David Siegel writes,

Andy May, a retired petrophysicist and data scientist has convinced me that 99.9 percent of the thermal energy coming from the sun (including the greenhouse effect) and stored by the earth’s surface as heat goes into the oceans, not into the land or air. The oceans contain more than 99.9 percent of the thermal energy on the surface of the Earth, and their average temperature is only 4° to 5°C (40°F). On a calorie basis, the land stores essentially no heat, and the atmosphere stores less than 0.1 percent of the heat coming in. Oceans store the rest.

The implication is that if you want to measure “global warming,” surface temperatures and atmospheric temperatures are not the way to do it. Sounds plausible when they say it, but for all I know this is a couple of Internet cranks who could be persuasively debunked by someone knowledgeable.

From Peter J. Wallison and Benjamin Zycher.

There has been no upward trend in the number of “hot” days between 1895 and 2017; 11 of the 12 years with the highest number of such days occurred before 1960. Since 2005, NOAA has maintained the U.S. Climate Reference Network, comprising 114 meticulously maintained temperature stations spaced more or less uniformly across the lower 48 states, along with 21 stations in Alaska and two stations in Hawaii. They are placed to avoid heat-island effects and other such distortions as much as possible. The reported data show no increase in average temperatures over the available 2005-2020 period.

John Tierney writes,

single-use plastic bags aren’t the worst environmental choice at the supermarket—they’re the best. High-density polyethylene bags are a marvel of economic, engineering and environmental efficiency. They’re cheap, convenient, waterproof, strong enough to hold groceries but thin and light enough to make and transport using scant energy, water or other resources. Though they’re called single-use, most people reuse them, typically as trash-can liners. When governments ban them, consumers buy thicker substitutes with a bigger carbon footprint.

Peter Diamandis shared this story.

A new algae bioreactor can suck as much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as roughly an acre of forest

Of course, we also are getting more forest land, as farms get more efficient and take up less land.

Michael Munger writes,

For recycling to be a socially commendable activity, it has to pass one of two tests: the profit test, or the net environmental-savings test. If something passes the profit test, it’s likely already being done.

[for the environmental-savings test] it must cost less to dispose of recycled material than to put the stuff in a landfill.

He argues that recycling aluminum cans passes the environmental’savings test, but recycling glass (and many other things) does not.

Finally,

The real problem, as I see it, is that the recycling industry is selling indulgences, giving people the moral license to pollute because “Hey, I recycle!” To the extent that a lot of recycling is harmful to the environment, this is a double whammy: recycling is largely fake, but it enables people to feel okay about doing other things that pollute.

Pointer from Don Boudreaux.

A site calling itself Issues and Insights reports,

Lake Erie and Lake Superior — two of the five that make up the Great Lakes — broke records for water levels this May. Lakes Michigan and Huron could follow suit.

Naturally, climate change is getting the blame. “We are undoubtedly observing the effects of a warming climate in the Great Lakes,” says Richard Rood, a University of Michigan climate scientist.

But just a few years ago, climate scientists were insisting that a warming climate would cause water levels to decline.

They go on to cite several examples from a few years ago of scientists pointing to low lake levels as a phenomenon explained by climate change.

If I were a climate scientist, I would be saying something like, “People, just pay attention to the Greenland ice sheet. That’s what matters, not weather blips. If you keep scapegoating anthropogenic climate change for every weather blip, you’re just going going to lose credibility.”