“The climate-crisis industry is much larger than merely the IPCC and vaguely defined government agencies. Other major players include wealthy, powerful Big Green pressure groups; wind, solar and biofuel companies that offer supposed alternatives to fossil fuels; politicians who have tied their careers, influence and campaign contributions to the global warming/climate change/extreme weather mantra; and journalists and media outlets that have also hitched their wagons to this global movement.”
Georgia Institute of Technology climate sciences professor Judith Curry has perceptively interpreted a recent analysis by economists William Butos and Thomas McQuade on how “Big Players” can distort climate research and other scientific endeavors. Their discussion, and hundreds of comments that followed, deserve careful consideration.
Big Players are institutions and officials who have the funding, influence and power to dictate who receives grants, what research gets published, whose evidence and conclusions receive wide coverage, and whether the findings and related policy proposals will be debated.…
Continue Reading“Despite Georgia Power’s early confidence about staying on track, the massive nuclear expansion of Plant Vogtle south of Augusta is more than three years behind schedule. The company’s share of costs are at least $1.4 billion, or 23 percent, over original projections — enough to build two new Braves stadiums and still have a fortune left over.”
– Matt Kempner, “Overruns Invite Questions about Vogtle Approval,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 5, 2015.
“The new generation of nuclear plants was supposed to be simpler, more efficient, and safer. The construction was to be easier with the use of modular components. Implementation of the new designs are in trouble all over the world because designs are seriously flawed.” (Jim Clarkson, below)
“Iceberg off the Starboard Bow!” The big ship Vogtle is headed for trouble.…
Continue Reading“The IPCC model looks more worthless by the day, but the authors needed explanations and accordingly invented them. My favorite was that property crimes would rise because warmer weather encouraged people to go outdoors and burglars would thrive. (The original working paper explained that this was a consequence of climate becoming more “pleasant,” but the published version is missing this.)”
There are supplies of and demands for just about everything. Find a way to subsidize supply (say taxation), intensify demand (media) or both and soon you have a growth industry. Like climate crisisology.
The crisis of our day started innocently, a possibly interesting use of research funds. In the 1970s, and into the 1980s, it was the story of a world facing a probably, if not inescapable, ice age. By the early 1990s, planetary warming had won the competition for funds and media attention.…
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