{"id":411942,"date":"2025-11-07T09:57:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T08:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411942"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:57:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T08:57:50","slug":"joe-romm-even-gates-was-fooled-doomism-at-penn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411942","title":{"rendered":"Joe Romm: \u201cEven Gates was fooled\u201d (Doomism at Penn)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Bradley Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cBill Gates has been rightly slammed for his anti-scientific memo calling for shifting our focus away from \u2018near-term\u2019 emissions cuts. Tragically, that shift could cause the very doomsday scenario he dismisses.\u201d (Joe Romm, below)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Doomism is alive and well at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media<\/a>, despite Michael Mann\u2019s advice to the contrary<\/a>. It exists in the person of Joe Romm, Mann\u2019s colleague. Maybe the two need to meet to figure out how to alarm but not be alarming\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGates is wrong,\u201d Joe Romm reports<\/a>. \u201cGlobal warming could well \u2018decimate civilization\u2019, but<\/em> his \u2018strategic pivot\u2019 would make catastrophic warming far more likely.\u201d Doomster Romm continues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Bill Gates has been rightly slammed for his anti-scientific memo calling for shifting our focus away from \u201cnear-term\u201d emissions cuts. Tragically, that shift could cause the very doomsday scenario he dismisses.

<\/a>Gates: \u201cPeople will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.\u201d But scientists are much better at foreseeing the future, so we know that taking his advice will sharply boost chances for catastrophe.

By catastrophe, I mean 4\u00b0C (7\u00b0F) warming or more by 2100\u2014warming so rapid and hellish, there was a \u201cscarcity of any scientific literature\u201d on it until nearly 2010<\/a>. This possibility seemed<\/em> to have faded in recent years as nations rushed to make major climate reduction pledges after Paris in 2015.

Yet, it was never off the table. We just fooled ourselves into thinking that lofty goals of 1.5\u00b0C or \u201cwell below 2\u00b0C,\u201d repeated like mantras\u2014coupled with a clean energy revolution\u2014were enough to avoid the worst. Even Gates was fooled.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The predicament is our fault by our \u201cinaction\u201d (as if the suite of government mitigation policies were not tried and failed). Romm continues:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

<\/a>But despite pledges of \u201cnet zero\u201d emissions by midcentury by every major nation, none of the top 10 emitters has policies and actions in place that would keep warming by 2100 below 3\u00b0C.

The world\u2019s top scientists found in their 2023 IPCC assessment: \u201cThe continuation of policies implemented by the end of 2020 leads to global warming of 3.2\u00b0C by 2100.\u201d In June 2025, Climate Interactive modelers projected 3.3\u00b0C (6\u00b0F) warming based on existing policies. And these are business-as-usual projections\u2014NOT worst-case scenarios\u2014although the UN called such warming \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d

Yet there\u2019s a good chance the climate is much more sensitive to CO2 than people expect. The 2023 report found, \u201cThe likely range of equilibrium climate sensitivity has been narrowed to 2.5\u00b0C to 4.0\u00b0C (with a best estimate of 3.0\u00b0C) based on multiple lines of evidence.\u201d

So, most use 3\u00b0C\u2014but the distribution is skewed. \u201cLikely\u201d means a two-thirds chance. So, 4\u00b0C or higher is very plausible. Indeed, the IPCC can\u2019t \u201crule out \u2026 values above 5\u00b0C.\u201d

But surely, we can do better than existing policies? We can\u2014but we choose not to. And Gates\u2019 pivot would ensure we don\u2019t. We\u2019ve dawdled through 30 COPs, and emissions are 50% higher than when we began. We have the real solutions, but\u2014overwhelmed by misinformation, false promises, bad actors & bad decisions\u2014they\u2019re not growing nearly fast enough.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Romm concludes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Gates doesn\u2019t even realize he needs the very rapid emissions cuts he dismisses to claim warming will stay well below 3\u00b0C. But if we follow his advice, a catastrophic fate for humanity becomes a very real possibility.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Joe Romm will not put a date or severity estimate on his \u201ca catastrophic fate for humanity becomes a very real possibility.\u201d But he should be reminded: the neo-Malthusian end-is-near rhetoric has grown stale with so many predictions falsified<\/a>. Yet kicking and screaming he goes, along with Michael \u2018Climategate\u2019 Mann<\/a> at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also see \u201cAngry Michael Mann Isolates Himself (climate exaggeration backfires)<\/a>\u201d August 21, 2025. Other posts on Romm can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doomism is alive and well at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s\u00a0Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, despite Michael Mann\u2019s\u00a0advice to the contrary. It exists in the person of Joe Romm, Mann\u2019s colleague. Maybe the two need to meet to figure out how to alarm but not be alarming\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":411945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the warnings from Joe Romm on Bill Gates' anti-scientific climate strategy and its implications for global warming by 2100.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Bill Gates' Climate Strategy: A Path to Catastrophe?","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691839368,691839353,691819134,691818087,691839013,691818154,691831851],"class_list":{"0":"post-411942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-30-cops","9":"tag-doomism","10":"tag-climate-alarmism","11":"tag-global-warming","12":"tag-joe-romm-university-of-pennsylvania","13":"tag-net-zero","14":"tag-us-billionaire-bill-gates","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/OIG2-1.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Jae","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":391392,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=391392","url_meta":{"origin":411942,"position":0},"title":"Joe Romm Soldiers On (remnants of a failed crusade)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"29\/07\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cJoe Romm soldiers on in a futile, quixotic crusade against energy and climate reality. No midcourse correction as his tent grows smaller and smaller. Angry Joe wants to stay that way.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In \"alarmist community\"","block_context":{"text":"alarmist community","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=alarmist-community"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0AQNGg2atHUGurQvOA2j5SRwlx7WRWX_rummut0qRKS0nd-ZWRNsbTjhkBOVJ6avhY_kAU7ODVe-8uYEYa6mGo01SN6oyiYXJxrdzhFZV8jH10kWudnc4P9bioY8Ipx32cBPKkC3WKRE5zyIslvgKtxDSIWXGkw-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0AQNGg2atHUGurQvOA2j5SRwlx7WRWX_rummut0qRKS0nd-ZWRNsbTjhkBOVJ6avhY_kAU7ODVe-8uYEYa6mGo01SN6oyiYXJxrdzhFZV8jH10kWudnc4P9bioY8Ipx32cBPKkC3WKRE5zyIslvgKtxDSIWXGkw-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0AQNGg2atHUGurQvOA2j5SRwlx7WRWX_rummut0qRKS0nd-ZWRNsbTjhkBOVJ6avhY_kAU7ODVe-8uYEYa6mGo01SN6oyiYXJxrdzhFZV8jH10kWudnc4P9bioY8Ipx32cBPKkC3WKRE5zyIslvgKtxDSIWXGkw-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0AQNGg2atHUGurQvOA2j5SRwlx7WRWX_rummut0qRKS0nd-ZWRNsbTjhkBOVJ6avhY_kAU7ODVe-8uYEYa6mGo01SN6oyiYXJxrdzhFZV8jH10kWudnc4P9bioY8Ipx32cBPKkC3WKRE5zyIslvgKtxDSIWXGkw-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0AQNGg2atHUGurQvOA2j5SRwlx7WRWX_rummut0qRKS0nd-ZWRNsbTjhkBOVJ6avhY_kAU7ODVe-8uYEYa6mGo01SN6oyiYXJxrdzhFZV8jH10kWudnc4P9bioY8Ipx32cBPKkC3WKRE5zyIslvgKtxDSIWXGkw-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":361977,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=361977","url_meta":{"origin":411942,"position":1},"title":"Joe Romm\u2019s the Climate Ate My Homework! (re Southern California fires)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"14\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Just add \u201cpolicy\u201d in two places in Romm\u2019s quotation above, and substitute \u201cinaction\u201d for \u201caction\u201d at the end, and his conclusion can be fixed. But who is Joe Romm? And what is his track record? I have tangled with Angry Joe for decades (I am a \u2018sociopath\u2019 to him) and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0be41ea85-1.8.25-la-fire6.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0be41ea85-1.8.25-la-fire6.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0be41ea85-1.8.25-la-fire6.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0be41ea85-1.8.25-la-fire6.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0be41ea85-1.8.25-la-fire6.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":353645,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=353645","url_meta":{"origin":411942,"position":2},"title":"Joe Romm vs. Climate Thugs: Civil War Within the Climate Fringe","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cSo, all you are left with days later is people remembering what a shocking and senseless thing somebody who did is associated with the climate movement\u2026. this is a terrible messaging strategy.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/01569636276111.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/01569636276111.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/01569636276111.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/01569636276111.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/01569636276111.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":350534,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=350534","url_meta":{"origin":411942,"position":3},"title":"President-Elect Trump\u2019s Climate\/Energy Policy: 100-Day Action Plan a Good Start","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/11\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was originally\u00a0posted\u00a0on January 19, 2017, with Donald Trump on deck to take the Presidency.","rel":"","context":"In \"100-Day Action Plan\"","block_context":{"text":"100-Day Action Plan","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=100-day-action-plan"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0DD-G7.jpeg?fit=1160%2C773&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0DD-G7.jpeg?fit=1160%2C773&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0DD-G7.jpeg?fit=1160%2C773&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0DD-G7.jpeg?fit=1160%2C773&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0DD-G7.jpeg?fit=1160%2C773&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":411817,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411817","url_meta":{"origin":411942,"position":4},"title":"Climate Alarmists Question Climate Exaggeration","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Bill Gates has\u00a0joined the reset\u00a0of the climate agenda heading into\u00a0COP30, scheduled to begin next week in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil. Gates will not be there; neither will Trump nor anyone from the federal government in their official capacity.","rel":"","context":"In \"\u2018Doomism\u2019\"","block_context":{"text":"\u2018Doomism\u2019","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=doomism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ChatGPT-Image-1.-Juni-2025-12_39_28.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ChatGPT-Image-1.-Juni-2025-12_39_28.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ChatGPT-Image-1.-Juni-2025-12_39_28.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ChatGPT-Image-1.-Juni-2025-12_39_28.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":331859,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=331859","url_meta":{"origin":411942,"position":5},"title":"Author Of New Paper: No AMOC Collapse\u2026\u201dShould Dissuade People From Climate Doomism\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/06\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"We hear it over and again: the melting ice in Greenland due to warming will soon lead to a collapse of the AMOC, making it difficult for it to \u201crestart\u201d.","rel":"","context":"In \"Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation (AMOC)\"","block_context":{"text":"Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation (AMOC)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=atlantic-meridional-ocean-circulation-amoc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/00AMOC_observing-system.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/00AMOC_observing-system.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/00AMOC_observing-system.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/00AMOC_observing-system.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/00AMOC_observing-system.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=411942"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411946,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411942\/revisions\/411946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/411945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=411942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=411942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=411942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}