James M. Taylor is a senior fellow for environmental policy at The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Environment & Climate News, a national monthly publication devoted to sound science and free-market environmentalism with a circulation of approximately 75,000 readers. He is also senior fellow for The Heartland Institute focusing on environmental issues. He is author of What Climate Scientists Think about Global Warming (Heartland Institute, 2007) and coauthor of State Greenhouse Gas Programs: An Economic and Scientific Analysis (Heartland Institute, 2003) and New Source Review: An Evaluation of EPA's Reform Recommendations (Heartland Institute, 2002). He has presented environmental analysis on the CBS Evening News, CNN, and Fox News Channel; on numerous national radio programs; and in virtually every major newspaper in the country. Taylor received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law, where he was president of the local chapter of the Federalist Society and founder and editor-in-chief of the Federalist Voice.

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James M. Taylor

New Jersey Considers Ban on Winged Monkeys

The New Jersey legislature is considering legislation to ban winged, flying monkeys in the state.

Wait a minute, I got that wrong – the New Jersey legislature is considering legislation to ban natural gas production through hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking.

The mix-up is an easy one to make. Neither winged, flying monkeys nor hydraulic fracturing exist in the Garden State. With high unemployment, budget deficits, crime, etc., taking their toll on New Jersey residents every day, the state legislature feels it should prioritize its limited time and resources to wage war against winged monkeys – er, hydraulic fracturing.

The Press of Atlantic City published a good article on the topic this morning. The pertinent question is, why are legislators charged with the important job of solving real problems choosing instead to waste their time scoring symbolic points with environmental activist groups regarding issues and problems that simply do not exist?

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Global Warming Controversies in the Classroom

The Los Angeles Times has published an interesting article this morning regarding the teaching of climate change in classrooms. Legislators in several states are unhappy with the propensity of teachers to present only one side of the global warming debate and have passed resolutions supporting sound science and have introduced legislation to require a balanced presentation of the scientific debate.

The Times quotes me in its article, for which I am appreciative. Nevertheless, the article shows how important it is to keep the foot on the pedal in disseminating the truth about global warming. For example, the article claims “scientific evidence increasingly shows that fossil fuel consumption has caused the climate to change rapidly” and “climatologists say man-made climate change is not scientifically controversial.”

More accurate language would read, “the climate is warming modestly and within natural parameters, which makes the controversial topic of human attribution interesting but largely unimportant regarding human welfare” and “more than 31,000 scientists have signed the Oregon Petition explaining why humans are not causing a global warming crisis.”

We will continue to disseminate the truth about global warming, and the truth will ultimately prevail.

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Taylor vs. Gleick, Battle Royale (That Gleick Will Be Sorry He Started)

Peter Gleick at the Pacific Institute penned a column at Forbes.com on Jan. 5 titled “The 2011 Climate B.S.* of The Year Awards.” The Heartland Institute was mentioned twice by name, which promted this reply by me with my own column space at Forbes.com

Gleick and I have now gone back and forth again in the comments. I encourage you to read it all, but here’s an excerpt of one of my comments that makes sense even without the full context.

After directing a full column to singling out scientists who disagree with him and attacking them (and many others) by name, Peter Gleick appears to have his feelings hurt that he is the “entire target” of my column responding to his attacks. I am sorry Peter, but I was actually empathizing with your pain and providing some reassuring truth that might make you feel better. I am sorry that the truth did not set you free.

Gleick says he cannot understand the “parallel universe” of facts and data that I presented that he says makes his “head explode.” Perhaps this is because the “parallel universe” in which I live is one where objective data trumps subjective opinion presented by uninformed or biased sources.

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Dessler Misfires in Attack on Rick Perry

Mark Gillar mops the floor with global warming activist Andrew Dessler in a new post at the Tea Party Power Hour website. Writes Gillar, “I found Dr. Andrew Dessler’s comments regarding Governor Perry’s position on climate  change rather impressive. Not for the brilliance of his overall argument unfortunately, but for the speed with which he contradicted himself within a short op-ed.”

Read Gillar’s full post here.

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A Tough Week for Climate Alarmists Who Track Global Temps and Polar Bears

It’s been a tough week for climate alarmists. First, as my Forbes.com column this week pointed out, the peer-reviewed journal Remote Sensing reported NASA satellite data showing that the Earth’s atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted.

As I wrote for Forbes, “the new findings are extremely important and should dramatically alter the global warming debate.” And alter it in the way that throws cold water on the alarmist line. Speaking of cold water … there’s news on the polar bear front.

The Daily Caller quoted me in a story titled: ”Polar bear climate-change scientist investigated for ‘integrity issues’.” According to the story:

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Global Warming’s Latest Offense: Chair Shortages (But Not Coward Shortages)

In my latest Endpoint Analysis column at Forbes.com, I bring up one of the latest disasters predicted by the global warming alarmist crowd: A shortage of chairs.

We have been hosting this conference for several years now, and during the course of these conferences we have cordially invited literally dozens of prominent global warming alarmists to participate.

When they realize this is a conference where scientists will be allowed to present all points of view, and they will be encouraged to discuss and debate the scientific evidence with each other in an open, transparent, public setting, the alarmists quickly look for the nearest chair to hide under.

Read the rest — including a list of the biggest cowards — here.

 

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My Latest at Forbes.com: Polar Ice Rapture Misses Its Deadline

As Heartland gears up for its latest international climate conference this summer in DC, the “facts on the ground,” as they say, continue to stymie the global warming alarmists.

Evangelist Harold Camping is wiping egg off his face after The Rapture didn’t happen on May 21. Similarly, climate doomsday peddlers have seen their high-profile predictions of a polar ice “Rapture” melt away. Or, I should say, freeze up.

From my latest column at Forbes.com:

This week, a 1979 Palm Beach Post article resurfaced in which Steven Schneider, who for the past 30 years was one of the most prominent global warming alarmists, claimed the west Antarctic ice sheet could melt before the year 2000 and inundate American coastlines with up to 25 feet of sea level rise. Obviously, the west Antarctic ice sheet was not raptured away last century, and New Yorkers can still drive rather than swim to work.

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How ClimateGate Convinced a Scientist to Question the ‘Consensus’ on Global Warming

In politics, Reagan Democrats provide a good sample for determining whether moderate Democrats are breaking ranks on a particular issue. Clinton Republicans provide the flip side of this equation. In the global warming debate, Judith Curry might fit the bill of a Reagan Warmist (or Clinton Warmist, if you will).

Curry, who is chair of the Georgia Tech school of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, tends to side with the alarmists on global warming issues, but is open-minded, non-dogmatic, and will call out flaws in alarmist theories or tactics when she sees them.

With this in mind, there has been a very worthwhile discussion this past week on Curry’s blog, Climate, Etc. In a post titled Hiding the Decline, Curry writes:

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Huffington Post Defends False Climate Accusations

Environmental activist Peter Gleick published a piece at The Huffington Post yesterday blasting The Heartland Institute for coming to Dr. Harrison Schmitt’s defense after University of New Mexico adjunct professor Mark Boslough accused Schmitt of lying about climate data. Gleick’s article is no more truthful than Boslough’s false accusation against Schmitt.

Boslough publicly accused Schmitt of lying about Arctic sea ice data in a paper Schmitt wrote and submitted to NASA in early 2009. At the time Schmitt wrote the paper, however, Arctic sea ice had indeed recovered to 1989 levels. This was factually accurate and current information at the time Schmitt wrote the paper. Only later did Arctic sea ice modestly retreat again.

Boslough claimed Schmitt lied about Arctic sea ice. Schmitt obviously did no such thing. We pointed that out by demonstrating that at the time Schmitt wrote and submitted his paper, his Arctic sea ice observations were both current and accurate.

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Debunking NOAA’s ‘Warmest Year On Record’ Claim

Global temperatures during the past decade and century are significantly lower than the long-term average. For most of the past 10,000 years, global temperatures were significantly warmer than today. Temperatures only seem warm when compared with the Little Ice Age, which from 1300 to 1900 AD produced the coldest temperatures of the past 10,000 years.

My friend Art Horn, a meteorologist with the International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project, has written an excellent post that documents the context of current temperatures, especially in light of NOAA’s assertion that 2010 tied for the warmest year on record.

Here’s an excerpt of this must-read piece:

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