I like visiting Earth but I don't want to live there with Ross McKitrick @wattsupwiththat

Ross McKitrick on Earth's destruction.
Image source: Wikipedia

Earth Hour was last night here where I live. It's one hour of the year when we can remind ourselves that we are part of a wonderful world. Whether you turn off your lights or not, Earth Hour is a reminder that our continued existence depends on all other living things on the planet. It's one hour of our lives when we can think about how everything on our planet is inextricably linked - from oxygen-giving forests to the life-sustaining water cycle. From the smallest microbe to the largest whale.

Every year for Earth Hour, Anthony Watts has an article protesting the fact that we are only able to survive in harmony with nature. He loathes the fact that his existence depends on nature. This year was no exception. In keeping with the fact that he only very rarely writes anything himself, Anthony lazily copied and pasted a protest by Ross McKitrick (archived here). Here's a quote:

I like visiting nature but I don’t want to live there, and I refuse to accept the idea that civilization with all its tradeoffs is something to be ashamed of.

It's dangerous...

It's dangerous making promises. The risk is that they can't be kept, so I'll be careful. As you might have guessed, I've found it very difficult to find the time to write blog articles these past few weeks. This less than normal frequency of articles will most likely continue until June.

The frustration is that there is so much to write about at the moment.


You'll have heard about the death and demise of much of the Great Barrier Reef, with yet another bleaching event happening now. There was a paper in Nature a short while ago, which was about recurrent bleaching that's happening with global warming. The only solution is to stop it. Stop our destructive warming that is.

Second hottest February on record - is another El Niño on the way already?

According to GISS NASA, the average global surface temperature anomaly for February was 1.10 °C, which is 0.22 °C lower than the hottest February in 2016 and the second hottest February in the record.

Here is a chart of the average of 12 months to February each year. The 12 months to February 2017 averaged 0.94 °C above the 1951-1980 mean and was almost identical to the 12 months to February 2016, being just 0.01 °C hotter. This makes it the hottest March to February 12 month period on record.

Figure 1 | Global mean surface temperature anomaly for the 12 months to February each year. The base period is 1951-1980. Data source: GISS NASA

WUWT conspiracy theorists think Scott Pruitt can change physics

Greenhouse Effect. Credit/Source: NASA

The crazies at WUWT are still out in force. I'd say they've taken over Anthony Watts' blog, WUWT.

After EPA administrator Scott Pruitt admitted on television that global warming is happening, but all but rejected that it was caused by an increase in greenhouse gases, the crazies at WUWT went berserk (archived here). A chap who writes nonsense there from time to time, David Middleton, wrote how "of course" the EPA website still has science on it. His theory was that it was only because Pruitt hasn't yet got to it on his "to do" list. He thinks that soon enough Pruitt will replace any science on EPA's website with quackery.