Friday, September 10, 2010

Audio | Congresswoman Betsy Markey Faces Uphill Battle in Colorado | Capitol News Connection
Markey also voted for the controversial “cap and trade” legislation in the House to deal with global warming and promote clean energy. That bill is all but dead in the Senate amid opposition from Republicans and some Democrats. Markey stresses the need for a renewable energy standard to require more power production from sources like wind and solar.
"Climate Moms" Juggle Career, Kids and the Threat of Catastrophe : TreeHugger
I've asked before why, with all the potential misery and danger in the world, do eco-activists still have children. But then I've also declared that disasterbation turns you blind, and I've even started out on my own path to being a new green dad. There's no doubt, however, that knowing what we know about climate change, peak oil, extinctions and biodiversity loss can be a depressing prospect for anyone—but it's especially depressing when you start considering your own kids' future.
The Press Association: Charles baffled by climate sceptics
The Prince of Wales has said he found the views of climate change sceptics "extraordinary".
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He warned that living on the planet would be "no fun at all" for future generations unless people took action to combat climate change.
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Asked by Bleakley what he thought of climate change doubters, the Prince responded: "I find it quite extraordinary, because to me it seems only sensible to take a precautionary approach. There is something going very wrong."
Lawrence Solomon: Another cold Arctic summer | FP Comment | Financial Post
The summer of 2010 was unusually cold, according to the Centre for Ocean and Ice at the Danish Meteorological Institute. For almost the entirety of the June to August period, mean daily temperatures were below the corresponding daily temperatures over the past half century during which the Centre has maintained records.
Lord Oxburgh Caught In The Headlights
Yesterday I watched the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee questioning Lord Oxburgh. Once the official transcript becomes available I expect that this will cause quite a stir. If there was any doubt before that his inquiry was a fiasco, then there can be none now.

What follows are a few notes based on listening to a recording rather carefully last night.

At the outset, Oxburgh made it very clear that he had been most unwilling to take on the job of chairing the review panel when the University of East Anglia (UEA) asked him, however he had eventually been persuaded. Why the university had been so persistent in their overtures, rather than just looking elsewhere, was not explored, but perhaps it will be at some point in the future.
'Is this science, or literature?' • The Register
Stringer says the practices exposed at CRU undermine the scientific value of paleoclimatology, in which CRU is a world leader.

"When I asked Oxburgh if [Keith] Briffa [CRU academic] could reproduce his own results, he said in lots of cases he couldn't.

"That just isn't science. It's literature. If somebody can't reproduce their own results, and nobody else can, then what is that work doing in the scientific journals?"

The depth and rigour of Oxburgh's panel also raised eyebrows. Oxburgh said the intensive interrogation (described above) had taken several days, but FOIA requests show his team of seven spent just two days on the job, clocking up "45 man hours" including lunches and coffee breaks. The final report amounted to five pages of assessment.

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