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A new study published in Climate Dynamics has found that humans are responsible for virtually all of the observed global warming since the mid-20th century. It's not a novel result - in fact, most global warming attribution studies have arrived at the same general result - but this study uses a new approach. Studies attempting to figure out the global warming contributions of various human and natural sources usually use a statistical approach known as 'linear regression'. This approach assumes we know the pattern of warming that each source (forcing) will cause, but we don't know how big the resulting...

In recent years, proponents of clean energy have taken heart in the falling prices of solar and wind power, hoping they will drive an energy revolution. But a new study co-authored by an MIT professor suggests otherwise: Technology-driven cost reductions in fossil fuels will lead us to continue using all the oil, gas, and coal we can, unless governments pass new taxes on carbon emissions. “If we don’t adopt new policies, we’re not going to be leaving fossil fuels in the ground,” says Christopher Knittel, an energy economist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “We need both a policy...

Anyone who thinks it’s enough to rest an argument on “settled science” or a “scientific consensus” ought to read about John Yudkin.

Climate change could seriously redistribute resources and reallocate wealth - but not in a fair way. In a reverse of the famous Robin Hood folklore, it could rob from the poor to give to the rich, according to researchers. Yet even the rich may not feel any richer. Eli Fenichel, assistant professor of bioeconomics and ecosystem management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in the US, says: "People are mostly focused on the physical reallocation of these assets, but I don't think we've really started thinking enough about how climate change can reallocate wealth and influence the...

Science is broken. That's the thesis of a must-read article in First Things magazine, in which William A. Wilson accumulates evidence that a lot of published research is false. But that's not even the worst part. Advocates of the existing scientific research paradigm usually smugly declare that while some published conclusions are surely false, the scientific method has "self-correcting mechanisms" that ensure that, eventually, the truth will prevail. Unfortunately for all of us, Wilson makes a convincing argument that those self-correcting mechanisms are broken. For starters, there's a "replication crisis" in science. This is particularly true in the field of...

In the course of writing about the ongoing fraud in which a cabal of left-wing lawyers with connections to the administrations of Barack Obama and Andrew Cuomo has attempted to extort many billions of dollars from Chevron, I had a memorable conversation with an executive at the energy giant. “We are the least sympathetic defendant there is,” he said. “We’re an oil company. You can say almost anything about an oil company. There are no stories in which the oil company is the good guy.” ...... New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, is taking a similar approach. He isn’t sure...

Bill Nye "the science guy" says in a video interview released Thursday that he is open to the idea of jailing those who deviate from the climate change consensus. Asked about the heated rhetoric surrounding the climate change debate, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s previous comments that some climate skeptics should be prosecuted as war criminals, Mr. Nye replied, "We'll see what happens."

Landmark event on 22 April to mark the record for highest number of countries signing an international treaty A record number of more than 130 countries will sign the landmark agreement to tackle climate change at a ceremony at UN headquarters on 22 April, the United Nations said on Thursday. [ ] The UN said signatures from over 130 countries, including more than 60 heads of state and government, would surpass the previous record of 119 signatures on the opening day for signing an international agreement. That record is held by the opening day signing of the Law of the...

If Bernie Sanders becomes president, America's fracking boom will be in danger. This week the Democratic presidential candidate called for a national ban on fracking, the controversial drilling technology that has not only led to a massive boom in oil and natural gas, created thousands of new jobs but also been linked to water contamination and even earthquakes. "If we are serious about combating climate change, we need to put an end to fracking, not only in New York and Vermont, but all over this country," Sanders said during a speech in Binghamton, New York this week. The anti-fracking crusade...

Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Ron Arnold.A self-appointed coalition of Democratic state attorneys general is pursuing civil or criminal racketeering actions against ExxonMobil, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and other organizations. The AGs claim the groups are committing fraud by “denying” climate change. The charge is bogus.What we contest are false assertions that “humans are creating a dangerous climate change crisis.” We do not accept false claims that “the science is settled” and will not be limited to discussing only “what we must do now to avert looming climate catastrophes.”That’s not just constitutionally protected free speech. It is the foundation of...

Climate change is a “global crisis,” and addressing it will bring “economic dislocation,” including job losses, Sen. Bernie Sanders said at Thursday’s CNN-hosted Democrat debate in Brooklyn. “Pope Francis reminded us that we are on a suicide course,” Sanders said. “Our legislation understands, …that there will be economic dislocation. It is absolutely true. There will be some people who lose their job. And we build into our legislation an enormous amount of money to protect those workers. It is not their fault that fossil fuels are destroying our climate. But we have got to stand up and say right now,...

... 20 attorneys general, all Democrats, have upped-the-ante in their own way. Again under the pretext of combatting fraud, these officials, clothed in immense power, have started what can only be termed a campaign of intimidation against businesses and organizations advocating a thoughtful, cautious approach to public policies dealing with man’s role in impacting the global climate. Begun by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and followed-on by California AG Kamala Harris, this effort started by looking at the efforts of ExxonMobil in dealing with proposals that would have a tremendous impact on the energy sector in the United States....

In an unprecedented move, a US judge has given a group of 21 youths permission to sue the federal government for threatening their future health and security by failing to take sufficient action against climate change, despite being aware of the risks. "This decision is one of the most significant in our nation’s history," said the kids' attorney, Philip Gregory. "The Court gave America’s youth a fair opportunity to be heard ... The next step is for the Court to order our government to cease jeopardising the climate system for present and future generations." The lawsuit was brought before Oregon...

Galileo was jailed for heresy when he spoke against the theory that the Earth was the center of the universe. Thankfully, the Catholic Church no longer calls for imprisoning scientists or politicians who question popular opinion — only some Social Justice Warriors still demand jailing heretics. The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) posted a video to YouTube on Thursday with Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy,’ discussing whether “climate deniers” and energy CEOs should be jailed like war criminals. “We’ll see what happens, was it appropriate to jail the guys at Enron?” Nye asked. “Was it appropriate to jail people...

Boxer Unhinged: You berate anyone who disagrees with you as immoral and corrupt Rob is our resident Catholic, so I defer to him on matters of Catholic doctrine. But from the looks of things I know a lot more about it than self-identified Catholic Barbara Boxer - whose real religion appears to be global warming. Or should I say, the massively expanded and empowered government we’ll get if only people stop questioning the left-wing orthodoxy on things like global warming, which demands that all debate stop immediately and that government be given whatever it wants so it can do something,...

The U.N.’s scientific panel on climate change will write a special report on how to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agreed Thursday to explore the issue after a request by world governments in Paris last December. Many scientists say it will be virtually impossible to keep warming below that level without removing vast quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. …

Date: April 12, 2016 Source: Michigan Technological University Summary: A research team confirms that 97 percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is caused by humans.

The Navy will become the first branch of the military to require big vendors to report their greenhouse gas emissions and to outline what they are doing to lower them in response to global warming. "We've got skin in this game," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a technology conference on government and climate change on Tuesday, noting that the Navy's fleet is the military's largest user of fossil fuels. The Navy will not immediately begin implementing the requirements, which could cut off vendors from receiving contracts unless they comply.

A research team confirms that 97 percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is caused by humans. The group includes Sarah Green, a chemistry professor at Michigan Technological University. "What's important is that this is not just one study -- it's the consensus of multiple studies," Green says. This consistency across studies contrasts with the language used by climate change doubters. "The public has a very skewed view of how much disagreement there is in the scientific community," she says. Only 12 percent of the US public are aware there is such strong scientific agreement in this area, and...

This is the Medscape Psychiatry Minute. I'm Dr Peter Yellowlees. Human-caused climate change, with global warming, is occurring. There is no longer any doubt that heat waves are more intense and longer, and floods and storms more frequent, as the world's temperature and sea levels rise. Much has been written about the potential health impact of extreme weather events around the world, such as infectious diseases, but what about the impact of climate change on the mental health of individuals and populations? A team of investigators from Wellington, New Zealand, have reviewed this topic and concluded that extreme weather events,...