BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE – AT 6:43 P.M. ET:   Another setback for the "sky is falling, ocean is rising, skin is peeling, world is roasting" chorus who still sing the Al Gore Songbook.  From the New York Post:

In the runup to the Sept. 23 UN Climate Summit in New York, Leonardo DiCaprio is releasing a series of films about the “climate crisis.”

The first is “Carbon,” which tells us the world is threatened by a “carbon monster.” Coal, oil, natural gas and other carbon-based forms of energy are causing dangerous climate change and must be turned off as soon as possible, DiCaprio says.

But he has identified the wrong monster. It is the climate scare itself that is the real threat to civilization.

DiCaprio is an actor, not a scientist; it’s no real surprise that his film is sensationalistic and error-riddled. Other climate-change fantasists, who do have a scientific background, have far less excuse.
Science is never settled, but the current state of “climate change” science is quite clear: There is essentially zero evidence that carbon dioxide from human activities is causing catastrophic climate change.

Yes, the “executive summary” of reports from the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change continues to sound the alarm — but the summary is written by the politicians. The scientific bulk of the report, while still tinged with improper advocacy, has all but thrown in the towel.

And the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change lists thousands of scientific papers that either debunk or cast serious doubt on the supposed “consensus” model.

Oregon-based physicist Gordon Fulks sums it up well: “CO2 is said to be responsible for global warming that is not occurring, for accelerated sea-level rise that is not occurring, for net glacial and sea ice melt that is not occurring . . . and for increasing extreme weather that is not occurring.”

COMMENT:  Please read the rest of the piece.  Required.

I'm getting a sense that a number of people, perhaps previously unwavering believers in climate "science," are starting to have serious doubts.  And why not?  The "settled" science is becoming tumultuous. 

Consider this, from the terrific Melanie Sturm, conservative columnist for the Aspen Times.  (A conservative in Aspen is eligible for Secret Service protection.)  From her latest column:    

Today, life-enhancing devices unimaginable to Malthus – refrigerators, phones, air-conditioning, cars, and televisions -- are commonplace, except among the poorest. Why decrease their affordability by increasing the cost of the energy required to make, distribute and run them?

The truth is, affordable energy and the economic growth and well-being it enables are the keys to addressing our greatest concerns, including the environment, joblessness, poverty, and indebtedness – even terrorism.

Think Again – To pass a secure, prosperous and clean world to future generations, shouldn’t we encourage – not constrain -- the scientific inquiry that informs and unleashes boundless human creativity?

The answer, of course, is yes.  But the climate scare, like other scares before it – like the fear of a new "ice age" in the 1970s – is restricting research and investment in energy, transportation, and other foundations of a dynamic society, all in the name of a horror story that isn't following the original outline. 

September 17, 2014