Some folks told me that in 2013 the Arctic Ice Cap would disappear. By 2014, it added around 530,000 square miles of new ice. The weather is now their main talking point, even though we’ve had these seasons for extreme weather for generations. You might know them; they’re called hurricane and tornado seasons. Even then, in 2013-14, it was the calmest hurricane season in 30 years. For tornados, it was the quietest in 60 years. Has there been more activity since then? Sure, but it circles back to our point: these things are cyclical. If industrialization causes so-called global warming, please explain the Medieval Warm Period. It lasted for 500 years.
In January, E&E News, which Politico owns—this is all before they were busted for having USAID as their sugar daddy—were raising the alarm regarding the Trump administration’s plan to target the National Climate Assessment, which some view as the “crown jewel” of global warming research, aka hysterics and propaganda. Oh yes, the Project 2025, which no one cares about because it’s so soaked in conspiracy theory nonsense, was referenced multiple times:
Scientists and climate policy experts say the proposed changes — which are being pushed by aides to President-elect Donald Trump — run the risk of undermining a foundational reference for government officials. And they say it could make it harder to craft future U.S. policies to address global warming.
The goal of the next administration “is to undermine any policies aimed at accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist and director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania.
The drive to reshape the National Climate Assessment is being led by one man: Russell Vought, a conservative warrior whom Trump wants to lead his Office of Management and Budget. [UPDATE: he is leading it now]
[…]
According to the Project 2025 playbook, Vought wants to produce a version of the climate report that includes more “diverse viewpoints.” That phrase often has been used by opponents of climate regulation to describe researchers who are known to cast doubt on peer-reviewed science and often are affiliated with industry or conservative think tanks.
Vought’s proposal would also increase his own power to shape the report and pick the researchers who are working on it.
OMB and the Office of Science and Technology Policy would jointly “assess the independence of the contractors used to conduct much of this outsourced government research that serves as the basis for policymaking,” he wrote in the Project 2025 report.
[…]
Don Wuebbles, an emeritus professor of atmospheric science at the University of Illinois who worked on all five of the previous National Climate Assessments, said Vought’s push to include more diverse voices was in fact cover to bring in “more biased” ones.
“It will make the U.S. look like clowns to the rest of the world,” he said. “They’re going to try to basically say, ‘We don’t know enough to do anything about the climate,’ which is nonsense.”
They're scared, and that's good news, but first, let's get this continuing resolution and the larger budget reconciliation package through.
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