Ice pack belies global warming

Here.

Excerpt:

Whatever the weather, Douglas said, it's not being caused by global warming. If anything, the climate may be starting into a cooling period.

Many were greatly alarmed at melting sea ice near the North Pole with about one-third of the normal ice pack melted by 2007. But Douglas said between November 2007 and January 2008 the entire Arctic Ocean froze over, with the ice pack forming farther south than normal. Ice is forming in places in Korea and Alaska where it normally doesn't, and Siberia's January snow cover was extensive.

"We've really never seen anything like this for many, many years," he said. And the impact has been enormous, with China importing coal "because of a super-cold winter."

The amount of sea ice is the largest ever seen in the Southern Hemisphere, and it has even snowed in Buenos Aires, Douglas said. "Within four or five months, it appears that a warming trend can go very rapidly in the other direction."

Douglas said the climate can quickly correct itself, restoring lower average temperatures in as little as two years.

He said he doubts global warming. He said if greenhouse gases were responsible for global warming, both the Arctic and Antarctic would be experiencing warming, but they aren't.

Global Cooling comes back in a big way

Here.

Rudd’s rabble

Here.

A global warming farce with a message

From this article:

While it may not be a lecture by Al (or Ally) Gore, Global Warming: Kiss your FASS Goodbye, does send a message out to its audience. The message it’s sending? Global warming is bad.

Stock Up on Blankets

See a post from "The Reformed Pastor" here.

New technologies must to tackle climate change: Jeffrey Sachs

Here.

Global Warming Hits Washington With 32 Feet Of Snow And More On The Way

Here.

Really lousy "special report" at KUOW

See "Cracking the Climate Code" here.

Excerpts:

Most scientists agree: Increased greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are causing turmoil.
...
The dream of waterfront property may be turning into a nightmare: Scientists forecast sea level will rise by over a foot in the Puget Sound by 2100.

If water levels actually do rise a foot over 90+ years, does that really qualify as a "nightmare"?

How to look at the RSS satellite-derived temperature data

Here.

A Greenie editor rejects the Warmist panic

The collapse of CO2 hysteria continues here.

Go green at this pre-Oscar party!

Here.

Actress Salma Hayek weighs in here:

"Having seen the Arctic Circle firsthand," said Hayek, "It's deeply disturbing to me that even though there is growing physical and scientific evidence from the research community illustrating the effects of global warming, world leaders simply are not doing enough to fight the problem."

Laurie Fenwood, USFWS, on blowing public money on helicopter searches for an extinct bird

From this article:

"The taxpayers are paying about $140,000 for helicopter searches that are happening in several historic states. In Arkansas the helicopter search has cost about $30,000 in federal money."..."We think there is an amazing amount evidence."

Alarmist UCSD professor Jeff Severinghaus faces some questioning

Here.

Note his non-answer on a key question:

tassili(Q) While I believe in glaobal warming, and recycle and all that good stuff, I run into people who say, "No such thing. The earth has cycles of warming and cooling. Look at the ice age." What is good proof that this is a man made change?

Dr_Jeff_Severinghaus(A) Dear Tassili, This is an excellent question - I'm glad you asked it. The best proof that this is man-made comes from the isotopes (different flavors of an element, if you will) of carbon in atmospheric carbon dioxide. We've been measuring these for 41 years now at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, continuing the pioneering work that Charles David Keeling began. These isotopes are like the "smoking gun" that shows that the CO2 rise is human-caused. Natural CO2 is rich in these isotopes (carbon-13 and carbon-14), but fossil fuel CO2 is depleted in them. So if you measure the atmospheric abundances of these, you can tell where the CO2 is coming from - natural or fossil. Indeed, the isotopes have been taking a nose dive over the past 150 years of the industrial revolution. So there is absolutely no doubt that humans have done it - in this "whodunit". Then you add in the basic physics, known from the laboratory for 140 years, that carbon dioxide traps heat. That is really an airtight case at that point - the evidence goes on and on but that is the key part.

BofA backs out of environmental joint venture

Here.

Suzuki's dragnet can't keep real science behind bars

From this article:

For a guy who hates oil and gas so much, he sure uses a lot of it. His carbon footprint is so big it's likely rivalling Al Gore's, which is surely an inconvenient truth for these men who like to preach to others but don't walk their own talk.

Remember how Suzuki and six staff travelled across the country to foster awareness about global warming on a "rock-star style bus" big enough to comfortably seat 54 people, when a van would have sufficed? In other words, when faced with choosing the environment over his own comfort, Suzuki chose the latter, as his less-than-perfectly-insulated enormous glass home in Vancouver would attest.

Will environmentalists interfere with North Slope subsistence walrus hunting?

Here.

Global Warming; Is it for real or a farce?

From this post:

NASA and colleagues used a computer model developed with modern-era satellite data to look at the climate over the past 100 years. The study found cooler than normal tropical Pacific Ocean surface temperatures combined with warmer tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures to create conditions in the atmosphere that turned America’s breadbasket into a dust bowl from 1931 to 1939. These changes in sea surface temperatures created shifts in the large-scale weather patterns and low level winds that reduced the normal supply of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and inhibited rainfall throughout the Great Plains. All the problems which caused The Dust Bowl went away and it was without Al Gore and there was no reduction of fuel consumption or any less factories or industrialisation. Simply put, some years are worse than others and there are other factors that come into play as well.

Colorado snowpack best since '97

From this article:

But drought years seem a distant memory as the Upper Rio Grande Basin boasts 173 percent of average snowpack, best in the state; and the South Platte River Basin, the state's lowest watershed currently, is at 101 percent.

The southern mountains of Colorado have enough snowpack to weather a prolonged dry spell and still finish the season above average, Gillespie said.

Even a blind dog sometimes finds a bone

Here.

Jan08 Northern Hemisphere snow cover: largest anomaly since 1966

Here.

So how does that observation fit with climate models based on notions like this:

An important positive feedback is the ice and snow albedo feedback. Sea ice and snow have high albedo. This means that they reflect most of the solar radiation. With warmer polar temperatures, the area of sea ice and snow cover decreases, exposing new expanses of ocean and land surfaces that absorb an increased amount of solar radiation. This increase of total absorbed solar radiation contributes to continued and accelerated warming. Many IPCC climate models suggest a major loss in sea ice cover by the mid 21st century caused by albedo feedback from shrinking snow cover and increased open water areas in summer.

Specifically, why isn't the snow cover shrinking, and why isn't the warming accelerating?

"Biofuels have a magnificent future"

Here.

More interesting posts from Anthony Watts

Increasing tornadoes or better information gathering?

Cold and Warm Bias in a Weather Station

Ban Ki-moon continues to shift the emphasis from global warming to water

Here.

A previous post on the subject is here.

Crying "dog", while the wolf is at the back door

From this post:

The sun has always been the elephant in the corner of the AGW debate. No matter how much they shout and scream at us about CO2 and carbon foot prints, the biggest driver of the earth's climate is the sun. It doesn't have to change much to have a huge affect on us. As climate-skeptic points out in one of his posts, ignoring the sun in the global warming debate is like walking in to a hot room and asking people to turn off their mobile phones, whilst ignoring the radiators.

"An authoritarian form of government is necessary"

You really should check out the amazing stuff here and here.

Excerpt from that first link:

In their new book, "The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy", two enviro-activists place the blame for the weather on liberal democracy and capitalism.

Going after Al Gore's assets?

From this Reference Frame post:

I think that the charlatans and fraudsters who are responsible for these insane policies and who have benefitted from them at the same moment should pay some kind of compensations. The global warming hysteria is hopefully approaching its end. I feel that we should be slowly preparing for the days - perhaps as early as in 2008 - when the absurdity of the alarm and dishonesty of its champions is going to be appreciated by a majority of the society.

30 feared killed in avalanche in IHK

Excerpt from this article:

This area and other parts of IHK have been receiving snow fall for the last one week and according to met office some areas have received over ten feet snow so far. The Highways have been closed and people are forced to stay indoors due to severe cold weather.

"Going Green"

From this article:

In the 1960s and early '70s, civil rights and the Vietnam War were the defining issues on college campuses. In the 1980s, it was apartheid. Today, that issue is climate change — or at least it will be, if Eban Goodstein has anything to do about it. An economics professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., Goodstein became convinced of the threat from climate change in the early 1990s. He started writing and speaking about it and eventually created the Green House Network in 1999 to train other global warming advocates — doing Al Gore's work before Gore was...

ABC: Global Warming to Force Humans to Flee Destroyed Earth?

Here.

Promises from Hillary

From this article:

Included was a proposal to creat a Strategic Energy Fund out of money received by ending the excess profits given to oil companies like Exxon Mobil that received special tax breaks that have contributed to their record profits at the expense of American consumers.

Saying she would work for a new agreement on greenhouse gases within a year of her becoming President, she emphasized it would include China and India. But she noted "We can't do it until the two oilmen leave the White House." Again the crowd cheered.

Is the U.S. government spending enough money on climate research?

An excerpt from an interview with Ralph Keeling:

One part that my father worked on, that has become a community of scientists, is still a very small community. Things that should be important tend to be overlooked. We're under threat from a kind of apathy and, in my view, an inappropriate apathy. We feel the continuing challenge of having to justify what we do. It was my father's challenge when he was alive and it continues today. I hope that government and private funding should be brought to bear on this to put it in to more stable footing.

From this page (dated Feb. '07):

President Bush committed the United States to continued leadership on the issue and since 2001 has dedicated nearly $29 billion to advance climate-related science, technology, international assistance, and incentive programs. This is far more than any other nation. Since 2002, the Administration has spent more than $9 billion of this amount on climate change research and, under his direction, agencies developed a 10-year strategic research plan for climate science that was endorsed by the National Academy of Sciences. Further, federally funded scientists have conducted an abundance of research, published their findings in peer reviewed papers and journals and talked with colleagues, policymakers, and media around the world about their findings.

If the science is actually settled, why are we continuing to spend so much money on climate change research?

Bucolic Idylls On Radar And Turbines

See the Phil Stott post here.

A Matter of Degrees

Excerpt from this article:

Hansen seems to take his cue from Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, in which Mark Lynas likens global warming to a descent into Dante’s Inferno. This Sunday, Lynas’ hellish vision is due to collide with the popular imagination on TV, amplified not by climate models, but the raw semiotic power of computer generated special effects. We will have to see what The National Geographic Channel unleashes, but judging from Lynas’ publicity website, which shows the dome of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral awash in a rising sea, expect something in the middle ground between An Inconvenient Truth, and Planet of the Apes. The National Geographic Website is forthrightly hyperbolic: “The difference between the world we know and something out of a disaster movie is only a matter of degrees.

Limousine Liberal Hypocrisy

See the whole March '07 piece here.

House of Organic Sustainable Fashion Show!

Here.

Far be it from me to be critical, but if these people are so concerned about the environment, shouldn't they just forget about fashion until they wear out all of the clothes already in their closets?

Senator Kerry Misinformed on Tennessee Storms, says SPPI

Here.

Right the first time: the world will cool

See the links at the Andrew Bolt post here.

The growing concern about global cooling could mark at least the fifth hysteria (cooling, warming, cooling, warming, cooling) in just over a century.

Main: State senator wants to ban incandescent bulbs

Excerpt from this article:

But there is sure to be strong opposition to the bill, including from General Electric Co.

The light bulb maker is developing a new generation of efficient incandescent bulbs, said Kim Freeman, a GE spokeswoman in Louisville, Ky.

By 2012, she said, GE will have an incandescent bulb that uses as little energy as the compact fluorescent bulbs sold today.

"We would oppose any legislation that would ban a particular technology," she said. "Giving consumers more choices is the appropriate approach."

The company supports the standards passed by Congress in December, according to Freeman. That law requires bulbs to be 25 percent to 30 percent more efficient starting in 2012.

Update: A related post from Coyote Blog is here.

Excerpt:

Read between the lines, and you see GE attempting to steer global warming legislation to its advantage. The last paragraph goes a long way to explaining GE's support of the last energy bill (with substantial light bulb legislation), which GE might have been expected to oppose. Because now we see that GE has a product sitting on the shelf ready for release that fits perfectly with the new mandate. Assuming competitors don't have such a technology yet, the energy bill is then NOT a regulation of GE's product that they reluctantly bow to, but a mandate that allows GE to keep doing business but trashes their competition. It is a market share acquisition law for GE. On the other hand, GE says a total ban would be bad, because it would force CF bulbs to the forefront, where GE trails its competitors. This is the cynical calculus of rent-seeking through regulation. And it is all worthless, because high efficiency bulbs are one of the things that so clearly pay for themselves that consumers will make the switch for themselves without government mandates.

Record wheat price ignites food inflation fears

Excerpt from this article:

The highest wheat price in U.S. history - more than $15 a bushel - was reached Thursday in Minneapolis as a trading frenzy inflames the grain markets, fans fears of spiking food costs and revives worries about food shortages.

Here's a fabulous idea-always carry used eating utensils on your person

Here.

Tree Planters in Europe Adopt Guerrilla Tactics

Here.

"Polar bears are robust"

Here.

Do the folks at Desmogblog have a grip on reality?

From this Desmogblog post:

At DeSmogBlog we monitor Youtube on a daily basis looking for the videos that effectively convey the reality and urgency of global warming.

This idiotic video actually made their top five list for 2007:



Contrast that video with skeptical videos like these:

Bob Carter
Chris Horner
Climate Skeptic
Great Global Warming Swindle

Temperature in Alaska Interior approaches 70 below

Here:

Wednesday's noontime high in Fairbanks was 45 below.

Green laws and regulation risk energy crisis, say Europe's power companies

Excerpt from this article:

Europe is facing an energy crisis because of green-influenced legislation and regulation, and difficulty in obtaining planning approval for key projects, energy companies warned yesterday.

Europe needs to spend €2tn (£1.5tn) on upgrading power networks in the next 25 years but leading energy companies have cancelled investments in new power plants worth billions of euros because of increased regulatory uncertainty, a senior executive claimed yesterday.

Johannes Teyssen, chief operating officer at E.ON, Germany's biggest energy group, blamed the European commission's plans to make companies pay for all their pollution permits from 2013, huge delays in approving planning applications and confusion among national regulators for the cancellations.

Teyssen, vice-chairman of the World Energy Council (WEC) Europe, said: "We see now every week a new investment project being cancelled across the EU." He cited at least four multibillion-euro projects to build power plants in Germany and said thousands of kilometres of new power lines were "lying on the table" because of planning delays.

God and global warming: Religion and science unite on climate change

Here.

Excerpt:

Frohlich, a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, and fellow professor Dawn M. Nothwehr, a Franciscan sister, recently completed the course they taught on the ethical and spiritual dimensions of global climate change.

Both had previously, separately taught on environmental issues at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union.

The joint class emerged from both sisters’ long-standing concerns about the human role in global warming, Nothwehr said.

“I think we were both convinced early on that the science was right,” she said.

In the accompanying video, one of the sisters suggests that we should believe in the "ICPP" [sic] science.

We have ways of making you watch

From this post:

A reader working for the Victorian Department of Human Services has already been asked twice to watch Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth in work time, to better get the faith.

Mumbai records lowest temperature in 46 years

Here.

Is it ever ethical to eat chicken?

Excerpt from this article:

Alongside eating Belgian chocolates (air miles), hunting whales (hate crime) and denying the reality of global warming (an odious offence on a par with Goebbels’ worst excesses, which, if it is not banned immediately and made into an indictable crime, will help push humanity towards a furious hellfire that will make the Holocaust look like the hokey-cokey), eating a chicken is one of the most unethical things you can do.

Lots more "Ask Ethan" eco-satire is here.

The "Green" Movement Takes It On The Chin

Here.

Excerpt:

Since an entire industry with hundreds of companies has grown up around ethanol, the news may hit that sector hard. Over the long run it could hurt the demand for corn from US farms.

More on Suzuki's 'Environmental Fascism'

Here.

Prince Charles to tour Caribbean on 246-foot yacht

Here.

Excerpt:

LONDON (AP) — Britain's eco-conscious Prince Charles will tour the Caribbean in a luxury yacht in what is being billed as an environmentally friendly, cost-cutting move.
...
The Leander has a crew of 24 and facilities including a bar, gym and sauna and hot tub. There are two master suite cabins, three en-suite double guest cabins and five twin guest cabins.

Volcanic eruption

Here.

Biofuel Boondoggle Will Double Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Here.

Excerpts:

It's a good thing the global warming crisis isn't real. Otherwise all the ethanol bureauweenies have mandated in its name would be making it much worse...
...
The study's findings aren't likely to change government policy, since ethanol mandates are a political boondoggle that only dupes expect to have any effect on the climate. If the first caucuses were held in Hawaii, they'd be forcing us to run our cars on macadamia nuts instead of corn.

India Rejects Binding Committment to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Here.

In an alternative view of reality, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Yvo de Boer simultaneously claims India is "now keener to tackle climate change".

Greenbook - "Saving the Planet" One User at a Time

From this post:

Greenbook users have reduced CO2 emissions by 483,771.57 lbs...

Cut CO2 Emissions by 4% - Stop Breathing!

Excerpt from this page:

By my own calculations if we all breathed half as frequently we could reduce CO2 emissions by over 1 billion tonnes per year - or around 4% of total global output (25 billion tonnes).

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a waste product made when the body breaks down food for energy (metabolism). The kidneys and lungs regulate the levels of carbon dioxide, bicarbonate, and carbonic acid in the blood. Blood carries carbon dioxide to the lungs, where it is breathed out. According to a study by the USDA, an average person’s respiration generates approximately 450 litres (roughly 900 grams) of carbon dioxide per day. I calculate this to be 0.3285 tonnes per year per person. There are over 6.5 billion people in the world (6,557,136,735), which, if they breathed half as much (saving 0.16425 tonnes of CO2 per person per year) would save over one billion tonnes of CO2 (1,077,009,708).

Getty Images Study Finds Polar Bears, Melting Ice Make for Bad Ads

Here.

Excerpt:

"When it comes to the visual language of the environment, we are in danger of killing it as a meaningful symbol with visual cliché," said Lewis Blackwell, creative advisor at Getty Images. "The first lesson we must learn in order to grab any attention is to make Death to Environmentalism our mantra and kill off the clichés of ecology."

Rebecca Swift, global creative planning director at Getty Images, warned that pictures of ice caps and polar bears in particular "will not resonate with consumers in the future."

Interview of Dr. Arthur Robinson

See the whole thing here.

Excerpt:

Dr. Robinson: Right now the UN claims that they have about 2,500 people involved in this and about 600 scientists seriously involved. This is what Al Gore would point to today.

We have more than 22,000 scientist signers of our global-warming petition who’ve looked at the issue and concluded essentially the opposite of these United Nations people. This says nothing about the science. Science does not depend on polling. Just because we have 22,000, and the UN may have 600, does not matter. The only thing our petition demonstrates is that there is no consensus among scientists in support of the UN claims.

Scientific questions are never settled in this way. Science is about natural truth. The truth doesn’t require any advocate. It stands by itself.

HT: Junk Science blog

Bwana Flannery

Here.

Alarmist politicians in Oregon attempt to muzzle a skeptical climatologist

From "A muddle over climate jobs" here:

Because of politics in Salem, Oregon State University has been put in an embarrassing position. It has to create a new climate research center wanted by the legislature and hire someone to run it without appearing to muzzle George Taylor, the longtime state climatologist whose views on climate change are not exactly politically correct.
...
You can blame the legislature for this muddle. The governor and other Democrats wanted to sideline Taylor for not wholeheartedly going along with the prevailing theory of man-caused global warming, but evidently they didn’t want to be seen doing so. Their bill created a new research center on climate change, but it did not repeal or amend the 1991 law that put the Oregon Climate Center at OSU in state law and tasked it with essentially the same functions now also assigned to the new center.

Some related information is here:

“The mission of the Global Warming Commission becomes more urgent every day,” said Governor Kulongoski. “From rising waters during winter storms to raging forest fires and drought that threatens the future of our farms, vineyards, and orchards, global warming is already threatening Oregon’s economic prosperity and quality of life.”

Still Waiting for Greenhouse

From this post:

Only the highly gullible have made up their minds that a catastrophic anthropogenic global warming disaster from greenhouse gases is just over the next hill. It is the smart ones who are skeptical--the ones who actually believe in science.

Just how green are the Google guys?

Some interesting stuff is here.

Snow brought by cold front draws thousands to mountains

Here.

Excerpt:

The thick snow on the 3,952-meter Yushan (Mt. Jade), the tallest mountain in Taiwan, and over a dozen other high mountains, including Hohuanshan (Mt. Common Joys), attracted several thousand motorists who took their families and friends to appreciate the snowy scenes, rare in Taiwan's normally tropical climate, during the Lunar New Year holidays.

National Treasure 3 Goes To Atlantis

From this page:

They claim there’s already a brief plot synopsis for the sequel floating around at Disney. In it the Gates family goes to Easter Island to hunt for Atlantis and the perfect, clean, power source which was supposed to have powered the legendary sunken city. Their goal is to use it to end global warming, which would mean Disney could preach to us about reducing our carbon emissions while at the same time throwing Nic Cage off a cliff.

Avoiding Carbon Tunnel Vision: Defining the Dimensions of "Green"

Here.

Excerpt:

I'm worried that, in the drive to position global warming, and the manmade greenhouse gases causing it, as the central environmental threat of our time, we have created a problem: carbon tunnel vision. We've lost the other dimensions of sustainability under the torrent of news about the importance of going "carbon neutral" and "reducing our carbon footprints."

The Sun Also Sets

See the whole IBD piece here.

Excerpt:

The study concludes that if you shut down all the world's power plants and factories, "there would not be much effect on temperatures."

But if the sun shuts down, we've got a problem. It is the sun, not the Earth, that's hanging in the balance.

Green bloggers stash trash

See the pictures here.

Excerpt:

However, Derfel's project has involved discipline. He flew 15 pounds of bottles and other packaging home from a trip to Hawaii.

Who Will Own the Climate Change Franchise? The Clintons or Al Gore?

Here.

Excerpt:

Gore's [Nobel PEACE prize] win seals the deal that he owns the global climate change franchise. Everyone big in this game -- from firms, to NGOs, to governments -- will need the Al Gore seal of approval on whether some initiatives are good or bad. That's going to be interesting. Al Gore is going to be an NGO of his very own, and he's probably going to have to get a sticker machine so that stuff he likes can bear his seal of approval.

"The Man" in Toronto discriminates against bicyclers on snow days!

Here.

Lights out, America?

Here.

Excerpts:

The lights may soon go out in Washington, DC -- and it could happen where you live, too.

“Electric power has already become painfully expensive in Washington and its suburbs. Now, local utilities, say, it could become something even worse: scarce,” reported the Washington Post this week. Maryland, for example, may face rolling blackouts as early as 2011 or 2012 on summer days.

The core of the problem is that the region’s ability to meet its ever-increasing demand for electricity is being short-circuited by environmental activists who are doing every thing they can to make it as difficult as possible to generate and transmit power.
...

Earth to Sen. McCain: U.S. coal-fired electricity doesn’t put a penny in the pockets of Middle East oil producers or terrorists. In fact, inexpensive coal-fired electricity could one day power vehicles so as to drastically cut down on gasoline use and the need for the oil imports that concern him.

If we don’t have serious debate on these issues, the combination of unscrupulous anti-growth environmentalists and uninformed grandstanding politicians will certainly lead to lights out for America.

Hillary blames "the two oil men"

Excerpt from this article:

"We can do this," she said, but the fight against global warming won't be carried on "with any seriousness until the two oil men have left the White House."

Group seeks protection for walrus under Endangered Species Act

Here.

Excerpt:

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list walruses as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because of warming and its effect on sea ice used by the animals as a feeding and resting platform.
...
"The Arctic is in crisis from global warming," said Shaye Wolf, lead author of the petition and a biologist with the conservation group. "Arctic sea ice is disappearing at a stunning rate that vastly exceeds the predictions of the best climate models."

Hmmm. Are they talking about the walruses that have recently been seen in herds of up to 100,000? And are they talking about this sea ice?

Update: Check out this from the conservation group's press release:

“With rapid action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combined with a moratorium on new oil and gas development and shipping routes in the Arctic, we can still save the Pacific walrus, the polar bear, and the Arctic ecosystem,” added Wolf. “But the window of opportunity to act is closing rapidly.”

The Pacific walrus joins a growing list of species for which the Center for Biological Diversity has sought Endangered Species Act protection due to global warming. The Center filed petitions for the Kittlitz’s murrelet in 2001, the staghorn and elkhorn corals in the Caribbean in 2004, the polar bear in 2005, 12 of the world’s penguin species in 2006, and the American pika and the ribbon seal in 2007.

Carbon chaos lessons from Euroland: Corcoran

Here.

Will the Media Give McCain a Free Pass on Climate?

Here.

Note this claim in the comment section:

...the public might certainly give a damn if the media discussed climate change more often.

Spanish opposition party goes green with promise to plant 500 million trees — 230 per minute

Here.

Interesting article on the Czech presidential election

Here.

Incumbent Vaclav Klaus is running against economist Jan Švejnar, a U.S. citizen from Michigan.

Excerpt:

Compared with Švejnar, who often slurs his way through speeches, Klaus comes across as a confident and self-assured speaker.
Indeed, Klaus’ self-assuredness remains both his greatest weakness and his greatest strength. Those hoping the president might mollify his controversial viewpoints on man-made climate change, or soften up his allegedly arrogant style in the hope of a broader electoral appeal, need only have listened to his recent press conference following an official meeting with the Green Party Jan. 28.
“I did not back off from my views on global warming and climate change,” he told Green Party leader Martin Bursík. “In fact, I am surprised you have not changed your mind. I hoped that by now you would have seen through this fiction and realized that you bet on the wrong horse.”
Klaus, like U.S. President George W. Bush, maintains that in 30 years or so historians will finally admit he was right and the conventional wisdom was wrong on global warming.

By any means necessary

Read more about the madness of David Suzuki here.

Excerpt:

David Suzuki says he wants anti-Kyoto politicians thrown in jail. How did environmentalism become this totalitarian?

Update: Andrew Bolt says "They’d burn heretics if the emissions weren’t bad".

New Analysis of the 2002 Larsen B Ice Shelf Collapse

Here.

Minnesota Public Radio: Some biofuels can add to global warming

Here.

Let's change the name again, this time to "global climate disruption"

Here.

"national U.S. legislation to combat climate change could still be years away"

Here.

They Don’t Throw Paper Like They Used To

Here.

NOAA/NCDC: Jan08 Colder than 20th century average

Here.

All-star benefit concerts relics of the past?

From this article:

The last major benefit concert, Live Earth, couldn't escape bad publicity either. The event was a series of global concerts designed to raise awareness of global warming. But the concerts gained plenty of attention for back-stage drama.

Critics said the logistics and private jet travel required to stage the concerts damaged the environment more than helping it. One dubbed the concerts "Private Jets for Climate Change." Others accused organizer Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore of staging the event as a promotional vehicle for a planned presidential run. The event's worldwide television ratings tanked.

Benefit concerts are now rich subjects for parody. Two animated shows, "South Park" and "The Simpsons," have skewered them.

A RealClimate alarmist's version of Hell

An alarmist writes about publicly facing an AGW skeptic in Norway here.

Excerpts (I think the sentence in bold is absolutely priceless):

My impression was that the journalists more or less now were convinced by the message of the IPCC assessment reports. This can also be seen in daily press news reports where contrarians figure less now than ~5 years ago. But the public seemed to think that the scientists cannot agree on the reality or cause of climate change.
...
I had the feeling of taking part in a football match where the referee and all the spectators were blind and then tried to convince them that I scored a goal.

A Case Against Climate Alarmism

See the entire Richard Lindzen piece here.

Excerpts:

The fact that the developed world went into hysterics over changes in global mean temperature of a few tenths of a degree will astound future generations.
...
The case of ENRON is illustrative in this respect. Before disintegrating in a pyrotechnic display of unscrupulous manipulation, ENRON had been one of the most intense lobbyists for Kyoto. It had hoped to become a trading firm dealing in carbon emission rights. This was no small hope. These rights are likely to amount to over a trillion dollars, and the commissions will run into many billions. Hedge funds are actively examining the possibilities. It is probably no accident that Gore, himself, is associated with such activities . The sale of indulgences is already in full swing with organizations selling offsets to ones carbon footprint while sometimes acknowledging that the offsets are irrelevant.

The possibilities for corruption are immense. Archer Daniels Midland (Americas largest agribusiness) has successfully lobbied for ethanol requirements for gasoline, and the resulting demand for ethanol is already leading to large increases in corn prices and associated hardship in the developing world (not to mention poorer car performance).

And finally, there are the numerous well meaning individuals who have allowed propagandists to convince them that in accepting the alarmist view of anthropogenic climate change, they are displaying intelligence and virtue For them, their psychic welfare is at stake.

With all this at stake, one can readily suspect that there might be a sense of urgency provoked by the possibility that warming may have ceased. For those committed to the more venal agendas, the need to act soon, before the public appreciates the situation, is real indeed.

Because They Listened To Al Gore

Here.

My list of how to stop global warming

Here.

Green Ink: Missing in Action

Excerpt from this post:

Missing from the Senate floor yesterday was John McCain, as the Senate’s stimulus package, including green-energy tax credits, failed by one vote.

More Satellite Musings

Here.

Politicizing a tragedy

Here.

Brrrr... Pakistan Suffers Lowest Temps in 70 Years-- 260 Dead

Here.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace protesters are telling us that human activity is making polar bears uncomfortably warm.

Global warming hysteria is dying

On the Internet, the shift towards global warming skepticism has been dramatic over the past year. A year ago, the prevailing view seemed to be that the Earth was certainly warming, the cause was human activity, the potential for catastrophe was high, and anyone questioning the prevailing view was Evil or Stupid.

Increasingly, we're seeing the "what if the skeptics are right" and "forget carbon dioxide" arguments as seen here.

A piece from Phil Stott

Here.

Ryanair Boss: "Recession Would End Environmental Nonsense Among Chattering Classes"

Here.

“The American Denial of Global Warming”

Here.

More on Oreskes is here.

A recent convert to a new religion

Here.

Unintended consequences: How climate change activists may be causing air pollution

Here.

Green Jobbed

See the IBD editiorial here.

Excerpt:

...claims that spending on green technologies will create "millions" of new jobs, as both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have repeatedly claimed, are false.

Such assertions rest on fallacious economic logic that sounds good on the stump but in reality results in a lower standard of living and fewer jobs for all Americans.

When Bill Clinton recently suggested that "we just have to slow down our economy" to cut greenhouse gases, he accidentally uttered the truth: The brave, new "Green Society" being planned for us now in the nation's capital would be better called the "Lean Society."

As any economist will tell you, adopting new green technologies isn't cost-free; it requires trade-offs. Money spent on curbing greenhouse gases is money that can't be spent elsewhere, so opportunities will inevitably be lost.

Bad Girl, Bad Girl, What You Gonna Do...

Excerpt from this Telegraph blog post:

The current la Nina is being a very bad girl. Although members of the Church of Global Warming are claiming the recent tornado outbreak in the southern U.S. was caused by their god "Global Warming", real climatologists believe the current la Nina is the culprit.

"It's getting hot in here! There's too much carbon in the atmosphere"!

Here is a video of student lobbyists "freezing" during a global warming protest in Georgia. I got the distinct impression that Georgia lawmakers were not terribly impressed by the students' arguments.

I particularly enjoyed the brief footage of a confrontation (at the 2:57 mark) with a skeptical politician.

UK homes urged to 'leave it off'

Here.

Excerpt:

Britons are being asked to "leave it off" later this month, to show that cutting home energy use can have an impact on climate change.

So this event is expected to have a measurable impact on the Earth's climate?

A little background on "Planet Relief":

Planet Relief was first developed as an awareness-raising, comedy-led BBC TV programme.

The BBC justified the decision to drop it after 18 months of development by saying viewers preferred factual or documentary programmes about climate change.

The decision came after poor audiences for Live Earth, and public debate over whether it was the corporation's role to "save the planet".

So since the mid-20th century, it got colder, then warmer?

See the stories here.

“Noble cause corruption” exposed

Here.

Emeritus Professor John Adams on the book "The Virtuous Corruption of Virtual Environmental Science":

It explores the hijacking of science by people grinding axes on behalf of noble causes. “Noble cause corruption” is a term invented by the police to justify fitting up people they “know” to be guilty, but for whom they can’t muster forensic evidence that would satisfy a jury. Kellow demonstrates convincingly, and entertainingly, that this form of corruption can be found at the centre of most environmental debates.

Unusually well-balanced article on disease and climate change

Here.

Will 2008 really be the year that the masses buy into global warming hysteria?

I say the answer is "no".

Check out the odd argument here:

Michael Jordan changed the face of basketball fashion overnight when he showed up to the game wearing baggy shorts ... The green movement doesn't have a Michael Jordan.
...
When electronics show that sustainable is officially the new America cool, then the sprint will begin. The hesitation will end in a snap.

I feel it in my bones that 2008 is the year.

Convincing some kids to wear baggy shorts is one thing. Convincing actual adults to spend trillions of dollars on a trace atmospheric gas is quite another.

Kalispell: Old Man Winter Flexes His Muscles

Here.

Note how temperatures continue to soar while snowfall continues to dwindle in Montana. Or not.

Bruce Thornton on pseudo-religions

Excerpt from this article:

Thornton’s assertion that religion, notably Christianity, is a receding force in European life stands on firmer statistical ground. Europe’s historic cathedrals overflow with tourists, not parishioners, he rightly observes. Filling the space vacated by traditional religion are “pseudo-religions” like environmentalism, a movement that comes complete with its own apocalyptic prophecies (global warming), its own promises of salvation (through government regulation and other intrusions into the free market), and its own clerisy (Europe’s electorally marginal yet influential Green parties).

An emailer writes:

[AGW] makes us all feel important enough to influence our climate, and ego inflating ideas and ideals sell - like hot cakes!!

Kerry Blames Tornado Outbreak on Global Warming

Here.

Excerpt:

Hate to break this to you John, but its got nothing at all to do with “global warming” and everything to do with La Nina.

Climate Debate: Polar Bears Endangered?

Here.

Debating a Science Debate

Here.

The Sun is Dimming...

See the post from Al Fin here.

Excerpt:

Global cooling is a potentially civilisation-stopping development--depending upon how far it goes. It could be a genuine catastrophe--in contrast to current overfunded CO2 hysteria. Scientific funding agencies have become steeped in a neo-Lysenkoism of climate, that is quickly taking on fascist overtones in terms of lack of tolerance of debate and dissent.

Westerners are being failed by their governments and scientific foundations. It is within the ability of many of the world's "concerned billionaires" to make up governmental deficits in funding for the vital heresies. Unfortunately, men such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros, etc. cannot be bothered with such things.

Kansas: Right Critical of Proposed Carbon Tax

Here.

Iraq Does Kyoto

Here.

Excerpt:

So what explains Iraq's rather unusual exercise of national sovereignty given its present circumstances? Follow the money. Iraq will not have to do much of anything under Kyoto, but it may be eligible for funding under Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This arrangement allows developed countries to invest in emission-reducing projects in developing countries as an alternative to what is generally considered more costly emission reductions in their own.

So there may be method in the Iraqis' seeming madness.

SEC Denies Lehman Brothers Bid to Block Global Warming Shareholder Proposal

Excerpts from this press release:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission denied a bid by Lehman Brothers to block shareholders from voting on a global warming-related shareholder proposal from the Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker: FEAOX).

"Lehman Brothers says it wants to make money from global warming, but basic information on which the firm relies and presents to shareholders is clearly erroneous," said Steve Milloy, portfolio manager of Action Fund Management (AFM), the FEAOX's investment adviser.

"When a $34 billion company is touting misinformation as a basis for its actions, it makes you wonder about the soundness of its business plan," Milloy added.

Lehman Brothers' management uses the so-called "hockey stick" chart, for example, to support the notion that "the Earth's mean temperature has risen sharply in recent decades."(1)

But the hockey stick graph was scientifically discredited long before Lehman issued its February 2007 report.(2)
...
"We think that Lehman is in way over its head when it comes to global warming and that management is recklessly risking shareholder value," said Milloy. "Shareholders will be looking for an explanation from CEO Richard Fuld at the annual shareholder meeting," Milloy concluded.

By investing in the FEAOX (http://www.feaox.com/), individuals can participate in the global warming debate while having an opportunity to earn a financial return through ownership of a large-cap mutual fund. With a minimum investment of $2,500, individuals can join FEAOX's effort to make CEOs justify their positions on global warming.

More about this fund is here.

Wonder Wind Power, Activate!

Here.

Excerpts:

...even with the record-setting 2007—wind made up about one-third of new power added in the U.S. last year, —it still accounts for just under 1% of America’s electricity generation.

That’s not going to grow too fast, no matter how many wind farms spring up. Wind power, unlike nuclear, coal- or gas-fired plants, doesn’t work overtime. GWEC figures wind power’s capacity in 2005 was about 24%–that is, wind turbines spin 1 hour out of 4, year-round.

That will improve, but slowly. Bigger and taller turbines, in more favorable locations—especially offshore—will make wind turbines more efficient. But it will be a long time before wind power’s paper strength starts to be reflected in real electricity generation. GWEC’s own figures point to wind power creeping toward 30% efficiency over the next twenty years.

Tim Ball, DeSmogBlog & Me

Here.

"much too narrow a perspective of how humans are altering the climate system"

Here.

"a change in attitude among some climate scientists, especially younger ones"

Excerpt from this Climate Audit post:

I think that I’m detecting a bit of a change in attitude among some climate scientists, especially younger ones. I’ve mentioned previously that a couple of young scientists at the 2006 AGU said that they thought that I had pretty much killed the Hockey Team studies and that the only way forward was through new and much improved data - which might take 10-20 years - something that I suspect is correct. This was obviously not the official viewpoint subsequently expressed in IPCC chapter 6 (but even there, as we now see from the Review Editor comments, there were some concerns on this section.) In 2006, they required that their identities be kept confidential.

Warmer and Richer

Excerpt from this Climate Skeptic post:

It is finally good to see someone making this point: That even if one accepts the worst of the IPCC scenarios (which I do not) the cost of CO2 abatement, particularly in terms of lost economic growth, is far higher than the cost of rising temperatures -- ESPECIALLY for the poor.

The above post links to this one from John Tierney.

Excerpt from Tierney's comment section:

It seems we may be approaching a tipping point — NASA has realized that there are other causes of warming (land use, agriculture), CERN is studying cloud/cosmic ray/solar connections to climate, many studies are casting doubt on the degree or even the existence of long-term warming, and CATO studies alternative approaches to the problem of climate change, if there is a problem and if climate is changing abnormally.

A related Coyote Blog post is here.

Villagers fight plans for huge 'eco towns'

Here. (Via Greenie Watch)

The CO2 Science response to the "official" AGU position statement

Here.

Welfare for the Well-to-Do

Here.

Excerpt:

...since the money for these programs is raised through a fee levied on ratepayers — and the poor spend a greater proportion of their income on power than the wealthy do — the poor get soaked twice: first with a regressive tax; then when most of the money is handed out to wealthy homeowners and businesses. As Water and Power President Nick Patasaouras puts it, “The rich boys and girls are subsidized by the little guys.”

The kicker is: Despite all the spending, the subsidies have only produced 10.2 megawatts of power since 1999, well below the pace to meet their goal of 280 megawatts by 2016. Thus far, despite all the promises that public investment in renewable energy is for the greater public good, it really amounts to welfare for the well-to-do.

Classic UN "logic"

Check out the twisted thinking here and note carefully the source: "United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction".

They've just finished pounding the table trying to convince us that small changes in a trace atmospheric gas would cause ever-escalating heat that might destroy life on earth. Now, as China battles its "coldest winter in 100 years", we're supposed to believe the cause is global warming, which in turn is caused by American SUVs.

Furthermore, now the bitter winter in China is supposed to be proof of an allegedly human-caused increase in "freak weather".

Do not make the Global Warming god angry

Here.

Has atmospheric CO2 decreased? A different way to look at CO2 changes

Another interesting post from William M. Briggs is here.

Climate change "debate" in the Concord Monitor

1. From realist Bruce Cobb here.

2. Response from alarmist William Klapproth here.

"As the Oil Seeps: Abiotic Oil--Not If, But How Much?"

Here.

Carbon Dioxide = Global Warming?

Here.

Lewis wind-farm decision illustrates renewables do have a cost

Here.

Excerpt:

Media reports and a widely circulated letter suggest ministers are “minded to refuse” the application for the massive Lewis wind farm.
RSPB Scotland supports the development of renewable energy to combat climate change, but has long argued that this proposal is in the wrong place. The case has been highly controversial and, predictably, this news has sparked a backlash.

A steady drip of propaganda to discredit this decision has begun. Western Isles Council obtained a meeting with Jim Mather, the energy minister, and called for the First Minister’s intervention. On Monday, the council met in emergency session to plan its next move. The council seems to remain at odds with public opinion – a poll on the Stornoway Gazette website indicated 82 per cent backing “refusal”.

Polar bears and big bollocks

Here.

Excerpt:

Might I suggest that the reason that the US government is not listing the polar bear as an endangered species is not that they are in the pocket of "big oil" but instead that polar bears are not, in fact, endangered and are, indeed, actually thriving?

Could Nova Scotia become an island?

Here.

2nd Coldest January in 15 Years

Excerpt from this post:

I know that a cold winter doesn't prove or disprove Global Warming, but I'm just curious if anybody remembers being told again and again that the winter of 1998 was proof of Global Warming ... because it was so warm.

"a collapse in international confidence in clean coal technologies"

Here.

Federal climate change initiative under the gun

Here.

Excerpts:

Four years ago, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) — a federal initiative to coordinate and direct federal climate change research at 13 agencies — agreed to prepare 21 reports on various topics related to climate change and its impacts by the end of September 2007. As of December, however, only four had been released. And now, Congress and many scientists are taking the program to task.
...
Another problem, Ramanathan says, is CCSP’s shrinking budget, which has fallen from a peak of $2 billion to about $1.7 billion. And that money is controlled not by CCSP, but by the 13 agencies that make up the program, including NOAA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. “CCSP is five or six levels removed from the authority and they don’t control the budget,” Gulledge says. “One could look at their organizational chart and say [the program] was designed to fail.”

Cold weather kills another 37 people in Afghanistan

Here.

Excerpts:

Bitter cold weather and heavy snow left 37 people dead in central Afghanistan, a provincial governor said Tuesday.
The victims, including 20 children, died in remote areas of Ghazni province in the last 24 hours, said Gov. Faizullah Faizan.
...
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Afghans in remote villages are typically able to heat their mud-brick homes only by burning animal dung or wood, if the family can afford it.

Let's say that someone found 37 dead polar bears that allegedly died because of global warming. Wouldn't such an incident receive several orders of magnitude more publicity than the death of these 37 human beings?

Tipping Points (yawn)

Here.

Excerpt:

For me the most interesting bit is what has been left out. No mention of hurricanes…

Allstate's prophets seek more profits in Florida

Here.

Does carbon capture have a chance?

Excerpt from this article:

Building a single power plant with CCS costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and implementing carbon capture to get the reductions Alberta is looking for could total more than $20 billion, says Kaufman, who is also director of natural gas business development for Suncor.

"Americans Care More About Gay Marriage Than Global Warming"

From an August '07 Treehugger post:

Pollster American Environics studied American attitudes toward energy and the environment and found depressing results:

1) Americans overwhelmingly believe that global warming is occurring.
2) They don't care. "dealing with global warming" came 20th out of 23 policy priorities.
3) They won't give anything up. The cost of energy is more important than global warming.
...
It is beyond depressing; notwithstanding all of our blogging, writing, movie making and politicking, the inconvenient truth is that we are getting nowhere.

Do 116,000 U.S. jobs already depend on government renewable energy subsidies?

Here.

Excerpt:

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) hired Navigant Consulting to do a study about the impacts that a non-renewal of renewable energy tax credits by the U.S. Congress would have. Here's what they found: Over 116,000 U.S. jobs and nearly $19 billion in U.S. investment could be lost in just one year. Approximately 76,000 jobs are at risk in the wind industry, and approximately 40,000 in the solar industry.

Over at Coyote Blog, I found this:

By the way, as a sense of scale, after 35 years of subsidies and mandates, renewables (other than hydro) make up ... about .27% of US generation.

If the figures for number of jobs and the amount of renewable energy produced are correct, it appears that we have a large number of jobs that are producing a very small amount of electricity.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond threatens to resign over budget issue

Excerpt from this article:

Ministers have already made several last-minute concessions to the SNP's first budget following opposition demands.

They included a total of 1,000 new police officers to be recruited by March 2011, and extra cash will be made available to fight climate change.

I'm curious about the accountability here. In a year or two, will someone tally up the total money spent "fighting climate change" and then provide some hard numbers on how much climate change was actually prevented?

10 degree difference in Winnipeg temps. 5 times worse than IPCC predictions!

Here.

Brrrrrrr

From Climate Skeptic here:

One can reasonably argue that this is a La Nina event and therefore cyclical rather than a sign of cooling or not-warming (January 2000 was also in a La Nina). Which is all well and good except for a couple of things. First, scientists used to think that El Nino's and La Nina's didn't heat or cool the world so much as redistribute it across the surface. Now, with satellites being able to watch the whole world at the same time, they are being forced to rething this proposition.

Second, while climate scientists can reasonably argue that current cold temperatures are cyclical rather than part of a longer trend because they are an La Nina, they did NOT make this same argument when the 1998 El Nino produced cyclically hotter temperatures. All I remember about 1998 is Mann, Gore, Hansen and company all saying 1998 was the hottest year on record and proof of global warming.

Climate Extreme Same As 100 Years Ago - Due to Climate Change. Part II.

Here.

Excerpt:

When will the world sit up and listen? If climate change isn't stopped soon, we'll see more extremes of weather like there were 100 years ago, possibly even 200 years. Possibly even 300 years ago. Maybe even 500 or 600 years ago.

People who deny that the climate is changing, in spite of the clear evidence emerging that it is the same as it was 100 years ago, are either probably sponsored by oil companies, or have been deliberately misinformed by twisted science from people who probably have been. Now, the evidence is mounting up bigger than a snowdrift. This very cold weather proves that the planet is getting hotter than it ever has been before, once and for all.

Winnipeg “The Forks”, one more non compliant weather station

Here.

The post includes a link to this interesting graph.

Suzuki jumps the shark

Here.

Excerpt:

The interesting thing about their raving is that they must recognize that their power and influence is beginning to wane so they break out the threats to push the masses back into line. However, reasonable people are not falling for their threats that “the seas will rise 20 feet” any longer. (Even the most hard-core true believers had to admit that that claim from Gore’s move was completely overblown.) So instead of heading back to the drawing board and rethinking their game plan, admitting that the hysterical approach isn’t selling, and coming back with something more reasonable, they start to suggest we set up gulags for the “deniers.”

More Ice Than "Ever" in Antarctica

Here.

But doesn't this doom us all to dengue fever?

Barbara Boxer says George Bush is proposing this:

Slashing Key Global Warming Efforts. Eliminates funding for the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Registry, a $3.4 million cut, which would undermine the government's ability to track global warming pollution. Also cuts $7 million (38%) from programs that seek to use science and technology to address global warming.

With less funding for this Registry, aren't we also risking a rash of fatal insomnia among this country's poorest and most innocent marmots?

Snow Deniers

Here.

New Report Says Ethanol is Not the Solution

Here.

Excerpt:

AUSTRALIA - A new Parliament of Australia report has confirmed concerns that ethanol has debatable fuel security, trade, environmental and regional development benefits.

More spoofs

Al Gore Pushes H2 Tax On Sun

Human Extinction Delayed 6 Months; Greener Living Slightly Rescues Mankind

Global Warming Discovered On The Sun

"Global Cooling" Identified as Part of Global Warming

Al Gore Invents Wind Power for Shipping

Excerpt from that last page:

In one version of Gore's proposal, ships would mount large trees on their tops and suspend large expanses of fabric between them to catch the wind and use it to drive the ships forward. In a more advanced version, the ships would employ windmills which would generate electricity to drive propellers, storing excess electricity in batteries, all of which would supplement the existing engines.

When we harped on "global warming" all those years, we actually meant "extreme weather patterns"

Now that that pesky real world is failing to behave as "experts" have predicted, note the changing spin here.

By my count, that page has five mentions of "change/extremes/variability" and only one mention of the dying phrase "global warming".

Mandatory suicide to reduce carbon footprint no joke

Here.

My “Green” Super Bowl Sunday

Here.

Washington state uses helicopter to cause avalanches

Here.

Excerpt:

SEATTLE, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The Washington state Department of Transportation used a helicopter to drop explosives and trigger avalanches around Snoqualmie Pass for the first time ever.
...
More than 6 1/2 feet of snow fell in the area over six days, creating avalanche possibilities in areas that haven't had an issue with the problem in 30 years, the Seattle Times reported Monday.

Everything’s Tougher Down Under

Excerpt from this post:

According to Tuesday’s The Australian newspaper, the new Rudd government in Canberra wants jail time and heavy fines for executives that don’t comply with the country’s new mandatory emissions-reporting rules.

Can you really save the world by paying $25 for a bogus "carbon offset"?

Here.

Excerpt:

LiveNeutral, a smaller, San Francisco-based firm built under the Presidio School of Management, has not yet filed any tax documents. But, based on Chicago Climate Exchange price data, it charged Battin $45 for offsets that cost $13.50.

Jenna Carl, executive director of LiveNeutral said the firm runs lean and could not constantly adjust its pricing based on fluctuations in the Chicago exchange.

"I get less markup when I buy gas from Exxon," the Senator cracked.

RSS Satellite data for Jan08: 2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 years

Here.

Excerpt from this related post (see the post for links):

This time, it was the Northern Hemisphere that was unusually cool: recall the recent record snowstorms in China, cold records at places in the U.S., deadly freezing weather in India, and the peaceful snow in Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East. The hemispherical temperature anomaly was -0.120 °C, the coldest reading in this column since January 1997, the third coldest reading among the 172 months after September 1993, and a figure cooler than April 1998 by more than 1.2 °C.

Religions join hands

See "Lent fast to cut carbon emissions" here.

Excerpts:

Two senior bishops are urging people to cut back on carbon for Lent instead of the conventional chocolate or alcohol.

The Bishops of London and Liverpool, Dr Richard Chartres and James Jones, are launching the Carbon Fast at Trafalgar Square with aid agency Tearfund.
...
Bishop Jones, who is vice president of Tearfund, said: "It is the poor who are already suffering the effects of climate change.

"To carry on regardless of their plight is to fly in the face of Christian teaching."

One Tearfund employee will camp outside the charity's offices in Teddington for a week in an attempt to reduce his emissions to that of an average Malawian farmer.

Tearfund's web site is here. I don't know their history, but I would guess that they leaped onto the global warming hysteria bandwagon quite recently.

A related article is here.

Excerpt:

Day 27
Pressure a car owner to check their tyre pressures. Low tyre pressure means high fuel consumption.

Coldest weather in a century - must be global warming

Here.

The Economic Benefits of Saddling U.S. Industry?

From the Chris Horner piece here:

The “root cause” of this thinking seems to be a strain of American exceptionalism that says once the U.S. government applies the spurs to U.S. industry in the form of a threat to their competitiveness — possibly styled as a market opportunity for innovators — we will answer the call and produce stunning advances in “new” technologies pioneered anywhere from millennia (wind) to centuries (solar) ago.

Suzuki: Jail politicians who ignore [alarmist] "science"

Here.

Excerpt:

[David Suzuki] urged today’s youth to speak out against politicians complicit in climate change, even suggesting they look for a legal way to throw our current political leaders in jail for ignoring science – drawing rounds of cheering and applause. Suzuki said that politicians, who never see beyond the next election, are committing a criminal act by ignoring science.

More links are available at this post, entitled "David Suzuki - enviro-fascist".

1,500 Years of Cooling in the Arctic

Here.

All righty then

Excerpt from this article:

Hirini says that climate change is making more people turn inward and start asking fundamental questions.
“Climate change is making people ask more meaningful questions about business, political leadership and the quality of life. Some big shifts in thinking will be required. It will take much courage and collective goodwill to lift the consciousness of humanity. Climate change begins with habit change. It starts in the mind. Start removing toxic thoughts and polluting actions each day. Clean up your emotions. This is why you need a martial art for the inner self. A daily discipline to strengthen your heart, nerve and sinew for upcoming changes. We have so many limiting beliefs that they can make us cowards and traitors to our own consciences. Yet each person can start by recycling their own thoughts into nutrients for positive change. Start with one thing then double it. Start small, finish big.”

Unconvincing "green" elevator speeches

Here.

First They Came for my Light Bulbs. Then for my Plastic Bags.

Here.

Chris Horner videos

If students spend 90 minutes watching "An Inconvenient Truth" at school, I think it would make a lot of sense for them to also watch the Chris Horner videos (about 30 minutes total) below.

By the way, Horner is scheduled to debate Peter Sinclair on climate change this Wednesday night at Michigan State. I wouldn't want to be in Sinclair's shoes for that debate.

China battles "coldest winter in 100 years"

Here.

Excerpt:

The China Meteorological Administration said the weather was the coldest in 100 years in central Hubei and Hunan provinces, going by the total number of consecutive days of average temperature less than 1 degree Celsius (33.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

Observed climate change in Tennessee

Take a look at the graphs here, then see if you can get yourself all worked up about the idea that carbon dioxide is going to kill us all.

Additional evidence that global warming hysteria is dying

From a Minnesota Public Radio News/Humphrey Institute poll published today:

Global warming was the most polarizing issue between people who identify with the Democratic and Republican parties. Just 1 percent of Republicans consider it an extremely important problem while 25 percent of Democrats do.

Here's another way to say that--according to this poll, at least 75% of both Republicans and Democrats agree that global warming is not an extremely important problem.

Update: The complete poll results are here, and they seem to indicate that the numbers in the first paragraph above should actually be 5 and 24, not 1 and 25:



Note also the graph's title: "Global Warming Fails to Warm Up Republicans". I'd say a more accurate title would be: "Global Warming Fails to Warm Up Republicans or Democrats".

Need for a new climate change champion

Here.

Mad Magazine Uses Pulitzer Winners to Tweak Bush

From the New York Times here:

“Why George W. Bush Is in Favor of Global Warming,” a two-page spread that the magazine calls an exposé, has been illustrated by 10 Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists. They try to offer reasons why environmental apocalypse might be a good thing for President Bush, with observations like, “His worries about how future generations will remember his presidency won’t matter if there are no future generations.”

Other potential upsides are that Iraq could literally be melted off the earth, and rising oceans could submerge lefty strongholds like New York, Boston and San Francisco.

College green propaganda

Here.

Yet another indicator that most Americans aren't swallowing Gore's propaganda

A paragraph about a just-released AXA survey:

New to the survey this year are the opinions of workers and retirees on the issue of global warming -- who is responsible and who is willing to change their habits. Results show the U.S. lags behind other countries in recognizing global warming. Compared to other countries surveyed, the U.S. is second to last in its overall concern for global warming.

Note to AXA--that's not a "lag" in recognizing the alleged reality of catastrophic AGW; that's actually a "lead" in recognizing the extreme weakness of Gore's alarmist case.

UK co-op shoppers put animal welfare above climate change

See the whole thing here.

Excerpt:

He added: "One surprising finding of the poll was that only 4% of members cited climate change as their ethical priority, given the huge publicity it has attracted in recent years.

“Despite this, the Co-operative remains fully committed to maintaining its leadership and to supporting the global drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

San Francisco mandatory carbon-footprint reduction program begins

Here.

BAN THE PATIO HEATER!

Here.

Cramer: "Ethanol Is a Fuel That Doesn't Work"

Here.

Global Warming: Case Closed?

Here.

An alarmist "rube" weighs in

Excerpt from this post:

When I read the station survey, I noticed that it did not include the oceans, the polar regions, the other continents. It was just a map of the contiguous U.S. Hell, most Americans think all those other places totally irrelevant anyway. But they are busy in Utah and elsewhere hunting down the stations. And, of course, the myriad weather balloons are totally discounted; anything out in the ocean they can't swim to. I didn't have to think much. No wonder when I Googled "surface station survey" I came up with very few hits. (Be sure to enclose the phrase in quotation marks.)
I do have a simple question for these fellows to chaw on: Are we measuring the polar regions accurately? Scientists do claim that the poles, especially the Arctic, have warmed much faster than the temperate latitudes. (That they have makes sense even to me: After all, global heat will dispersed. Heat will move north and south, heating those areas more rapidly.)

Greenwashing the Minister’s house

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Global Warming Will Stop Doves From Cooing

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A lame anti-skeptic post

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Interesting piece from Joe Bastardi

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Global Warming and the Hard, Cold Facts

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The case for global warming is cooling down rapidly...The global warming hysteria cycle is nearing its end. How do I know this? Republicans have embraced it.

Cost-benefit wins in the end

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Interesting debate: Is global warming unstoppable?

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One of the more interesting features of the articles "Yes" by Sondra Deuber and "No" by Rex Trulove is that neither appear to associate climate changes with human activity.

The Recovery from the Little Ice Age and Global Warming

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Climate change will cost us, all right

Check out this opinion piece in the Star Tribune.

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A quick look at the plans of the Center for Climate Strategies reveals that its agenda is a greater priority than finding answers to its made-up problem. Participants are required to support the center's process, and rules say that it "will not debate the science of climate change."

Just like every environmental Paul Revere who warns of climate calamity, the center wants to stifle debate -- as if it could. That's not surprising considering that the center was spawned by a global-warming alarmist group called the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. The nonprofit, self-described advocacy organization's tax returns state that it believes "no environmental issue is more pressing today than energy and climate" -- hence the desire to shut up dissenters.

But calling a cat a dog doesn't make it one, and saying "the debate is over" won't shut up the millions who dispute the media-promoted claim that "prevailing science" predicts a catastrophe. Hundreds of scientists -- those not afraid of being publicly mocked and ridiculed -- are on the record disputing that view. Meanwhile, a Newsweek poll in August found that 42 percent of respondents believed that humans are the chief cause of global warming, and 46 percent say the greenhouse effect is felt today. Some "consensus."

Check out the related web site here. It's entitled "Climate Strategies Watch", with this subheading:

Exposing stealth environmental advocacy by the Center for Climate Strategies and scrutinizing global warming policy in the States

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Do Alarmists Control Global Warming Policy in Your State?
The Center for Climate Strategies (CCS) advises states about how they can reduce global warming through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions within their borders. CCS was created by an advocacy group called the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC). Despite its prejudicial origins, CCS portrays itself as a technical advisory service organization that does not advocate for specific policies that will affect climate change. However, certain facts about CCS belie this claim and prove the group is controlled by global warming alarmists who seek solutions that will dramatically increase energy costs and raise taxes, in addition to infringing upon freedom and property rights.

A list of "Infiltrated States" is here.

British plans for wind turbines contested by defence ministry: report

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Solar Cycle 24: False Starts

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A self-described "raving liberal" on teaching global warming

See the whole thing here.

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I'm teaching this class again this term. I was planning on taking the same approach. This is all well and good. However, I find myself wondering if my story needs to change. Why? Well, there is a faculty member on my campus who is a global warming skeptic. He teaches this topic. A lot. His contention that climate change is not caused by humans is appealing to the students. And why wouldn't it be? It means they don't need to think about changing their lifestyles. It is hard to counter this.

Videos about "The Great Global Warming Fraud"

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Climate protesters plan campaign of direct action against UK "polluters"

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As they are against the use of fossil or biofuels, they are likely to travel by bicycle, foot or horseback, turning the convoy into a modern-day version of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.

Monterey Bay area climate has been gradually getting colder?

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[Bob] Renard, who is 84, spent a lifetime in weather forecasting. "Meteorology is my hobby and my profession," he said. He worked for many years teaching the subject at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey and now works as a volunteer at the Monterey Bay Climatological Station.

He has records of the highs and lows around Monterey Bay since 1963 - "Almost 45 years," he says, proudly.

He notes that the Monterey Bay area climate has been gradually getting colder. There may be global warming, he says, but individual areas are not necessarily affected. Climate and weather are more complex than it appears on the surface, he said.

IPCC and the Dunde Variations

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There’s not much in climate science that annoys me more than the sniveling acquiescence of government bureaucrats in Lonnie Thompson’s flouting of data archiving policies. To his credit, Thompson has collected unique data. To his shame, Thompson has failed to archive data collected as long as 20 years ago. This would be bad enough if the versions were consistent in all publications on Dunde. But Thompson seems to have tinkered with his results over the years so that there has been an accumulation of inconsistent versions, compromising any ability to properly use this unique data. Needless to say, mere compromising of the data hasn’t stopped climate “scientists” from using Thompson data.

Ooops! Has Global Warming Stopped?

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Scottish Greens Invite DiCaprio to Speak on Climate Change

Since it doesn't seem completely prudent to make public policy decisions based solely on a movie by a "Baptist Prophet", it looks like the Scottish Parliament may seek a second opinion from that "really cute guy who was in Titanic".

Is Capturing CO2 a Pipe Dream?

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Love is ... not sending a Valentine this year, claim green campaigners

See this article and the associated comments.

News & Politics QotD: Green is the new black.

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I encourage people to care about more environmental problems than just global warming. The global warming cult is just like a religion, as far as I see it. It encourages people to only want to do something for the environment because they fear some kind of punishment if they don't (just like the concept of heaven and hell). To me, this is ridiculous. People should want to clean up the environment because it improves the quality of their life to do so. Clean water is better to drink, clean air is better to breathe, and clean land is better for living on. Being an environmentalist is in everyone's best interest, including your own. And I really don't feel it'll kill you to not be one, but it does make you kinda selfish.

Arctic sea ice back to its previous level, bears safe; film at 11

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Obama on global "warming"

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All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster.

For decades, we've been warned by legions of scientists and mountains of evidence that this was coming - that we couldn't just keep burning fossil fuels and contribute to the changing atmosphere without consequence. And yet, for decades, far too many have ignored the warnings, either dismissing the science as a hoax or believing that it was the concern of enviros looking to save polar bears and rainforests.

But today, we're seeing that climate change is about more than a few unseasonably mild winters or hot summers. It's about the chain of natural catastrophes and devastating weather patterns that global warming is beginning to set off around the world - the frequency and intensity of which are breaking records thousands of years old.

In Washington, issues come and go with the political winds. And they are generally covered through that prism: Who's up and who's down? Which party benefits? Which party loses?

But in these superficial exchanges, we often lose sight of the real and lasting meaning of the decisions we make and those we defer.

The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we're contributing to the warming of the earth's atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe.