“With my characteristic optimism, my 1997 paper on global warming remarked that ‘We should know a lot more about this issue in the next 10 to 20 years.’ Unfortunately, there has been a rush to judgement on this issue without a significant increase in the information on which to base this judgement.”

– William Niskanen, 2008

Part I yesterday presented the key questions regarding the climate-change issue from William Niskanen’s Fall 1997 symposium essay, “Too Much, Too Soon: Is a Global Warming Treaty a Rush to Judgment?” Part II today reprints a lead section from that essay, How Good is the Science of Global Warming? followed by Niskanen’s eleven-year retrospective. I conclude with a brief comment as a twenty-one year retrospective.

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The current debate in the scientific community about global warming is based on only a few hard facts: The current concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is nearly 30 percent higher than in pre-industrial times; the average (measured) global temperature has increased about 0.5°C since the 1880s; and the increased concentration of carbon dioxide may have contributed to the increase in temperature. …

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy and environmental policies. Our premise is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science (please consult WiseEnergy.org for more information).

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every three weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Study: Wind turbines increase the dependence on fossil fuel plants

Current government renewable energy policies actually benefit fossil fuels

Visualizing the U.S. Clean Air Success Story

NYS’s Green Energy Roulette

Following passage of good wind law, wind developer loses interest in NY town

Renewable Energy Use In Europe Didn’t Stop CO2 Levels From Rising

From Russia With Love

Military review requirement added to Oklahoma wind development process

Is 100% Renewable Energy Possible?…

“The Trump administration has taken action on some of the think tank’s top priorities, like announcing the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, approving the Keystone XL pipeline, moving toward axing President Obama’s Clean Power Plan and proposing to dramatically scale back climate change research across the government…. And Heartland isn’t done yet. It’s asking for plenty more.”

Joe Bast is a winner–and he has taken retirement after countless days, nights, weekends, and holidays fighting against the statist mainstream. As I wrote earlier this year at MasterResource.

JOSEPH BAST: Where would the contra-IPCC movement be without the founder and head of the Heartland Institute, whose many conferences have given hope and solace to the critics of the fake consensus of climate alarm and forced energy transformation? Joe Bast went where fellow libertarians feared to tread, and it appears that (via his Jay Lehr) he captured the attention of the 45th and current President of the United States (priceless!).…

The alarmists’ attitude towards climate change will prove more harmful than beneficial in the long run.

Earth Day this year focused officially on the need to reduce plastic litter, a worthy and achievable goal. Nonetheless, much Earth Day activity concentrated on the alleged need to save the planet from climate change.

Climate-change alarmists have long called the current warming period “unprecedented” and “dangerous.” But is it?

Ironically, this Earth Day fell in the midst of one of the coldest Aprils in North American history. The severe winter of 2017–2018 has raised debates from two contrasting ends.

While some uninformed people claim it disproves global warming, climate alarmists claim it is just another evidence for global warming.

Deniers, Alarmists and Skeptics

Actual climate-change deniers—and they are very few—categorically deny the warming trend.…