This was to be the summer when we abandoned polluting flights and took green, patriotic holidays at home. But then the weather turned. Julia Llewellyn Smith talks to the victims of a cold, damp squib...
On August 31st, at 23:59 UTC, just a little over 24 hours from now, we are very likely to make a bit of history. It looks like we will have gone an entire calendar month without a sunspot. According to data from NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center, the last time that happened was in June of 1913. May of 1913 was also spotless.
Anyway, just for the record, there WAS an important meeting last Wednesday on climate change, lots of climate change activists showed up, and despite Frank W. Wagner's willfully ignorant comments, there IS a serious climate crisis that requires dramatic action by local, state, and national governments (as well as each one of us). The question is, when is the Virginia media going to start reporting on this issue, and stop wasting their time with 12-part series on Chandra Levy and the like? Personally, I'm not holding my breath...how about you?
It appears there is some climate change sanity at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis after all. Stay tuned, things could change.
...according to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the agency that oversees the state’s major alternative energy rebate programs, the small wind initiative was canceled because the turbines it has funded are producing far less energy than originally estimated.
An MTC-sponsored study released earlier this summer found that the average energy production of 19 small turbines reviewed was only 27 percent of what the installers had projected. The actual production for the 19 turbines, which received nearly $600,000 in public funding, ranged between 2 and 59 percent of the estimates.
A $75,663 turbine at Falmouth Academy that received $47,500 in state money, for example, has produced only 17 percent of the projected energy in the year since its installation. Another, smaller device in Bourne is producing only 15 percent of the originally estimated energy.
A leading power company has claimed wind energy is so unreliable that even if 13,000 turbines are built to meet EU renewable energy targets, they could be relied on to provide only 7 per cent of the country’s peak winter electricity demand.
E.On has argued that, during the coldest days of winter, so little wind blows that 92 per cent of installed wind capacity would have to be backed up by traditional power stations.
It argues this would require new coal-fired power stations to be built so they could be used in an emergency when little wind blows.
This, E.On suggests, will mean that, to meet renewable targets of 20 per cent of energy being provided from renewables by 2020, the UK’s installed power base will need to rise from 76 gigawatts today to more than 100GW.
The company estimates this could cost £100 billion.
While sunspots are often cited as the main proxy indicator of solar activity, there is another indicator which I view as equally (if not more) important. The Average Planetary Magnetic index (Ap), the strength of which ties into Svensmark’s cosmic ray theory modulating Earth’s cloud cover. A weaker Ap would mean less cosmic rays are deflected by the solar magnetic field, and so the theory goes, more cosmic rays provide more seed nuclei for clouds in Earth’’s atmosphere. More clouds mean a greater albedo and less terrestrial solar radiation, which translates to lower temperatures.
(NaturalNews) The weight and consumption habits of the overweight and obese are worsening the pace of global warming, said two researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in a letter to the medical journal Lancet.
It takes more fuel to transport people who are obese and therefore heavier, Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote. In addition, heavier people do not just tend to eat more food: they actually require it. The researchers calculated that it takes an obese person 1,680 calories per day just to maintain their body functioning and another 1,280 to sustain their daily activities. This is 18 percent higher than the caloric intake required for a person with a normal body mass index (BMI).
Here’s a rhetorical question: If you’re holding a seminar about the benefits of green technology strategy, should you really be giving away a gas card as one of the incentives to sign up? I thought not. For shame!
The new USGS reports show no evidence that polar bear populations across their world-wide range are unhealthy. There is evidence that polar bears are currently well-managed and have dramatically increased over 30 years through international agreements and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The State recognizes that a recent warming trend in portions of the Arctic is occurring, but the causes and effects are more diverse, complex and scientifically debated than is recognized in the USGS reports. As a result, the link between projected warming and the polar bear population in 50 years is highly speculative and questionable. Polar bears survived prior warming periods greater than the current one. The State notes that numerous respected scientists around the world question the forecasting methodologies used to project impacts to polar bears.
“The listing of a currently healthy species based entirely on highly speculative and uncertain climate and ice modeling and equally uncertain and speculative modeling of possible impacts on a species would be unprecedented,” Governor Palin stated in a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.
This model is flawed and it can’t be repaired. Proposing a one-time absorption by carbon sinks is absurd. There are several parameters involved in an accumulation/reduction model, parameters that not only have to agree with each other but also agree with reality.
Conclusion: Human emissions cannot explain the rising CO2 trend.
A FORMER South Tyneside student is set to join the United Nations for three months as a climate change intern.
Laura Jeffrey, 26, of Cleadon, beat 5,000 other applicants to land the prestigious position at the UN.
She jets out to its headquarters in New York next month to work in its fuel supply unit.
Take it from me, if it had ended differently, we would not be bogged down in Iraq, we would have pursued bin Laden until we captured him. [big cheer, continuing into Gore's next sentence] We would not be facing a self-inflicted economic crisis; we would be fighting for middle-income families. We would not be showing contempt for the Constitution; we'd be protecting the rights of every American regardless of race, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation. [big cheer] And we would not be denying the climate crisis; we'd be solving it. [relative silence]
...This group accounted for 52 per cent of the 202 people questioned at length by Exeter University in a paper which was presented to the Royal Geographical Society.
They were also found to be sceptical about climate change and justified their behaviour by saying that what they did at home compensated for their few weeks of environmentally lax behaviour.
Smart and easy to read, Annette Saliken's Cocktail Party Guide to Global Warming (iUniverse, $16.95), may well be the ultimate pocket guide to climate change.
For anyone who wants to be part of the most important conversation going on today, this slim volume is required reading.
Whether you want to return a volley to the lout who claims the main source of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is cow patties, not fossil fuels, or you just want to have an informed conversation about global warming, you will love this book.
Since its debut a few weeks ago it has shot up Amazon.ca's bestseller list, snagged two publisher's awards and received a personal endorsement from David Suzuki.
The kudos from Suzuki, who hails it as "the classic martini of climate change books" hold special meaning for the author.
"He really knows his facts," said Saliken, a marketing and communications expert who did her MBA on global warming and alternative energy.
"I want people to feel confident to talk about climate change and global warming," she said.
Saliken pored over peer-reviewed scientific papers and took on the role of "translator" to distill mountains of complex information into "ordinary language for non-technical readers."
Typically between May and September, there are 18 days of weather above 90 degrees. This year, there have been 11 (compared with 10 last summer).
No distinct pattern emerges from data from the past two decades. In 2004, the temperature rose above 90 degrees on two days between May and September, the fewest since 1902, Mr. Daly said. In 2002, there were 32 days when it was that hot. In 1991 and 1993, there were 39 days each.
JOHN MCCAIN: “When you say wind solar and tide, most every expert that I know says that, if you maximize that in every possible way, the contribution that that would make given the present state of technology is very small, is very small. It’s not a large contribution. It’s wonderful, it’s great to have it, I encourage it everywhere. I hope everyone will, for Christmas, buy their family a solar panel. But, that would be exciting. But they, but, I’d be glad to send you the figures that there’s the amount of–even if we gave it the absolute maximum, uh, wind, solar and tide, uh, etc. The clean tech - the truly clean technologies don’t work.”
(Town Hall Meeting; Portsmouth, NH 12/04/07)
The State of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin said Wednesday.
She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts.
Palin argued there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said.
Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, Palin said.
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Palin and other state officials called arbitrary a decision to list a healthy species judging by what they deem uncertain modeling of future climate change and unproven long-term impact of any future climate change on the species.
[Q.] What is your take on global warming and how is it affecting our country?
[A.] A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.
...The lesson is that there are unintended consequences when governments make decisions best left to the markets. Demand for wind energy is being artificially propped up by state renewable portfolio mandates and government incentives. Yet because wind is an intermittent resource and because no commercial-scale electricity storage exists, wind is hard-pressed to meet renewable goals, while electric grids are burdened by the rapid integration of an intermittent resource that the grids were not designed to accommodate.
The growing energy demands of the U.S. call for the use of all the resources we can use. But we should use them when the technology can support their use — when the economics work. If we let the market bring resources to the table when they are market-ready, then we will have much more time to fix transmission limitations and address the other problems that our mad-dash-to-go-green has gotten us into.
...None of this would have been possible without extraordinary emissions of carbon dioxide in a city that has seen its carbon footprint expand by 24 percent in the last 15 years because . . . it is prospering. According to the Mile High City’s green watch dog, the Greenprint Advisory Council, Denver’s emissions explosion comes “in almost direct proportion to the significant population growth Denver has experienced.”
Paradoxically, the restrictive, prudishly green Democratic Party and its “green” convention were attracted to this frontier city because it is growing (unlike, say, Detroit, which has seen declining population, growth, and CO2 emissions). As my Detroit News colleague Jeff Hadden likes to say (quoting Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds): “I’ll believe global warming
With the sun being quiet for a surprisingly long time, plenty of commentators are pointing to the possibility of a Maunder Minimum - a period from 1645 to 1715 with very few sunspots which is associated with a series of bitter winters known as the Little Ice Age. Although it is widely acknowledged that there must be some link between the sun’s activity and climate, the nature of the link and its effectiveness is hotly debated. The IPCC models, the ruling orthodoxy, gives star billing to the effect of industrial gases in the atmosphere and places solar variations in the also ran category. However, as we shall see those models have proved largely useless for forecasting - in the short term, at least - and there are no rival climate theories. The sceptics largely decline to forecast, pointing out, with some justification as it turns out, that there is as yet no means of forecasting what the sun will do.
What a difference a day makes. Baby ice extent is rallying. The smoothed rate dropped from -0.0706 to -0.0651 Mm2/day. That gained six days on the rate method putting minimum extent on 9/29 and minimum area at 4.32 Mm2. The rate curve is still somewhat below but close to 2004. 2004 even had a big extent loss at about the same time as 2008, the local rate minimum in 2004 was two days before 2008. The area remaining method puts minimum extent at 4.86 Mm2 on 9/15. 2007 is back outside the 99% prediction limit as well. It is extremely unlikely that 2008 can catch 2007, but anything can happen in the next month.
Standing on the banks of the River Thames with the Thames River Barrier behind him, Mr Johnson told reporters he hoped the strategy would put London in a "position of strength".
"We need to concentrate efforts to slash carbon emissions and become more energy efficient in order to prevent dangerous climate change," he said.
The natural and basic group of living things is a species. Biologists have now catalogued around two million species in our planet. Some scientists have suggested that there are about five million kinds of plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and other living things on Earth. Others say that there could be as many as 100 million.
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We are now in the sixth period of mass extinction of living species. While the large scale annahilation of species in the past was a slow process and Nature-induced, the present massive extinction of species is super fast and caused by human activities. Climate change and global warming alone caused by man generated air pollution is conservatively calculated to eliminate one million species of living things in less than 100 years.
ANGRY villagers turned out in force to protest against a potential wind farm being built on their doorstep.Tim Pawlenty, Global Warming Alarmist
A meeting was held on Tuesday night by developers Your Energy to talk to the planning committee of Yelvertoft Parish Council and members of the public about the proposed plans for an eight-turbine wind farm near the village.
However the meeting in the Reading Room, in the High Street, left some people frustrated as the developers were unable to answer many of the questions asked.
Alan Hesketh, a Yelvertoft resident, said: “It was very well attended with people having to stand outside..."
It is estimated that for every 30 minutes of idling, one-tenth of a gallon of gasoline is used. That's an average of two pounds of carbon dioxide. These numbers are for a car or light truck; the larger the vehicle's engine, the more gas is wasted by idling.You, too, can help by shutting off your vehicle in fast food and bank drive-throughs and while waiting at the railroad tracks. It is the cumulative effect of these little actions that will determine whether or not we leave our children's children with a habitable world. Let's face it: Most of us won't live to see the adverse effects of this.
Since first floating his ‘Green Shift’ plan to save the world from global warming by taxing people everywhere, Liberal leader Stephane Dion has naturally been facing significant resistance from Canadians. Now, when it appears than a federal election is just around the corner, Liberals are in full panic mode. They’re worried that Mr. Dion’s Green Shift may very well sink the party, and with it their own political futures.
THE State could be facing an even larger bill for off-setting greenhouse gasses after projections showed our emissions increased by nearly 5pc last year.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Eamon Ryan has admitted it will be a "real challenge" to meet the Government's target of reducing carbon emissions by 3pc every year during its term in office.
But the opposition has warned that the State may have to pay even more than the €270m that has been set aside to buy the permits, known as "carbon credits", to emit greenhouse gases .
Fine Gael energy spokesman Simon Coveney said the price of the credits, currently around €30 per tonne of emissions, was only going in one direction.
And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.
Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.
Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stopgap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.
As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies retool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy; wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.
The uber-centrist Brookings Institution joins the climateNYC: "unseasonably cool and dry August"alarmistrealist crowd.
Emeritus Professor Syun-Ichi Akasofu of Alaska’s International Arctic Research Center says he has trouble seeing any man-made warming...August in the Cascades feels "more like October"
Many trails still have lingering snowfields from last winter that could make hiking more difficult. Snow levels have dropped considerably during the past week, and some trails may have new snow. The association recommends calling ahead to local ranger stations for conditions.
The association says hikers should turn back if treacherous snow and ice are encountered, unless hikers are equipped with an ice ax and are knowledgeable about how to use it.
On August 8, 2008, Geologist Dr. David Gee, the chairman of the science committee of the recently concluded International Geological Congress, dismissed the notion that the "science is settled" on man-made climate fears by asking his fellow scientists "How sure can we be?" about carbon dioxide driving global temperatures.Democrats find 'green' political convention tough to enforce
But reality doesn't always match expectations. Bikes aren't permitted inside the convention's security perimeter, so golf carts and other vehicles are used. The wooden card keys proved buggy, and some were replaced with more-reliable plastic. Fried mini-donuts were prominently on sale inside the Pepsi Center. Party VIPs and celebrities told their decidedly non-green town cars and GMC Yukon XL mega-SUVs--rented from limo provider A Class Above Transportation--to idle, with engines and air conditioning on, in the nearby pickup area. (What self-respecting conference-goer wants to climb into a GMC Yukon when it's a toasty 93 degrees in the shade?)
Plus, a gathering of tens of thousands of people (and perhaps 70,000 for Barack Obama's Thursday acceptance speech) generate a whopping amount of trash. Even if it's sorted, recycling Obama-Biden signs takes energy, as does trucking in what the Journal reported to be 900 volunteers to monitor waste cans and perform the trash-separation, thereby taking them away from tasks that might be more productive.
If the warmers were waiting to learn how Barack Obama was going to save the Planet from global warming tonight in Denver, they were disappointed. There was no mention of global warming, CO2 or greenhouse gases in the whole speech. Could it be that Obama has been listening to his science advisor's who is aware the global warming stopped increasing ten years ago, and the climate started cooling in 2003.Jennifer Marohasy: Causal Linkage between Carbon Dioxide and Global Warming (Part 4)
There are of course the voluminous reports from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with their findings and theories on popular Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theory. The content of these reports, endorsed by governments around the world, have been repeated over and over, for example, in the recent influential report by economist Ross Garnaut to the Australian government. It is apparent, however, that a body of science published in peer-review journals, establishing a causal link between anthropogenic carbon dioxide and warming and quantifying the extent of this warming, is lacking but would be expected to exist to support popular AGW theory.EU Referendum: The £6 billion rip-off
Why this should be a wake-up call for the rest of the nation is that this illustrates the huge scale of the hidden incentives involved. Energy companies are not so much building wind as subsidy farms, such is the bonanza to be grabbed.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York and 11 other states are suing federal environmental regulators over greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries, the New York attorney general's office said on Monday.
The suit, led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, charges that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the federal Clean Air Act by refusing to issue standards, known as new source performance standards, for controlling global warming pollution emissions from oil refineries.
"The EPA's refusal to control pollution from oil refineries is the latest example of the Bush Administration's do-nothing policy on global warming," Cuomo said in a release. "Oil refineries contribute substantially to global warming, posing grave threats to New York's environment, health, and economy."
The exact causes of climate change remain a mystery to science. Many researchers link recent global warming to changes in the sun. Others remain skeptical, claiming that the sun varies only very slowly, over periods of millions of years. They say that no hard evidence exists for a solar effect on recent climate changes.
But all the mockery he now receives from reporters for his alleged hypocrisy seems slightly misplaced. It’s the sloganeering rocker who should have been condemned for brainlessness, not the Environment Minister for finally seeing sense. If Garrett finally did a mea culpa on all that irrational bumper-sticker activism of his past, he might be able to make a clean new start.
Energy is consumed in the manufacturing and transport of everything you buy, which means there are fossil-fuel emissions at every stage of production. A good way to reduce the amount of energy you use is simply to buy less. Before making a purchase, ask yourself if you really need it. Can you make do with what you already have? Can you borrow or rent? Can you find the item secondhand?Did you ask yourself these questions before you purchased your huge new houseboat? What were the answers?
The cause of climate change "was settled in the scientific community a decade ago", so [Naomi Oreskes] wanted to find "how this has come to be, who is behind this campaign to claim there is scientific disagreement" on the issue.
She puts it down to a vigorous and persistent effort by special interest groups to counter accepted scientific facts with findings purporting to come from credible scientists.
"We know where the money is coming from. We know this has been funded by a mix of sources including the fossil-fuel industry and particularly the coal industry," she says. "It is based on getting scientists to challenge scientists on anything that challenges the free market system."
Valid findings are regularly countered by "experts" who may have scientific credentials but seldom in the areas relevant to the area of science being brought into doubt. "We need to be more discriminating about who we think is an expert," she suggests.
It creates a situation in which the public is left confused over apparently conflicting evidence even though there is no real grounds for conflict. This in turn encourages the public to doubt all climate science findings and to assume that all are based on theory rather than fact.
In solar energy resplendent border states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, setting up solar plants would prove cheaper than building more conventional sources of energy, [Robert Kennedy, Jr. ] said. “These are the Saudi Arabias of sun.”
“We can build those plants anywhere, we can build them cheaper than nuke plants, cheaper than old coal plants, and cheaper than oil plants, and faster than any of them,” said Kennedy a member of the U.S. political dynasty and a senior attorney for the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council.
More than 1,700 delegates at two conferences on global warming being held in Kenya and Ghana have largely failed to carbon-offset their travel to the meetings, The Telegraph has learned.
Incidentally, while the public clamors for drill, drill, drill, Mr. Obama wants high-cost, cap-and-trade carbon regulation enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency. Now, Mr. McCain also wants cap-and-trade, but not if India and China don’t go along. Apparently Mr. Obama will not be constrained by the rest of the world.I see no evidence that China or India will ever be stupid enough to buy into cap-and-trade. If we only do cap-and-trade if China and India go along, it almost certainly means that we won't do cap-and-trade at all.
This came ten days out — not ten decades, like the computer-modelers projections upon which we are to stake our economy. So, now that the day is upon us, how do things look?
The Weather Channel forecast for Denver has today's likely high as . . . 79F.
This episode, released shortly after An Inconvenient Truth, makes fun of Al Gore for his desperation to have the spotlight turned on him and to discuss global warming until he’s blue in the face. The creation of Manbearpig, Al Gore’s made-up global terror that must be stopped, is obviously equivalent to global warming (in case you missed that) and the lines he utters at the end really drive the point home.South Park and Global Warming: tonight’s episode, “Terrance and Phillip Behind the Blow” (505) « The Zen of South Park
In “Terrance and Phillip Behind the Blow” it’s Earth Day and the crazy Earth Day leaders are psychopaths, blaming everything on the Republicans and murdering people for the sake of their cause. As Stan says, “Environmental activists don’t use logic or reason.” This episode, along with “Manbearpig” in which Al Gore is a raving lunatic trying to prove the existence and danger of a make-believe creature that’s half man, half bear, and half pig (and which we see in Imaginationland), as well as others that refuse to tolerate the nonsense of bullshit environmentalist’ claims, is awesome for its willingness to stand up to the monolith that is the environmental movement. Few people will publicly stand up to the ridicule that is associated with not believing in what everyone tells them is true (like standing up to bunk religious claims when everyone around you is a believer), but Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Michael Crichton are among them.
Hofmeister also returned to a favorite theme from his Shell days: Climate change is an ideological argument that won't be won.SN&R > Local Stories > What’s driving global warming? > 08.28.08
CongressNow: Democrat Dingell writes a global warming bill - Roll Call
Ask most Americans what causes global warming, and they’ll point to a coal-plant smokestack or a car’s tailpipe. They’re right, of course, but perhaps two other images should be granted similarly iconic status: the front and rear ends of a cow.
“I’ve been trying to warn everybody there’s going to be a huge cost increase, and I’ve gotten a rich flow of denunciation for that,” he said. “Let’s be honest, cap-and-trade is going to result in a very significant increase in energy prices.”
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Tensions erupted early in 2007, when the newly installed Speaker announced that she was creating a special committee to address global warming. The famously turf-conscious Dingell memorably labeled the panel “as useful as feathers on a fish” and successfully pressed to have it stripped of any legislative authority. The two clashed again last summer, when Dingell released draft legislation that would block Pelosi’s home state of California from regulating greenhouse gases from automobiles, the mainstay industry of Dingell’s district.
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Despite the outlook for a more favorable political climate, Dingell, in an interview, was characteristically candid about how he gauges the odds of success on global warming legislation during the next Congress. “I don’t have the vaguest idea,” he said. “I can only say that traditionally, that kind of legislation has only passed when it’s been done in a bipartisan fashion.”
Speakers at the public forum also addressed how global warming may directly affect metro-east residents, citing this summer's flooding and unusually cool weather, and future impact on agriculture.
"These are symptoms of global warming," said Kathy Andria, who represented the American Bottoms Conservancy at the forum.
Maryland could generate a $2 billion windfall and create more than 300,000 jobs if it adopts more “green” policies, such as expanding mass transit and making new clean energy investments, according to a new report.Note that Maryland is one of many states that have been infiltrated by a global warming alarmist group called "The Center for Climate Strategies".
The Maryland Commission on Climate Change, comprised of scientists, public officials and activists, released an action plan Wednesday advising the state to adopt 42 eco-friendly policies by 2020. These policies, the group said, will both reduce global warming and shower cash on the state.
A breeding pair of wedge-tailed eagles has been killed at Roaring 40s’ Woolnorth Bluff Point windfarm in the state’s north-west.
A spokesman for Roaring 40s said the company “gets as upset as anybody when there is a collision”, but urged people to keep the deaths in perspective.
The first eagle was killed on August 17 and a few days later its mate was also struck.
The company spokesman said the second bird was struck as it fended off a second eagle pair trying to moved into its territory.
“It was extremely aggressive behaviour from the two eagles. It was something we had not seen before,” he said.
Eagle monitors were on site and had shut down part of the windfarm because of the presence of the eagles, but that still was not enough.
The injured eagle was taken to a vet and euthanised.
The company said the deaths were the first at the Bluff Point site in almost two years and brought the total number to 12 since the windfarm was fully commissioned in 2004.
The spokesman said the deaths were devastating for workers who were on site purely to watch out for eagles.
Welcome to Nuclear Reaction, Greenpeace’s latest blog, where we’ll be recording for history the meltdown of that most over-rated, over-subsidised and over-confident of industries, the nuclear industry.End the nuclear age | Greenpeace International
The nuclear industry is always running late, is extremely high maintenance, constantly stealing from your wallet, and very likely to be ruining your life for years to come. If it was your boyfriend or girlfriend you’d have changed your name and fled to another country years ago.
Greenpeace has always fought - and will continue to fight - vigorously against nuclear power because it is an unacceptable risk to the environment and to humanity. The only solution is to halt the expansion of all nuclear power, and for the shutdown of existing plants.
We need an energy system that can fight climate change, based on renewable energy and energy efficiency. Nuclear power already delivers less energy globally than renewable energy, and the share will continue to decrease in the coming years.
The buoy data have indicated increased amounts of melt on the underside of the ice cover in recent years; bottom melt last year was particularly extreme.Regarding the credibility of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, see their laughable page entitled Accuracy of science in Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth:
...In recent days, the buoys have indicated sub-freezing temperatures with surface melt coming to an end; however, bottom melt will continue for at least two to three more weeks and the ice extent decline, while slowing, will also continue.
TED: I think An Inconvenient Truth does an excellent job of outlining the science behind global warming and the challenges society faces in the coming century because of it.
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Where can I read more scientific reaction to the movie, especially about aspects of the science that you don’t cover here?
WALT: RealClimate.org, a non-profit, non-governmental site run by scientists, has a good entry on the movie. See http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=299.
How much impact mankind has had on earth’s temperature – which is the issue at the crux of current controversies – is hard to determine, according to [geologist Leighton] Steward. Of the 18 factors which impact earth’s temperature, mankind is probably the least of them.
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And, earth has been much colder than it is now. “Ithaca, New York was 1.8 miles under snow and ice just 11,000 years ago,” according to Steward.
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The movements of the continents more dramatically affect sea levels and have more immediate impacts than does CO2, said Steward. Earth’s continents move two to three inches a year, substantially less than the 7-9 inches they moved annually 100 million years ago.
A $500 billion carrot awaits the new breed of fund managers willing to do their homework on climate change, but the road to the burgeoning investment sector is full of stumbling blocks.
Speaking at an IMCA briefing this week, DWS investment analyst Bill Barbour said that the investment opportunities arising from the global climate change issue are enormous.
According to Stern research, the value of low-carbon energy markets could rise to $500 billion by 2050. The UN also estimates that demand for projects generating greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions credits could reach $100 billion by 2030.
By next year, worldwide investment in clean energy is estimated to top $100 billion.
Barbour said that whether you are a cynic or a believer, climate change is a genuine, unavoidable challenge facing communities and governments around the world.
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But the problem is that upskilling will take more than just reading the books because of all the unknown variables involved.
"Climate change models are vague, they're expensive, they're inaccurate…and the evolution of policy and regulation is likely going to be one step back, two steps forward so that again is going to be difficult for investment managers," he said.
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But while there will be winners and losers, the driving theme behind the long-term success of "green" investments is that companies that don't have climate change policies will "no longer be economically feasible" in the future.
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"I think carbon is underpriced at the moment. That has an impact to the companies that are heavy polluters and a boon to those with carbon credits so you can sway your portfolios that way."
Deutsche Asset Management manages US$2.5 billion in climate change assets globally as at 31 March this year.
Man made global warming gets blamed for a lot of things, but often when you look beyond the rhetoric that surrounds such blame, you find simpler answers, such as changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.No more cheap energy, warns cabinet minister John Hutton - Telegraph
...Says Britain's ability to generate its own energy needs to be above climate change in Government's priorities.Capitalism Magazine: Greens Against Renewable Energy by News Wire
According to Dr. Keith Lockitch, resident fellow of the Ayn Rand Institute: "This just shows the true objective of green activism. Environmentalists don't actually want us to find alternative ways of producing energy; they want us to stop using energy altogether.
"The basic premise of environmentalism is to leave nature alone. Capturing and utilizing any source of energy--even ones that are supposedly green and renewable--will necessarily have some impact on nature, and will therefore inevitably be subject to environmentalist attacks and condemnation.
"Since the use of energy is an indispensable component of everything we do in our lives, the greens' opposition to even such ridiculous, impractical sources of energy as solar and wind reveals their basic animus against human life.
"An exasperated Arnold Schwarzenegger said 'if we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don't know where the hell we can put it.' But that is the whole point. On green philosophy, there is literally no place on earth for mankind."
Every family in Britain is paying nearly £800 a year in a 'dishonest' green tax grab, a shocking report said last night.Okanagan orchardists face major crop losses - AOL News Canada
Fruit growers in B.C.'s southern Okanagan valley are counting their losses after unseasonally brutal weather destroyed much of this year's crop.Apathy and confusion stalls uptake of carbon offsetting
Officials estimate 100 fruit growers in the Osoyoos area suffered significant losses after heavy frost in April followed by hail, rain and a fierce windstorm in July wiped out much of the fragile crops. Spring frosts killed fruit blossoms in other areas of the region as well.
With its hot summer temperatures and intensive irrigation systems, the Okanagan is one of the most productive agricultural areas in B.C. But for orchardists like Ranbir Kambo, this year's crop of apples, cherries and apricots is a total writeoff.
"Everything is history. There is nothing we can salvage - 98 per cent damage. There is no way anybody could salvage anything out of it," Kambo said as he walked through his 18-acre fruit orchard in Osoyoos on Wednesday.
That is the view of Sunvil Holidays managing director and ABTA board member Noel Josephides, who warns the industry will pay a price if it fails to take climate change more seriously.
Josephides said: "The impetus has gone out of offsetting. People are ignoring it. It is too much of a hassle.
"Agents do not want it on last-minute bookings. They do not want to ask the client about it."
Sunvil was the first UK tour operator of any size to offer offsetting as an opt-out option last year - meaning consumers have to choose not to accept it.
"We had 36% take-up in the first year," said Josephides. He reported a 30% fall so far this year, with the lowest take-up among sales through agencies.
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Josephides is also dismayed by the lack of interest in ABTA's Reduce My Footprint initiative, launched at last year's Travel Convention.
"There is hardly any take- up," he said. "Nothing that relates to climate change is easy. It cannot be left to travel consultants. This needs the backing of shop owners and managers. ABTA is trying, but this needs a lot more commitment from members."
9:10 a.m. More than 100 energy and climate exchange experts have gathered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Space Theater it's clear very quickly that this event is GREEN. Confusing, but, green. As luminaries such as Mike Kaplan, president of Aspen Skiing Company, and Dan Reicher, director of energy and climate for Google, gather, everyone is looking for a program. But those traditional pieces of paper, the ones that let everyone know who's who and what the schedule for the day will be, are missing. No paper programs. Now that's green. Confusing. But green.
In high school I cut lawns to make money during the summer, and as any lawnboy can tell you, crabgrass is far more hardy than fescue in the heat. We’d spend all summer keeping the crabgrass and other weeds at bay. So this is hardly news. What is news to me is that taxpayer funds would be wasted on such things. With “tipping points”, sea ice loss, ocean conveyor shutdowns, and a whole host of bigger things we’ve been told to worry about, I’m really surprised that anybody is wasting time worrying about our lawn quality in the apocalyptic future that has been portrayed by some. On the plus side, at least they recognize UHI, which I’m sure will upset Peterson and Parker, who tell us it doesn’t exist. - AnthonyExperts Talk Winter Woes For Iowa
State Climatologist Harry Hillaker said he believes this winter will be colder than normal, but he's predicting a normal amount of snowfall.NDP surges ahead in new B.C. poll
Hillaker said that in a normal year, Iowa receives 32-33 inches. Last year we received 45 inches.
An unpopular carbon tax and big raises for senior government managers have contributed to the B.C. Liberal government losing its long-standing lead in public support to the NDP, according to a new poll.
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The poll also found that only five per cent of people used the $100 climate action dividend payments issued this summer to pay for environmental action, such as replacing light bulbs or inefficient appliances.
Inhofe is the Senate's No. 1 critic of the idea of manmade global warming and is a supporter of drilling in Anwar, while McCain has said global warming is a threat and has opposed drilling in the Alaska refuge.
McCain's position on global warming, Inhofe said, "was more of a political decision. I think John knows it is an extremely powerful force — the far left environmentalists."
...These are all excellent points and are one of the reasons that the very first step in any no-regrest approach to global warming should be the ending of all fuel subsidies.GLOBAL WARMING EVERY 1,500 YEARS–WHAT IT MEANS FOR ENGINEERING, BY: DENNIS T. AVERY
Our scientists have shown great enthusiasm in documenting the 1,500-year climate cycle, and our media have demonstrated marvelous talents for mobilizing public opinion in support of a very modest global warming. Now, the engineering professions must demonstrate their ability to adapt our societies to a less dramatic but equally pervasive challenge of warming adaptation.Why Offshore Drilling Can Bridge Gap to U.S. Energy Future: Op-Ed - Looking for a Miracle - Popular Mechanics
The Democratic and Republican conventions have arrived amidst a litany of calls for government-sponsored energy projects on the level of Apollo. Despite progress in fields from solar to wind and batteries to biofuels, Popular Mechanics’ editor-in-chief says Americans should be careful what we wish for—scientists have more to offer than politicians.
Wow -- it turns out that after hundreds of millions or even billions of years of remaining stable, the world climate will, due to (at most) a few tenths of degrees of man-made warming and an increase of a trace gas composition in the atmosphere by about 0.01%, go past its tipping point or point of no return and run away to catastrophe. I sure wish there was a prediction market where I could bet against this...Coyote Blog: Open For 19th Century Business
It is highly entertaining to see people who have never even worked in, much less have run, a real business (including Obama, Clinton, and about everyone else on the DNC rostrum) express the hubris that only they know what the right industrial investment plan for the US is and that only they know how to build a major new industry. In particular, we saw last night the repetition of Obama's ridiculous made-up 5 million jobs number that I critiqued in depth several days ago.
An interesting piece of news from the BBC that screams out very loud “there is nothing special about today’s climate“.California County’s Resolve Against Drilling Fades - NYTimes.com
Yet, it’s all to be read between the lines, as the “greenhouse gases” are taken as the current warming’s culprit as a matter of course (i.e. without thinking).
Basically, alpine archeologists are having a field day (ha! ha!) with retreating glaciers exposing very, very ancient human artifacts. It should go without saying that if humans were up there at a time when gore-tex had not been invented and mountaineering superstores were not around, it must have been considerably warm. Also, everything buried under a glacier must have been there before the glacier trundled by.
Santa Barbara County became a symbol of the national environmental movement’s passionate opposition to offshore oil drilling when an oil spill devastated its coastline in 1969. On Tuesday, it became a symbol of the changing national mood as its board of supervisors debated whether to welcome new wells along California’s shores.
The supervisors voted 3 to 2 on Tuesday to end the county’s opposition to offshore drilling, although the vote will have no practical impact on state or federal policies.
But the speed with which opinions have changed in Santa Barbara County as gasoline prices have climbed has been astonishing...
When the builders of the Maple Ridge Wind farm spent $320 million to put nearly 200 wind turbines in upstate New York, the idea was to get paid for producing electricity. But at times, regional electric lines have been so congested that Maple Ridge has been forced to shut down even with a brisk wind blowing.Campaigners to fly blimp over wind farm site [National Wind Watch]
That is a symptom of a broad national problem. Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.
Anti-wind farm protestors will launch a blimp over Sempringham Fen close to the site of a proposal for a six-turbine wind farm near Billingborough and Pointon.No more turbines! We've got enough in Cornwall [National Wind Watch]
Members of AGAST will fly the huge blimp at around 395ft, which is the height of the turbines planned by ScottishPower Renewables, on Saturday and Sunday.
Communities in North Cornwall are battling to stop the county’s biggest wind farm from dominating the skyline over Bodmin Moor.Millions wasted on wind power planning [National Wind Watch]
Emergency meetings have been called by Camelford Town Council and parish councillors following a similar move last week by Davidstow parish council which saw 200 angry residents pack Otterham village hall.
The wind power industry has spent at least NOK 100 million on projects that are unrealistic at the outset, according to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE).
The main reason is that the existing national grid does not have the capacity to carry the added power from more than a third of the wind powered generators that the industry itself wants to build.
Led by the governor of the state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate, Democrats spent Tuesday night describing a socialist green paradise where government decrees energy markets and creates “5 million new jobs.”
“We just ask you to believe,” said Bill Clinton’s former Secretary of Energy Federico Peña — echoing Peter Pan’s primer on flying, the line that best summed up the evening. (Though a close Number Two was Peña’s revelation that America is addicted to oil, begging his stunned question: “How did this happen?!” He then explained it was a result of the last eight years of Bush & Big Oil — as if the U.S. ran on hydrogen in the good ol’ days when he was the Energy Secretary.
GREEN CITY On Sunday, Aug. 31, the Mayor's Office and several community groups join forces to bring San Francisco into an international movement to increase physical activity, break down invisible borders, and make scenic space available to all during the city's first ciclovia.A related link:
More than 4.5 miles of streets will be closed to cars that day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for Sunday Streets, the first of two ciclovias scheduled this summer. The idea of the ciclovia — which is Spanish for "cycle way" or "bike path" — was conceived in Bogotá, Colombia, during the mid-1990s and has since spread throughout the world.
The concept is to take existing roads — the province of cars — and turn them into temporary paths for walking, jogging, cycling, and other physical activity.
"I think it really helps us re-imagine our city streets as places of safe, non-auto physical activity," said Wade Crowfoot, Mayor Gavin Newsom's director of global climate change. "From an environmental perspective, it's time we re-imagine our space and our streets, and to make streets accessible to everyone.
At Tuesday's weekly Board of Supervisors meeting, there was an interesting exchange between a few of the supervisors and Wade Crowfoot (below), Mayor Newsom's new "Director of Global Climate Change," or whatever they are calling his ridiculous new position that's being funded by Muni.
It seems a new solar panel slush fund is being set up by the Mayor through the Assessor/Recorder's office, even though this has traditionally been the province of the Public Utilities Commission, and nobody could quite explain why, or how much was involved. I almost felt sorry for the young, handsome and obviously intelligent Mr. Crowfoot, because he seemed to be carrying a pail of pure sleaze for his masters, and nobody seemed to be very convinced by his explanations.
The survey also found only a little more than one in ten (12%) homeowners are willing to spend more money to make their homes more environmentally friendly, without guarantees of making back their investment.
Research claims simpler "climate compensation" model needed to tackle low customer awareness of offsetting
The Fuller family applied to host the wormery, full of hundreds of Tiger Worms, at their home for a year to see how user-friendly it was to manage.
In the application Isaac said he would like the worms to tickle his hands and Duncan came up with the slogan, “Global worming, not global warming”.
We, who do not deny that mankind influences climate, even sometimes harmfully, but who reckon that our uncertainty in the mechanisms of the hideously complex global climate system and the imprecision its forecasts, coupled with the glut of extravagant and ridiculous claims of evils that await us, are not strong enough evidence to yet warrant government-imposed mandatory taxes and regulation. We, who do not deny that that day might come, and who do not discourage voluntary and personal actions. We propose to take no action until our certainty is much stronger.
We propose to be inactive—we are inactivists.
...The common sense of the public may, in the end, prove to be far more scientifically reliable than the beliefs of the ‘global warming’ faithful.
As I have said, over and over again, the fundamental point has always been this: climate change is governed by hundreds of factors, or variables, and the very idea that we can manage climate change predictably by understanding and manipulating at the margins one politically-selected factor is as misguided as it gets.
I wonder if we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the ‘global warming’ nonsense? I really do hope so, although I could do without a cold phase to prove it.
Review of the Summer that wasnt and Preview of the new weather-political-football season...Björn Lomborg: Oliver Tickell has abandoned his climate change argument
Oliver Tickell defends against my critique his visions of 4C leading to a catastrophic future. Two casual observations lend themselves readily. First, Tickell has entirely abstained from defending his claim for human extinction from 4C. Thanks. Second, I was clearly wrong when I said that Tickell's claim for 70-80 metres of sea level rise had maxed out campaigners' scare potential because that means all ice is melted. Showing an amazing ability to raise the stakes none the less, Tickell now talks about sea level going 100m higher.Nonsensical Noise or Solar Signal?
The UN climate panel (IPCC) says that 4C will lead to a rise a hundredth of that figure; but Tickell simply claims such moderate projections are "dangerously misplaced". All I can see is that such facts are terribly inconvenient.
[CO2 Science] The two researchers thus conclude that "the sun is influencing climate significantly more than the IPCC report claims," and that "the current anthropogenic contribution to global warming is significantly over-estimated." In fact, citing Scafetta and West (2007), they go on to say they "estimate that the sun could account for as much as 69% of the increase in earth's average temperature, depending on the TSI reconstruction used."
She makes her getaway in a SUV, too. Of course. Of course.Internationally renowned Norwegian solar expert is a climate sceptic
Pal Brekke was second-in-command of the gigantic international solar research project SOHO. Now back in his home country of Norway, Dr Brekke is immersed in coordinating research and disseminating findings for the Norwegian Space Centre in Oslo. He is bringing knowledge from his field of speciality into the climate debate, which has branded him as a climate bully in certain circles.Jaspan gone from The Age | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog
The vast majority of researchers concur that anthropogenic activity has affected the earth's climate. Dr Brekke is no exception. But he breaks rank with most climate researchers when he expresses doubt as to the actual extent of the impact of human activity.
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"There is much evidence that the sun's high-activity cycle is levelling off or abating. If it is true that the sun's activity is of great significance in determining the earth's climate, this reduced solar activity could work in the opposite direction to climate change caused by humans. In that case," contends Dr Brekke, "we could find the temperature levelling off or actually falling in the course of a 50-year period" - an assertion that provokes many climate researchers.
Andrew Jaspan has been dumped as editor-in-chief of The Age, the paper he turned into a Bible of the global warming cult.
Andrew Jones — former Rocky Mountain Institute colleague and systems-dynamic modeler extraordinaire at the Sustainability Institute — asks if I could write something “from a DC insider perspective about why we shouldn’t be freaking out that climate change is getting so little air time at the Democratic National Convention?”Cato Unbound » Blog Archive » Goklany Okay with 250-Foot Sea-Level Rise
Once again the Esperanza is ‘fuelling’ debate about Greenpeace sustainability. It’s a question we’re often asked on open boat days: “why does the Esperanza run on diesel? Isn’t that hypocritical?” The question has stimulated a lively debate at the Herald Sun.
Ten years ago many thought global warming was a hoax.Ben Lovejoy
Today, few would dispute that our planet has indeed warmed.
That was the premise of a day-long roundtable discussion Tuesday in Denver that brought private industry and public officials together to discuss solutions to a national energy policy, global warming and making renewable fuels economically viable.
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"The science debate (of global warming) is now over," [northern Colorado legislator Tim] Wirth said. "We're now in the economics debate."
An environmentalist is someone who cares about the quality of our environment. I am an environmentalist, though the word has been so successfully hijacked that I would never describe myself as such outside of the context of this article.
The reality of most of the so-called environmentalist groups is that their agenda has nothing to do with climate change. Organisations like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are today mostly packed with members whose real objection is to capitalism and a materialist lifestyle. They would like us to return to some mythical Golden Age of simple living.
As stonefruit begins to blossom, Wairarapa growers have their fingers crossed hoping the snow on the Tararuas will melt, reducing the chance of crippling frosts.Too many climate realists in Alabama?
"If the snow stays we'll have frost and that kills the blossom as the little buds pop hopefully this rain and the warmer temperatures will get rid of the snow so there's not too many frosts," Taukahiwi Orchard's Lorraine Liggins said.
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"The rain and heavy frosts have been of particular concern and the snow's been hanging around so much for global warming," Mr Liggins, a keen skier, said.
"As an orchardist you're always worried you're biggest bugbear is the weather, that's why stonefruit's expensive."
Mrs Liggins said it is a crucial time for the industry. "If it's not warm the bees don't come out it has to be between around 12 and 14 degrees before they'll come out."
What is it about Alabama that we have so many who deny that the actions of humankind contribute significantly to climate change?The Republican-American BILL DUNN: Proud member of the Idiotic Other Side
Is it our generally poor education system? Is it that the better genetic stock didn't stop here but went farther west? Is it just that we have so many right-wing nutcases that eat, sleep and breathe Rush, Hannity and Boortz to the point that their brains are mush?
Global warming: Anyone who does not agree the earth is warming rapidly and that it's caused by human activity is labeled a "denier." Al Gore said people who do not agree with his apocalyptic, 20-foot-rise-in-sea-level prophecy are just like Holocaust deniers. In other words, they are incredibly stupid or evil.
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Al Gore's predictions about global warming are absurd. I believe in 20 years people will watch Al's award-winning movie in the same way college students today watch "Reefer Madness." That is, with a lot of laughter and incredulity that people were once so gullible and hysterical.
Climate change has been the most important and complex issue on my plate in 15 years as a science and technology correspondent for The Canberra Times. So an appropriate topic for a farewell commentary for this newspaper is an emerging scientific debate with the potential to complicate the already difficult relationship between scientists and politicians on this issue.
Energy Policy: The speaker of the House touts natural gas as an "alternative fuel like wind." Could it be that this time she's put her money where her mouth is?
...All in all, these examples actually show that government functions best by facilitation - creating the right legal and political environment for innovation and deployment of new technologies. Sometimes it tries to make us safer through defense expenditure and ends up making us richer. Sometimes it interferes and delays or perverts the most efficient development of the technological asset. None of these cases suggest that massive government funding of energy R&D is essential. They do, however, show that government can very much help by getting out of the way. And that’s an argument I am currently developing at much greater length.
When the U.S. rejected the Kyoto climate treaty negotiated by Vice President Al Gore, "it was a tragedy," Clinton said. Yet, even if Congress had ratified that treaty, "America could not have reached its Kyoto targets."A related link: Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain is in any hurry to ratify Kyoto
As for Obama, as an Illinois state senator in 1998, he voted for a bill supported by Illinois' powerful coal lobby, opposing Kyoto and banning the state from regulating greenhouse gases.
To understand how entrenched American opposition to Kyoto is, recall that the year before, then U.S. president Bill Clinton and vice-president Al Gore -- yeah, that Al Gore -- abandoned attempts to get the U.S. to ratify Kyoto for their remaining three years in office.
That after the U.S. Senate, which must ratify international treaties, voted 95-0 -- Democrats unanimously joining with Republicans -- to reject Kyoto for exempting the developing world from reducing greenhouse gases.
A recent oped from Independent Women’s Forum President Michelle Bernard in the DC Examiner looks at the high costs of GHG cap and trade policies and sums up the cost to Earth’s inhabitants...
August 26, 2008 — OK, I could have done without hearing this line from Denver global warming activist Laurie David Sunday night at the Green Sunday at Red Rocks concert kicking off the Democratic National Convention: “Any planet that has Sheryl Crow on it will always be hot.”
She was quoting a college student from one of her global warming bus tours, but still, that quip came with a high cheese factor. However, I will say this, whatever celebs the Republicans manage to trot out at their convention next week in Minneapolis-St. Paul, they will not be as cool as the Dems stable of celeb supporters.
Fewer than half of the Westerners polled, and 48 percent in Nevada, consider climate change to be "scientifically established reality." Arizona residents were the most confident and Wyoming residents the most skeptical about climate change.
It therefore seems that when faced with a choice between empowering Russia and annoying environmentalists, Western Europeans are less afraid of the former.DNC Dispatch: Diplomats, Turner and Kasich
The National Democratic Institute is hosting the International Leaders Forum, a series of events for the more than 1,200 foreign dignitaries who are here to witness Barak Obama officially taking control of the Democratic party and begin the final push towards Election Day. C-Span is featuring some of the video on its DNC hub.
The diplomats are especially excited about Wednesday's day long program featuring Madeline Albright, former Sen. Tom Daschle, Richard Holbrooke, former Sen. Tim Wirth (president of the UN foundation) and rumored guest Joe Biden. But until then they are spending their time listening to members of Congress, policy advisers, and others discuss the role of international cooperation and ideas for the next Administration's foreign policy approaches.
Alongside of the NDI program is the 2008 Rocky Mountain Roundtable hosted by the city of Denver and Mayor Hickenlooper. Yesterday's panel on global philanthropy was held before an audience of more than 900 people and featured Ted Turner, Larry Brilliant, Mary Robinson, Andrew Young, and many others. It was moderated by Walter Isaacson. It was inspiring and feisty, and there was a general consensus that, among the issues facing us, Climate Change is the most important. As Brilliant said, "if we don't do something now, we'll have malaria in Los Angeles and we won't have to worry about the design for the 9/11 memorial because New York will be underwater." Dramatic statements, yes. But not untrue according to the world's scientists.
She went on to refer to the protestors, who continued to chant sporadically, as “handmaidens of Big Oil.” Arguing that increased offshore drilling would only reduce gas prices two cents in 10 years, she referred to the demonstrators as the “two-cents-in-ten-years-crowd.”
The ratio of "skeptic" to non-skeptic callers is usually something like 10:1.
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Sigh...I really don't know what to do with these kinds of callers. I try to patiently explain things to them as best I can, even though some of their claims I've never even heard of and don't know how to address (especially as I doubt their factual accuracy).
Over two decades, Japanese ships have butchered thousands of whales taken from the icy waters around the Antarctic in the name of research. Campaigners and politicians condemn the practice as unethical and unnecessary, and say Japan's "scientific" whaling programme is commercial whaling by another name.
Now, Japan's scientists claim their controversial whaling programme has produced a key finding. Measurements taken from more than 4,500 minke whales slaughtered since the late 1980s reveal the animals have lost significant amounts of blubber, and are getting thinner at a worrying speed. The team says its study offers the first evidence that global warming could be harming whales, because it restricts their food supplies. And they say the discovery could only have been made by killing the animals.
[WSJ]: Apparently Ms. Pelosi’s new script is still being reworked, but it’s a telling mistake. Not only is natural gas every bit as much a “fossil fuel” as oil or coal. More to the point, these concentrated organic compounds found beneath the earth’s surface must be extracted by . . . drilling. And sometimes even drilling offshore, on the Outer Continental Shelf. But more drilling is what Ms. Pelosi had refused to allow just a few days ago.
As promised, the Republican platform subcommittee on energy took up the global-warming section of the 2008 draft about an hour ago. Long story short: It's now a very different document. I'll have more after I've had a chance to talk to some of the participants in the debate. To give you an idea of how drastically the document changed, consider the first it amendment it took up, which passed:
The section was titled, "Global Warming and Environmental Protection." Now it's just, "Environmental Protection."
Many climate scientists say they see a "fingerprint" in recent temperature increases that they claim is distinctive and makes current temperature increases different from past "natural" temperature increases.The Narrow Perspective On Climate Science Being Communicated To Physics Teachers
So, to see if we are all as smart as the climate scientists, here are two 51-year periods from the 20th century global temperature record as provided by the Hadley CRUT3. Both are scaled the same (each line on the y-axis is 0.2C, each x-axis division is 5 years) -- in fact, both are clips from the exact same image. So, which is the anthropogenic warming and which is the natural?
The article clearly misinforms the students and the physics teachers as to the actual diversity of issues with respect to the human role within the climate system, as well as the significance of natural climate forcings and feedbacks.The Problems With On-Grid Wind Power « Blowing Our Tax Dollars on Wind Farms
Climate Science recommends that physics teachers read more widely than the list in the American Association of Physics Teachers resource list.
Here is a paper for dullards like me who didn’t understand the implications of trying to hook highly variable wind power into a power grid. The bottom line is that effective usage is low and that actual replacement effect is even lower...
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