Anthony Watts

There’s been a lot of buzz and conflicting reports over what the new Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) data actually says. Depending on whose pronouncements you read, the data reveals that there’s been a “slowing down,” a “leveling off,” a “standstill” or a “slight rise” in global warming over the past decade. (more)

Watts's complete and detailed analysis of Gore’s “Climate 101” video is available here. (more)

The first thing I thought of when I heard about the U.S. Postal Service’s new “green stamps” was this logo: (more)

In times of tragedy, there are always hucksters trying to use that tragedy to sell a position, a product, or a belief. In ancient times, tragedy was the impetus used to appease the gods and to embrace religion. In light of yesterday’s op-ed on The Center for American Progress’s Think Progress blog that essentially blames Republicans for last week’s devastating tornadoes, it seems some opportunists just can’t break the pattern of huckster behavior in the face of disaster. (more)

It seems there’s a purge on at the UN to remove failed climate claims. Last week it was the cover-up of the claims that there would be 50 million climate refugees by 2010. This week it’s the poor of Africa they’ve “disappeared.” This one I stumbled upon quite by accident, doing some research for my previous story: World opinion on global warming: not so hot. (more)

The eco website “Grist” last week showed the link between environmentalism and religion by making a “virtual confession booth” for those who have sinned against Gaia. (more)

On his blog, Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. writes: (more)

Oh boy, government idiocy at its finest. Not only is the original claim bogus, the attempts to disappear it are hilariously inept. Apparently, they’ve never heard of Google Cache at the UN. Rather than simply saying “we were wrong,” they’ve now brought even more distrust onto the UN. (more)

With all the worries over radiation leaks from Japan, and hoarding of potassium iodide tablets, many people might be surprised to learn that they will get more radiation from eating a single banana today than they will from Japan's nuclear reactor problems. (more)

In the past, I have made fun of the World Wildlife Fund-sponsored "Earth Hour," which will once again be held around the world this coming Saturday, March 26th, from 8:30-9:30 p.m. in each local time zone. Previously I have pointed out that past Earth Hours haven’t affected energy consumption levels, even in California, the “greenest” state in the country. (more)

Earlier today, Al Gore responded to a question posed last week by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly: (more)

In August, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters that the floods that were ravaging Pakistan at the time were linked to global warming. (more)

From the Independent, March 20th, 2000: (more)

One of the biggest failures of climate science is the fact that the data sets created to justify global warming are not independently reviewed or subject to standardized quality control procedures, such as ISO 9000. The very people who write scientific papers on global warming, lobby Congress to take action, and even get arrested protesting about climate, such as NASA's Dr. James Hansen, are the same ones who are the keepers of the world’s most-cited climate data. (more)

One of the more common visual tactics used by AGW proponents to scare people into thinking that AGW-induced sea level rise is a big threat is to show altered photographs and GIS models of a city near the ocean (take your pick, New York, London, San Francisco, etc.). These futuristic images demonstrate what the city might look like once global warming kicks in and kicks our butt, apparently without anyone noticing the advance of the sea. Take for example, Lower Manhattan, one of the more common targets. The top image is a future shock rendition from the History Channel “Armageddon Week” and the bottom image is a photo of present-day reality from Wikimedia. (more)

In all of California, there is no greater shrine to nature than the giant redwoods of Northern California. Readers may remember this news article from last year which talks about a threat to giant redwoods, due to a supposed global warming-induced lack of coastal fog, which these trees need as part of their life cycle: “One more thing to worry about -- fog shortage.”  (more)

Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, wrote in January 2010 in the Huffington Post that President Barack Obama is “the greenest president ever.” (more)

We've seen a lot of stupid videos lately, such as the 10:10 fiasco of blowing up school children because they were ambivalent about reducing their carbon footprint. Now, we are treated to a "behind-the-scenes" video of how Hyundai shot a commercial for a gasoline-powered car, using no gasoline and leaving no carbon footprint. There's all sorts of clever human-powered props, and the whole set resembles some sort of Rube Goldberg contraption. But the real punch line is: they had some guys push the car to get it going for one scene. (more)

A few weeks ago I wrote: (more)

Warren Meyer runs the website climate-skeptic.com and has been one of our early surface stations project volunteers, getting that famous photo of the climate monitoring weather station in the hot parking lot at the University of Arizona’s Atmospheric Sciences Department. He’s also produced a marvelous movie that defines the skeptic position. You can watch it on YouTube here. (more)