Abrupt, dramatic climate changes happen naturally. Scientists find Sahara went from green to parched in just a matter of decades.
Symbol image generated by Grok AI.
The claim that human emissions are causing the climate to change dramatically and abruptly is used to instill fear among the population. Without human emissions, the climate would still change, but much more calmly and gradually, so they like to have us believe.
But anyone who has studied climate history knows that climate change tends happen abruptly, often over the course of just a few decades.
One example is the Sahara, which wasn’t always a desert. Trees and grasslands dominated the landscape from roughly 10,000 years ago to 5,000 years ago, scientists reported in a paper published in 2013. “Then, abruptly, the climate changed, and north Africa began to dry out.”
The study published in Science says it all took just a few hundred years.
According to the authors: “Our analysis suggests that the termination of the African Humid Period in the Horn of Africa occurred within centuries, underscoring the non-linearity of the region’s hydroclimate.”
The Saharan shift is thought to have been initially triggered by more sunlight falling on Earth’s northern hemisphere, as Earth’s cyclic orientation toward the sun changed. It had nothing to do with CO2 emissions and human activities. It was all natural.
Man has an impact, but the real change is still very much natural and is still very poorly understood today. Performing weather-alteration rituals won’t make Mother Nature tamer.
“[T]he increase in absorbed solar radiation is primarily due to natural variations in cloudiness and surface albedo, which have served as the main forcing factors of the flux above the atmosphere over the last 2 decades.” – Diodato et al., 2025
And now, in two new studies (Diodato et al., 2024 and Diodato et al., 2025), scientists have begun formulating reconstructions of cloud cover over the Mediterranean region that can be dated all the way back to the Medieval Warm Period, or 970 CE.
The authors suggest their reconstructions of cloud cover may be representative of more than just this region, as it is a product of large scale processes that may “transcend geographical boundaries.” In other words, what happens in the Mediterranean region may well have global implications.
Their reconstructions indicate the modern declining cloud cover trend may not only have been occurring since 2000, but, except for a brief increasing period from about 1945 to 1980 (that coincided with a global cooling trend), it has been ongoing for over 200 years. The “turning point” years were 1815-1818, following the eruption of Mount Tambora. From that point on there has been a precipitous decline in cloud cover that departs from multi-decadal variability.
The authors suggest the “dominant” factors linked to the post-1800s warming trend include solar forcing, volcanic forcing, and the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (Diodato et al., 2024).
In other words, the modern warming as well as the past climate changes may be “primarily due to natural variations in cloudiness and surface albedo, which have served as the main forcing factors” (Diodato et al., 2025).
Soaring energy prices… regulations…35% of German companies say country is too hostile to business.
Blackout News here reports on how a growing number of German industrial companies are relocating their production abroad, driven by soaring energy costs, stifling bureaucracy, and an increasing tax burden.
As Germany gets greener, more companies are shuttering, moving out. Grok AI image.
A recent survey by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) reveals that a staggering 35 percent of companies now cite cost reduction as the primary motivation for their foreign investments – the highest such figure since the 2008 financial crisis.
That’s worrisome news for the country, which recently voted for a change in recent national elections. However, chancellor candidate and election winner Friedrich Merz has since broken his major campaign promises and instead will pledged to further accelerate the destructive green policies and to pile on debt like never before.
German companies looking for business-friendlier environments
The DIHK reports that the traditional driver of tapping into new markets abroad now accounts for just 30 percent, and that instead the focus has sharply shifted towards securing economic advantages in locations with more favorable cost structures.
Little hope of reform
Energy-intensive industries are particularly feeling the pinch, facing intensified international competition that is accelerating the trend of relocation. Although ongoing coalition negotiations between the CDU, CSU, and SPD are grappling with ways to reduce electricity taxes and halving grid fees, companies are skeptical these steps will stem the hemorrhaging.
DIHK President Peter Adrian has called for “more freedom, lower costs and faster administrative action” to restore Germany’s competitiveness.
Germany’s business attractiveness as an investment destination is demonstrably declining and has reached a critical juncture. Domestic investment is weak with two out of five industrial companies planning to scale back their investments within Germany.
Merz breaks all his major campaign promises
Without swift and comprehensive reforms, the long-term competitiveness of Germany as a business location faces a significant threat, potentially leading to a further exodus of its vital industrial base, warns Blackout News.
As Germany’s CDU party led by Friedrich Merz negotiates with the SPD socialists on forming a new government, early signals are showing that things are going to get a lot worse instead of better as Merz breaks his campaign promises. In a recent survey, almost 75% of respondents feel they got duped by Merz.
“The last four decades of global warming have led to a net gain in life expectancy.” – Piotr Walkowiak et al., 2025
Throughout Europe, exposure to harsh winters in colder climates is a greater mortality threat than living in warm climates with very hot summers. Succinctly put, warmer, milder winters save lives, whereas cold weather and harsh winters shorten lives.
The authors of a new study insist modern emphasis on limiting global warming so as to reduce heat-related mortality is misplaced, as it neglects the much more dangerous threat posed by cold weather.
“The primary climate threat that reduces life expectancy in Europe continues to be low temperatures.”
“…the dominant threat remains low-temperature mortality, which should no longer be neglected in the analysis of climate risk.”
Living in cold weather regions can reduce life expectancy by up to two years, whereas living in climates with hotter-than-optimal summers has almost no effect on reduced life expectancy.
“Colder-than-optimal temperatures had a greater effect on mortality than warmer ones. In Europe’s coldest regions, harsh winters reduced life expectancy by up to 24 months, while warmer areas like the Azores saw reductions of just 2 months.”
“…the most favorable regions for life was those with warm winters, yet moderated summer temperatures due to proximity to the sea…”
As the climate continues warming over the coming decades, this will have a net health benefit for humans.
“In broad terms, the climate in Europe is likely to become marginally less hazardous for humans…”
“…even after controlling for economic growth, a modest warming trend appears to offer a moderate benefit from the perspective of life expectancy.”
Due to the health benefits and improved life expectancy in warmer climates, older people should be migrating away from cold regions and into warmer ones.
“…there is a potential benefit in encouraging retirees to migrate to warmer islands or coastal areas as a thoughtful policy.”
“Opting for retirement migration to warmer locations should be encouraged as a health-conscious decision – a finding that mirrors the behavioral choices observed in previous studies.”
The Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm near German North Sea island of Borkum is set to be dismantled after being in operation for only 15 years.
It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies.
Symbol image, produced by Grok 3 AI.
Alpha Ventus is noted as being Germany’s first offshore wind farm. Construction works commenced in August 2007 and the first turbine was installed in July 2009. The pioneering wind farm was officially commissioned on April 27, 2010.
According to Blackout News, a decisive factor for dismantling the pioneer project is the expiration of generous subsidies made possible through Germany’s EEG renewable energies feed-in act. The subsidy meant that the Alpha Ventus wind farm got 15.4 cents per kilowatt hour after being put in operation. Now that the subsidy has run out, the wind farm operators receive only the basic tariff of 3.9 cents per kilowatt hour, thus making the farm unprofitable.
Another factor: the older Alpha Venus wind farm is being eclipsed by more modern, more efficient turbines.
Offshore wind farms have high costs
Overall, offshore wind farms are significantly more expensive to operate than onshore wind farms due increased maintenance costs, poor accessibility, harsh environments and the specialized equipment and personnel needed to conduct operational works.
Offshore wind farms are significantly more expensive to operate than onshore wind farms due to a combination of factors stemming from their challenging marine environment and remote locations.
Offshore turbines are exposed to corrosive saltwater, strong winds, large waves, and potential storms, which acts to accelerates wear and tear on components. This leads to more frequent failures and the need for more robust and expensive materials.
And when turbines break down offshore, the time required to access, diagnose, and repair them is typically much longer than for onshore turbines due to weather limitations and logistical challenges. This results in more significant losses in electricity generation and revenue.
“Until now, the origin of the climate dynamics of the Central Andes during the last millennium has been speculative. On the basis of statistical evidence, we have identified solar variability as its origin.” – Schittek et al., 2025
1) The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a global-scale cold event.
2) Southern Hemisphere (Peruvian Andes) climate (precipitation) variations are robustly linked to variations in solar activity over the last 1,000 years.
3) The modern (1900s-2000s) and Medieval Climate Anomaly climate warmth are associated with reduced rainfall, and the LIA colder temperatures are associated with more precipitation.
“…the LIA was a global event, marked by advance of glaciers worldwide.”
“Solar irradiation is the primary driver for all climate circulation processes on Earth. Evidence for a direct solar influence on the Earth’s climate has been growing.”
“Our study reveals evidence that precipitation changes in the south-eastern Peruvian Andes are linked to variations in solar activity during the LIA [Little Ice Age].”
“Several studies attribute climate cooling during the LIA to solar forcing, particularly during the Wolf, Spörer, Maunder, and Dalton Minima.”
“The position of the ITCZ [Intertropical Convergence Zone] is robustly dependent on the interhemispheric temperature gradient triggered by solar forcing.”
The original plan was BMW would start production of two all-electric Mini models in Oxford beginning 2026 and then to produce only electric vehicles by 2030.
Drivers are not enthused about electric cars . Image generated by Grok AI.
But the latest report is that BMW is stopping production of the E-mini models at its Oxford plant “due to insufficient demand,” reports Blackout News here, citing automobilwoche: 24 February 2025. “BMW cites uncertainties in the automotive industry and lower than expected demand for electric vehicles as the main reasons for the stop.”
The announcement further underscores that the enthusiasm for electric vehicles remains sluggish as Europe labors ahead with decarbonization efforts.
Also global uncertainty has contributed to the sluggish BMW e-car demand as countries move to impose tariffs amid trade disputes.
“The Mini plant in Oxford will continue to produce models with combustion engines for the time being. However, BMW emphasizes that the plant will continue to play a central role for the Mini brand in the future, Blackout News adds.
The Medieval Warm Period, the natural warm phase between 700 and 1300 AD, cannot be reproduced climate models because the simulations react primarily to CO2. Back then CO2 was not a factor because its concentration level in the atmosphere was pretty much constant. That’s why people would rather keep the Medieval Warm Period quiet.
But the facts speak for themselves. Two studies now add further pieces to our knowledge of the medieval climate.
Antarctica
In October 2023, a paper by a team of researchers led by Zhangqin Zheng from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei was published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews. It deals with historical changes in the Adélie penguin population in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica and their climatic influences.
Two atmospheric-oceanic circulation patterns, the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), have a major influence on the climate and marine ecosystems in the Ross Sea region. From a historical perspective, however, the influence of atmospheric-oceanic circulation patterns on penguin populations in this region remains unclear. The researchers analyzed sediment cores from abandoned penguin colonies on Inexpressible Island in the Ross Sea and reconstructed the changes in the populations of Adélie penguins over the past 1500 years. Zhangqin Zheng and colleagues found that the penguin population on Inexpressible Island peaked between 750 and 1350 AD, possibly due to habitat expansion in a warmer climate during the Medieval Warm Period.
After comparison with historical records of penguin populations from Cape Bird, Dunlop Island and Cape Adare, it was found that all penguin populations increased in the Ross Sea during the period 750 to 1350 AD. The population trend also coincided with extreme swings in the El Niño and SAM circulations.+
From this, the researchers concluded that SAM-ENSO could promote the inflow of circumpolar and modified circumpolar deep water into the Ross Sea and thus increase the influx of nutrient-rich deep water, together with a warmer climate, could promote the efficiency of open ocean areas, so-called polynyas, and the population increase of Adélie penguins.
The study shows the important role of ENSO and SAM as triggers of strong climate fluctuations.
These natural processes are still taking place today and have by no means ended with the start of the CO2 increase.
Poland
The other study comes from Poland. The research group led by Rajmund Przybylak from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, published their work in the journal “Climate of the Past” in November 2023. The article presents current findings on climate change in Poland for the period from 1000 to 1500 AD. This period also includes the Medieval Warm Period. The scientists first studied all available quantitative climate reconstructions that have been produced for Poland in the last two decades. They also produced four new reconstructions using three dendrochronological series and an extensive database of historical source data on weather conditions. The growth of conifers in the lowlands and mountains of Poland depends on the temperatures in the cold season, especially in February and March. All available reconstructions based on dendrochronological data refer to this time of the year. Summer temperatures were reconstructed using biological proxies and documentary evidence. However, the latter are limited to the 15th century. The winter temperature was used as a proxy for the annual temperature proxies, instead of the usual use of the summer temperature.
The Medieval Warm Period probably occurred in Poland from the late 12th century to the first half of the 14th or 15th century. All analyzed quantitative reconstructions indicate that the Medieval Warm Period in Poland was comparable or even warmer than the average temperature in the period 1951-2000.
The coldest conditions in the entire study period were recorded in the first half of the 11th century (both in winter and summer) and in the second half of the 15th century (only in winter). The greatest continentality of climate occurred in the 15th century. A good agreement was found between the reconstructions of the Polish climate and many reconstructions available for Europe.
The two new studies from Antarctica and Poland indicate that the natural climate factors still need to be much better understood in order to be able to incorporate them faithfully into climate models. Currently, the simulations do not attribute a major role to natural climate events, which is a serious mistake.
A robust 1750-2020 temperature proxy reconstruction (Karlsson et al., 2025) from a spruce forest in the Norwegian mountains identifies yet another location on the globe unaffected by anthropogenic “global warming.”
With the election of Donald Trump and the ongoing geopolitical conflicts, the climate issue has lost much relevance over the recent months. It’s exceedingly clear that people are much worried about other issues. Few people care about the climate issue.
From now on, I’ll be blogging less frequently as climate news play a lesser role in the current political discourse and public interest. Kenneth will likely continue with his excellent posts.
Climate change has rapidly become a fringe issue. Moreover, for the time being, there’s no charismatic figure out there standing ready to take over for the Democrats and the leftists in Europe and to bring the climate issue back to the forefront.
Another development: people have come to realize that climate policy only means more crazy rules, less choice, higher taxes and a loss of freedom.
As far as Europe is concerned, its leaders have (finally) realized that their situation is indeed extremely dire in terms of geopolitical relevance and that the USA is done babysitting and funding them. Their latest off-the-cuff scheme: they hope that printing trillions of euros will lead their sick old continent out of its deep crisis. But don’t expect that to be successful. A substantial portion of the planned trillions in new debt will be earmarked for the green new deal and other wasteful projects, which ultimately will make them even weaker than they currently are.
What’s lies beyond that point is open to speculation. One possible scenario is widespread discontent and resistance by citizens after things go from really bad to really much worse, which could lead the continent to enact dictatorial suppression measures against the people. Or a second scenario: a revolution that could put the establishment out of power and usher in a new era.
One thing is certain: we are living in a very transformative times. Stay calm, confident and resolute.
Reconstructed ice core CO2 values and modern CO2 and CH4 measurements do not support the narrative that human emissions are driving changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
New research extensively reviews the “pitfalls” of believing the conventional wisdom about modern CO2 concentration variations, as well as the “flaws” in reconstructed CO2 values from ice cores.
The record of annual increases (or decreases) in CO2 (ΔCO2) from the NOAA database indicate that prior to 1958 there were years when CO2 increased by 4 or 5 ppm from one year to the next, or even decreased by 3.5 ppm relative to the previous year.
“[B]efore 1958 there are several years which show an increase of about 5 ppm or a decrease of about 3.5 ppm. … If these reconstructed values are correct, then there have been many years since the Industrial Revolution in which atmospheric CO2 has decreased.”
Problematically for the anthropogenic global warming narrative, it is not possible for human CO2 emissions to have driven either the 4.9 ppm increase from 1872 (286.66 ppm) to 1873 (291.56 ppm), or the 3.5 ppm decrease from 1908 to 1909. Year-to-year changes in human emissions could not have been nearly large enough to produce that much change – in either direction.
“The most impressive value is the of 4.9 ppm in 1873.”
“The year when human emissions exceeded 7.8 gigatons (Gt, equivalent to 1 ppm) was 1913. Before this year, an increase of more than 1 ppm per year is impossible, even when the CO2 increase over the Industrial Era is assumed to be of anthropogenic origin.”
The NOAA record of year-to-year change in the methane (CH4) concentration reveals a similar problem, but this time in the 1980s-to-present data.
Not only are human CH4 emissions not large enough to account for the annual changes, but the changes show a nearly 40-year declining trend, 1984 to 2013, before rising again in the last decade.
“Since atmospheric methane has actually dropped even in present days, when humans are emitting large amounts of the gas [CH4], it cannot be assumed that about 1000 ppb [parts per billion] would have accumulated and risen in previous periods of low emissions.”
There are fatal flaws in assuming we can actually derive accurate estimates of past global atmospheric CO2 concentrations from ice bubbles located at one site on Earth, Antarctica.
The author succinctly summarizes the problems with believing air from hundreds of thousands of years ago is fully sealed, uncontaminated, and never-changing in bubbles within the ice, and at no time in any and all excavation processes does the globally-representative CO2 value fail to deliver the precise measurement.
“There is no experimental evidence to prove the basic assumption of this method [that assumes the ‘composition of the gas at the time of capture will remain the same indefinitely’], that the gases in the upper layers will mix together for several years to thousands of years, and once they are sealed off, they will remain constant and no changes will occur.”
The area covers approximately 2000 kilometers of coastline and contains as much ice as the entire Greenland Ice Sheet.
Using hundreds of old aerial photographs dating back to 1937, combined with modern computer technology, the researchers from the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management at the University of Copenhagen have tracked the evolution of glaciers in East Antarctica and have been able to determine whether the glaciers have retreated or advanced and whether they have thickened or thinned.
The study reveals that the ice has not only remained stable but grown slightly over the last 85 years, partly due to increasing snowfall.
“We constantly hear about climate change and new melt records, so it’s refreshing to observe an area of glaciers that has remained stable for almost a century,” says PhD student Mads Dømgaard, the study’s lead author.
Solid historical photographic record
Out of 2200 images photographed from seaplanes in 1937, 130 were selected for the analysis. The researchers combined the historical photos with modern satellite data to create 3D reconstructions of the glaciers. Moreover, the Norwegian aerial images were supplemented with 165 aerial images of the same glaciers from Australian surveys conducted between 1950 and 1974. This allowed the researchers to examine the evolution of the glaciers over different periods and calculate historical ice flow speeds for selected glaciers.
Compared to modern data, the ice flow speeds are unchanged, the researchers found. While some glaciers have thinned over shorter intermediate periods of 10-20 years, they have remained stable or grown slightly in the long term, indicating a system in balance.
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Photo: Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø
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