The editor of this newspaper received a private letter last week from Lord Krebs and 12 other members of the House of Lords expressing unhappiness with two articles by its environment correspondent. Conceding that The Times’s reporting of the Paris climate conference had been balanced and comprehensive, it denounced the two articles about studies by mainstream academics in the scientific literature, which provided less than alarming assessments of climate change. Strangely, the letter was simultaneously leaked to The Guardian. The episode gives a rare glimpse into the world of “climate change communications”, a branch of heavily funded spin-doctoring that is keen to shut down debate about the science of climate change. –Matt Ridley, The Times, 25 April 2016
Then there’s the Climate Coalition, the Campaign against Climate Change, various publicly funded climate-communications groups inside universities, plus the green multinationals, such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF, with their nine-figure budgets. And so on. Against this Goliath, one little David stands alone: the Global Warming Policy Foundation, with its budget of about ¬£300,000, all privately donated and none from the fossil fuel industry. –Matt Ridley, The Times, 25 April 2016
Some of the world’s most eminent scientists have written to the editor of UK newspaper The Times to complain about its coverage of climate science. They suggest the newspaper may be unduly influenced by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which, despite its name, denies humans are causing climate change (sic). Baron John Krebs, a highly decorated biologist is behind the push, writing that the newspaper has become a “laughing stock” for publishing poor quality science. –Sara Phillips, ABC News, 21 April 2016
Authoritarianism, always latent in progressivism, is becoming explicit. Progressivism’s determination to regulate thought by regulating speech is apparent in the campaign by 16 states’ attorneys general and those of the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, none Republican, to criminalize skepticism about the supposedly “settled” conclusions of climate science. –George F. Will, The Washington Post, 22 April 2016
As Americans observe Earth Day, Gallup finds 42% of Americans identifying themselves as environmentalists, down from an average of 76% in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The results are based on Gallup’s annual Environment poll, conducted March 2-6. When last asked, in 2000, 47% of Americans identified as environmentalists, which in turn was down from 63% in 1995. In 1991 — one year after Earth Day became a global event celebrated each April 22 — a high of 78% of Americans described themselves that way. —Gallup, 22 April 2016
The cost of Denmark’s renewable energy policy has been too high, according to Denmark’s climate and energy minister Lars Christian Lilleholt [Left-Liberal Party]. The minister made the statement in response to a report by the climate and energy ministry to parliament which shows that subsidies for offshore windfarms ‚Äì which are paid by businesses and citizens via their electricity bills ‚Äì have increased dramatically compared to what was originally expected. —Jyllands-Posten, 22 April 2016
The US sided with emerging economies on Thursday against proposals to set a greenhouse gas emissions target for shipping. In contrast to President Barack Obama’s urgent rhetoric on climate action, the US envoy favoured an incremental approach at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London. –Megan Darby, Climate Home, 21 April 2016
