Is the global warming pause over for good — or will it continue once the current El Nino dies down? That is the key question raised by Dr David Whitehouse, the GWPF’s science editor, in a new video produced by the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
The current El Nino is one of the strongest on record. It has elevated global temperatures to a record level. El Ninos are frequently followed by cooler than average periods called La Ninas, so we can probably expect 2016 to be warm with the following two years somewhat cooler. What does this mean for the global warming “hiatus?” It means we have to wait for the current exceptional El Nino to end, and the subsequent La Nina, and a few years into ‘normal’ conditions. --Global Warming Policy Foundation, 3 March 2016
By a statistically significant amount, February 2016 was the warmest month in the satellite temperature record, according to Dr. John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. Interestingly, however, that record might have as much to do with an extraordinarily warm month in the Arctic as it does with warming caused by the El Niño Pacific Ocean warming event. Globally, the average temperature anomaly in February (+0.83 C) was warmer than the previous record set in April 1998 (+0.74 C) during the so-called “El Niño of the century.” --University of Alabama Huntsville, 1 March 2016
The Yale Climate & Energy Institute (YCEI), a climate change research engine formerly run by a “climate expert” and alleged sexual harasser, will close down in June following the University’s decision to cut its funding. Rajendra Pachauri, YCEI’s founding director and Nobel Prize Winner, was formally charged with sexual harassment and stalking on Wednesday, which has prompted some people to wonder whether the charges and the institute’s closing are inextricably linked. David Bercovici and Jay Ague, the current directors at YCEI, wrote in an announcement Monday that the institute was created to research of global warming. The razing of the institute, they noted, was a result of lack of university funding. Yet YCEI staff members and students, as well as members of the media, are not buying Bercovici and Ague’s justification for closing, claiming the directors shut it down for reasons other than lack of funding. --Chris White, The Daily Caller, 3 March 2016
One of Europe’s most promising markets for renewable energy is being threatened by legislation that would impose new fees and potential jail terms for operators of wind farms, an industry lobby group said. Poland’s governing Law and Justice Party is proposing laws that would require new turbines to be situated away from homes, schools and natural reserves at a distance of more than 10-times their height. That would be about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles), according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. --Jessica Shankleman, Bloomberg, 3 March 2016
With the new financial reality of a world awash in cheap oil and natural gas, wind and solar can only survive, if they survive at all, by the government forcing people to buy them and jacking up electricity and home heating prices to families and businesses. Green enthusiasts who still think that financially viable green energy looms ahead, should consider one major finding of the University of Chicago study: “If the past 35 years is any guide, not only should we not expect to run out of fossil fuels anytime soon, we should not expect to have less fossil fuels in the future than we do now. In short, the world is likely to be awash in fossil fuels for decades and perhaps even centuries to come.” --Editorial, Investors' Business Daily, 1 March 2016
Remember the university professor who wanted the government to use the RICO law created to prosecute mobsters as a tool against global-warming dissenters? Well, taxpayers may be the ones calling for an investigation after examining the nonprofit venture that George Mason University Professor Jagadish Shukla has been running with generous government funding. According to Chairman Smith’s letter, the audit “appears to reveal that Dr. Shukla engaged in what is referred to as ‘double dipping.’ In other words, he received his full salary at GMU, while working full time at IGES and receiving a full salary there.” --The Wall Street Journal, 2 March 2016
