Newsletter Archive
December 2024-January 2025
Hurricane Season Wrap-Up, Solar Panel Damage, Too Much Solar, Wind Drought, Greening World and Extinctions, Sea Level Rise-Bangladesh, Mining-The China Problem.
November 2024
Floods/Rain/Drought, COP29 in Baku, Small Nuclear Reactors, Wind Farm Feasibility, EVs, Saving the Whales, the Ozone Hole.
October 2024
See the new Science Topic: Methane Facts. An Update on the 2024 Hurricane Season. Hurricanes in Perspective. Arctic Ice. EVs. Battery Fires. Wind Turbine Failure Rates. Looming Blackouts, Sahara Lakes and Greening.
September 2024
See the new Science Topic: Carbon Facts and History. The 2024 Hurricane Season To Date. Lightning. The 2023-24 Temperature Spike.
VINEYARD WIND’S OPERATIONS SUSPENDED
July 18, 2024, special edition
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has ordered Vineyard Wind to suspend all power production and construction operations pending the outcome of an investigation into the failure of one of its turbine blades on July 13.
July-August 2024
A new Policy Topic has been posted – WIND + SOLAR – UNRELIABLE? EXPENSIVE?
Topics discussed: Temperature Measurement Issues, Coral, Coal Use, Sources of Energy, Atmospheric CO2 Levels, The Sun’s Contribution to Global Warming, The 2023-2024 Temperature Spike, Ocean Acidification, and US Air Quality.
EARTH’S ENERGY BUDGET
June 2024
Analysis of Earth’s Energy Budget shows the importance of clouds to the climate. Since scientists do not understand cloud formation, it shows the limitations of our present understanding of the climate, and, in particular, shows the uncertainty of our understanding of what has caused the global warming over the last 150 years.
Holocene Climate – from 10,000 years ago to the present
May 2024
Our present geological period is the Holocene Interglacial. The Holocene’s climate history shows a surprising number of disagreements among scientists as to temperatures and as to the causes of temperature changes.
Wildfires – Trends, Causation, Adaptation
April 2024
Wildfires are trending downward globally, but are trending upwards in some regions, particularly California and Hawaii. What causes wildfires? What can be done to reduce the frequency of wildfires and the damage they cause?
Tipping Points and the Paris Agreement Goals
March 2024
What are Tipping Points? What Tipping Points are supported by the latest IPCC Assessment Report? What are the Paris Agreement Goals? To what extent are they supported by science? What is the connection between the Paris Goals and Tipping Points?
Temperature Evaluation
February 2024
2023 was the warmest year on record. What caused the warming? What is the significance? The effect of warming (good or bad) depends on where and when the warming occurs. The world has many different climate regions, and so the effects of warming and other climate change must be evaluated on a regional basis.
CO2 History since 1827 shows how much climate science changes and how much uncertainty still exists as to the strength of CO2 as a greenhouse gas.
December 2023/January 2024
The conclusions in the 6 IPCC Assessment Reports as to the cause of global warming have changed with each new report, and the range of uncertainty as to the Sensitivity of the climate to rising CO2 levels remains large and has not been narrowed over the years.
MORE RAIN? MORE DROUGHTS? MORE FLOODS? BUT THE IMPORTANT UNDERLYING TRENDS ARE THAT: (1) THE WORLD IS GETTING GREENER, AND (2) FOOD PRODUCTION IS SOARING.
November 2023
The changes in rain, droughts, and floods are relatively small, if any. Of much greater significance is the increase in the world’s greenness and food production.
HOW MUCH OF POST-INDUSTRIAL GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEEN CAUSED BY THE SUN?
October 2023
One of the most important issues on which climate scientists disagree is how much of the post-industrial (since about 1880) global warming has been caused by the sun.
CHARLESTON IS THREATENED BY SEA LEVEL RISE AND HURRICANES – TYPICAL OF OTHER US COASTAL CITIES.
September 2023
Charleston is threatened by sea level rise (caused by climate change) and also by hurricanes (which are part of natural weather variability). Unfortunately local, state, and national governments are not acting to protect Charleston’s residents. Why is this? How many other US cities on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts are similarly unprotected?
HEATWAVES – HOW MUCH HOTTER? HOW MUCH MORE FREQUENT?
August 2023
The world is getting hotter. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent, but the amount and the significance of the increase is disputed. Coldwaves are becoming less frequent, and coldwaves cause many more deaths than heatwaves. Global warming at the current rate of about 1 C per century is clearly beneficial for the parts of the world that have winter, and it can be argued that it is net beneficial for the world as whole.
TORNADOES, THE TEXAS HEAT DOME, THE JULY 4TH HEATWAVE
July 2023
How are tornadoes formed? Where do they strike? Has there been any change in their frequency or intensity? Are the July 2023 heatwaves just natural variability?
WHY DOES CALIFORNIA HAVE SUCH VARIABLE WEATHER? WHY ALL THE WILDFIRES?
June 2023
How the El Nino Southern Oscillation causes significant weather variability in California. California has been warming over the last century. Wildfires in California are increasing although they are declining worldwide. Why is this happening?
NUCLEAR POWER – HOW MUCH CAN IT HELP IN THE QUEST TO REDUCE CO2 EMISSIONS?
May 2023
Nuclear power plants can provide massive amounts of reliable energy with close to zero CO2 emissions. Are the reasons holding back construction of nuclear power plants valid?
EXTINCTIONS – ARE WE FACING A SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION?
April 2023
Species are going extinct, and extinction is a serious concern. How serious is the problem? How much is climate change causing extinctions? What are the other factors causing extinctions?
OCEAN TEMPERATURES ARE RISING. OCEAN pH IS DECLINING. IS THIS CAUSE FOR CONCERN?
March 2023
How significant are these changes? Are these changes a threat to coral reefs?
THE ARCTIC AND THE ANTARCTIC
February 2023
What is changing? Why are things changing? What is the significance of the changes?
SEA LEVELS
January 2023
How much are sea levels rising? What is causing the rise? How much more will they rise by 2100?
GLOBAL WARMING THROUGH THE YEAR 2100
December 2022
The earth is definitely getting warmer. How much has the earth warmed since the preindustrial period (approximately 1880)? How much is CO2 contributing to the warming? How much warmer will it get by 2100?
THE BENEFITS OF RISING CO2 AND 1 C WARMING
November 2022
The media rarely discusses the benefits of rising CO2 (plant food) and the benefits of moderate warming (such as longer growing seasons for crops). How significant are these benefits?
GLOBAL WARMING SINCE THE PREINDUSTRIAL PERIOD
October 2022
An introduction to how world temperatures are measured. What do the measured temperatures show? What is the historical temperature trend?
HURRICANES 2022 – A MID-SEASON ASSESSMENT
September 2022
As of mid-season hurricane activity was low, continuing a trend from prior years.