Hot or Not: Steven Koonin Questions Conventional Climate Science and Methodology| Uncommon Knowledge 

This is a great discussion. Underscores the problem with the modern tendency toward reductive thinking and calling it science when, in fact, it is really politics.

The problem is that no one except those with an open mind will read his book. Those who only follow a narrative will never read it.

Thank you for arranging this conversation with Dr. Koonin. In 2008, I completed a Ph.D. study in England titled. "The Political Structuring of the IPCC 4th Assessment Report" It came to the same conclusions, except it went deeper on the development of climate science as science knowledge shaped by governments and corporations for political interests. This has been going on with science since the 1940s, as the recent film "Oppenheimer" reveals. Now, thanks to Koonin and other authoritative voices, climate scientist are beginning to rediscover their scientific creed and speak up about how their science is being corrupted and abused. I particularly applaud the last part of this discussion about adaptation and fear. As President Roosevelt said 90 years ago, we have ":nothing to fear but fear itself." What we need to do is to think clearly and factually, with reference to what climate science is actually telling us, and learn to use critical thinking to understand that science is a process of discovery, not conclusions.

Young people on RU-vid, peace. You are safer than all previous generations. I was born during World War 2, it ended and my parents had 7 more children who all grew up. I was your age and terrified by the Cold War, expecting not to wake up every night we went to sleep thinking the Russians would start a nuclear war, I grew up, had 6 children who all grew up and I spent 55 years being a doctor. You and I are the children of survivors who were the children of survivors back to the Stone Age. Courage. Live life without fear. Lift one another up. Plan for your own families and beautiful children.

"You're saying things that are going to get you into trouble." Truth tends to do that...

Very good question and answer session. I agree with Dr. Koonin that nuclear is a viable option and his opinion that it is such a bogeyman. Finally, I will emphatically agree with Dr. Koonin that we are being misled by the mainstream media.

I rarely comment, but this interview was just so exceptional. Steve Koonin is a man of integrity and truth. We need to spread the truth.

Folks, July 2023 may have been hot in USA but in UK it was the wettest for 50 years, recorded by farmers on their family farms ! July here in UK was also quite chilly, besides a few days . August 2023 has been really chilly. WE have only seen four or five warm days for the whole of August. All we seem to get is chilly rain and white sun . Nothing like August in UK , it's most often hot , for us and reasonably dry. It's been so wet and cold here that farmers have struggled to harvest crops and bale the hay and straw ! Please remember that in ancient Roman times in the UK, Romans grew grapes for wine, in south SCOTLAND . Try it now !

Always looking forward to a new interview by Peter Robison no matter the guest or the subject of discussion. His ability to interview and ask questions is on another level

0:30 Steven Koonin's physics background and entering climate science 2:30 John Kerrey's alarmist statements and IPCC reports 5:13 Climate uncertainty and historical global warming 9:15 The IPCC and the game of "telephone" / extreme temperatures 14:07 Computer models and their problems predicting climate changes 17:10 Computer models and increasing computer power 21:57 "Steve Koonin versus the headlines" 26:40 Forest fires and July heat 36:53 Adapting to climate change and human flourishing 40:10 $360 billion Inflation Reduction Act 41:30 R&D nuclear power, solar power and wind power 45:35 Climate scientists not telling the truth and the 6 billion poor 48:18 How have colleagues reacted to "Uncertainty"? 50:35 Climate alarmism and children / the end of alarmism

Love both of these gentlemen. Important figures in our times of distrust. I wish more people could hear conversations such as this one.

Wish more people would look into the whole climate change issue to get to the truth. This was a very good video and Steven Koonin had many valid points.

This subject always harkens me back to one of my favorite quotes: "There's nothing quite so passionate as a vested interest disguised as an intellectual conviction." There's _gold_ in them thar ills! And if you're a climate scientist living off of government grants you'll be at the head of the line at this feeding trough for your cut. Politicians? Media? Forget it. When's the last time you heard an honest politician or an honest media outlet? Like Mr. Koonin said, the media has an agenda built on three things: Eyeballs, ears, and clicks. "If it bleeds, it leads." And indeed I've heard nothing but climate hyperbole ad nauseum _every. single. day._ out of the journalistic media. Politicians will do or say anything for votes and campaign donations, so that's a given. What I find unconscionable is that the scientific community, who are also doing the teaching at our universities, are giving their students a homogenized and self-serving interpretation of the data in order to ensure that only one line of thought is being absorbed and regurgitated -- and in so doing, they're scaring the living crap out of our youngest generation. Students would like to think they're independent thinkers, but they're really not if they're being sold only one narrative and the student isn't willing or doesn't know how to interpret the data themselves to come to their own conclusions. As an avocational meteorologist and geologist, I see the data and I see the long view, and there is simply no reason to panic or to collapse economies or political systems in order to reverse long-term phenomena that _won't_ reverse until it's damn good and ready. We tend to see things through the prism of our own lives and not the billions of years it has taken for climate to reach an equilibrium to sustain life, or even the 10s of thousands of years between warm and cold climate cycles. I can only admonish people not to take what the media feeds them at face value, nor a politician, because both are going to serve their interests first before they serve anyone else's.

I've got a degree in Environmental Science I've been of a similar opinion as Steven for years. People with no experince in science look at me like I'm a full on tin hat conspiricy theorist when I question the political orthodoxy!

Listened to the audiobook version of his book. As a geophysicist, in retirement I have listened to many recent audiobooks on Earth history as well as the carbon cycle (Symphony in C by Robert Hazen bing one example). And I recall from my days in graduate school running geohydrology finite elements models and how small changes in recharge area element parameters can make a big difference in results. So I embrace all that Dr. Koonin says. I think his last comments about immorality of the climate hysteria narrative are most important.

Very informative. I think one important aspect to mention is that the demonization of CO2 is useful for several political purposes. The CO2 tax is massive, in fact the biggest one since around 200 years. CO2 can be politically utilized for divide & conquer tactics as well. "They are evil because they drive a combustion engine." Just to give the two most prominent examples. It's also a way to infringe on the freedom of middle class and lower people, since you can use CO2 to justify all sorts of regulations that make normal things (electricity) into luxuries. This is turn helped big investors to buy off many small family businesses. So there is an economic agenda as well. Ultimately it does not matter what the reality about CO2 and human influence is, because it is right now useful for the ruling class to accumulate more wealth and power for themselves.

Half way through a degree in environmental studies conservation and ecology, I flipped to this position. Academics are infected by left-wing politics, and I believe this to be the driver through control concepts. You guys are spot on.

A funny story unrelated to climate change. When Dr Steve Koonin was younger, he taught a 2nd year college level complex variable calculus. He is a pretty smart guy (allegedly, he could invert 4x4 matrix in his head), so his class was pretty challenging, which made many students lose sleep. Back then, he had uncanny resemblance to the actor Rick Moranis. So we used to joke that when Dr Koonin goes home, he tells his wife 'Honey, I flunk the kids!' (Reference to the movie 'Honey, I shrank the kids!')

I love Peter Robinson. An American treasure.

In Queensland we had the millennium drought, went for ten years. The sate gov spent billions on desal and a water network etc. the year after it was finished it flooded. Dams were filled and it kept raining. Most of the investment was mothballed until the next ten year drought.

Great interview. I really appreciate the fact that SK took the time to RTFM (IPCC Report) and not just the summary like 99% of people spouting opinions have done.

Wildfires in France last year were largely a function of poor forest management. Monospecies planting of conifers - no deciduous firebreaks - high planting density - poor or non-existent clearance of bracken and pine needles. Tinderbox waiting to burst into flames.

None of the people pushing the narrative are selling off their beachfront properties. That should tell you all you need to know about the situation….

What I appreciate about this is the direct notion of what is moral when the question of a possible disaster is on the table. It's not moral to make use of low-resolution thinking to milk money out of the economy and drive hypothetically useful engagement. Specifically, it's because fear makes for poor decision making at every layer of analysis. In fact, it seems practically supernatural how directly fear can cause a person to make any situation they fear worse by attempting to control or eradicate it. I'm hopeful that down the road, the trend of treating biologically necessary gases that have been called 'greenhouse' (like water vapor!) as toxic won't end up with people deliberately ruining ecosystems in a misguided attempt to 'clean' them. As in the case of the campaign against beef. As if a ruminant is anything other than a net good for the climate and us.

Gosh golly -- Koonin wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal titled “Climate Science Is Not Settled.” back in 2014...

Outstanding. I have been trying to tell people this for years and have no chance, if someone as gifted as this is being ignored

I watched Al Gore's movie back in the day so I decided to investigate the issue and over the years I've come to similar conclusions -- and I'm no expert so I didn't write a book. :)

Peter Robinson is a rare, true gem. Thank you sir!!!! Roji

This is pretty much the best interview about the gigantic topic of climate change I have seen so far. Both in content as well as the questioning. The truth shall prevail.

“The whole aim of practical politics, is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary” - HL Mencken

Living in Toronto and having visited Lisbon this summer I can whole hearteldy say that both cities had really cool summers compared to what can be remembered from previous summers.

Thank God for a voice of reason in a sea of fear!

"The statement was completely factual, but factually incomplete." Love it

Thank you for spreading common sense and real science to the rest of us 🙏🏻

What a great interview and discussion. The media is the problem as was so clearly described. Covering Climate Now is at the root of this. Thank you for informing me about them.

I used to believe the climate change narrative, but over the years questions started to rise in my head. I’ve been told the environment was heading for a disaster since I was in grade school in the 80’s. That’s approaching half a century. I’ve spent a lot of my free time hiking and working outside…..I certainly can’t say I notice anything negative….that’s why I started listening to people like Koonin.

Thanks Dr. Koonin. Yes, there are many things we, as a society, have been misled on.

This is an amazing interview. Peter Robinson, I want you to know that Steven Koonin is a fantastic guest and we are going to add this Hoover Institution video to our Relevant Science References playlist.

It is important to note that Koonin is not a climate denier. He believes that climate change is real and that it is caused by human activities. However, he believes that the science is not as settled as many people believe, and that we need to be more cautious about making predictions about future climate change.

I'm disappointed that Dr. Koonin didn't talk about another core problem with solar, namely the extremely low energy density. It's a real problem when you can only get a couple hundred watts per square meter. A typical coal power plant may be 1GW. You would only need 5 million square meters of solar panels to be equivalent to one small typical coal fired plant. Does anyone else here see the logistical problem with that?

Thank you Mr Koonin for not blowing with the wind. I now know the difference between weather and climate, the IPCC, and that everything began 400 years ago. And Mr Robinson, you are a public treasure, keep bringing us your wonderful interviews.

If someone raises a question or any kind of perceived challenge they are labeled “denier” and attacked. Doesn’t matter what the issue. We are living in anti science times. Science should welcome questions! Very good discussion. I will look for this book. Obviously the Atlantic is warmer than usual. But is that weather or climate. We will know over the next decades.

Las Vegas set a record for most days in a row below 100 degrees earlier this summer.

They should get a room 😆

What an exceptional interview!! If scientists would refuse to allow the facts to be hidden, they would regain so much respect they have lost. When science was the purview of religious men, and it was long ago, it held itself to a standard of what could be proven and truth. In the hands of those who have no belief in actual right and wrong, just an ideology, and used on people of the same mind, it becomes a hazard

Koonin says crop yields are rising. Crop yields rose because of advanced farming techniques and better hybrids. But farm productivity is actually 21% lower than it should be, according to Cornell University. That's because the warming that accompanies CO2 increases heatwaves, droughts, extreme precipitation events and wildfires. All of those decimate crops. Crop loss insurance payouts, in fact, have been skyrocketing in recent years because of these losses. The severity of heatwave and drought-related crop losses has tripled over the last five decades in Europe. (See the study in Environmental Research Letters, Jun 10, 2021. )

I'm so glad to see a new episode. A fantastic show with an ever more fantastic host.

Thank you for a great guest!

They alway forget about the southern hemisphere. What happens down here never gets talked about. We have had a La Nina going for the last year and it bought all the weather I normally expect. It's been happening about every 5 years my entire life. We get Cyclones down here and a warm summer in the northern hemisphere

"WE" haven't had a hot summer! MSM keep quoting ground temperatures. MSM said 35 degrees in Lanzerote. It was 27 degrees. Advice to the young: stop listening to MSM and reading newspapers and investigate for yourself.

Something beyond the other RU-vid charlatans, straightforward, practical. and easy to understand. I fear though, that the sky is falling bunch is like rust.can't get rid of it and when you think you have it's back again

Brilliant discussion. Thank you Gentlemen.......

My frustration is that Universities are political institutions now so scientists within universities are fearful for their jobs and become cowards.

glaciers have been melting back for thousands of years. That said, much of the recent warming, and more importantly, the drying, is apparently due to to aircraft emissions. Odd, considering that modern high bypass jet engines, used in commercial and military jets, burn clean, and are, under most conditions, incapable of producing contrails. Somehow, however, they leave behind long lasting trails which spread and form clouds which apparently lead to higher night time temperatures and persistent droughts.

Every American should watch and digest this

21:23 "Climate is mainly driven by the oceans ..." Exactly what AGW alarmists do not get!!!

I love this topic and this discussion!

Honesty based in actual knowledge and forthrightness in presentation are always so refreshing.

I thank you Professor for this information ❤

When I was in Kindergarten, I was in a play…”Chicken Little”. I played the king and my line was “Don’t worry, Chicken Little. The sky is not falling.” 65 years later, I feel like I am in the audience watching that play over and over again…but there is no king in this play.

"Tell the whole truth" Go figure, who'd have thought. Great Interview! Ordered the Book. Looking forward to it.

Nature, and humans, have always adapted to the environment. Trying to adapt the environment to humans is such a huge sign of hubris it must be in the historical top ten hubris events.

Thank you, gentlemen.

BEAUTIFUL, PROF. KOONIN!

Thank God for Steven Koonin!

So important to look at weather history. The 1930’s are still looked on as the hottest decade.

Thank you both

i am happy NOT missing this

Bravo love your work gentlemen. I'll be spreading this as most people will find it easy to understand...

Dr. Koonin should review the Malkovich Cycles for the past 250,000 years and the global temperatures during the same period to today. You will see a strong correlation and shows a much more rational explanation for "climate change" then a trace gas in the atmosphere.

This is brilliant! Thank you

The argument that you need to use the Kelvin scale, and when you do that then the % change in Earth's temperature is tiny... this doesn't hold up. An important consideration is the temperature in relation to ice, not the relation to absolute zero. So it is more useful to calculate % temperature changes, not using Kelvin, not using Fahrenheit, but using Celsius where 0 is the freezing point of water, since the temperature in degrees Celsius is somewhat proportional to the amount of heat energy being absorbed by ice that will lead to melting. I'm reading the 2021 e-book edition of "Unsettled", and I'm partway through it, for the most part (except for a very small number of problems like above) I'm finding interesting reading, and easy reading not requiring too much technical knowledge.

Dr Vanessa Kerry appointed as WHO Director-General Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health. Her father is John Kerry, who is the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

We actually live in a mild Climate Optimum, maybe climate cultists would like an ice Age??

Thank you!

I just wanted him to say "the two yutes" My Cousin Vinny style! That intellect with that accent...gold!😂

I commend Steven Koonin and have read his book "Unsettled". He's debunking the Hysteria, and appreciate him for that. Especially since he's been part of the Liberal machine. But he readily admits he's not a climatologist. Richard Lindzen IS a climatologist or was (He's retired now). AND he wrote a lot of the math modeling we use for weather in our daily lives. So he's deeply familiar with Climate Modeling and the IPCC. I make this distinction because Steven is using good insight to recognize that the Media Recognized "Experts" have overstated the threat. For Example, he says "most of the CO2 comes from Fossil fuels" but then argues its a very small impact. I'm not sure that's been proven. We typically have 400 PPM of CO2. But Ice Cores and Tree Rings have concluded that CO2 has been higher in prior times before we measured them. I appreciate Steven's willingness to debunk the Climate assumptions of IPCC and the hacks that pretend to be Climatologists. Lindzen teaches that Climate and Weather (Climate is > 30 years, Weather is Day to Day) is EXTREMELY complicated. Different zones like Tropics, verses Polar Caps react differently to CO2... And Clouds and water vapor are many times more determinant than CO2. And most importantly CO2 is not some toxic compound that can destroy Earth. It is part of the Animal/Oxygen and Plant/CO2 system that actually makes life on Earth possible. Richard is THE GUY we should be listening to. Thanks for the great interview and Thanks to Steven for "Coming Out" on the truth of Climate Change Hysteria.

Just the fact the overlords are flying around in private jets and buying/taking more ocean front real-estate tells me it's all BS.

The climate is, much like the economy, a chaotic system, which makes it impossible to predict with known accuracy!

Excellent discussion

Great and eye-opening interview with Steven Koonin! Unfortunately, the Milankovitch cycles (solar activity, position of the earth axis, orbit of the earth around the sun, which is more elliptical or circular) are not discussed, although they have a major influence on the climate. The benefits of higher CO2 levels (mainly the greening of the earth) aren't discussed either.

Steve is so right. Small nuclear is a fabulous route to explore.

Thank you for sharing your truth

Google adds “context,” label to this video that discredits Koonin. What a joke

Koonin says sea level hasn't accelerated. According to NASA, it has. Sea level has in fact risen four inches since 1992 and the rate of rise has doubled. According to NOAA, high tide flooding along the American south and Gulf coasts has risen an astonishing 400% and 1100% respectively since the year 2000. Even New England, which is uplifting land from glacial rebound, is up 140%. The big jumps in sea level are why Houston, Louisiana and New York already have a combined $100 billion in flood mitigation projects in the works. Up and down the coasts of the U.S., cities are emptying their coffers to build up their fast-eroding shorelines. Throughout the 20th century, sea level rose at an average of 1.5mm per year. Today it's 5 mm per year, according to the World Meteorological Org. The biggest increase has come since the 1990s. Koonin is clearly wrong.

Fantastic. Thank you

Thank you.

Excellent as usual. Thank you.

A credential that should have been listed was the fact that be worked for BP for years. As it turns out, buying gas and burning fossil fuels is either good for the environment, or, does so little and we don't actually understand it, so please, don't stop burning fossil fuels.

Thank you Hoover for airing this talk.

Thank you for an excellent interview. I hope this gets millions of views.

Thank you. Excellent presentation/interview on the current climate changes.

Unsettled should be required reading for all, especially by the media!

In July 2023, it was so cold that I had to run the heater.-- in southern California!

Koonin knows what he's talking about.

Peter Robison is the man. I’ve watch countless interviews and he’s conducted himself in a manner outpaced to his peers

Finally, truth wills out!

Excellent thank you.

No - I cannot agree that C02 density throughout the column of atmosphere is an independent variable with any stand-alone correlation to weather temperature, let alone causation, in either direction. There is a vast omission in climate simulations of the effects of convection, conduction and mass transfer and an absurd assumption in greenhouse theory that there is a disconnect between the surface and the atmosphere and that radiation is the only factor in analysis of dubious causality. Even then, there are additional glaring omissions regarding incident radiation from solar and galactic sources.

The climate debate isn't about climate and certainly isn't about science. Its a political issue and is about controlling energy production. Controlling energy production is control of economies and control of economies is control of people. One constant in human history is...there is always going to be an element that seeks to have total control. Our modern era is no different. One political ideology and party has been working very hard to destroy the foundation of the system of government of these United States of individuals rights and are attempting to revert us and the west in general to before America became the most free nation in the world and return us to an aristocracy! An aristocracy...but worse. Climate change is but ine tool being used to achieve this.