In this issue:
- Obama Administration physicist explains why climate catastrophism is unscientific
- Adam Anderson illustrates that being a courageous CEO is moral and practical
- Earth Day talking points
- Quick notes
Obama Administration physicist explains why climate catastrophism is unscientific
I was very excited this week to interview Steve Koonin, the physicist whose new excellent new book “Unsettled” has, I believe, the potential to strike a major blow against climate catastrophism.
Here’s the description.
On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Steve Koonin, a highly accomplished physicist and author of the new bestselling book “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t and Why It Matters”
In 2014, Koonin, who had worked in the Obama administration, began to question climate catastrophism when he led a panel of physicists assessing the current state of climate science.
In his new book he summarizes what he regards as the actual state of climate science–which does not support claims of climate catastrophe at all.
In this interview, Koonin discusses:
- His conclusion that “Humans exert a growing, but physically small, warming influence on the climate.”
- Why “The net economic impact of human-induced climate change will be minimal through at least the end of this century.”
- Why “Government and UN press releases and summaries do not accurately reflect” scientific research reports.
- How the US National Climate Assessment manipulated data to create an extreme heat pattern in the US that doesn’t exist.
- Why “the working scientists are often embarrassed by the way the IPCC winds up describing the state of the science.”
- Why “many of the senior climate scientists think that by the time now we’ve gotten to the sixth [IPCC] assessment report, it’s no longer the A team that is preparing the reports.”
- How Koonin’s career has enabled him to do a deep dive into both climate science and energy economics.
- The private response Koonin has gotten from other scientists.
- What Koonin thinks of Bill Gates’s book (“I think Bill wrote a pretty good energy book…but I think Bill’s discussion of the climate is wrong and I would relish the chance to point out to him at some point.”)
- Why Koonin is eager to debate any climate scientists who disagree with him.
You can watch on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts.
Adam Anderson illustrates that being a courageous CEO is moral and practical
Over the last several months I’ve been mentioning oil industry CEO Adam Anderson for publicly standing up to the fossil-fuel-using but anti-fossil fuel company The North Face.
I’m glad to see that Adam’s stance continues to get coverage. I hope more CEOs follow his example.
Here’s an appearance he did on Fox Business.
And here’s a profile of him in The Wall Street Journal.
Earth Day talking points
Earth Day is tomorrow. Here are four talking points I’ve posted recently on Twitter to capture the real state of the Earth–and why the anti-fossil fuel movement is the greatest threat to a livable planet.
https://twitter.com/AlexEpstein/status/1384638797933989896
https://twitter.com/AlexEpstein/status/1374794816794468352?s=20
https://twitter.com/AlexEpstein/status/1384644350169075717?s=20
https://twitter.com/AlexEpstein/status/1384633613057069058?s=20
Quick notes
- This Friday I’ll be participating on a panel hosted by Dave Rubin, host of the popular online show The Rubin Report. Bjorn Lomborg will also be on the panel.
You can watch it live at 2pm ET here. - 10 years ago, I recorded what is still my favorite Earth Day Power Hour with philosopher Onkar Ghate, a long-time mentor of mine. Before we recorded the episode, Onkar suggested to me that we take a positive approach, explaining how much better human beings have made the Earth. That suggestion, and much of what we discussed in that episode, has affected my thinking ever since.
Listen to the full episode here. - Former Power Hour guest and Indian energy/environmental analyst Vijay Jayaraj wrote a powerful “Open Letter” to John Kerry (now our Climate Envoy), which you can read here. My favorite line: “Sorry, We Can’t Sit in the Dark While You Fly Around in a Private Jet.”
- A very savvy reader of this newsletter, Paul Arends, has been doing some innovative work in the realm of how people can explore disagreements. He thinks (and I agree) that what he’s working on could help facilitate better discussion of energy and climate issues among many, many others. Here’s a 3-minute (link) and 15-minute (link) summary of his project. If you are interested in contacting Paul about this project you can reach him here.
Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter.
Tomorrow I’ll be heading down to Phoenix to do my Earth Day event with Dr. Patrick Moore (the Greenpeace cofounder who left them).
This week I’m steeped in climate issues because not only do I have an Earth Day event with Dr. Patrick Moore on climate (and a Power Hour with Steve Koonin on climate) but I’m editing the three chapters in Fossil Future that are about climate.
A science educator friend of mine who reviewed a version of these chapters wrote to me:
I think your critique of climate catastrophism is the best I’ve ever seen from anyone, and I started looking at these things when I was 22. Your identification that it was “designated experts” who drive the conversation, the ways in which you present the ideas of logarithmic warming, feedback systems in the climate, and most importantly, the effects of climate mastery, basically takes all the most effective arguments I’ve seen on the subject, integrates them very effectively, and presents them in a way that perfectly walks the line between being understandable and technically accurate.
I hope that entices you :-). Fossil Future should be available for preorder very soon; it comes out on November 2. Thanks to all the Accelerators who have supported this mega-project. We really are nearing the finish line.
To Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Energy,
Alex