Most of this is not new. The fact that the Earth’s climate has changed many times over the millennia for reasons that are not understood, and that the Earth’s climate history is replete with periods that were warmer than what we are experiencing now, has long been known. What is noteworthy, I think, is that a government agency is willing to say out loud what skeptics have been saying for years.

The Norwegians’ defection is important because climate alarmism can survive only if it is deemed an official “consensus,” so that people who point out inconsistent facts can be censored. Once the purported consensus is punctured, it rapidly becomes clear that the Climate Emperor is unclothed. Western governments (not, of course, China, India or the third world) have rushed to embrace the “consensus” because the supposed climate crisis is an endless excuse for extending government power over everything, from the largest power plant to your gas stove. And governments like power.

But the Europeans, in particular, are having second thoughts.

[I agree with John that this is a very good development. He’s also correct that the countries that have crawled out further on the de-industrialization limb are now finding out just what that means in terms of unreliable energy and standards of living now and in the future. That might open more minds in government, especially in the representative democracies, now that Norway has begun to balk. — Ed]