Dr Judith Curry: “It’s A Manufactured Consensus”; U.S. Burn Acreage Fourth-Lowest On Record (Since 1926); UT And CO Still Have Snow; + Barrier Reef Holding On To Record Coral Gains
Dr Judith Curry: “It’s A Manufactured Consensus”
An overwhelming scientific consensus? More like a “manufactured consensus”.
In a recent interview with John Stossel for the New York Post, climate scientist Dr Judith Curry said today’s researchers have alluring incentives to exaggerate the risk of ‘global boiling’ — “fame and fortune”, to name two.
Curry knows all about this because she once spread climate alarm herself. The media loved her for it, and was happy to wine and dine her after she published a study that seemed to show a dramatic increase in hurricane intensity.
“We found that the percent of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes had doubled,” said Curry. “This was picked up by the media,” and then climate alarmists realized, “Oh, here is the way to do it. Tie extreme weather events to global warming!”
“I was adopted by the environmental advocacy groups and the alarmists and I was treated like a rock star,” Curry recounts. “Flown all over the place to meet with politicians.”
But then some researchers pointed out gaps in her research — years with low levels of hurricanes.
“Like a good scientist, I investigated,” said Curry.
She soon realized her critics had a point.
“Part of it was bad data. Part of it is natural climate variability,” she explained.
Curry’s discipline and honesty are increasingly rare commodities these days — the Climategate scandal opened Curry’s eyes to this. Alarmist scientists’ aggressive attempts to hide data suggesting climate change is not a crisis were revealed in leaked emails.
“Ugly things,” Curry said: “Avoiding Freedom of Information Act requests. Trying to get journal editors fired.”
All of this game-playing made Curry realize that there is a “climate-change industry” set up to reward alarmism. “The origins go back to the … UN environmental program,” she explained. Some United Nations officials were motivated by “anti-capitalism. They hated the oil companies and seized on the climate change issue to move their policies along.”
The UN created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of course. “The IPCC wasn’t supposed to focus on any benefits of warming. The IPCC’s mandate was to look for dangerous human-caused climate change. Then the national funding agencies directed all the funding … assuming there are dangerous impacts.”
The researchers quickly figured out that the way to get funded was to make alarmist claims about “man-made climate change.”
This is how “manufactured consensus” happens.
Even if a skeptic did get funding, it’s harder to publish because journal editors are alarmists.
“The editor of the journal Science wrote this political rant: The time for debate has ended. What kind of message does that give?”, asked Curry. “Promote the alarming papers!”, she answered, “Don’t even send the other ones out for review. If you want to advance in your career, like be at a prestigious university and get a big salary, have big laboratory space, get lots of grant funding, be director of an institute, there is clearly only one path to go.”
U.S. Burn Acreage Fourth-Lowest On Record (Since 1926)
United States burn area is at history low levels this year.
In data extending back to 1926, burn acreage this year is its fourth lowest in almost a century of data:
And the U.S. is not the anomaly.
Canada is also seeing its burn area reduce:
As is Europe, much to chagrin of BBC reporters during a recent ‘story’.
In fact, the globe as a whole is witnessing a sharp reduction in burn area, again contrary to the alarmist claims (see below), which I would call an even more impressive feat given the ongoing greening of the planet–as revealed by NASA data.
UT And CO Still Have Snow
The MSM’s refusal to report realities such as the following are testament to the agenda at play.
Snow is lingering at Alta Ski Area, Utah in mid-August — an exceptional 2 feet!
Below is an update on the snow depth at Alta’s Devil’s Castle from Adam Fehr, a Ski Utah employee:
Like many others throughout the Western U.S. (at least 19 by my count), Alta posted historic snowfall totals this past winter and spring, smashing its all-time snow record after 900+ inches accumulated.
“At this rate, Alta’s going to still have snow by the time next winter starts,” writes Ian Greenwood of powder.com.
Switching to Colorado, Keystone Resort has gone and bested its previous record for the latest date ever snow tubed:
Keystone ‘s old record was August 6, but this year, thanks to the historic snow and great preservation work, the hill is still sliding strong with a goal to keep snow tubing running as late as Labor Day.
Barrier Reef Holding On To Record Coral Gains
Like the now stonewalled scares of extinct polar bears and an ice-free Arctic, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has gone the same way. MSM-peddled doomsday predictions have once again been proven pitifully inaccurate.
The record-breaking growth reported in 2021-22 has been sustained in the latest annual period (to May 2023). The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) recently reported that regional average hard coral cover in 2022-2023 was similar to last year, with most reefs witnessing little change.
No bleaching; no cyclones hitting the reef; no crown-of thorns starfish attacks — an alarmists worth nightmare: no alarm.
Like most state-funded scientific bodies, AIMS is fully signed up to climate extremism and delivering politically correct messages to promote the Net Zero solution, writes Chris Morrison of dailysceptic.org.
Despite reporting what is now a substantial multi-year recovery, AIMS claims that the future will bring “more frequent, intense and enduring marine heatwaves, alongside the persistent threat of crown-of thorns starfish outbreaks and tropical cyclones”.
Despite the recover, the likes of the Guardian are desperately fighting to keep the coral destruction story going. A year ago, the rag reported that the GBR still had “some capacity” for recovery, but the window was closing fast as the climate continued to heat. Of course, the Guardian has form as long as your arm on this score, Morrison points out, illuding to George Monbiot’s 1999 article which told its readers that the “imminent total destruction of the world’s coral reefs is not a scare story but a fact”.
Uh-huh…
For more:
Living in the Deep South I’m very concerned about fire. So concerned I bought a small RV as a secondary home. I may be wrong but the CO2 invigorated growth combined with out of place snow & ice I.E. Greece & Hawaii no matter the ignition source is a real threat. Dry fuel laying on the Forrest floor in impossible to remove quantities. Not that far into the future in my opinion if you glance at our currently feeble sun.
I was just in Colorado a week ago, and I can confirm, yes there is still ice on the mountain tops. I went to the summit of Pikes Peak and I touched a melting strip of snow/ice.
Mt Hood Oregon has been open for skiing all summer where they have ski race training: https://www.timberlinelodge.com/conditions
VP Harris flies to Seattle next week with her fleet of government jets to bitch about climate change and inflation. They’ll shut down all traffic with their motor pool and full police escort where we have the most expensive gasoline prices in the nation although there are refineries here. It would be better for the environment and inflation if they skipped the trip thank you very much.
Still snowing heavy in Alaska where five feet of new snow is forecast in the next ten days, go bitch about climate change there, I dare ya. Leftovers from a recent Asian typhoon are pounding the Gulf of Alaska with rain and wind like normal.
Another typhoon is headed for Japan now for some more extreme kite surfing for some lucky dogs.
https://www.windy.com/-Show—add-more-layers/overlays?
snowAccu,next10d,59.562,-143.778,6,i:pressure,m:fnza3P
https://www.windy.com/-Show—add-more-layers/overlays?gust,2023081412,32.424,135.827,8,i:pressure,m:eyWajUv
Windy.com time stamps didn’t work, new snow in Ak now says 75.7 inches next ten days. If it doesn’t work this time I wont do it again and I’ll just stay under my rock and not be a pest.
https://www.windy.com/-Show—add-more-layers/overlays?snowAccu,next10d,60.208,-139.366,9,i:pressure,m:flzach5
Windy now showing temp Greenland in the teens with snow showers. South of Oz temp is -100F. NZ forecast 55inches new snow, S America forecast 100 inches and south of there Antarctica today’s winner of 170 inches forecast in the next ten days. If you really really wanted to go ski fresh deep powder snow tomorrow it’s out there.
Record heat forecast here shades drawn hugging my Walmart Arctic Tower AC unit praying my well wont go dry . I’d rather be skiing NZ.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/olympia/98501/august-weather/331418
Barrier reefs problems all down to a chemical spray called Diuron…..sugarcane growers use it to suppress weeds between the rows…..it gets there as run off via the Cook, Derwent rivers etc……nothing to do with the weather……
Living in SW Florida & fema still has not collected the pilesof debris on the sides of our island. Literal tinder boxes at this point
From a retired forester/conservationist in eastern Australia with years of involvement with fire management (primarily in eucalypt forests)
— fuel load can be over rated — except for grasslands;
the major fear factors are extended drought (low fuel moisture content), slope/terrain – steeper the slope the faster the fire spreads, very low relative humidity and strong winds – especially winds changing directions — On the grand scale wild fire heads where the wind pushes it. AND lastly source of ignition eg arson. If there is no “spark” then there is no fire – spontaneous combustion is the cause of some hay shed fires but not fires in the environment
In the subcoastal grassy forests of Central Qld – generally fire control/fire management is “a piece of cake” even a well trodden cattle track will act as a firebreak. Until strong winds or steep slopes intervene.
Many years ago, perhaps the scariest moment (for my wife observing from afar) – me on early morning shift in SW Victoria at a wild fire in shrubby forest – very tame fire then almost instantaneously – about mid morning – the whole fire area erupted producing an atomic bomb type smoke plume above that my family could see from kilometres away. It was “get out of there ASAP” for fire crews on the ground – impossible to do anything else. Best I can ascertain – not wind, not slope, not different fuel load – just a critical/trigger point lowering of the relative humidity as the sunny day progressed.
Interesting observation about reducing relative humidity triggering fire storm.
Uncured (green) hay can spontaneously combust (as you acknowledge) as well as damp compost if enough bulk.
The dander on ships engine rooms is a damp oily rag spontaneously combusting.
danger
Ninety-three years ago, the Weather Bureau of the USA, in an educational article for the Public, stated that it is LOW HUMIDITY
which enables wild-fires and HIGH HUMIDITY which snuffs them out. Why do we have to rediscover such commonplaces for ourselves? The article is in the on-line archive of the NOAA.
https://library.oarcloud.noaa.gov/docs.lib/htdocs/rescue/whytheweather/1930/19300310.pdf
The whole resource is a treasure:
https://www.library.noaa.gov/Collections/Digital-Collections/Why-the-Weather
And yet a couple years ago Western Oregon had “wild” fires start in spring despite it being the wettest time of the years. And I mean wet. Moss grows everywhere. There was nothing natural about those fires. As long as smoke blows into the surrounding cities and agenda can be driven onto the ill-informed populace. Fires aren’t uncommon in late summer usually west of the mountains in the dry shadow, but tell me how a fire starts at the end of the rainy season in places that get 50-100inches of rain annually.
https://rumble.com/v35zjoi-karen-kingston-poisoned-calls-out-robert-malone-and-others.html
https://rumble.com/v35zjoi-karen-kingston-poisoned-calls-out-robert-malone-and-others.html
https://joannenova.com.au/2012/11/extreme-heat-in-1896-panic-stricken-people-fled-the-outback-on-special-trains-as-hundreds-die/?fbclid=IwAR3tOImbf6q3IV3eOmpzSIdjvmEYZMExK8xz8YOBDz88X_HpYRE9oLyV3Bs
how the giec can explain this …