Whither 'Extreme Weather'…

David Whitehouse and I have produced a few films for the GWPF on the subject of 'extreme weather'. There are two versions -- one shorter, a second longer with more detail. Short version: Longer version: The videos centre around interviews between David Whitehouse, and...

Greenpeace: talking out of a polar bear’s arse

A recent Greenpeace protest only demonstrated that environmentalism is not a mass movement. Earlier this month, around 3,000 Greenpeace members and supporters marched from Parliament to Shell’s London offices to protest against what they claim is the oil giant’s...

The Guardian’s ‘Scientists Warn…’ Meme

In today's Observer, Robin McKie channels scientists... Climate change: IPCC issues stark warning over global warming Call to 'stop dithering about fossil fuel cuts' as expert panel warns entire globe is affected This is now part of the ritual established by the...

Australian Elections – a Test of Climate Politics?

Over at the new-format Spiked, Rob Lyons has a short piece on the Australian elections. One of the biggest issues in Saturday’s Australian election will be the ‘carbon tax’. Coalition leader Tony Abbott said this week: ‘If the Coalition wins the election on Saturday,...

A wind of Change – or an Unchanging Windbag?

Amongst a number of things going on in the climate debate, two things caught my eye last week. The first is this video from 350.org 350 want to use the names of prominent climate sceptics, rather than an list of names in alphabetical sequence, to refer to tropical...

Science without an Object

In my post at the Nottingham Uni's Making Science Public blog, I discussed the possibility of an empty consensus: The consensus referred to by Davey and Nuccitelli, then, is what I call a consensus without an object: the consensus can mean whatever the likes of Davey...

Eco Films

World Write -- an educational charity that produces excellent videos made by volunteers in East London -- invited me to appear on their talk show about environmental movies and emotionalism recently. The three films discussed were The Age of Stupid, An Inconvenient...

Tom Curtis Doesn't Understand the 97% Paper

My post over at the Nottingham University 'Making Science Public' blog has ruffled some feathers. This was caused in no small part by Mike Hulme's intervention: Ben Pile is spot on. The “97% consensus” article is poorly conceived, poorly designed and poorly executed....

DECC Distances itself from Davey

Following Ed Davey's somewhat silly comments about the climate debate, I recently submitted an FOI request for more information. From: Ben Pile Sent: 22 June 2013 To: deccfoi Subject: Foi Request - Davey speech 18 June. Dear Sir, On 18 June, Ed Davey made a speech at...

Neil, Nuccitelli at the Nottingham Blog

I have a post up at the Nottingham University/Leverhulme 'Making Science Public' blog, run by Warren Pearce. What’s behind the battle of received wisdoms? Andrew Neil’s interview with Ed Davey on the Sunday Politics show last week caused an eruption of comment. For...