Archive for the ‘Climate’ Category
November 29, 2010
The Cancun jamboree kicked-off today and started by reiterating the Global Warming Alarmist creed. Drastic – should we say Draconian? – measures would be needed. Some of the suggestions :
- Stop economic growth in rich countries within 20 years
- Introduce food rationing
- Change lifestyles (reduce heating)
- limit electricity usage
- food transport be limited (to save on carbon footprint one understands!)
- people compelled to use public transport
The usual dire warnings of rising sea levels, droughts in river basins and mass migrations were not left out.
It sounds remarkably like the rantings of Pentti Linkola and his ecofascism.
The Telegraph has the whole story but it requires a strong stomach to read it all in one sitting!
Tags:Alarmism, Cancún, global warming, IPCC, UN
Posted in Alarmism, Behaviour, Climate, Fraud, UN | 1 Comment »
November 29, 2010
Strolling reindeer: iImage via Wikipedia
New research shows that the advance of the tree line upwards in the Swedish mountains was due to reduced reindeer grazing and not due to any global warming.
Swedish Radio P1 reports today: (freely translated)
It is not primarily a warmer climate which causes the tree line to crawl
up in many places in the Swedish mountains. A new study from the Torneträsk area shows that there are several other factors that affect tree spread rather than just higher temperatures. Climate change plays a very minor role. It is mainly grazing reindeer, insect infestation, and several other factors that affect mountain forest coverage, rather than changing temperature conditions. “That the tree line can go up or down or remain stationary within the same climate period has not been shown before “, says Professor Terry Callaghan, one of the researchers who carried out the study.
The tree line advanced up the mountains most during the cold period at the end of the 1960s and 1970s. It was primarily because it was a time with fewer reindeer. A warmer climate may actually have an indirect effect (to reduce the advance northwards) by adding to the number of insects and insect infestations that can damage trees.
Many climate models expect that the forest in the tundra and other Arctic areas will expand considerably northwards in the next one hundred years because of higher temperatures. But the new research suggests that these simple assumptions can be grossly inaccurate. One must reckon with how to account for the impact of insects and grazing reindeer and moose. “It now requires that much more detailed information be added into the models”, says Professor Terry Callaghan, director of the Abisko research station.
The article is published in the Journal of Biogeography
Tags:Arctic, climate, climate models, Reindeer, reindeer grazing, Torneträsk, tree line advance
Posted in Biodiversity, Climate, Environment, Science, Sweden, Wildlife | 1 Comment »
November 28, 2010
Cancun Hotels & Resorts : image cancun-travelnet.com
While winter comes early to Europe and China with heavy November snow and temperatures down to minus 37 Celcius in N. Sweden, 15,000 of the faithful travel to the balmy, holiday resort of Cancún (min 21 deg C, max 29 deg C) for the UN / IPCC conference on climate change and to try and blow some life back into the carbon trading scheme.
That Cancún is just about money has become apparent especially since Copenhagen and Nagoya. But it is the unrestrained greed represented by the carbon-trading, money trail that is most telling.
A Global Investor Statement on Climate Change has been issued by:
259 investors – both asset owners and asset managers – that collectively represent assets of over US$15 trillion.
Reducing Risks, Seizing Opportunities & Closing the Climate Investment Gap
Investors are interested in the large potential economic opportunities that the transition to a low-carbon economy presents. In particular, investors are calling for:
- Domestic policy frameworks to catalyze renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other low-carbon infrastructure, so as to provide investors with the certainty needed to invest with confidence in receiving long-term risk-adjusted returns.
- International agreement on climate financial architecture, delivery of climate funding, reducing deforestation, robust measurement, reporting, and verification, and other areas necessary to set theglobal rules of the road, bolster investor confidence, and allow financing to flow.
- International finance tools that help mitigate the high levels of risk private investors face inmaking climate-related investments in developing countries, enabling dramatic increases inprivate investment.
But Christopher Booker in The Telegraph gets it right:
These are the bodies (major banks, insurance companies and pension funds) calling most stridently for “government action on climate change”, because they are the ones who hope to make vast sums of money out of it. They are desperate for a treaty of the type they failed to get at Copenhagen – even more so since the collapse of the US cap and trade bill – because they see their chance of turning global warming into the most lucrative fruit machine in history dwindling by the month.
Top of their wish list is “a rapid time-frame” for implementing the UN’s REDD scheme, which would enable them to make hundreds of billions of dollars by selling the CO2 locked up in the world’s tropical rainforests as “carbon offsets”, thus allowing firms from the developed world to continue emitting CO2. Under this scheme, for instance, environmental bodies including the WWF hope to share in the $60 billion which they estimate as the “carbon value” of the Brazilian rainforest.
But nothing better betrays their gloom about any result from Cancún than that they at least want it to give “a clear mandate” for the adoption of “a legally binding agreement” at the UN’s next conference, due in South Africa next year.
Tags:Cancún, Carbon Trading, climate change, climate fraud, IPCC, UN
Posted in Alarmism, Business, Climate, Fraud | Comments Off on Cancún – Follow the money
November 27, 2010
Scandinavia and the UK are not alone in seeing November snowfall and bitterly cold temperatures – the coldest November in 15 years.
China issued a “blue” alert as heavy snowfall battered most of the north east of the country for a second day.
People walk against strong wind in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin Province, Nov. 27, 2010. Snowfall hit most parts of the province from Friday night. Local meteorologic authority has issued a blue alarm against cold wave Saturday morning. (Xinhua/Zhu Wanchang)
The National Meteorological Center issued the blue alert for snowstorms on a second consecutive day as heavy snowfalls hit southern and eastern Heilongjiang and neighboring Jilin Province in the east on Saturday reports Xinhua. China has a four-color snow warning system: red, orange, yellow and blue. Blue is the least serious level.
But of course this is weather – not climate.
Tags:China, early winter, Northeast China, November snow
Posted in China, Climate, Weather | 2 Comments »
November 25, 2010
Last night the temperature in Northern Sweden dropped to -37 Celsius, the coldest temperature recorded for a November day since 1995.
24th November 2010 - Photo Fredrik Sandberg / Scanpix
“This year’s winter can be just as cold and snowy as last year. Now, as then, there is a weather phenomenon that causes cold air from the polar regions to plummet over us”,
writes the Svenska Dagbladet
The North Atlantic Oscillation is in a negative phase (NAO-).Before last year’s winter this had not occurred in years. The default mode instead was of the NAO in a positive phase with the warm southwest winds, which resulted in mild, almost snow-free winters in northern Europe.
“Now it looks like last winter. If it continues, it means bitter cold. But you never know when the weather turns, “said meteorologist and researcher Per Kållberg at SMHI to Sydsvenskan. Meteorologists around the world are now discussing if the negative phase will continue. It started in December 2009 and has persisted since then, which is the longest period in over 40 years. Nikkaluokta in northern Lapland had minus 36.6 degrees yesterday – the season’s lowest temperature so far, according to SMHI. It is also the lowest November temperature in Sweden since 1995.
The bitterly cold and long winter last year followed by the early start to this winter is, of course, only weather – not climate.
But I expect in Cancun next week all the “believers” will be chanting their mantra of 2010 being a very warm year. Common sense will be notably absent of course.
Tags:coldest November, Negative North Atlantic Oscillation, Polar air, Sweden
Posted in Climate, Geosciences, Sweden, Weather | 1 Comment »
November 24, 2010
"Be Afraid" :Image by anyjazz65 via Flickr
After the cold shower at Copenhagen, the UN Climate groupies are gathering in 5 days at Cancun in Mexico for their next jamboree. Unlike Baden-Powell’s scouts whose motto was to “Be Prepared” the motto in Cancun is “Be Afraid” and their symbol is the Hockey Stick. But the number of attendees at 15,000 is expected to be just a third of the 45,000 at Copenhagen.
In the run-up to Cancun, the public relations exercises have started. The scare stories are proliferating. The objective is to strike fear into the hearts of the non-believers. They are couched in scientific terms but they all have one simple message:
“Be Afraid”
It is perhaps worth noting that in the history of mankind not one of the soothsayers’ prophecies of doom have yet come to pass. In the scientific age and since Malthus, prophecies of impending catastrophe have always been coated with the semblance of rationality and scientific rigour. Whether prognosticating catastrophe due to population growth or due to depletion of resources ( food, oil, coal, metals, animals, plants,……..), they have all been wrong. But in almost every case a few people have gained economic advantage by spreading fear. That climate change happens and will continue to happen is both inevitable and obvious. The idea that man can have more than a very minor part to play in climate – whether intentionally or unintentionally – is a more recent phenomenon of the last 100 years. Before that catastrophes were caused by angry or avenging Gods. Change was then effected by assuaging the angry Gods or by mobilising some other more beneficial God. Of course there were certain individuals – priests, shamans, witch-doctors and their favoured Kings, chieftains and merchants – who always claimed special understanding of the problems and exclusive access to the required God and took benefit from that. These days the angry Gods have been replaced by Divine Computer Models and the scientists and politicians who see a benefit in the forecasts (sometimes pre-determined) of the models.
But Cancun is not really about science. It is about money – for those expecting to make a windfall from carbon trading or for nations looking for funding or for “idealists” looking to redistribute wealth or politicians looking to win their next election.
As I write this I have a foot of snow outside my window which came last night. This is going to be a long and cold winter just as we had last year. But it is just weather not climate. I have no doubt the weather in Cancun will be much warmer and much more salubrious next week. But it is just weather not climate.
“Be Afraid”
Tags:Cancún, climate change, Copenhagen, United Nations, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, UN | 1 Comment »
November 22, 2010
With one week left before the Cancun circus begins (UN/ IPCC Climate Conference from 29th November to 10th December), the mainstream media hype has begun.
Global CO2 expected to rise to record levels screams the Daily Telegraph. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to reach record levels this year, according to a new study, despite the recession and global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases – but what that has to do with climate is uncertain. No doubt it has a great deal to do with pricing of the Carbon Trading market. As The Telegraph points out (inadvertently perhaps) this is just hype timed to come just before the UN jamboree.
The results of the study by the Global Carbon Project will be used to put pressure on environment ministers meeting in Cancun, Mexico this month for the latest UN meeting to come to a global agreement on cutting emissions.
The Cancun meeting itself is all about money and Carbon Trading. The collapse of the Chicago exchange and the growing realisation in Europe that Carbon Trading is just a scam is leading all those with a vested interest in carbon pricing to raise the spectres of carbon dioxide again. Hopefully these efforts will be as useless as at Copenhagen but some “trading” being introduced through the back door is always a possibility.
The two main “money flows” that Cancun is concerned with is the carbon trading fraud and the diversion of funds to “developing” countries to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide. Just as with the Nagoya biodiversity conference a key objective is the redistribution of wealth. In fact biodiversity and climate are merely convenient scare stories which can act as vehicles for arranging for the flow of funds. A UN IPCC official admitted as much when talking about climate policy:
OTTMAR EDENHOFER, UN IPCC OFFICIAL: “That will change immediately if global emission rights are distributed. If this happens, on a per capita basis, then Africa will be the big winner, and huge amounts of money will flow there. This will have enormous implications for development policy. And it will raise the question if these countries can deal responsibly with so much money at all”.
Tags:Cancún, Emissions trading, IPCC Cancun, UN Climate conference, United Nations
Posted in Air pollution, Alarmism, Climate, Development, Economics, Fraud, UN | 1 Comment »
November 11, 2010
The global warming brigade and their funding is dependant upon carbon dioxide being considered a villain and being banned. Global warming dogma does not like geoengineering solutions which may make doomsday scenarios irrelevant.
When geo-engineering – that is human intervention directed to adapting to climate – suggests ways in which we could successfully keep climatic conditions suitable for human development, the global warmists are appalled. To suggest alternatives to banning carbon dioxide suddenly creates “ethical issues” whereas alarmism and doomsday scenarios do not!!
But if it is unintended human intervention which creates a problem then surely it is the only “right and proper” course to use intended human intervention to rectify the situation (even though man-made carbon dioxide is of little significance and totally irrelevant as far as climate change is concerned).
In fact – I would suggest – it is unethical to stifle human ingenuity and the march of technology.
Human development cannot be based on “not doing something”. Strategy must be based on the positive choice of “what to do” which may – as a consequence – lead to certain other things not being done. But when environmentalism or conservation or climate change lead only to lists of “what not to do” they degenerate into cowardice where actions are subordinated to “fear” and lose credibility.
The Guardian tells us:
The problem is that proposals to geo-engineer the climate come loaded with social and ethical concerns. Is it acceptable to intentionally intervene in the volatile climate system? How would it be governed? What would prevent the abuse of climate-controlling technologies, and whose hand would be on the global thermostat?
A geoengineering solution:Spraying seawater droplets into marine clouds from ships could make them reflect more sunlight. Photograph: Nasa
The growing number of scientists working on different aspects of geo-engineering research – from climate modelling, to lab experiments with reflective particles that could be injected into the stratosphere – are anxious to emphasise that they are not geo-engineering cheerleaders. They simply want to understand the pros and cons of different technologies, in case the day came when they might be needed, a day they hope will never come.
The Royal Society itself has taken great care to indicate that it does not advocate geo-engineering – and certainly not in the place of deep global cuts in greenhouse gases. But it does advocate research on geo-engineering, and that’s where the dilemma for many scientists kicks in.
On the one hand, it is clearly prudent to understand more about geo-engineering – the worst of all scenarios would involve a government deploying a technology without knowing what its effects would be. Initial evidence suggests that spraying the skies with reflective particles of sulphate would have a major impact on patterns of rainfall. Surely it is better to know this sooner rather than later?
On the other hand, conducting research on geo-engineering is one of the main factors that will make the deployment of the technologies more likely. Most scientists are deeply sceptical about the use of such “remedial” action on global warming. But scientists won’t be the ones to decide whether the technology is used. So are they unwittingly clearing the path for future deployment?
Tags:climate, ethics, Geoengineering, global warming, Technology
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, Ethics, Geoengineering | Comments Off on Geoengineering possibilities threaten the CO2 reduction advocates
November 9, 2010
Wattsupwiththat has the story.
The American Geophysical Union has issued a press release backing away from “a broad campaign to push back against congressional conservatives who have threatened prominent researchers with investigations and vowed to kill regulations to rein in man-made greenhouse gases” which was widely reported yesterday: See “Warriors of the Faith”: Global warming zealots declare jehad”
The Press Release is available at http://www.agu.org/news/press/pr_archives/2010/2010-37.shtml.
AGU Logo
Inaccurate news reports misrepresent a climate-science initiative of the American Geophysical Union
WASHINGTON—An article appearing in the Los Angeles Times, and then picked up by media outlets far and wide, misrepresents the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and a climate science project the AGU is about to relaunch. The project, called Climate Q&A Service, aims simply to provide accurate scientific answers to questions from journalists about climate science.
“In contrast to what has been reported in the LA Times and elsewhere, there is no campaign by AGU against climate skeptics or congressional conservatives,” says Christine McEntee, Executive Director and CEO of the American Geophysical Union. “AGU will continue to provide accurate scientific information on Earth and space topics to inform the general public and to support sound public policy development.”..
“AGU is a scientific society, not an advocacy organization,” says climate scientist and AGU President Michael J. McPhaden. “The organization is committed to promoting scientific discovery and to disseminating to the scientific community, policy makers, the media, and the public, peer-reviewed scientific findings across a broad range of Earth and space sciences.”…….
The Army of the Warriors of the Faith has gone from 700 to 39 to zero in one day.
Tags:Alarmism, American Geophysical Union, ethics, Los Angeles Times, science fraud
Posted in Alarmism, Behaviour, Climate, Science, Scientific Fraud | Comments Off on American Geophysical Union backs away from the “Warriors of the faith”
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