Paul Matthews recently commented on the French government’s position on petrol-driven vehicles. They’re against. While 99.9% of French citizens are for. We’ll see how that plays out. I’ve finally updated the transcription of the French TV debate in which our French colleague climatosceptique Benoît Rittaud wiped the floor with one of France’s favourite environmentalists Yann … Continue reading
Author Archives: Geoff Chambers
No Flooding in Manhattan, but Hansen Jumps the Shark Anyway.
There’s a new article at Earth System Dynamics entitled “Young people’s burden: requirement of negative CO2 emissions” by Hansen, Marcott et al. (“al” being a number of unfamiliar names from Britain, the USA, France and China.) As the title hints, it’s more about how to control the world’s energy policy for the next hundred years … Continue reading
Monbiot’s Massacre and the Smiling Sheikh
Why have I never heard of the Munk debates? Held at regular intervals in Toronto, these public debates on significant social or political questions attract audiences of over three thousand. I knew there were some sympathetic, highly intelligent people in Toronto – but so many? A recent one pitched Matt Ridley and Steve Pinker against … Continue reading
Lives of the Climate Bloggers (5) PeterS
This is a continuation of an occasional series I began at https://geoffchambers.wordpress.com/category/lives-of-the-climate-bloggers/ [First, this is not a Life. “Lives of..” is an in-joke, a reference to classic collections of “Lives” such as Vasari’s “Lives of the Artists”, Diogenes Laertius’s “Lives of the Philosophers”, Aubrey’s “Brief Lives” and Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets,” all of which … Continue reading
French Climate Debate
[Updated 20/7/17 with the end of the debate. I transcribed it a couple of weeks ago then forgot about it, but it’s worth reading because it shows Benoît, who is treated as the enemy by the journalist chairing the debate and the star environmentalist, running rings round them. It’s dramatic comedy worthy of a Samuel … Continue reading
Conversation in a Straitjacket
Success in life is about saying what you need to say in order to get what you want without actually lying. It’s called the Art of the Deal, and politicians, lawyers and property developers are particularly good at it, which is why they’re so detested. Academics don’t do that. They tell politicians and journalists what … Continue reading
“It’s unfortunate that openness and transparency facilitate science”
This article in the Times Higher Education calls for “an open data adjudicator to combat ‘disinformation.’” Stephan Lewandowsky warns that academics can ‘lose control’ of their data and see it used as ‘political propaganda’ By John Elmes Twitter: @JElmes_THE June 2, 2017 Independent national bodies should be set up to adjudicate on how much of … Continue reading
