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Challenge to you, my dear climate change deniers (2)13) Meanwhile, a small, almost infinitesimal group of public deniers continue to lie about all this and are treated with respect and reverence by the mostly Republican, conservative business, political and media community. And again the public media refuses to point out the fact that not a single study has been published in the last 20 years that refutes the three basic points that AGW is real, is us and is bad. We also know that it will become steadily worse as we allow the deniers to keep us in this permanent state of delay and inaction.
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15) Meanwhile, we have had well over 20,000 studies published since 1971 (40 years!), almost all of which lead us to the inevitable conclusions that I have repeatedly stated. People are dying now due to AGW and we know that many millions of lives are at risk in the future as we sit on our hands and focus on other less inconsequential matters.
There is NO DEBATE within the scientific community on these points. For years, I have searched and challenged others to find scientific studies published in the mainstream science journals that refute these basic points.
Record snowfall paralyzes S. Korea coast - UPI.comSEOUL, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Three and a half feet of snow buried South Korea's east coast Saturday, destroying dozens of houses and stranding drivers, officials said.
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A highway connecting several cities in the area, including Sancheok and Yangyang, was closed for 18 hours, trapping 250 vehicles in freezing cold.
Meteorologists said two-day snowfall in the area reached 3.6 feet in Samcheok, 3.2 feet in Donghae, 1.8 feet in the mountain pass of Daegwallyeong and 1.4 feet in Sokcho. Gangneung got 2.5 feet on Friday alone, the heaviest single-day total in a century.
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The roofs of dozens of houses, livestock sheds, greenhouses and a bowling alley caved in.
Rex Murphy: Gore and Olbermann — which one is Gilligan? | Full Comment | National PostWhen Keith Olbermann comes on Current TV and hectors all 23,000 homes that watch its prime-time signal that “the science is settled, dammit” then you can be sure the science will be settled or else.
Still, there’s something wrong with this viewing equation for both parties. Twenty-three thousand viewers in a country of 300 million people — these are not CSI numbers. Heck, they’re not even fireplace-channel numbers; and can hardly constitute the “reach” that an impressario of Olbermann’s ego can tolerate.
Maybe the governing motto here then is not that of Shakespeare and his “true minds” after all. Maybe the real impulse can be explained more simply and commonly by the ancient piece of folk wisdom that “misery loves company.” As Gore’s star pales and recedes, and as the furious sanctimonies of global warming meet resistance, perhaps fading Al sees something of a mirror image in the fall of Keith. And perhaps both of them sense that each of them has had his moment, that this moment is past, so maybe the only fun left is to join hands and mutually console for what little of the gig remains to either of them.
Snowy slopes lure Indiana skiers | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.comConsistently low temperatures have done winter wonders for Indiana's two major ski and snowboard attractions. So has abundant snowfall, although the Southern Indiana venues don't need it, since they can make their own as long as it's cold enough.
Both Indiana facilities say that in recent years, they've enjoyed their biggest numbers since the heydays of the 1980s.
Garnaut: spend billions! Why? So they don’t say nasty things about us. « JoNovaThat’s right, the prof of economics has studied it all, crunched the numbers, been paid a stack, and it boils down to “tut-tut-tut, nobody will like you if you don’t do what I say”. (Well, actually it is just foreign “intellectuals”that won’t like you — shucks!)
Garnaut the schoolyard prefect is telling us off.
Brazilian harvest bottleneckFollowing a delayed planting season, cold weather delayed the 2011 crop’s maturity, which has been followed by heavy February rainfalls.
States News ServiceThe following information was released by the office of Missouri Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer:
U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) today reintroduced legislation that would save taxpayers millions of dollars by prohibiting the United States from contributing to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organization fraught with waste and engaged in dubious science.
Electric cars a smart idea, says panel | Local News | St. Albert GazetteCold weather would sap a lot of range out of most electric vehicles, Armstrong says. “If you get below about - 20 C, most batteries fail quickly.”
His company was looking into heaters for its power packs to counter the cold, ones that could be fuelled by biofuels or natural gas.
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One of the biggest challenges for electric cars will be market acceptance, Armstrong says: studies suggest anywhere from 10 to 65 per cent of people would buy one if they could. “Electric cars have tried to come around five or six times in the last century and have always failed. Is this the right time?”
Tractors trapped, solar array in disarray after roof collapse - Nashoba Publishing OnlineHARVARD -- Courtesy of a lift from Ayer Fire Department Ladder 1, the Harvard Fire Department got an aerial view of the roof collapse Sunday morning at the Appleworks building at 325 Ayer Road. The firefighters discovered a 20-foot by 40-foot hole through the roof, caused by the weight of accumulated snow and ice.
...Atop the roof was a newly installed solar array, which is now in partial disarray.
A quarter of the 80,000 square-foot Appleworks Building was covered by solar panels. The solar field was installed last March and went online in June.
Building owner Nicholas Dean said nine solar panels are now standing on end, sunk into the snow inside the building where the roof caved in. The system, which supplies 30 percent of the buildings' energy needs, or about $30,000 in savings annually, is now offline. "We
can't run any of them until it's all repaired."
Harsh winter prompts concerns about food security in North KoreaUN food agencies say they're worried about food security in North Korea because of a particularly harsh winter.
Officials say they've sent a mission to the country after the World Food Programme found that five million people in the state face food shortages this year.
House GOP spending bill prohibits funding for EPA climate regs - The Hill's E2-WireA government spending bill unveiled Friday night by House Republicans would prohibit funding for Environmental Protection Agency climate regulations through September of this year.
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The continuing resolution makes massive cuts to the EPA's budget. The legislation cuts EPA funding by $3 billion, 29 percent below fiscal year 2010. Overall, Simpson cut $4.5 billion from his subcommittee's budget.
“I realize that many of these cuts will not be popular, but the simple truth is that you can’t spend money you don’t have," Simpson said.
The bill also prohibits funding for the president's climate change policy adviser. Carol Browner, who currently holds the position, announced last month that she is resigning. Republicans acccused Browner of holding too much influence over White House climate policy.
BBC News - Cold snap hits Mexico maize cropA spell of unusually cold weather in northern Mexico has severely damaged the maize crop in the state of Sinaloa.
Officials estimate the losses could amount to four million tonnes of corn - 16% of Mexico's annual harvest.
Seychelles trip fuels £230m bill for the EU junketeers: Bureaucrats and MEPs enjoy exotic visit at taxpayers' expense | Mail OnlineThe EU blew £230million last year on junkets to exotic locations including the Seychelles, it emerged last night.
MEPs and bureaucrats enjoyed dozens of taxpayer-funded trips and fact-finding missions in 2010, research reveals.
A visit for seven MEPs to the Seychelles cost £50,000 in hotel and travel expenses, while £77,000 was spent on a trip for 45 to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Both trips put climate change high up on the agenda – despite the fact the flights generated more than 90 tons of carbon dioxide.
Freezing temps cripple nearly 50 Va. Beach school busesVIRGINIA BEACH – Hundreds of children were left standing in the cold on Friday, waiting for school buses for longer than expected.
Beach officials say the cold weather froze doors and locks on nearly 50 buses and that some wouldn’t start.
Mexico loses 80-100% of crops to freeze, US prices to skyrocketHouston - The cold weather experienced across much of the US in early February made its way deep into Mexico and early reports estimate 80-100 percent crop losses which are having an immediate impact on prices at US grocery stores with more volatility to come..
The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media » ‘The Simpsons’ Take on Climate ChangeHOMER: Gee, Lisa, looks like tomorrow, I’ll be shoveling 10 feet of global warming.
LISA: Global warming can cause weather at both extremes, hot and cold.
HOMER: I see. So you’re saying warming makes it colder. Well, aren’t you the queen of crazy land! Everything’s the opposite of everything!
(Homer dances, twirling and waving his arms.)
Elite group of yacht owners help scientists study global warming - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.comThe floating palaces set to line South Florida’s docks next week will offer plenty of luxury features, from hot tubs to helipads.
But only a select few of the yachts in town for the Miami International Boat Show will boast an innovative option that allows owners do a little something good for the planet as they cruise the playgrounds of the rich, famous and tanned.
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It’s not a group that attracts hard-core greens. Yachts guzzle fossil fuel - Golden Shadow, for instance, carries enough diesel for its twin 3,000-horse engines to fill two swimming pools - and there are no photos of injured marine life to make the pitch.
The Reference Frame: In denial: climate on the couchThe program mostly sounds as a parody.
The host finally says that social norms may change quickly and you may be foolish if you made a bet against people's becoming low-carbon nuts very soon.
Great Britain is clearly a different place. If such a program were aired on a Czech public radio, people would call psychiatrists to take care of the participants of the program.
johnosullivan - Global Panic as Green Sector Collapses and Investors Face RuinWith economists plainly joining an increasing number of scientists in global warming skepticism its little wonder there’s now a mass flight away from ‘renewables;’ such that both investors and governments are compelled to follow suit in the clearest indication yet that green energy won’t live up to its promises.
The key to long-term economic success now appears to be safely premised once again on solid market innovation, not ideologically driven government subsidies; such subsidized ventures have a long and notorious history as lame duck enterprises. It seems ‘green renewables’ has become the latest of these white elephants.
Woman, 97, Dies From Hypothermia After FallSYRACUSE - A weather-related death happened early Thursday morning to an elderly resident.
Mildred Brown, 97, of 11651 N. Ogden Point Road, Syracuse, apparently died from hypothermia after a fall. According to the Syracuse Police Dept., it is believed that Brown left her residence sometime in the early morning hours to visit friends across the street and slipped on ice on the neighbor's porch, sustaining a head injury.
Conference: German Alarmists Alarmed Over Waning Alarmism – Growing US ScepticismDoubt over the science of climate change goes beyond USA, Great Britain and Australia, and is now spreading into mainland Europe, in particular Germany. So much so, that the German Greens are getting alarmed about the waning alarmism.
Stop EPA's Energy Tax - Investors.comFederal Authority: At a contentious hearing on legislation to keep the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, Republicans rightly called global warming a power-grabbing hoax that is all pain for no gain.
Beef from cattle that froze to death is donated » Times Record NewsBROKEN ARROW, Okla. (AP) — A rancher who had six head of cattle freeze to death in a pond is donating the beef to Safari's Interactive Animal Sanctuary.
Curtis Smith told the Tulsa World that four cows and two calves froze after walking into the pond on his ranch in Morris on Tuesday.
Penghu loses NT$90 mil. after fish freeze to death - The China Post Officials urged people in the aquaculture sector to take adequate measures to prevent onslaught against their fish by cold weather as the temperature will remain low. The offshore Penghu County already reported loss of NT$90 million from fish frozen to death.
The Chiayi County Government in southwestern Taiwan also reported financial loss of almost NT$80 million from the death of fish and fish fries. County officials said the loss figure could continue increasing.
Study claiming ’97% of climate scientists agree’ is flawed « ClimateQuotes.comThis survey should not be cited as evidence that a consensus exists among climate scientists regarding AGW. This is due to the fact that it does not ask the scientists if human activities are the primary cause of increasing temperatures. The questions asked only pertained to ascertaining whether or not climate scientists agree that the earth has warmed and humans have played any role, and it did a poor job at ascertaining these facts as well. Anyone using this study to claim that 97% of climate scientists agree that humans are the primary cause of global warming is ignoring the ambiguous and poor phrasing of this survey questions. The survey does not ask if global warming is primarily driven by human activity, so the survey responses cannot answer this question.
UK looks to scrap funding of inefficient onshore wind turbines The UK Government is to embark on a “new approach” to onshore wind generation as it is set to announce an overhaul of funding and planning frameworks.
Energy Minister Charles Hendry will lay out plans to scrap full subsidies to locate wind turbines in unsuitable locations and provide more democratic accountability for communities affected by windfarm proposals.
Will the mere truth get a mention? | Samizdata.netThe elephant in their room is that they have lost this argument, in the sense that they need unanimity in this, but are drifting further and further away from unanimity. They are ignoring this elephant. They are behaving like that economist, stuck on a desert island with various other sorts of experts, who is wondering how to contrive a tin-opener. "Let's assume we have a tin-opener." This won't work.
Is CO2 Warming a Mirage?Reader and contributing author Ed Caryl sends another essay, and warns it may be controversial for the obsessed among u who insist a catastrophe is coming.
Norwegian Taxpayers Paying For Global Warming Brainwashing In Uganda | Real SciencePolar Bear Triplets Are A “Thing Of The Past” | Real Science2010 : sightings from guides this summer included surprisingly ”frequent sightings of polar bear mothers with triplets,” “In a recent blog post, Selden predicts “prodigious numbers of bears” this year based on unusually high summer sightings.”
American Thinker: No Coal, No Power, No GasLet's see if I get this straight. During the early February cold spell in the southern plains, when wind chills in Dallas dipped to minus twenty degrees, Texans were going without power to heat their homes and businesses even as the state was sitting on massive surpluses of natural gas. Even hospitals were having to switch to emergency generating systems. And this in the state with the largest energy production capacity in the continental US.
How was it that Texas suffered an extended period of rolling blackouts at a time when there's a glut of coal and natural gas waiting to be used?
The answer may be quite simple. It seems that a great deal of natural gas got "stuck in the pipes" because there was not enough electricity to operate the pumps to move it along. And there was not enough electricity to operate the pumps because environmentalists had seen to it that plans for new coal-powered generating plants had been shuttered back in 2007. So without the coal, there was no electricity, and without the electricity, there was no natural gas. And since much of the natural gas was intended to supply electrical power generating plants, there was even less electricity to supply the pumps and everything else.
Fish lovers! Unite for global warming! | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt BlogIf you want more fish on your plate, fire up the barbecue, the car, the lights, the afterburner....
Hopes of 30% cut in greenhouse emissions dashed | Environment | The GuardianGünther Oettinger, the EU's energy commissioner, dealt a heavy blow to the hopes of several member states that have been pressing for a target of slashing emissions by 30% by 2020, against the current 20%.
He said the tougher target would force industries to move to Asia. "If we go alone to 30%, you will only have a faster process of de-industrialisation in Europe," he said, citing the steel industry as one of the likely casualties. "I think we need industry in Europe, we need industry in the UK, and industry means CO2 emissions."
Colorado man dies of hypothermiaThe Mesa County Coroner’s office said Celso A. Salazar, 60, a Grand Junction resident, was walking to his home when he apparently collapsed and couldn’t get up. An autopsy showed he died of hypothermia, the coroner said.
Flannery sells the policy of the government which pays him | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog Now Flannery is being paid $180,000 a year to be part-time chariman of the Gillard Government’s Climate Commission, to convince us to agree to her plans to “put a priice on carbon”. Let’s see if he trims his sails to suit the breeze:
“Climate committee” is a government advertising scheme by any other name. « JoNovaThe Government says it wants a “climate expert” to sell the message to the public, and who do they pick? A small mammal expert whose predictions on the climate are so wrong any normal person would slink off in shame. But not Flannery, the Teflon prophet, reality doesn’t stick to him. How can it be that the outrageously wrong get away with it with reputations intact (and get rewarded too)? Blame the mainstream media. Blame also a government that thinks it’s a good use of public money to promote known failures.
Can we have our regular old light bulbs back now? | Watts Up With That?Great, just great. Don’t get me wrong, I like the LED bulbs, I have several in my house. But when we get back to basics, a tungsten light bulb doesn’t require a haz-mat squad to dispose of. It’s glass, ceramic, tungsten, some thin steel, and tin solder (if ROHS). CFL bulbs and now LED bulbs are so much more eco unfriendly and when they inevitably end up in landfills, they become a source of heavy metal. We may have gained short term energy efficiency, but the long term payback may not be worth it.
'Frost quakes' shake Southwest Ohio, IndianaDAYTON — Frost quakes, a rare phenomena that simulate earthquakes, rattled hundreds of residents Thursday in Darke and Miami counties in Ohio and Randolph County in Indiana, emergency management officials said.
The Page by Mark Halperin | Romney: “Believe in America” "Under the pressure of a crisis, people turn to what they really believe. With our economy in crisis, the President and his fellow liberals turned to Europe for their answers. Like the Europeans, they grew the government, they racked up bigger deficits, they took over healthcare, they pushed cap and trade, they stalled production of our oil and gas and coal, they fought to impose unions on America’s workers, and they created over a hundred new agencies and commissions and hundreds of thousands of pages of new regulations.
When presented with [bogus] public health arguments, Americans in key districts oppose Upton bill - The Hill's E2-WireAmericans oppose legislation to block Environmental Protection Agency climate rules when presented with arguments about the bill's effects on public health, a new poll commissioned by a major environmental group shows.
Professor Counters Global Warming Myths With Data - The Daily CalifornianGlobal warming is the favored scapegoat for any seemingly strange occurrence in nature, from dying frogs to hurricanes to drowning polar bears. But according to a Berkeley group of scientists, global warming does not deserve all these attributions. Rather, they say global warming is responsible for one thing: the rising temperature.
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"There are the skeptics - they're not the consensus," Muller explained. "There are the exaggerators, like Al Gore and Tom Friedman who tell you things that are not part of the consensus ... (which) goes largely off of thermometer records."
Some scientists who fear that their results will be misinterpreted as proof that global warming is not urgent, such as in the case of Climategate, fall into a similar trap of exaggeration.
The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study was conducted with the intention of becoming the new, irrefutable consensus, simply by providing the most complete set of historical and modern temperature data yet made publicly available, so deniers and exaggerators alike can see the numbers.
Subsidy review puts hundreds of solar panel projects at risk | UKKier among those fearful as government review of feed-in tariffs puts schemes under threat
Solar panel projects on “hundreds” of buildings are in jeopardy after the government announced an urgent review of subsidies to large renewable energy schemes, industry experts have warned.
Sea Level Rise Could Turn New York Into Venice, Experts Warn - WNYCKlaus Jacob, a Columbia University research scientist who specializes in disaster risk management, said that estimate may be too conservative. “What is now the impact of a 100-year storm will be, by the end of this century, roughly a 10-year storm,” he warned.
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In this scenario, New York in 200 years looks like Venice. Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have melted ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica and raised our local sea level by six to eight feet.
Richard Wiles: That Awkward Conversation (About the Climate)I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about climate change liars. Those people who make a living deliberately deceiving the public about the scientific consensus on climate disruption. These people are awful, they know who they are. They have to live with their lies.
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If someone told all the parents of the world that there was a 98 percent chance that radical environmental changes in the next 10 - 50 years will wipe out half of all known life forms on earth, and that famine, plagues, floods and droughts on a scale not seen in thousands of years would become routine for billions of people, you would think they would tell their kids.
Well most climate scientists in the world have been telling us that, but we don't do anything about it.
Richard WilesWiles co-founded Environmental Working Group with Ken Cook. He is currently consulting on communications strategies to combat climate disruption. Prior to EWG Wiles was a senior staff officer at the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Agriculture. He holds a BA from Colgate University and an MA from California State University at Sacramento.
Bill would repeal New Hampshire cap-and-trade law - Forbes.comThe repeal bill's prime sponsor, Republican state Rep. Richard Barry of Merrimack, said his main concern was government's involvement. He also criticized its funding source.
"RGGI is a stealth tax that never shows up. It's hidden on your electric bill," he said.
State Rep. Andrew Manuse, a Derry Republican and bill co-sponsor, argued the law is hurting, not helping New Hampshire's economy.
Record low temperatures in Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas | Reuters (Reuters) - Oklahoma recorded its coldest temperature in state history on Thursday morning and records fell in cities in Missouri and Texas as a deep freeze gripped most of the nation.
Climate Science, D.C. Style: 'Some Say Yes, and Some Say No' - ScienceInsider As infuriating as it might be to the scientists who would agree with the first letter, the second one is likely to be an effective tool for those who prefer inaction, based on a view of the science as equally balanced between two sides. (In the mid-2000s, the media had a real problem with ping-pong reporting of climate stories; the phenomenon has subsided somewhat since then but crops up increasingly on right-leaning media outlets.)
Police identify man whose body was found under W. Princess St. bridge - York DispatchPeople braved Thursday morning's freezing temperatures to watch as police photographed the body of a man found dead under the West Princess Street bridge.
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Eckert was not homeless, according to Spence.
Eckert's cause of death was determined to be hypothermia, and his death has been ruled accidental, Spence said.
CBC News - Saskatchewan - Cold killed woman, Regina police believeIt's believed the woman found dead in a Regina back alley earlier this week died from exposure to the cold, Regina police say.
Woman freezes to death in cemeteryKOKOMO, Ind. (WISH) - A 42-year-old woman died of hypothermia after her family reported her missing Tuesday night in Kokomo.
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Results from the autopsy indicate she died from hypothermia. Deputies say their initial investigation suggests Benzinger fell on the ice and became disoriented and was unable to unlock her truck.
[I guess people like warm weather more than they fear kidney stones]: Harsh Winter in Northeast Has Positive Influence on Miami's Housing Market (MIAMI, FL) -- According to the Miami Association of Realtors and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service, the Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), sales of homes - including existing single-family homes and condominiums - increased 29 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, from 3,671 to 4,740, compared to a year earlier and 93 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. This rise marks 10 consecutive quarters of increasing sales.
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The unusually harsh winter season experienced by most other states is benefitting South Florida, as we see increased interest from U.S. buyers looking for moderate weather and an exciting lifestyle.
Keeping farm animals alive in a freezing Nebraska winter | GristStorms in the past few weeks have left us digging out from under snow drifts, though nothing like the 10- to 12-foot ones we saw last winter. Perpetually cold, I've been shivering in sub-zero temperatures, and the wind is like nothing I ever experienced growing up -- and I grew up in western Wisconsin.
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All these snowstorms are great though, because they show that climate change is a hoax. Right?
Sigh. I'll let someone else explain the difference between weather and climate, and that climate-change models predict more extreme weather, both hot and cold, as the climate gets warmer overall. As for me, I'll be preparing for many more wild winters in the coming years.
Weasel Zippers » Blog Archive » House Republicans Want to Force NASA to Drop Its Global Warming Research and Focus on Space Exploration…Hey, it’s not like it would save us a billion dollars a year . . . no, wait, yes it would.
The Urban Heat Island effect: Could Africa be more affected than the US? « JoNovaThe mystery: We know when we drive through a city that temperatures warm from the fringe to the middle. We know UHI is real, but how much does it affect the official records? Is a 2010 city 0.3 K hotter than a 1960 city? How would we know?
Global Warming Hoax Weekly Round-Up, Feb. 10th 2011 « The Daily BayonetAmericans should encourage global warming to run for office, UK taxpayers are on the hook forever for wind subsidies and California forgot that even global warming laws need environmental assessments to be legal.
Congress gives you a choice: CFL or LED (but no light bulb) | Heliogenic Climate ChangeWhen bulbs break at home, residents should sweep them up with a special broom while wearing gloves and a mask, he advised. Crews dispatched to clean up car crashes or broken traffic fixtures should don protective gear and handle the material as hazardous waste.”
Michael Crichton’s Legacy « NoFrakkingConsensusWhat this all means, of course, is that a company that merely wants to introduce a new version of Aspirin gets subjected to a rigorous examination that makes climate science look amateurish by comparison.
What is wrong with this picture? How does it make sense for large parts of the world to adopt fundamental lifestyle changes (see here, here, here, here and here) before we’ve even double-checked the scientific findings?
On Edge-Pushing Statistics and Climate Basics - NYTimes.comI also hope that tussles at the edges of understanding, where data are scant or uncertainty is high, don’t distract the public too much from the basics of climate science, which are boringly undisputed yet still speak of a rising risk that sorely needs addressing.
Warmer Arctic Is Hindering Polar Bears - NYTimes.com “On shore, there is no food available for them,” said Peter K. Molnar, a researcher at Princeton and lead author of the new study.
POLAR BEARS - Diet & Eating HabitsPolar bears feed mainly on ringed and bearded seals. Depending upon their location, they also eat harp and hooded seals and scavenge on carcasses of beluga whales, walruses, narwhals, and bowhead whales.
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When other food is unavailable, polar bears will eat just about any animal they can get, including reindeer, small rodents, seabirds, waterfowl, fish, eggs, vegetation (including kelp), berries, and human garbage.
Polar bear tours - Churchill ManitobaThe polar bears enjoy the ice until about mid-July. At this time the ice pack becomes too small for the bears to stay, so they swim for shore, landing somewhere on the hundreds of miles of shore line around and to the south of Churchill. At this time of year the bears become sleepy and groggy because they are generally fat and not eating any food. Polar bears will occasionally kill seals in the summer, if given an opportunity, but generally consider it too much work. They can be seen feasting on dead whale carcasses and chasing flightless geese. But for the most part, they are partakers of the couch potato lifestyle, resting on shore and sometimes inland where permafrost is close to the surface and a wallow can be dug to the frost.
Madison, Wi., Mayor Calls For Snowpocalypse Day To Combat Climate Change » Pirate's CoveWith students in mind, Cieslewicz unveiled talks in city government to allocate an annual “snowpocolypse” day, an annual day off for students for the city to prepare for dangerous winter weather that he said is inevitably going to come due to climate change.
The mayor said the reason for the day is two-fold. In addition to giving students a day off during a stressful month, he said he wants to “change the way [city government] thinks about how [they] do their work, because of global climate change.”
Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog: Two New World Bank Papers on Climate ExtremesThe hypothesized damages quoted by Lord Stern are completely inconsistent with empirical evidence.
'Healthy Skeptic' on Climate Change Promises Hearings by Science Subcommittee - ScienceInsider The House of Representatives science committee's panel on basic research and education plans to hold hearings on climate change to present more views on the topic, says its new chair, freshman Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL).
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Q: Is human activity causing global warming?
M.B.: That's a difficult question to answer because I've talked to scientists on both sides of the fence, especially at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Some say yes, and some say no. I'm also old enough to remember when the same left-wing part of our society was creating a global cooling scare in order to generate funds for their pet projects. So 30-some years ago, the big scare was global cooling, and once they drained the government, they shifted to global warming. So I'm approaching the issue with a healthy degree of skepticism. If the evidence is there to prove it, then so be it.
Power Line - More Stormy Weather for the Climate CampaignIf you want to get into the weeds of climate science and policy (and other science issues), you should bookmark the science blog of Roger Pielke Jr of the University of Colorado. Pielke is not a climate skeptic. Like Bjorn Lomborg, he accepts the conventional or "consensus" view that future climate change could be potentially very serious 100 years out from now. Here I should disclose that I have a slightly different view about climate change than John; I don't think climate change is a complete hoax. I think it is far from adequately understood and almost certainly to be recognized someday as having been vastly overestimated (like most past envrio-scares from the population bomb through acid rain). The cabal pushing the issue are acting in supremely bad faith, and their prescriptions (Kyoto Protocol, etc) are idiotic and tyrannical.
Coldest temperatures in Wichita in more than 20 years overnight | Finger on the Weather | Wichita Eagle BlogsWichita broke or tied two temperature records overnight as fresh snow cover, clear skies and little to no wind combined to plunge temperatures to their lowest readings in more than 20 years.
Dallas-Fort Worth sets record for cold, but weekend to warm up into springlike 60s, 70sDallas police responded to 121 minor accidents and 74 major accidents from midnight to 8:30 p.m.
“It’s horrible out there right now,” Lt. Scott Bratcher, a traffic unit commander, said Wednesday morning. “There’s ice everywhere. People are getting stuck. People are sliding backwards on hills and bridges. It’s just not good.”
Farmer ends life in MP village, IBN Live NewsBalaghat (MP), Feb 10 (PTI) A 45-year-old farmer allegedly committed suicide in a village near here, police said today. Jairam Dhobi, a resident of village Takabaraa, hanged himself from a tree last evening. What prompted him to take the extreme step is being investigated, they said. Several farmers have committed suicide in the state in the last few weeks following damage to their crops due to severe winter and frost.
CONTIGUOUS UNITED STATES Climate SummaryThe average temperature in January 2011 was 30.0 F. This was -0.8 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 37th coolest January in 117 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.
1.48 inches of precipitation fell in January. This was -0.74 inches less than the 1901-2000 average, the 9th driest such month on record. The precipitation trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is -0.01 inches per decade.
Report paints grim scenario of impact of climate change | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online...This was the warning aired in “Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters: the Economics of Effective Prevention,” a recent report on the economics of disaster prevention jointly produced by the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN), that was presented Thursday to the Senate.
“Climate-related hazards (extreme events) have resulted in an average of $59 billion (P2,596,000, 000,000) a year in global damages from 1990 through 2008 or 0.1 percent of world product in 2008. Tropical cyclones account for 44 percent and floods, 33 percent,” the report said.
It said “there is a widespread concern that climate change could increase future damages from extreme events.’’
ONE PERCENT GDP TO [ALLEGEDLY PREVENT DAMAGE TO SOME UNSPECIFIED FRACTION OF 0.1 PERCENT OF WORLD PRODUCT]A report by scientists in the Netherlands and Germany indicated that a relatively low investment of 1 percent GDP would have a high impact in slowing temperature rises.
EPA Adminstrator Is Willing To Sacrifice “Millions Of Adults And Children” For Her CO2 Fetish | Real ScienceJackson asked the committee to consider that EPA’s enforcement of the Clean Air Act “saves millions of …adults and children” from expensive ailments that rise when “smokestacks and tailpipes” emit unrestricted amounts of pollution.
She has tied the “taxing CO2″ albatross around the neck of an important anti-pollution law, and then she blames sane people for the consequences of her behaviour.
Obama’s Climate Exchange Is A Gift To GE (GE)GE needs all the help it can get right now, with its stock hurtling closer towards $0 on a daily basis. The company obviously stands to benefit from infrastructure buildout, and from capturing its share of green (energy) dollars. The more wind-turbines we erect, the better for GE.
But there’s a nexus between its green ambitions and its finance unit in the form of a new venture called Greenhouse Gas Services, which will facilitate the trade of carbon tax credits.
Thus as Tim Carney* notes, GE has been lobbying heavily for a cap-and-trade system, rather than a straight tax system which wouldn’t require a market. And of course they got their wish
Anger over Prince Charles’s climate change blastDr Peiser said the Prince was wrong on the key issue that the West’s economic model was flawed.
“More advanced societies in Europe and North America have a much better track record on environmental policies than other parts of the world,” he said.
“But also the prescriptons he is promoting, such as biofuels, are part of the problem and have been the cause of food riots around the world.”
Waning corn stocks suggest higher food prices ahead | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.comAmericans should brace for higher food prices this year now that demand for corn has pushed U.S. supplies to their lowest point in 15 years.
Higher projected orders from the ethanol industry sent corn futures soaring Wednesday, as corn supplies became the latest commodity to plummet.
JUBILATION T. CORNPONE - Lyrics - International Lyrics PlaygroundWith our ammunition gone and faced with utter defeat, Who was it that burned the crops and left us nothing to eat? Why it was Jubilation T. Cornpone;
Flashback: Gore Admits He Was Wrong About Ethanol Subsidies: ‘Not Good Policy’ | The Blaze“First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small.
“It’s hard once such a programme is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going.”
He explained his own support for the original programme on his presidential ambitions.
“One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president.”
Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe promotes global warming skepticism and his book at House hearing | NewsOK.comFor more than 10 years, Sen. Jim Inhofe has figuratively written the book on skepticism about human-induced global warming. Now, he's actually finished a book, to be called “Hoax,” a reference to his famous — or infamous, depending on the viewpoint — description of global warming.
“You'll be the first to receive an autographed copy,” Inhofe, R-Tulsa, told California Rep. Henry Waxman on Wednesday at a House subcommittee hearing about whether the Environmental Protection Agency should be able to regulate greenhouse gases.
NASA climate programs being eyed for the budget axe | Watts Up With That?NASA spent over a billion dollars last year on climate change studies…which would you rather have? Pronouncements about death trains, expert testimony for climate vandals, failed predictions, failed models, and a questionable GISTEMP dataset, or a continued manned spaceflight program?
From my perspective, NASA GISS is a duplication of climate services already covered by NOAA/NCDC, and all we seem to get from it is climate activism arrests of the chief scientist, a coffee table book by his assistant, and a snarky condescending blog called RealClimate that one private citizen and some volunteers are currently beating the pants off of in public outreach. Further, the government spent over $8.7 billion across 16 Agencies and Departments throughout the federal government on these efforts in FY 2010 alone.
- Bishop Hill blog - More Chuck Andrew Montford, author of The Hockey Stick Illusion, which seeks to debunk climate change science, said: “It isn’t sceptics who have eroded public opinion – climate scientists have destroyed their own credibility by hyping global warming and cheating the scientific process. More hype from Prince Charles will merely turn people off further.”
Climate Resistance » Eco-OrthodoxySuppose the International Monetary Fund (IMF) created an economics version of the IPCC, which proceeded to issue an Assessment Report and Summary for Policymakers every five years that was promoted as the consensus view of what “every mainstream economist believes.” Suppose further that the IMF was committed to one particular school of economic thought, such as New Keynesianism, that they ensured that all the lead authors of the IMF report were dedicated New Keynesians, and that the report inevitably concluded the New Keynesians are right and their critics are wrong (or do not even exist). And finally, suppose that the IMF report was sponsored and endorsed by government departments who benefited by promotion of New Keynesian ideas, and that major funding agencies and university oversight agencies also began to endorse, support and promulgate the views in the IMF report.
Cold Weather Knocks Out Sea Turtles in South Texas | NBC Dallas-Fort WorthCurator Jeff George with Sea Turtle Inc. said about 1,200 turtles were found last week on beaches between Corpus Christi and Boca Chica Beach at the south tip of South Padre Island. George said about 250 were already dead.
Second roof collapse leads business owner to call it quitsThe trusses supporting the front of the facility buckled under the weight of 16 to 18 inches of snow and days later, on Tuesday, the rear portion of the roof collapsed.
Though friends report that the fresh damage has caused company owner George Pulver to do some serious thinking about the future of the store – whether to rebuild, relocate or continue operating at all – that hasn’t stopped the community from continuing to rally around the family business, which has been a staple of the Hudson community since 1914.
On Wednesday, the word in the city was that the family was calling it quits.
Yellowstone Park riding out harsh winterCODY, Wyo. — Temperatures dropped to 44 degrees below zero at Madison Junction in Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday, continuing a harsh winter with snow totals not seen in years.
Al Nash, spokesman for Yellowstone National Park, said Sylvan Pass, near the park's eastern boundary, has received 180 inches of snow so far this winter, compared with 101 inches last winter and 142 inches the winter before.
ABC stews in fetid warmist juices | Australian Climate Madness Five true climate change believers. Count them. FIVE. So where was the dissenting view for balance? Where was the scientist putting the valid points that nothing we have seen in the last few weeks is in any way unprecedented, and is simply a result of natural weather variation? Where was the scientist showing that flood records and cyclone records have shown no change in frequency or severity in the last 150 years (or if anything a slight decrease in frequency)? Where was the scientist explaining the link between La Niña and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, which resulted in the heavy rainfalls in Queensland? Where was anybody saying anything to question the orthodoxy presented here?
Answer: nowhere to be seen. Because the ABC is infected with the most virulent form of climate groupthink, just as Maurice Newman said. And they haven't learnt a thing.
Their ABC, paid for by your taxes.
Short Sharp Science: EPA chief survives first Congressional climate skirmishThe new cadre of Republicans in Congress is packed with climate change sceptics, several of whom have promised to use their power to cast doubt on the underlying science. But in their first skirmish with the government official leading attempts to limit climate change, they failed to land any killer blows.
The 'urban legend' of climate changeIt is here, Mr. Harris believes, that activists mislead policymakers with claims of "consensus," insisting that because most scientists believe humans are having some impact on the climate, that it must be stopped through rigorous policy measures, though clearly one does not necessarily follow the other.
Al Gore Gushes Over ‘Formidable Intelligence’ of New Hire Keith OlbermannAl Gore loves Keith Olbermann. In case it wasn’t clear before, the former vice president made it evident Wednesday in speaking to reporters about the former MSNBC host’s move to Gore’s own media company, Current TV. How much does Gore love Olbermann? Let him count the ways : He’s a unique talent and he has a magnetic personality and people form a relationship with him because they know that he is brilliant, they know he is speaking from his heart, they know he has passionate beliefs. He cares about them a lot. And he marries that to his formidable intelligence. And I think people appreciate his authenticity and where he’s coming from. … Less than 24 hours after Olbermann announced his departure from MSNBC on Jan. 21, Gore translated this love into a job offer, extending a personal invitation to join Current TV. “We’ve been friends for a while,” Gore said of Olbermann Wednesday. “I find myself in substantial agreement with the views I’ve heard Keith Olbermann express” — which is Al Gore’s way of saying, “We agree on lots of stuff.”
Global Warming Heats Up Republican Attacks On EPA : NPROthers, including Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., think the law is ill-suited to deal with the problem. Dingell led negotiations over the last major overhaul of the Clean Air Act, in 1990. On Wednesday, he told Jackson the agency's use of the law for global warming has put it in the "intolerable hole in which I find you."
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee and author of the climate legislation that passed the House in 2009, said that while Republicans could rewrite the nation's laws, they couldn't change scientific evidence showing global warming is a threat.
"The underlying premise of this bill is that climate change is a hoax," Waxman said. "The science hasn't changed in the last two years; in fact, it's only gotten stronger."
South Korea looks to delay cap and tradeSeoul’s apparent cold feet follows similar delays in Japan and Australia and the collapse of support for cap and trade legislation in the US last year.
What did our grandchildren do to deserve the Prince of Wales? – Telegraph BlogsWitnesses: Riverstone, Citigroup Global Markets, Virgin Green Fund, and Climate Change Capital; RSPB, Greenpeace, WWF, and Friends of the Earth (at 11.15 am).
Hello. Excuse me. What on earth do environmental activist lobby groups have to do with Britain’s energy policy?
Republican congressmen vote away scientific facts | GristAll this would just be the stuff of dark humor if the stakes for real human beings were not so high. Climate disruption is a problem that can sneak up on you, especially if you hold beliefs that make you want to look the other way. Our best hope is that there are people of good judgment who can reach the politicians who believe that the threat is not real or that we can afford to wait even longer before acting. The basis for the Upton-Whitfield-Inhofe bill is fantasy, but it would do huge damage in the real world if it ever became law.
U.S.. Denies Walrus Endangered Status for Now - NYTimes.com“The threats to the walrus are very real,” Geoff Haskett, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alaska region, said on Tuesday.
But he added that the current size of the walrus population and the animal’s ability to shift to land during periods of heightened warming “make its immediate situation less dire than those facing other species such as the polar bear.”
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“The Obama administration has acknowledged that the walrus is facing extinction due to climate change, yet is withholding the very protections that can help save it,” Ms. Wolf said in a statement. “It’s like having a doctor declare that you are in critical condition, but then just leave you unattended in the hospital’s waiting room.”
The exact size of the Pacific walrus population is unknown, but a partial survey by American and Russian researchers in 2006 counted nearly 130,000.
Walrus: Habitat and Distribution1. Total world walrus population is about 250,000 animals.
2. Pacific walrus population is more than 200,000 animals.
a. The Pacific walrus population has been hunted to depletion and allowed to recover several times.
b. After the latest population depletion, which began in the 1930s, Pacific walruses were given protection by Russia, the State of Alaska, and the U.S. federal government. This protection led to the eventual recovery of the Pacific walrus population (more than 200,000 animals). Walruses reoccupied areas where they had not been seen for several years.
c. By the early 1980s, walruses appeared leaner, they increased their consumption of alternate foods such as fishes, natural mortality increased, and birth rates decreased. This evidence supports the theory that the Pacific walrus population may have approached the carrying capacity of its environment.
Are the wackos wacko enough? : StoatA while ago I reported Watching the Deniers say that "There will be no US Congressional investigation into "Climategate": or how global warming sceptics got duped" and commented that Even the wackos aren't really wacko enough to take on the science. But! Maybe I'm wrong.
Chris Mooney | Criticism Intensifies of New Mexico’s Climate Denying Energy Secretary, Harrison SchmittIt’s bad enough to have someone who thinks this way about environmentalists heading an agency whose mandate includes environmental conservation. But in some ways still worse is what we might call Schmitt’s hyper-wrong technical arguments used to support his climate denialist position.
Moon walker, climate change denier | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine...sea ice extent is not a good measure of warming; instead, volume is a much better indicator.
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This isn’t exactly, pardon the expression, rocket science. The graphs are pretty clear. Whether you think global warming is manmade or not, the fact of the matter is it’s occurring. We’re experiencing it right now, and all this noise and distraction and, frankly, distortion of the data won’t change that fact. Walking on the Moon is a magnificent achievement, but it doesn’t make you any more likely to be right when it comes to the climate.
Republicans fight Barack Obama on climate change [scam] - TelegraphCongressional Republicans vowed on Wednesday to prevent the Obama administration from reducing the pollution that contributes to global warming, proposing to cut the budget of the U.S. environmental agency.
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The agency has been caught before in shifting political winds. But in the 40 years since Republican President Richard Nixon created the federal agency charged with protecting Americans from pollution, observers say the atmosphere for the agency has never been more toxic than it is now.
"It's really been quite extreme," said William Ruckelshaus, who was the first administrator under Nixon and later ran the agency under President Ronald Reagan, of the rhetoric being aimed at the agency this time around. "What are they supposed to do? Sit there and do nothing?"
Energy & Commerce Hearing: Rep. Markey Waves the Flag | GlobalWarming.orgRather than address the real issue of the hearing, namely, whether Congress or EPA should determine the content and direction of national policy, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) accuses supporters of the Energy Tax Prevention Act of working to “disarm” America in the war on terror.
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Mr. Markey employs an old rhetorical trick. When you can’t refute your opponent’s argument on the merits, change the subject and pretend that the debate is about something else.
Waxman wins testy skirmish in global warming hearing Waxman appeared incredulous at testimony by Sen. James Inhofe, a top-ranking environment official for the GOP in Congress’s upper chamber, who called global warming a “hoax” and warned of the steep costs on the economy of regulations to address the issue.
After asking Inhofe a few brief questions to set the stage, including whether Inhofe had a background in science (he doesn’t), Waxman then launched into a sternly worded speech on the dangers of climate change.
Inhofe sought to interrupt, but Waxman cited his privilege as a member of the committee holding the hearing to shut his fellow lawmaker down.
Global warming makes a lot of snow more typical - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register StarThis brings us to the question of whether extreme snows are more typical because of global warming. Sorry to cut to the chase so quickly, but the answer is yes.
Rep. Steve Scalise leads GOP attack on global warming regs | NOLA.comBut Waxman, who chaired the panel until the GOP recaptured the House majority in the 2010 elections, said Republicans are ignoring overwhelming scientific evidence that global warming is real and a major threat. The GOP bill, which would block EPA from regulating gashouse emissions, is called the Energy Tax Prevention Act, but "that is total nonsense, Waxman said.
'"What this bill should be called is the Big Polluter Protection Act," Waxman said.
Polar bears and walruses at risk as Arctic ice melts | ReutersArctic ice reached the third-lowest level ever recorded in 2010, and was at record low levels in January. Because the Arctic is a major weather-maker for much of the Northern Hemisphere, these changes are being blamed for severe storms in some of the world's most densely populated areas.
Ag Report - Wed Feb 9, 2011 | abc30.comFarmers in Southern California blame the recent frost for damaging some winter crops.
USDA reduces February orange crop forecast - FloridaDecember's cold weather was nearly instantaneous in destroying delicate crops like sweet corn and green beans; many thousands of acres were lost. But it has taken farmers and citrus experts several weeks to determine the impact on citrus.
Smackdown: climate science vs. climate economics | GristAs I see it, there are two incommensurate stories being told about climate change. I'm not talking about the largely fake debate between those who say climate change is happening and human-driven (scientists) and those who say it isn't (the GOP).
15 Quotes From Conservatives On The Global Warming Hoax - John Hawkins - Townhall ConservativeHere are 15 quotations from conservatives explaining why the public is right to be extremely skeptical of manmade global warming.
Catholic Charities Running Out Of Heating Assistance Funds - News Story - WJAC JohnstownJOHNSTOWN, Pa. --
With some of the lowest temperatures of the year, many people have their heaters and furnaces running nonstop, even if they can't afford to pay the heating bill. And now, an organization that offers them financial help is already maxing out its funds.
Blizzard hits nation's mid-section with harsh winter conditions again | Grand Forks Herald | Grand Forks, North DakotaBut after the record 14-inch snowfall that kept students out of school for at least six days, halted garbage pickup and kept some roads impassable, the city of 390,000 was bracing for the worst. On Tuesday, Tulsa was just inches from breaking its winter snowfall record of 25.6 inches that was set in the 1923-1924 season.
AccuWeather.com - Weather News | Southwest Chill Continues to Challenge RecordsEl Paso, Texas, broke the record low four days in a row, from Feb. 2 to Feb. 5.
Speakeasy: Leno chides Olbermann for Current TV leap [Leno] "Keith Olbermann announced he is going to Al Gore's Current TV channel...I don't want to say the audience is small but each night, Keith will open the show with, 'Good evening, Al.'"
The Great Beyond: Climate skeptic makes free speech appealBall, who has spent years speaking out about what he sees as bad science underlying climate scientists’ consensus on global warming, says the lawsuit is an attempt to muzzle him for his climate skeptical views. “A law set up to defend against menace is being used to muzzle people. It’s another form of personal attack,” he says.
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Ball’s comments to Nature were in the context of being asked about the need for libel law reform that would make it easier for scientists to speak out about their views without being sued. He has yet to respond to a follow-up request for comment asking about the lawsuit he himself brought. Ball says he can barely afford to defend himself against Weaver’s lawsuit as his only income is from speaking engagements. [Wait a minute, isn't Ball paid billions of dollars each year by Exxon?] Nevertheless he expects that he’ll continue speaking out about climate change. “It hasn’t shut me up until now. I think the freedom of speech to state your views without intimidation is crucial to society.”
Indiana: Howard County woman freezes to death Howard County - A Howard County woman froze to death after slipping on the ice.
Family members called police around midnight Tuesday, saying 42-year-old Georgann Benziger hadn't come home from work. Police searched all night and finally found her body near Sunset Memory Gardens Cemetery on Tuesday morning.
North Dakota - Woman froze to death According to the state coroner's office, the official cause of death was "systematic hypothermia due to exposure to extreme outdoor temperatures."
Jensen was found in a field about a mile from 77th Street, where her pickup truck was sitting along the road.
John Holdren’s IPCC Myths « NoFrakkingConsensusA drug company would never be permitted to bring a new product to market if it took as much for granted as does the IPCC. Reports written by the IPCC have not had every conclusion quadruple-checked for accuracy. Instead, these reports blithely rely on temperature data that has not been audited by neutral third parties – and on scientific studies whose conclusions may have received only a cursory review prior to publication.
Rather than accepting Holdren’s opinion, government officials should be taking an up-close-and-personal look at the IPCC for themselves.
Because Holdren’s immense edifice is actually a house of cards.
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