Jane Thynne asks whether the press will once again go on the warpath against green activists
Ministry Of Truth At Work In Florida
49 minutes ago
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Why it's set to be a long, hot summer for the climate campaigners
From this page:
Will Steger panicking over prospect of Arctic ice melting again this spring
From this alarmist article:
Steger and his teammates hope to jolt the young people of the world into action on global warming. For their generation, says Sam Branson [Richard Branson's 22-year-old son], "climate change is definitely going to be the biggest issue."
Enough already
From this post:
I know, I know. I've been complaining about Republicans and their evil second cousins, the Neo-Conservatives. I'm comfortable doing so, because they operate by fear--scaring us into trusting them to take care of us. But now it's time for me to yell at my own family members, the Democrats and their Liberal brethren, because when it comes to using fear in order to keep their promise to look after us, they're just as bad.
...
And don't get me going on global warming. After decades of failing to save the planet from the scourge of poverty, they've decided that the next great threat is the sun. And they think they can somehow dial down the temperature by telling us to replace our light bulbs, walk instead of drive, don't eat meat (there they go again) because cows fart, etc. The same asshats that can't fix global poverty are convinced they can somehow control the same climate fluctuations that are also raising the temperature on Mars. Good luck with that.
Liberal Fascism
From this post:
There is far too much to this important book to summarize in a brief column. But the relevance of “Liberal Fascism” to environmentalism bears mention. As Goldberg writes: “The most tangible fascistic ingredient [of environmentalism] is that it is an invaluable ‘crisis mechanism.’ Al Gore constantly insists that global warming is the defining crisis of our time. Skeptics are called traitors, Holocaust deniers, tools of the ‘carbon interests’… the beauty of global warming is that it touches everything we do - what we eat, what we wear, where we go. Our ‘carbon footprint’ is the measure of man.”
Governors: black coal must be part of green energy debate
From this article:
Coal "has a CO2 problem, wind has a reliability problem, solar has a price problem, nukes have a price and radiation problem," Schweitzer said. "So all of those technologies have opportunities. but they all have problems _ coal's no different."As CO2 hysteria fades, an abundant homegrown energy source like coal will start to look relatively more attractive.
He added, "What I can say about coal, is we have it. We have it in a greater supply than anyplace else on the planet."
New book by alarmist Tom Friedman
The book is called "Green Is the New Red, White, and Blue: American's Mission in a World That Is Hot, Flat, and Crowded".
From a review:
From a review:
Thomas L. Friedman’s no. 1 bestseller The World Is Flat has helped millions of readers to see globalization in a new way. Now Friedman brings a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy—both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively. His argument speaks to all of us who are concerned about the state of America in the global future.
Friedman proposes that an ambitious national strategy— which he calls “Geo-Greenism”—is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating; it is what we need to make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure.
As in The World Is Flat, he explains a new era—the Energy-Climate era—through an illuminating account of recent events. He shows how 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the flattening of the world by the Internet (which brought 3 billion new consumers onto the world stage) have combined to bring climate and energy issues to Main Street. But they have not gone very far down Main Street; the much-touted “green revolution” has hardly begun. With all that in mind, Friedman sets out the clean-technology breakthroughs we, and the world, will need; he shows that the ET (Energy Technology) revolution will be both transformative and disruptive; and he explains why America must lead this revolution—with the first Green President and a Green New Deal, spurred by the Greenest Generation.
Editorial: At CU, A victory for grown-ups
From this article:
It took a 6-3 party-line vote, but the University of Colorado Board of Regents last week did the right thing by hiring Bruce Benson as president of the four-campus CU system.
...
The on-campus factions railed against Benson’s job as a successful oil man and his temerity to question the severity of human-caused global warming. They fulminated over the prospect that a guy with only a bachelor’s degree could lead a major American university. Benson’s campus opponents seemed especially peeved that Benson is — gasp! — a Republican who has a history of getting down and dirty in partisan political battles.
Responses On Pascal And Johnson
From this post:
To me, that is one of the most maddening things about the environmentalists’ pre-occupation with the issue of global warming: it is driving out virtually every other environmental issue and is eviscerating the concept of individual responsibility for dealing with environmental problems on a local basis.
Des Moines: Fallon on climate change
I sense a distinct lack of excitement and enthusiasm in this post about a climate change news conference in "cold weather" in Des Moines.
Excerpts:
I think that deep down, even most global warming "believers" don't truly believe in the ridiculous hype.
Excerpts:
He said climate change would be one of his top five priorities and he would “want to put a lot of time” into the issue as a congressman.That "one of his top five priorities" phrase is significant. If you really believed the "CO2 may kill us all" hype of Branson, Bloomberg, etc, there's just no way that global warming would be only a "top five" priority.
...
It was a surprisingly short news conference, scheduled to last for an hour but ending within thirty minutes. None of the reporters, including a cameraman who interviewed Fallon briefly at the beginning, seemed to know what to ask.
I think that deep down, even most global warming "believers" don't truly believe in the ridiculous hype.
Sidney company proposes giant wind farm in caribou habitat
From this article:
The Aeolis proposal may be a world first for wild caribou and wind turbines and is only the latest in a slew of supposedly green projects - both wind and run-of-the-river power - that are generating environmental concerns all over B.C.
"Global warming is being used as a Trojan horse to justify all manner of high-impact energy projects, and Hackney Hills is a prime example," said Wayne Sawchuk, an award-winning Peace Valley conservationist and member of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society board.
Eco-homes proposal is rejected
From this article:
An eco-commune on a village common looks unlikely ever to be built after the plans were rejected by councillors and hundreds of people opposed them.
The action group set up to fight the plans for ten straw bale homes in Ilketshall St Andrew, near Beccles, gathered 330 signatures on a petition.
The scheme, from the not-for-profit Common Ground Co-operative, would have been unique in the region. The eco-friendly homes would have had a communal laundry, washing facilities and crèche, residents would have grown their own food and travelled by bicycle.
But local people were outraged by the idea of development on greenfield land, which could have set a precedent for more house-building, and said most of the would-be residents were not from the village...
Trinity Grammar takes heat on climate
From this article:
AN ELITE private school that is pulling out its air-conditioners wants all schools to join its battle against climate change.
Trinity Grammar is making an environmental stand, planning to remove all its air-conditioners within five years.
Small windows to allow natural air flow will replace air conditioning in all areas of the school except rooms that house computer servers.
Students and staff have been told to be "resilient" and teachers will alter their lesson plans on extremely hot days.
More evidence of fading CO2 hysteria
See the post here, which asks "Will Oscar's eco-efforts pale compared to last year?".
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
Last year's Academy Awards were a veritable green fest, what with Inconvenient Truth's multiple wins and the Gore/Leo announcement about the Oscars officially going green (albeit via carbon offset). Green itself could have gotten its own award -- perhaps for its role as "the new black."From the Plenty article linked above:
This year, however, things are ... different. For one, green didn't quite make the nominee cut (sorry, Leo). But there also hasn't been much press about green efforts at the event itself. Plenty wonders if that's due to the green backlash last year (cross-country flights and all) or maybe the focus on the writers' strike.
No hoopla planned for a green carpet at this Sunday’s upcoming Academy Awards.
"My First Direct Action"
Here.
Excerpts:
Excerpts:
My first experience in direct action was in response to coal fired power plants. I stood in line with fifty others outside of the houses of two men who may be responsible for a new coal plants, while spokesmen talked with the men in power. After standing attentively for ten long minutes in front of each house I filed out with the others feeling surprisingly elated. Information is powerful and letting the people in charge know how I and my fellow demonstrators felt by standing shoulder to shoulder holding arms and quietly looking down the most powerful Ohioans who live by coal spurred a sense of empowerment bigger than I could have imagined.
...
During the conference Matt told us about the fixation people are having with the dying out of the polar bears. “What they don’t seem to realize is that it’s not just the polar bears. Because once they die, we’re next.”
Friday, February 22, 2008
"Reach Out And Touch Someone, Dammit"
See the video here.
Excerpt from the post:
Excerpt from the post:
The UN has demanded action on global warming, but perhaps they need to look inward before imposing solutions on member nations. The US Chamber of Commerce takes a look at the costs of hauling representatives to the unending stream of international conferences -- and wonders why the UN has overlooked a key technology in combating greenhouse-gas emissions...
Nice stuff from Gavin Schmidt
From a March '07 debate on global warming:
SCHMIDT:...Creationists have argued that the eye is too complex to have evolved. Not because they care about the evolution of eyes, but because they see the implications of evolution as somehow damaging to their world view. If you demonstrate the evolution of eyes, their world view won‘t change, they‘ll just move onto something else. Another example, when CFCs from aerosol cans and air conditioners were found to be depleting the ozone layer, the CEO of DuPont, the main manufacturer argued that because CFCs were heavier than air, they couldn‘t possibly get up to the ozone layer. So there was no need to regulate them, that was pure fantasy, but it sounded scientific. Again, tobacco companies spent millions trying to show that nicotine delayed the onset of Alzheimer‘s because that was a distraction from the far more solid case that, that linked tobacco to lung cancer. That was a distraction and a red herring. These arguments are examples of pseudo debates, scientific sounding points that are designed not to fool the experts, but to sow confusion and doubt in the minds of the lay public. This is a deliberate strategy and you‘re hearing it here tonight.
...
GAVIN SCHMIDT
—we‘ve seen over the last 30 years. There has been no trend in cosmic rays. So any change that there might have been because of cosmic ray impacts on climate, can‘t possibly have an impact on what‘s been going on—
PHILIP STOTT
The most famous—
GAVIN SCHMIDT
—in the last changes.
PHILIP STOTT
But the most famous astrophysicist working on it say that it has.
GAVIN SCHMIDT
Uh, he is drunk. [LAUGHTER]
BRIAN LEHRER
Okay—
GAVIN SCHMIDT
I‘m sorry.
BRIAN LEHRER
We‘re now ready to vote—no, I‘m kidding. Um, for—
PHILIP STOTT
That‘s a serious accusation against some very serious sci—some
are infinitely better than any of us on this platform today.
GAVIN SCHMIDT
I‘d like to meet the person—
RICHARD S. LINDZEN
Explain that—
PHILIP STOTT
There are some very eminent scientists, Professor Yanvesa [PH]
for example, uh, uh, Nir Sh—Professor Nir Shaviv who won the
Young Scientist of the Year in Israel two years ago, who are in fact arguing that 70% of, of climate change is primarily driven by cosmic rays working through water vapor and clouds. I‘m not saying they‘re right or wrong, they‘re pointing however at the edge, to new research. You cannot dismiss that, because it‘s a consensus for CO2.
BRIAN LEHRER
Gavin Schmidt, one more time?
GAVIN SCHMIDT
Okay, this is exactly what I was talking about. You see? Now, it looks like we‘re having a scientific argument, but, this is completely bogus. You don‘t know that it‘s bogus, but I know that it‘s bogus, he knows that it‘s bogus. [LAUGHTER] You‘re being led astray. [LAUGHTER]
Some background on global cooling fears
In an email discussion of global cooling, Nigel Calder provided these passing remarks:
Global cooling was officially on the international scientific agenda as early as October 1963, when the UN Food & Agriculture Organization convened a conference in Rome on the threat that global cooling posed to world food supplies. The eminent British climatologist Hubert Lamb led the discussions. I was there as a young reporter, and after that the cooling story ran till the late 1970s. For example in 1974 leading experts talked with great concern about the global cooling in a 2-hr TV documentary, The Weather Machine, which I scripted for the BBC, WNET and four other national broadcasters.
The cooling was not in doubt. The arguments were about whether it was natural or anthropogenic, whether we might be looking at a Little Ice Age or even a full-blown glaciation, and whether putting out more CO2 might conceivably help to reverse it. We in the media simply echoed what was commonly discussed in scientific meetings and journals. The subsequent attempts to rewrite science history to fit the AGW storyline are Orwellian.
Nigel Calder
More shoddy reporting from the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin
From this article:
As the national environmental reporter for The Washington Post, I spend a great deal of time thinking about what it means that Earth is warming. Each week, new scientific studies chart how glaciers around the globe are melting, sea ice cover is shrinking and animals are migrating northward in search of cooler habitat.Eilperin's global "warming" reporting seems completely impervious to new temperature data like this, or to new sea ice information like this:
...
Over the past couple of years, as it becomes increasingly clear that the northernmost regions of the globe are becoming less frigid, I began pondering the intrinsic value of cold.
Satellite images are showing that the cold spell is helping the sea ice expand in coverage by about 2 million square kilometres, compared to the average winter coverage in the previous three years.As a journalist, shouldn't she try to share the latest and best information with her readers?
On CNN: Mary Matalin says global warming is "a largely unscientific hoax"
See the exchange (in bold) between Wolf Blitzer and Mary Matalin here.
If you scroll down further, you can also see an interesting July '07 exchange between J.C. Watts and Miles O'Brien.
If you scroll down further, you can also see an interesting July '07 exchange between J.C. Watts and Miles O'Brien.
Step right up and buy our hurricane-preventin' snake oil!
1. Notice that in Barack Obama's Super Bowl ad, hurricane imagery is prominently used before the words "We can save the planet" are displayed.
2. Also recall that hurricane imagery was front and center in Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth":
3. Now note that NOAA says this:
2. Also recall that hurricane imagery was front and center in Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth":
3. Now note that NOAA says this:
“There is nothing in the U.S. hurricane damage record that indicates global warming has caused a significant increase in destruction along our coasts.”
Does wind power have exactly zero climate impact?
Here.
To the people essentially arguing that we should have a "zero tolerance" policy for any climatic effects (no matter how small) of carbon dioxide: How do we know that massively-deployed wind power would have absolutely no effect on climate?
To the people essentially arguing that we should have a "zero tolerance" policy for any climatic effects (no matter how small) of carbon dioxide: How do we know that massively-deployed wind power would have absolutely no effect on climate?
Madison: Officials eye coal goals
From this article:
A U.S. District Court ruled last November that the University of Wisconsin-Madison Charter Street heating plant was in violation of the federal Clean Air Act. In response to that ruling, the state and the UW entered into an agreement with the Sierra Club to conduct a study about alternative energy options at Charter Street and three other plants in the city.
David Helbach, State Building Commission secretary, said the commission voted unanimously to appropriate $1.2 million for a "comprehensive study about how we can provide economical and environmentally friendly and reliable energy for campus and for downtown Madison," not only meeting the lawsuit requirements but going beyond to find the best solutions for the community.
...
"Frankly, at the end of the day, the biggest challenge is that anything we do is going to cost a lot of money," [chancellor of facilities] Fish said. "And getting the state and the Legislature and, indirectly, taxpayers to make a huge investment so that we have clean reliable heating and cooling.
"It's going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And making, figuring out the answer that works all that way I think is in some ways the easier part, then getting the political will to invest that amount of money in that answer. That's going to be the hard part," Fish said.
Green Eyeshades vs. Starry Eyes: The Cap or Tax Debate
From this post:
How do you get broad support for, let alone implement, climate-change policy when the groups most directly affected have no idea how much the scheme might cost them or their customers?
Strict caps on carbon emissions may make intellectual sense. But the reality on Capitol Hill is that cap-and-trade proposals are getting watered down, leading even some environmentalists who support the approach in theory to criticize how the bills are shaping up in practice. It’s yet another lesson that public policy is the art of the possible.
Ed Begley on China: they'll build "lots and lots of wind turbines"
Check out the video of Ed Begley riding in a pedicab with Andy Revkin here.
The China comment occurs around the 1:50 mark.
The China comment occurs around the 1:50 mark.
Humpty Dumpty Environmental Policies
From this page:
“Every time a child dies as a result of floods in Bangladesh, an airline executive should be dragged out of his office and drowned,” for causing global warming, rants UK firebrand George Monbiot. Government leaders “should go to jail” for failing to act more quickly to prevent planetary climate cataclysm, insists Canadian eco-zealot David Suzuki. These assertions range from simplistic and outrageous to straight out of Lewis Carroll.A source for a similar insane Monbiot quote is here.
...
Eco-alarmists tell impoverished Africans that global warming is the greatest threat they face – when Al Gore uses more electricity in a week than 100 million Africans together use in a year. Those people rarely or never have electricity and must burn wood and animal dung, resulting in lung diseases that cause millions of deaths annually. Yet alarmists oppose fossil fuel power plants, as well as nuclear and hydroelectric projects – guaranteed that Africa’s poverty and death toll will continue.
Beware of hot air on global warming
From this Belfast Telegraph letter:
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions to avoid an unproven climate effect is a dangerous red herring.
Snowcover Continues Well Above Normal through Mid-February
From this post:
This may result in February again being among the snowiest for the hemisphere for the period of record. It will be a few weeks before that analysis is provided. Extensive snowcover in mid to late winter, something lacking in most recent years often means colder and snowier than normal temperatures for late winter and a delayed spring. Look for more snow events and late potentially damaging cold in the news in the days, weeks and months ahead. This mirrors the happenings in the Southern Hemisphere their last winter and spring. Our South American friends at the METSUL had predicted this outcome for us.
Bill Jamieson - Chilly months make for cool reflection on the climate theories
From this article:
Faced with evidence of cooler temperatures, global warmists argue that any evidence of climate abnormality supports their case. Like this prediction for example: "…(the] weather gets progressively worse and tends towards extremes: heat waves and cold snaps, floods and droughts, frosts and snow in the tropics and bizarre hot weather as far north as Scandinavia".(Via Benny Peiser)
Actually, this is from a publication by Lowell Ponte in 1976, sonorously entitled The Cooling: Has the Next Ice Age Already Begun?
A funny alarmist article from exactly four years ago
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.
Hypothermia at the Tour of California
From this article:
Five hours into the race, the weather conditions caused some of the strongest men in the field to dissolve. Stewart and Meade would leave the breakaway and abandon the race due to signs of hypothermia. More than a dozen others would abandon the race due to the collapse in their core temperatures.
“He went from being an animator, taking all the KOMs, being in control of everything he wanted to do,” said Gavin Chilcott, team director of Team BMC, of Stewart. “He was in control of all that until he lost control of his core temperature. You can’t operate your brakes.”
The strange priorities of "No Impact Man"
About himself, No Impact Man says:
Given these facts, why does he focus his concern on the polar bears?
"A Guilty Liberal" who "Finally Snaps, Swears Off Plastic, Goes Organic, Becomes A Bicycle Nut, Turns Off His Power, Composts His Poop and, While Living In New York City, Generally Turns Into a Tree-Hugging Lunatic Who Tries to Save the Polar Bears and The Rest of the Planet from Environmental Catastrophe While Dragging His Baby Daughter and Prada-Wearing, Four Seasons-Loving Wife Along for the Ride."From his most recent post:
Most certainly, I love Flocke, the adorable polar bear cub born in the Nuremberg Zoo in January. He's way too cute to drown in an Arctic Sea without ice. That's reason enough, as far as I'm concerned, to change the way I live.It's virtually certain that human CO2 emissions have caused zero polar bear cubs to drown, while it's certain that bitter cold has recently killed a large number of actual human children.
Given these facts, why does he focus his concern on the polar bears?
Harper government gives science a raw deal, journal Nature says
From this article:
One of the world's most respected journals has dealt a strong blow to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative government's “manifest disregard for science.”On climate change, I say it's the journal Nature that is showing a “manifest disregard for science.”
In a strongly worded editorial, entitled Science in Retreat and published in Thursday's issue, the British journal Nature wrote that while Canada's researchers consistently rank among the world's finest, the same cannot be said for the federal government's position on science and research.
“Science has long faced an uphill battle for recognition in Canada, but the slope became steeper when the Conservative government was elected in 2006,” the editorial says.
It goes on to list the Conservatives' skepticism on the science of climate change and its retreat from Canada's Kyoto commitment.
Measuring the Phoenix Urban Heat Island
Don't miss this Climate Skeptic post.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
This is a project my son did for Science Fair to measure the urban heat island effect in Phoenix. The project could also be called "Disproving the IPCC is so easy, a child could do it." The IPCC claims that the urban heat island effect has a negligible impact, even on surface temperature stations located within urban areas. After seeing our data, this claim will be very hard to believe.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Some hunters and anglers join quest to turn CO2 hysteria into cash
See the article here, entitled "Hunters, anglers join global-warming outcry".
From a related letter here:
Can we trust that the good folks at "A.J.'s Bait and Tackle" have independently verified that human CO2 emissions really are the root cause of their climate concerns?
From a related letter here:
As a result of the known and predicted impacts to fish and wildlife from climate change, we ask that you cosponsor climate change legislation including a 'cap and trade' system that will reduce carbon dioxide pollution by 2% annually, or 80% by 2050, and channel new revenue to natural resource agencies for fish and wildlife conservation activities.Signers of the letter are listed here.
Can we trust that the good folks at "A.J.'s Bait and Tackle" have independently verified that human CO2 emissions really are the root cause of their climate concerns?
Dr Henry Clemmey: It's nothing new
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
Scientist Dr Henry Clemmey, who is the managing director of Preston-based Woodford Global Group, asserted that global warming is part of a pattern that has been happening throughout the earth’s history.
The former Leeds University academic admits to having seen the effects of climate change within his own lifetime – but believes that mankind cannot be held responsible.
Critics wonder what happened to Pawlenty's push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Here.
I'd like to think that Pawlenty is starting to recognize the flimsiness of the "science" allegedly supporting CO2 hysteria.
I'd like to think that Pawlenty is starting to recognize the flimsiness of the "science" allegedly supporting CO2 hysteria.
What happens when a group's position statement does not reflect its members accurately?
Alarmist Andrew Dessler asks the question in a post here.
An email response from Marc Morano:
An email response from Marc Morano:
[Regarding] Andrew Dessler’s latest article on ‘group think.’ Dessler fails to realize that the overwhelming majority of scientists who are members of these groups are probably not aware of any such statements to begin with. Any attempt to draft a skeptical statement and go against the politically favored ‘consensus’ of a ‘climate crisis’ would face organized opposition from entrenched vocal alarmists.
In other words, if skeptics try to get their science group statement to go against the UN IPCC mold, they would face immediate and massive organized protests from the “leadership.” If AGW believers draft a statement promoting IPCC view, skeptics would most likely not be aware of it and scattered. Believe it or not, skeptics are not well organized; I found this out compiling the Senate almost 500 scientist report. The believers in AGW are organized and very well financed. Dessler also conveniently forgets to note the difficulties the IPCC has had in reaching their ‘consensus’ with multiple resignations and accusations of massive bias. (Chris Lansea, Paul Reiter, etc.) Thus, Dessler’s argument fails on its face.
Worship global warming or be excommunicated
From this post:
The world’s most intolerant religion? We submit it’s the Church of Global Warming. Toe the doctrinal line, or you’re outta here.
Virginia’s state climatologist, who happens to be skeptical of the global warming faith, lost his job as a result last year.
“I was told that I could not speak in public,” said Patrick Michaels, who has maintained that while the climate is becoming warmer, the consequences are not as dire as others predict. “I resigned as Virginia state climatologist because I was told that I could not speak in public on my area of expertise, global warming, as state climatologist. . . It was impossible to maintain academic freedom with this speech restriction.”
It’s happened again...
Be Very Cautious of the Precautionary Principle
From this article:
So not only are we to believe on faith that the worst case scenarios are those that will come to pass, but we are also to add to that the faith that action will be cheaper, and actually work!
Record-setting cold hits eastern North Dakota
From this article:
Fargo broke a record that had stood for 119 years, with 31 below. The record had been 30 below set in 1889.
" The international situation and the tasks of revolutionaries"
From this page:
...Over the last few years the ecological crisis has taken on new dimensions. The consequences of global warming are beginning and are likely to cause, in the long term, new catastrophes - ecological, social, and human. Despite all the political and media efforts of governments to make compatible the functioning of the capitalist system, the ever more frenetic search for profit and ecology, a new consciousness is emerging that "lives are worth more than capitalist profits" and than the cost of the functioning of the system is increasingly calling into question the vital equilibriums of the planet. Revolutionaries must take up this question, decisive for the years to come, in order to denounce the destructive effects of capitalism on ecological problems, and to stress the importance of an economy durably controlled and planned according to social needs and not capitalist profit.From another page on that site:
If citing our historical references helps clarify who we are, we identify with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, V I Lenin and Leon Trotsky. The many others who have enriched our analysis and theoretical work include Tchernichevsky, Plekhanov, Hilferding, Otto Bauer, Gramsci, Georg Lukacs, Pannekoek, Alexandra Kollontai, Che Guevara, and our leading comrade Ernest Mandel, who passed away in 1995.
If more people move into my neighborhood, baby polar bears will die?
See this letter, entitled "Proposed subdivision could increase global warming".
Professor Says Solar Panels a 'Loser'
From this article:
"I have nothing against solar PV and I hope it gets better," he said. "It's just very expensive and not terribly efficient."
Borenstein said he didn't take into account the feel-good benefit or societal value of installing a solar system on your roof. "Certainly people make these decisions for a variety of reasons," he said.
But installing better insulation would be a better bet economically, he said, although your neighbors won't know you did it.
Let them drink Dom Perignon?
See the Treehugger post here, entitled "Bottled Water Drinkers Are The New Smokers".
Controversial state climatologist to step aside
From this post:
The controversial head of the Oregon Climate Service -- stripped of the "state climatologist" title last year by Gov. Ted Kulongoski -- announced today that he will retire effective May 1.Note that Oregon is another state that is being "helped" by alarmist advocacy group Center for Climate Strategies.
In February 2007, Kulongoski asked the president of Oregon State University to stop George Taylor from calling himself the state climatologist because of Taylor's skeptical stance on global warming.
What South Carolinians may be thinking
From this post:
Which of the following comes closest to your preference regarding U.S. policy toward global warming?
The U.S. government should take immediate action to combat global warming 36.1
The U.S. government should continue to try to understand global warming
and adopt modest policy as needed 47.1
The U.S. government should take no action regarding global warming 9.7
Not sure [volunteered] 6.4
Refused [volunteered] 0.7
Maryland's climate plan would be nation's least intelligent
From this article:
"We're hearing a lot of questions about whether these goals are realistic," Environment Secretary Shari Wilson told senators. She concluded the 90% goal is "very realistic" because new technologies will be invented.More on Maryland's "strategy" is here:
...
But several union and industry groups opposed Pinsky's plan, saying Maryland workers would suffer. They predicted jobs would leave the state and nation if companies are forced to comply with carbon caps.
"I guarantee you people in Beijing are not sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what you're going to do so they can copy you," said Michael Powell, a lobbyist for a manufacturing industry group, the Maryland Industrial Technology Alliance.
The Maryland Commission on Climate Change (MCCC), written by the alarmist advocacy group, Center for Climate Strategies (CCS), inspired O’Malley and his legislative allies.
Examiner readers may remember that after much obfuscation from Air and Radiation Administration Director Tad Aburn, the Maryland Department of the Environment finally agreed to release public documents relating to CCS and the MCCC, but only at the cost of $1,381.
New threat to our way of life: giant pythons!
From this San Francisco Chronicle article:
Of course, this scary story is tied to global warming.
The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.As usual, there's some sanity and humor in the comment section.
...
At 20 miles a month, a determined Burmese python from Florida could arrive in San Francisco as early as August 2020.
"It would be exceptional for one animal to be that unidirectional in its movement, but it's mathematically possible," Rodda said.
The snake's cross-country crawl would be made easier by the large population of beavers along the way, Rodda said.
Of course, this scary story is tied to global warming.
Boiling down the sales pitch: If you don't give me money, we all may die
From a guy selling carbon offsets here:
Put simply, we cannot afford NOT to offset our carbon – we all need to use our wallets as well as our willpower if we’re to avoid climate meltdown.
Why climate alarmists are so fond of using the late 1970s as a baseline
From this article:
[The 1970s] was an unusually cold decade, especially the later years, across the Northern Hemisphere. In the USA, the winters of 1977-79 were three of the 11 coldest since the recording of temperatures began in the 1890s, according to climate center data. The winter of 1978-79 remains the coldest on record in the USA.
Four nations, four cities take 'climate neutral'(?) pledge
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
CN Net's founding members admitted facing unique problems on the road to "zero emissions" economies.
Norway's dominate challenge, for example, is curbing oil- and gas-related emissions, whereas for New Zealand, agriculture represents 50 percent of its current greenhouse gases.
New Zealand's tens of millions of livestock are major producers of methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2).
The country has said it will generate 90 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and halve per capita transport emissions by 2040 through the use of electric cars and biofuels.
CN Net "signifies a major step forward in creating a coordinated global response to climate change," said Climate Change Minister David Parker.
Norway's goal is to become climate neutral by 2030, two decades ahead of a previously set deadline.
One third of that target will be achieved through carbon offsets, the investment in carbon-reducing projects around the globe, said Environment Minister Erik Solheim.
Cold Reality
From this post:
So, what does this cold reality check tell us?
(a) first, it is a timely reminder that climate is driven by hundreds of factors, not just by one politically-selected variable; and,
(b) secondly, the lack of media reporting demonstrates powerfully, yet again, how the ‘global warming’ grand narrative and myth works hard to exclude any facts, or science, which does not bolster the hegemony of the myth.
"Australia makes bold plan to reduce world wide temperature by 0.000043 degrees per year"
That pesky math rears its reality-based head again here:
But how much is Australia's deadly greenhouse gas emissions killing the world? Well Australia emits around 326 million metric tonnes a year. That's compared to a world wide rate of 27 billion metric tonnes. Hence Australia emits around 1.2% of the worlds greenhouse gas.
Now lets assume that we reduce our emissions by 60%, and lets assume that 100% of all warming has been caused by greenhouse gas (note that this assumption is clearly ludicrous but hey for the sake of the example...). With the world increasing at a rate of 0.6 degrees per 100 years, this means that if Australia were to cut our emissions by 60% by 2050, we would cool the globe by around 0.000043 degrees per year.
Thats right we would cool to world by around 0.000043 degrees per year.
Like pissing in the ocean. Of course some might argue that we all have to start somewhere and someone has to set the example etc. etc. but seriously, even with the most ludicrous assumptions involved to calculate this figure, the amount of dollars spent can hardly justify the possible results.
This is merely just another token that is costing us millions.
Electrics face new hurdles
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
Writes Terlep: “GM has found that while the lithium-ion batteries themselves are hitting all the marks on early road tests, a host of other issues are beginning to crop up.”
Like? “A typical modern stereo system, for example, drains too much juice from the battery life.”
Ah, yes, all those other things Americans expect of a car other than just good gas mileage.
“Because of the limitations of a battery,” continues Terlep, “both automakers are likely to find it virtually impossible to deliver a plug-in vehicle that operates identically to a similar size gas-powered car.”
She quotes auto analyst Jim Hall: “An automobile with a gasoline engine as the power plant has a lot of energy on board — so much energy there are things that we never paid attention to.When you’re relying on the battery, all these problems stack up and you realize you have to do all these other things to optimize for range.”
Pols who think alternative technologies grow on trees should suck on that last quote for awhile.
Not for nothing has the extraordinary gas-combustion technology dominated the most demanding consumer product marketplace for over 100 years.
Global-Warming Authoritarianism
From this page:
Irvine, CA--Many people are calling for drastic political action to cope with climate change. But the authors of a new book, The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy, go much further, claiming that global warming can be effectively dealt with only by "an authoritarian form of government."(Via Marc Morano)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Fidel Castro, "ecosocialist hero"
Let us know when we can see the prototype
From this article:
The event in Abu Dhabi featured the architect William McDonough, who presented a vision of a building that "can do everything a tree can do except replicate; a building that receives its energy from the sun, that grows food, that builds soil, that provides a habitat for hundreds of species, that changes colors with the seasons, that creates micro-climates, that would purify water."
So what's the cost/benefit of this "green" bus?
From this article:
The conference, co-hosted by Cisco and the city and county of San Francisco, focused on what cities can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage their residents to do the same. As an example of what might help, the city unveiled a "green" bus equipped with Wi-Fi and with screens that can tell riders where they are, when they'll reach their destination and how much they're reducing their greenhouse gases by taking the bus. That will encourage them to ride more often, the city said.
...
Cisco isn't just pushing green technology to save money and the Earth. San Francisco's green bus, created by Cisco, is equipped with a Cisco router to link onboard Wi-Fi with outdoor 3G (third-generation) mobile data. Cisco also envisions the bus using its IPICS (Internet Protocol Interoperability and Collaboration System) technology, which unifies many public-sector radio technologies through an IP network.
Global Cooling: Amazing pictures of countries joining Britain in the big freeze
From this Christopher Booker article:
To the millions of people whose lives have been seriously disrupted by this year's freeze, the concept of global warming must seem awfully remote.
First Question: Ask About the Energy Balance
From this post on storing or reprocessing CO2:
We have to be suspicious that the carbon benefits come from the nuclear plant they require, not the process itself. In fact, one is left to wonder why we would go through so much effort at all rather than just charge electric cars directly from the nuclear plant. My sense is we are much closer on battery technology than on this stuff.
San Francisco City Government Outspends Exxon on Climate Advocacy
Cisco CEO John Chambers takes a jab at climate realists
From this article:
The Cisco CEO, however, does have strong feelings when it comes to climate change. It is undeniable that atmospheric carbon dioxide is rising and that the earth's temperature is rising, he said at the Connected Urban Development conference taking place in San Francisco this week.Evidently Chambers doesn't have access to the Internet.
"It (climate change) is not a question of if. It is," he said. "There is no doubt in hardly any of the well-educated minds that if we don't act quickly we are going to have a tremendous problem on our hands."
If Pee-wee Herman himself buys in, you know the science must be solid
From this page:
In the 30-second "Deadly Serious" TV spot, a woman is changing the lightbulb in her closet when Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman) appears to thank her for "helping Mother Earth." The woman (Missy Pyle) says, "I can't believe it's you. You are so funny!" "You know what's not funny?" Reubens asks. "Global warming." She asks if he's serious and, turning toward the camera dramatically, he says, "Yes, dead serious." A voiceover suggests that switching to LEDs and CFLs would be equivalent to taking cars off the road. A retro '60s-style logo promotes the Web site, "unscrewamerica.org."
In another spot, a talking octopus will appear to actress Elizabeth Banks in a living room as she changes a bulb to thank her for saving the Earth.
Raving insanity in Maryland
From this page, entitled "O'Malley: Human survival at risk from warming":
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is making the case that limits on global warming pollution could cost businesses in the short term. But in the long term, O'Malley argues that the cost of inaction is much greater -- the flooding of waterfront businesses and homes, and eventually, the extinction of humans.
“We need to move into a much more sustainable future or else we cease to exist as a species,” O’Malley, a Democrat, said while surrounded by environmental activists during a press conference at the State House yesterday. “People can talk about the increased cost of things. But what sort of increased costs will come from a four foot rise in sea level for businesses located at the Sparrows Point (steel mill) or in Annapolis or in downtown Baltimore?”
...
O'Malley's assertions about widespread death coming in the long-term from climate change was backed up by Dr. Cindy Parker of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She told a senate committee yesterday that unchecked global warming would mean worsening air pollution, flooding and increases in diseases including asthma, she said.<
“As a public health physician, I believe that climate change poses the greatest risk to our health of anything this century,” Dr. Parker said. Action by Maryland and other states could prompt federal action, and if this convinces governments around the world to act, it "has the potential to save lots of lives, thousands and millions worldwide,” Dr. Parker said.
Michigan State and Iowa team up on a ridiculous feel-good "solution" to a non-problem!
From this page:
“Our commitment for 2007 was around 25,000 tons,” [MSU's] Boomer said. “We need 25,000 tons reduction. And, we have not met that because our campus is growing, and we are using more electricity. We will purchase credits from the University of Iowa, which has successfully reduced its emissions by burning oat hulls (a byproduct of Quaker Oats) at its power plant.”
The Great Global Warming Swindle, Parts 2 and 3
Are 9,000 university teams really competing to develop global warming-themed games?
The Economist [Allegedly] Misses Point on Going Solar
From this post:
Slapping silicon on a roof in quantities necessary to power a single-family house, even a well insulated one, is never going to be cost-effective unless the house and its systems are designed or redesigned from the ground up to maximize it.
States leading the carbon dioxide panic
Here.
Most interesting to me is the supplied map:
For some reason, that map looks somewhat similar to this one, from the Center for Climate Strategies:
More on this alarmist group is here.
Most interesting to me is the supplied map:
For some reason, that map looks somewhat similar to this one, from the Center for Climate Strategies:
More on this alarmist group is here.
Is this not outright fraud from Australia's Ross Garnaut?
From this article, entitled "Dire new warning on climate":
Ominously, Professor Garnaut said major reports of recent years, including the UN Intergovernmental Panel assessments and Britain's Stern report, had used scenarios that were already out of date. He said recent rises in global mean temperatures had been at the upper end of what was predicted in 2001. "Our work suggests that the business-as-usual growth of emissions is happening much faster than had earlier been anticipated."Note the stunning divergence between the above paragraphs and the actual data here.
"The recent science is showing that the rate of change is at the bad end of what was identified as the range of possibilities," Professor Garnaut told The Age.
Pascal’s Wager And ‘Global Warming’
From this post:
In summary, therefore, Pascal’s wager can be applied neither to climate change nor to ‘global warming’ in any meaningful way. Indeed, believing in ‘global warming’ may burden you with more costs than not doing so, and believing that you know how to respond to ‘global warming’ may prove false, even if ‘global warming’ were to exist. Ultimately, of course, ‘global warming’ itself may prove a false ‘God’.
I wager it will. And, I’ll bet you all one thing: climate will change. Any takers?
It's likely belief in manmade global warming will do more harm than good
From this article:
It's probably too much to expect common sense to return in an election year"»or any year very soon. In California, a state senator (Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto) has introduced a bill to require global warming be taught in the state's public schools--or perhaps in those not already receiving heavy informal doses of politically acceptable scientific opinion. Better would be to teach students about the nature of scientific inquiry. The National Science Teachers Association has education standards defining such inquiry that include one that man made global warming proponents have forgotten: that students understand "the importance of being skeptical when they assess their own work and the work of others."
This lesson needs learning because combining junk science with politically correct intolerance leads to many poor decisions that can affect our economy disastrously and limit the scope of our personal freedom deplorably. Operating from false conceptions is worse than operating from ignorance because of the arrogant confidence false beliefs instill.
Will belief in man made global warming do more harm than good? Likely.
Shilling for global warming in the dark
From this article:
Some environmentalists will do everything for the environment except be one.
More evidence of dying climate hysteria
From this article:
Lloyd's also found that a mere 21 percent of its underwriters "believe that insurance buyers are giving greater consideration to climate change in risk management, which is a concern at a time when flooding and unseasonably high temperatures are highlighting the impact of climate change. Thirty-nine percent of underwriters questioned feel that climate change is likely to contribute to above average losses from the 2008 hurricane season after two years of benign loss experience."
"An epic post on the Hoax of Global Warming"
You really have to see this one.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
How did the field of climatology come to be dominated by environmental religionists, glad to promote what has at this point become a full fledged hoax? There have always been plenty of environmental religionists in academia, but Al Gore is the one who gave them billions of dollars to play with, while excluding all “contrarians” from his largesse. As vice president over the eight years when global warming hysteria first made climate science a funding priority, Al Gore allocated every dime. This was his portfolio as President Clinton's climate science czar. With over ten billion dollars to spend (a huge amount for academia), Al Gore created the current climate science industry almost from scratch, transforming what had been a small backwater discipline into a juggernaut of his own framing.
The funding amounts have since multiplied several times, all of it channeled through the religious ideologues that Al Gore originally empowered, men like NASA scientists James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt, two of the most self-conscious frauds in the history of science, all for what they truly believe to be the best of all possible reasons: saving the environment from human economic activity.
Readin', Writin' And Warmin'
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
Global Warming: A lawmaker from the Silicon Valley wants to require "climate change" to be taught as "science" in all California public schools. Warmers can't convince the adults, but they can brainwash the children.(Via Marc Morano)
San Francisco has at least 25 people directly "working" on climate issues
See the whole thing here.
Excerpts:
Excerpts:
In his quest to make San Francisco the greenest city in the nation, Mayor Gavin Newsom recently created a $160,000-a-year job for a senior aide and gave him the ambitious-sounding title of director of climate protection initiatives.(Via Junk Science blog)
...
But officials in the Newsom administration say that even 25 people working on climate issues is not enough and that having a director in the mayor's inner circle is necessary to coordinate all the city's climate initiatives."
If there are 25 people working on climate protection issues for the city, that's a good start," Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said. "Ten years ago [when the "globe" was still "warming"], there probably weren't any. It's smart policy to have one point person at the highest level of city government to coordinate all 25 of them."
The city has a climate action plan, issued by Newsom after he took office in 2004, that aims to cut the city's greenhouse emissions by 2012 to 20 percent below 1990's level.
In addition to the director of climate protection initiatives in Newsom's office, San Francisco has an Energy and Climate Program team of eight people in the Department of the Environment, who combined earn more than $800,000 a year in salary and benefits, including a "climate action coordinator." At least 12 San Francisco Public Utilities Commission staff members work on climate issues related to water and energy, including a $146,000-a-year "projects manager for the climate action plan."
Also in the name of climate control, the Municipal Transportation Agency has a "manager of emissions reductions and sustainability programs" who works on making Muni's bus fleet greener, and the San Francisco International Airport has a "manager of environmental services" who oversees such projects as the installation of energy-efficient lighting and solar panels.
The list doesn't include the scores of staff members who work on broader environmental policies, like the recently hired $130,700-a-year "greening director" in Newsom's office, or Jared Blumenfeld, who earns $207,500 a year in salary and benefits as the head of the city's Environment Department, which has a staff of 65 and annual budget of about $14 million.
Effort to slow global warming carries high price, critics say
From this article:
...representatives of Maryland's only steel mill, the Domino Sugar factory in Baltimore and a paper mill in Western Maryland warned of closings or dire financial losses if the state passes a law with some of the nation's toughest limits on carbon dioxide.Yes, by all means let's mandate economic chaos right now, in an attempt to reduce an unmeasurably small amount of future warming. Furthermore, let's decide to do this just as global temperatures are inexplicably(?) plunging.
"That plant is not going to survive," said Gene Burner, lobbyist for the ArcelorMittal steel plant at Sparrows Point, which employs 2,500 workers. "In order to make steel, you have to produce carbon dioxide. ... The only way to limit carbon dioxide is not to make it."
...
The supporters argue that state limits are necessary to spur federal action and will help to prevent deadly floods and economic chaos brought by climate change.
Snow in the San Diego area
A reader noted this story:
SAN DIEGO -- A surprise snowstorm left hundreds of motorists stranded overnight on a frozen stretch of Interstate 8 in the East County highlands, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP shut down about 60 miles of the freeway late Thursday afternoon during heavy snowfall that blanketed areas as low as 2,000 feet above sea level.
The nearly 20-hour emergency closure between Willows Road in Alpine and the Imperial County line left as many as 500 vehicles stuck for a time in the frigid highlands east of San Diego, officials said.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Disastrous cooling for fish farmers in Taiwan
From this article:
Penghu's fish culture industry also suffered its heaviest losses in 30 years -- estimated at NT$181.86 million -- as a result of the cold spell over the past two weeks, according to statistics released by the Council of Agriculture (COA).
County government statistics show that fish farms in Penghu lost over 1,500 metric tons, or 80 percent of their fish, including cobia and grouper, which experts say cannot survive temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius.
Outlandish claim from Gretchen Grape
From this article:
Global warming has moved the "maple sugaring" season ahead by about a month over the past two years, according to Gretchen Grape, executive director of the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association.
Heavy snow brings Greece to standstill
From this article:
A raging snow storm that blanketed most of Greece over the weekend also continued into the early morning hours on Monday, plunging the country into sub-zero temperatures. Public transport buses were at a standstill on Monday in the wider Athens area, while ships remained in ports, public services remained closed, and schools and courthouses in the more severely-stricken prefectures were also closed. Scores of villages, mainly on the island of Crete, and in the prefectures of Evia, Argolida, Arcadia, Lakonia, Viotia, and the Cyclades islands were snowed in.
Heavy Snows Damage One-Tenth of China's Forests
From this article:
BEIJING, China, February 19, 2008 (ENS) - The worst winter in 50 years has cost China's forestry sector 57.3 billion yuan (about US$8 billion) and could affect China's forests for the next three to five years, the State Forestry Administration said in a news conference here today.
...
As of February 1, the People's Liberation Army of China had deployed 306,000 soldiers to combat the effects of the snow in the southern parts of the country.
Irregular tactics, including shooting power lines with submachine guns to shatter the ice, and using tanks to crush ice on the road, were used frequently by the soldiers, a military source said.
Photographic Documentation of Poor Sitings - Part III From Our JGR Paper
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
The message from these analyses is that the use of the surface temperature record from such observation sites to construct regional-, zonal- and global- averages introduces a bias (which is expected to be a significant warm bias) of an unknown magnitude. That this issue has not been questioned in the climate assessments nor by most of the media reports of the assessments is a scandal.
B.C. pledges Greenbucks in bid to sell first carbon tax
Here.
I'm not quite sure why all these writers seem so excited about B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor's green shoes.
I'm not quite sure why all these writers seem so excited about B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor's green shoes.
Wanted: A REALLY big "twisty-tie"
From this article:
University of Calgary professor David Keith's idea involves making a gigantic, inflatable, sausage-like bag up to 100 yards wide and several miles long. The bag would be able to store more than 175 million tons of carbon dioxide –- the equivalent of about two days of current global emissions.I hope the narwhals don't foil this plan.
The giant bag would rest on the seabed about two miles below the ocean’s surface.
A remarkably clueless article from Harvard
You really have to see this whole thing to believe it.
Excerpts:
Excerpts:
In essence, he added, it’s now very clear that the atmospheric changes being seen now — global warming — “have nothing to do with changes in solar activity. It’s greenhouse gases. It’s not the sun that is causing this [climate] trend.”I don't see a single word in there about the recent observations of significant, widespread cooling. Also, it's suggested that Dr. Sallie Baliunas believes in CO2 hysteria, on the same day that this appeared in another article:
...
In fact, he said, global warming is occurring at an incredibly rapid rate, faster than any previous episodes of climate change known from the paleo-climate data.
At a speech recently at the University of Texas, Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Sallie Baliunas said her work with fellow astronomer Willie Soon indicates global warming is more directly related to solar variability than to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
HadCRUT3: Jan 2008 coldest since Feb 1994
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
In a few months, most of the 20th century warming - and virtually all of warming that can be sanely attributed to the industry - may be simply gone.
Climate dissent from a film critic
From this [profanity-laden] page by film critic Robert Fure:
...An Inconvenient Truth also wins best documentary. Good thing science doesn’t ... matter because most of that ... movie has been disproved by actual science! OOPS, ... YOU ACADEMY for not picking what deserved to win and picking what would make you popular. All these years later and you’re still just some kid on the ... playground trying to get picked first for dodgeball. ...
Maybe no one else cares. Maybe you ... want Juno to win every ... award and still think that carbon dioxide levels are ten thousand percent higher than they are and are causing global warming (hint: they are not at their highest ever, not even close, and science seems to indicate that the planet gets warmer and then carbon dioxide goes up - OOPS!) then ... ignore this ...
The Great Global Warming Swindle
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
After a great deal of research into the issue, I have discovered that the idea of a ‘man made’ global warming ‘catastrophe’ is a complete farce. Yet sadly, many are buying into this scam, and many believe the lies that are being foisted upon the world in the name of ‘global responsibility’.
Hysterical article about an AAAS award for Jim Hansen
Not a great comparison
From this article:
Some information from a David Archibald paper (available here) puts the modest 20th century warming into perspective:
An increase of 0.6 degrees Celsius may seem insignificant, but this can be put into perspective with a comparison to the human body: a normal body temperature is 36.7 degrees Celsius (98.1 degrees Fahrenheit), but an increase of a mere 0.3 degrees makes the person sick (98.6 degrees).First off, I'm not so sure that a person with a 98.6 F temperature is "sick".
Some information from a David Archibald paper (available here) puts the modest 20th century warming into perspective:
What is also interesting is the 2.2° temperature rise from 7.8° in 1696 to 10.0° in 1732. This is a 2.2° rise is 36 years [in Central England]. By comparison, the world has seen a 0.6° rise over the 100 years of the 20th century. That temperature rise in the early 18th century was four times as large and three times as fast as the rise in the 20th century.
The significance of this is that the world can experience very rapid temperature swings all due to natural causes. The temperature peak of 10° in 1732 wasn’t reached again until 1947.
£10,000 climate prize for kids
From this article:
PUPILS from nine York schools are persuading their parents to think green in a bid to secure £10,000 for their schools.
Students from the nine schools will be putting pester power to good use this month, after the launch of Norwich Union's Climate Change Champions Public Pledge competition.
Get your "global warming enlightenment" from California Attorney General Jerry Brown!
See this article, entitled "Brown to launch anti-warming effort"; note the subheading "LOCAL OFFICIALS CONSIDERED LIKELY TO RESIST WORKSHOPS".
Is that 3.3 pounds of carbon dioxide in your pants?
From this article:
“In addition, cotton fields in the United States and around the world play a role in reducing greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. The amount of cotton use in a pair of jeans takes 3.3 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and generates 2.2 pounds of oxygen.”
Abu Dhabi Breaks Ground on Carbon-Neutral City
From this post:
The world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city goes not to the renewable fuel-crazed U.S., but to Abu Dhabi. The capital of the United Arab Emeriates broke ground on Masdar City earlier this month. If this city actually functions as its supposed to, I think it will be rather impressive. When is the U.S. breaking ground on it’s own carbon-neutral playground?Note this paragraph:
Masdar CEO Dr. Sultan Al Jaber announced a total development budget for the city of $22 billion. Of that investment total, Masdar (”the source” in Arabic) will contribute $4 billion to develop the city’s infrastructure. The remaining $18 billion will come through direct investments and the creation of various financial instruments to raise needed capital. An essential driver for the development of the city is carbon finance. Carbon emissions reduced by Masdar City will be monetized under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism.
The groundbreaking ceremony’s electricity needs and carbon emissions were entirely offset by solar power reserves produced by Masdar’s photovoltaic testing facilities. Since it began producing power for the national grid in December 2007, the facility has generated more than 5,500 kilowatt hours of electricity and saved more than four tons of CO2.Four entire tons of CO2? You mean the amount that can supposedly be "offset" for maybe 16 bucks?
Why is receding sea ice so very much more interesting than expanding sea ice?
From this post:
Satellite images are showing that the cold spell is helping the sea ice expand in coverage by about 2 million square kilometres, compared to the average winter coverage in the previous three years.At the "National Snow and Ice Data Center", check out the massive, breathless coverage of the summer melting season here and here. Then see how much coverage you can find about the winter freezing season.
..
I'm starting to think that the left only pays attention to the Arctic in the summer--when it's supposed to melt.
Gore's global warming propaganda delivered to San Diego students!
From this page:
More than twenty representatives of The Climate Project, an environmental nonprofit organization founded by Al Gore, will descend on schools in San Diego next week to deliver a series of important messages about the climate crisis and potential solutions.
Between Monday, February 4 and Friday, February 8, TCP presenters from throughout California and Nevada will volunteer their time to speak to students about global warming as well as offer opportunities for community activism. In total, the pilot project will reach an estimated 4000 middle school and high school students at nearly 40 schools.
...
TCP presenters, all of whom were trained by Gore himself, will deliver slideshow presentations that are based on the one depicted in the Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth. The presentations are designed to educate audiences about humans’ impact on the environment and what they can do, both individually and collectively, to make a difference. Presenters will also propose opportunities for community service projects and social action, ranging from light bulb exchanges to tree planting to forming school-based clubs with an environmental focus.
A dose of reality needed on climate change issue
Here.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
Britain has only 1,000 heat-related deaths every year, compared with 40,000 cold-related.
Global Warming is alive and well (despite the cold)
From this post:
I completely agree with Chris Horner:
Please understand, I don't care about Carbon Offsets. Anyone who has looked into them would know that they are a not only a waste of money, they are a feel good/do nothing bit of rhetoric driven by a parasitical industry only concerned with its own wealth.See especially the article here, entitled "Green crusades lot of talk".
I completely agree with Chris Horner:
Mr. Horner, a critic of environmentalists' global warming solutions, said campaigns that abandoned their pledges showed that their commitment "was a stunt, not a belief."
Cadbury thinks out of the box with ‘eco-egg’
From this post:
The global warming canard is so pervasive it now threatens how we enjoy Easter. I promise that for every Cadbury eco-terrorist chocolate confection sold, I will personally operate my lawn mower for 30 seconds.
"Some in the media seem to think that a 'noble' cause justifies withholding facts on the other side"
From this Thomas Sowell article:
Some journalists — too many, in fact — do jump on the bandwagon of particular candidates or particular political agendas, and end up filtering and spinning the news as a result.
Those who are on the “global warming” bandwagon, for example, endlessly repeat that the polar ice cap in the arctic is shrinking — while filtering out the fact that the polar ice cap in the antarctic is growing.
...
Whether one is for or against the “global warming” crusade or for or against Democrats or Republicans in the White House, the truth is the truth — and filtering out facts is betraying the public that has turned to the media for information.
It is legitimate to argue for or against those who believe that global warming justifies one policy or another. That is an honest expression of opinion. But filtering the facts is not.
Some in the media seem to think that a noble cause justifies withholding facts on the other side.
"So Much for Peak Oil, Plug-In Hybrids, and Reliance on Foreign Dictators"
From this post (see the post for links):
In the New York Times Kenneth Chang reports on a novel application of air capture of carbon dioxide that promises carbon neutral gasoline forever. If commercially viable the technology could prove enormously disruptive to all sorts of interests.
Weather Stations in Korea
Here.
Update: A related post by Al Fin is here.
Excerpt:
Update: A related post by Al Fin is here.
Excerpt:
In one simple satellite photo, one can see a stark contrast between energy-wasting South Korea, and pristine, energy-saving North Korea. Under capitalism, South Korea has clearly become an industrial wasteland--profligate in its unsparing energy extravagance. North Korea under communism has grown into a veritable enviro-paradise to a degree virtually unknown anywhere else in the world.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sun driven by cycles, is change afoot?
From this post:
The sun is currently in a grand maxima (1940-2000 A.D.). Typically these grand maxima are short lived lasting in the order of 50 years.
EU's Olli Rehn STILL claiming that global warming is "accelerating"
From this article:
With the global warming accelerating, we should reach an agreement that will both lead to concrete measures soon and pave the way for future decisions that will help the world to prevent climate change from reaching devastating levels over the coming decades.Given recent data like this, how can Rehn possibly justify that statement?
Cold weather kills 60,000 cattle in Vietnam
From this article:
HANOI -- An ongoing record-long spell of cold weather in Vietnam's northern region, which started on January 14, has killed nearly 60,000 cattle, mainly bull and buffalo calves, local press reported Monday.
180,000 stranded in southern China as cold weather returns: govt
From this article:
BEIJING (AFP) — Icy temperatures have swept through south China, stranding 180,000 people and leading to widespread power cuts just as the area was recovering from the worst weather in 50 years, the government said Monday.
The latest cold snap has taken a severe toll in usually temperate Yunnan province, which has been struck by heavy snowfalls since Thursday, a government official from the provincial disaster relief office told AFP.
Twelve people have died there, state Xinhua news agency reported, and four remained missing as of Saturday.
In the province's second largest city, Qujing, 80 percent of the two million residents did not have electricity due to the most recent cold snap and the severe weather that first hit China in early January, the China Daily said.
A Modest Sacrifice for the Climate
From this article:
And the global warming hysteria is one area of public policy entirely in the hands of experts. Only fully-qualified eco-scientists, and then, only those in the employ of the United Nations and the various national environmental bureaucracies, are consulted on the issue. ("The science is settled.") These are the sages of today, and fools of tomorrow.
There is a vast and growing literature of extremely well-qualified skeptics, who doubt the very premise behind the international hysteria -- that fluctuations in human-caused CO2 emissions have anything much to do with either global or regional temperature trends. Most have noticed that the trends coincide much better with solar cycles, beyond human control. But, by definition, these skeptics are not in the pay of the environmental bureaucracies, or at least, do not remain in their pay for long.
Councilman Dave Somers And Enviro-Extremism
From this post:
In a guest commentary in the Herald, Snohomish County Councilman Dave Somers is telling us that because "vehicle emissions comprise half of the state's greenhouse gases that fuel global warming," that therefore we should "devise ways that allow us to live prosperously while driving less."
Somers' main point is that we should reduce "car-dependent sprawl," that is, that we should all live in cities so we can reduce resource consumption.
The message is clear: your quality of life doesn't matter nearly as much as slavish belief in unsubstantiated claims about anthropogenic global warming.
We shouldn't try to come up with solutions to problems that will improve our quality of life; instead, we should solve problems by reducing our quality of life. Make no mistake: the point here is opposition to all change, except change that reverses our positive direction. Forward is backward. Up is down. Progress is regress.
Somers wants HB 2797 to pass, an ignorantly written bill that proffers the false claim that "the effects of global warming are becoming evident in Washington, adversely affecting its residents, economy, and environment."
"Greenwashing" Abuses Investigated
From this article:
A simple Google search reveals thousands of scam-looking operators seeking money to clear a consumer's conscience with unverifiable promises to plant trees somewhere and no measurable or scientific information whatsoever...
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