Clouds of smoke served as weapon in battling frost - DailyBulletin.com

Talk about smog alerts. The worst air pollution the Inland Empire probably ever experienced was in mid-January 1937 - years before vehicular smog became a way of life here.

It was actually more of a "smudge alert," a huge blanket of man-made smoke designed to protect the vast Inland Empire citrus crop from subfreezing temperatures.

Starting Jan. 7, the region was hit with a number of nights in which temperatures plunged into the teens. This, coming during the harvest season, threatened disaster to local farmers in those Depression-era days.

Today, citrus ranchers use wind machines to keep air flowing over and around citrus trees to retard frost damage. In 1937, the main weapon to fight frost was the smoke from burning oil designed to keep ground heat from escaping into the clear sky.

On the night of Jan. 8, an estimated 5 million Southern California smudge pots, as they were known, burned 770,000 barrels of oil.

Kevin Rudd not sorry for 5pc carbon target | The Australian

In an email newsletter sent out to supporters today, Senator Bernardi said his initial reaction to a 5 per cent reduction in carbon emissions was "disbelief".

"A reduction of 5 per cent would, by my basic arithmetic, reduce global emissions by a paltry 0.07 per cent over 12 years,'' he said.

"Don't get me wrong - I remain unconvinced about the need for an ETS given that carbon dioxide is vital for life on earth, the earth hasn't warmed since 1998 and many of the predictions made by climate change alarmists (including Al Gore and Tim Flannery) have been demonstrably false."

Penny Wong plays down chances of 15pc cut in emissions | The Australian

CLIMATE Change Minister Penny Wong has conceded it is "unlikely" the world will agree to ambitious emissions cuts that will allow the Government to meet a target of up to 15 per cent.

And Ms Wong has declined to detail how many jobs will be lost as a result of the transition to a low emission economy, while arguing jobs growth overall will be maintained.