Then he invents a new, self-contradictory theory of warming

UPDATE:  Joe Bastardi replies to this post in the comments here.

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Our favorite climate de-crocker, Peter Sinclair has a terrific new video on the basic facts of climate science (with links to the literature):

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According to the mainstream media, there is a controversy over the validity of climate science, in particular the conclusion that the warming of the planet by greenhouse gas emissions poses a risk to the public:

“Iceberg Ahead: Climate scientists who play fast and loose with the facts are imperiling not just their profession but the planet” — Newsweek, 2/19/10

“Controversies Create Opening for Critics” — Wall Street Journal, 2/17/10

“Series of missteps by climate scientists threatens climate-change agenda” — Washington Post, 2/14/10

“Climate-Change Debate Is Heating Up in Deep Freeze” — The New York Times, 2/11/10

Let’s take a look at who is on either side of this so-called climate-change debate:

Reckless reporting from senior journalists is giving credence to a laughable concept — that there is a global conspiracy by the world’s scientific organizations to deceive the public about the threat of global warming. In reality, industrial polluters are promoting baseless conspiracy theories to overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public health and welfare. Despite the smoke and snake oil from these polluters, the threat of manmade global warming is a fact.

Researchers announced last week that a giant iceberg has collided with a seaward extension of East Antarctica’s Mertz Glacier, breaking a huge chunk off of the glacier to form a second iceberg 78 km (48 miles) long, 33 to 39 km (21-24 miles) wide and 400 m (0.25 mile) thick.  A team of Australian and French scientists say that “[t]he future behavior of the two icebergs is of great interest,” with potential impacts on local ocean circulation, and on the region’s marine biology — including emperor penguins. 

Guest blogger Nick Sundt has the story in a piece first published here.  For some background, see Satellite data stunner: “Our data suggest that EAST Antarctica is losing mass”¦. Antarctica may soon be contributing significantly more to global sea-level rise.”

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Our guest blogger is long-time commenter Richard Brenne.  He’s an award-winning screenwriter who teaches a NASA-sponsored on-line Global Climate Change class, serves on the American Meteorological Society’s Committee to Improve Climate Change Communication.  His previous post was “What can the Winter Olympic sports tell us about climate change?”

Vancouver will never host another Olympics.  Okay, another Winter Olympics.  They could’ve much more easily held the Summer Olympics there these last two weeks.  In uncertain economic times the key to affordably hosting future Olympic games will be to use existing infrastructure and host them again as has happened in St. Moritz, Innsbruck, Lake Placid and Los Angeles.

Global warming is the reason Vancouver will never host another Winter Olympics.  They barely dodged (biathlon) bullets at dozens of events, and the Olympic Committee would rather use Donald Trump’s hair as the Olympic flame than go through this again.  Climate change is all about likelihoods of things like the record warmth Vancouver has had increasing, and the Olympic Committee rolled Jim Hansen’s dice and came up snake eyes.

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A stink in Central California over converting cow manure to electricity

Central California is home to nearly 1.6 million dairy cows and their manure — up to 192 million pounds per day. It’s a mountain of waste and a potential environmental hazard.

But for dairyman John Fiscalini, the dung on his farm is renewable gold: He’s converting it into electricity.

At his farm outside Modesto, a torrent of water washes across the barn’s concrete floor several times a day, flushing tons of manure away from his herd of fuzzy-faced Holsteins and into nearby tanks. There, bacteria consume the waste and release methane, which is then burned in a generator capable of producing enough power to run Fiscalini’s 530-acre farm, his cheese factory and 200 additional homes.

Fiscalini’s resourcefulness should be drawing accolades, considering that state mandates are requiring California industries to boost renewable energy use and slash greenhouse gas emissions sharply over the next 10 years.

But efforts to convert cow pies into power have sparked controversy. State air quality control regulators say these “dairy digester” systems can generate pollution themselves and, unless the devices are overhauled, are refusing to issue permits for them.

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The Australian author and ethicist Clive Hamilton has been running an amazing series of articles on the attack on climate science (click here).  He has given me permission to repost them.  I’ll start with #4.

Hamilton was appointed Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethic in June 2008.  He is the author of the forthcoming book “Requiem for a Species,” which has a blunt video:

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