Again, no mention of global warming

RealClearPolitics - Obama's Remarks in Dover, New Hampshire

Gulf Times – Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper - Britain/Ireland

LONDON: Eco-activists are planning to storm Parliament in a mass protest against global warming, the Evening Standard can reveal.

Week 1 of the election: where are the crowds?

By way of a thumbnail week-in-review, consider the list of Dion pitstops with the estimated number of Liberals who showed up to celebrate their leader's triumphant arrival in brackets.

There was the Ottawa kickoff (300), a Montreal event in his own riding with most of his Quebec candidates (200), a morning event at an MP's office (30), another at a longshot candidate's office (25), a barbecue in Napanee, Ont., (75), a rally in Pickering, Ont., for several area MPs (200), a women's forum in west Toronto (50), a Walkerton, Ont., speech (1,000 forced-to-attend students), an airport tarmac event in Thunder Bay, Ont., (30) and a Vancouver green housing announcement (35).

He saved his best performance and crowd for Friday afternoon at a University of Victoria town hall, but perhaps it was almost too successful. About 200 students overflowed the classroom and left another 200 disappointed students outside. He then had his biggest rally a few hours later (1,000). His Saturday luncheon, where he introduced his immigration plan, and which should have attracted a large crowd in this heavily ethnic riding, attracted only about 100 lunch guests.

Not to quibble, but given that student enthusiasm, one wonders why there's not more support from the tree-huggers and planet-savers spooked by the alleged Conservative climate-change-deniers now commanding an early lead. If this is indeed a titanic showdown between good and evil in the struggle to curb greenhouse gases, they should, at the very least, be disrupting the Conservative campaign's easy ride if they can't bring themselves to support Dion.

Austin Energy rebate program faces challenges : News : Abilene Reporter-News

King criticized rebates offered on solar panels because they have failed to attract solar panel manufacturers to Austin.

Jarman said Austin's solar panel program in the short term is chiefly driven by climate change concerns. In the long run, he said, regardless of whether solar power companies relocate to Austin, the rebates are designed to create a market for solar panels that ultimately cuts the costs of their manufacture.

Hefty rebates on solar panels, for example, are not obviously justified by energy savings, King said. "The solar guys sold the city on relatively expensive rebates. You have to be a bit careful about whose Kool-Aid you drink, but by and large, (rebates) are important to increasing the adoption rate of efficient equipment."

The Jawa Report: Video : Sarah Palin PWNS Charlie Gibson on Anthropogenic Global Warming Climate Change

Gov. Palin is absolutely right on this one. Gibson's entire line of questioning, based on a false and simplistic "man made/not man made" dichotomy, betrays that he's not at all familiar with the debate.
...
With her clear statements above, Gov. Palin has identified herself as a skeptic of the anthropogenic theory, and backed it up with a solid explanation for her position. As you can see, Gibson's attempt at another "gotcha" fell completely flat, as he was unprepared, unfamiliar with the background and way out of his league on the subject matter.

A bad week for the alarmists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center

The data available here shows that the annual Arctic sea ice extent loss stalled out (at an extent of about 4.71 million square kilometers) this week:



Maybe a mighty wind will come up and temporarily open up some more water, but I wouldn't bet that Arctic sea ice extent will go below last year's reported minimum of about 4.27 million square km.

Note that last year's low wasn't actually the lowest extent since the Big Bang; it was merely the lowest since the satellite record started in 1979 (way back about two years after Fonzi jumped the shark).

(Here's one reason why I use the term "alarmists" to describe the folks at the National Snow and Ice Data Center: they endorse the "science" of Al Gore's movie here.)

Pickens' Natural Gas Nonsense

JunkScience.com -- Steven Milloy, Publisher

The natural-gas supply problem will be additionally magnified if significant greenhouse-gas regulation is enacted.

Here's how: Currently, when natural gas gets too expensive, electric utilities often substitute coal or cheaper fuels for power generation.

Under a greenhouse-gas regulation scheme, however, inexpensive coal might no longer be an alternative because of the significantly greater greenhouse-gas emissions involved with its combustion.

Utilities, and ultimately consumers, could easily find themselves at the mercy of natural-gas barons -- like T. Boone Pickens himself, a large investor in natural gas.

Is that the real "Pickens Plan?"

Antarctic Sea Ice Grows as a Result of Global Warming???! « The Air Vent

So what they are saying is the ocean currents which anomalously melt arctic ice are global warming, and Antarctic ice increases are a local phenomenon which could be explained by a lot of different theories all driven by warming.

Could Juliet Eilperin actually be this dense?

Palin Denies Denying Human Role in Global Warming | washingtonpost.com

Like Jake Tapper, Eilperin apparently believes that recent global warming has to be 100% man-caused or else 0% man-caused.

Eilperin evidently also believes that if the percentage is not 0, then Al Gore is right, Palin's previous statements were wrong, and that any related transfer of public wealth to possible scamsters may be justified.

Juliet Eilperin

A born-and-bred Washington, Juliet Eilperin graduated in 1992 magna cum laude from Princeton University, where she received a bachelor’s in Politics with a certificate in Latin American Studies.

Václav Klaus - Current Global Warming Alarmism and the Mont Pelerin Society’s Long Term Agenda

(1) I think I have to start with expressing my deep and ever-deeper conviction that the recently created panic as regards dramatic, in the past allegedly unknown global climate changes and their supposedly catastrophic consequences for the future of human civilization must not remain without a resolute answer of the – until now – more or less silent majority of rationally thinking people, especially classical liberals, libertarians and other freedom loving men and women. Not everyone is silent but the current dominance of climate alarmism practically in the whole world can’t be disputed.

Many of us know (or at least should know) that this panic doesn’t have a solid ground, that it has not been set off by rational arguments, that it demonstrates an apparent disregard of the past experience of mankind, and that its substance is not science. It is based, on the contrary, on the abuse of science by a non-liberal, extremely authoritarian, freedom and prosperity despising (and destroying) ideology which I, together with many others, call environmentalism. (2)

Oil and gas company exec has your best interests at heart!

UPDATE 1-Total CEO argues merits of high energy prices | Industries | Energy | Reuters

GENEVA, Sept 13 (Reuters) - High energy prices are helpful to discourage planet-polluting waste, and make extraction from varied sources such as northern Canada possible, Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Christophe De Margerie said on Saturday.

Speaking to a global security conference, de Margerie said the recent slide in the price of oil may have negative effects if people stop treating energy as a scarce resource.

"I am not defending high-level prices as such," he told the conference at a hotel in Geneva, the Swiss city that plays host to the United Nations' European offices as well as many large energy and commodity trading houses.

"Maybe we have been for too many years, including the companies, used to the price maybe too cheap," he said, noting this spurred investments and activities "which are probably not in line and acceptable due to this global warming concern".

"The only way to change the way people are behaving is to have the energy price to a certain extent high," he said in a speech about climate change.

If fuel prices fall sharply, De Margerie said consumers may become less concerned about efficiency measures to reduce carbon emissions that scientists have linked to global warming.

"This message will be totally lost and that will be a pity," he said.

Total SA (TOTF.PA) Company Profile | Stocks | Reuters.com

TOTAL S.A. (TOTAL), together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is an integrated international oil and gas company. With operations in more than 130 countries, TOTAL engages in all aspects of the petroleum industry, including Upstream operations (oil and gas exploration, development and production, liquefied natural gas (LNG)) and Downstream operations (refining, marketing and the trading and shipping of crude oil and petroleum products)

But how did the reindeer survive the Medieval Warm period?

2008 Cape Farewell Expedition Blog » Blog Archive » Greenland Landings

I am part of the biogeography group (the study of plant and animal life) and what we have been doing is estimating the abundance of each species. One of the most interesting facts that I have learned is that a plant called lichen, (which only grows where there is little air pollution, so you won’t find it anywhere near a city) is the ONLY source of food for reindeer and caribou in the winter months. This plant takes about 15-20years to reach maturity (so we try not to step on them) and we have determined the maximum height to be 7cm. All of the plants here are of very similar height so they do not compete for sunlight, however if the climate gets warmer the other species will grow taller and drown out the lichen which means no more reindeer/caribou which in turn means a loss of food for Inuit communities and no one to pull Santa’s sled.

Now that he works for the EPA, MATT BOGOSHIAN sort of buys into global warming hysteria

One difference now is that we think about doing things differently a lot more than we used to. Hey, it's a start. We did go down to two cars, getting rid of a few clunkers; we changed out most of our light bulbs with fluorescents, we planted a couple of trees, we wear more sweaters than we used to and actually try to car pool and take a train once in a while. I like the part of trying to buy local food but we often get caught like deer in the headlights trying to decide between buying local for more money versus buying cheaper, prettier products that aren't as good for the environment. It's a challenge every time we shop and I usually err on the side of going for the cheaper product - a step at time.

The bottom line is that our greenhouse gas sins are many, but since we are all sinners and in this together, I don't feel so bad so long as I repent and try to do my best.

Kingsnorth on Kingsnorth

The difficulty with the climate change narrative has always been how big it is. The idea that turning on your kettle helps to drown polar bears has never really sunk in with many people at any level beyond the theoretical. Maybe – just maybe – the Kingsnorth verdict, with the full weight of the law backing it up, will make that link clearer in our minds. If it does, perhaps all that persecution will have been worth it.

Michael R. Fox: Problems with the Climate Models

Hawaii Reporter

It is time to break the relationship between energy policy and computer forecasting. The models are not sources of climate information so badly needed to formulate rational energy policy without the threats of economic suicide. The economic and energy future of our nation should not rest so completely on such primitive modeling.

It is well beyond the time when the policy makers, the educators, and the media, demand evidence instead of scare stories. Glossy documentaries won’t do.

As Dennis Avery said recently, co-author of the book “Unstoppable Global Warming”, “We look forward to a full-scale exploration of the science. We have heard quite enough from the computers”.

Alaska: Climate skepticism "still a mainstream sentiment"

Palin seems to skirt global warming issue: Alaska News | adn.com

But Palin comes from a state where skepticism over the causes of climate change is still a mainstream sentiment.

GLOBAL WARMING TALK NOT POPULAR IN ALASKA

Earlier this year, the state legislature approved $2 million for a conference inviting climate change skeptics here to hash out the causes.

"It is important to remember that climate change is occurring, but then it has occurred continuously for millions of years," wrote the legislature's Republican leaders, House Speaker John Harris and Senate President Lyda Green. "And, so far, there are too many dissenting opinions to state matter-of-factly that it is being caused by humans."

The project was derided by some as a "conference to nowhere" and now appears unlikely to take place. Much of the money was later diverted to fund a lawsuit by the Palin administration against listing the polar bear as a threatened species.
...
Hartig said Palin had been completely supportive of her sub-cabinet's work, even as she has shown a "healthy skepticism" in meetings on the subject. He said she relies on her department heads for information, rather than steeping herself in the scientific arguments.

"The kind of questions she asks that show skepticism are the kinds of questions a person on the street asks," Hartig said.

Wilson's climate change views go global - Belfast Today

East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson penned an article in last Friday's News Letter in which he expressed strong doubts that global warming is caused by man.
...
Thousands of people from around the world are still logging into the News Letter website to read his views and dozens have joined in debate.

Mr Wilson has placed himself at odds with mainstream environmentalists, both locally and internationally.

At home, his views have been condemned by a range of groups including the UUP, the Green Party, Sinn Fein, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Friends of the Earth.

But in today's News Letter two international scientists from the International Climate Change Coalition, Tom Harris and John McLean, defend the minister.

New Zealand: Odd stuff from Mark Franklin

"Whether there is climate change or not we already have the obligation,'' says [chief executive of the new TZ1 carbon derivatives market Mark] Franklin, "because New Zealand, as one of 38 developed countries signed up to the Kyoto Protocol.''

This means between now and 2012 our carbon footprint must reduce at an annual rate across the signatories, averaging less than the emissions output generated in 1990. New Zealand has been allocated 309.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent to reduce over that period.

For Franklin the argument whether Earth is a casualty of global warming is a speculative one and not, he says, all that relevant to his job. "I understand the scepticism,'' he says. "New Zealand contributes 0.2% of the world's emissions so people say we won't have any impact but we will be pariahs if we don't comply.

Time Magazine, Sept 1937: Northwest AND Northeast passages open

Northwest Passage II - TIME

Last week this new, shorter Northwest Passage's navigability was dramatically demonstrated as Hudson Bay Company's Eastern Arctic Patrol Nascopie sounded her way through Bellot Strait. Snow shrouded the Arctic dusk as head on through the haze came the bow of another ship. Nascopie's Captain Thomas Smellie's incredulous hail got a booming reply from veteran Arctic Trader Patsy Klingenberg, from the deck of the Schooner Aklavik, eastbound to Baffin Island, and astonished Eskimo cheers from both crews echoed through the rock-bound channel. That night captains of both vessels described from their anchorages to Canadian Broadcasting Co. and NBC audiences their historic meeting. Hopeful for the growing trade of the North were residents and sponsors of Churchill that somehow Northwest Passage II would bring business, help redeem millions of dollars sunk in Canada's most northerly port.

*Across the Pole is the Northeast Passage to China along the top of Norway & Russia. Sebastian Cabot initiated its search in 1553. Henry Hudson twice attempted a passage but it was not until 1879 that the route was navigated. Now Russia currently operates 160 freighters on summer schedules in the Northeast Passage's more open but colder waters.

(Via Shawn Whelan in the comment section of Climate Audit)

globeandmail.com: Dion grilled over double taxing carbon

VICTORIA -- Stéphane Dion's so-called Green Shift scheme came under scrutiny yesterday over how British Columbians can avoid being doubly penalized by his environmental plan and their provincial carbon tax.

Mr. Dion was at a town hall meeting at the University of Victoria, giving a loose and sometimes humorous performance as he took questions from students. But a constant concern of British Columbians involves the centrepiece of Mr. Dion's campaign platform, as a tax on fuel at the pumps was brought in July 1.

Mr. Dion had no good answer for the students and reporters, who asked about how the two schemes could be harmonized.

IPCC Confirms Its Status as a Political Organization « The Unbearable Nakedness of CLIMATE CHANGE

Well, sort of…after all, they just had their “elections“. And the individual countries’ did push hard to get the best seats for next round of reporting...

Climate Realist: Prometheus: The Carbon-Free Energy Gap

How can any cap and trade program ever hope to work if there are not suitable alternatives under a cap?

William M. Briggs, Statistician » The limits of acceptable criminal behavior to combat global warming

Let’s only use this list to keep track of criminal activities that are legitimately believed to be allowable or justifiable.

Climate Realist: New Paper: US Hurricane Counts are Significantly Related to Solar Activity

The authors report on a finding that annual U.S hurricane counts are significantly related to solar activity. The relationship results from fewer intense tropical cyclones over the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico when sunspot numbers are high. The finding is in accord with the heat-engine theory of hurricanes that predicts a reduction in the maximum potential intensity with
a warming in the layer near the top of the hurricane.

Will the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up? Re-Mix. « Climate Audit

There's an amusing little incident with the deleted "original" data set that was posted up for a few minutes at Mann's website - you know, the data set that was first demonstrably referenced by a CA reader in the early morning of Sep 5. (I'll reserve comment for now on issues relating to the timestamp of this data set and the Gavin Schmidt hyperlink to it, presently pointing to a data version that did not exist at the time that the hyperlink was supposedly created.)

Within a day, on the afternoon of Sep 5, the data set was deleted and replaced with another data set, again without notice, in a bewildering concatenation of replacements that is reminiscent of our experience with the Hansen's GISS data almost a year to the day ago. However, both myself and others took the precaution of downloading the Sep 4 version as soon as we saw it - just in case it disappeared. Not an imprudent precaution, given its almost immediate deletion.

Was Ki-moon's "solar" car actually powered by fossil fuels?

Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

UNITED NATIONS, September 12 -- Surrounded by doubts about diplomatic and management failures, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on September 12 took his short drive to work in what was called a solar car. Inner City Press interviewed the car's driver and inventor, Louis Palmer, who said that there had been two or three gasoline-powered cars of security accompanying Mr. Ban. Palmer also said that the ride was not in fact fueled the sun. Rather, the car had been plugged in to "the wall" overnight. And how is that electricity made? Skeptics were sensing greenhouse gasses.

Recent Chill could be Start of Longer Term Cooling, says Researcher

AccuWeather.com: Global Warming News, Science, Myths, Articles

Northern Hemisphere Controls on Tropical Southeast African Climate During the Past 60,000 Years

...warming in tropical Southeast Africa during the last glacial termination began to rise ~3000 years before atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

Monckton - Hockey Stick? What Hockey Stick?

An extraordinary series of postings at www.climateaudit.org, the deservedly well trafficked website of the courageous and tenacious Canadian statistician Steve McIntyre, is a remarkable indictment of the corruption and cynicism that is rife among the alarmist climate scientists favored by the UN’s discredited climate panel, the IPCC. In laymen’s language, the present paper respectfully summarizes Dr. McIntyre’s account of the systematically dishonest manner in which the “hockey-stick” graph falsely showing that today’s temperatures are warmer than those that prevailed during the medieval climate optimum was fabricated in 1998/9, adopted as the poster-child of climate panic by the IPCC in its 2001 climate assessment, and then retained in its 2007 assessment report despite having been demolished in the scientific literature. It is a long tale, but well worth following. No one who reads it will ever again trust the IPCC or the “scientists” and environmental extremists who author its climate assessments.

Liveblogging The SPN Conference’s Global Warming Forum

2:26: Paul Chesser’s up offering some background on his own “eye-opening” find about a liberal advocacy organization’s stealth campaign to influence state laws without looking like it’s doing so. The basic model: the group will approach the executive branch and urge them to pressure federal authorities (even seeking international agreements) while claiming to be an objective consultant; they seek a “study commission” that the group can run, do all the work from A-Z and bring the money with them; they then stack the commission to get a predetermined outcome seeking drastic action.

The Singing Climatologist - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com

Bravo, Keith Barton

Birmingham councillor dismisses climate change doom as fantasy - Birmingham Post

Predictions that climate change will lead to loss of life in Birmingham and put scores of firms out of businesses if more is not done to tackle global warming have been dismissed by a leading Tory city councillor as about as likely as Aston Villa winning the Premier League.

Keith Barton rubbished dire forecasts by the council’s head of sustainability and insisted that estimates of huge economic, environmental and social damage from changing weather patterns resembled something that National Lottery clairvoyant Mystic Meg might have written.

Coun Barton (Con Longbridge) dismissed a scrutiny committee report by sustainability director Sandy Taylor, which warned that Birmingham has until 2011 to respond more effectively if threats posed by global warming are to be reversed.

He said: “Aston Villa could win the championship, but sadly they probably won’t.

“Let’s have some facts here, not visions and dreams. We could have got Mystic Meg to have written this.”

But are you sure that the environment needs "cooling"?

The Truro Daily News, Nova Scotia | Truro warms up to cooling down

TRURO — A coolometer measuring how cool Truro is will be unveiled tonight.
“This is a giant thermometer that basically will measure the cooling that’s going to take place as we participate in this campaign,” said Mark Austin, Cool Truro co-ordinator.
The project is asking people to assist in improving the environment.
“It’s a campaign to reduce our carbon output, specifically, the use of our electrical power,” Austin told town councillors this week.
“In the face of global warming what we’re trying to do is bring that temperature down, in other words to have a cooling affect, hence Cool Truro.”

'Top' NASA climatologist James Hansen endorses eco-vandalism

Crossing the Line by Henry Payne on National Review Online

Once the paragon of the green movement, Hansen’s credentials gave scientific credibility to the ideological motives of Gore and left-wing green organizations. Now he is a severe liability, aligning himself with extreme measures that expose the natural course of that ideology. As surgeon general, Dr. Koop knew that the pro-life advocacy and violent intimidation could not co-exist. NASA scientist Hansen is proof that green and intimidation are never far apart.

The Canadian Press: Minister waiting for numbers to prove N.B. cutting greenhouse gas emissions

FREDERICTON — New Brunswick's environment minister has released a report card on his climate change action plan, but says it could be another year or more before people know whether the province gets a passing grade.

Ban rides "Solartaxi" to highlight alternative energy | Top News

In August when New York broiled in the summer heat, Ban launched a "Cool UN" plan by limiting the use of air conditioning and heating in to order to slash greenhouse gas emissions and save money for the world organization. The plan was not well received as the unevenly air-conditioned building drove up the temperatures in some parts of the building more than others.

Betsy Taylor: Obama and McCain: Silent on Climate Change

Barack Obama and John McCain are ignoring the biggest news event in human history. They aren't alone. Very few media outlets are reporting the news either.

On August 31, NASA released photos showing the North Pole has become an island for the first time in the past 125,000 years. (Please read that line again, look at the NASA image, and let it penetrate.)...

This week I sat in more than one meeting where environmental groups and Hill staffers wondered if we should stop talking about climate change and instead only talk about clean energy, gas prices and green jobs. These things are vital but they don't communicate what is really going on. Will we ever transcend the defensive habits of the Left and work to set the agenda? If McCain and Obama don't address the scale and urgency of global warming, on what basis will we insist that they live up to their campaign commitments and to take bold action next year? We are about to go down, people.

Climate change this week: Global cooling

The Digest, Patriot Post Vol. 08 No. 37 - Published 12 September 2008

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the first half of 2008 has been the coolest in five years. The WMO further concludes that the so-called “global warming” that may have occurred over the past 30 years is no longer the trend. Geologist Don Easterbrook, a professor emeritus at Western Washington University, predicts that temperatures will cool between 2065 and 2100 by less than one degree. Easterbrook is using the temperatures of the years since 2002 to establish a climate pattern. “The argument that this is too short a time period to be meaningful would be valid were it not for the fact that this cooling exactly fits the pattern of timing of warm/cool cycles over the past 400 years,” Easterbrook wrote. Another geologist, Robert Giegengack of the University of Pennsylvania, notes, “For most of Earth’s history, the globe has been warmer than it has been for the last 200 years. It has rarely been cooler.”

Meanwhile, the Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts that the coming winter will be “catastrophic” due to cold weather. In fact, two-thirds of the country should look for colder-than-average temperatures this winter. Not to mention higher energy bills.

Climate realism in Spain?

While Spain's socialist government has identified climate change as a problem that needs to be tackled, the leader of the opposition conservative Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, has openly questioned whether it exists.

"How can anyone say what will happen to the world in 300 years?" he said last year when former US vice president Al Gore visited Spain to highlight the dangers of climate change.

Is it possible that ABC's Jake Tapper is really this dense?

Does Tapper really think that global warming has to be 100% man-made or 0% man-made?

According to this information, Tapper has a "B.A. in history modified by visual studies".

Australia: 18 Council candidates are asked The Question

Candidates face the community - Local News - News - General - Bega District News

ABC presenter Tim Holt then asked each of them three questions: Had they accepted donations for their campaigns, were they aligned to a political party and were they climate change believers or skeptics.

None of those present said they had or would accept money, while a few said they were members of political parties.

As far as climate change was concerned, there were several true believers – the Greens especially – but there were others who appeared to be non-committal, saying they knew it was happening but didn’t know to what extent.

However, all the candidates spoke of their desire to see less energy used and that waste in any form was unacceptable.

John Magnuson: Fool or fraud?

John Magnuson, co-chair of a state task force on global warming, told attendees that global warming has disrupted weather patterns in Wisconsin, including causing more frequent rainstorms.

The UN solemnly warns the world about the dangers of animal flatulence

Oil & Gas Journal : Warming political menu gets new item: eggplant, well done, September 2008 Page 1

The standard proposal is a drastic cut in use of fossil energy. Now Pachauri, because of his stature as a Nobel Laureate, has placed reduced meat consumption prominently on the menu of possible warming remedies.

He told his London audience that GHGs from livestock production come from land deforestation and desertification (35.4%), manure (30.5%), animal flatulence (25%), agricultural fertilizers (3.4%), on-farm fossil energy use (1.2%), and other factors (3.6%).

Drilling for Dollars - WSJ.com

Allowing drilling isn't the giveaway to industry that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and environmentalist dead-enders claim. In fact, liberating publicly owned resources could net the Treasury as much as $2.6 trillion in lease payments, royalties and corporate taxes, according to one estimate currently knocking around Capitol Hill. The returns wouldn't roll in overnight, but that's almost a full year of spending even for this spendthrift Congress.

Incredibly stupid stuff from US Representative Carol Shea-Porter

NH INSIDER- Your Source for NH Politics - Press Releases - NRCC - Carol Shea-Porter's Floor Remarks on Energy

What I find particularly disturbing is that for eight years we've had two oil men in the white house with no energy policy, and my colleagues on the other side have sat silent for two long years, nothing since I’ve been here talking about it, eight years since President Bush has come into office, and suddenly in the waning years of the hours of this session they are now talking about an energy policy.

Well, I certainly welcome them to this. I think we do need an energy policy.

I wish they had started talking about an energy policy eight long years ago...

Um, Carol? They actually were talking about this eight long years ago. Where were you?

The Daily Bayonet: Global Warming Hoax Weekly Round-Up, Sept. 12th 2008

How much solar energy investment is enough?

Thin Film Solar Companies Raise Hundreds of Millions in Funding - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Venture investors have made big bets on thin film, investing $671 million in these technologies through July, according to Lux Research. During that time period, they invested $2.09 billion in solar energy companies as a whole.

Los Angeles Times now claims that Palin has "reversed her stand on the cause [singular] of climate change"

The Alaska governor also [allegedly] reversed her stand on the cause of climate change, telling ABC News that she believes "man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming." Less than a year ago, she said the opposite.

I think Palin basically agrees with huge numbers of climate realists who think that humans might be contributing to global warming, but that humans weren't the primary driver of the 1970s-thru-1990s warming. Her quote above and her quote below are consistent with each other.

[8/29/08]: Palin Not Convinced on Global Warming | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

In an interview released by Newsmax magazine today, Palin said that while she recognized her state would be affected by climate change, that didn't mean humans are responsible.

"A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location," she said. "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made."

Palin's comments [allegedly] stand in sharp contrast to those of McCain, who [allegedly] says at every campaign stop that he believes human activity is driving global warming,

Canada: Sierra Club releases "Voter's Guide to the Climate Crisis Election"

Sierra Club of Canada News Release

The initial grades assigned to each party's climate change platform are:

Bloc Québécois: B-
Conservative Party: F+
Green Party: A-
Liberal Party: B+
New Democratic Party: B

See the Voter's Guide to the Climate Crisis Election for a summary analysis of each party.

Note that Intrade currently shows good prospects for the Conservative Party:

Global warming may worsen PETS' allergies - Your Life - SunHerald.com

Recent research into climate change and plant growth indicates both people and their pets may have a tougher time with allergies in the future.

Leaving aside the discussion about what is causing the warming of the Earth's climate, it seems warmer temperatures and increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are helping plants grow faster.

This can mean more pollen in the air to stimulate allergies. My nose is telling me the fall pollen season has started, and it may be worse this year than in the past.

Has Santa Ana been reporting wrong temperatures for years? - Sciencedude - OCRegister.com

Watts pressed the matter, not only with me, but with the Santa Ana Fire Department. In an impressive bit of reporting, Watts persuaded the SAFD to get someone to photograph the weather station that’s located on the roof of the fire department’s building in downtown Santa Ana. The photo shows that the weather station is near what appears to be air conditioning vents, and that it might be facing in a direction that could allow the sun in when temperatures were being read, leading to unduly high readings.

Rwanda: Country's Semi-Literate Rural Grand-Mothers Aspire for Solar Engineering (Page 1 of 1)

Rwanda is set to make history when four semi-literate rural women, from the village of BATIMA in the Rweru Sector of Bugesera District leave for India on the 13th of September - for a 6 months' training that will convert them into "barefoot" solar engineers.

WHO claims that trace amounts of atmospheric CO2 result in major adverse health consequences

KARACHI, Sep 12 (APP)- World Health Organization (WHO) has identified five major health consequences of climate change ranging from surge in malnutrition to outbreak of diseases, both communicable and non communicable ailments.

The Reference Frame: Eurobarometer: Czechs have the smartest attitude to climate change

Wallace Baine: The Plague of Punditry - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Picture, if you can, what cable TV would look like in a healthy democracy. Sure, there'd be a lot of trashy entertainment. But there'd also be niche programming designed to solve problems that threaten our way of life. Imagine a global-warming channel that focuses only on monitoring climate change and giving voice to both true believers and skeptics.

Global warming is going to shrink the world's species

"Global warming may reinforce this trend towards smaller sizes through the temperature-size rule," said Roy.

The temperature-size rule, also known as Bergmann's rule, says that species size increases with latitude: they tend to be smaller in the tropics, and larger closer to the poles.

Bergmann's rule is debated, but one explanation for it is that larger animals have a lower surface-area-to-volume ratio, allowing them to retain more heat and fare better in cooler climes.

Meteorologist Al Kaprielian weighs in

Q. What do you think of the controversy over global warming?

A. That’s more of a research issue. We don’t have enough data right now. We’ll have to wait and see what future weather brings.

UN Carbon Credit Project Backlog Jumps Sevenfold (Update1)

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The backlog of United Nations greenhouse gas-reduction projects seeking emission credits surged more than sevenfold since the beginning of August, undermining efforts to curb climate change.

The number of projects awaiting completeness checks before they can be registered by regulators jumped by 253 since Aug. 2, said David Abbass, the Clean Development Mechanism spokesman at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC. That compares with 37 before, Abbass said yesterday by e-mail.

The CDM ``is in danger of suffocating before our eyes,'' said Henry Derwent, chief executive officer of the International Emissions Trading Association. ``It is essential that the UNFCCC grips this problem.''

The backlog suggests supplies of emission credits from UN- approved projects may rise. The allowances can be used by factories and power stations in the European Union carbon dioxide program, the world's biggest greenhouse gas trading market. About 391 projects have received credits so far, as of Sept. 1, UN data shows.

``The secretariat has acted to increase, on a temporary basis, the number of staff working in this area, and therefore it is expected that in the final four months of 2008 more than 50 requests will be processed per month,'' Abbass said.

Australia: One hundred years of drought and flooding rains

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the publication in the London Spectator of My country, the celebrated poem in which the young Dorothea Mackellar evoked striking images of Australia’s ever-variable climate in memorable phrases about this “wilful, lavish land” of “drought and flooding rains”, and of the “flood and fire and famine” for which “she pays us back three-fold”.

Ethanol Is Dream Deferred for Farming Towns Too Late to Biofuel

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Heights Ethanol LLC applied in June 2006 to build a distillery in the Illinois town that bears its name, promising economic revival to replace abandoned houses and closed stores. Two years later, no work has begun.

For Ford Heights and other agricultural towns, the ``green- collar'' job revolution envisioned by federal biofuel mandates is a dream deferred. Knee-high grass and old tires cover the site as record prices for corn, the main ingredient in ethanol, discourage investment in new plants.

The $20.8 billion industry may have itself to blame. Breakneck construction led to 168 ethanol plants, already producing more than U.S. mandates require for the fuel additive this year. The distilleries buy so much corn -- as much as a third of the U.S. crop this year -- that they have contributed to price increases, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

``I kept saying they're going to kill the golden goose,'' says Jim Jordan, president of Jim Jordan & Associates LP, a Houston fuel-consulting company. ``We have in fact overbuilt. This thing is pretty devastating.''

Piers Corbyn | Green Zealots - a threat to us all

Oil companies - check their websites - and governments love Global Warming hysteria because it enables them to profit from risng energy prices, carbon fixing and trading and 'Green' taxes. The problem now is that daily brainwashing by media and 'experts' on the green gravy train is past a tipping point so much that action from green zealots threatens law and order and energy infrastructure.

John Redwood MP asks: Why is it so cold?

One of the surprises about global warming is how cold it has become for two summers in a row in the UK.
I always reckoned to turn my heating on at the beginning of October after resting the boiler for five months and keeping the bills down.
When visitors came one week-end in August I relented and put the central heating on for them. After sitting in my office with woollies on for the first few days of September, I gave up and put the heating back on so I could cosy up to the radiator.
I don’t feel I have had a summer this year. My main memories are of cricket matches I wanted to play in cancelled owing to rain and the worst weather on my English holiday break I ever experienced.

BBC News, 2000 | Cold weather kills thousands

Their study suggests that 26,596 people die from the effects of cold weather in London every year.

This compares to just over 2,000 people in Finland, where winter temperatures are twice as cold.

BBC News, 2002 | UK has 'most cold weather deaths'

More people die from the cold weather in Britain than in any other European country, including Siberia.

Up to 50,000 more people die in the UK during the winter months than in the summer, according to new research.

Citywire, 2008

It noted that between 20,000 and 25,000 people in the 65-plus age bracket die in the UK every year as a result of cold weather – termed cold-related deaths – and it was unmoved by a package of measures that it said fail to tackle fuel poverty.

Special adviser to the charity Mervyn Kohler said: ‘This is a flimsy and failing package which does little to help older people struggling to cope with soaring fuel bills.’

Global warming may bring cooler summers near coast : State : Ventura County Star

SACRAMENTO — For most Californians, one effect of global warming will be the opposite of what they might expect: cooler summer days.

In the first localized study of temperature changes in California, a San Jose State meteorology professor has discovered that summer temperatures declined measurably from 1948 to 2005 in areas near the coast — specifically in the Los Angeles Basin and the San Francisco Bay Area, the state's two largest population centers.

EU Referendum: The propaganda game

How do you fabricate a headline like: "Most Europeans 'very concerned' by climate change"? – this one delivered courtesy of the news agency AFP yesterday.

Well, it's easier than you think. Firstly, you throw a tidy sum of money at some perfectly respectable and professional opinion pollsters and you set them to work interviewing 30,170 citizens in the 27 Member States of the European Union – in this case between 25 March and 4 May 2008.

For each of the selected responders, you tell the interviewer to present them with a printed card (illustrated top left) listing a global problems which you have selected, with "global warming" as the top item, conveniently numbered #1. Crucially, do do not include choices such as "energy security" or any variation of that theme.

Then, you have each respondent, while they gaze at the card so conveniently provided, answer the question: "In your opinion, which of the following do you consider to be the most serious problem currently facing the world as a whole?" Note: you do not invite them to volunteer a choice, and you restrict answers to problems "currently facing the world as a whole", thus excluding local and national concerns.

And what do you think the answer will be?

The correct answer is "neither"

Carbon tax vs. cap-and-trade | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

To cap or to tax? That is the question, at least for U.S. policy makers intent on reducing the nation's carbon footprint by making emissions costlier. There are impassioned advocates for both systems, but upon closer inspection, cap-and-trade schemes and carbon taxes can start to look like two sides of the same coin. Our experts discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each, and pinpoint the real choices policy makers need to make if they want the market to get to work on global warming.

John Stossel - The Fallacy of 'Green Jobs'

...Note that word "strategically." It is there to suggest that Obama knows how best to "invest" the $150 billion. (Of course it is not his money, and he'll have none of his own at risk, so from his perspective, it won't really be investment.) But how does he know that the things he names ought to get the money? Will he give it to cronies of his campaign contributors? Will he appoint Al Gore to pick grant recipients? Lobbyists will make a fortune steering "green" inventors and promoters to the $150 billion.

Politicians have a lousy record trying to make "strategic investments." President Jimmy Carter's Synthetic Fuels Corporation cost taxpayers at least $19 billion but failed to give us alternative fuels (http://tinyurl.com/5ex7v5). In the 1950s Japan's supposedly omniscient Ministry of International Trade and Investment rebuffed Sony and was sure the country should have just one car producer (http://tinyurl.com/6kpbez).

Neither Gore nor Obama can know how the money should best be invested. Investing is about predicting the future, and the future is always uncertain. We know from experience that people who have their own money at risk -- who face a profit-and-loss test and possible bankruptcy -- are much better predictors than people who play with other people's money. Just compare North and South Korea.

(Via Planet Gore)

Church of Global Warming: Hydro-climatologist accuses scientists of making 'spectacular leaps of faith' for 'doctrine of climate change'

Emissions not making rivers run dry | The Australian

We do know why inflows are so low and why various ecosystems of the Murray-Darling are in crisis: the system is over-allocated and has experienced a growth in groundwater extraction and in the number of farm dams preventing rainfall from becoming run-off. This is due to a failure of planning, management and leadership from the relevant authorities. Under these conditions, when a prolonged drought strikes, the system collapses.

This is a man-made problem but not one that is attributable to CO2.

Craik is not alone in her desire to view CO2-induced climate change as proven and affecting the drought. Numerous politicians, environmentalists and especially scientists have made spectacular leaps of faith in their adherence to the doctrine of climate change over recent years, too many to document here. However, the most literally fantastic claim on climate change must go to Kevin Rudd, who has guaranteed that rainfall will decline over coming decades; one can only assume he's based his view on deficient climate models and bad advice.

(Via Marc Morano)

Maine: "Very, very harsh and severe winter" took a "significant toll" on deer herd

Lower hopes for deer season

The state's leading deer biologist expects hunters to meet with frustration this fall.

"What I'm trying to make people understand is that they should lower their expectations," Lee Kantar of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said this week. "Fawns from a winter like last year's don't over-winter very well. We've got the deer harvest slated to be down about 5,000 deer this year."

That's a drop of more than 18 percent, a significant hit to the fortunes of Maine's hunters, who will learn whether or not they were selected in the annual any-deer permit lottery today.

DIF&W will issue just more than 50,000 doe permits across Maine this fall, down from the more than 66,000 issued last year.

The reason, of course, was the near-record snowfall from last winter, which took a significant toll on the state's deer herd. The unusually cool and wet spring and summer months we experienced may have helped those deer who did survive last winter, allowing them to fatten up and get healthier heading into this season, Kantar said.

But the real issue were those deer who never made it through the winter at all. Though just less than 30,000 deer were taken by hunters in 2007, Kantar expects this year's number to be closer to 24,000 deer.

"It was very, very harsh and severe winter," said Keel Kemper, a local wildlife biologist stationed in Sidney. "In many ways, deer science is rocket science -- and we've accounted for the winter mortality."

That mortality rate may be another example of nature's sometimes complex -- albeit cruel -- checks-and-balances system.

Gibson Pushes Palin to Concede Global Warming 'Man-Made' | NewsBusters.org

PALIN: That is why I'm attributing some of man's activities to potentially causing some of the changes in the climate right now.

Going green hurts the poor

Impose cap-and-trade mandates and taxes, and government drives up energy prices, kills jobs and prolongs or increases poverty. Reduce overall government tax revenues, in a shriveling, energy-starved economy that sends jobs overseas and Ottawa will have to short-change welfare programs that keep families warm in Canada's new "sustainable" economy.

In the United States, when government simultaneously bans drilling and increases demand for "clean" natural gas, it drives up prices and hammers poor families. Having to choose between heating and eating is the definition of poverty.

The Green Shift may create a few hundred thousand green-collar Canadian jobs, but its expensive, intermittent energy will kill off millions of oil, tourism, manufacturing, housing, transportation and agricultural jobs -- and a lot of my northern neighbours will freeze during the long, dark and cold Canadian winter.

Film critic Roger Ebert weighs in

An Inconvenient Truth :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews (2006)

In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.

Am I acting as an advocate in this review? Yes, I am. I believe that to be "impartial" and "balanced" on global warming means one must take a position like Gore's. There is no other view that can be defended...

Roger Ebert on Sarah Palin: The American Idol candidate

...Someone who doesn't appoint Alaskan politicians to "study" global warming, because, hello! It has been studied. The returns are convincing enough that John McCain and Barack Obama are darned near in agreement.

Climate change barely altering European habits

Lifestyle changes and knowledge lag behind awareness of the seriousness of climate change.

Climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing the word according to most Europeans but few have made serious changes to their own lifestyles in order to help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

World carbon standards to "relax" -CCX head

Business Feed Article | Business | guardian.co.uk

NEW YORK, Sept 11 (Reuters) - World greenhouse gas markets probably will relax their notions of what constitutes a carbon credit to encourage more people to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases, the head of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) said in an interview.
CCX Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Sandor said he favors granting carbon credits to clean projects, such as maintenance and planting of trees, even if the actions occurred years earlier, in some cases before carbon markets existed.
...
The CCX, run by Britain's Climate Exchange Plc, has more than 350 members including companies, nonprofit organizations, and cities. Members sign a legally binding pledge to cut emissions. If they cannot do so, they must buy credits over the exchange, either from other members or from offset projects.
Credits on the CCX, at $2.50 a tonne, are far cheaper than those in European Union of about $31.70 a tonne, where a mandatory market has operated since 2005.

Note that bogus carbon offsets are available FREE here.

Training on global warming by Al Gore includes jokes about drowning polar bears

WorldChanging: Training for Al Gore's Climate Project

Then there's the "An Inconvenient Spoof" slideshow by Tom Reilly, (TED humorist and Worldchanging ally): drastic price reductions on drowned polar bear rugs. San Francisco and Canada Burn. Serves them right for legalizing gay marriage. Comic relief. The room is dying laughing. Completely politically incorrect, refreshingly and outrageously funny slides: nothing is sacred and the crowd just loves it. Who would have thought that a training on global warming by Al Gore would include jokes on drowning polar bears, Brazillians, and a spoof on Brokeback Mountain with Tom Reilly and Al Gore in the lead roles. Hilarious!

"Influential EU Panel Votes to Cut Goal for Biofuels From Crops by 40 Percent" Green Car Advisor

The European Parliament's influential industry committee endorsed the overall 10 percent target but voted that at least 40 percent of it be achieved with electricity or hydrogen from renewable sources, or second-generation biofuels from waste.

That would leave just 6 percent coming from traditional biofuels made from grains and other food stocks.

Shopfloor » Blog Archive » In California, Government by Global Warming Marches On

NOOO! Not The Label!!

Town to reject buyback scheme

“There is too much idealism in environmentalism and people should not be labelled climate change sceptics because they speak on behalf of the community.”

CBC presents “carbon offsets” infomercial to blast Conservatives and their campaign plane

PTBC: conservative advocacy

And the CBC then proceeds to present an infomercial on ‘carbon offsets’ (with spokesmen!) and exactly how fabulous and beneficial these ‘carbon offsets’ are. The CBC’s inserted ‘carbon credits’ and the Liberals and NDP are forgiven and here’s why infomercial went on 80 times longer than the actual “news” ...which was of course the news—no sorry THE REALITY—about the bad, bad, bad, dirty Conservatives…

A climate change we can disbelieve in | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

Michael Black, co-chair of the [Alaska Climate Change] subcabinet and deputy commissioner for Alaska's commerce department, said Palin's personal views have not influenced the activities of the subcabinet. "I never heard her address that issue in front of any of these gatherings," he said. "Whether [climate change] is related to carbon emissions or a natural phenomenon is less relevant than what its impacts are."

But if you're thinking of spending $45 trillion based on the notion that catastrophic global warming is driven by human greenhouse gas emissions, I think the question is actually quite relevant.

Will this outsell "I Can't Drive 55"?

Al Gore Changes Tune

BOSTON, MASS (RUSHPRNEWS) 9/11/2008– — When the Texan producers of a global warming protest song titled “How on Earth” went looking for a singer to perform the moving ballad online, they found someone who sounds very much like Al Gore.

The Palin Effect?

Planet Gore on National Review Online

What we know is that, after the VP vetting process, during the course of which some commenters noted how Pawlenty’s been a bit of an aggressive moonbat on the issue, and after which the “denier” Sarah Palin receives the kind of national welcome of which every politician dreams — and without sucking up to Gang Green — Gov. Pawlenty found it worthwhile to revisit his position on the matter. Now that’s progress.

New Global Warming Documentary Challenges Gore's 'Truth'

“Global Warming: A Scientific and Biblical Exposé of Climate Change” was released by Answers in Genesis and Coral Ridge Ministries on DVD last week in an effort to counter Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” which asserts that that global warming is real, potentially catastrophic, and human-caused.

While the new documentary confirms evidence of global warming, it emphasizes that the phenomenon is “minute in scale,” and reassures audiences that the Earth is not headed for catastrophic flooding as predicted by former vice-president Gore.

Australian Scientist: Dangerous human-caused warming can neither be demonstrated nor measured

Adaptation to climate change will not be aided by imprudent restructuring of the world’s energy economy in pursuit of the mitigation of an alleged “dangerous human-caused warming” that can neither be demonstrated nor measured.

Dion goes on offensive with his Green Shift plan

SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion accused the Conservatives on Thursday of hiding the costs and regulations of the government's green plan until after the election is over, as he assured New Brunswick voters that his own Green Shift carbon tax would not hurt plans to build a second oil refinery in the province.

Layton blasts Dion's carbon tax plan

MONTREAL -- NDP Leader Jack Layton took aim at his Liberal counterpart for the first time in the election campaign as he announced details about the New Democrats' five-point plan to fight climate change.

Standing outside the Montreal Climate Exchange with a team of candidates from the city, Layton said his plan was the best option to fight the threat of global warming.

"I'm beginning to think that [Stéphane] Dion is not going to be the main issue in this election," Layton said. "But when it comes to the environment, I do have a few words for my Liberal colleague, and that is that his carbon tax proposal is wrong, that it won't work, and that he knows it."

The climate exchange is an environmental products market set up to facilitate the trading of permits to pollute. All five federal parties have supported a cap-and-trade system that sets mandatory limits on industrial pollution, and requires companies that exceed their targets to buy permits from greener businesses that are lowering their emissions.

The Liberals and the Green party have also proposed a carbon tax on energy consumption, along with income and corporate tax cuts designed to change consumer behaviour that contributes to global warming.

Harper Says Carbon Tax May Trigger Canadian Recession

Bloomberg.com: Canada

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said a plan by Liberal Party Leader Stephane Dion to tax the use of carbon-based energy would trigger a recession and re-ignite the pro-sovereignty movement in Quebec.

``Such policies would cause a big recession in this country, a recession equivalent to the recession in the early 1980s,'' Harper told reporters in Montreal today on a campaign tour ahead of elections on Oct. 14. ``It would be economically a catastrophe.''

The comments marked the first time Harper, 49, used the term ``recession'' since the vote was called. The Bank of Canada says the economy will grow 1 percent this year, the slowest since 1992, and Harper is trying to underpin his campaign with the idea Dion's tax plan is too risky. He also needs to broaden his Conservative Party's support among nationalist voters in the French-speaking province of Quebec.

``The ultimate purpose of a carbon tax is to get more money and power into Ottawa,'' Harper said, adding later that such a move would exacerbate tensions among regions including Quebec. ``Sovereigntists will be rubbing their hands.''

One of my favorite all-time climate change quotes

Gore: Nobel Prize win shows climate change a 'planetary emergency'

The Nobel committee said that in awarding the peace prize to IPCC and Gore, it hoped to draw attention to the issue of climate change and the threat it poses to the future security of mankind.

"Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man's control," the committee said.

You can see a Norwegian alarmist actually deliver this immortal line at the very end of the 3.5-minute video here.

Climate change summit scrapped | The Australian

THE Rudd Government has scrapped plans for a climate change summit with state premiers and chief ministers due in three weeks because of delays in getting the policy together and uncertainty over the West Australian election.

Convincing Campbell Brown was the easy part

Checking out the data here, I see that the Twin Cities area (Minnesota) hit a high temperature of 70 degrees yesterday, considerably short of the record of 104 set in 19-freaking-31.

Looking at the September records here, I see lots of warmth records set in the 1890s and 1920s. Looking at the "Daily Averages and Records" section here, I also see lots of warm records that are very old.

Now I know the Campbell Browns of the mainstream media may be easily fooled, but ordinary people will continue to ask: If CO2 is the primary driver of climate, why then was it so warm before World War II and so relatively cool right now?

U.N. chief to students: Act globally - NJ.com

It wasn't hard to figure out what the head of the United Nations was thinking during his first Garden State speech yesterday.

In a half-hour-long talk to stu dents at Fairleigh Dickinson University, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon managed to utter the words "global," "globally" and "globalization" at least 30 times.
...
Ban also turned to the topic of climate change, an issue he has repeatedly emphasized in his nearly two years in office. Two weeks earlier, in Geneva, Ban had said the next U.S. president will have to show greater leadership than previous administrations in tackling cli mate change.

"Climate change is not science fiction, it's a fact," he said yesterday. "It's not a future threat, it's happening now."

Students and alumni gave mixed reviews about yesterday's talk. Some, like 2007 FDU graduate Sindhuru Prakash, 21, said they felt Ban was too "vague" and "elusive."

"We're all familiar with the problems," said Prakash, of West Orange. "But how are problems going to be alleviated?"

But Julian Gronager, 28, a graduate finance student from Denmark, said he was impressed that Ban "went out on a limb" on the issue of climate change. Gronager said while some FDU professors have been saying climate change is real, others have argued that it is unproven.

"Basically, what we've been told is it's not certain," he said.

African American and Latino Communities Less Concerned about Global Warming Issues, According to Survey - MarketWatch

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sep 10, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- In response to heightened media coverage of issues related to climate change, The Research and Policy Institute of California (RPIC) analyzed the perceptions of minorities throughout the state -- African Americans and Latinos.
Of five key priority issues affecting minorities to date, global warming was consistently ranked the lowest priority, according to the survey. Findings in the survey also indicate minority communities are under-educated on legislative measures and policies intended to combat global warming.

CTV.ca | Dion hopes to allay 'Green Shift' doubts

SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Liberal Leader Stephane Dion warned New Brunswickers on Thursday that the international community will punish economies that don't shift toward greener policies and cleaner fuels.

Dion, whose Green Shift carbon-tax plan has met with tepid support in Atlantic Canada, raised the spectre of foreign tariffs on Canadian energy exports if this country doesn't clean up its act.

"The world will not be nice for the free-riders of climate change," Dion told Liberal partisans at a morning pancake breakfast.

Why so few companies on the WWF Climate Savers list?

JohnsonDiversey is the first company from the cleaning industry to join WWF’s Climate Savers, which was founded in 1999 and now comprises 17 major international companies. By 2010 they will collectively cut carbon emissions by over 14 million tons annually – the equivalent of taking more than three million cars off the road every year.

The WWF Climate Savers programme has existing agreements with Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Nike, Polaroid, Hewlett Packard, The Collins Companies, Spitsbergen Travel, Xanterra Parks and Resorts, Sagawa, Sony, Nokia, Tetra Pak, Lafarge, Catalyst, Novo Nordisk, and Nokia Siemens Networks.

James Hansen and the "Power Vote" campaign

Political Affairs Magazine - Youth Org. Launches Voter Drive to Reject "Dirty Energy"

The youth-led Energy Action Coalition this week launched a nationwide campaign called "Power Vote." The campaign aims to enlist 1 million young voters across the country to pledge to vote on Nov. 4th for candidates for both president and Congress who have the best environmental and energy policies.

"If you're on the ballot this fall, you need the youth vote to win," said Energy Action Coalition Co-director Jessy Tolkan on a teleconference with reporters Wed. Sept. 10. "And we won't be fooled by candidates who are attempting to 'green wash' themselves to waltz into Washington DC."

James Hansen, the NASA scientist who first highlighted the problem of global warming before Congress in the 1980s, joined with Tolkan to tell reporters that global climate change and green energy policy shouldn't be partisan issues. "We need to identify those candidates for office, independent of political party, who will support the policies that will preserve the climate, our planet, and the future for young people and nature," he said.

Hansen described the ongoing danger climate change poses for the whole world. From ice packs melting in the arctic regions and rising sea levels, to higher temperatures in and increased acidity of ocean water, destruction of plant and animal life in the oceans, and changing regional weather patterns with harsher conditions, global warming is already having an enormous impact, he said.

"All of these effects can be minimized if we get on a different energy path," Hansen argued.

Hansen indicated that fossil fuels are a major source of carbon emissions that cause global warming. Specifically, burning coal causes about half of the carbon emissions that result from all fossil fuels today, Hansen pointed out. He cited coal-fired power plants as the single largest factor that could cause us to slip past a point of no return from the worst effects of global warming.

Hansen said, "We must stop the construction of coal-fired power plants that do not capture the CO2. If we do that, the problem is a solvable one."

Hansen emphasized the many benefits in the "preservation of creation" and the economic benefits of creating "green jobs."

Young voters will play a role in ensuring these changes are implemented, Tolkan suggested. "We will be going to the polls and voting for the candidates who support the solutions that Dr. Hansen has so eloquently outlined," Tolkan remarked.

Wisconsin: Supporters rally in Madison for Cassville power plant

About 200 people rallied in Madison Wednesday in favor of a proposed coal-fired power plant on the Mississippi River in Cassville.

Farmers, union leaders, and environmentalists got behind the Alliant Energy project in the face of rising costs and public opposition.

Australia: Either U.S. president may disappoint us

The next president may not be able to do much about an economy affected more by global markets, technology and the Federal Reserve than anything he can do. But he will have a crisis hurting Main Street as much as Wall Street.

Thus the US cannot be expected to champion global economic integration or a global deal on climate change in 2009. It will look inward, focusing on energy independence rather than reducing greenhouse gases, and protecting the middle class rather than reducing barriers to global trade and investment.

The world might expect these sober realities from McCain but they will probably have to accept them under Obama.

Will this situation inspire Maine homeowners to install rooftop solar panels?

Maine's oil customers are called 'desperate'

"We see a desperate customer base," said David Martin, chairman of the Maine Oil Dealers Association and vice president of Webber Energy of Bangor. With oil running about $4 a gallon, "nobody knows" what the price will be when the cold weather hits, Martin told the Heat and Energy Emergency Task Force.

Oil reserves top Investors look at carbon cost for oil reserves

Global Pensions

NORTH AMERICA – Oil companies should be forced to factor in the carbon cost of extracting future reserves when reporting, according to a letter delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The letter, signed by some 19 investors, including the US$232bn California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the $160bn California State Teachers’ Retirement System, and supported by F&C, argued oil and gas companies should be forced to take into account the resources required to extract barrels when accounting for future reserves.

But shouldn't wind power companies also be forced to report the complete carbon cost of installing and maintaining wind turbines and associated transmission lines, as well as the carbon cost of running the fossil-fueled plants that are necessary to keep the lights on?

Wind Fuels Gas

Business Europe - WSJ.com

Wind turbines generate electricity very irregularly, because the wind itself is inconsistent. Therefore wind turbines always need backup power from fossil fuels to keep the electricity grid in balance. Gas turbines are the best way to do this. They are able to respond quickly and push power production when wind generators stop suddenly. They can be turned on and off almost instantly, whereas traditional coal-fired plants need to be maintained in a very inefficient standby mode if they are to respond to large fluctuations in power demand.

A proliferation of windmills, then, can become a windfall for gas sellers. Just look at the cases of Spain and Germany, Europe's leading producers of wind power.
...
In the U.S. the same thing is happening. The problem for the natural gas industry in the U.S. is that gas is still relatively inexpensive compared with market prices elsewhere in the world. There are no facilities for LNG export. This may explain why Shell, BP, Chevron and T. Boone Pickens are investing in wind power. It's a clever strategy to add value to their gas assets by boosting demand.

These gas players can afford to lose money on wind power in the short term to reap huge profits in the long term. In fact, this was the strategy first implemented by Ken Lay of Enron in 1990s. Enron was the power and gas company that started the first large-scale manufacturing of wind power in the U.S. It also brought up the ideas for a cap-and-trade system, to increase the competitive edge of gas over coal.

Wind power is clearly not reducing the dependence on imported fuel, contrary to the frequent claims of its proponents. In fact the experience from Germany and Spain shows that it is increasing the dependence of imported natural gas. And that's not energy security.

Melting ice caps could suck carbon from atmosphere - earth - 10 September 2008 - New Scientist Environment

It's not often that disappearing Arctic ice is presented as good news for the planet. Yet new research suggests that as the northern polar cap melts, it could lift the lid off a new carbon sink capable of soaking up carbon dioxide.

Liberal Environmentalists Aren’t Pro-Choice, Are They? | Skeptics Global Warming

In 2012, we won’t be able to choose incandescent light bulbs any longer as they’ll be banned by the U.S. government.

Canada Votes - Election 2008

REGINA — Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan is a "grand academic experiment" that will hit all Canadians in the wallet, Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned.

At a campaign rally in the barn of a rural Regina farm, Harper said Canadians have a clear choice between his government's "proven record" and an "untested, improvised" proposal from the Liberals.

"The carbon tax will add to the average Canadian's home heating bill, the average farmer will pay more to run his combine, the typical trucker will pay even higher prices for diesel each time he fills up his truck," he said. "The same goes for fishermen, factories, small businesses and, of course, consumers."

Bob Carter: Emissions trading scheme futile | The Courier-Mail

The certainty is that natural climate change and variation will continue. But like Holland in the past, adapt we must and will.

Wind farm plan will mean longer ferry sailings [National Wind Watch]

The creation of a new windfarm at West of Duddon Sands will lead to a two mile detour on Steam Packet sailings to and from Heysham, it has been warned.

MoD wants windfarm lit up at night [National Wind Watch]

Argyll could soon have the first windfarm in Scotland where the turbines have to be lit up at night as a precaution against low-flying aircraft.

RAF radar fear could scupper Garforth wind farm plan [National Wind Watch]

Controversial plans for a wind farm between Garforth and Micklefield are in danger of being shot down by the Ministry of Defence.

The MoD fears the 125-metre-high turbines proposed for Hook Moor could play havoc with the Royal Air Force’s radar network.

Tests carried out by scientists are reported to have revealed that turbulence from supersized propellers creates a ‘hole’ in radar coverage that makes it impossible to spot potentially-hostile aircraft.

Giant-windfarm electrical grid to cross Lochs [National Wind Watch]

Concerned villagers heard about plans to erect hydro poles and overhead lines across the Lochs moor for giant windfarms at a public meeting in Laxay on Tuesday night.

Scottish Hydro-Electric Transmission (Shetl) wants to build the new electrical transmission network across the north Lochs moorland.

Survey Says 60% of US Wind Turbines May Be Behind in Maintenance [National Wind Watch]

If oil is not properly monitored and replaced as needed, bearing and gear wear will lead to more serious and costly damage to the drive train. According to Frontier, when a US $1,500 bearing fails unnoticed, it can lead to production loss and revenue loss including an unscheduled replacement of a US $100,000 dollar gearbox and a unscheduled crane cost of up to US $70,000 to access the failed components.

Cold weather allowance to treble if winter is severe, Brown reveals

Emergency cold weather payments will treble if there is a severe winter this year to help struggling families cope with soaring fuel bills, Gordon Brown announced today.

Meat: Making Global Warming Worse - TIME

CNN Labels Palin’s Environmental Stances as ‘Outside-the-Mainstream’ | NewsBusters.org

Two segments on Tuesday’s Election Center program, which were promoted by host Campbell Brown as having ‘no bias, no bull,’ actually tried to paint Republican vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin as having a "very extreme" and "outside-the-mainstream" viewpoint on environmental issues, since on the issue of global warming, she’s "not one... who would attribute it to being man-made." Brown herself suggested during the second segment that the debate over the cause of global warming was already over [see video at right].
...
After a commercial break which followed Kaye’s segment, Brown moderated a panel discussion with CNN’s Roland Martin and Jeffrey Toobin, as well as Republican strategist Bay Buchanan, about Palin’s record on the environment. Brown first mentioned that "[h]er [Palin’s] view is that global warming is not man-made." Toobin, who sarcastically remarked in May that acknowledging man-made global warming is "like acknowledging gravity -- it is a scientific fact," took no time in criticizing this stance by the Alaska governor: "It's a very extreme view.... But the view of global warming [Palin’s] reflects an extreme outside-the-mainstream view that John McCain doesn't share, and frankly, no respectable scientist shares."

Brown then turned to Buchanan and remarked that "the debate over global warming did seem to come to an end, though. You even had Bush coming around on that over the last year." Buchanan argued that "there's many scientists that suggest there is no evidence whatsoever that it's related to anything man has done," and stuck to this position through the remainder of the discussion. The host later repeated this sentiment at the end of the segment: "I don't want to re-debate global warming. To me, that issue is dead and pretty much decided."

Jim Hansen on the Kingsnorth Six defense

THE ENVIRONMENTALIST: In Defense of the Kingsnorth Six

Good news from the UK: the Kingsnorth Six were acquitted by a Crown Court jury. They were members of a group of 23 Greenpeace volunteers who had attempted to shut down the Kingsnorth coal-fired power plant, specifically the six were the ones painting the smokestack with "Gordon Bin It" when interrupted by the police. Their defense was 'lawful excuse', that they were protecting property of greater value (the Earth!) from the impact of climate change. We will need our Mercedes-driving lawyer friends to tell us if the verdict has greater significance -- but the jurors were common people, not politicians. It was an impressive show -- judge and lawyers with their white wigs -- hopefully it has an impact.

Written testimony that I submitted for the case, at http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/20080910_Kingsnorth.pdf, is a bit long. The "Summary Facts" are below. The main point, that the government, the utility, and the fossil fuel industry, were aware of the facts but continued to ignore them are more generally valid worldwide. It raises the question of whether the right people are on trial.

Sea Ice Stretch Run #3 « Climate Audit

As for ice thickness, this could yet represent the best indicator of recovery. Of the buoys installed in 2008, thickness changes up to 10th Sep are as follows:
2008B 2m April, 2m now (first year ice - i.e. baby ice, so where's the expected meltdown?)
2008C 2.7m April, 2.7m now (multiyear)
2008D 2.95m April, no sign of line on graph since, perhaps because graph doesn't go below 3m? (multiyear)
2008E 1.9m April, 1.3m now, but then it has drifted about 5 degrees south towards the Atlantic (first year)
2008F 3.5m August (i.e. newer buoy), 3.1m now, but then it has already drifted a couple of degrees south into the Beaufort Sea (multiyear ice)

As for the other buoys, two of the 2007 buoys have drifted right out into the Beaufort Sea, so are of limited relevance to thickness changes over the main ice areas. The remaining 2007 buoy has stayed within the main ice area and shows an increase in thickness from 2.8m a year ago to 3.3m today (2007J). The only 2006 buoy (2006C) shows thickness identical to a year ago (1.2m) but only half the summer melt.

Always bear in mind we were told by NASA that average ice thickness at the end of last summer was 1.3m.

The missing link is how thick the ice is on the Siberian side. Of course it's thicker than a year ago, because the 2007 summer melt exposed large new areas of open water, and over half of these areas are now ice-covered again. (i.e. some ice is definitely thicker than no ice!) This is where the evidence from the latest Russian polar research expedition (#442) is so interesting because it suggests the ice on the Siberian side may be much thicker than many have been assuming. This could well be setting the Arctic up for a bigger recovery in 2008/9 than even some of the more optimistic observers have been suggesting.