worthless, is the root cause of our predicament and its creation still occupies top spot on our politician’s list of concerns.

    I notice that we share parts of our reading list and I have seen you comment in other fora. I admire your efforts.

30. HarquebusAugust 19, 2017 at 11:30 am

    “Our core ecological problem is not climate change. It is overshoot, of which global warming is a symptom. Overshoot is a systemic issue.”
    “Until we understand and address this systemic imbalance, symptomatic treatment (doing what we can to reverse pollution dilemmas like climate change, trying to save threatened species, and hoping to feed a burgeoning population with genetically modified crops) will constitute an endlessly frustrating round of stopgap measures that are ultimately destined to fail.”
    “Today, most environmental reporting is focused laser-like on climate change, and systemic links between it and other worsening ecological dilemmas (such as overpopulation, species extinctions, water and air pollution, and loss of topsoil and fresh water) are seldom highlighted. It’s not that climate change isn’t a big deal. As a symptom, it’s a real doozy.”
    “If climate change can be framed as an isolated problem for which there is a technological solution, the minds of economists and policy makers can continue to graze in familiar pastures.”
    “The biggest transitional hurdle is scale: the world uses an enormous amount of energy currently; only if that quantity can be reduced significantly, especially in industrial nations, could we imagine a credible pathway toward a post-carbon future.”
    “population stabilization and reduction, another necessary strategy. But it’s also a notion to which technocrats, industrialists, and investors are virulently allergic.”
    “Any systems thinker who understands overshoot and prescribes powerdown as a treatment is effectively engaging in an intervention with an addictive behavior. Society is addicted to growth, and that’s having terrible consequences for the planet and, increasingly, for us as well.”
    “Some theorists now calling themselves “bright greens” or “eco-modernists” have abandoned the moral fight altogether. Their justification for doing so is that people want a vision of the future that’s cheery and that doesn’t require sacrifice.”
    “The effort fell short because it wasn’t able to alter industrial society’s central organizing principle, which is also its fatal flaw: its dogged pursuit of growth at all cost. Now we’re at the point where we must finally either succeed in overcoming growthism or face the failure not just of the environmental movement, but of civilization itself.”
    “The good news is…”
    https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-heinberg-2471869927.html

    “The planet has not had a cooler than average month since December of 1984.”
    http://mashable.com/2017/08/15/july-warmest-month-on-record-nasa-finds/

    “The finding demonstrates an additional danger of plastic in the oceans, as it suggests that fish are not just ingesting the tiny pieces by accident, but actively seeking them out.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/16/fish-confusing-plastic-debris-in-ocean-for-food-study-finds

    “Solar photovoltaic energy is not as environmentally conscious as many think it is. Besides being an intermittent source of energy and more expensive than traditional technologies, it has serious waste disposal issues that few countries are tackling. The hazardous materials used in their construction are not easy to recycle and can contaminate drinking water if solely discarded with other electronic waste.”
    http://canadafreepress.com/article/will-solar-power-be-at-fault-for-the-next-environmental-crisis

    TANSTAAFL

31. HarquebusAugust 23, 2017 at 1:31 pm

    “But that still leaves a major issue — the exploitation of yet another massive source of greenhouse gases.”
    “India imports more than a third of its energy resources; Japan more than 90 percent. “Their natural gas costs are 4 times what we pay,” Collett notes. For them, hydrates are looking ever-more attractive.”
    http://e360.yale.edu/features/the-world-eyes-yet-another-unconventional-source-of-fossil-fuels-methane-hydrates

    “If global temperatures increase up to 2 C above pre-industrial levels the combined effect of heat and humidity (known as apparent temperature or Heat Index) will likely exceed 40°C every year in many parts of Asia, Australia, Northern Africa, South and North America.”
    http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2017/08/super-heatwaves-of-55c-to-emerge-if.html

    Every year at the beginning of summer I email the usual with information stating that extinguishing bushfires results in unstoppable megafires but, as usual, don’t want to know.

    “Like Canada, southern Europe has seen a record heatwave this year, creating hot, dry conditions that saw Italy, France, Croatia, Spain and Greece all swept by wildfires. As a result, Europe has reportedly seen three times the average number of wildfires this summer.”
    “Putting out small fires can allow flammable debris to accumulate until a colossal fire starts that cannot be controlled.”
    http://www.dw.com/en/climate-change-sets-the-world-on-fire/a-40152365

    It’s all related.

    “New scientific research is quietly rewriting the fundamentals of economics. The new economic science shows decisively that the age of endlessly growing industrial capitalism, premised on abundant fossil fuel supplies, is over.”
    “the 2008 financial crash did not represent a singular event, but rather one key event in an unfolding process.”
    “The implication is that the 21st century represents the tail-end of the era of industrial economic expansion, originally ushered in by technological innovations enabled by abundant fossil fuel energy sources.”
    “It is no coincidence, then, that debt-to-GDP ratios have continued to grow worldwide. As EROI is in decline, an unsustainable debt-bubble premised on exploitation of working and middle classes is the primary method to keep growth growing — an endeavour that at some point will inevitably come undone under its own weight.”
    “One of the most important contributions of biophysical economics is its critique that mainstream economics disregards the biophysical basis of production, and energy in particular.”
    “Yet a key problem is that mainstream economics is held back from being able to even comprehend the existence of net energy decline due to an ideological obsession with the market.”
    “The modern market paradigm is fatally self-limited by the following dynamics: “short time horizons, growth as a requisite, gratuitous waste baked-in, profits as life-blood.” This renders it “incapable of producing solutions that demand long-view investment without profits.””
    “The resulting solutions will require “long time-horizon investment: investments with no immediate payoff in terms of saleable products, no visible ROI (return on investment), no profit-making in the near-term. Such investment can be generated only in a non-market environment, in which payment is collective and financial profit is not the point.””
    “Far from representing the end of prosperity, this transition represents an opportunity to redefine prosperity beyond the idea of endlessly increasing material accumulation; and realigning society with the goal of meeting real-world human physical, psychological and spiritual needs.”
    https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/the-new-economic-science-of-capitalisms-slow-burn-energy-collapse-d07344fab6be

32. HarquebusAugust 25, 2017 at 11:50 am

    I have recently seen a promo for harvesting seaweed. This morning I heard about farming crickets for human consumption, again. Both were promoted as progress. They are nothing of the sort.
    The fact that we are now expanding our exploitation to resources never harvested before is a demonstration of just how bad things are and how desperate we have become and still, we can’t consume enough.

    “Over 400 firefighters are working to contain the largest wildfire in British Columbia’s history.”
    http://www.timescolonist.com/b-c-wildfire-service-19-fires-combine-west-of-quesnel-to-create-record-size-blaze-1.22058889

    “Measurements in modern air suggest that the rise in methane levels over the last years is dominated by agricultural emissions, which must therefore be mitigated.”
    “So, while today’s conditions differ from the ice-covered world 12,000 years ago, our findings implicate that permafrost and gas hydrates are not too likely to release large amounts of methane in future warming. That is good news.”
    https://theconversation.com/antarctic-ice-reveals-that-fossil-fuel-extraction-leaks-more-methane-than-thought-82902

    “The reason the rats are so bad now, we believe, is because of the warm winters”
    https://newrepublic.com/article/144392/america-verge-ratpocalypse

    “The tanker was built to take advantage of the diminishing Arctic sea ice and deliver gas from a new $27m facility on the Yamal Peninsula”
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/24/russian-tanker-sails-arctic-without-icebreaker-first-time

    “Using his burgeoning intelligence, this most successful of all mammals has exploited the environment to produce food for an ever increasing population. Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, perhaps it’s time we controlled the population to allow the survival of the environment.” — David Attenborough

33. HarquebusAugust 26, 2017 at 11:58 am

    Climate change is creeping along but, it is a relentless creep with decades worth of acceleration already in the pipe.

    “Yes, Virginia: Global Warming is a big, fat hoax.”
    http://www.dailywire.com/news/20121/inconvenient-truth-our-planet-was-warmer-medieval-john-nolte

    Yes. I have checked out the author of the dailywire link. He is a shill.

    It’s all related.

    “Though climate science denial is the rule in the White House, some Republicans who represent coastal districts have been swayed by the recurring floods. Representative Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) represents southern Florida, where the region’s regular flooding has him convinced that climate change is happening now.”
    “His island is literally being washed away by sea level rise and he can’t see any signs of it. And yet while he can’t see signs of sea level rise, he is asking for the government to pay for engineering solutions to protect his island — from sea level rise.”
    https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/08/24/retired-general-our-bases-coast-going-underwater-sea-level-rise

    “Are the Alps melting?”
    “We have bore holes at different depths in different terrain and the ones that are in rock walls are showing a distinct warming over the last 10 to 20 years”
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41049827

    “Articles describing the various ways members of the 0.1% think they can ride out the coming economic and political upheaval in close to their current level of comfort simply confirm how utterly out of touch they are with real world realities.”
    “We’re all in this together, people said to one another. They thought we should face the crisis as a community, as a people, because they knew that at every step our lives intersect with others, depend upon others – especially people we cannot see and likely do not know.”

    The Ludicrous Prepper Plans of the Super Rich

    “The U.S. Shale Oil Industry is in serious trouble as its debt spirals higher due to its massive production decline rates. While the Mainstream media continues to put out hype that the shale oil industry can produce oil at $30 or $40 a barrel, the reality shows that it’s becoming difficult just to finance its debt.”

    TROUBLE FINANCING ITS DEBT: Massive Decline Rates Push U.S. Shale Oil Industry Closer Towards Bankruptcy

34. HarquebusAugust 28, 2017 at 11:39 am

    “Professor Raj Patel said mass deforestation to clear the ground for single crops like palm oil and soy, the creation of vast dead zones in the sea by fertiliser and other chemicals, and the pillaging of fishing grounds to make feed for livestock show giant corporations can not be trusted to produce food for the world.”
    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/mass-extinction-life-on-earth-farming-industrial-agriculture-professor-raj-patel-a7914616.html

    “It is needed to build more steel mills so as to build more shipyards, ports, railways and bridges so that more ships can be built to carry more iron ore to more ports and thence along more rails and bridges to more steel mills so as to build more shipyards, ports, railways …
    What we have here, in short, is a giant Ponzi scheme.”
    http://www.scmp.com/news/article/2108442/my-prediction-coming-collapse-chinas-ponzi-scheme-economy

    “Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes found that at least 80 percent of the internal documents and peer-reviewed publications they studied from between 1977 and 2014 were consistent with the state of the science – acknowledging that climate change is real and caused by humans, and identifying “reasonable uncertainties” that any climate scientist would agree with at the time. Yet over 80 percent of Exxon’s editorial-style paid advertisements over the same period specifically focused on uncertainty and doubt, the study found.”
    https://theconversation.com/i-was-an-exxon-funded-climate-scientist-49855

35. paul walterAugust 28, 2017 at 1:13 pm

    Yep. Much of the so called “development” is itself a form of propaganda by symbol.

36. HarquebusAugust 29, 2017 at 12:36 pm

    “First and foremost, burning additional oil and natural gas made available by receding Arctic ice is nothing short of insane. But in a world that believes that adapting to climate change is merely an engineering problem, this type of talk persists.”
    “But if development of the Arctic proceeds, it will be a sign that we are doing far too little to abate the very causes of warming that make such development thinkable. That would imply increasingly rapid climate change, something that will almost surely destabilize a world which wants to exploit the Arctic.”

    Arctic riches: A most insane discussion

    “”With an average consumption of 22.9 kWh per square foot over the past year, [Al] Gore’s home classifies as an ‘energy hog’ under standards developed by Energy Vanguard—a company specializing in energy efficiency methods,” one writer noted.”

    Al Gore’s Energy Problems

    “A dramatic photo circulating on the Internet showed the residents of the La Vita Bella sitting in several feet of water as they waited for help.”
    http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/27/us/flooded-nursing-home-residents-trnd/index.html

    “Now, based on current trends, these ‘rainforests of the ocean’ are well on the path to extinction and, within the next 30 years, most of the world’s coral will be gone. Yep gone, like gone, extinct, nada, nothing left”
    “it was claimed that 29% of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef died in 2016 alone.”
    “Everything on our planet is connected, and with each collapsed ecosystem we’re pulling one more card from house of cards and one day we’ll pull enough of these cards that the whole thing simply collapse.”
    “Rather than a single apocalyptic incident, the collapse is unfolding over decades, accelerated by sudden disruptions/shocks (ecosystem collapse like coral reefs is an example of just one of these shocks).”
    “The whole thing rests on the premise that everything must grow exponentially, and if it’s not growing then it’s crashing and we all suffer. ”
    “There are an increasing number of tools we have at our disposal for creating these alternative/virtual/parallel systems, and there are already some promising projects developing. We just need to learn how to work together toward the common goal of greater societal resilience and making Earth healthy again.”

    Some Practical Thoughts on Mass Suicide, Eco-anxiety and the Encroaching Collapse