Climate of Extremes

There’s a whole new world of global warming science today, but few people hear about it. In recent years, an internally consistent body of scientific literature has emerged that argues cogently for global warming but against the gloom‐​and‐​doom vision of climate change. But those who merely call attention to this literature are intimidated, blacklisted, and even driven from prestigious scientific employment. Calling the current scientific environment a “climate of extremes” is an understatement.

It’s a fact that there are fewer citations in the refereed scientific literature providing evidence for the moderate view of global warming, but that’s to be expected. In Climate of Extremes, climatologists Patrick J. Michaels and Robert Balling Jr. explain that climate science is hardly unbiased, even though the global climate community itself believes that any new finding has an equal probability of making our climatic future appear more or less dire.

Michaels and Balling examine all aspects of the apocalyptic vision of climate change making headlines almost every day: Hurricanes pumped up by global warming, rapid melting of Greenland and Antarctica resulting in 20 feet of sea‐​level rise in the next 90 years, that global warming is occurring at an increasing pace, and there is a massive increase in heat‐​wave related deaths. Each one of these pop‐​culture icons of climate change turns out to be short on facts and long on exaggeration. People who read Climate of Extremes will emerge well‐​armed against an army of extremists hawking climate change as the greatest threat ever to our society and way of life.

PATRICK J. MICHAELS is a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia and a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute.

ROBERT C. BALLING, JR. is a professor in the climatology program in the School of Geographical Sciences at Arizona State University.

“Michaels and Balling claim that, although global warming is real, it does not herald a climate crisis and that human beings cannot ‘significantly alter the temperature trajectory of the planet.’ They present detailed evidence that climate data is inaccurate, the fear that permafrost will release huge amounts of the greenhouse gas methane is unfounded and that ‘horror stories about an imminent collapse of Greenland’s ice simply aren’t borne out by the fact that it was warmer there for decades in the early 20th century, and for millennia after the end of the last ice age.’ The authors make persuasive arguments and climate crisis skeptics will applaud the book’s message.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Michaels and Balling have performed an enormous service with this book. While not disputing the existence of man‐​made global warming, they demonstrate with scientific rigor, yet in terms accessible to the layman, that the alarmist narrative which is commonly supposed to derive from this is, in fact, wholly unfounded. This is a ‘must read’ for anyone seriously interested in the climate change debate.”
—NIGEL LAWSON,
Former UK Secretary of State for Energy
Past President, British Institute of Energy Economics

“This tome challenges today’s dire warnings about climate change and conveys the reasons for the overstated conclusions. The science itself has become riddled with bias, which then is channeled through the sensationalism‐​seeking media. This compelling work illuminates the neglected science and the less‐​severe consequences of global warming.”
—NEWSMAX

“You don’t have to be a skeptic to be curious about how solid the alleged global warming consensus really is. This book will open your eyes, if you are open to evidence and arguments.”
—BENNY PEISER
Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom

“Michaels and Balling have provided a treasure trove of the latest global warming science that you won’t hear about through the media and reveal the absurdity of the claim that the science of man‐​made global warming is settled.”
—ROY W. SPENCER
Principal Research Scientist, University of Alabama‐​Huntsville
Recipient, NASA’s Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement

“In Climate of Extremes, two distinguished climatologists analyze the media’s message about various alleged doomsday scenarios resulting from global warming—with particular attention to observational data. In each case, they demonstrate that potentially negative effects of increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been exaggerated or even fabricated, whereas any positive effects have been ignored. An informed citizenry is essential for wise national decisions in a democracy. Climate of Extremes provides important and honest information about climate change that is hard to find elsewhere.”
—WILL HAPPER
Professor of Physics and Former Chairman of the University Research Board, Princeton University
Former Director, Office of Energy Research, U.S. Department of Energy