Heartland Institute’s Climate Change Weekly #124

NIPCC Press Coverage Shatters IPCC’S Attempted Momentum

Media coverage of a new peer-reviewed report casting severe doubt on alarmist global warming predictions has stopped in its tracks momentum sought by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The new report, Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts, was featured this week on the Fox News Channel and in print newspapers around the world.

Climate scientists S. Fred Singer and Craig Idso presented Biological Impacts this week to members of Congress, public policy organizations, and the news media in Washington, DC. The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) issued the report, with Singer and Idso serving among the lead authors. The Heartland Institute published the report on behalf of NIPCC, and Heartland President Joseph Bast chaired the DC events.

Special Report with Bret Baier featured Biological Impacts in an in-depth segment Wednesday evening. The segment reported, A torrent of new data is poking very large holes in what the president has called the scientific consensus about global warming.

It continued, ‘Skeptics believe [alarmist] statements are demonstrably false. They point to observable data, not computer modeling, to prove their point.’

The NIPCC findings come on the heels of the IPCC’s much-ballyhooed warnings to farmers and other food producers that were contained in a report that U.N. agency released last week, observed the Washington Times.

Global warming activist groups and their media allies were unable to ignore the NIPCC report and attempted in vain to minimize its impact. Media Matters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Salon, and the UK Guardian devoted substantial time and effort to publishing news stories claiming the release of Biological Impacts was not really a news story.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Somewhat Reasonable

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IN THIS ISSUE

Peer-reviewed study supports cosmic ray solar amplification - Climate hypocrisy: EPA chief flies to Boston nearly every week - Methane impacts mitigated by atmospheric water vapor - The pause 2.0: no Arctic sea ice retreat for seven years - IPCC mission is designed to promote alarmism

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PEER-REVIEWED STUDY SUPPORTS COSMIC RAY SOLAR AMPLIFICATION

A new study published in the peer-reviewed Environmental Research Letters reports the impact of solar variance on cloud formation is higher than many scientists previously believed. The finding supports research by solar scientist Henrik Svensmark indicating the direct impacts of solar variation on Earth’s climate are amplified by the sun’s ability to shield cloud-seeding cosmic rays from reaching Earth’s atmosphere. When solar output increases, fewer cloud-seeding cosmic rays enter Earth’s atmosphere. The resulting clearer skies allow more solar energy to reach Earth’s surface, further warming Earth. Properly accounting for the sun’s impact on cosmic rays explains in large part why solar variance and natural forces have had a greater impact on global temperature changes than carbon dioxide emissions.

MORE INFORMATION: The Hockey Schtick and Environmental Research Letters

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CLIMATE HYPOCRISY: EPA CHIEF FLIES TO BOSTON NEARLY EVERY WEEK

Flying home to Boston every weekend does not appear in the iconic 100 Ways to Save the Planet, and top EPA official Gina McCarthy is exploiting that loophole to the hilt. EPA reports that rather than relocate her home to Washington, DC, McCarthy maintains an apartment in DC and flies home nearly every weekend to Boston. Global warming activists claim unnecessary airplane trips are a substantial contributing factor to global warming, leading the European Union to consider a carbon tax on airplane trips to discourage such flights. McCarthy also racks up her personal carbon dioxide emissions by heating, cooling, lighting, and running electricity in her DC apartment in addition to her Boston home.

MORE INFORMATION: Daily Caller

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METHANE IMPACTS MITIGATED BY ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR

Methane emissions are essentially irrelevant as a greenhouse gas because water vapor already absorbs the very same infrared radiation that would be absorbed by methane, physicist and science writer Tom Sheahen explains on the Watts Up With That? website. Regarding methane, both of its bands occur at wavelengths where H2O is already absorbing substantially. Hence, any radiation that CH4 might absorb has already been absorbed by H2O. The ratio of the percentages of water to methane is such that the effects of CH4 are completely masked by H2O. The amount of CH4 must increase 100-fold to make it comparable to H2O,   Sheahen observes.

MORE INFORMATION: Watts Up With That?

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THE PAUSE 2.0: NO ARCTIC SEA ICE RETREAT FOR SEVEN YEARS

Arctic sea ice has stabilized after a much-ballyhooed decline in 2007, with Arctic sea ice extent showing no decline over the past seven years. Satellite measurements show the 10-to-20 percent decline in Arctic sea ice around 2007 was a one-time event with no decline since. Countering the one-time Arctic sea ice decline, ongoing increases in Antarctic sea ice extent have put the current global sea ice extent 5 percent above the long-term average.

MORE INFORMATION: Cryosphere Today

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IPCC MISSION IS DESIGNED TO PROMOTE ALARMISM

The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change may have taken the wind out of the UN IPCC’s latest report, but people familiar with IPCC’s mission and structure never expected sound science from IPCC in the first place. In a terrific essay on the Watts Up With That? website, scientist Tim Ball examines IPCC’s mission and structure and explains IPCC was created to predetermine a scientific result and amplify it through alarmism.

MORE INFORMATION: Watts Up With That?

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RECOMMENDED SITES AND NEWSLETTERS

C3 Headlines
Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation
Global Science Report
Climate in Review, by C. Jeffery Small
International Conferences on Climate Change, The Heartland Institute
Center on Climate and Environmental Policy, The Heartland Institute
Climate Policy, The Heritage Foundation
Global Warming, Cato Institute
Center for Global Food Issues, Hudson Institute
JoNova, hosted by Joanne Nova
GlobalClimateScam.com
Center for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute
GlobalWarming.org
Cooler Heads Digest
Power for USA
Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
ClimateWiki
Master Resource
The Climate Bet
International Climate Science Coalition
Climate Scientists’ Register
Science and Public Policy Institute
Climate Depot by Marc Morano
World Climate Report by Dr. Patrick Michaels
E-FACT Report by the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)
Biweekly Updates from the Cooler Heads Coalition
Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change by Craig Idso et al.
Watts Up With That? by Anthony Watts
ICECAP by Joseph D’Aleo
Junk Science by Steve Milloy