Uncertainty monster visits MIT: Part II | Climate Etc.

The students that the read the blogs were much more conversant with broad range of issues surrounding climate science than those that didn’t read the blogs.
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I had the opportunity for one-on-one meetings with six faculty members, each of which was very interesting in a different way.

Two of the younger faculty members frequently read the blogs, they were under the impression that the students were getting a lot of information from them (although this was not particularly the case of the students with whom I had lunch). Both tried to peruse a range of climate blogs (and frequently read Climate Etc). In terms of skeptical blogs, one faculty member mentioned that the main skeptical blog they visited was the Heartland Inst blog; was unaware of Climate Audit, Blackboard, WUWT, Bishop Hill, etc.
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One faculty member thought I wimped out a bit on my answer regarding the IPCC, and thought that the IPCC should just be disbanded. This started a discussion on the IPCC. Ron Prinn related a very interesting story. Ron was a lead author on AR4 Chapter 2. He is a big fan of the Morgan et al. (2006) expert elicitation study on aerosol radiative forcing (mentioned on slide 30 of my talk), and in fact recommended to Morgan that he conduct this study. Prinn tried to get the Ch 2 group to include this paper in their chapter but they refused to. The argument was that they decided on their consensus approach, and didn’t want to confuse things with a different methodology (that happened to include a result whereby aerosol indirect effects in the 20th century might be -2.1 W m-2 or more, which is a value that is larger than the direct CO2 forcing in the 20th century (1.7 Wm-2). He was unable to get this study even included in the references, although he was a lead author.

What was the little ice age? | [Strange bit of climate reality in the warmist Guardian] | guardian.co.uk

The "little ice age", evidence of which was first recorded around 1300, and which extended through to the mid 1800s, was the coldest interval over the Northern Hemisphere for one thousand or so years. Periodic plagues and famines ravaged Europe and glaciers descended from the Alps to engulf a number of villages.

One influence may have been a drop in solar energy.

[Model UN climate change hoax conference] - YouTube

In March 2011, the United Nations Association of Sweden in collaboration with UNA Norway and UNA Finland hosted a Model United Nations as a Climate Change Conference.

About 300 youths from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Lithuania participated.

Half of Earth’s animals may die due to climate change - National Paelenotology Science News | Examiner.com

The species examined in the study were amphibians (frogs, salamanders, and toads) because their present territories and means of coping with climate variation are well documented.

Of the 15 species studied, the researchers predict 4 will become extinct, 4 will become endangered, and 7 will survive.
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If a given species dies out the prey that that species consumed could multiply inordinately and potentially could destroy food crops or other vegetation man depends on at present for survival.