Climatism! Science, Common Sense, and the 21st Century’s Hottest Topic «

Climatism! Science, Common Sense, and the 21st Century’s Hottest Topic

Climatism! By Steve Goreham

By Steve Goreham

ISBN: 978-0-9824996-3-4

Hardcover non-fiction, 6″ x 9″

Retail: $32.95

394 pages, 135 figures

1000+ notes, index, & bibliography

SPECIAL!

Order your signed copy today for $29.95 and free U.S. shipping or lower price shipping to international locations.

Author’s Note

It was June of 1995, a beautiful day in Colorado, and an excellent day for whitewater kayaking. My paddling companions and I were taking a brief rest in a river eddy on the Arkansas River at the bottom of Royal Gorge in Colorado. The blue-green river had narrowed to about 50-feet wide as it roared between the reddish-brown granite cliffs of the gorge. We leaned back in our kayaks to look up more than a thousand feet to the suspension bridge, which appeared tiny at the top of the canyon. What a magnificent world this is.

For more than three decades, when family and work allowed, I’ve enjoyed kayaking many of the whitewater rivers of the United States and Canada. I’ve navigated the rapids of several rivers on the Cumberland Plateau in eastern Tennessee, the home of Al Gore. I’ve camped by tent and trailer throughout North America with my family and friends. I’ve enjoyed many national parks and forests. These experiences are among my favorite memories.

No one wants to see Earth’s air polluted, rivers dirtied, or oceans fouled. We all want to pass a better world on to our children. But our policies must be based on logic and sound science, not propaganda and fear.

For several years, I’ve watched the global-warming debate from afar. An occasional news report one decade ago has grown into a blizzard of news broadcasts, books, YouTube video clips, and movies. Most of this communication has proclaimed that Earth is warming; that our industrial civilization is the cause; and increasingly, that we are on the road to climate catastrophe.

Despite the avalanche of publicity decrying man-made global warming, I wondered whether it all really made sense. Most news stories pointed to a weather event, such as Hurricane Katrina or catastrophic fires in Australia, and then jumped to the conclusion that the event was caused by human industry. Discussion of the science behind such conclusions was rarely included in the story.

Predictions announced that, by the year 2100, icecaps will melt, seas will inundate, and catastrophic hurricanes will occur, among many other disasters destined to plague us all. But then my local meteorologist would be wrong on his 5-day weather forecast. How is it possible that predictions for the year 2100 can be accurate, but not forecasts for the weekend?

As I read alarmist books on human-caused global warming, a pattern began to emerge. Most books spend 10–20 pages on the science of climate change, and then hundreds of pages on the impacts and possible remedies. These books rely almost entirely on findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations for their science, and assume that the IPCC is correct.

At the same time, I discovered a growing group of scientists who, I believe, are climate realists, but are called “skeptics” (or worse) by the news media. These technologists are increasingly convinced that our globe is warming, but that the warming is due to natural, rather than man-made causes. Their arguments proved persuasive and moved me decisively into the skeptic camp. Most astonishing, the science clearly shows that global warming is due to natural causes, despite the tidal wave of world belief in man-made climate change.

Once convinced that mankind was heading down the wrong track, I felt compelled to add my voice to the debate. Exaggerations by Al Gore, James Hansen, and others added fuel to my fire to write. This book is the result.

Whether global warming is being caused by humanity should be decided by science, not by politics. The climate and energy policies of the nations of the world should be based on valid science, sound economics, and common sense. Unfortunately, as we shall see, this is currently not the case. Let me state up front that I am not in the pay of any energy company, or any other organization with a vested interest in the debate.

Table of Contents

Foreword by John Coleman, Meteorologist	ix
Author’s Note	xi
Introduction	1

PART I GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISM DEBUNKED
Chapter 1	A Tsunami for Global Warming Alarmism	7
	Three Climatist Prophets of Doom ~ Eight “Disasters” of Global Warming ~ Media Cheerleaders ~ The Consensus Appears Unanimous ~ The Global Delusion
Chapter 2	The Thin Science for Man-Made Global Warming	19
	Energy Balance and Weather ~ Early Research on Carbon Dioxide ~ The Simple Greenhouse Effect ~ Increasing CO2 and Temperature ~ A Closer Look at Temperatures ~ Global Warming Dogma ~ Rise of the Climate Models ~ The Vostok Ice Cores ~ Thin Science for Man-made Global Warming
Chapter 3	Carbon Dioxide: Not Guilty	39
	Carbon Dioxide-A Trace Gas ~ The Carbon Cycle ~ Carbon Dioxide Is Great for Plants ~ The Core Issue: The Greenhouse Effect ~ Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Impacts ~ It’s All About the Feedback ~ Garbage In, Garbage Out
Chapter 4	Climate Change Is Continuous	59
	Our Climate Is Dominated by Cycles ~ Long Term: The Milankovitch Cycles ~ Measurement of Past Temperatures ~ The Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age ~ Medium Term: The 1500-Year Cycle ~ Short Term Cycles: El Niño, PDO, and AMO ~ Natural Cycles Explain Global Warming
Chapter 5	The Sun Is Our Climate Driver	79
	Evidence Points to the Sun ~ The Link between Cosmic Rays and the Sun ~ New Evidence: Solar Activity Affects Clouds ~ Nature Is Not Cooperating ~ Are We Headed for Global Cooling?
Chapter 6	Global Warming Disasters Debunked	99
	Icecap Melting Causes Sea Level Rise ~ An Increase in Reported Natural Disasters ~ Devastation from Hurricanes and Storms ~ Famine from Droughts and Floods ~ Increase in Temperature- Related Deaths ~ The Polar Bear and Species Extinction ~ Melting Glaciers and Water Shortages ~ Coral and Acidification of the Oceans ~ Gulf Stream Shut Down and New Ice Age
PART II CLIMATISM AND “SNAKE OIL” REMEDIES
Chapter 7	The IPCC and the Road to World Delusion	137
	United Nations and Environmental Activism ~ Ozone Hole and Montreal Protocol ~ Theatrics in the Summer of 1988 ~ The IPCC Gathers a Host of Support ~ Score Decided before the Game Was Played ~ 1992 Earth Summit and the FCCC ~ Increasing “Certainty” of IPCC Reports ~ Re-writing History with the Mann Curve ~ Consensus Science from the IPCC ~ The Kyoto Treaty: Lesson in Futility ~ Alarming IPCC Temperature Forecasts
Chapter 8	Climatism: The Ideology behind Global Warming Alarmism	161
	Malthus and the Roots of Climatism ~ The New Malthusians Adopt Climatism ~ The Improving State of the World ~ The Environment and Kuznets Curves
Chapter 9	The Beliefs, Objectives and Tactics of Climatism	179
	Eight False Beliefs of Climatism ~ The Objectives of Climatism ~ The Tactics of Climatism
Chapter 10	The Science Is Not Settled	197
	The Attack on the Deniers ~ Revelle, Gore, and Suppression of Science ~ Danish Committee on Scientific Dishonesty ~ The Climatist Inquisition ~ The Purchasing of Climate Science ~ Three Notable Dissenters ~ The Culpable News Media ~ Growing Number of Climate Realists ~ The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change ~ Climategate at East Anglia
Chapter 11	Snake Oil Remedies to “Save the Planet”	223
	The Plan: Reduce CO2 Emissions 50% to 85% ~ The Stabilization Wedges ~ Emissions After Kyoto Protocol ~ Kyoto II Conference in Copenhagen ~ Attack on Freedom and Our Way of Life ~ Rationing and The Climate Police
PART III RENEWABLE ENERGY “SOLUTIONS”
Chapter 12	Energy: The Lifeblood of Prosperity	241
	The Hydrocarbon Revolution ~ World Energy Usage ~ Energy Use Grows Despite Attacks ~ World Energy Reserves ~ Some Basics About Electrical Power
Chapter 13	Renewable Energy: Reality Far Short of Promises	259
	Solar Energy: Perpetual 1% Solution ~ Realities of Solar Power Economics ~ Home Solar Systems ~ Desertec ~ Wind Power: The Choice of Climatism ~ Wind Power: Built on Subsidies and Mandates ~ Carbon Capture and Storage: A Fool’s Errand ~ Biofuels: Government-Financed Explosion ~ Don’t Burn Food ~ Fuel Economy Mandates and Electric Cars
Chapter 14	Chains for the Developing Nations	293
	China and India: The Dilemma of Climatism ~ Developing Nations in Dire Need of Energy ~ Past Chain: Tragedy of the DDT Ban ~ Renewable Fantasy for Developing Nations ~ Stranglehold on Global Capital ~ Bribes for Developing Nations ~ Spectre of Climate Protectionism
Chapter 15	Climatism in Action: Debacles around the World	317
	“Enlightened” City of Austin, Texas ~ Renewable Debacle in Spain ~ Renewables Fall Short in Philippines ~ The Sorrow of Denmark ~ California: A Blizzard of Climate Regulations ~ The U.K.: Many Sacrifices for Illusory Benefits ~ The European Emissions Trading Circus
Chapter 16	Energy Nonsense for the Good Old U.S.A.	347
	False Claim #1: Independence from Foreign Oil ~ False Claim #2: Growth and Green Jobs ~ False Claim #3: Minimal Cost ~ False Claim #4: 20% Renewables Possible by 2020 ~ Foolishness of U.S. Energy Policy ~ Road to Blackout Paradise? ~ Climatist Demands of the U.S.
Chapter 17	Common Sense and the Future	379
	We Can No Longer Control the Seas ~ What’s All the Concern About? ~ Good News from Realistic Climate Science ~ The Bad News is Climatism Itself ~ Common Sense for the 21st Century ~ Trends for the Future ~ Some Things You Can Do ~ A Final Note: The P-38 “Glacier Girl”

Further Reading	395
Notes	397
Index	453