Paris talks: agreeing to dodge democracy

Climate advocacy has become a refuge for political no-hopers. Last week in Paris, a long-sought-after agreement to limit climate change was finally arrived at. A successor to the previous agreement – the Kyoto Protocol – had been hard to find. Bitter and farcical...

Freedom to Invent ‘Information’

Back in June, chair of the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) John Gummer, aka Lord Deben, appeared on BC Radio 4’s Today programme to talk about the CCC’s new report , 'Reducing emissions and preparing for climate change: 2015 Progress Report to Parliament'. The...

The world needs more energy, not green BS

Western governments and agencies are now standing in the way of development. Earlier this month, a report from the United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health announced that ‘fecal sludge’ might be one answer to several of the world’s...

The UK's Energy Policy Money Pit

Apologies for the long hiatus. Sadly, the rumoured millions that flow from evil oil capitalists to equally despicable bloggers does not exist (or has not reached this far), and I have had to focus on other things. More on that climate mythology coming here soon....

Brian Cox's Weird Science

Brian Cox -- of wide-eyed BBC science spectaculars fame -- is lauded as one of science's leading advocates, and a 'science communicator'. But for a man who is so keen to extol the virtues of the scientific method, and its unequalled ability to make sense of the world...

What Do Psychologists Have to Say About Climate Change?

One of the least-explored but most revealing things about the climate change debate (such as it is) is the intersection of climate science and psychology. I have yet to see anything from psychologists that sheds any light on the debate more than it merely exacerbates...

The Apollo Lords – Shooting for the Stars? Or the Foot?

The climate debate has seen much history dragged into the present, to be served up again as hollow pastiches in environmentalists' and climate activists' shallow morality plays. Unable to make their own history, greens have to recycle moments from the past, to give...

Shock News: Guardian Pages Sponsored by Rank Hypocrisy

Two things have become clear to me over the years regarding the putative 'ethics' of the Guardian's green campaigns, copy and hacks. First, it is a general rule that 'ethics' are for thee, but not for me. Second, these 'ethics' are intended to elevate those who bear...

Identifying 'Lukewarmism'

Over at the Making Science Public blog, Brigitte Nerlich wonders about the origins of the word 'lukewarmer'... As I am interested in the emergence and spread of various labels used in the climate change debate, such as for example ‘greenhouse sceptic’, I wanted to...

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!

Another day, another apocalyptic story in the Guardian... Coffee catastrophe beckons as climate change threatens arabica plant Study warns that rising temperatures pose serious threat to global coffee market, potentially affecting livelihoods of small farmers and...