What is causing the death of the polar bear as a climate change icon? Fat bears are part of it, but mostly it’s the fact that polar bear numbers haven’t declined as predicted. Not only have we been seeing pictures of fat bears rather than starving bears in recent years but there are lots of them, in Western Hudson Bay and other seasonal sea ice regions where there should be none (if the models had been correct). No wonder polar bears are falling out of favour as an icon for catastrophic human-caused global warming. —Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, 23 August 2017Melting sea ice could help cool the planet by flooding the atmosphere with particles that deflect sunlight. Australian research suggests climate modellers have underestimated a natural “thermostat” that helps alleviate the rise in temperatures: immense quantities of reflective compounds, emitted by marine microbes, that act like a handbrake on global warming. The study, published by the American Meteorological Society, suggests an overlooked source of these so-called aerosols — algae living in ice — could jam the handbrake on even harder. –John Ross, The Australian, 18 August 2017
My favourite physics teacher, Cal Tech’s Richard Feynman, insisted that “dissent” – actively challenging a dominant idea – was central to the function and reputation of science. His great friend and colleague Freeman Dyson agreed: “Subversive science’s long history stretches back to at least Galileo and if it ceases to rebel against authority, it is finished.” The right to dissent is a basic American freedom yet calls for the prosecution of scientists who question the dogma of global warming come from former Vice-President Al Gore. And last year the attorney generals of California and New York joined forces in what was an attempt to censor and restrict debate on this most contentious of scientific theories. –John Cameron, The Scotsman, 24 August 2017
On Tuesday (8/22), sales for Al Gore’s Inconvenient Sequel hit an hilarious new low of $117/theater. The financial self-sacrifice that theaters are now making to support it must go down as one of the greatest acts of generosity in cinematic history. —Miss Liberty, 22 August 2017
I was surprised to discover that Al Gore’s new movie begins with words from me! While icebergs melt dramatically, Gore plays a clip of me saying, “‘An Inconvenient Truth’ won him an Oscar, yet much of the movie is nonsense. ‘Sea levels may rise 20 feet’ — absurd.” He used this comment from one of my TV shows. The “20 feet” claim is absurd — one of many hyped claims in his movie. His second film, “An Inconvenient Sequel,” shows lower Manhattan underwater while Gore intones: “This is global warming!”My goodness! Stossel doubts Al Gore’s claim, but pictures don’t lie: The 9/11 Memorial is underwater! Gore is right! Stossel is an ignorant fool! But wait. The pictures were from Superstorm Sandy. Water is pushed ashore during storms, especially “super” storms. But average sea levels haven’t risen much. –John Stossel, Fox News, 23 August 2017
Seeing pictures or films of Eco-Wackos dressed as polarbears is so darn funny especialy after they have been arrested Cuff em and Stuff em and haul their tails off to the pokie
Maybe all of those poley bears that fell out of the sky into city streets landed near a fast food restaurant.