Hey,

Making progress is a major motivator. I like to climb out of bed thinking the day is going to be exciting. This week I solved some issues, took my 1928 Shovelhead to Larry Settle for a look-over. We organized and shipped Hugh King’s Discovery Channel biker build-off bike to the Sturgis Museum.

We attempted to get two girders from Spitfire Motorcycles. We scored a few Antiques motorcycle parts from Bobby Stark’s lot. He finally sold the lot and has 10 months to move his shit and he has a ton of it.

I solved a minor issue with the Salt Torpedo and we are just a couple of weeks away from our first trial runs.

I roughed out another Cantina Chapter. I try to improve my writing skills with each chapter. I’m watching a lecturer series about Confucius. What a strange cat he was 2500 years ago. He didn’t write anything. It wasn’t until a decade after his death that his students tried to organize his teachings and they are called Analects. Organize is almost an oxymoron when it comes to the Analects of Confucius. I’m also reading the Book of Tea originally written in 1906 and never out of print.

It’s not about tea, but Zen thoughts and Japanese art. And finally, I’m reading Ken Follet’s book based in the 1500s. It’s about two families, one in France and one in England and the horrors of religion at the time.

I’ve said the whole notion of Climate Change being blamed on man and doomsday scenarios would blow up in 2020. I believe it’s started, and Greta helped bring the house of cards down. It’s not her fault. She was taught inaccuracies.

That’s exciting, because I believe we are living in the best of times and should celebrate, not hate.



We should be giving thanks for all the enormous good around us. Sure, we need to recycle more. But let’s enjoy what we’ve accomplished and give thanks for our friends, for our massive resources and for our unending opportunities for progress every day.

Let’s hit the news a turkey is waiting somewhere:



The Bikernet Weekly News is sponsored in part by companies who also dig Freedom including: Cycle Source Magazine, the MRF, Las Vegas Bikefest, Iron Trader News, ChopperTown, BorntoRide.com and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. Most recently the Smoke Out and Quick Throttle Magazine came on board.







1. Barber Motorsports Museum
The Barber collection includes more than 1,400 restored motorcycles and cars; over 600 bikes are on display in the museum. Established to preserve motorcycle history, the collection represents 216 different manufacturers from 20 countries. Barber is generally acknowledged as the preeminent motorcycle museum in the U.S. 6030 Barber Motorsports Parkway, Birmingham, AL, (205) 699-7275, www.barbermuseum.org.



2. Wheels Through Time
Located five miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Wheels through Time Motorcycle Museum collection showcases rare, vintage American motorcycles and memorabilia. The 300 historic American motorcycles span numerous genres, including board track racers, hill climbers, military bikes and more. Historic American automobiles are also on display. 62 Vintage Lane, Maggie Valley, NC, (828) 926-6266, www.wheelsthroughtime.com.

3. Harley-Davidson Museum
The main exhibit areas focus on aspects of Harley-Davidson history and culture. For example, Clubs & Competition explore board track racing and hill climbing competition. The Engine Room has an interactive wall that features the company’s various engine designs. The motorcycle galleries chart H-D evolution from 1903 to the present. 400 West Canal St, Milwaukee, WI, (877) 436-8738, www.harley-davidson.com.



4. Motorcyclepedia Museum
The goal of this museum, with its collection of over 450 bikes and memorabilia is to educate the public about the history, culture, and changing technology of motorcycles. The museum includes 85,000 square feet of space, featuring an international collection of motorcycles dating from 1897 to the present. 250 Lake St, Newburgh, NY, (845) 569-9065, www.motorcyclepediamuseum.org.

5. AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum
The AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Gallery celebrates individuals who have promoted the sport on tracks, roads, trails, and in the halls of government. The museum also currently displays a collection of Indian motorcycles. 13515 Yarmouth Dr, Pickerington, OH, (800) 262-5646, www.americanmotorcyclist.com.



6. Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum
This extensive private collection of vintage motorcycles emphasizes racing machines. Marques in the collection include AJS, BMW, Ducati, Gilera, Matchless, Moto Guzzi, Velocette, Vincent and others, which range from 1910 to the present. Bikes on display from the collection are rotated periodically. 320 Alisal Rd, Solvang, CA, (805) 686-9522, www.motosolvang.com.

7. Lone Star Motorcycle Museum
Located in the Texas Hill Country, the Lone Star Motorcycle Museum is also a limited menu eatery with its tables spread among the collection of motorcycles. Bikes on display represent an international mixture dating from the early 20th century. 36517 Hwy 187, Vanderpool, TX, (830) 966-6103, www.lonestarmotorcyclemuseum.com.



8. National Motorcycle Museum
This privately owned, non-profit museum has over 450 bikes on display, many of which are on loan from private collectors. Current staged exhibits include a barn find, a completely restored 1920’s Shell Gas Station, and several antique motorcycles. There is also an extensive collection of motorcycle memorabilia, antique toys, photos, and posters. 102 Chamber Dr, Anamosa, IA, (319) 482-3982, www.nationalmcmuseum.org.

9. The Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame
The museum’s primary focus is on pioneers in the historic development of American two-wheeled transportation. The bike collection includes over 75 vintage and antique motorcycles, including Harley-Davidson, Excelsior, Ariel, and others. 5867 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO, (719) 487-8005, www.themotorcyclemuseum.com.

10. World of Motorcycles Museum?(aka Kersting’s Cycle Center)
Set in an unusual location, surrounded by fields of active farms, Jim Kersting’s motorcycle dealership and motorcycle museum features a collection of almost 100 machines, including brands from eight countries, and spans nine decades of motorcycle history. 8774 W 700 N, Winamac, IN (4 miles north of Judson on Hwy 39), (877) 537-7846, www.kerstingscycle.com/visit-our–museum.

--from Roadrunner.travel






THE GEARHEAD ASKS SALT TORPEDO QUESTIONS--
What is the paint scheme and what sponsor decals will go on it? I know you prefer red heads but how about a pin up girl a little different like Betty Page or Jane Mansfield back in their modeling days for the racer?
Man that trike looks fast just sitting there in the shop. I gotta get back by to see it close up again.

–Gearhead
PS. With the family moving to places like Austin, who could I get locally to do a tattoo of a Shovelhead cone motor on my shoulder?

--We have our Atomic Bob Mascot above, and Frankie is close-by in LA to help with your tat. Look for his feature in Cycle Source Magazine.--Bandit






By Michael Shellenberger, Forbes.com

Environmental journalists and advocates have in recent weeks made a number of apocalyptic predictions about the impact of climate change. Bill McKibben suggested climate-driven fires in Australia had made koalas “functionally extinct.” Extinction Rebellion said “Billions will die” and “Life on Earth is dying.” Vice claimed the “collapse of civilization may have already begun.”

Few have underscored the threat more than student climate activist Greta Thunberg and Green New Deal sponsor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The latter said, “The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change.” Says Thunberg in her new book, “Around 2030 we will be in a position to set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control that will lead to the end of our civilization as we know it.”

Sometimes, scientists themselves make apocalyptic claims. “It’s difficult to see how we could accommodate a billion people or even half of that,” if Earth warms four degrees, said one earlier this year. “The potential for multi-breadbasket failure is increasing,” said another. If sea levels rise as much as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts, another scientist said, “It will be an unmanageable problem.”
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Apocalyptic statements like these have real-world impacts. In September, a group of British psychologists said children are increasingly suffering from anxiety from the frightening discourse around climate change. In October, an activist with Extinction Rebellion (”XR”) — an environmental group founded in 2018 to commit civil disobedience to draw awareness to the threat its founders and supporters say climate change poses to human existence — and a videographer, were kicked and beaten in a London Tube station by angry commuters. And last week, an XR co-founder said a genocide like the Holocaust was “happening again, on a far greater scale, and in plain sight” from climate change.

Climate change is an issue I care passionately about and have dedicated a significant portion of my life to addressing. I have been politically active on the issue for over 20 years and have researched and written about it for 17 years. Over the last four years, my organization, Environmental Progress, has worked with some of the world’s leading climate scientists to prevent carbon emissions from rising. So far, we’ve helped prevent emissions increasing the equivalent of adding 24 million cars to the road.

I also care about getting the facts and science right and have in recent months corrected inaccurate and apocalyptic news media coverage of fires in the Amazon and fires in California, both of which have been improperly presented as resulting primarily from climate change.

Journalists and activists alike have an obligation to describe environmental problems honestly and accurately, even if they fear doing so will reduce their news value or salience with the public. There is good evidence that the catastrophist framing of climate change is self-defeating because it alienates and polarizes many people. And exaggerating climate change risks distracting us from other important issues including ones we might have more near-term control over.

I feel the need to say this up-front because I want the issues I’m about to raise to be taken seriously and not dismissed by those who label as “climate deniers” or “climate delayers” anyone who pushes back against exaggeration.

With that out of the way, let’s look whether the science supports what’s being said.

First, no credible scientific body has ever said climate change threatens the collapse of civilization much less the extinction of the human species. “‘Our children are going to die in the next 10 to 20 years.’ What’s the scientific basis for these claims?” BBC’s Andrew Neil asked a visibly uncomfortable XR spokesperson last month.

“These claims have been disputed, admittedly,” she said. “There are some scientists who are agreeing and some who are saying it’s not true. But the overall issue is that these deaths are going to happen.”

“But most scientists don’t agree with this,” said Neil. “I looked through IPCC reports and see no reference to billions of people going to die, or children in 20 years. How would they die?”

“Mass migration around the world already taking place due to prolonged drought in countries, particularly in South Asia. There are wildfires in Indonesia, the Amazon rainforest, Siberia, the Arctic,” she said.

But in saying so, the XR spokesperson had grossly misrepresented the science. “There is robust evidence of disasters displacing people worldwide,” notes IPCC, “but limited evidence that climate change or sea-level rise is the direct cause”

What about “mass migration”? “The majority of resultant population movements tend to occur within the borders of affected countries," says IPCC.

It’s not like climate doesn’t matter. It’s that climate change is outweighed by other factors. Earlier this year, researchers found that climate “has affected organized armed conflict within countries. However, other drivers, such as low socioeconomic development and low capabilities of the state, are judged to be substantially more influential.”

Last January, after climate scientists criticized Rep. Ocasio-Cortez for saying the world would end in 12 years, her spokesperson said "We can quibble about the phraseology, whether it's existential or cataclysmic.” He added, “We're seeing lots of [climate change-related] problems that are already impacting lives."

That last part may be true, but it’s also true that economic development has made us less vulnerable, which is why there was a 99.7% decline in the death toll from natural disasters since its peak in 1931.

In 1931, 3.7 million people died from natural disasters. In 2018, just 11,000 did. And that decline occurred over a period when the global population quadrupled.

What about sea level rise? IPCC estimates sea level could rise two feet (0.6 meters) by 2100. Does that sound apocalyptic or even “unmanageable”?

Consider that one-third of the Netherlands is below sea level, and some areas are seven meters below sea level. You might object that Netherlands is rich while Bangladesh is poor. But the Netherlands adapted to living below sea level 400 years ago. Technology has improved a bit since then.

What about claims of crop failure, famine, and mass death? That’s science fiction, not science. Humans today produce enough food for 10 billion people, or 25% more than we need, and scientific bodies predict increases in that share, not declines.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) forecasts crop yields increasing 30% by 2050. And the poorest parts of the world, like sub-Saharan Africa, are expected to see increases of 80 to 90%.

Nobody is suggesting climate change won’t negatively impact crop yields. It could. But such declines should be put in perspective. Wheat yields increased 100 to 300% around the world since the 1960s, while a study of 30 models found that yields would decline by 6% for every one degree Celsius increase in temperature.

Rates of future yield growth depend far more on whether poor nations get access to tractors, irrigation, and fertilizer than on climate change, says FAO.

All of this helps explain why IPCC anticipates climate change will have a modest impact on economic growth. By 2100, IPCC projects the global economy will be 300 to 500% larger than it is today. Both IPCC and the Nobel-winning Yale economist, William Nordhaus, predict that warming of 2.5°C and 4°C would reduce gross domestic product (GDP) by 2% and 5% over that same period.

Does this mean we shouldn’t worry about climate change? Not at all.

One of the reasons I work on climate change is because I worry about the impact it could have on endangered species. Climate change may threaten one million species globally and half of all mammals, reptiles, and amphibians in diverse places like the Albertine Rift in central Africa, home to the endangered mountain gorilla.

But it’s not the case that “we’re putting our own survival in danger” through extinctions, as Elizabeth Kolbert claimed in her book, Sixth Extinction. As tragic as animal extinctions are, they do not threaten human civilization. If we want to save endangered species, we need to do so because we care about wildlife for spiritual, ethical, or aesthetic reasons, not survival ones.

And exaggerating the risk, and suggesting climate change is more important than things like habitat destruction, are counterproductive.

For example, Australia’s fires are not driving koalas extinct, as Bill McKibben suggested. The main scientific body that tracks the species, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, labels the koala “vulnerable,” which is one level less threatened than “endangered,” two levels less than “critically endangered,” and three less than “extinct” in the wild.

Should we worry about koalas? Absolutely! They are amazing animals and their numbers have declined to around 300,000. But they face far bigger threats such as the destruction of habitat, disease, bushfires, and invasive species.

Think of it this way. The climate could change dramatically — and we could still save koalas. Conversely, the climate could change only modestly — and koalas could still go extinct.

The monomaniacal focus on climate distracts our attention from other threats to koalas and opportunities for protecting them, like protecting and expanding their habitat.

As for fire, one of Australia’s leading scientists on the issue says, “Bushfire losses can be explained by the increasing exposure of dwellings to fire-prone bushlands. No other influences need be invoked. So even if climate change had played some small role in modulating recent bushfires, and we cannot rule this out, any such effects on risk to property are clearly swamped by the changes in exposure.”

Nor are the fires solely due to drought, which is common in Australia, and exceptional this year. “Climate change is playing its role here,” said Richard Thornton of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre in Australia, “but it's not the cause of these fires."

The same is true for fires in the United States. In 2017, scientists modeled 37 different regions and found “humans may not only influence fire regimes but their presence can actually override, or swamp out, the effects of climate.” Of the 10 variables that influence fire, “none were as significant… as the anthropogenic variables,” such as building homes near, and managing fires and wood fuel growth within, forests.

Climate scientists are starting to push back against exaggerations by activists, journalists, and other scientists.

“While many species are threatened with extinction,” said Stanford’s Ken Caldeira, “climate change does not threaten human extinction... I would not like to see us motivating people to do the right thing by making them believe something that is false.”

I asked the Australian climate scientist Tom Wigley what he thought of the claim that climate change threatens civilization. “It really does bother me because it’s wrong,” he said. “All these young people have been misinformed. And partly it’s Greta Thunberg’s fault. Not deliberately. But she’s wrong.”

But don’t scientists and activists need to exaggerate in order to get the public’s attention?

“I’m reminded of what [late Stanford University climate scientist] Steve Schneider used to say,” Wigley replied. “He used to say that as a scientist, we shouldn’t really be concerned about the way we slant things in communicating with people out on the street who might need a little push in a certain direction to realize that this is a serious problem. Steve didn’t have any qualms about speaking in that biased way. I don’t quite agree with that.”

Wigley started working on climate science full-time in 1975 and created one of the first climate models (MAGICC) in 1987. It remains one of the main climate models in use today.

“When I talk to the general public,” he said, “I point out some of the things that might make projections of warming less and the things that might make them more. I always try to present both sides.”

Part of what bothers me about the apocalyptic rhetoric by climate activists is that it is often accompanied by demands that poor nations be denied the cheap sources of energy they need to develop. I have found that many scientists share my concerns.

“If you want to minimize carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2070 you might want to accelerate the burning of coal in India today,” MIT climate scientist Kerry Emanuel said.

“It doesn’t sound like it makes sense. Coal is terrible for carbon. But it’s by burning a lot of coal that they make themselves wealthier, and by making themselves wealthier they have fewer children, and you don’t have as many people burning carbon, you might be better off in 2070.”

Emanuel and Wigley say the extreme rhetoric is making political agreement on climate change harder.

“You’ve got to come up with some kind of middle ground where you do reasonable things to mitigate the risk and try at the same time to lift people out of poverty and make them more resilient,” said Emanuel. “We shouldn’t be forced to choose between lifting people out of poverty and doing something for the climate.”

Happily, there is a plenty of middle ground between climate apocalypse and climate denial.

Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment” and Green Book Award Winner. He is also a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Washington Post