Author: Jo

Rajendra Pachauri Must Stay !

Post author By Jo
Post date September 23, 2010
1 Comment on Rajendra Pachauri Must Stay !

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, you know, he’s like everybody’s grandfather.

Some report he’s a bit irritating, awkward, even, but that’s only when he has to respond to deliberately riling Media questions and smear campaigns.

His heart’s in the right place, he’s good at motivating people, he can see the big picture, he’s actually a very good communicator, and he’s done a lot to take the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forward.

That’s no reason for various voices in the Media to start a new round of calling for his head. “Resign !” cry the so-called “libertarian” commentators, those voices that perversely reason that if Pachauri resigns, or gets tipped out, that it will set the IPCC back five years.

What we desperately need now is stability in the organisation of the IPCC – the Fifth Assessment Report will be monumental enough without the organisation having to adapt to a new leader that needs to learn how to corral everybody into good and productive working relationships.

Tags BBC, Dr Pachauri, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, Mike Hulme, Rajendra Pachauri, Richard Black, Roger Harrabin, Tim Yeo

Climate Change Extreme Weather Floodstorm Global Warming Rainstorm The Data

The Year of Unceasing Rain (2)

Post author By Jo
Post date September 19, 2010
No Comments on The Year of Unceasing Rain (2)

It just won’t stop raining violently this year. And it’s raining violently everywhere.

Typhoon Fanapi could be China’s worst storm this year :-

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-19/china-steps-up-emergency-response-for-typhoon-fanapi-as-storm-nears-coast.html
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/09/19/Typhoon-Fanapi-hits-Taiwan/UPI-35521284870548/

And in the next few days, the double-hearted spinner of Hurricanes Igor and Julia could cause some nasty downpours in the Eastern Seaboard of the United States :-

https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVWjsPEiqe1tEu2mhBIRaxxGi8owD9IB86D00

Meanwhile, in the South Pacific, “a storm the size of Australia” has just brought misery to New Zealand :-

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100919/twl-storm-the-size-of-australia-hits-new-3fd0ae9.html
https://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Storm-Size-Of-Australia-Hits-New-Zealand-Leaving-Thousands-Without-Power-And-Stadium-Crashing-Down
https://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/new-zealanders-powerless-as-storm-buffets-nation-20100918-15guz.html

Hurricane Karl brought storms to Mexico :-

https://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/09/nasa-images-of-hurricane-karl-as-it-hits-mexico/1

Tornadoes hit New York City during storm :-

https://www.longislandpress.com/2010/09/19/tornadoes-in-nyc-nyc-gets-two-tornadoes-in-storm/

Tags Atlantic, China, floodstorm, Hurricane, New York City, New Zealand, Pacific, rainstorm, South Pacific, storm, Taiwan, tornado, tropical storm, Typhoon, Weather

Climate Change Global Warming Science Rules The Data

Mini Hockey Sticks (4)

Totally new data set – totally new temperature proxy – totally the same Hockey Stick.

Michael Mann, Phil Jones and all the experts are more than vindicated.

Steve McIntyre, Marc Morano, and your “tribes”, will you stand aside, please ?

You’re just getting in the way of the true course of discovery.

Advancing Africa Climate Change Eating & Drinking Global Warming Water Wars

Undue Optimism

We learn from Caroline Spelman, care of Fiona Harvey, that Climate Change could be good for British farming :-

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4e2c238e-c276-11df-956e-00144feab49a.html

“Climate change could benefit UK farmers : By Fiona Harvey and George Parker : Published: September 17 2010 : Climate change and global food shortages could bring unexpected benefits for British farmers in the next two decades, ultimately relieving taxpayers of the burden of subsidising them, Caroline Spelman, environment secretary, has claimed. Ms Spelman said the UK was unlikely to suffer the severe water shortages that scientists predict will afflict other parts of the world, and that British farmers should be able to exploit greater demand for their produce…”

Note that the argument is not that Climate Change will create better conditions for growing food in the UK.

Instead, the logic is that because we live in North Western Europe, which will see less Climate Change than other parts of the world, our agricultural produce won’t be affected as badly as, say, Asia, so, suddenly British food production will have stronger commercial value as export.

That’s rather perverse, isn’t it ? Profiting at others’ expense never looked so…existential, so morally challenged.

I think that what will happen is that British food production will be increased in order to give it away, in the form of international disaster aid.

The Common Agricultural Policy could become the Crisis Agricultural Subsidy.

In a never-ending rolling disaster, the ethics of meeting basic human needs will surely take precedence over business competition.

Be Prepared Big Picture British Sea Power Burning Money Climate Change Climate Chaos Corporate Pressure Dead Zone Emissions Impossible Energy Change Energy Revival Financiers of the Apocalypse Fossilised Fuels Global Singeing Global Warming Growth Paradigm Incalculable Disaster Low Carbon Life Major Shift Marine Gas Oil Change Peak Oil Petrolheads Protest & Survive Public Relations Resource Curse Social Change Solar Sunrise Tarred Sands Toxic Hazard Unconventional Foul Unnatural Gas Wind of Fortune

Go Beyond Oil

https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gt9FazoUMIDxODUKwX2TF5LxndsQ

“Protesters condemn ‘dirty oil’ at World Energy Congress : (AFP) : 14 September 2010 : MONTREAL — Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in the streets of Montreal Sunday, calling for an end to “dirty, risky” oil exploration, ahead of a global gathering of energy experts. A dozen protesters covered in molasses staged a “Black Tide Beach Party,” while dozens of others carried banners that read “Too dirty, too risky, go beyond oil.” A blond baby boy smeared in brown sticky molasses wailed in his activist father’s arms, while protesters used megaphones to slam the provincial Quebec government of Jean Charest for inviting oil companies to the five-day World Energy Congress at the sprawling Palais de Congres. Some 5,000 participants from industry, government and academia, were expected to attend the conference, slated to officially open Sunday evening. The event is expected to tackle global energy issues, such as improving access to energy in the world’s poorer regions and the role of new technologies in ensuring a sustainable energy future. Many protesters directed their anger at BP over a devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year. But Julien Vincent, a campaigner for Greenpeace International, said BP was only part of the problem. “British Petroleum is one part of a big industry that’s got an abysmal safety record and an abysmal record in terms of its obligations toward protecting communities,” he told AFP. “You also have oil from Shell dripping out over Nigeria right now. You have oil spills that have taken place in China that have flooded ports,” he added. “The entire industry needs to be told to sit back and listen up.” …”

https://www.wecmontreal2010.ca/en.html

Tags Bearish Petroleum, Beyond Petroleum, Blatant Pollution, BP, British Petroleum, Bullish Petroleum, Energy Change, Oil, Petroleum, Renewable Energy

Advertise Freely Big Picture Climate Change Climate Chaos Corporate Pressure Extreme Weather Floodstorm Global Singeing Global Warming Heatwave Incalculable Disaster Meltdown Neverending Disaster Oil Change Political Nightmare Protest & Survive Regulatory Ultimatum Science Rules Screaming Panic Social Change The Data

This Is What Overwarming Looks Like

Post author By Jo
Post date September 17, 2010
No Comments on This Is What Overwarming Looks Like

https://vimeo.com/15028423

“We have to believe what we are witnessing with our own eyes — floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat: from smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Pakistan, to soaring temperatures in the US and a deteriorating landscape in the High Arctic, our planet seems to be having a breakdown. It’s not just a portent of things to come but real signs of very troubling climate change already under way.”

https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dlashof/this_is_what_global_warming_lo.html

NRDC Advocacy Website

“Tell Congress not to weaken Clean Air Act protections : As the EPA prepares to set standards for global warming pollution from power plants, refineries and other major polluters, some members of Congress want to weaken the Clean Air Act and give industries free rein to dump harmful pollution into our air…”

https://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/37-states-set-nighttime-high-temperature-records-this-summer.php

“With January to August 2010 found to be tied for the hottest year on record by NOAA, new analysis from NRDC shows that it wasn’t just daytime temperatures that’ve been soaring. In fact, 37 states in the US set record high nighttime temperatures this summer…”

Animal Kingdoom Be Prepared Big Picture Dead Zone Energy Revival Environmental Howzat Fossilised Fuels Incalculable Disaster Low Carbon Life Marine Gas Oil Change Peak Oil Petrolheads Protest & Survive Regulatory Ultimatum Renewable Resource Resource Curse Toxic Hazard Unconventional Foul Unnatural Gas

Gunk Zero

What happened to all that deepwater crude gusher oil, so visible from space, spreading like a magical sheen on the surface of the waters in the Gulf of Mexico ?

It’s now lying as a 5cm layer of gunk on the sea floor, that’s what. That’s where you’ll find Ground Zero for BP’s careless “blame the cement” spill mess-tastrophe :-

https://www.desdemonadespair.net/2010/09/oil-layers-two-inches-thick-coat-gulf.html

If ever there were an advertisement for the campaigns to end the age of fossil fuels, this, I think, is it.

Be Prepared Climate Change Climate Chaos Extreme Weather Floodstorm Global Warming Incalculable Disaster Neverending Disaster

Ocean Latte Swirl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Atlantic_hurricane_season

Somebody took a big spoon and starting stirring the Atlantic and the Pacific, and this is what we got : ocean-scale coffee cream swirls – a cluster of major storms with the potential to wreak significant havoc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pacific_typhoon_season

Are records being broken ? Yes. Is it all getting worse, really ? Probably :-

https://climateprogress.org/2010/09/16/2010-hurricane-season-records-jeff-masters-global-warming/

Tags Atlantic, Hurricane, Hurricane Alley, Pacific, Typhoon

Climate Change Global Warming Major Shift Media Meltdown Science Rules The Data

Arctic Meltdown : A Very Big Deal

Post author By Jo
Post date September 17, 2010
No Comments on Arctic Meltdown : A Very Big Deal

Found at : Green Man

It continues to astonish me that environmental reporters cannot pick up the Arctic meltdown ball and run with it.

The trend in meltdown in the northernmost latitudes is a very big deal – and it’s ongoing, it hasn’t stopped, gone into remission or gone away.

The nature of the ice is changing – so much so that scientific monitoring equipment was confused.

It is now clear that Arctic summer sea ice is in a “death spiral”, a phrase first used very recently, in an attempt to properly describe what is happening :-

https://tamino.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/death-spiral/

Tags Arctic, arctic sea ice, Arctic Summer Sea Ice, Cairn Energy, Deepwater, deepwater drilling, deepwater oil, defrost, frozen wastes, Greenpeace, Melt, Meltdown, Permafrost, tundra

Climate Change Climate Chaos Global Warming Incalculable Disaster Media Neverending Disaster

Remembering Pakistan

Found at : Only In It For The Gold

Will the long-term future for much of inundated Pakistan resemble a country-wide-scale New Orleans – destroyed and mostly deserted ?

Where will the people go ? Or will they rot and die in “temporary” camps ?

What will become of those stranded in their villages – they stayed to protect the land – they didn’t realise the floodwaters would be like never before – coming to take away their livelihoods and possibly their lives.

https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jX_KetVCMo64AOZxSMudPWArFrJgD9I946KG0

“US envoy warns Pakistan of flood funding shortfall : By SEBASTIAN ABBOT (AP) : 16 September 2010 : KARACHI, Pakistan — The world will only be able to fund around 25 percent of the tens of billions of dollars needed to rebuild Pakistan after the floods, and its government will have to make up the shortfall, the U.S. envoy to the country warned Thursday. Richard Holbrooke said America would not condition its assistance to the country, but warned that the U.S. Congress might not be generous if it felt that Pakistan was not taxing its own citizens enough. Pakistan’s rich have traditionally not paid much tax on their income or their property — either because they evade them or are exempt — and the country’s collection rates are among the lowest in the world…Monsoon rains triggered massive floods six weeks ago that spread across the country and are still continuing in parts of the south. Some 8 million people have been made homeless in what Pakistani and U.N. officials have said is one of the largest humanitarian disasters in living memory…”

Tags Aid, Climate Change, Climate Chaos, Climate Migration, disaster, Disaster Aid, Disaster Relief, Economic Devastation, emergency, Emergency Aid, flood, Flooding, Internaional Relief, long-term damage, Pakistan, Relief Organisation

Climate Change Global Warming Media Science Rules

John Beddington : The Business Case

Post author By Jo
Post date September 16, 2010
No Comments on John Beddington : The Business Case

Sir John Beddington, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, makes the case for the Science of Climate Change over at the Government Department for Business Innovation and Skills :-

https://www.bis.gov.uk/go-science/climatescience

How do I know about this ? I was forwarded an e-mail Press Release. Doesn’t appear to have been newsworthy or conflictual enough for the BBC or the major daily newspapers (correct me if I’m wrong).

That’s probably got something to do with the in-built accusation against the Media, where Sir John is reported as saying, “Reporting on climate change science has often created more heat than light…”

Good old Climate Change. As exciting and full of portent and importance as ever !

https://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=415474&NewsAreaID=2&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+bis-news+(BIS+News)#

“Explaining the Science of Climate Change : 16 September 2010 00:01 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills : A new website which explains the science behind the headlines on climate change was launched today by Government Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Sir John Beddington. The website presents an overview of some of the most important areas of study in climate science, to help anyone wishing to get beyond the day-to-day headlines to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental scientific issues involved. For those uncertain about the state of scientific knowledge, the web resource explains both where evidence is well established and where findings and projections remain subject to greater uncertainty. Few areas of science have such profound implications for public policy and society as the study of climate change. It is a research field that has come under intense scrutiny, particularly over the past year with a series of stories hitting the headlines. Sir John said: “Reporting on climate change science has often created more heat than light. The evidence is compelling that climate change is happening, that human activities are the major driver for this and that the future risks are substantial. At the same time, there is much we need to understand better; for example, the pace and extent of the changes we can expect, and regional impacts. The fact that uncertainty exists in climate science, as it does in other fields, does not detract from the value of the evidence. But an appreciation of the nature and degree of uncertainty, and of the likelihood and potential severity of risks, is critical if the science is to properly inform decision-making.” …”

https://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=18701&channel=0&title=Government+hopes+new+website+will+end+climate+change+confusion+

“…The website presents an overview of areas of study in climate change and Sir John hopes it will end ‘uncertainty’ around the subject…”

Are the Media going to start getting this right, reporting on Climate Change from the point of view of risk analysis, analysis from real-world evidence and reasonable projections from the world’s experts ?

We shall see.

Tags BIS, Chief Scientific Adviser, CSA, Department of Business Innovation and Skills, John Beddington, Sir John Beddington

Be Prepared Climate Change Global Warming Media Uncategorized

Richard Black : GB Prepared

Post author By Jo
Post date September 16, 2010
No Comments on Richard Black : GB Prepared

Richard Black redeems himself somewhat with a suitably seriously concerned piece on the expected impacts of Climate Change :-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11322929

“16 September 2010 : Climate change advisers urge UK to prepare for change : By Richard Black : Environment correspondent, BBC News : The UK needs to prepare itself quickly to deal with the impacts of climate change, government advisers warn. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says climate effects are already being felt in the UK in the form of higher temperatures and changing seasons. Using land more sensibly, adapting buildings and planning for emergencies are areas where it recommends action. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman describes the CCC’s adaptation report as “a wake-up call”. “There is no part of our society which is immune from the effects of climate change,” she is due to say in a speech on Thursday. “Britain’s economy will only be as resilient and prepared as British firms, communities and infrastructure.”…”

Who’s going to pay for that, then ?

Bad Science Global Warming Media Meltdown Realistic Models Science Rules Screaming Panic Unqualified Opinion

Richard Black : Missing Data

Post author By Jo
Post date September 16, 2010
No Comments on Richard Black : Missing Data

[ UPDATE : JOE ROMM OF CLIMATE PROGRESS IS ALMOST CAUSTIC : “Dreadful climate story by BBC’s Richard Black” ]

Richard Black has noticed that the Arctic sea ice is melting – bravo ! But I can’t help thinking there’s something missing in this report of his. I know he probably didn’t write the headline, but he could have included a discussion on record low volumes of sea ice as well as nearly record low extent :-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11322310

“16 September 2010 : ‘Rapid’ 2010 melt for Arctic ice – but no record : Ice floating on the Arctic Ocean melted unusually quickly this year, but did not shrink down to the record minimum area seen in 2007. That is the preliminary finding of US scientists who say the summer minimum seems to have passed and the ice has entered its winter growth phase. 2010’s summer Arctic ice minimum is the third smallest in the satellite era…Walt Meier, a researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, where the data is collated, said ice had melted unusually fast. “It was a short melt season – the period from the maximum to the minimum was shorter than we’ve had – but the ice was so thin that even so it melted away quickly,” he told BBC News…”

That’s right, Walt. And it should concern us.

The amount of older ice has dropped away – see graph at the top of this post – which suggests that the overall volume of ice could be much reduced as only older ice is thick.

But what does Richard Black focus on ?

“…computer models projecting a disappearance [ of summer Arctic sea ice ] very soon – 2013 was a date cited by one research group just a few years ago – seem to have been too extreme…”

Well that’s alright then. We can relax. The Arctic sea ice will be here for many summers to come. Or not. Who cares, really ? The important thing is that we have established by our cleverness that the whole Global Warming situation is not as bad as those alarmists/warmists say.

The Arctic is melting away and Richard Black needs to deny dire projections ?

The BBC : managing public perception for the benefit of a generally positive state of mind ?

Bad Science Bait & Switch Climate Change Global Warming Media Non-Science Science Rules The Data

Anti-Science Anti-Sense

And so it is we learn from the Daily Express, that most learned journal, that the ethos, the very foundation, of Climate Change science is in question :-

https://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/199607/Climate-change-Failures-of-global-warming-probes-let-down-public-

“CLIMATE CHANGE: FAILURES OF GLOBAL WARMING PROBES ‘LET DOWN PUBLIC’ : Wednesday September 15, 2010 : By John Ingham, Environment Editor : PUBLIC inquiries into the Climategate scandal have failed to restore confidence in the science behind global warming, a report claimed yesterday. It branded as flawed the three inquiries into the leaking of e-mails by scientists at East Anglia university’s world-leading Climate Research Unit. And it called for independent inquiries into the ethos of climate research and the science itself…”

We’re post-modern 21st Century humans. It’s OK to question everything. There’s every likelihood that we control our own destinies by our thoughts; that tobacco doesn’t cause lung and pancreatic cancer; that sexual intercourse between a male and a female is not the cause of human reproduction; that Jesus was Catholic, and not Jewish; that so-called waterborne diseases aren’t caused by microscopic organisms; that infection by the HIV virus doesn’t lead to AIDS; that Barack Hussein Obama is a non-American Muslim; that the CIA planned 9/11 (no, really, they did !); that mobile phone masts are killing bees (well, it can’t be the pesticides, can it ?); the moon landings were staged; that wind power will never amount to much, and that chocolate doesn’t give you spots.

If you want to believe that DDT controls malaria, then go right ahead. We live in a tolerant society, and your knowledge is just as good as mine, really :-

https://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/09/indor_goklnay_ddt_and_malaria.php

And of course, it’s entirely reasonable to assert that the Earth is the centre of the Universe, for medieval clerics so believed :-

https://www.catholicintl.com/galileowaswrong/index.html

The theory of evolution, of course, is a hoax :-

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1312210/Ireland-science-minsiter-Conor-Lenihan-pulls-evolution-hoax-book-launch.html

“…The author, who has offered 10,000 euros to anyone who can scientifically prove evolution exists…”

(as found on https://johnquiggin.com/).

Bad Science Bait & Switch Climate Change Global Warming Non-Science Science Rules The Data Unqualified Opinion Unutterably Useless Utter Futility Vain Hope

Timewasting Woman ?

Dr Judith Curry will probably be wasting a lot of her valuable time in future, as she has started her own “balanced” web log :-

https://judithcurry.com/

Several commentors appear quite relieved that she has decided to stop (pa)trolling their websites and has gone off to draw all the sceptic hormonally-charged untrained non-scientists beta males to hers.

Phew ! Now perhaps we can get on with the Science and the Data in peace !

https://initforthegold.blogspot.com/2010/09/curry-blogs.html

https://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/09/about_time.php

It’s a thankless task, engaging in dialogue with the voracious, capacious sceptics. Hopefully she gets paid for her trouble.

Excruciatingly, she’s in store for recurring complaints from Climate Change Scientists.

Tags delayer, denial, denier, Dr Judith Curry, Judith Curry, obstructer, sceptic, septic, skeptic, The Way Things Break, Things Break

Bad Science Bait & Switch Climate Change Global Warming Media Non-Science Protest & Survive Public Relations Social Change

Lords of Timewasting ?

The not-widely-awaited “investigation” into the official inquiries into “Climategate” from the Nigel Lawson “social experiment”, the “Global Warming Policy Foundation”, looks to me rather like a botched piece of cosmetic surgery on first scan.

I’d recommend avoiding it, as it seems to me like a total waste of valuable time, based, as I believe it is, on an obvious absence of leg-shaped support.

I wouldn’t have bothered spending five vacant minutes commenting on it unless I knew my various sceptic readers were standing by, eagerly salivating over tearing me to shreds about any statements I might make.

Lunch, boys ?

If you are a proper Climate Change researcher, unless you’ve got the time and funds and staffing to launch an investigation into how the Climategate Media circus was ever allowed to happen, I’d suggest you avoid entering into any kind of discussion about this latest seemingly vapid wraith of veneer.

https://www.thegwpf.org/climategate/1532-damning-new-investigation-into-climategate-inquiries.html

I am sure you will detect what looks like irascible sniping from Andrew Montford (as known as “Bishop Hll”) in various newspaper reports that follow on from this outpouring of apparently obsessive introspection into a non-scandal that’s deader than a century-old donkey’s fetid tail.

But nothing will trounce the ultimate truth – Climategate will never breathe another modecule of serious Media oxygen, even if it lives on in rabid obscurity in Internet zombie-blog-land.

Advancing Africa Advertise Freely Climate Change Eating & Drinking Floodstorm Food Insecurity Freshwater Stress Genetic Muddyfixation Global Warming Health Impacts Incalculable Disaster Neverending Disaster Science Rules Social Change The Data

Hungry for Change

People often talk about the weather in relation to Climate Change, but neglect to talk about the possible obvious and inevitable side-effects – hunger and starvation.

Frontline Club will screen the film “The Hunger Season” on 1st October 2010, and follow it with a panel discussion hosted by BOND and Oxfam UK :-

https://frontlineclub.com/events/2010/10/liberation-season-screening—the-hunger-season.html?utm_source=Frontline&utm_campaign=074ce4510f-Announcing+October+events&utm_medium=email

“Across the world a massive food crisis is unfolding.  Climate change, increasing consumption in China and India, the dash for Biofuels are causing hitherto unimagined food shortages and rocketing prices. This has already provoked unrest and violence from the Middle East to South America and there is no end in sight in the coming months. The people who are going to be most sorely affected are those already living on the razors edge of poverty, those dependent on food aid for their very survival. As commodity prices have risen by 50%, the UN Agencies have barely half the budget they need to meet the needs of 73 million hungry people they are currently feeding…”

Biofuel targets may not be the only factor behind food price rises :-

https://www.wdm.org.uk/food-speculation/great-hunger-lottery

“In The Great Hunger Lottery, the World Development Movement has compiled extensive evidence establishing the role of food commodity derivatives in destabilising and driving up food prices around the world. This in turn, has led to food prices becoming unaffordable for low-income families around the world, particularly in developing countries highly reliant on food imports. Nowhere was this more clearly seen than during the astonishing surge in staple food prices over the course of 2007-2008, when millions went hungry and food riots swept major cities around the world. The great hunger lottery shows how this alarming episode was fueled by the behaviour of financial speculators, and describes the terrible immediate impacts on vulnerable families around the world, as well as the long term damage to the fight against global poverty…”

Acid Ocean Advertise Freely Animal Kingdoom Be Prepared Big Picture Climate Change Corporate Pressure Dead Zone Emissions Impossible Environmental Howzat Fossilised Fuels Global Warming Incalculable Disaster Neverending Disaster Oil Change Protest & Survive Public Relations Resource Curse Social Change Toxic Hazard Unconventional Foul Unnatural Gas

Liberate Tate : Pouring Oil on Troubled Relationships

Post author By Jo
Post date September 15, 2010
No Comments on Liberate Tate : Pouring Oil on Troubled Relationships

https://www.youandifilms.com/2010/09/crude-2010-oil-painting-protest-over-bp-sponsorship-in-tate-modern-turbine-hall-liberate-tate-calls-for-footprint-of-art-museum-to-be-free-from-big-oil/

https://twitter.com/liberatetate

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B2JesScn-l6lM2E2OTU2MGEtZmEzYy00NDZmLWE0YWMtYzY4Zjg5YmUxZTVi&sort=name&layout=list&num=50&pli=1

Tags Blatant Pollution, BP, British Petroleum, Corporate Sponsorship, Liberate Tate, Tate, Tate Gallery, Tate Modern

Advancing Africa Be Prepared Burning Money Carbon Capture Carbon Commodities Climate Change Coal Hell Corporate Pressure Cost Effective Emissions Impossible Financiers of the Apocalypse Global Warming Marvellous Wonderful Nuclear Nuisance Nuclear Shambles Obamawatch Petrolheads Political Nightmare Regulatory Ultimatum Technological Sideshow Vote Loser

America Finally Might Actually Do Something

Post author By Jo
Post date September 14, 2010
No Comments on America Finally Might Actually Do Something

[ UPDATE : America might not actually, finally, do something – check the resistance dinosaurs. ]

We have waited long enough for serious action States-side on Global Warming.

The bankers (apparently largely Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan with lashings of Tony Blair) had their chance to talk up the idea of Carbon Trading. What a dead duck that turned out to be !

Carbon Taxation looks like it’s a non-starter with the global economy being a whisker from utter, utter, collapse.

The Clean Development Mechanism isn’t.

(Plus, the CDM hasn’t helped those it was principally promoted to help – Africa).

The global Biofuels targets are reducing rainforest to logpiles.

The Coal Kings have been pushing the idea of Carbon Capture and Storage for well over fifteen years and persuaded…no one.

The nightwalkers from the dark, radioactive side are still scaring people and luring them at the same time. If Iran wanting Nuclear Power was tricky enough, now Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait want it too, and I don’t expect the international dialogue tightrope act to get any easier.

The Congress and the Senate have seen filibuster and deal-breaking and lobbyist handshakes in dark corridors and reneging in bars.

But, at long last, it seems like Barack Obama is going to do what he hinted at, and regulate the bottom line out of Carbon Dioxide emissions, regardless of whether there’s any elected representatives passing bills :-

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-14/epa-issuing-u-s-carbon-limits-guidance-soon-agency-administrator-says.html

Big Picture British Sea Power Carbon Capture Coal Hell Energy Revival Financiers of the Apocalypse Fossilised Fuels Low Carbon Life Marine Gas Nuclear Nuisance Nuclear Shambles Oil Change Peak Energy Peak Oil Political Nightmare Regulatory Ultimatum Renewable Resource Solar Sunrise Tarred Sands Technological Sideshow Unconventional Foul Unnatural Gas Wind of Fortune

What Germany Says, Germany Means

Post author By Jo
Post date September 14, 2010
No Comments on What Germany Says, Germany Means

Unlike the United Kingdom, where political sensibility can quash the most logical enactment of energy policy, plans for progress voiced so tentatively you can bearly feel a ripple, or hear it over the whispering swoosh of a new wind turbine blade, over in Deutschland, what they say, they intend to happen, and they’re making serious proposals about how that’s going to be done :-

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,716221,00.html

“09/07/2010 : Green Visions : Merkel’s Masterplan for a German Energy Revolution : By Stefan Schultz : Giant windparks, insulated buildings, electric cars and a European supergrid: the German government on Monday unveiled an ambitious but vague blueprint to launch a new era of green energy for Europe’s largest economy. SPIEGEL ONLINE has analyzed the plans…”

It appears to be time to wave bye-bye to German coal, incidentally, even as a strong commitment to renewable, sustainable energy is put on the table.

I wish the British Government could take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror of the future and realise what a bunch of dithering duffers they appear to be.

What we need is a proper Energy Policy, chaps, and since you’re in the hot seat you better come up with it. Elected or not, our ministers and officials need to get up out of their deep leather chairs, extinguish their pipes, don their working breeches and get digging for Britain, and I don’t mean Shale Gas or Old Coal.

Global Warming Science Rules The Data

Warmest Decade on Record

Tags global temperatures, Global Warming, NOAA

Climate Change

Seasonal Switcheroo

Almost everybody who watches the charts knows that the La Nina swing of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in 2010 has probably been the largest contributor to global temperatures moving consistently downwards since March – it should be an obvious logical connection to make for even a casual observer :-

Up until this month, however, despite the La Nina effect, 2010 still ranks as one of the hottest, if not the absolute hottest, years on record so far, according to NASA GISS :-

https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2010july/

Tags Climate Change, Food, food growing, local food

Climate Change Global Warming Media Meltdown Science Rules Screaming Panic

Roger Harrabin : Potentially Alarming

Post author By Jo
Post date September 13, 2010
2 Comments on Roger Harrabin : Potentially Alarming

I have been rather, erm, critical, of Roger Harrabin’s approach to reporting the “Climate Change narrative” in the past, but I have to say, I think he has pulled up his socks somewhat with a two-part Radio 4 presentation “Uncertain Climate” :-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tj525/Uncertain_Climate_Episode_1/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tmcz3/Uncertain_Climate_Episode_2/

But of course, the BBC has to keep people sweet, and obviously continues to “play both sides”, don’t they ? How else did Roger get to interview Steve McIntyre of the truly annoying Canadian whine (it’s not his fault, I have to add, that I find his voice unbearable) and Nigel Lawson ? And Judith Curry ?

Or maybe not. Roger Harrabin admits to a stand-up row with Al Gore. Hopefully he’s still welcome in the United States of America.

There seem to be about 50 mentions of the word “uncertainties”, and an obsession about temperature rise projections – with no focus on the melting Arctic – which is not at all uncertain as it is a demonstrable fact.

Wake up ! The Arctic’s melting !