Greta Thunberg was Wrong about Economic Growth

In a speech, Greta Thunberg stated: “all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth”. Continue reading “Greta Thunberg was Wrong about Economic Growth”

What will it take for Canada to eliminate its use of fossil fuels?

  • Gasoline/diesel vehicles will have to go electric
  • Railways will have to be electrified
  • Heating will have to go electric

If this were to happen, Canada’s demand for electricity will increase. In this blog, the increase in electricity generation capacity is estimated.

The results show that Canada will require 31 new nuclear plants or 202 new hydro plants or 1413 new wind farms or 15167 solar plants or a combination of the above

First look at current consumption of energy from fossil fuels in Canada:

  • Coal                                      33.2 106 tonnes/yr
  • Petroleum products       1.9 mmbbl/d
  • Natural gas                        8.9 Bcf/d

Continue reading “What will it take for Canada to eliminate its use of fossil fuels?”

What Does “Peer Reviewed” Mean?

Articles about scientific matters (especially climate change) refer to studies with “peer reviewed” papers. Most readers assume that this means that the findings have been endorsed by qualified scientists and that they can be considered reliable.

The reality is that this is actually a low standard and is not an accurate guide to the reliability of the results. Continue reading “What Does “Peer Reviewed” Mean?”

Towards a Rational Approach to Climate Change

To decide how to deal with climate change we have to first look at the affects it will have.  The effects which have been discussed fall into three groups.

These are:

  • Effect on wildlife and the environment
  • More frequent extreme weather events
  • Rising sea levels

My conclusion is that the only aspect that poses a real threat to humanity is a rising sea level.

In this blog I shall look at all three aspects and explain the reasoning behind the conclusion. Continue reading “Towards a Rational Approach to Climate Change”

The Galactic Diet – The No-Pain Weight Loss Program

This is a plan I have devised and used for over 6 years. It involves:

  • No calorie counting
  • No special foods
  • No special exercise regimen

I have studied at Cambridge, London, Caltech and Calgary. None of these studies were in Nutrition, but all were in Physics. If Al Gore can talk about Climate Change, I can talk about diet.

The Principles for the “Galactic Diet” are:

  • Peter Drucker’s statement “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”.
  • Losing weight is a simple energy balance – energy in is less than energy expended
  • Reduce energy in by reducing quantities eaten/drunk
  • Increase energy out by increased exercise

Continue reading “The Galactic Diet – The No-Pain Weight Loss Program”

Is the Number of Papers on a Topic a Good Indicator of its Importance?

The Wikipedia entry on “Global Cooling” dismisses the idea that it was the prevailing view in the 1970’s by showing the numbers of papers on cooling versus the number on warming. Does this truly support the author’s claim?

In this post, I describe a fictitious experiment and then draw up a non-complete list of papers that could be produced from the experiment.

I then show a real-life example of this sort of “paper-churning”. Continue reading “Is the Number of Papers on a Topic a Good Indicator of its Importance?”

Whatever Happened to the Coming Ice Age?

“Climate Change” is now synonymous with “global warming”. However, in the 1970’s, global cooling was the major topic. Wikipedia now claims that there was no consensus among climatologists about global cooling in the 70’s and that such a consensus is just an urban myth. Is this just an example of Soviet-style re-writing of history to fit current political needs?

Having lived through the 70’s, I decided to check through my sources to see if mainstream climatologists did fret about a coming ice age in the 70’s …

I found two sources:

  • “The Weather Machine and the Threat of Ice” by Nigel Calder, 1974, published by the BBC (there was an associated TV series); 143 pages.
  • “The Cooling World” by Peter Gwynne, Newsweek, April 28, 1975.

Continue reading “Whatever Happened to the Coming Ice Age?”

Climate Change – The Intellectual Dishonesty of the Climate Alarmists

It is frequently quoted, that the “Science is Settled” when it comes to climate change. However, the nature of science is that it is never really settled – with good science, each question that is answered leads to three or more new questions. It is perhaps more accurate to say “the Politics is Settled”. As skeptics ruefully acknowledge, they may be winning the skirmishes, but the alarmists are winning the war.

Some examples of intellectual dishonesty from the climate change propagandists are:

With Climate Change, there are four related, but separate questions, each of which will be addressed in future blogs:

  • Is the earth’s temperature rising?
  • Is the change in temperature man-made?
  • Are the consequences of climate change harmful to humanity?
  • What should be done to avoid ill-effects?

The “dishonesty” claimed in the title is clear in the climate change propagandists rather than the scientists. The propagandists include:

  • the media
  • celebrities
  • politicians
  • “environmentalists”

Continue reading “Climate Change – The Intellectual Dishonesty of the Climate Alarmists”

INTRODUCTION

I am starting this blog because I believe I have insights, views and opinions which are not expressed elsewhere, whether in the media or by other commentators. My main items of interest are:

  • Climate change
  • Current events
  • Economics
  • Canadian Issues

Future topics on this blog include:

  • Does Brexit doom London as a Financial Centre?
  • Understanding Jeremy Corbyn
  • Where will Putin strike next?
  • What does the data say about global warming?
  • The elites in the West are under attack – what are the issues they are not addressing?

The following describes my attitudes and credentials on the main topics: Continue reading “INTRODUCTION”