Ed. note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Renewable Energy: Health and Ecosystem Consequences:
*** Short video: The Disturbing Reality of Cobalt Mining for Rechargeable Batteries

Renewables (General):
*** Don’t Fall For “Feel Good” Where Evil Lurks
*** Duke Energy’s “Black Christmas”: Outrageous Story of the Week
*** Short video: Rick Perry – We can’t let climate alarmists drive us from energy reality
Never-opened $300 million-plus biofuels refinery facing foreclosure in Oregon
Green Energy Infatuation Puts Millions at Risk of Death
Researchers work toward harnessing ocean energy to power devices

Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** New NOAA map shows North Atlantic Right Whales in very same areas targeted for offshore wind development
*** NJ congressman demands investigation into whether offshore wind projects are killing whales
*** Whales on losing side of wind energy
In the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, a Quiet Reckoning Over Offshore Wind
The silly giant scale of US offshore wind development
No!…

“Power DeSmog into 2023,” the headline of a year-end fundraising appeal read. “We’re closing in on 1,000 profiles across our databases, which demands a lot of our team’s time to update and build. Every donation helps!”

The rest of the appeal read:

Every day, our global team of researchers continues to expand and update our Climate Disinformation Database, Koch Network Database, and Agribusiness Database. These critical resources collect information on individuals and organizations responsible for casting doubt on climate science and delaying climate action. VICE describes DeSmog as the “thorn in the side of corporate climate denial” — a badge of honor we’re proud to wear!

Several months ago, I celebrated the DeSmog blitz with a post, “Climate “Disinformation Everywhere! (winning against alarmism)“. I wrote:

At some point, the climate alarmists are going to have to wonder if the universe of “climate denial” and “climate skepticism” is growing so large that the real outliers are themselves.

“Learning is a process, not a destination. Bret Stephens should reconsider his reconsideration to educate his readers on the benefits of CO2 enrichment and positive weather/climate trends (including global lukewarming). And do it in such a way that instead of trying to fire him, the alarmists have to answer (not duck) the hard questions about their position.”

The intellectual case against climate alarmism and forced energy transformation has always been strong. Recent events have made this case stronger with more data contradicting climate model projections. The statistics of extreme weather events and global (luke)warming are hard to ignore. In addition, the “fat tail” of worst-case, extreme warming have been scaled back in the mainstream literature. All this is good news and an antidote for ‘climate anxiety’.

Given all this (isn’t this typical of neo-Malthusian scares?),…

“DeSmog’s methodology of listing the ‘denier’ qualifications, quotations, and activities–as if the debate was settled toward climate alarmism and forced energy transformation–is utterly unconvincing. Their growing list is impressive and a badge of honor, so let their project continue.”

Stephen Koonin has done much to help “mainstream” the problems with alarmism based on climate modelling–at least for the open-minded and curious. Humility must rule in the face of radical complexity. After all, what can be known in the absence of causal physical equations that are sub-grid scale anyway?

Climate models cannot be expected to “get it right,” if earth modeling is even possible. This is why data-data-data can and should drive the climate sensitivity debate.

Professor Koonin has been profiled relative to Andrew Dessler at MasterResource (here and here).…