- Speaking of people you might not want to trust without reservation, Bloomberg Green also reports that “When Tehran oil infrastructure caught fire in March following Israeli strikes, the blaze produced toxic fumes detectable across an area the size of Italy, according to fresh research.” Fresh research being “a paper by Chinese researchers published on Tuesday on Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.” Researchers not at all influenced by their government’s support for Iran in its efforts to supplant the US as the dominant global power. And while we agree that wars are dirty, we wonder where all these people were when Iran was firing missiles at Israel in 2024. Or indeed today.
- Also speaking of such people, to reassure Albertans that his government isn’t a bunch of condescending central Canadian “Laurentian” snobs aiming simultaneously to plunder and demolish the province’s energy industry, Mark Carney burbles “I think when I come to Parliament of the great Albertans. There are many, too many to list their contributions, from the first Alberta prime minister, Joe Clark, our youngest prime minister. Of course, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Don Mazankowski, a legendary parliamentarian from Vegreville, and that’s in my lifetime.” Except um Harper wasn’t from Alberta, Mazankowski wasn’t prime minister and Joe Clark wasn’t the first PM from Alberta. It was Richard Bennett. Almost exactly as if…
- Meanwhile in an absent-minded fit of actual science reporting, Scientific American enthuses that “Ocean census reveals more than 1,100 new species/ Over the course of 13 expeditions and other efforts between mid-2025 and mid-2026, scientists found hundreds of previously undiscovered creatures living under the waves”. Which we agreed was cool even before seeing the photo of a newly-discovered “sea pen”. But if they’re aware of this extraordinary degree of uncertainty in science generally, for instance that “Less than 0.001 percent of the seafloor has ever been directly seen by scientists”, why are they so credulous about the scientists who say on climate? For that matter, given the vital importance of the oceans to climate, from retaining heat to massive currents with long irregular cycles, why doesn’t this massive lack of detailed knowledge about them cause skepticism about just how “settled” climate science is?
- The New York Times “Climate Forward” asks “When will emissions from air travel start to fall?” We ask whether.
- As noted last week, climate alarmists are prone to fall for the most implausible new forms of energy. But not much can match Heatmap’s sudden rush to infinity and beyond: “An investment boom is exploding in outer space. Investors have thrown their backing behind space-based solar power, orbital data centers, and even extraterrestrial power grids. SpaceX is pursuing an IPO – potentially the largest the world has ever seen – in part to fund its own off-Earth data center ambitions. The Space Foundation reported that the global space economy reached $613 billion in 2024… while PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates the sector could grow to reach $2 trillion by 2040… these technologies all leverage the vast unknown outside our atmosphere to monitor, manage, and optimize terrestrial energy and climate systems.” Yeah. Unknown. Like you don’t know what you’re talking about. We applaud the subhed “In space, no one can oppose your data center.” But exactly what commercial facilities of any sort are operating above the atmosphere? Don’t let your money get lost in space.
- Also, why are climate alarmists’ solutions, like those of many radicals, so often disgusting? From eating bugs to… wait for it… cooling buildings with sewage. It’s odd because one of the genuine, massive, enormously beneficial environmental triumphs of Western civilization has been to get the sewage out of the drinking water and away from the people.
See Comments 
Tidbits
03 Jun 2026 | News Roundup
I must admit to being a little puzzled by the current AI/data centre boom. Any company that builds a massive new facility of any kind will presumably have a pretty good idea of how it is going to make money out of it in the long term. Unless Bill Gates/Jeff Bezos etc. etc. know something I don't (which I must admit is quite likely), I fail so see how these massively expensive data centres will pay for their capital and ongoing operations and maintenance costs, let alone make a profit.