Category Archives: Satire

Grok Confirms Michael Shellenberger Talks Abject Nonsense

November 2, 2025SatireChatGPT, Elon Musk, Free Speech, Grok, LLMs, Michael Shellenberger, NCES, NSIDC, PIOMAS, Robert A. Heinlein, Steve Koonin, University of Austin, xAI, XTwitterJim Hunt

Thanks to Going South for the heads up:

Yes. NSIDC satellite data shows Arctic September sea ice extent declined from ~6.5 million km² in the early 2000s to ~4.2 million km² by 2024, while PIOMAS volume estimates fell from ~12,000 km³ to under 4,000 km³. Shellenberger's claim ignores these multi-decadal trends, though…

— Grok (@grok) November 2, 2025

By way of additional background information, Wikipedia asserts that:

Grok is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI. It was launched in November 2023 by Elon Musk as an initiative based on the large language model (LLM) of the same name. Grok has apps for iOS and Android and is integrated with the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Tesla vehicles, and Tesla’s Optimus robot. The chatbot is named after the verb grok, coined by American author Robert A. Heinlein in his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land to describe a deeper than human form of understanding.

The Son of Climate: The Movie

May 10, 2025SatireBEST, Brian Cox, Gorilla Science, Ig Nobel, Judith Curry, Koch Brothers, Martin Durkin, Richard Muller, The Graph That Lied, Tom NelsonJim Hunt

Fresh from his enlightening “debate” with Peter Hadfield about the numerous errors in Climate: The Movie, skeptical superstar Tom Nelson has produced another movie directed by Martin Durkin. The duo’s second cinematic masterpiece is entitled “The Graph That Lied”, and this time around Tom is the star of the show!

Allegedly its subject is:

The “Rebound” in Arctic Sea Ice – 2025 Edition

May 8, 2025SatireAge, Al Gore, Antarctic, Extent, JAXA, New York Post, Roger Pielke Jr.Jim Hunt

World renowned climate scientist Roger Pielke Jr. has just published an interesting paper in the highly respected academic journal the New York Post. It is entitled:

“Surprise! Ice is rebounding at BOTH poles — climate is more complex than we know“

The 2024 Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Extent in the Cryodenialosphere

September 24, 2024SatireAl Gore, Anthony Watts, Climate Etc., CryoSat-2, DMI, Extent, IceSat, Javier Vinos, Judith Curry, Matthew Wielicki, NALOPKT, NWP, Paul Homewood, Steve Milloy, Thickness, Volume, WUWTJim Hunt

Earlier today the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced that:

On September 11, Arctic sea ice likely reached its annual minimum extent of 4.28 million square kilometers (1.65 million square miles). The 2024 minimum is the seventh lowest in the nearly 46-year satellite record. The last 18 years, from 2007 to 2024, are the lowest 18 sea ice extents in the satellite record…

Note that this is a preliminary announcement. Changing winds or late-season melt could still reduce the Arctic ice extent, as happened in 2005 and 2010. NSIDC scientists will release a full analysis of the Arctic melt season, and discuss the Antarctic winter sea ice growth, in early October.

Consequently several of the usual cryodenialospheric suspects have been frantically spinning their webs of deceit around the announcement.

First up was Javier Vinós, who beat the NSIDC’s starting gun by firing a broadside on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday. If you’re unfamiliar with the name, Javier frequently pontificates about Arctic sea ice, amongst other things, on Judith Curry’s “Climate Etc.” blog. He confidently announced that:

Arctic sea ice reaches its annual minimum with an extent greater than in 2007, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2023.

The two warmest years in a row at > +1.5°C have ZERO IMPACT on the 17-year resilience of Arctic sea ice.

Needless to say, “Snow White” felt compelled to quibble:

Clutz Clutches at Minimum Extent Straws

September 17, 2024SatireExtent, MASIE, NASA, NOAA, NSIDC, OSI SAF, Peter Wadhams, Ron Clutz, Science Matters, SII, Walt MeierJim Hunt

On several previous occasions “Snow White” and I have documented Ron Clutz’s misuse of MASIE Arctic sea ice extent data on his “Science Matters” blog. We agree with Ron that science matters, so on several occasions we have attempted to direct his attention to my interview with NASA/NSIDC scientist Walt Meier. Walt’s words of wisdom included:

Reuters Fact Checks Daily Septic Arctic Sea Ice Nonsense

April 28, 2024SatireAllan Astrup Jensen, ASIB, BAS, Chris Morrison, Chris Packham, Daily Sceptic, Extent, Gaëlle Veyssière, Julienne Stroeve, Laura Kuenssberg, Neven Acropolis, NSIDC, Reuters, Toby Young, Tom Colls, Tony Heller, UCL, Walt MeierJim Hunt

Our regular reader(s) may be wondering at this juncture, but that is not a typo in today’s title. For an in depth discussion of how alleged “renowned amateur naturalist and honorary doctor” Chris Packham sensationally rebranded Toby Young’s self identified “skeptical” web site live on air on the BBC’s “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg” see here.

By way of additional background information see also our in depth investigation of the Daily Sceptic’s Arctic porky pie production line over here.

To the apparent astonishment of the Septic’s alleged “Environment Editor”, Chris Morrison, Reuters Fact Check has now followed in “Snow White’s” dainty footsteps through the as yet unmelted Arctic snow cover:

Chris Martz Should’ve Gone To Specsavers

April 24, 2024SatireACCAP, Arctic Dipole, BBC, Chris Martz, Igor Polyakov, Jonathan Amos, Mark Serreze, PIOMAS, Rick Thoman, Specsavers, University of Alaska, Wieslaw MaslowskiJim Hunt

Chris Martz, the new kid on the “skeptical block”, proudly proclaimed on XTwitter yesterday that:

There’s more sea ice heading into the summer in the Arctic this year than there was in 1989.

That is of course a porky pie:

As you can see, Chris also invokes the age old canard of the “Mark Serreze Arctic sea ice death spiral”. I discussed that very topic with Mark in 2015:

Mark told me that he still stood by his 2030 estimate for the onset of a seasonally ice free Arctic, although: “Most models say more like 2050”.

Tony Heller Sets Arctic Shark Jump World Record!

March 17, 2024SatireAge, Beaufort Gyre, Fram Strait, Greenland, Greenland Shark, IPCC, North Pole, SROCC, Thickness, Tony Heller, Transpolar Drift, Twitter, USS Skate, VolumeJim Hunt

This is a photograph of a Greenland shark:

(c) Eric Ste Marie https://www.husseylab.com/

You will no doubt be astonished to learn that shark jumping supremo Tony Heller has just jumped over the entire East Greenland population of this long lived but officially vulnerable species. Without harming a single one!

Over on XTwitter “Steve”/Tony was recently shown this video which graphically reveals the declining age of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean:

He responded as follows:

According to the “summary for skeptics” of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate:

Time for Toby Young to Stop all the Fudges, Omissions and Outright Deceptions.

February 9, 2024SatireBBC, Chris Morrison, Daily Sceptic, Extent, Net Zero, NSIDC, Sir David Attenborough, Toby YoungJim Hunt

As I surmised only yesterday:

The so called “skeptics” are probably already salivating over that image!

The name may not be familiar on the other side of the Atlantic, but here in the once United Kingdom Mr. Toby Young self identifies as “skeptical”, having named his web site the “Daily Sceptic”. This morning he Xweeted thus:

The linked article was written by the Daily Sceptic’s alleged “Environment Editor” Chris Morrison. Mr. Morrison Xweeted thus:

Jim Steele and Anthony Watts Embrace Bad Arctic Science

January 22, 2024SatireAMO, Anthony Watts, Arctic Oscillation, CO2, Daily Sceptic, Ignatius Rigor, Jim Steele, Toby Young, WUWT, Yale 360Jim Hunt

Maintaining my New Year’s resolution to expose bad Arctic pseudo-science on (a)social media I stumbled upon this from the self confessed “skeptic” Jim Steele on XTwitter. Jim’s paid Elmo for a blue tick and is rather verbose, but these extracts will give you the flavour of his ramblings:

How Bogus Arctic Warming Attribution Enabled the Climate Crisis Scam

Abnormal warming over the Arctic Ocean and Arctic sea ice loss has been falsely blamed on rising CO2 and evidence of the climate crisis. Such alarmist graphic propaganda is common, like Yale 360’s emphasizing the Arctic Ocean’s warming of several degrees in November 2022, while ignoring the cooling over North America and Eurasia. But any critical thinking person can see warm Arctic temperatures are due to inflows of warm Atlantic water, NOT rising CO2…

The 1990s shift in wind directions caused by the natural Arctic Oscillation, drove out much of the Arctic’s thick multi-year sea ice which resulted in thinner annual sea ice which allowed more heat to ventilate and warm the Arctic (see peer-reviewed Rigor (2002) & (2004)). As the natural Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation shifts to more northern hemisphere cooling, a decrease in the flow of warming tropical Atlantic water entering the Arctic, a rebound in insulating Arctic sea ice will occur that will simultaneously decrease Arctic temperatures.

People who understand these natural climate dynamics that affect the Arctic, always and quickly understand the bogus global warming crisis is driven by natural Arctic warming oscillations.

Needless to say my critical thinking Arctic alter ego felt an urgent need to quibble with Jim’s (almost) unevidenced assertions.

As is often the case with such skeptical “arguments”, the ancient academic articles quoted don’t actually support the conclusions. “Snow White” attempted to raise the matter with Jim:

The Great White Con

Putting the Arctic sea ice record straight