Hot Topic

DomPost denier debacle: science has the last word

Gareth Renowden • Mar 10, 2015

• Andy Reisinger,
• Bob Carter,
• Bryan Leyland,
• Climate cranks,
• Climate politics,
• Climate Science,
• cranks,
• David Wratt,
• Dominion Post,
• Jim Renwick

The Dominion Post, which blotted its editorial copybook last week by publishing a factually incorrect and highly misleading opinion piece by climate denialists, has today published a heavyweight reply by three of NZ’s top climate scientists — David Wratt, Andy Reisinger and Jim Renwick1. Headed “Human role in climate change is clear”, the article is […] … Read More

25 ways the DomPost failed its readers by publishing Leyland and Carter’s climate crap

Gareth Renowden • Mar 05, 2015

• Bob Carter,
• Bryan Leyland,
• Climate cranks,
• Climate politics,
• Climate Science,
• cranks,
• denial,
• Dominion Post

The Dominion Post, the newspaper of record for New Zealand’s capital city, today gave great prominence to an opinion piece by high profile climate denialists Bob Carter and Bryan Leyland titled Hypothetical global warming: scepticism needed1. It’s a “Gish Gallop” of untruths, half-truths and misrepresentations — a piece so riddled with deliberate errors and gross […] … Read More

Antarctic ice going fast: Larsen C ice shelf primed for giant calving event

Gareth Renowden • Mar 02, 2015

• Antarctica,
• Climate Science,
• ice shelves,
• Larsen C,
• Sea level

The Larsen C ice shelf on the east coast of the Antarctic peninsula is primed for a giant iceberg calving event, and could be heading for total collapse — similar to the fate of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002, according to scientists monitoring the ice. A huge crack (above: hover over the picture […] … Read More

Blink and its gone – spectacular time-lapse of ice retreat at Fox Glacier

Gareth Renowden • Feb 26, 2015

• Climate Science,
• Fox,
• glaciers,
• nz,
• VUW

This spectacular time-lapse video1 captures the dramatic retreat of the Fox Glacier in Westland over the last year — 300 metres between January 2015 and January this year. As the ice retreats, the hillside becomes unstable and collapses down into the valley. To get a sense of the scale, you can see people watching from […] … Read More

Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences

Bryan Walker • Jan 28, 2015

• Book reviews,
• climate change,
• Climate Science,
• geology

James Lawrence Powell is a former geology professor, college president and museum director. He is currently the executive director of the US National Physical Science Consortium. He is also an excellent communicator of science for the general reader. I reviewed two of his climate change-related books back in 2011 here and here. His latest book, Four […] … Read More

The wrinkled retainer returns with a Peer-reviewed Peer

Gareth Renowden • Jan 22, 2015

• Climate cranks,
• Climate Science,
• humour,
• Monckton,
• The Monckton Files

There is much ado at Tannochbrae Manor, because the Laird has once again disproved global warming. One equation is all it takes! And an article in a new Chinese science journal with some friends, and lo! Take away that inappropriate and misapplied equation, remove the unjustifiable tripling and the climate “crisis” vanishes. You couldn’t make […] … Read More

Heat: 2014 breaks global temperature records, 2015 could be hotter

Gareth Renowden • Jan 18, 2015

• Climate Science,
• GISS,
• James Hansen,
• MetService,
• NASA,
• NIWA,
• NOAA,
• nz,
• Temperature

Last year was the warmest year on record for the planet, analyses by NASA and NOAA show, and it’s possible that 2015 could be warmer still. 2014 was warmer than previous record holders 2005 and 2010, and comfortably ahead of 1998. 13 of the hottest 15 years on record have all occurred since 2000. Remarkably, […] … Read More

Your Life as Planet Earth

Bryan Walker • Jan 06, 2015

• Book reviews,
• Climate Science,
• co2,
• Pliocene

“We can’t make sense of our future until we make sense of our past”, writes Howard Lee in his recent book Your Life as Planet Earth: A new way to understand the story of the Earth, its climate and our origins. The book demonstrates the very considerable sense that science has been able to make […] … Read More

Hot Air on TV tonight

Gareth Renowden • Dec 30, 2014

• Alister Barry,
• Climate business,
• Climate cranks,
• Climate politics,
• Hot Air,
• nz

Alister Barry’s Hot Air, a superb documentary on the slow and sorry evolution of climate policy and politics in New Zealand is getting its first TV airing tonight on Maori TV at 8-30pm. Alister wrote about his film at Hot Topic back in July, and according to the Listener, it makes for “compelling and absolutely […] … Read More

Stuffed birds and hot years (Merry Christmas)

Gareth Renowden • Dec 25, 2014

• Christmas,
• Climate Science,
• Hot Topic,
• open thread,
• Temperature

The fourth LP I bought (after Sgt Pepper and The Monkees first two albums — this was 1967/8, and I’d just acquired a record player that could handle discs larger than singles) was a Stax sampler called This Is Soul. It triggered a life-long love of that Memphis soul sound, and in particular the voice […] … Read More