Hi there.
About a year ago I shut down “Watching the Deniers” (WtD) and took an extended break from writing and the climate change debate. So to anyone who used to follow the blog welcome back.
I started WtD in 2010 and maintained it for more than four years. During that time I was welcomed into a broader community of writers, activists, scientists and researchers interested in climate change. During these years I had the great privilege of meeting many of these people, and feel some pride in having made a small contribution to the conversation.
But such commitment can come at a cost. The considerable effort to to research, write, edit and publish original content can be both time consuming and exhausting. After four years of “being in the trenches” I felt exhausted. I thought I’d take a few months off and recharge and get back to writing.
However, life events prevented this. I now call 2014 “The year of really interesting sh*t”.
I don’t wish to dwell on personal events, but suffice to say I had to deal with a number of significant issues. The year 2014 kicked off with me sending my beautiful daughter to her first year of school. She is thriving at school, and I’ve been amazed to the progress she has made. This happy event was a somewhat tinged by a personal betrayal. During the middle of the year I changed jobs, moving away from the corporate sector to the university sector, a move I’ve greatly enjoyed.
However without doubt the greatest challenge of 2014 was being diagnosed with a serious illness. Thankfully I got the right treatment and received the support of some incredible friends and family members. I’m not one to overstate things but there where some real dark nights of the soul. There’s no cure for what I have, however with lifestyle changes and continued adherence to medication and treatments it’s manageable.
Now I’ve decided it’s a good time to start writing again.
I’ll post this week about some interesting climate related news, but will also be launching a new blog.
Stay tuned, and thanks for stopping by once more.
As a side note: I’ve got zero tolerance for those hoping to come here or the new blog and debate the reality of climate change.
Mike @ WtD.
Watching the Deniers 
Comments on this blog will be enable shortly.
Looking forward to once again reading your thoughtful and intelligent insight on the serious topic of climate change.
Reblogged this on Welcome to Lensville and commented:
I can’t tell you how happy this post makes me, Mike. It’s great to hear your voice in a public realm again. Looking forward to hearing/reading more whenever you’re ready.
Thanks guys 🙂
Welcome back!
Thanks Rachel!
I always thought your writing was very good and was happy to see the link pop up on a time-sensitive blogroll I follow. I know it takes a lot of time and effort, but please be advised that I really appreciate it, for what it’s worth.
time to start collect data for Fury mk 3? 😉 LOL
https://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/misrepresentation/
Welcome back!
As a denier, I would like to engage in a debate but how can I if there is ‘0 tolerance’ ? Are we just going to split into two groups who don’t ever talk to each other ?
Call me pedantic, but if the title of this piece was supposed to be a quote from Shakespeare’s Henry V (act 3, scene 1), then it should be “…Once more unto the breach…” then again, maybe it was not meant as a quote, in which case, I apologise.
I guess as the science is apparently ‘settled’ with regards to the incredibly complex interactions between the atmosphere, the oceans, and the land, not to mention the sun, then there’s apparently no need for debate, you know, much like the Catholic church and the inconvenient truth published by Galileo.
I do find it very amusing that the people who claim to be on the side of ‘science’ (but are very rarely scientists of any sort themselves), democracy, and freedom of speech, are the first to shut down any discussions and debate, commonly with the claim that ‘if you’re not a climate scientist then your opinion is worthless’ or similar…
As for the gentleman who runs this site, welcome back, you must indeed be ready for more discussions about science vs blind faith, and money making schemes for carbon traders.