iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--Covid-19 in long term care homes reveal this virus is a low threat to the general public

Seattle , Washington was ground zero for Covid-19 in the US and most cases in Washington State ( see image below ) were known to be associated with long term care homes from the very beginning .
This has turned out to be true virtually everywhere in the world .
This means the risk of this coronavirus to the general population is even smaller than has been assumed by health advisors .
However , because numbers of care home deaths and confirmed cases are inconsistently reported worldwide , governments almost everywhere have been reluctant to lift restrictions on movements of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in these well-defined hotspots of Covid-19 infection .
I live in Victoria and travel to Seattle fairly often , in part because the cheapest and fastest way to Alaska and the rest of the US is via Seattle .
Because of its physical proximity , I have kept a close eye on the virus situation in Seattle .
In addition , a good friend of mine in Victoria had a relative in the Kirkland Life Care Centre in Seattle , which recorded one of the first deaths in the US .
His ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things about why long-term care facilities like these are being hit so hard by Covid-19 .
I thought it might be worth sharing what I ’ ve learned about this developing story .
Seattle and the US The story of ‘ patient zero ’ in Seattle in late January and its spread to a nearby nursing home which began the US epidemic is one many people may have missed .
Here is a short synopsis taken from a National Review article ( 24 March 2020 ) , How a Washington State Nursing Home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ note the Life Care Center in Kirkland , a suburb east of Seattle , houses elderly residents but also provides follow-up care for residents of other area care homes who have had recent surgery or treatments in hospital ; the bold added below is mine ] : It all began with patient zero .
The 35-year-old had just returned to Seattle on January 15 from visiting family in Wuhan , China .
Maybe he sneezed or coughed as he took a shared shuttle home from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport .
All we know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feeling a little under the weather , he was in an urgent-care clinic getting blood drawn and taking throat and nasal swabs .
The next day [ January 19 ] he was confirmed as the first case of COVID-19 in the United States .
County health officials reportedly quarantined more than 60 people whom patient zero had come in contact with over those crucial four days after he returned from China .
None were confirmed to have the virus .
But just a few days later , it became clear the authorities had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calls from the Life Care Center , a 25-mile drive from where patient zero was being held in quarantine , at an alarming rate .
Residents were reporting shortness of breath and fevers ; facility staff were telling firefighters and visitors alike of an unidentified “ respiratory virus.
” Life Care made 30 calls to 911 in February , up from seven the month before , but life went on at the facility as usual for its 120 residents and 180 staff .
Visitors came and went , and patients were routinely discharged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As priests moved through the Life Care Center on February 26 , dabbing smudges of ash on foreheads for Ash Wednesday , the virus was sweeping through as well .
Patients had been getting sick for more than a week at this point , perhaps even as long as a month .
Anyone visiting Life Care could tell something was wrong .
Loved ones were reaching out to the Seattle and King County Public Health Department demanding an investigation ; according to an account in the Los Angeles Times , officials there “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with paperwork from government agencies , ” rather than being given the help they desperately needed .
Four residents of the Life Care Center had died by the time county officials went public with the news on February 29 that more than 50 individuals associated with the center were being tested for possible coronavirus infection .
Twenty-five firefighters who had responded to medical calls at the facility were placed in quarantine , and six of their colleagues later followed suit .
But it was all too little , too late : Nursing centers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of COVID-19 .
The virus soon spread all the way to North Carolina , where a resident who ’ d visited Life Care Center became the state ’ s first confirmed case .
The comment in the above quote from the National Review piece about a visitor to the Kirkland Life Care Center spreading the virus to North Carolina is an example of one of the ways the virus has spread around the city and outside the state from outbreaks in care homes .
Another is the practice of low-paid care care staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home a day or work at a care home and another job , which is almost certainly how the illness came into the Life Care Center in the first place and then spread to others .
A good friend of mine in Victoria with whom I have daily contact , who I ’ ll call Carl , gave frequent updates in early March of his family ’ s experience with the Life Care Center epidemic .
Carl had no direct contact with his family during this time but talked with them by phone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mary ( also not her real name , in her early 60s ) had been making daily visits to the Life Care Center in late February to see her 90 year old mother Dorothy , who had been sent there to recover from surgery .
Dorothy was healthy enough for major surgery and normally lived at another area old age home .
Mary told Carl that the other woman in the room with Dorothy had a horrible cough throughout the time she made daily visits [ like hospitals , shared rooms are the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a room ] .
It is unclear whether Mary ’ s visits stopped after 29 February when the first deaths were reported .
However , on Thursday March 5 , Mary was advised to self-quarantine along with her husband David .
Mary had tested positive for the virus , as had her mother Dorothy , who by that time was in intensive care and not expected to survive .
By March 8 , Dorothy had died of the virus .
By March 10 , her daughter Mary was admitted to hospital with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a week or so .
Husband David ( Carl ’ s brother , also in his 60s ) came down with a mild case of the virus on the 14th day of his quarantine but recovered without hospitalization .
David worried that he might have passed the illness along to his own elderly parents ( in their 90s ) when he ’ d visited them a few days before he ’ d been quarantined but luckily , he had not .
To sum up : Ninety year old Dorothy was exposed continuously to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roommate , all day and all night , and died quickly despite hospital treatment .
Her daughter Mary was exposed to high doses of the virus during her daily one-to-two hour visits to Dorothy , developed a moderately severe illness but recovered quickly in hospital .
Mary ’ s husband David , who had been exposed continuously to Mary both before and after Mary showed symptoms , developed only a mild case of the illness and recovered without incident at home .
David did not pass the virus along during a single visit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he might be infected , unless they had it without symptoms ( since it appears they were not tested ) .
This means that even though Mary had a relatively severe case of the illness that killed her mother ( and presumably her mother ’ s roommate ) , her husband was only mildly ill .
Although both Mary and Dorothy did not have any known underlying health conditions , it is possible both of them had emergent issues that were not severe enough to have been diagnosed but which still made them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in undiagnosed health issues is almost never mentioned in discussions of this illness in otherwise ‘ healthy ’ individuals , especially patients under 70 like Mary .
Dorothy ’ s continuous close contact with a coughing victim , in addition to her advanced age and weakend condition after surgery , made it almost inevitable that she would contract and then die from the illness , whether she had an unknown health condition or not .
In Canada , as in the US and all European countries , long-term care facilities account for up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) of Covid-19 related deaths – and data from Washington State suggests that these care homes account for an even higher percentage of confirmed cases .
Here is a chart of care home deaths vs. confirmed cases for the state of Washington ( where tracking and testing have been better than most but still far from perfect ) compiled by the Seattle Times based on data available on April 17th : In Washington State as of April 20 , the region with the highest number of cases and deaths was King County ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Kirkland Life Care Center is located ) , with 373 deaths and 5360 confirmed cases .
If the ratio of deaths : confirmed cases at the Kirkland Life Care Center ( 1:3.9 ) shown in the chart above is applied to the King County data , then 2090 plus 373 cases ( 2836 ) – 53 % of the total of confirmed cases and deaths – were likely associated with long term care homes , possibly even more .
Deaths in US care homes , at April 23 , surpassed 11,000 out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the data from the Kirkland Life Care Center in Seattle suggests about 4 times that many confirmed cases of Covid-19 – and possibly many more – are linked to such facilities .
Therefore , more than 50 % of all known cases in the US ( and possibly many more in some places ) are associated with long term care facilities .
That leads me to what ’ s happened in Victoria ( and Canada in general ) .
Ferry traffic between Victoria and Seattle was cancelled on March 17 and the border @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to non-essential traffic on Friday March 20 .
Prince Harry and his family , who had moved to a suburb of Victoria in early February , took a private plane to LA just before the border closed .
And even though I anticipated that Victoria might get hit hard by the coronavirus because of its proximity to Seattle and regular movement between the two cities , it apparently did not .
However , what has been surprising and frustrating to me and others , the kind of data available for Seattle is simply @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government only reports data for ‘ health regions ’ , which lumps Vancouver Island with a portion of the mainland north of Vancouver , which means the data provided are not even applicable to Vancouver Island as a geographic entity .
The provincial authorities early on defended their decision that citizens should not know exactly where confirmed cases are located – if people knew how few cases there were in many areas , it would be impossible to enforce the province-wide lockdown – and the media have been ineffective in pressing them to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Washington State data shown above , which showed many more cases in care homes vs. deaths due to Covid-19 , at April 16 , BCCDC reported care homes had 61 % of all deaths but only 11 % of all confirmed cases ( below ) .
This figure has not been updated in subsequent reports .
I suspect the data may not be reliable anyway because of a lack of testing and haphazard tracking .
As of April 21 , the most detailed daily data reported for Vancouver Island and the rest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ copied below , which does not include a break-down of long term care home cases or deaths .
However , since the medial age of the three deaths ( yes , only three ) reported for Vancouver Island ( 87 years old ) suggests that most or all of the deaths were associated with care homes .
It is not clear if the authorities are even collecting data on cases associated with care homes or if they are simply not reporting them .
The lack of transparency regarding how many cases and deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the public ’ s perception of the real risk presented to the general population by this virus .
A recent ‘ spike ’ in cases has been interpreted as a real increase in the spread of the illness that requires doubling down on lockdown measures , even though most of these are likely associated with long term care facilities and hospitilizations ( ie .
severe cases ) overall are declining [ my bold ] : Hospitilizations at April 22 in British Columbia ( below ) : Statistics provided for Canada as a whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what is happening in long term care homes .
Federal health authorities only report that 18 % of confirmed cases ( 2,538 out of 14,320 ) have been hospitalized and admit that 95 % of deaths occurred among those aged ≥ 60 years .
This suggests that overall deaths in Canada associated with long term care facilities may be 70 % or more , as discussed below for the situation in Quebec and Ontario , and the data from the Kirkland Life Care Center in Seattle suggests the number of all confirmed cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much higher .
Two of the most populous provinces in the country , Ontario and Quebec ( see map above ) , have been more forthcoming with their data than either BC or the federal government .
Horrendous outbreaks in care homes in these two eastern provinces have been reported : as of 22 April , Quebec reported more than 80 % of 1134 deaths , up from 45 % in early April , were in long term care homes and Ontario reported almost 70 % of 659 deaths were from such facilities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these two provinces that the federal government has promised military aid .
We only know about the situation because Ontario and Quebec health officials have been reporting and discussing these care home figures all along : British Columbia and federal health officials have not .
As one Canadian editorial published today put it , ” Nursing homes are COVID-19 ’ s epicentre “ .
Another said , ” The COVID-19 nursing home crisis wasn ’ t ‘ unimaginable.
’ It was predicted , then ignored.
” Some of the media is now catching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Covid-19 in the US , Canada and the UK , but the fact remains that the same pattern emerged in Europe weeks ago , with particularly horrific cases in Italy .
In many places around the world ( or even most ) , deaths in care home and confirmed cases associated with them are under-reported .
Media outlets and health authorities that continue to sensentionalize the total number of deaths from Covid-19 without mentioning how many of these deaths are of people confined to long term care homes – Coronavirus has now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – are misleading the public .
Including long-term care home deaths and associated confirmed cases in much-publicized overall totals tell us virtually nothing about how the virus is affecting communities at large .
In short , long term care homes worldwide are the epicenter of Covid-19 and the majority of people in all communities that live and work outside such facilities have little risk of dying from Covid-19 .
I have concluded from the evidence that for the general population , Covid-19 will be like a bad flu that hits a few people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some of whom will need hospitalization and a few with diagnosed or undiagnosed underlying health conditions will die , as happens every year with seasonal flu .
From what I have seen , there is little scientific evidence to support a continued lockdown of entire populations : the focus should be on effectively isolating and treating affected patients in long term care homes and properly tracking contacts of staff members infected with the virus , as well as isolating as much as possible people with known health conditions and those over 80 that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obviously , developing more treatment options for folks that develop severe symptoms would be very useful but it is unlikely that an effective vaccine is on the horizon any time soon , if ever .
Indigenous communities in the Canadian Arctic ( Yukon , Northwest Territories , and Nunavut ) may be almost as vulnerable to Covid-19 as those in long term care homes because so many have underlying health conditions and live in over-crowded housing .
So far , the North has seen few cases , in part because there are few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Scientists , including polar bear researchers , have already been locked out of the Arctic in Canada and other countries for spring and summer field work , which is likely to continue into the fall .
Do we need a continued enforcement of ‘ social distancing ’ and bans on group events ?
Should everyone be wearing masks ?
Journalist Jonathan Kay has written up a thought-provoking analysis of Covid-19 ‘ super spreader events ‘ ( ‘ SSE ’ , 23 April 2020 : COVID-19 Superspreader Events in 28 Countries : Critical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a must-read .
He concludes [ my bold ] : Even still , Kay ( like virtually all others ) , does not consider the probability that some people ( even children and infants ) can have underlying health issues that have not been severe enough to generate a diagnosis but which still make them vulnerable to developing a severe or even fatal case of Covid-19 ( or even seasonal flu ) .
The fact that not every apparently ‘ healthy ’ person under 80 is equally vulnerable means that even in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , only a few of those infected became severely ill and even fewer died .
All of this confirms my impression that forcing people to line up at banks , grocery stores and pharmacies so that only a limited number of people are in a building at the same time ( and then forcing them to shop in one direction only to maintain a distance of 2 metres apart ) , keeping healthy children out of school and forbidding them from playing with friends , and prohibiting almost everyone from working is doing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deadly cases and is frightening people unnecessarily .
Like many others , I have lost my job because of this lockdown .
University classes were cancelled on March 16 and all ‘ non-essential ’ research on the University of Victoria campus was forbidden on March 26 .
This decision to lock out researchers – which appears to have been made by the university , not mandated by the government – put me out of work .
University professors are still being paid , as are administrators , and the university is still collecting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be provided remotely until at least September , which means there is little incentive for the university to allow me back to work before then .
The way I see it , daily figures reported by health authorities for deaths and confirmed cases need to be presented both ‘ with ’ and ‘ without ’ numbers associated with long term care homes and similar facilities .
Until then , the government ’ s overcautious response is unlikely to change and the publics ’ unrealistic fear that Covid-19 is everywhere just waiting to kill @ @ @ @ @ @ @

Seattle, Washington was ground zero for Covid-19 in the US and most cases in Washington State (see image below) were known to be associated with long term care homes from the very beginning. This has turned out to be true virtually everywhere in the world. This means the risk of this coronavirus to the general population is even smaller than has been assumed by health advisors. However, because numbers of care home deaths and confirmed cases are inconsistently reported worldwide, governments almost everywhere have been reluctant to lift restrictions on movements of people who do not live or work in these well-defined hotspots of Covid-19 infection.
I live in Victoria and travel to Seattle fairly often, in part because the cheapest and fastest way to Alaska and the rest of the US is via Seattle. Because of its physical proximity, I have kept a close eye on the virus situation in Seattle. In addition, a good friend of mine in Victoria had a relative in the Kirkland Life Care Centre in Seattle, which recorded one of the first deaths in the US. His ‘insider’ information tells us some interesting things about why long-term care facilities like these are being hit so hard by Covid-19. I thought it might be worth sharing what I’ve learned about this developing story.
Seattle and the US
The story of ‘patient zero’ in Seattle in late January and its spread to a nearby nursing home which began the US epidemic is one many people may have missed. Here is a short synopsis taken from a National Review article (24 March 2020), How a Washington State Nursing Home Became the Center of the COVID-19 Pandemic [note the Life Care Center in Kirkland, a suburb east of Seattle, houses elderly residents but also provides follow-up care for residents of other area care homes who have had recent surgery or treatments in hospital; the bold added below is mine]:
It all began with patient zero. The 35-year-old had just returned to Seattle on January 15 from visiting family in Wuhan, China. Maybe he sneezed or coughed as he took a shared shuttle home from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. All we know is, four days later, after feeling a little under the weather, he was in an urgent-care clinic getting blood drawn and taking throat and nasal swabs. The next day [January 19] he was confirmed as the first case of COVID-19 in the United States. County health officials reportedly quarantined more than 60 people whom patient zero had come in contact with over those crucial four days after he returned from China. None were confirmed to have the virus. But just a few days later, it became clear the authorities had missed someone. Firefighters soon began receiving calls from the Life Care Center, a 25-mile drive from where patient zero was being held in quarantine, at an alarming rate. Residents were reporting shortness of breath and fevers; facility staff were telling firefighters and visitors alike of an unidentified “respiratory virus.” Life Care made 30 calls to 911 in February, up from seven the month before, but life went on at the facility as usual for its 120 residents and 180 staff. Visitors came and went, and patients were routinely discharged or moved to other nursing facilities. As priests moved through the Life Care Center on February 26, dabbing smudges of ash on foreheads for Ash Wednesday, the virus was sweeping through as well. Patients had been getting sick for more than a week at this point, perhaps even as long as a month. Anyone visiting Life Care could tell something was wrong. Loved ones were reaching out to the Seattle and King County Public Health Department demanding an investigation; according to an account in the Los Angeles Times, officials there “seemed uninterested.” Staff were “swamped with paperwork from government agencies,” rather than being given the help they desperately needed. Four residents of the Life Care Center had died by the time county officials went public with the news on February 29 that more than 50 individuals associated with the center were being tested for possible coronavirus infection. Twenty-five firefighters who had responded to medical calls at the facility were placed in quarantine, and six of their colleagues later followed suit. But it was all too little, too late: Nursing centers throughout the Seattle area began reporting cases of COVID-19. The virus soon spread all the way to North Carolina, where a resident who’d visited Life Care Center became the state’s first confirmed case.
The comment in the above quote from the National Review piece about a visitor to the Kirkland Life Care Center spreading the virus to North Carolina is an example of one of the ways the virus has spread around the city and outside the state from outbreaks in care homes. Another is the practice of low-paid care care staff who work at more than one care home a day or work at a care home and another job, which is almost certainly how the illness came into the Life Care Center in the first place and then spread to others.
A good friend of mine in Victoria with whom I have daily contact, who I’ll call Carl, gave frequent updates in early March of his family’s experience with the Life Care Center epidemic. Carl had no direct contact with his family during this time but talked with them by phone.
Apparently, Carl’s sister-in-law Mary (also not her real name, in her early 60s) had been making daily visits to the Life Care Center in late February to see her 90 year old mother Dorothy, who had been sent there to recover from surgery. Dorothy was healthy enough for major surgery and normally lived at another area old age home. Mary told Carl that the other woman in the room with Dorothy had a horrible cough throughout the time she made daily visits [like hospitals, shared rooms are the norm in these facilities, sometimes four to a room].
It is unclear whether Mary’s visits stopped after 29 February when the first deaths were reported. However, on Thursday March 5, Mary was advised to self-quarantine along with her husband David. Mary had tested positive for the virus, as had her mother Dorothy, who by that time was in intensive care and not expected to survive.
By March 8, Dorothy had died of the virus. By March 10, her daughter Mary was admitted to hospital with dangerously low oxygen levels but recovered after a week or so. Husband David (Carl’s brother, also in his 60s) came down with a mild case of the virus on the 14th day of his quarantine but recovered without hospitalization. David worried that he might have passed the illness along to his own elderly parents (in their 90s) when he’d visited them a few days before he’d been quarantined but luckily, he had not.
To sum up: Ninety year old Dorothy was exposed continuously to high doses of virus from her sick roommate, all day and all night, and died quickly despite hospital treatment. Her daughter Mary was exposed to high doses of the virus during her daily one-to-two hour visits to Dorothy, developed a moderately severe illness but recovered quickly in hospital. Mary’s husband David, who had been exposed continuously to Mary both before and after Mary showed symptoms, developed only a mild case of the illness and recovered without incident at home. David did not pass the virus along during a single visit to his elderly parents before he knew he might be infected, unless they had it without symptoms (since it appears they were not tested).
This means that even though Mary had a relatively severe case of the illness that killed her mother (and presumably her mother’s roommate), her husband was only mildly ill. Although both Mary and Dorothy did not have any known underlying health conditions, it is possible both of them had emergent issues that were not severe enough to have been diagnosed but which still made them vulnerable to Covid-19. Such individual variation in undiagnosed health issues is almost never mentioned in discussions of this illness in otherwise ‘healthy’ individuals, especially patients under 70 like Mary.
Dorothy’s continuous close contact with a coughing victim, in addition to her advanced age and weakend condition after surgery, made it almost inevitable that she would contract and then die from the illness, whether she had an unknown health condition or not. In Canada, as in the US and all European countries, long-term care facilities account for up to 50% (and sometimes more) of Covid-19 related deaths – and data from Washington State suggests that these care homes account for an even higher percentage of confirmed cases. Here is a chart of care home deaths vs. confirmed cases for the state of Washington (where tracking and testing have been better than most but still far from perfect) compiled by the Seattle Times based on data available on April 17th:
In Washington State as of April 20, the region with the highest number of cases and deaths was King County (which includes all of Seattle and where the Kirkland Life Care Center is located), with 373 deaths and 5360 confirmed cases. If the ratio of deaths:confirmed cases at the Kirkland Life Care Center (1:3.9) shown in the chart above is applied to the King County data, then 2090 plus 373 cases (2836) – 53% of the total of confirmed cases and deaths – were likely associated with long term care homes, possibly even more.
Deaths in US care homes, at April 23, surpassed 11,000 out of 46,785 total US deaths, and the data from the Kirkland Life Care Center in Seattle suggests about 4 times that many confirmed cases of Covid-19 – and possibly many more – are linked to such facilities. Therefore, more than 50% of all known cases in the US (and possibly many more in some places) are associated with long term care facilities.
Victoria and Canada
That leads me to what’s happened in Victoria (and Canada in general). Ferry traffic between Victoria and Seattle was cancelled on March 17 and the border between Canada and the US was closed to non-essential traffic on Friday March 20. Prince Harry and his family, who had moved to a suburb of Victoria in early February, took a private plane to LA just before the border closed. And even though I anticipated that Victoria might get hit hard by the coronavirus because of its proximity to Seattle and regular movement between the two cities, it apparently did not.
However, what has been surprising and frustrating to me and others, the kind of data available for Seattle is simply not available for Victoria. The BC government only reports data for ‘health regions’, which lumps Vancouver Island with a portion of the mainland north of Vancouver, which means the data provided are not even applicable to Vancouver Island as a geographic entity. The provincial authorities early on defended their decision that citizens should not know exactly where confirmed cases are located – if people knew how few cases there were in many areas, it would be impossible to enforce the province-wide lockdown – and the media have been ineffective in pressing them to change this policy.
In contrast to the Washington State data shown above, which showed many more cases in care homes vs. deaths due to Covid-19, at April 16, BCCDC reported care homes had 61% of all deaths but only 11% of all confirmed cases (below). This figure has not been updated in subsequent reports. I suspect the data may not be reliable anyway because of a lack of testing and haphazard tracking.
As of April 21, the most detailed daily data reported for Vancouver Island and the rest of the province appears in the table copied below, which does not include a break-down of long term care home cases or deaths. However, since the medial age of the three deaths (yes, only three) reported for Vancouver Island (87 years old) suggests that most or all of the deaths were associated with care homes. It is not clear if the authorities are even collecting data on cases associated with care homes or if they are simply not reporting them.
The lack of transparency regarding how many cases and deaths are associated with long-term care facilities skews the public’s perception of the real risk presented to the general population by this virus. A recent ‘spike’ in cases has been interpreted as a real increase in the spread of the illness that requires doubling down on lockdown measures, even though most of these are likely associated with long term care facilities and hospitilizations (ie. severe cases) overall are declining [my bold]:
This [spike in cases] tells us we have more work to do to break the chains of transmission in our communities,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C’s provincial health officer. Henry says she understands people are tired of staying at home but without a decline in cases and outbreaks it won’t be possible to ease restrictions. “We can’t afford to have any weaknesses in our firewall if we are going to be able to move ahead in to our new normal,” she said. Henry once again urged people to stay home if they’re not feeling well “with no exception right now.” She said that includes whether you’re experiencing mild symptoms or even if you think it’s just allergies.
Hospitilizations at April 22 in British Columbia (below):
Statistics provided for Canada as a whole are just as lacking in transparency regarding what is happening in long term care homes. Federal health authorities only report that 18% of confirmed cases (2,538 out of 14,320) have been hospitalized and admit that 95% of deaths occurred among those aged ≥ 60 years. This suggests that overall deaths in Canada associated with long term care facilities may be 70% or more, as discussed below for the situation in Quebec and Ontario, and the data from the Kirkland Life Care Center in Seattle suggests the number of all confirmed cases associated with care homes is almost certainly much higher.
Quebec and Ontario
Two of the most populous provinces in the country, Ontario and Quebec (see map above), have been more forthcoming with their data than either BC or the federal government. Horrendous outbreaks in care homes in these two eastern provinces have been reported: as of 22 April, Quebec reported more than 80% of 1134 deaths, up from 45% in early April, were in long term care homes and Ontario reported almost 70% of 659 deaths were from such facilities. The situation is so bad in these two provinces that the federal government has promised military aid. We only know about the situation because Ontario and Quebec health officials have been reporting and discussing these care home figures all along: British Columbia and federal health officials have not.
As one Canadian editorial published today put it,”Nursing homes are COVID-19’s epicentre“. Another said,”The COVID-19 nursing home crisis wasn’t ‘unimaginable.’ It was predicted, then ignored.” Some of the media is now catching on that this is the big story of Covid-19 in the US, Canada and the UK, but the fact remains that the same pattern emerged in Europe weeks ago, with particularly horrific cases in Italy. In many places around the world (or even most), deaths in care home and confirmed cases associated with them are under-reported.
Conclusion
Media outlets and health authorities that continue to sensentionalize the total number of deaths from Covid-19 without mentioning how many of these deaths are of people confined to long term care homes – Coronavirus has now killed over 50,000 people in the U.S. – are misleading the public. Including long-term care home deaths and associated confirmed cases in much-publicized overall totals tell us virtually nothing about how the virus is affecting communities at large. In short, long term care homes worldwide are the epicenter of Covid-19 and the majority of people in all communities that live and work outside such facilities have little risk of dying from Covid-19.
I have concluded from the evidence that for the general population, Covid-19 will be like a bad flu that hits a few people very hard, especially the elderly – some of whom will need hospitalization and a few with diagnosed or undiagnosed underlying health conditions will die, as happens every year with seasonal flu.
From what I have seen, there is little scientific evidence to support a continued lockdown of entire populations: the focus should be on effectively isolating and treating affected patients in long term care homes and properly tracking contacts of staff members infected with the virus, as well as isolating as much as possible people with known health conditions and those over 80 that do not live in care homes. Obviously, developing more treatment options for folks that develop severe symptoms would be very useful but it is unlikely that an effective vaccine is on the horizon any time soon, if ever.
Indigenous communities in the Canadian Arctic (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) may be almost as vulnerable to Covid-19 as those in long term care homes because so many have underlying health conditions and live in over-crowded housing. So far, the North has seen few cases, in part because there are few visitors from the south during the winter. Scientists, including polar bear researchers, have already been locked out of the Arctic in Canada and other countries for spring and summer field work, which is likely to continue into the fall.
Do we need a continued enforcement of ‘social distancing’ and bans on group events? Should everyone be wearing masks? Journalist Jonathan Kay has written up a thought-provoking analysis of Covid-19 ‘super spreader events‘ (‘SSE’, 23 April 2020: COVID-19 Superspreader Events in 28 Countries: Critical Patterns and Lessons) that’s a must-read. He concludes [my bold]:
When do COVID-19 SSEs happen? Based on the list I’ve assembled, the short answer is: Wherever and whenever people are up in each other’s faces, laughing, shouting, cheering, sobbing, singing, greeting, and praying.
Even still, Kay (like virtually all others), does not consider the probability that some people (even children and infants) can have underlying health issues that have not been severe enough to generate a diagnosis but which still make them vulnerable to developing a severe or even fatal case of Covid-19 (or even seasonal flu). The fact that not every apparently ‘healthy’ person under 80 is equally vulnerable means that even in the ‘super spreader events’ Kay examined, only a few of those infected became severely ill and even fewer died.
All of this confirms my impression that forcing people to line up at banks, grocery stores and pharmacies so that only a limited number of people are in a building at the same time (and then forcing them to shop in one direction only to maintain a distance of 2 metres apart), keeping healthy children out of school and forbidding them from playing with friends, and prohibiting almost everyone from working is doing virtually nothing to limit the spread of deadly cases and is frightening people unnecessarily.
Like many others, I have lost my job because of this lockdown. University classes were cancelled on March 16 and all ‘non-essential’ research on the University of Victoria campus was forbidden on March 26. This decision to lock out researchers – which appears to have been made by the university, not mandated by the government – put me out of work. University professors are still being paid, as are administrators, and the university is still collecting tuition fees from students. Teaching will be provided remotely until at least September, which means there is little incentive for the university to allow me back to work before then.
The way I see it, daily figures reported by health authorities for deaths and confirmed cases need to be presented both ‘with’ and ‘without’ numbers associated with long term care homes and similar facilities. Until then, the government’s overcautious response is unlikely to change and the publics’ unrealistic fear that Covid-19 is everywhere just waiting to kill them is unlikely to be relieved.
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April 24, 2020 at 05:06PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--Video: Bill McKibben feigns ignorance of his funding sources

From Michael Moore ’ s new documentary , “ Planet of the Humans , ” uber-climate bedwetter Bill McKibben pulls @ @ @ @ @ asked about his funding sources .
I posted this when I learned that the film @ @ @ @ @ pressured to remove it from YouTube because it exposes the corruption of the climate bedwetting @ @

From Michael Moore’s new documentary, “Planet of the Humans,” uber-climate bedwetter Bill McKibben pulls a Sgt. Schultz when asked about his funding sources. I posted this when I learned that the film’s distributor has been pressured to remove it from YouTube because it exposes the corruption of the climate bedwetting movement.


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--Not Running Out of Oil, or Sunshine

Not Running Out of Oil, or Sunshine

I remember through the 1970s , we were meant to run out of oil , soon .
In fact , as long as I can remember we have been running out of oil , soon .
Instead , oversupply is such that the benchmark for US oil fell below zero for the first time ever a couple of days ago .
That is , the share market suggested oil couldn ’ t even be given away because it was in such oversupply .
There is no shortage of oil despite more than 7.6 billion people on planet Earth , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Prices have collapsed , because despite all the pumping from ‘ Mother Earth ’ since I was a child , there is still more .
Because of the pandemic , global demand , not supply , has fallen dramatically .
In fact , the worldwide supply glut has created a worldwide shortage of storage space for oil .
Oil futures collapsed to below zero for the first time ever Yet still we have movies by famous Americans claiming an imminent shortage because : That ’ s according to the latest Michael Moore movie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , released earlier this week , which was about the same time oil couldn ’ t be given away .
The movie is long and a bit tedious and laments our so-called ‘ addiction ’ to not only oil , but also coal .
Yet it is different , because it also effectively shows up ‘ renewables ’ as something of a scam , if their objective is long term energy security and sustainability .
Surprisingly for Moore , the movie looks beyond the popular to explain that whether solar panels or wind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fossil fuel ’ infrastructure .
In the movie , Moore interviews a technician who explains how silicon is mined and then processed in very hot furnaces with coal .
And that this is what solar panels are actually made of – silicon and coal !
The qualities of cement and steel consumed in the construction of a single wind turbine are also detailed .
The new Michael Moore movie also shows us electric cars fuelled by a power grid based on 95 % coal .
So , is electricity from coal better than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still have any of either of them ?
Since I was a young girl at the beach , these type of documentaries have explained we are running out of both .
I am also reminded of how the prices of various natural resources has tended down over the past few decades .
It was in the early 1980s that Julian Simon famously betted Paul Ehrlich that the price of Cooper , chromium , nickel , tin and tungsten would fall .
And they have .
Julian Simon explains why in his book The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back in the early 1980s , and still today , the conventional wisdom has claimed we would all be undone by resource scarcity .
Simon explains that our notions of increasing resource-scarcity ignores the long-term declines in wage-adjusted raw material prices because of innovation .
Another book , ‘ The Future and Its Enemies ’ written by Virgina Postrel and published in 1999 puts more context around the notion of innovation .
Interestingly Postrel explains why government regulation may only be a problem when it limits innovation .
Further , Postrel suggests notions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ in politics are some what meaningless .
She suggests the more significant battles will be between the values of a type of person she refers to as the ‘ dynamists ’ versus the ‘ statists ’ .
Quoting from an interview some time ago : In the book , I talk about the sort of core values of dynamists versus stasists .
The core values of dynamists are – it ’ s really about learning .
It ’ s about discovery .
The idea is we don ’ t really know the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that requires a lot of experimentation , trial and error learning , competition , criticism .
It ’ s a messy process , but it ’ s the process through which we discover better ways of doing things , whether that ’ s in business , technology , or the way we live our everyday lives .
On the stasis side , there ’ s sort of two competing or two complementary ideas rather .
One is the ideal of stability – that the good society is the society that doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I associate with sort of technocratic stasis , is the idea of control – that someone needs to be in charge to set us on the right path and to decide centrally what that will be .
How might this pandemic show the need for regulation and cohesion , while allowing innovation ?
That oil prices are at unprecedented lows must be upsetting established world orders ?
I hope so .
Then again , I ’ m a dynamist .
It is a fact that there has never been so many people on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a time of great wealth but also great uncertainty .
Our times perhaps provide unique opportunities for both Postrel ’ s dynamists and also the technocratic stasis .
In Australia and around the world , how much have our values changed in just the last two months ?
And yet we have perhaps more social cohesion , at least here in Australia ?
And many are looking for new rules of engagement , to provide some certainty .
As long as the rules created by the technocrats are clear , and there is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for great innovation : for us to innovate our way out of this pandemic .
It should be possible through trial and error , spontaneous adjustment , and adaptation – even if we can ’ t travel , or party , or watch sport .
In fact , there may be more time for thinking .
It is a fact that we can still innovate for a new and different future , and that the best things in life will still be free , even if the movie-makers keep telling us that we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In Noosa where I live , the sun is still shining , and it shines for everyone .

From Jennifer Marohasy’s Blog
April 23, 2020 By jennifer
I remember through the 1970s, we were meant to run out of oil, soon. In fact, as long as I can remember we have been running out of oil, soon.
Instead, oversupply is such that the benchmark for US oil fell below zero for the first time ever a couple of days ago. That is, the share market suggested oil couldn’t even be given away because it was in such oversupply.
There is no shortage of oil despite more than 7.6 billion people on planet Earth, and so many vehicles powered by it.
Prices have collapsed, because despite all the pumping from ‘Mother Earth’ since I was a child, there is still more. Because of the pandemic, global demand, not supply, has fallen dramatically. In fact, the worldwide supply glut has created a worldwide shortage of storage space for oil.
The headlines read:
Oil futures collapsed to below zero for the first time ever
Oil plunges for a second day
Yet still we have movies by famous Americans claiming an imminent shortage because:
Too many human beings are using too much, too fast …
That’s according to the latest Michael Moore movie entitled ‘Planet of the Humans’, released earlier this week, which was about the same time oil couldn’t be given away.
The movie is long and a bit tedious and laments our so-called ‘addiction’ to not only oil, but also coal. Yet it is different, because it also effectively shows up ‘renewables’ as something of a scam, if their objective is long term energy security and sustainability.
Surprisingly for Moore, the movie looks beyond the popular to explain that whether solar panels or wind turbines: both are built using ‘fossil fuel’ infrastructure.
In the movie, Moore interviews a technician who explains how silicon is mined and then processed in very hot furnaces with coal. And that this is what solar panels are actually made of – silicon and coal!
The qualities of cement and steel consumed in the construction of a single wind turbine are also detailed.
The new Michael Moore movie also shows us electric cars fuelled by a power grid based on 95% coal.
So, is electricity from coal better than oil, and how could we possibly still have any of either of them? Since I was a young girl at the beach, these type of documentaries have explained we are running out of both.
I am also reminded of how the prices of various natural resources has tended down over the past few decades. It was in the early 1980s that Julian Simon famously betted Paul Ehrlich that the price of Cooper, chromium, nickel, tin and tungsten would fall. And they have.
Julian Simon explains why in his book The Ultimate Resource published in 1981. Yet back in the early 1980s, and still today, the conventional wisdom has claimed we would all be undone by resource scarcity. Simon explains that our notions of increasing resource-scarcity ignores the long-term declines in wage-adjusted raw material prices because of innovation.
Another book, ‘The Future and Its Enemies’ written by Virgina Postrel and published in 1999 puts more context around the notion of innovation. Interestingly Postrel explains why government regulation may only be a problem when it limits innovation. Further, Postrel suggests notions of ‘left’ and ‘right’ in politics are some what meaningless. She suggests the more significant battles will be between the values of a type of person she refers to as the ‘dynamists’ versus the ‘statists’. Quoting from an interview some time ago:
In the book, I talk about the sort of core values of dynamists versus stasists. The core values of dynamists are – it’s really about learning. It’s about discovery. The idea is we don’t really know the best way of doing whatever, and that requires a lot of experimentation, trial and error learning, competition, criticism. It’s a messy process, but it’s the process through which we discover better ways of doing things, whether that’s in business, technology, or the way we live our everyday lives. On the stasis side, there’s sort of two competing or two complementary ideas rather. One is the ideal of stability – that the good society is the society that doesn’t change. And the other, which I associate with sort of technocratic stasis, is the idea of control – that someone needs to be in charge to set us on the right path and to decide centrally what that will be.
How might this pandemic show the need for regulation and cohesion, while allowing innovation?
That oil prices are at unprecedented lows must be upsetting established world orders? I hope so. Then again, I’m a dynamist.
It is a fact that there has never been so many people on planet Earth and that we live during a time of great wealth but also great uncertainty. Our times perhaps provide unique opportunities for both Postrel’s dynamists and also the technocratic stasis.
In Australia and around the world, how much have our values changed in just the last two months? And yet we have perhaps more social cohesion, at least here in Australia? And many are looking for new rules of engagement, to provide some certainty.
As long as the rules created by the technocrats are clear, and there is still incentive, there is perhaps potential for great innovation: for us to innovate our way out of this pandemic. It should be possible through trial and error, spontaneous adjustment, and adaptation – even if we can’t travel, or party, or watch sport. In fact, there may be more time for thinking.
It is a fact that we can still innovate for a new and different future, and that the best things in life will still be free, even if the movie-makers keep telling us that we are running out of oil, soon.
In Noosa where I live, the sun is still shining, and it shines for everyone.


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--Death rates in the United States have been going down, not up

If you pay attention to the news , you might assume that record numbers of people are dying .
The opposite is true .
– Dr. Klaus L.E .
Kaiser ____________ Death rates in the United States have been going down , not up , since the beginning of the year If you pay attention to the news , you might assume that record numbers of people are dying .
The opposite is true .
Not only has overall mortality for the United States been going steadily downward since January , but mortality has been substantially lower this year than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statistics for the United States from the Centers for Disease Control : We are told that 37,308 people have died this year from COVID-19 through April 18 , yet actually 45,522 fewer people have died this year than last year during the same period of time .
Here is an interesting brief text and table ( source : https : //www.cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Choosing-Life.pdf ) .
Dr. Klaus L.E .
Kaiser is a professional scientist with a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Technical University , Munich , Germany .
He has worked as a research scientist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Canada Centre for Inland Waters for over 30 years and is currently Director of Research at TerraBase Inc .
He is author of nearly 300 publications in scientific journals , government and agency reports , books , computer programs , trade magazines , and newspaper articles .
Dr. Kaiser has been president of the International Association for Great Lakes Research , a peer reviewer of numerous scientific papers for several journals , Editor-in-Chief of the Water Quality Research Journal of Canada for nearly a decade , and an adjunct professor .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ projects and reports and has made many presentations at national and international conferences .
Dr. Kaiser is author of CONVENIENT MYTHS , the green revolution – perceptions , politics , and facts convenientmyths.com Dr. Kaiser can be reached at : mail @ convenientmyths.com The post Death rates in the United States have been going down , not up appeared first on Ice Age Now .

If you pay attention to the news, you might assume that record numbers of people are dying. The opposite is true.
– Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser
____________
Death rates in the United States have been going down, not up, since the beginning of the year
Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser
If you pay attention to the news, you might assume that record numbers of people are dying. The opposite is true. Not only has overall mortality for the United States been going steadily downward since January, but mortality has been substantially lower this year than last year. These are weekly mortality statistics for the United States from the Centers for Disease Control:
Week Number of Deaths 2019 Number of Deaths 2020 1 58,291 59,087 2 58,351 59,151 3 58,194 57,616 4 57,837 57,000 5 58,128 56,426 6 58,492 56,962 7 57,917 55,981 8 57,858 55,494 9 57,920 54,834 10 58,490 54,157 11 57,872 52,198 12 57,087 51,602 13 56,672 52,285 14 56,595 49,292 15 55,477 47,574 TOTAL 865,181 819,659
We are told that 37,308 people have died this year from COVID-19 through April 18, yet actually 45,522 fewer people have died this year than last year during the same period of time.
Here is an interesting brief text and table
(source: https://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Choosing-Life.pdf ).
__________________________
Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser is a professional scientist with a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Technical University, Munich, Germany. He has worked as a research scientist and project chief at Environment Canada‘s Canada Centre for Inland Waters for over 30 years and is currently Director of Research at TerraBase Inc. He is author of nearly 300 publications in scientific journals, government and agency reports, books, computer programs, trade magazines, and newspaper articles.
Dr. Kaiser has been president of the International Association for Great Lakes Research, a peer reviewer of numerous scientific papers for several journals, Editor-in-Chief of the Water Quality Research Journal of Canada for nearly a decade, and an adjunct professor. He has contributed to a variety of scientific projects and reports and has made many presentations at national and international conferences.
Dr. Kaiser is author of CONVENIENT MYTHS, the green revolution – perceptions, politics, and facts
convenientmyths.com
Dr. Kaiser can be reached at: mail@convenientmyths.com
The post Death rates in the United States have been going down, not up appeared first on Ice Age Now.
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April 24, 2020 at 03:30PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--Sweden Says No-Lockdown Strategy Proving Effective

Quarantine is restricting the movement of sick people .
Tyranny is restricting the movement of healthy people .
– Norman Grant Smith Sweden has left its schools , gyms , cafes , bars and restaurants open throughout the spread of the pandemic .
Instead , the government has urged citizens to act responsibly and follow social distancing guidelines .
And according to the country ’ s top epidemiologist , Anders Tegnell , infection rates and fatalities are starting to stabilize .
As of Sunday , Sweden had reported 1,540 deaths tied to Covid-19 .
That ’ s considerably more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much less than in Italy , Spain and the U.K. , both in absolute and relative terms .
Other high-level Swedish officials agree that the worst may be over .
“ The trend we have seen in recent days , with a more flat curve — where we have many new cases , but not a daily increase — is stabilizing , ” said Karin Tegmark Wisell , head of the microbiology department at Sweden ’ s Public Health Authority .
“ We are seeing the same pattern for patients in intensive care.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ link The post Sweden Says No-Lockdown Strategy Proving Effective appeared first on Ice Age Now .

Quarantine is restricting the movement of sick people.
Tyranny is restricting the movement of healthy people.
– Norman Grant Smith
_____________
Sweden has left its schools, gyms, cafes, bars and restaurants open throughout the spread of the pandemic. Instead, the government has urged citizens to act responsibly and follow social distancing guidelines.
And according to the country’s top epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, infection rates and fatalities are starting to stabilize.
As of Sunday, Sweden had reported 1,540 deaths tied to Covid-19. That’s considerably more than in the rest of Scandinavia, but much less than in Italy, Spain and the U.K., both in absolute and relative terms.
Other high-level Swedish officials agree that the worst may be over.
“The trend we have seen in recent days, with a more flat curve — where we have many new cases, but not a daily increase — is stabilizing,” said Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of the microbiology department at Sweden’s Public Health Authority. “We are seeing the same pattern for patients in intensive care.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-19/sweden-says-controversial-covid-19-strategy-is-proving-effective
Thanks to Stephen Bird for this link
“Success and a thriving economy. Who’s stupid now ?” asks Stephen.
The post Sweden Says No-Lockdown Strategy Proving Effective appeared first on Ice Age Now.
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April 24, 2020 at 02:48PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--The world watches Australia and NZ tracking to zero — can we extinguish Coronavirus?

Soon after isolation began , Australian and New Zealand cases started to fall as fast as they rose This is @ @ @ @ @ like , and if works it will set the new standard , and change the @ @ @ @ @ world views this .
It isn ’ t over yet , but still — something @ @ @ @ @ press has just started to notice .
Be aware the figures may jump next week @ @ @ @ @ has ramped up and everyone can now get a free test .
But testing is @ @ @ @ @ with a very low positive test rates .
Australia has 25 million people and found @ @ @ @ @ .
New Zealand with 5 million people , got five new cases .
In the @ @ @ @ @ are dying every day .
[ The ] Nation records just 17 cases in one @ @ @ @ @ with ZERO infections – as the country ’ s road to ending lockdown is revealed @ @ @ @ @ Australia and New Zealand Aim to Show [ … ]

Soon after isolation began, Australian and New Zealand cases started to fall as fast as they rose
This is what Crushing the Curve looks like, and if works it will set the new standard, and change the way the rest of the world views this. It isn’t over yet, but still — something is working and the international press has just started to notice.
Be aware the figures may jump next week, as testing in NSW has ramped up and everyone can now get a free test. But testing is already high per capita, with a very low positive test rates.
Australia has 25 million people and found just 18 new cases yesterday. New Zealand with 5 million people, got five new cases. In the US and UK 700 people are dying every day.
…
Daily Mail, UK:
Australia is steamrolling the curve
[The] Nation records just 17 cases in one day – including three states with ZERO infections – as the country’s road to ending lockdown is revealed
New York Times:
“Vanquish the Virus? Australia and New Zealand Aim to Show […]
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April 24, 2020 at 02:34PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--Four Twenty Seven’s Error Strewn Report

Four Twenty Seven’s Error Strewn Report

Four Twenty Seven claims to be the leading publisher and provider of market intelligence on the .
According to their website : “ Our mission is to catalyse climate adaptation and resilience investments by enabling the integration of climate science into business and policy decisions .
In July 2019 , Four Twenty Seven They have just published this unbelievably amateurish research note on Covid-19 and climate change .
It is based around the usual blend of picking a weather event and blaming it on climate change : To zoom in on the main claims : CLAIM 1 ) Last week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy-makers weighed the risks of high winds and flooding alongside the risks of spreading COVID-19 , as many evacuated to storm shelters , and 750,000 people lost power across ten states from Texas to West Virginia .
The threat of climate-driven extreme weather events takes on new meaning when standard responses such as evacuating to shelters conflict with guidelines for preventing the spread of the disease .
Tornadoes are not “ climate driven events ” , and the start to this year ’ s tornado season has been pretty average : Meanwhile long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the number of tornadoes since the 1970s : CLAIM 2 ) Devastating flooding last year disrupted lives , threatened livelihoods and contributed to 19 million acres of cropland going unplanted .
Counties in the Midwest are among the most exposed to increasing extreme precipitation due to climate change in the next several decades ( Figure 1 ) , where these floods are likely to become a regular occurrence .
There is no evidence that floods are getting worse in the US , as recently confirmed by the US Geological Survey : CLAIM 3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the country through July , with no regions expecting below-average temperatures .
According to the Fourth US National Climate Assessment in 2017 , the frequency and magnitude of heatwaves across the country have declined sharply in the last century .
There has been a similar reduction in cold spells .
In short , US temperatures are much less extreme than they used to be : CLAIM 4 ) Climate change is contributing to more frequent intense hurricanes Hurricanes are neither becoming more frequent or intense in the US : CLAIM 5 ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ droughts and extreme heat events , wildfire season in the western U.S. has worsened over the past several years Wildfires have declined substantially since the early 20thC : For a supposedly professional company , part of the ratings organisation Moody ’ s , to publish such a shoddy , amateurish report as this , full of errors and naive assumptions , hardly does Four Twenty Seven ’ s reputation any good .
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood
Four Twenty Seven claims to be the leading publisher and provider of market intelligence on the economic risk of climate change . According to their website:
“Our mission is to catalyse climate adaptation and resilience investments by enabling the integration of climate science into business and policy decisions. In July 2019, Four Twenty Seven received a majority investment from Moody’s Corporation .”
They have just published this unbelievably amateurish research note on Covid-19 and climate change. It is based around the usual blend of picking a weather event and blaming it on climate change:
http://427mt.com/2020/04/22/the-compounding-challenges-of-climate-hazards-and-covid-19/
To zoom in on the main claims:
CLAIM 1) Last week in the Southern U.S., residents and policy-makers weighed the risks of high winds and flooding alongside the risks of spreading COVID-19, as many evacuated to storm shelters, and 750,000 people lost power across ten states from Texas to West Virginia. The threat of climate-driven extreme weather events takes on new meaning when standard responses such as evacuating to shelters conflict with guidelines for preventing the spread of the disease.
Tornadoes are not “climate driven events”, and the start to this year’s tornado season has been pretty average:
https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/#data
Meanwhile long tern trends show a marked reduction in the number of tornadoes since the 1970s:
https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/#data
CLAIM 2) Devastating flooding last year disrupted lives, threatened livelihoods and contributed to 19 million acres of cropland going unplanted. Counties in the Midwest are among the most exposed to increasing extreme precipitation due to climate change in the next several decades (Figure 1), where these floods are likely to become a regular occurrence.
There is no evidence that floods are getting worse in the US, as recently confirmed by the US Geological Survey:
Only one of four large regions of the United States showed a significant relationship between carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere and the size of floods over the last 100 years. This was in the southwestern region, where floods have become smaller as CO 2 has increased
https://web.archive.org/web/20120925165837/http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3006
CLAIM 3) NOAA predicts above-average temperatures for much of the country through July, with no regions expecting below-average temperatures.
According to the Fourth US National Climate Assessment in 2017, the frequency and magnitude of heatwaves across the country have declined sharply in the last century. There has been a similar reduction in cold spells.
In short, US temperatures are much less extreme than they used to be:
https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/6/
CLAIM 4) Climate change is contributing to more frequent intense hurricanes
Hurricanes are neither becoming more frequent or intense in the US:
https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/All_U.S._Hurricanes.html
CLAIM 5) As climate change contributes to more severe droughts and extreme heat events, wildfire season in the western U.S. has worsened over the past several years
Wildfires have declined substantially since the early 20thC:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140913135647/http://www.fs.fed.us:80/research/sustain/criteria-indicators/indicators/indicator-316.php
For a supposedly professional company, part of the ratings organisation Moody’s, to publish such a shoddy, amateurish report as this, full of errors and naive assumptions, hardly does Four Twenty Seven’s reputation any good.
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April 24, 2020 at 01:27PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--German Review Of Moore Film: “About Selling Out Green Ideas”…Sustainability – In The Cayman Islands”

“ Whenever I came across green energy , it wasn ’ t green energy ” American documentary filmmaker Michael Moore presents on YouTube a film that critically examines renewable energies in the USA .
All the more astonishing is his relentless portrayal of the situation in the USA regarding these energies .
The Oscar winner presents a work directed by Jeff Gibbs “ Planet Of The Humans “ .
Similarly ruthless as other Moore films , it is enlightened , even exaggerated , but first and foremost proponents and critics of renewable energies speak out .
Especially supporters contradicted each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intention of the documentary film was not clear to them .
But nobody was ambushed , the questions were always asked fairly .
What is striking is the speechlessness of some when it came to unpleasant issues or the financing of certain movements .
The film is about the sell out green ideas , and this happens in the USA in a variety of ways .
To be clear , the film criticizes any kind of pollution , and it starts by digging out a 1958 film that warns of global warming caused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” .
Director Gibbs also makes his position very clear at the beginning .
In Germany he is what you would probably call an environmental fundamentalist , with a self-built wooden house in the wilderness , solar panel on the roof and self-chopped wood as fuel in the wood stove .
His first documentaries also deal with the mistreatment of nature .
Fossil fuels always in the background , out of sight Gibbs had his awakening at a solar festival in Vermont .
At a kind of hippie festival everything was powered by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But when a rain came up and Gibbs suddenly noticed nervousness among the organizers , he asked about it .
He discovered there were diesel generators to provide the necessary power and that the panels at the festival were more of a decoration .
The film then describes the rise of green energy with the inauguration of Barack Obama .
Investors like Richard Branson or Vinod Koshla entered this market with billions , as did investment banks .
Again and again there are times that remind us of the diesel generator moment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GM introduced its Volt electric vehicle .
But when asked , it becomes clear that the charging station is 95 % powered by coal .
And Gibbs lets engineers have their say , describing exactly what also counts in Europe : renewable energies need backups in the absence of storage .
In the USA , natural gas is often used for this purpose when it comes to new power plants , because they can cope better with ramp-ups and slow-downs than nuclear or coal-fired power plants .
Throughout the film there are time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the Ivanpah Solar Park in the Mojave Desert in California , where natural gas has to be used to preheat the plant for hours every morning before it can even start up .
Very nice are also statements , like the one from Elon Musk , claiming a battery factory can supply itself off grid with electricity and heat : Screenshot from Planet of the Humans But why the described factory needs its own transformer station remains a mystery .
This phenomenon is also common at other companies such as Apple or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the power grid that also offers electricity from fossil fuels .
Appearances count .
The documentary also takes a look behind the scenes and looks at the business of the heavily wealthy Koch brothers .
Anyone in the USA who is opposed to solar energy systems like Ivanpah is often accused of being a lobbyist for the Koch brothers , even though they are the ones who are making big money from green technologies .
Gibbs shows some of the Koch companies that are doing good business .
In Daggett , California , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was built .
But a visit to the town leaves Gibbs in shock .
The place is run-down , and sand now blows where solar modules used to stand because the ground has no plants to hold the sand down .
The soil is barren .
The increasing consumption of resources and the issue of the earth ’ s overpopulation are other topics in the film , as is biomass , which in the USA means burning wood in power plants .
Environmental groups even praise it because they call it climate neutral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case .
It is harmful because CO2 is produced and CO2 storage is lost .
An example shows that such plants can burn shredded car tyres or toxic railroad ties .
The documentary also introduces 350.org , comparable to Fridays For Future ( FFF ) in Europe .
Students in Michigan who are involved with 350.org managed to get the university to stop using coal for heating .
Now biomass is used , which means wood is burned .
This is followed by a look at the links to various US movements like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interesting document from 2004 , two years before the Gore movie “ An Inconvenient Truth ” when Gore founded the company Generation Investment Management with his partner David Blood ( note the pun Blood and Gore ) .
The aim was to promote biofuels and biomass , which , as I said , means burning trees in the USA .
And anyone who invested in forests in 2004 should benefit from the countless wood-fired power plants that have since been built in the USA .
Gore and his company are among them .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a film about climate change or about something completely different ?
The environmental movement has been taken over by capitalists , Gibbs concludes .
At the end , something comes full circle when Gibbs makes the same discovery at an Earth Day festival as he did previously in Vermont at the Solar Festival .
Earth Day founder Denis Hayes explains to an enthusiastic crowd that the festival is powered entirely by solar energy .
Several panels have been set up for this .
But a technician behind the stage explains the power would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the needed electricity is supplied by diesel generators .
People want to be lied to .
Even Cayman Islands are part of Gore ’ s Green Movement It is also worth watching the credits .
It has more information about a new sustainability fund from Gore and Blood , on the Cayman Islands .
Sustainability at Blood and Gore obviously does not mean paying taxes .
Image cropped from Planet of the Humans

By Die kalte Sonne
(Text translated by P. Gosselin)
American documentary filmmaker Michael Moore presents on YouTube a film that critically examines renewable energies in the USA. All the more astonishing is his relentless portrayal of the situation in the USA regarding these energies.
The Oscar winner presents a work directed by Jeff Gibbs “Planet Of The Humans“.
Greens tangled in contradiction
Similarly ruthless as other Moore films, it is enlightened, even exaggerated, but first and foremost proponents and critics of renewable energies speak out. Especially supporters contradicted each other, sometimes rather unwittingly as the intention of the documentary film was not clear to them. But nobody was ambushed, the questions were always asked fairly. What is striking is the speechlessness of some when it came to unpleasant issues or the financing of certain movements.
The film is about the sell out green ideas, and this happens in the USA in a variety of ways. To be clear, the film criticizes any kind of pollution, and it starts by digging out a 1958 film that warns of global warming caused by CO2: “The Unchained Goddess”.
Director Gibbs also makes his position very clear at the beginning. In Germany he is what you would probably call an environmental fundamentalist, with a self-built wooden house in the wilderness, solar panel on the roof and self-chopped wood as fuel in the wood stove. His first documentaries also deal with the mistreatment of nature.
Fossil fuels always in the background, out of sight
Gibbs had his awakening at a solar festival in Vermont. At a kind of hippie festival everything was powered by solar panels, or so he thought. But when a rain came up and Gibbs suddenly noticed nervousness among the organizers, he asked about it. He discovered there were diesel generators to provide the necessary power and that the panels at the festival were more of a decoration.
The film then describes the rise of green energy with the inauguration of Barack Obama. Investors like Richard Branson or Vinod Koshla entered this market with billions, as did investment banks. Again and again there are times that remind us of the diesel generator moment in Vermont, for example, when GM introduced its Volt electric vehicle. But when asked, it becomes clear that the charging station is 95% powered by coal.
And Gibbs lets engineers have their say, describing exactly what also counts in Europe: renewable energies need backups in the absence of storage. In the USA, natural gas is often used for this purpose when it comes to new power plants, because they can cope better with ramp-ups and slow-downs than nuclear or coal-fired power plants.
Fraudulent claims?
Throughout the film there are time and again astonishing discoveries like the one at the Ivanpah Solar Park in the Mojave Desert in California, where natural gas has to be used to preheat the plant for hours every morning before it can even start up.
Very nice are also statements, like the one from Elon Musk, claiming a battery factory can supply itself off grid with electricity and heat:
Screenshot from Planet of the Humans
But why the described factory needs its own transformer station remains a mystery. This phenomenon is also common at other companies such as Apple or Google, which are all connected to the power grid that also offers electricity from fossil fuels. Appearances count.
Koch brothers
The documentary also takes a look behind the scenes and looks at the business of the heavily wealthy Koch brothers. Anyone in the USA who is opposed to solar energy systems like Ivanpah is often accused of being a lobbyist for the Koch brothers, even though they are the ones who are making big money from green technologies. Gibbs shows some of the Koch companies that are doing good business.
Green project leaves town run down
In Daggett, California, the first solar park in the USA was built. But a visit to the town leaves Gibbs in shock. The place is run-down, and sand now blows where solar modules used to stand because the ground has no plants to hold the sand down. The soil is barren.
The increasing consumption of resources and the issue of the earth’s overpopulation are other topics in the film, as is biomass, which in the USA means burning wood in power plants. Environmental groups even praise it because they call it climate neutral, which is by no means the case.
It is harmful because CO2 is produced and CO2 storage is lost. An example shows that such plants can burn shredded car tyres or toxic railroad ties.
The documentary also introduces 350.org, comparable to Fridays For Future (FFF) in Europe. Students in Michigan who are involved with 350.org managed to get the university to stop using coal for heating. Now biomass is used, which means wood is burned.
Sierra Club merges with crony capitalism
This is followed by a look at the links to various US movements like the Sierra Club. Gibbs finds another interesting document from 2004, two years before the Gore movie “An Inconvenient Truth” when Gore founded the company Generation Investment Management with his partner David Blood (note the pun Blood and Gore). The aim was to promote biofuels and biomass, which, as I said, means burning trees in the USA.
And anyone who invested in forests in 2004 should benefit from the countless wood-fired power plants that have since been built in the USA. Gore and his company are among them.
Gibbs asks the question: Was this a film about climate change or about something completely different? The environmental movement has been taken over by capitalists, Gibbs concludes.
People want to hear lies
At the end, something comes full circle when Gibbs makes the same discovery at an Earth Day festival as he did previously in Vermont at the Solar Festival. Earth Day founder Denis Hayes explains to an enthusiastic crowd that the festival is powered entirely by solar energy. Several panels have been set up for this. But a technician behind the stage explains the power would only be enough for a toaster – the needed electricity is supplied by diesel generators. People want to be lied to.
Even Cayman Islands are part of Gore’s Green Movement
It is also worth watching the credits. It has more information about a new sustainability fund from Gore and Blood, on the Cayman Islands. Sustainability at Blood and Gore obviously does not mean paying taxes.
Image cropped from Planet of the Humans
via NoTricksZone
https://ift.tt/2x9fv3m
April 24, 2020 at 01:03PM


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--Bill Gates: $43M beachfront estate: Proof he’s a WUWT fan?

The billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates have purchased an exquisite beach house outside San Diego—splashing out on $ 43 million for an oceanfront mansion in the coastal town of Del Mar , CA .
The prodigious purchase price makes it one of the largest sales in the area ’ s history .
The luxurious six-bedroom , four-bathroom , 5,800-square-foot home was sold to the Gates family by Madeleine Pickens , a former wife of the billionaire oil baron T. Boone Pickens , according to the Wall Street Journal .
The home originally landed on the market for $ 48 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t know which is more priceless : • The fact that the mansion was built will oil money .
I ’ m actually somewhat ( but not totally ) inclined to give Mr. Gates a pass on the climate change hypocrisy bit .
His preferred solution is to help poorer nations adapt to it .
And I have to assume that Mr. Gates relied on this brilliant October 2019 WUWT post in making the decision to purchase the Del Mar property .
Ludka , B.C.
, Guza , R.T. , O ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years of bathymetry and waves at San Diego beaches .
Sci Data 6 , 161 ( 2019 ) .
https : //ift.tt/2yJyMcc LINK I didn ’ t actually refer to Ludka et al.
, 2019 in this post… I will have a follow up sciencey post on this subject in a few days , and I wanted to save the link and citation somewhere .
Oh… Just so you don ’ t think I ’ ve gone soft…

Guest “climate hypocrisy?” post by David Middleton
CELEBRITY REAL ESTATE
Bill and Melinda Gates Purchase $43M Luxury Beach House in Del Mar, CA
By Becky Bracken | Apr 23, 2020 The billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates have purchased an exquisite beach house outside San Diego—splashing out on $43 million for an oceanfront mansion in the coastal town of Del Mar, CA. The prodigious purchase price makes it one of the largest sales in the area’s history. The luxurious six-bedroom, four-bathroom, 5,800-square-foot home was sold to the Gates family by Madeleine Pickens, a former wife of the billionaire oil baron T. Boone Pickens, according to the Wall Street Journal. The home originally landed on the market for $48 million in January 2019. […] Realtor.com
“How long can you tread water”… H/T Bill Cosby
I don’t know which is more priceless:
Climate change warrior Bill Gates dropping $43 million on a beachfront mansion. The fact that the mansion was built will oil money.
I’m actually somewhat (but not totally) inclined to give Mr. Gates a pass on the climate change hypocrisy bit. His preferred solution is to help poorer nations adapt to it. And I have to assume that Mr. Gates relied on this brilliant October 2019 WUWT post in making the decision to purchase the Del Mar property.
References
Ludka, B.C., Guza, R.T., O’Reilly, W.C. et al. Sixteen years of bathymetry and waves at San Diego beaches. Sci Data 6, 161 (2019). https://ift.tt/2yJyMcc LINK
I didn’t actually refer to Ludka et al., 2019 in this post… I will have a follow up sciencey post on this subject in a few days, and I wanted to save the link and citation somewhere.
Oh… Just so you don’t think I’ve gone soft…


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-24--April 24, 1908 – Five Hundred Dead In Tornadoes

On this date in 1908 , nearly 500 people died in tornadoes in the deep south .

On this date in 1908, nearly 500 people died in tornadoes in the deep south.
19 Mar 1925, 1 – The Windsor Star at Newspapers.com


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-25--Scoop: the Josh Fox Gas Bomb

Scoop: the Josh Fox Gas Bomb

It ’ s big news when the world ’ s most famous Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist and a green film maker demand an apology from another green film maker for making a film and ask him to ban it .
This declaration of war within the Green Blob is not available on the internet , except in the form of an unreadable un-copy-and-pastable tweet .
As I pointed out in a comment below my previous post , publicising it in this fashion , knowing that few will read it but many will be excited by the very fact that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Munich agreement – or the Protocols of the Elders of Zion – in front of an excited crowd .
Maximum hysteria disguising minimum content .
I copied the first paragraph of the letter , reproduced by Delingpole in this article : into Google , and the only find on the entire internet was the Delingpole article .
In the interest of historical truth and the promotion of the Green Civil War , I transcribe it in full here .
It is hilarious .
It is very difficult to write this letter , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hero of mine .
I ’ m a first-person documentary maker , I have watched his movies since I was a kid , and they have inspired and delighted me .
However , I am compelled to write this letter because his latest film PLANET OF THE HUMANS , which he executive produced and is promoting for Earth Week , is such a blatant affront to science , renewable energy , environmental activism and truth itself .
We are in a planetary crisis – the most important and dangerous emergency that human civilisation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thousands of climate scientists have stated over and over that we have less than a decade to begin the rapid and total transformation of our energy system to renewable energy .
I can not describe my disappointment and anger to see a Michael Moore film which is wilfully flying in the face of decades of renewable energy science , planning , and engineering .
The film touts blatantly untrue fossil fuel industry talking points deceitfully misleading its audience on renewable energy , disparages and attacks important climate leaders , ignores science and policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ climate and anti-fossil fuel campaigns and employs specious techniques of misinformation to deliver a deeply cynical and erroneous message .
This is a total outrage at this moment when climate action and the leap to renewable energy is more important than ever .
Please see points below and consider signing on to this letter of outrage against this film .
Thank you so much , Dear Michael Moore , Jeff Gibbs , Films for Action and all associated with PLANET OF THE HUMANS , The new movie Executive Produced and promoted by Michael @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distributed by Films for Action , PLANET OF THE HUMANS is unscientific , flies in the face of decades of renewable energy science , engineering and research and is counter productive in the age of urgent need for Climate Action .
Because the film is based in [ sic ] misinformation and not in truth , we request that the film be retracted by its creators and distributors and an apology rendered for its misleading content .
Planet of the Humans , directed by Jeff Gibbs and Produced by Michael Moore is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a thesis that is patently untrue on many levels .
1 .
The film states that renewable energy such as solar and wind are inefficient , useless and dependent on fossil fuels to work .
Quote fro [ sic ] the film “ One of the most dangerouys things right now is the illusion that alternative technologies , like wind and solar , are somehow different than fossil fuels… .
You would have been better off just burning the fossil fuels in the first place.
, instead of playing pretend.
” This assertion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the film is patently untrue and ridiculous .
The notion that solar and wind and other renewable technologies don ’ t work to produce energy in ways that are cheaper , more efficient and at low or zero carbon emissions over their life span flies in the face of everything engineers , scientists and energy planners have been writing in peer reviewed science for decades .
2.The film trades in debunked fossil fuel industry talking points that are specious and meant to disparage the efficiency , durability and affordability of renewable energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the major challenges.
” “ Solar panels are built to only last 10 years , s it ’ s not as if you get this magic free , energy , right ?
I don ’ t know if it ’ s the solution.
” These notions , which are untrue , antiquated and outdated do not pertain to the technology and science of today , in which intermittency and efficiency are no longer issues due to the significant advances that renewable energy , science , planning and technology .
[ sic ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and is currently cheaper than coal and natural gas , other fossil fuel sources .
[ sic ] 3 .
The film totally ignores the last ten years of peer-reviewed renewable energy planning and policy .
Absent from this anti-renewable energy screed are important policy and science innovations .
[ To be Continued .
Must get my grocery delivery order in ]

(Starring Michael Mann as Private Ryan)
It’s big news when the world’s most famous Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist and a green film maker demand an apology from another green film maker for making a film and ask him to ban it. This declaration of war within the Green Blob is not available on the internet, except in the form of an unreadable un-copy-and-pastable tweet. As I pointed out in a comment below my previous post, publicising it in this fashion, knowing that few will read it but many will be excited by the very fact that it exists, is the equivalent of waving a Munich agreement – or the Protocols of the Elders of Zion – in front of an excited crowd. Maximum hysteria disguising minimum content.
I copied the first paragraph of the letter, reproduced by Delingpole in this article:
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/04/24/delingpole-left-wing-activists-are-trying-to-cancel-michael-moore/
into Google, and the only find on the entire internet was the Delingpole article. In the interest of historical truth and the promotion of the Green Civil War, I transcribe it in full here. It is hilarious.
(Note: what makes me [sic] about the following is the fact that they can’t even write a letter with sentences with verbs in. The lies, burbling repetitions, and sheer clod-hopping stupidity of Michael Mann and his fans are too obvious for comment. But comment anyway.)
Dear activist and scientific community, community members and friends,
It is very difficult to write this letter, because Michael Moore has always been a hero of mine. I’m a first-person documentary maker, I have watched his movies since I was a kid, and they have inspired and delighted me. However, I am compelled to write this letter because his latest film PLANET OF THE HUMANS, which he executive produced and is promoting for Earth Week, is such a blatant affront to science, renewable energy, environmental activism and truth itself.
We are in a planetary crisis – the most important and dangerous emergency that human civilisation has ever faced. The IPCC and thousands of climate scientists have stated over and over that we have less than a decade to begin the rapid and total transformation of our energy system to renewable energy. I cannot describe my disappointment and anger to see a Michael Moore film which is wilfully flying in the face of decades of renewable energy science, planning, and engineering.
The film touts blatantly untrue fossil fuel industry talking points deceitfully misleading its audience on renewable energy, disparages and attacks important climate leaders, ignores science and policy advances in energy, downplays or denounces climate and anti-fossil fuel campaigns and employs specious techniques of misinformation to deliver a deeply cynical and erroneous message. This is a total outrage at this moment when climate action and the leap to renewable energy is more important than ever.
Please see points below and consider signing on to this letter of outrage against this film.
Thank you so much,
Josh Fox
Sign on letter:
Dear Michael Moore, Jeff Gibbs, Films for Action and all associated with PLANET OF THE HUMANS,
Summary:
The new movie Executive Produced and promoted by Michael Moore, directed by Jeff Gibbs and distributed by Films for Action, PLANET OF THE HUMANS is unscientific, flies in the face of decades of renewable energy science, engineering and research and is counter productive in the age of urgent need for Climate Action. Because the film is based in [sic] misinformation and not in truth, we request that the film be retracted by its creators and distributors and an apology rendered for its misleading content.
Intro:
Planet of the Humans, directed by Jeff Gibbs and Produced by Michael Moore is a shockingly misleading and absurd film that promotes a thesis that is patently untrue on many levels.
1. The film states that renewable energy such as solar and wind are inefficient, useless and dependent on fossil fuels to work. Quote fro [sic] the film “One of the most dangerouys things right now is the illusion that alternative technologies, like wind and solar, are somehow different than fossil fuels…. You would have been better off just burning the fossil fuels in the first place., instead of playing pretend.”
This assertion, which is echoed over and over in the film is patently untrue and ridiculous. The notion that solar and wind and other renewable technologies don’t work to produce energy in ways that are cheaper, more efficient and at low or zero carbon emissions over their life span flies in the face of everything engineers, scientists and energy planners have been writing in peer reviewed science for decades.
2.The film trades in debunked fossil fuel industry talking points that are specious and meant to disparage the efficiency, durability and affordability of renewable energy. Quote: “Intermittency s one of the major challenges.” “Solar panels are built to only last 10 years, s it’s not as if you get this magic free, energy, right? I don’t know if it’s the solution.” These notions, which are untrue, antiquated and outdated do not pertain to the technology and science of today, in which intermittency and efficiency are no longer issues due to the significant advances that renewable energy, science, planning and technology. [sic] The fact is that RENEWABLE ENERGY WORKS and is currently cheaper than coal and natural gas, other fossil fuel sources. [sic]
3. The film totally ignores the last ten years of peer-reviewed renewable energy planning and policy. Absent from this anti-renewable energy screed are important policy and science innovations.
[To be Continued. Must get my grocery delivery order in ]


iowaclimatescienceeducation--2020-04-25--Covid recovery plan ‘must tackle climate change’: UK proposal

In other words , they want to siphon off some of the money allocated for economic recovery into their pet climate projects , which are a known burden on any economy .
For ‘ climate ambition ’ read ‘ wishful thinking ’ .
– – – Tackling climate change must be woven into the solution to the Covid-19 economic crisis , the UK will tell governments next week .
Environment ministers from 30 countries are meeting in a two-day online conference in a bid to make progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions , reports BBC News .
The gathering is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It will focus on how to organise a “ green ” economic recovery after the acute phase of the pandemic is over .
The other aim is to forge international agreement on ambitious carbon cuts despite the postponement of the key conference COP26 – previously scheduled for Glasgow in November ( now without a date ) .
Alok Sharma , the UK Climate Secretary and president of COP26 , said : “ I am committed to increasing global climate ambition so that we deliver on the Paris Agreement ( to stabilise temperature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The world must work together , as it has to deal with the coronavirus pandemic , to support a green and resilient recovery , which leaves no one behind .
“ At the Petersberg Climate Dialogue , we will come together to discuss how we can turn ambition into real action.
” The informal conference is co-hosted by the UK and Germany .

In other words, they want to siphon off some of the money allocated for economic recovery into their pet climate projects, which are a known burden on any economy. For ‘climate ambition’ read ‘wishful thinking’.
– – –
Tackling climate change must be woven into the solution to the Covid-19 economic crisis, the UK will tell governments next week.
Environment ministers from 30 countries are meeting in a two-day online conference in a bid to make progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, reports BBC News.
The gathering is called the “Petersberg Climate Dialogue”.
It will focus on how to organise a “green” economic recovery after the acute phase of the pandemic is over.
The other aim is to forge international agreement on ambitious carbon cuts despite the postponement of the key conference COP26 – previously scheduled for Glasgow in November (now without a date).
Alok Sharma, the UK Climate Secretary and president of COP26, said: “I am committed to increasing global climate ambition so that we deliver on the Paris Agreement (to stabilise temperature rise well below 2C).
“The world must work together, as it has to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, to support a green and resilient recovery, which leaves no one behind.
“At the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, we will come together to discuss how we can turn ambition into real action.”
The informal conference is co-hosted by the UK and Germany.
Full report here.
– – –
German Govt.: Petersberg Climate Dialogue 2020 focusses on sustainable recovery – ‘The goal is a green recovery.’
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
https://ift.tt/354zfl1
April 25, 2020 at 04:42AM