Syllabus
A free learning program aimed at developing climate realism, energy systems literacy, and narrative awareness.
A comprehensive set of stand-alone modules that are coherent together in a distinct framework…UNICORN:
- Uncertainty – the science of climate change in the earth’s past and present vs. the modeling of climate crisis in a virtual future
- Nuclear Power – an ultra-energy-dense future for human flourishing
- Intermittent Wind & Solar – weather-dependent so systemically unreliable
- China and the non-Western world – it’s not just about us anymore
- O is for Adapt – which just goes to show how adaptable we humans can be
- Reassure – the climate anxious need our help
- Narrative of climate crisis – its construction in academia, preaching by the media, and realization through energy policy
You can start at U1 and work your way through to Na9 or choose those modules of most interest; average module length is 13 minutes.
The modules are arranged in sets – usually a set of three. Each set has an introductory slide at the beginning and a summary slide at the end.
For each module, please find below the title, length, topics, and takeaway. Download a PDF version of the syllabus here >
Uncertain Past
U1. Paleoclimate Record
Topics INTRO; proxies; ppm; inexact science; over 550 million years – CO2 levels trend down, climate temperature cycles up and down; current ice age – historically low CO2 and temperature.
Takeaway Evidence from paleoclimate science shows that over hundreds of millions of years, the earth’s climate temperature varies independently of atmospheric CO2…and CO2 today is a fraction of past levels.
Video 5 slides; 9 mins • View module video
U2. Ice Core Analysis
Topics Ice age; Greenland cores – sudden temperature changes (D-O events); recent 1.1°C increase; Antarctica cores – glacials and interglacials (Milankovitch); chemistry of oceans
Takeaway Evidence from ice cores shows that over hundreds of thousands of years, climate temperature drives the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere...not the other way around.
Video 4 slides; 9 mins • View module video
U3. Holocene Observations
Topics Montana's glaciers; warmth for human development; Holocene Climatic Optimum and rapid rises in temperature; ice and tree line movements; SUMMARY.
Takeaway Observations from our 10,000-year-old Holocene interglacial show evidence of the usual ups and downs in climate temperature, with no influence from CO2…and it was warmer than today when we started farming.
Video 5 slides; 12 mins • View module video
Uncertain Present
U4. Unfortunate Coincidence
Topics INTRO; Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age, Modern Warm Period; Alaska's Glacier Bay and Central England; 1910-1940 warming, global cooling scare, satellite era warming.
Takeaway Global warming in the Modern Warm Period coincides with Industrialization...even so, a theory of CO2 as the control knob for climate temperature is still not plausible.
Video 6 slides; 13 mins • View module video
U5. The Physics of CO2
Topics The sun; greenhouse gases and heat trapping; logarithmic effect, infrared saturation; 40 billion tons of CO2 pa; extra 1°C of warming with doubling of CO2 – guess mid C22.
Takeaway The greenhouse gas effect of CO2 is real, but relatively small, and reducing due to infrared saturation…our emissions cannot cause runaway global warming – physics.
Video 4 slides; 13 mins • View module video
U6. Urbanization
Topics Urban heat island (UHI) effect; US voters influenced by local urban warming; concrete control knob for local climate temperature; energy-rich Singapore as UHI; SUMMARY.
Takeaway Heat-absorbing concrete jungles (urban areas) have warmed more than greener rural areas…reflected in the way people vote in the US but not in Singapore.
Video 5 slides; 10 mins • View module video
Uncertain Future
U7. FOGy Climate Models
Topics INTRO; list of climate subjects and influences – disappears; natural variation virtually zero – CO2 control knob algorithm – Alarm, theory, Practice - IPCC warning; FOG spelled out.
Takeaway Climate realists can see through the climate FOG, separating scientific Facts from subjective Opinion, and algorithmic Guesswork…they know that predictions about a non-linear chaotic system are never data.
Video 6 slides; 14 mins • View module video
U8. Implausible + Probabilistic
Topics Risky Business Project – Pielke; RCP8.5 - Business as Usual and SSP5-8.5; eater vapor – NOAA; clouds the big one, probabilistic clouds – Palmer; positive, negative, no cause/effect - Curry
Takeaway Energy policy rests on billionaire opinion (implausible scenarios) and statistics in lieu of physics (probabilistic clouds)…why change energy systems when you could just change the guesswork?
Video 4 slides; 10 mins • View module video
U9. Virtual vs. Real Climate
Topics Can’t hindcast past real-world climate, but tuning; CMIP-5 models running hot - Christy testimony; CMIP-6 and warnings – here, Na2, Na6, modeling as science research; SUMMARY
Takeaway Tests of models confirm the IPCC's definition of the earth’s climate as a “non-linear chaotic system, and therefore that the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible.”
Video 5 slides; 14 mins • View module video
Nuclear Power
N1. Energy Density
Topics INTRO; wood & dung, fossil fuels, hydro & geothermal; uranium 16,000x coal; France grid decarbonization; potential for electricity expansion; land, materials, CO2 impact.
Takeaway Given that ultra-energy-dense nuclear power means an ultra-low environmental impact, it’s odd that we in the West do not have an accelerated nuclear program.
Video 5 slides; 8 mins • View module video
N2. Anti-Nuclear Success
Topics Better problems; safety - radiation, explosion, meltdown; waste - football field's worth, dry cask process, reprocessing value, 600-year decay; Calder Hall, $30m; Governor Brown.
Takeaway Nuclear safety is second to none, and the radioactive waste is manageable…it is weaponized regulation that blocks nuclear power.
Video 5 slides; 13 mins • View module video
N3. Green Belief
Topics Humans adapt their environment at scale; The Population Bomb - Green prophets; Green aim is a return to energy poverty; Kuznets curve - conservationism; tipping points; SUMMARY.
Takeaway In the moral judgment of the Green, humans are a species unfit for nuclear power…they lead us back towards the energy poverty of nature from whence we came.
Video 5 slides; 14 mins • View module video
Intermittent Energy
I1. Wind & Solar Economics
Topics INTRO; hidden costs – transmission, mandates; duplication with reliable (fossil-fueled) backup or grid-scale storage (LDES) – overbuild and batteries.
Takeaway Unreliable Wind & Solar carry the duplication costs of fossil-fueled backup…or the even more expensive option of overbuild capacity and not-yet-invented grid-scale batteries.
Video 7 slides; 16 mins • View module video
I2. Wind & Solar Environment
Topics Wind land use calculations; solar and battery – exponential growth in materials mining and processing; supply and waste consideration; wind and solar subsidy farms.
Takeaway An impossible amount of land for wind; fantasy-level quantities of raw materials for solar...the environmental impact of Wind & Solar is worse than any other energy system.
Video 4 slides; 8 mins • View module video
I3. Benefits of CO2
Topics Global greening – crop yields; photosynthesis and glucose; human flourishing hockey sticks; CO2 emissions vs. GDP; combine harvesters and other ff products; child mortality; SUMMARY.
Takeaway Abundant, cheap, and reliable energy brings human flourishing – more knowledge, wealth, and health…plus, with fossil-fueled energy, a greening planet too.
Video 6 slides; 14 mins • View module video
China and non-West
C1. China and India
Topics INTRO; China's postdated promise; China nuclear is growing but mostly coal; India not as developed, even more coal-dependent; non-Western CO2 emissions dominant.
Takeaway Economic growth and development are much higher priorities for China and India than decarbonization…the geopolitical reality is that humanity’s CO2 emissions are set to continue.
Video 5 slides; 9 mins • View module video
C2. Eco-colonialism
Topics Eco-colonialists in Africa, stopping energy/GDP development; agencies shifting focus from poverty; African and Westerner objection; not about us; guess 850ppm peak; SUMMARY.
Takeaway Western eco-colonialism in the developing world is being resisted…realistically, today’s World Bank and IMF do not enjoy the power differentials of past imperialists.
Video 5 slides; 10 mins • View module video
O is for Adapt!
O1 . Human Adaption
Topics INTRO; Chicago 1850s; Holland airport; southern Vietnam; 95/99% drop in climate-related deaths; urban adaption; Lagos canals; Shellenberger – what determines climate deaths.
Takeaway We humans have an incredible track record of adapting to whatever the earth’s climate throws at us…we are especially adaptable with fossil-fueled energy and machines.
Video 5 slides; 11 mins • View module video
O2 . Future Adaption
Topics Glacial to interglacial sea level rise vs. todays; Arctic ice concerns; West Antarctic Ice shelf – Thwaites Glacier; accretion in Maldives, subsidence in Miami; tropic to pole temperature gradient.
Takeaway Climate temperature and sea level changes are not global, so resources should be focused on local adaption for those affected the most.
Video 5 slides; 11 mins • View module video
O3 . Globalist Ambition
Topics MDG global problem-solving success to SDG absurdity; WEF; hubris; Globalist quotes; Lomborg – climate calculations, GDP growth delayed; SUMMARY
Takeaway When the hubris of climate control meets Globalist ambition, the common sense of local adaption to local climate impact is lost…and trillions are wasted.
Video 5 slides; 12 mins • View module video
Reassure the Anxious
R1 . Reassuring Climate
Topics INTRO - climate anxiety; risky shading - cooling; unprecedented tipping points – 1.5 and 2°C; 1.1°C already; comparison to previous warm periods; Eemian European hippos.
Takeaway Whatever our climate destiny in the Modern Warm Period, it is reassuring to know that earth and its humans have survived much warmer times.
Video 5 slides; 12 mins • View module video
R2 . Reassuring Facts
Topics Overpopulation doom; carbon-based lifeform; cooling kills civilizations; Indian wheat - Ten Global Trends; Lancet warming saves lives; Clintel; sources for temp, CO2; land use; SUMMARY
Takeaway Facts are the perfect counter to subjective Opinion and algorithmic Guesswork…it’s reassuring when you can see through the climate FOG.
Video 6 slides; 13 mins • View module video
Narrative Construction
Na1. Consensus or Groupthink
Topics INTRO; political consensus vs science groupthink; the IPCC; Obama’s “97%” Tweet – 3 claims, Cook et al; consensus enforcement and circular logic; Koonin and Curry books
Takeaway Common Sense: If real-world science could show climate change to be “man-made and dangerous,” there would be no need for virtual climate models.
Video 6 slides; 14 mins • View module video
Na2. Adjusting Reality
Topics Adjustments 1) erase Medieval Warm Period; 2) tampering with US data; 3) fake, FOGy global data – warning; 4) disputed hottest day record; not reality 2/3.
Takeaway False claims about warm periods; tampered with and FOGy data sets; disputed temperature records…CO2 control knob theory requires that the data reality of the earth’s climate be adjusted.
Video 6 slides; 15 mins • View module video
Na3. Virtual Sixth Extinction
Topics Polar bears, coral reefs, bees; prior extinctions, red list, and land use; IBPES – 6.2 million virtual species; Cambrian explosion; SUMMARY.
Takeaway With over 6 million virtual species invented, computer simulations can predict (and in due course, no doubt, report) as many virtual extinctions as the narrative requires.
Video 5 slides; 10 mins • View module video
Narrative Preaching
Na4 . Media Preachers
Topics INTRO; advocacy journalism; headlines, terms, and image propaganda; censorship by social media and ChatGPT; heat reporting 9x cold.
Takeaway Objective reporting is so last century…today, the scientific uncertainty of climate change is replaced by moral certainty in climate crisis, a narrative preached by both the mainstream and social media.
Video 6 slides; 12 mins • View module video
Na5 . Tricks of the Narrative
Topics #1 trick – predictions as evidence; words; data trends; climate vs. weather; future choice; ice sheet melt; Arctic Sea ice; disasters and GDP; y-axis and x-axis – time period; start-date selection.
Takeaway Simulations & predictions presented as objective evidence, but that’s only the start…the narrative’s preachers have any number of tricks and are not shy in using them.
Video 11 slides; 20 mins • View module video
Na6 . Extreme Weather
Topics Daily/lifetime occurrences; two theories of weather direction; extreme weather trends – flat; modeled event attribution – not reality 3/3; unprecedented video; SUMMARY.
Takeaway Weather is attributed to climate in virtual models – Guesswork…then video is used to influence our Opinion…but extreme weather in the earth’s real climate has not increased – Fact.
Video 7 slides; 16 mins • View module video
Narrative Realization
Na7 . Energy Reality
Topics INTRO; Korean peninsula, 3bn people = US fridge; global energy mix, renewable cognitive dissonance; trillions on Wind & Solar – 3% of mix; pretend transition; fertilizer etc.; Epstein book
Takeaway Our energy reality is that for many decades (maybe centuries) to come…“Global human flourishing requires more oil, coal, and natural gas – not less.”
Video 7 slides; 15 mins • View module video
Na8 . Net-Zero Delusion
Topics Amateur activism; professionals’ strategy – block, pretend, assume, ignore, degrade; challenge – ff infrastructure; politicians, bureaucrats (EPA finding), lawyers, corporations; examples + feasibility
Takeaway There are no feasibility projects to demonstrate Net Zero with Wind & Solar because running an advanced industrial society on breezes and sunshine is not feasible…it’s delusional.
Video 6 slides; 15 mins • View module video
Na9 . Stakeholder Analysis
Topics construct, preach (teachers), and NGO funding; Wind & Solar, Globalists, the Green (too many people and IT); spectrum of dissent; SUMMARIES – models and energy policies
Takeaway The climate-energy narrative: an unscientific belief in climate models leading to immoral energy policies.
Video 9 slides; 21 mins • View module video