Bishop Hill Cooling off at the Grantham Institute
Aug 18, 2014 Greens A reader writes:
I had reason to visit Imperial College last week. I must say, Imperial is a lot sleeker than it was when I did some research there in the 1980s: some funky modern buildings among the concrete and a raised plaza with tables to sit in the sun.
As we sat there waiting for our contact to collect us, I noticed the Grantham Institute For Climate Change. It's based in the Sherfield Building, next door to the faculty that I was visiting. There was a big green sign over the entrance, but no indication of how much space they occupied, or on how many floors. It all looked very impressive, though I couldn't help wondering why they didn't name themselves the Institute AGAINST Climate Change.
Our contact arrived, and we went into the building. I said, "I see you're next door to the Grantham Institute."
"Who?" This may just be a symptom of the focussed academic mind, but I bet he wouldn't have said "Who?" if I had casually mentioned Chemical Engineering or Materials.
"You know, the Grantham Institute?" Still blank. "For Climate Change?" His brow cleared. "Oh, THOSE guys." Definitely a note of scorn. Pause, then wistfully: "They've got air conditioning!"
So there you have it. A tiny conversation, but it gave me a strong impression of the degree of status accorded to the Institute by their neighbours, who are real academics; and I absolutely loved the image of them sitting in air-conditioned, climate-changed, ungreen splendour while actual scientists sweat all around them.
Reader Comments (21)
Good point,but the lunatics have been inhabiting the MSM especially the BBC for years and ARE listened to and worst still uncritically believed.
They obviously need air conditioning to cope with all the hot air they generate.
Hypocrisy is part and parcel of the global warmists life style. So much so that they cannot even see it.
Whats wrong with flying to Belgium for a meeting ?
Whats wrong with cruising to the arctic/antarctic to with 'celebrities' to see climate change in action?
Whats wrong with flying X,000 miles to a climate change conference?
I'm saving the planet
I went to Imperial many decades ago, referring to it as Empirical to distinguish myself from Oxbridge. In the early days of computing I saw economists and meteorologists applying physics' methodologies such as mathematical modelling to their disciplines. Both forays failed. The Black - Scholes solution of the differential equations predicting the correct value of a Derivative assumed the Market had Perfect Knowledge; the 2008 collapse was because financial institutions fixed the odds. It's the same with Climate Alchemy: incorrect assumptions about IR and heat transfer physics.
These mistakes spread to mainstream science. That left us engineers who have to make process plant work as the repository of real science. 40 years of science failure means Empirical College had better return to its roots. Air Conditioning is for wimps..........
Hey, I'm just pleased to learn that Imperial still has a department of Chemical Engineering.
I wonder if the Grantham bit has its energy bill separately accounted for? It would be interesting to compare its consumption with the, er, warmer departments.
"Hypocrisy is part and parcel of the global warmists life style."
Exactly. Hypocrisy is a very useful weapon against your opponents. It forces them to stoop to your level to criticize you.
jamesp at 11:34 AM
That's got to be worthwhile - if they haven't got the numbers .... then that looks bad as they aren't caring for the environment and if they do ... then - given the Bish's post it does seem rather likely that Grantham's power bill / energy usage might cause some embarrassment.
Seems like win-win ... OK - who's going to do the enquiry / possible FoI?
Something to torment B.Ward Esq with :-)
tomo
"Something to torment B.Ward Esq with"
I like it already.
Grantham offers Imperial a big bag of cash to use their name for his own ends by basing an office their that does no research nor teaching , and they say 'yes please ' . It is an old story with 'prestige' universities how sell out their names and reputations to ensure they have those 'sleeker' buildings, Oxbridge have been doing it for hundreds of years . Oddly the 'inferior' universities don't follow this line so you can say that perhaps not has good , but certainly more honest.
Maybe they know something about the future temperature in the RBKC that we don't.
Oh, THOSE guys.
I think this view is generally emerging not just about climate change but Earth Sciences in general. They've only got themselves to blame.
Greens go by (refrigerated) air.
If it was called "the Institute Against Climate Change" people would assume they were a bunch of deniers.
@turnedoutnice
your comments about black scholes and the financial crisis are simply wrong.
Regarding the ambivalence shown by the Imperial colleague toward the GI, I had occasion to visit a Penn State prof. about the time Michael Mann's work was being examined by the NAS. My friend was in a department that was peripherally related to the "Climate Department"---names have shifted around through the years, but at one time, all "Earth Sciences" were somehow under one umbrella.
I said something like "Looks like one of your guys has his hands full!" When he realized who I was talking about, he sort of half-smiled and said "We don't pay too much attention to what goes on over there."
I was at Imperial College 1969-72. Piers Corbyn was also there some of that period. I've always wondered why Imperial got involved with the Grantham Institute and allowing their name to be associated with Grantham. When the great global warming hoax and fraudulently manipulated "warming" temperatures are eventually unmasked and recognized in the mainstream media and the public, I expect Imperial will find that their Grantham association will have been an embarassing non-science episode that at some point will need to be terminated.
@fred: Black-Scholes assumes an Efficient Market - I referred to it as Perfect Knowledge; not much difference of practical meaning when you factor in all the other assumptions including adequate liquidity. The LTCM fall was because they didn't have enough cash available!
Unfortunately it is that attitude that has landed us all in the shit we're in at the moment. Perhaps it's time that your friend and the acquaintance of the "reader" responsible for this post — not to mention several hundred others in academia and elsewhere — woke up to the damage they have done by keeping their mouths shut!
Alan Davidson
'I've always wondered why Imperial got involved with the Grantham Institute '
The usual reason , big bags of cash , we give you cash you give us prestige .
Hence all those 'Cambridge University', English and Business schools you see .
I stay close to a number of senior academics at Oxford University and am afraid to say that the extent to which that institution has bought into the AGW scare is mind boggling, from the Vice Chancellor down.
The few academics who are sceptical keep their views very much to themselves.