[Editor Note: It was during the Thanksgiving weekend 11 years ago that the Climategate’s unsettling oeuvre was first being disseminated and analyzed. This post summarizes some remembrances from that period.]

“The conflict between the two ideas about how science should be conducted–a closed system dominated by gatekeepers, or a more chaotic but less hierarchical open system–is the dominant story of the [Climategate] emails over more than a decade.” – Fred Pearce, The Climate Files (2010), p. 13.

“There is no doubt that these emails are embarrassing and a public-relations disaster for science.” – Andrew Dessler, “Climate E-Mails Cloud the Debate,” December 10, 2009.

Climategate lives in infamy. Then, and now, it is a case study of agendas driving science rather than science driving agendas.

A decade ago, climate alarmists and friends (including Dessler above) went into damage control.…

“Featuring leading scientists, politicians and policy experts, and hosted by actor Kevin Sorbo, [Climate Hustle 2] showcases many instances of Hollywood hypocrisy, financial corruption, media bias, classroom indoctrination, political correctness and other troubling matters surrounding the global warming issue.”

“This movie covers virtually everything that has ever been said or discussed about climate change. It gives a true perspective of just how hard the media and climate alarmists are pushing an agenda, and how equally hard climate skeptics are pushing back.”

“If you want rhetoric and doom, watch Al Gore’s movie. If you want a practical and sensible view of what is really happening with climate, watch ClimateHustle 2.”

“We really are being hustled by the left, and it’s depressing to see how much they want iron-fisted climate regulations put on us.”

The foundation upon which the courts decided Cap and Trade was not a tax was an argument that it was a fee for permission to emit. That seems to have all but been forgotten. The diminution of offsets as a way to control emissions, in order to maintain state revenue levels, pretty clearly shows it’s not the emissions but the revenue that concerns the legislature. -Tom Tanton (below)

Due to the government-directed business shutdowns in response to the coronavirus, California’s greenhouse gas emissions have reportedly fallen the most since World War II (minus 5%), which is what environmentalists have long said they wished for. But along with it, cap-and-trade revenues from industrial purchases of pollution allowances dropped from $600-$850 million per quarter in 2019 to $25 million in May 2020, a 97-percent decrease from the prior year’s peak permit auction.…

“[Lee Raymond] is a leader among leaders. He’s always encouraged and considered a range of views and opinions on a multitude of issues … including climate change.” – Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan.

Climate activists got beat in proxy voting at JPMorgan’s recent annual meeting, a good result for investors and employees, as well as consumers and the general economy. The climate will not notice either.

The activists failed to oust JPMorgan’s lead independent director Lee Raymond, longtime head of Exxon Mobil Corp., who never bought into renewables or climate alarmism. Maybe the activists want a different thinker with industry experience such as BP’s John Browne (father of that company’s environmental problems). Ken Lay was the antithesis to Raymond too.

Raymond was Right

Regarding renewables as mass substitutes to mineral energies, Raymond knew decades ago what Michael Moore, Jeff Gibbs, et al.…