Demolition Man

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Thanks to Gavin Schmidt at RealClimate for giving me a multi-storeyed idea, that I built a bungalow out of.

Museum Piece

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More reductio ad absurdum. Yes - I know it's apples and oranges, and comparisons are often odious, but Frank isn't one to pull a punch.

Here's the link

Elsewhere - Rising sea levels bring an end to 30 years of conflict

And...in case you forgot .... NEW WEBSITE GOING LIVE THIS WEEKEND> www.marcrobertscartoons.com

Rigorous scientific debate

Personally, I'd feel a lot happier about the evidence in favour of Genetically Modified crops if that evidence wasn't wholly owned and selectively released by corporations whose legal obligation is to maximise profit above all other considerations, and who are not legally obliged to release any contrary data under the protection of "commercial sensitivity".

By the way, where IS all the necessary fertiliser going to come from once the accessible oil runs out?

Feed the soil, not the plant

The Future is Another Country

So much mud is being thrown that the slightest speck sticking to a labcoat seems enough to persuade Joe Public that the bigger scientific picture is irrelevant and that it must, therefore, all boil down to moustache twirling evil-doers Mwa-haar-haaring under ill-gotten showers of public gold. We do love a soundbite. So I guess it must be OK if the glaciers start to disappear in 50 years, not 20, and the African harvests collapse in 40 years, not 20, and if a quarter of Holland is lost to the sea, not a half. That'll be fine. Nothing to worry about. Party on dudes.

Lest we forget - it was the IPCC and the UEA themselves that brought their own errors to the attention of their peers.

Divine Interventions

The old sunspot chestnut raises its head again, threatening to give comfort to the denialists and maybe temporarily mask some of the unpleasantness so it can all crash down on us at once.

We at Throbgoblins International all trooped off to our local independent cinema yesterday, to watch "In the loop" and duly laughed our collective teeth loose. I mention this because the Westminster Prince of Darkness has set up a rival energy and climate power-base to scupper environmental legislation on behalf of business, in a manner befitting an Ianucci satire.

Creative Differences

Shock-horror. It seems that the big polluters actually suppressed evidence and denied the conclusions of their own scientific advisors! Who'd have thought it. Shocking and wholly unexpected. I, for one, am shaken to the core that such paragons of civic and environmental virtue would stoop to such shit-splattering levels of sociopathic deceit.

Meanwhile, our fellow creatures continue to vacate history apace, whilst the diverse inheritance of evolution gets reduced cut by cut to what biologists refer to as "fuck-all".

More shock horror as humungous hive-building is seen as potentially risky strategy

The text of Al Gore's statement to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environmnent, (courtesy of Climate Progress)

Apocalypse when?

This was much funnier in my head. Never mind. What d'ya want f' nowt?

Here's the link

The "revolution" gets underway, and we'll all be first up against the wall. The revolution will not be televised.

Cognitive Malfunction

Our closest cousins show definite signs of being... well... our closest cousins, while the Heartland Jamboree keeps churning out the misinformation. There's a lot of it about

I'm not sure whether I'm contravening RealClimate's "Advice to Climate Bloggers" number 6, or adhering to number 13 here. It's a complex situation

Oh, and this story sums us up nicely, don't you think?

The Age of Enlightentertainment

Apparently this blog no longer materialises on some browsers. I suspect Ern has wedged a sabot somewhere in the gears.
For those few who remain....

The media don't take this stuff seriously. It's not good for business and its simply not sexy -so no matter that we're pumping it out faster than ever or that we're going to be left holding frazzled stalks of nowt come harvest time - we'll wait untill we're staring down the barrel before we think about dodging the bullet. We'll sell more ads that way.

Singularity

Fresh from mapping the ocean floor for our surfing pleasure, Google now joins forces with NASA to create a "SIngularity University" to ride that steep learning curve and maybe get us the jet-packs we so richly deserve

Elsewhere - being profoundly bolloxed gives the Australian government pause for thought.

Boffin a Bathtub (again)

This a comic from 2007 (put together with Marc Hudson) which bears re- posting today in response to Andy Revkin's piece (echoed by Joe Romm) about MIT's John Sterman and his "Bathtub Effect" - which we heartily recommend.
I apologise for the clunky back and forthness of the page opening. The new website will sort this out. It is imminent(ish)

Elsewhere - The uber wealthy of Dubai are swimming in shit (which pushes our shaudenfreude button quite nicely) ...and purveyors of alternate economic realities enjoy a bit of a crow in Davos.

Fixing Medea

If this looks somewhat familiar it's because it's a reworking of a Christmas strip - riffing on an amendment suggested by the venerable Tom Wigley - who knows a lot more about this than I do. Thanks to Andrew Revkin.

Ursine Defecatory Patterns

Ah - boffin humour.
I don't wish to put all the onus on scientists here, but in an age of profound stupidity they are the ones whose answers stand between us and biblical catastrophe. The UK government appears to have misunderstood the climate science on aviation emissions, misreading it as a license to dish out backhanders left , right and centre. George Bush and his entire administration totally failed to get a grip on any of the science that came their way in eight years, and we have the evidence of that faith based idiocy all around us.
Climate science is complicated stuff. it's not weather. It requires that people actually focus their entire attention throughout a series of complex, multi-clausal sentences. The challenge of science is to get the bewildering intricacy of complex systems into a 5 second sound bite that can be jammed into the most resistant skulls at the end of long pole whilst the rest of the head chugs slushies and watches porn. Maybe the new Obama administration can spin one..

Thanks to Marc Hudson, Matt Bright and Cassidy Irving.

Good link in DarkOptimism's comment below

Slip Hazard

With apologies to Robert Newman

A percentage of Climate scientists expect that climate engineering of some sort will be required - because we as a species just can't be arsed with changing our behaviour.
Marvellous. Can I have my Jet-Pack now?

Goodbye 2008

This cartoon originally appeared in Nature Reports; Climate Change and remains theirs - (so this is one that can't be reproduced without their permission.)

There's been a lot of the usual end of year ruminations in the press and over the web. It had been my intention to post an exhaustive review of the year myself, but, on reflection, that is probably best left to others

However, I would like to thank all those who have supported the Throbgoblins project over the past year. It's taken up a quite obsessive amount of my life and has on occasion felt like a shocking waste of time - but it has attracted some positive feedback from significant quarters and this tempts me to keep the ball rolling into 2009.

Thanks to
Marc Hudson, Dwight Towers, Sarah Irving, Polyp, Graeme Sherrif, Chris Brazier and all at NI, Rob Harrison and all at ECRA, Andrew Revkin, Artist's Project Earth, Craig Mackintosh, Leslie Berliant and Chris Tobias, Olive Heffernan, Gavin Schmidt, Mel Rimmer, Glen Barry, Cartoon Kate Evans, Chris Webster at Satellite 360, Joe Romm, Dave Hampton, Janet Alty, Niel Bowerman, Adam Corner, Rob Honey, Seppo Leinonen, Neuroskeptic, Robert Zverina, Sam and Chris at Carbusters, Aubrey Meyer, Lucia Ortiz, "Author", Rosamund Raha, Cath and Nathan at Rebel Soul Cafe, Mark Jeanthau, Diana Korchien, David Castle, Adie Nistelrooy, Brian Leslie, Almuth Ernsting, Arwa, Calvin Jones , John Harrison , Ian Angus, Art not Oil, Neale Upstone, Stuart Jeffery, Andy Dunn, Stuart Monckton, Mr Moai, Susan Anderson, Sharon Leavy, Sandra, Chris, Em and, of course, Nye, and anyone I will undoubtedly have missed out due to my increasingly porous memory. The patience of all of you who I bombard with unsolicited e-mails is also greatly appreciated.
Thanks to you all for your support and encouragement

The public gets what the public wants

I was looking through a survey the other day that sought people's opinions on difficult subjects requiring specialist knowledge and a broad command of a range of complex issues. It wasn't child's play, and it's purpose was serious. But it's tone reminded me of the tone of appraisal documents the world over - Are you satisfied, very satisfied, unsatisfied, very unsatisfied, not bothered, suicidal etc. As if how the respondent felt about the situation was the important thing.
I might be reading rather too much into this, but - We find ourselves strapped into a car that's hurtling up the sharp incline of half a dozen exponential hockey-stick graphs towards almost certain calamity on a roller coaster without breaks - and we are being asked if we're comfy. Something is amiss. Maybe it's just me, but I think it might be time to put our feelings on the back burner and concentrate on issues for a while. Maybe we should be saying to ourselves, "Never mind how you feel - read a few books and have a bit of a think. Leave the comfort zone. You don't have to like it, and you probably won't. Grow up and put your fairy tales away"
Maybe we could all specifically ponder...
How does one run a democracy when no one is paying attention? When most of the people think that more and more people can have more and more forever?; when most of the people think that the looks and style of a politician are the most important considerations?; when most of the people are watching X-factor?: when most of the people want a Beamer, a boob-job and a McMansion?: when most of the people spend more time cultivating their appearance than their understanding? when most of the people are under the impression that they are only here to have a good time and that some supernatural superbeing tucks them in at night? Can serious and necessary work be undertaken under those conditions? And if not, how do we change those conditions? Or do we wait for circumstances to change them for us?

Fucked if I know.

Anyway - I colourised these old strips for a Brasilian biofuel-awareness campaign, which gives me an excuse to re-up them, and an opportunity to cheer the demise of the Hummer that was so recently considered acceptable in some quarters

The Fictitious Economy

Introducing Mrs Ebola Congleton - promoted beyond her capabilities into a pivotal role near you, today.



The meltdown continues. As the faithful wonder how all this could possibly have happened, the rest of us wonder how it lasted this long. "I told you so" is such an ugly phrase. The deluded continue to argue amongst themselves about the price of defending capitalism and the cost of a Damien Hirst. Suddenly FDR is everywhere and we're all supposed to pretend that the entire business and financial elite haven't totally f*cked up.

Guillemots are killing each other's chicks as fish stocks collapse (Aaah - they're almost human, you know);The UK gov't tries to wheedle out of its responsibilities on emissions reduction;while the broadcasters concentrate on the US, Cuba and Haiti are devastated by hurricanes caused by the habits of their wealthy neighbour.

It seems the value of money is inextricably tied up in the subjectivity of the rich. As the wealthy flee the field the financial institutions go tits-up, leaving the poor to pick up the bill. As they keep telling us - it's all about business confidence. What a wonderful foundation for a global civilisation. How stable. How secure.

There'll be a lot of arguing over shifting numbers before the realisation hits that's it's actually the principles that have been miscalculated.

Economic Creationism

These things don't always lend themselves to pithy strips.
I'm getting increasingly alarmed, depressed and generally pissed off by the rise of creationism as some sort of "alternative science" that deserves to be considered by sensible people and even taught to our children. Perhaps we should consider teaching Erik von Daniken as well, or maybe Terry Pratchet. It's turtles all the way down, you know. I suppose it's not surprising - seeing as our entire economic system - and therefore our culture - is based on a fairytale that flies in the face of reason. Specifically - Why do we believe we can prize an infinite amount from a finite resource and grow our economies exponentially in perpetuity? Because we want to. Because it's easier to believe that than to face the realities of our situation and because it upsets people to think otherwise. So Bollocks to physics, biology and climatology. They're too difficult. Give us Super Heroes and Father Christmas. Give us cornucopia and abracadabra.
The fact that we persist in this doublethunk mindf*ck under our present economic management - with banks going tits-up left, right and centre - is a remarkable testament to our "faith"

The idea was to seamlessly plait these two threads into irrefutable comic gold. The evidence may point in another direction but, in the spirit of the age, I shall choose to believe I succeeded.


And finally...
Many thanks to Andrew Revkin for pointing readers of his (and the New York Times') DotEarth in our direction. Much appreciated