Discussion:
Only 10% Rate "Fighting" Mythical Manmade Climate Change As Important
(too old to reply)
andyomp
2011-01-27 03:09:57 UTC
Permalink
Only 10% Rate "Fighting" Climate Change As Important

27 Jan 2011





To top off a hammering for the global warming zeitgeist, only ten per cent
of people surveyed in the latest Essential Research Poll put "addressing
climate change" in their top three issues when deciding how to vote in the
next Federal election.



That means 90 per cent won't.



That ten percent figure is about what the Greens got at the last election.



Important Election Issues

.Q.

Which are the three most important issues in deciding how you would vote at
a Federal election? (Number from 1 to 3 where 1 is the most important, 2 the
second most important, etc)




One
Two
Three
Total
Total 11th Oct 10
Total 25th Jan 10

Management of the economy
37%
18%
10%
65%
62%
63%

Ensuring a quality education for all children
5%
10%
11%
26%
32%
23%

Ensuring the quality of Australia's health system
13%
20%
16%
49%
48%
48%

Protecting the environment
4%
3%
6%
13%
12%
16%

A fair industrial relations system
2%
4%
4%
10%
11%
*

Political leadership
6%
5%
5%
16%
16%
23%

Addressing climate change
3%
3%
4%
10%
11%
16%

Controlling interest rates
5%
8%
8%
21%
17%
15%

Australian jobs and protection of local industries
10%
8%
12%
30%
30%
33%

Ensuring a quality water supply
1%
2%
3%
6%
6%
12%

Housing affordability
5%
5%
6%
16%
17%
14%

Ensuring a fair taxation system
4%
6%
8%
18%
16%
14%

Security and the war on terrorism
1%
2%
2%
5%
6%
9%

Treatment of asylum seekers
1%
2%
2%
5%
5%
*

Managing population growth
2%
5%
4%
11%
10%
*




*Not asked



65% of people surveyed rated management of the economy as one of their three
most important issues, followed by 49% ensuring the quality of Australia's
health system and 30% Australian jobs and protection of local industries.



Only 10% rate addressing climate change as one of their three most important
issues and 6% rate ensuring a quality water supply.



Over the past 12 months there has been an increase in the importance of
controlling interest rates (from 15% to 21%) and a decrease in the
importance of addressing climate change (from 16% to 10%).



http://www.essentialmedia.com.au/important-election-issues-5/





Warmest Regards



B0nz0



"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps
US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists
worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct
from natural variation."

Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville



"If climate has not "tipped" in over 4 billion years it's not going to tip
now due to mankind. The planet has a natural thermostat"

Richard S. Lindzen, Atmospheric Physicist, Professor of Meteorology MIT,
Former IPCC Lead Author



"It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you
have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your
side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is
wrong. Period."

Professor Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics



"A core problem is that science has given way to ideology. The scientific
method has been dispensed with, or abused, to serve the myth of man-made
global warming."

"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips



"Computer models are built in an almost backwards fashion: The goal is to
show evidence of AGW, and the "scientists" go to work to produce such a
result. When even these models fail to show what advocates want, the data
and interpretations are "fudged" to bring about the desired result"

"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips



"Ocean acidification looks suspiciously like a back-up plan by the
environmental pressure groups in case the climate fails to warm: another try
at condemning fossil fuels!"

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/threat-ocean-acidification-greatly-exaggerated



Before attacking hypothetical problems, let us first solve the real problems
that threaten humanity. One single water pump at an equivalent cost of a
couple of solar panels can indeed spare hundreds of Sahel women the daily
journey to the spring and spare many infections and lives.

Martin De Vlieghere, philosopher



"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that
it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of
mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."

Bertrand Russell
k***@kymhorsell.com
2011-01-27 03:16:40 UTC
Permalink
More Floods Coming

24 Jan 2011
AllAfrica.COM

The global deluge that swept through Australia, Brazil and Sri Lanka
in the new y is a warning to the emerging trends in rain, drought and
extremes weather that will assail countries in the tropics and
subtropics in the y ahead as its temperature rise.

There are worries that the global atmosphere is containing more water
vapour resulting from rising temperatures.

Climate scientists estimate that the global atmosphere now contains
about 4% more water vapour than just 30 y ago. This has been causing
warmer oceans and rapid evaporation. These are manifestations of
greenhouse gases. The recent flooding in West End,
Brisbane. Australia, Rio De Janerio and Sao Paulo, Sri Lanka recent
flood disaster fits into a broad picture of weather trends that would
confirm global warming.

Last wk Pope Benedict XV1 has sought divine intervention and relief
for victims of flood and mudslides in Australia, Brazil, Philippines
and Sri Lanka, who entered into the New Year on the note of
disasters. Pope Benedict who prayed for the flood victims on Sun
joined the United Nations and International sports stars to seek help
across the world for the flood victims. In Qld, about 16 people
died while over 200k were left homeless.

International Tennis stars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal held an
exhibition event tagged "Rally for Relief" at Rod Laver Arena in
Melbourne, Australia.

Pope Benedict told pilgrims in St Peter's Square on Sun that he
was praying for people in Australia, Brazil, the Philippines and Sri
Lanka who are suffering because of the flood disasters that have been
described as some of the worst in decades in Australia, Sri Lanka,
Philippines and Brazil. The Pontif said the victims require huge
global assistance to get over their worst experiences.

Australia floods

A massive clean-up is underway across the state of Qld with
7k volunteers at work in the city and suburbs. State premier Anna
Blight called "Operation Compassion". The US is giving ??200k but
vast sums will be needed to help victims hit by the same La Nina
weather patterns that caused the Australian floods. Australia has seen
some of its worst flooding in 100 y; mudslides in Brazil have killed
more than 600 people, and floods in Sri Lanka have left hundreds of
thousands homeless there.

The Philippines has been battered by bad weather for wk. In Sri Lanka
and Brazil where floods and mudslides have left thousands in desperate
need of international aid and the United Nations appealed for
emergency aid for Sri Lanka, where 37 died, 390k have been left
homeless and vast rice fields ready to be harvested are under
water. Hundreds of families have taken ??refuge in makeshift camps in
the town of Batticaloa in the east of the country. Humanitarian
co-ordinators are appealing mosquito nets, clean water and food."

The Brazilian flood

In Brazil, where 500 died and up to 700k were displaced when tons
of mud careered down mountainsides in Teresopolis. The Brazilian flood
is considered to be the worst natural disaster in the New Year. The
floods caused mudslides killing at least 274 people in Nova Friburgo,
263 in Teresopolis, 55 in Petropolis, and 18 in Sumidouro. Many
regions have no drinking water, no electricity, while
telecommunications has been badly disrupted. But the Brazilian
military is making efforts at installing makeshift communication
centers to help rescue workers with some kind of communication
network.

There have been reports of looting with little or no public services
and blocked roads.

Rescue efforts were disrupted by poor conditions and lack of
electricity. More than 14k are reported to have fled their homes
with more rains forecast for at least another wk Floods and mudslides
resulted from m of heavy rains in N Brazil which have driven
more than 186k from their homes, and cut off shipments from a huge
Amazon iron mine, according to officials. At least seven states, most
in the Amazon region, have been affected by the rains, which have
battered the region for several m.

Worst-hit is the state of Maranhao along the Atlantic coast and S
of the mouth of the Amazon river. The rains also prompted the
temporary closure of a railway that takes iron ore from the sprawling
Carajas mine in the neighbouring jungle state of Para.

Iron ore, the main ingredient in steel, is shipped overseas from Sao
Luis, the state capital of Maranhao. The railway also transports 1,300
people per day, and G1 reported that service should be restored within
2 days.

Vale is the world's second largest mining company and the planet's
biggest iron ore producer. Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva flew over the hardest-hit areas, delivered food baskets to
shelters, met with local officials and promised aid to repair
infrastructure. He also voiced concerns that global climate change
could be responsible for the unusually heavy rains and destruction.

"We need to look more seriously into the climate situation these
days," said Silva. "Something is changing and we still have time to
fix it."Floods and mudslides late last y in the S state of
Santa Catarina killed more than 100 people, displaced some 80k and
set off a round of brutal looting in a devastated port city by people
desperate for drinking water and food.

In Sri Lanka, the flash floods in the Eastern province of the country
left hundreds of thousands of people displaced and thousands of acres
of cultivated lands destroyed. The lands are filled with water up to
tree height. The rampaging the raging waters killed animals in the
wild soaked thousands of acres of forest land.

Over 1 mn people have been affected while 363,078 people belonging to
93,666 families are sheltered in welfare camps located in the Eastern,
Uva, Central, North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces, according to
the Disaster Management Centre. At least 27 people have died and
another 12 persons were injured following torrential rains in the 14
districts that are submerged, the report said.
--
[Specific learning problems #2:]
"Clifford Heath"
"Phil Allison"
Odds are it diminishes at high speeds since the tyres are subject to
large G
forces thereby reducing contact area and hence loss of energy by
deformation
I doubt that has much effect actually, especially with the very high tyre
pressures used on this kind of vehicle.
** Really ??
90 psi is only 6 atmospheres.
88 kph results in about 250Gs on the surface of the tyres.
[...some simple math... ]
So you're proposing that the rotational speed at 88KPH can save about
4 watts. Big deal.
-- Clifford Heath <***@spam.please.net>, 11 Jan 2011 12:04 +1100
andyomp
2011-01-27 03:25:23 UTC
Permalink
Post by k***@kymhorsell.com
More Floods Coming
The global deluge that swept through Australia, Brazil and Sri Lanka
in the new y is a warning to the emerging trends in rain, drought and
extremes weather that will assail countries in the tropics and
subtropics in the y ahead as its temperature rise.
Really?

And there I was believing the "scientists" that the drought was permanent!

Now I don't know which way to turn!





The "scientific" evidence from the CSIRO and other expert bodies have
outlined the implications for Australia, in the absence of national and
global action on climate change: by 2070, up to 40 per cent more drought
months are projected in eastern Australia and up to 80 per cent more in
south-western Australia.



Australian PM KRudd

November 6 2009



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/the-pms-address-to-the-lowy-institute/story-e6frg6nf-1225795141519



======================================

Climate "Scientist": Australia May Be Facing A Permanent Drought

September 23 2003



Australia may be facing a permanent drought because of an accelerating
vortex of winds whipping around the Antarctic that threatens to disrupt
rainfall, scientists said on Tuesday. Spinning faster and tighter, the 100
mile an hour jetstream is pulling climate bands south and dragging rain from
Australia into the Southern Ocean, they say. They attribute the phenomenon
to global warming and loss of the ozone layer over Antarctica. "This is a
very serious situation that we're probably not confronting as full-on as we
should,"



Dr James Risbey, Center for Dynamical Meteorology and Oceanography, Monash
University... [...]



http://twm.co.nz/ausdrght.htm



======================================

Carr Blames Global Warming For The Drought



"This is the ninth consecutive year, speaking nationally, when rainfalls
have been lower than average and average temperatures are climbing," he
said. "Those people who are sceptical about global warming ought to think
again because this is the first very practical intimation of global warming
being upon us,"



Ex NSW Premier Bob Carr

Sep 11 2003



======================================

It's Not Drought, It's Climate Change, Say "Scientists"

Whackos!

August 30 2009



"Scientists" studying Victoria's crippling drought have, for the first time,
proved the link between rising levels of greenhouse gases and the state's
dramatic decline in rainfall.



A three-year collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO has
confirmed what many "scientists" long suspected: that the 13-year drought is
not just a natural dry stretch but a shift related to climate change.



''In the minds of a lot of people, the rainfall we had in the 1950s, 1960s
and 1970s was a benchmark. A lot of our water and agriculture planning was
done during that time. But we are just not going to have that sort of good
rain again as long as the system is warming up.''



The research program, supported by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the
federal Department of Climate Change and the Victorian Department of
Sustainability and Environment, was set up in 2006 to solve the puzzle of
why south-east Australia had experienced such a dramatic loss of rain.



The program covers the Murray-Darling Basin, Victoria and parts of South
Australia.



Monash University's Neville Nicholls, a lead author on the IPCC who has also
published on the subtropical ridge, said he believed the program's results
were right.



''We did think that the loss of rain was simply due to the rain-bearing
storms shifting south, off the continent,'' Professor Nicholls said.



http://www.theage.com.au/national/its-not-drought-its-climate-change-say-scientists-20090829-f3cd.html



======================================

This Is What Crackpot Steffen Was Saying About Australian Flooding In 2009



With increasing temperatures virtually certain for the coming decades and a
significant probability of continued low rainfall according to General
Circulation Model (GCM)

projections, the Murray Darling Basin will likely experience continuing low
inflows to the middle of the century and beyond.



[..]



. the causal link between warmer global temperatures, the

increased intensity of the subtropical ridge, and the decreased rainfall in
south east Australia implies a high likelihood that the trend towards dry
conditions will persist



[.]



the regional projections for Australia using a suite of models (CSIRO and
Bureau of Meteorology 2007) show, with a very high level of consistency (up
to 90%), a drop in winter rainfall for both south west Western Australia and
the Victoria/southern South Australia area.



These projections mirror what has been occurring over these areas for the
past several decades. For the Murray Darling

Basin, model projections show a 5 to 15% reduction in mean annual rainfall
(mostly in winter and spring) by 2060, along with a warming trend in the
eastern Indian Ocean Dipole; these projections are consistent with recent
observations.



Projections using only those GCMs that perform well in simulating current
means and variability suggest a clustering of results at the drier end of
the full set of model results, that is, a reduction of around 13% in
rainfall



[.]



As the evidence for a causal link between climate change

and drying increases, so do the risks for the future of the most populous
and agriculturally productive parts of Australia.





Climate Change 2009

Faster Change & More Serious Risks

Will Steffen

http://www.anu.edu.au/climatechange/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/climate-change-faster-change-and-more-serious-risks-final.pdf



======================================

"drought is the new norm across Australia's greatest food bowl, the Murray
Darling basin"

Bob Brown, Greenie Carbon Crackpot, Just Before The Flooding




======================================

Laugh Til You Cry!



Premier Peter Beattie explained, the "likely impact of climate change"
included "lower than usual rainfall" and dams would not do.



But now Brisbane's dams are full to overflowing, and Victoria's own $5.7
billion desal plant, also built by a government claiming "we cannot rely on
this kind of rainfall like we used to", has been delayed for months by rain.





http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/column_the_great_warming_scare_turns_into_a_greater_joke/





======================================

Can't Stop The Flannery-Confounding Rain!

October 12 2010



Back when he was in pessimism mode, warmist Tim Flannery predicted that
Brisbane could run out of water by the end of 2007.



His call wasn't remotely plausible at the time, and becomes more amusing
with each Queensland shower:



"Drenching rains have delivered southeast Queensland enough water to last
until 2018 without another drop falling from the sky. "



Of course, 2007 was a time when global warming panic - history's greatest
and most successful pseudoscientific fraud - was absolutely rampant.



Surprise, surprise!

Flannery is now a climate optmist!



http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/were_really_resilient/



http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/



======================================

Another Whacko Warmist Prediction



"Vast tracts of northern Australia will turn to desert, the nation's alpine
vegetation will disappear and thousands of plant and animal species will
become extinct this century."



Dr Raven said he was concerned the public was becoming complacent about
global warming because a "small handful" of scientists were generating
widespread publicity for their view that world temperatures are not rising.



Peter Raven, Botanist, as he arrived in Brisbane to deliver the keynote
address today to the International Congress of Entomology...

16 Aug 2004



http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkID=34313





Warmest Regards



B0nz0



"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps
US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists
worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct
from natural variation."

Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville



"If climate has not "tipped" in over 4 billion years it's not going to tip
now due to mankind. The planet has a natural thermostat"

Richard S. Lindzen, Atmospheric Physicist, Professor of Meteorology MIT,
Former IPCC Lead Author



"It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you
have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your
side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is
wrong. Period."

Professor Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics



"A core problem is that science has given way to ideology. The scientific
method has been dispensed with, or abused, to serve the myth of man-made
global warming."

"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips



"Computer models are built in an almost backwards fashion: The goal is to
show evidence of AGW, and the "scientists" go to work to produce such a
result. When even these models fail to show what advocates want, the data
and interpretations are "fudged" to bring about the desired result"

"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips



"Ocean acidification looks suspiciously like a back-up plan by the
environmental pressure groups in case the climate fails to warm: another try
at condemning fossil fuels!"

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/threat-ocean-acidification-greatly-exaggerated



Before attacking hypothetical problems, let us first solve the real problems
that threaten humanity. One single water pump at an equivalent cost of a
couple of solar panels can indeed spare hundreds of Sahel women the daily
journey to the spring and spare many infections and lives.

Martin De Vlieghere, philosopher



"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that
it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of
mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."

Bertrand Russell
k***@kymhorsell.com
2011-01-27 03:39:29 UTC
Permalink
Water problems in Jordan

[Jordan has seen a dry winter; Saudi Arabia is seeing season-in-a-day
downpours. Signs of the times for the M East].

Jan 27, 2011
Amman Times

A serious crisis seems to face Jordan in view of the continuing dry weather
this winter season, the time when most of the rain usually falls in the
country.

The culprit, according to climatologists, is the impact of the global climate
change that shifted rainfall patterns in the region.

In the Strategic Foresight Group's report "The Blue Peace: Rethinking Middle
East Water", due to be officially launched in February, a dire prediction is
made by experts: that changes in climatic patterns will result in shrinking
rivers, desertification, receding groundwater levels and shifting rainfall
patterns, especially in the Middle East.

In the report, it is projected that Jordan will be severely impacted by
climate change. A foretaste is already in evidence: it has been the driest
winter in 12 years, according to the Meteorological Department.

Lack of water means increased desertification, crop failure all around,
dramatic depletion of aquifers, vast reduction of natural pastures, over and
above serious water shortages for industrial and private use.

Experts are trying to go over several climate change models to determine how
Jordan can prepare for the worst, but unfortunately the country has very few
options, most of which are difficult to implement or not affordable.

A quicker transfer of Disi waters to the central regions of the country, and
working more expeditiously and diligently to implement the Red-Dead canal are
handy solutions. Costly, but offering at least temporary relief.

Beyond the solutions clearly identified, which are long in the making, there
is not much we can do. Except for hoping that regional cooperation will come
about, for it is the only solution that can go a long way towards lessening
the effects of lack of rain.
--
What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world but lose sight of the
basic results of multivariate decision theory?
andyomp
2011-01-27 03:25:45 UTC
Permalink
Post by k***@kymhorsell.com
More Floods Coming
The global deluge that swept through Australia, Brazil and Sri Lanka
in the new y is a warning to the emerging trends in rain, drought and
extremes weather that will assail countries in the tropics and
subtropics in the y ahead as its temperature rise.
Really?

And there I was believing the "scientists" that the drought was permanent!

Now I don't know which way to turn!





The "scientific" evidence from the CSIRO and other expert bodies have
outlined the implications for Australia, in the absence of national and
global action on climate change: by 2070, up to 40 per cent more drought
months are projected in eastern Australia and up to 80 per cent more in
south-western Australia.



Australian PM KRudd

November 6 2009



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/the-pms-address-to-the-lowy-institute/story-e6frg6nf-1225795141519



======================================

Climate "Scientist": Australia May Be Facing A Permanent Drought

September 23 2003



Australia may be facing a permanent drought because of an accelerating
vortex of winds whipping around the Antarctic that threatens to disrupt
rainfall, scientists said on Tuesday. Spinning faster and tighter, the 100
mile an hour jetstream is pulling climate bands south and dragging rain from
Australia into the Southern Ocean, they say. They attribute the phenomenon
to global warming and loss of the ozone layer over Antarctica. "This is a
very serious situation that we're probably not confronting as full-on as we
should,"



Dr James Risbey, Center for Dynamical Meteorology and Oceanography, Monash
University... [...]



http://twm.co.nz/ausdrght.htm



======================================

Carr Blames Global Warming For The Drought



"This is the ninth consecutive year, speaking nationally, when rainfalls
have been lower than average and average temperatures are climbing," he
said. "Those people who are sceptical about global warming ought to think
again because this is the first very practical intimation of global warming
being upon us,"



Ex NSW Premier Bob Carr

Sep 11 2003



======================================

It's Not Drought, It's Climate Change, Say "Scientists"

Whackos!

August 30 2009



"Scientists" studying Victoria's crippling drought have, for the first time,
proved the link between rising levels of greenhouse gases and the state's
dramatic decline in rainfall.



A three-year collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO has
confirmed what many "scientists" long suspected: that the 13-year drought is
not just a natural dry stretch but a shift related to climate change.



''In the minds of a lot of people, the rainfall we had in the 1950s, 1960s
and 1970s was a benchmark. A lot of our water and agriculture planning was
done during that time. But we are just not going to have that sort of good
rain again as long as the system is warming up.''



The research program, supported by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the
federal Department of Climate Change and the Victorian Department of
Sustainability and Environment, was set up in 2006 to solve the puzzle of
why south-east Australia had experienced such a dramatic loss of rain.



The program covers the Murray-Darling Basin, Victoria and parts of South
Australia.



Monash University's Neville Nicholls, a lead author on the IPCC who has also
published on the subtropical ridge, said he believed the program's results
were right.



''We did think that the loss of rain was simply due to the rain-bearing
storms shifting south, off the continent,'' Professor Nicholls said.



http://www.theage.com.au/national/its-not-drought-its-climate-change-say-scientists-20090829-f3cd.html



======================================

This Is What Crackpot Steffen Was Saying About Australian Flooding In 2009



With increasing temperatures virtually certain for the coming decades and a
significant probability of continued low rainfall according to General
Circulation Model (GCM)

projections, the Murray Darling Basin will likely experience continuing low
inflows to the middle of the century and beyond.



[..]



. the causal link between warmer global temperatures, the

increased intensity of the subtropical ridge, and the decreased rainfall in
south east Australia implies a high likelihood that the trend towards dry
conditions will persist



[.]



the regional projections for Australia using a suite of models (CSIRO and
Bureau of Meteorology 2007) show, with a very high level of consistency (up
to 90%), a drop in winter rainfall for both south west Western Australia and
the Victoria/southern South Australia area.



These projections mirror what has been occurring over these areas for the
past several decades. For the Murray Darling

Basin, model projections show a 5 to 15% reduction in mean annual rainfall
(mostly in winter and spring) by 2060, along with a warming trend in the
eastern Indian Ocean Dipole; these projections are consistent with recent
observations.



Projections using only those GCMs that perform well in simulating current
means and variability suggest a clustering of results at the drier end of
the full set of model results, that is, a reduction of around 13% in
rainfall



[.]



As the evidence for a causal link between climate change

and drying increases, so do the risks for the future of the most populous
and agriculturally productive parts of Australia.





Climate Change 2009

Faster Change & More Serious Risks

Will Steffen

http://www.anu.edu.au/climatechange/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/climate-change-faster-change-and-more-serious-risks-final.pdf



======================================

"drought is the new norm across Australia's greatest food bowl, the Murray
Darling basin"

Bob Brown, Greenie Carbon Crackpot, Just Before The Flooding




======================================

Laugh Til You Cry!



Premier Peter Beattie explained, the "likely impact of climate change"
included "lower than usual rainfall" and dams would not do.



But now Brisbane's dams are full to overflowing, and Victoria's own $5.7
billion desal plant, also built by a government claiming "we cannot rely on
this kind of rainfall like we used to", has been delayed for months by rain.





http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/column_the_great_warming_scare_turns_into_a_greater_joke/





======================================

Can't Stop The Flannery-Confounding Rain!

October 12 2010



Back when he was in pessimism mode, warmist Tim Flannery predicted that
Brisbane could run out of water by the end of 2007.



His call wasn't remotely plausible at the time, and becomes more amusing
with each Queensland shower:



"Drenching rains have delivered southeast Queensland enough water to last
until 2018 without another drop falling from the sky. "



Of course, 2007 was a time when global warming panic - history's greatest
and most successful pseudoscientific fraud - was absolutely rampant.



Surprise, surprise!

Flannery is now a climate optmist!



http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/were_really_resilient/



http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/



======================================

Another Whacko Warmist Prediction



"Vast tracts of northern Australia will turn to desert, the nation's alpine
vegetation will disappear and thousands of plant and animal species will
become extinct this century."



Dr Raven said he was concerned the public was becoming complacent about
global warming because a "small handful" of scientists were generating
widespread publicity for their view that world temperatures are not rising.



Peter Raven, Botanist, as he arrived in Brisbane to deliver the keynote
address today to the International Congress of Entomology...

16 Aug 2004



http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkID=34313





Warmest Regards



B0nz0



"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps
US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists
worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct
from natural variation."

Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville



"If climate has not "tipped" in over 4 billion years it's not going to tip
now due to mankind. The planet has a natural thermostat"

Richard S. Lindzen, Atmospheric Physicist, Professor of Meteorology MIT,
Former IPCC Lead Author



"It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you
have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your
side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is
wrong. Period."

Professor Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics



"A core problem is that science has given way to ideology. The scientific
method has been dispensed with, or abused, to serve the myth of man-made
global warming."

"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips



"Computer models are built in an almost backwards fashion: The goal is to
show evidence of AGW, and the "scientists" go to work to produce such a
result. When even these models fail to show what advocates want, the data
and interpretations are "fudged" to bring about the desired result"

"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips



"Ocean acidification looks suspiciously like a back-up plan by the
environmental pressure groups in case the climate fails to warm: another try
at condemning fossil fuels!"

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/threat-ocean-acidification-greatly-exaggerated



Before attacking hypothetical problems, let us first solve the real problems
that threaten humanity. One single water pump at an equivalent cost of a
couple of solar panels can indeed spare hundreds of Sahel women the daily
journey to the spring and spare many infections and lives.

Martin De Vlieghere, philosopher



"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that
it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of
mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."

Bertrand Russell
k***@kymhorsell.com
2011-01-27 03:40:09 UTC
Permalink
And down it came

George Gardner and Lyndal Jefferies
Last updated 11:43 26/01/2011
Auckland Stuff

Residents "got off lightly'' despite surface flooding and land slips after the
weekend storm and high tides.

Those at Anzac Bay had to hold tight while Sun morning's king tide claimed
Natzka Rd but surfers and swimmers took advantage of high seas at Onetangi and
Palm Beach.

Others waded through the Ostend Domain to inspect 2 sinking boats.

Surface flooding saw the Esplanade between Tui St and the marae in Blackpool
disappear under water. The tide also crept to the edge of the causeway, and
the walkway between Wharf and Wilma roads was temporarily flooded.

Malcolm Philcox, who records rainfall for NIWA, says 101mm of rain fell on the
island in the 24-hour period from 8am on Saturday.

"That's a lot. It's the largest daily fall we've had for quite a few years.''

But fire chief Ron Leonard says despite the deluge, emergency services were
not under pressure.

"The brigade was called out to a tree that had blocked Te Toki Rd on Saturday,
and I was called out to deal with a slip on Wharf Rd on Sunday."

As contract manager transport for Auckland Council, Mr Leonard also attended a
serious slip in Tawa St and a smaller slip on Great Barrier Rd on Monday, as
well as blocked culverts.

"At the height of the heavy rain the tide was out, which is good, but having
seen the reports from the mainland, Waiheke got off lightly.''

Organisers of headland Sculpture on the Gulf say while there was some damage,
the installation crew has been "stoic in wind, rain and storm'' and the event
is on schedule.

Director Juliet Monaghan says a flag work, Ethylene Monomer, by Verena Jonker
and Bryony Matthews, was badly damaged but the artists set to work.

"Then a volunteer phoned in saying another work, called Collapse, had
`collapsed'. But it hadn't. The whole point of the work is that it's on the
teetering brink of collapse it withheld the storm well.''

A week ago the island braced itself for a 24-hour storm brought about by
cyclones Zelia and Vania.

Three-metre swells and 120km winds whipped up the oceans along Waiheke's
coastline, leaving much debris in their wake. And at Whakenewha campground
high winds ripped a marquee and sheared its metal legs. Other tents suffered
minor damage.

Fierce seas at little Oneroa Beach served up a smorgasbord of scallops,
mussels, starfish and cockles onto the shore and late night commuters hoping
to catch the 10.15pm ferry back to Waiheke had to wait until midnight to catch
the last boat home.

Properties were "lucky to escape severe damage", says Mr Leonard.

According to Metservice, temperatures of up to 23 degrees Celsius over night
and humidity of 94 percent accompanied last Tuesday's tropical storm,
continuing the hot, wet La Nina summer weather cycle.

And Saturday night's deluge brought some relief for near empty water tanks
after 3 wk of no rain over the New Year period.
--
To publish research in social sciences you need statistics. To do
physical modeling you need advanced calculus including differential
equations.
-- Trawley Trash <***@invalid.invalid>, 22 Jan 2011 13:49 -0800
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-01-27 11:31:39 UTC
Permalink
NASA to Help Bay Area Cities Plan for Rising Sea Levels

Workshop and symposium at Moffett Field shifts conversation about climate change
from prevention to adaptation.

By Aaron Selverston
January 26, 2011
Los Altos Patch

NASA is embarking on an ambitious mission to help Bay Area cities predict and pl
an for rising sea levels, droughts and other impacts of climate change, a NASA o
fficial told Palo Alto Patch Friday.

City leaders and NASA scientists will convene next Friday, Feb. 4, at a three-da
y series of workshops at Ames Research Center, where they will begin to assess a
nd develop strategies for how Ames and Bay Area cities can adapt to climate chan
ge, according to Deborah Feng, NASA Ames director of operations.

Topics of discussion could include anything from storm water management and ener
gy demands to strategies for recovering tidal marsh species and controlling inva
sive species, Feng said.

"We're going to be providing tools," said Feng. "Tools can be information, but m
y guess is that the tools that we're going to be developing are going to be easi
er ways or methods for taking this information and adapting it for all of our ci
ty plans-for electrical work, for sea-level rise, for the water table coming up.
"

Palo Alto officials say a regional plan to adapt to climate change is long overd
ue.

"I don't think we've really begun to scratch the surface on adapting, frankly,"
said Palo Alto Deputy City Manager Steve Emslie. "While we may be ahead in monit
oring and taking actions to be proactive in reducing greenhouse gases, I don't t
hink we're anywhere near where we need to be in terms of discussing adaption."

Will Travis, executive director of the Bay Area Conservation and Development Com
mission (BACDC), said NASA's venture into climate adaptation is notable, because
its Ames facility is situated at a low elevation on the waterfront, so the plan
s it designs to adapt to rising sea levels could be modeled by other cities faci
ng the same threat.

"They will directly have to deal with this at their facility here," said Travis,
noting, however, that "they've got some of the best science on climate change o
n the face of the Earth." Indeed, Emslie said that maps provided by BACDC have b
een used for years by the city of Palo Alto.

Palo Alto will be just one of many cities sending representatives to join the di
alogue. Emslie said the city may send facilities managers, climate workers at th
e utility and others.

"There are a range of folks who we'd be interested in representing us," he said.

Like Emslie, Travis said the dialogue should have already begun.

"I wish that the conversation had started," he said. "We've got 110 local govern
ments in the Bay Area and probably five times as many special districts." But th
e sentiment he continues to hear from those agencies is that more should be done
to reduce carbon footprints and slow climate change.

"It doesn't matter if we turn off all the lights, park all our cars, mothball al
l the power plants on the face of the Earth today," said Travis, "because what w
e're going to have to deal with is the emissions that have gone into the air in
the last 50 years."

Prominent NASA scientists will be on hand during a public symposium following th
e workshops, including Nobel Prize winner Cynthia Rosenzweig from Goddard Instit
ute of Space Studies (GISS), Radley Horton (also from GISS), and Max Loewenstein
from Ames' Earth Science Division.

The symposium will also include findings from the workshops as well as plans Ame
s has to manage climate change impacts. It will be from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Fri
day, Feb. 4, at Ames Research Center.

---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [79 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
--
[A]ll science is lies and the only thing we can trust is right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [79+ nyms], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-01-31 05:00:02 UTC
Permalink
PM orders more work on climate plan

Bangkok Post
7/01/2011

The prime minister has instructed the Office of Natural Resources and
Environmental Policy and Planning to revise the national climate change plan
after it was criticised as being poorly drafted.

Abhisit Vejjajiva would like to see all stakeholders, from both the public and
private sectors, take part in a redrafting of the plan to tackle climate
change, said Nirawan Pipitsombat, acting chief of Onep's climate change
coordinator office.

Onep is in charge of drafting the 10-y plan to be used as a policy guide
for parties working on issues such as adapting to climate change and
greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

About 700 people from 31 environmental networks submitted a petition to the
govt last m demanding that it rewrite the plan.

They said the plan failed to address many important topics such as the
polluter pays principle, greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, action
plans to cut the use of fossil fuel and the promotion of renewable energy.

The plan could not deal effectively with climate change without focusing on
these issues.

They also said the drafting process lacked public input.

Mr Abhisit told a meeting of the national committee on climate change policy
planning yesterday that he agreed that the plan needed more input from
stakeholders.

He also suggested that the topic of adapting to climate change should be
included in the school curriculum to help children learn how to deal with the
impact of climate change.

Onep would hold a public forum on Mon to hear from all sectors about the
national climate change reduction plan, she said.

The national committee on climate change policy planning, which is chaired by
the prime minister, also agreed to study the pros and cons of nationally
appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs), which are voluntary emissions
reduction measures agreed to by developing countries. NAMAs are expected to be
the main vehicle for mitigation action in developing countries under a future
climate agreement after the Kyoto Protocol expires next y.

The committee also agreed to support the establishment of the Climate Change
Coordinator Office as the country's focal point for climate change policy.

---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [82 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-01-31 23:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Italy Celebrates First Car-Free Day To Curb City Pollution

Jan 31, 2011
Bernama

Rome, Jan 31 (Bernama) -- Italy celebrated its first Car-Free Day of
the year in several cities on Sunday, in an attempt to curb gas
emissions, as well as spread awareness among citizens on climate
change and a healthy lifestyle through a series of environment-
friendly initiatives.

According to China's Xinhua news agency, cities such as Turin and
Milan, the only vehicles allowed to circulate were electric cars and
bicycles throughout the day.

The public transport's frequency was enhanced while the local
authorities placed bike-sharing stands across the districts for
citizens.

The goal of holding Car-Free Sundays is to cut down on gas emissions
and limit traffic after the recent alarm launched by the national
atmosphere agency on the excessive levels of CO2 in most Italian cities.

According to a report of Italy's leading NGO Legambiente, 48 Italian
provincial capitals, of which 30 concentrated in northern Po Valley,
had exceeded the EU limit for over 35 days in 2010.

More than 15 Italians out of 10,000 die prematurely each year just
because of the fine particles, the report said.

The local authorities have also launched an information campaign for
drivers on the need to turn down their car heaters to curb harmful gas
emissions, while leading newspapers are publishing useful guidebooks
on how to best exploit car-free days and help the environment.

Most Italian cities plan to organize at least once a m a Car-Free
Sunday to limit city pollution levels and increase residents' well-being.

---
[Before the flood:]
The recent Murray Darling run-off since the floods would have provided
enought irrigation water to last at least 15 years.
Instead it has all run out to sea!
Crazy anti-dam greenies!
-- "BONZO"@27.32.240.172 [82 nyms and counting], 12 Nov 2010 14:05 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-01 00:00:02 UTC
Permalink
EU to fund Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction project in Jama
ica

2011-01-30
Go Jamaica

Close to $500 mn is to be pumped into implementing a Climate Change
Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction project in Jamaica.

The funds for the project were recently allocated by the European Union(EU).
The project is to be officially launched by PM, Bruce Golding on Wed.

It will assist the country with implementing strategies that increase
protection of vulnerable areas and reduce risks associated with natural
disasters. It will include watershed and coastal rehabilitation as well as
climate change awareness.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica and the UN Environmental
Programme will co-manage the project.

---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [82 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-01 04:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Act now or suffer later

Harvey Grennan
01 Feb, 2011 10:22 AM
Farmonline

With much of Queensland still under water, most NSW councils have developed
plans and strategies to deal with climate change but have not allocated any
money to take action.

The Local Government and Shires Associations surveyed councils in Nov
about the actions they were taking to cope with the impacts of climate
change. They received 106 responses, representing 70% of NSW councils.

The survey found that most councils do not allocate a budget for
climate-change action and are looking to funding from state and federal
governments to do the job.

The biggest barrier to climate-change action was identified as competing
priorities for scarce funds, while support by the councils' senior management
was seen as the most significant driver for action.

Almost 2/3 of councils have a documented strategy or plan to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Most councils are undertaking energy audits of council
facilities and are seeking grants to undertake mitigation projects. However,
19 councils indicated they had not taken any action to reduce their greenhouse
gas emissions. A third of councils indicated they had taken no action to
prepare for climate change.

The prime issue for councils is the potential destruction of community
infrastructure such as roads, bridges, parks, beaches and public buildings
from sea-level rise and severe weather events. The federal Department of
Climate Change has estimated that up to 250,000 homes, worth a combined $63
billion, are at risk of inundation from a 1.1-metre rise in sea levels.

The LGSA survey recommends that:

Local government be properly resourced to undertake climate-change actions.

Councils be further encouraged to participate in climate-change risk
assessment and prepare adaption strategies.

More scientific, council-specific information be provided to inform local
decision-making.

More climate-change training be provided and targeted at local government
professionals and senior managers.

A co-ordinated approach by all levels of government be taken.

Many councils are facing difficulties in driving action on climate change due
to competing priorities, limited availability of internal and external funding
and finite levels of staff capacity, the survey found.

Most councils had called for funding for climate change, particularly to fund
additional staff to lead initiatives.

Several councils called for leadership and commitment from the state and
federal governments and a legal framework to provide a mandate for local
government to act on climate change.

"The most important factor enabling a council's progress appears to be support
from council's executive management," the report says. "The prospect of saving
money through resource efficiency or avoiding unbudgeted costs by responding
to climate-change impacts is another important driver for council action on
climate change.''

---
[Weather is responsible for climate change:]
And that's the only reason for the heat!
Strong northeast winds being superheated desert air from the inland to the
the southern capitals.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [82 nyms and counting], 31 Jan 2011 13:42 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-02 07:00:01 UTC
Permalink
UNESCO deals another blow to ocean fertilization hopes

Quirin Schiermeier
nature.com
Jan 31, 2011

Using ocean fertilization to fight global warming has little chance of
success, an independent group of experts concludes in a report released today.

Scientists first suggested in the late 1980s that adding iron or other
nutrients to nutrient-poor ocean regions might stimulate blooms of
photosynthesising algae. They reasoned that the growing algae would remove
substantial amounts of the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere,
so slowing the rate of global warming.

But the scheme is unlikely to work, according to an expert group commissioned
by the Intergovtal Oceanographic Commission (IOC), which is part of
UNESCO. In a 17-page summary for policymakers of recent scientific findings,
the group concludes that even very large-scale ocean fertilization would
remove only modest amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere.

The effects of ocean fertilization have been tested during several experiments
carried out over the last decade. Then in 2008, rising concerns over possibly
harmful ecological effects saw the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
call for a moratorium on all fertilization activities until a global
regulatory mechanism was in place.

The UNESCO report, compiled to inform the parties to the London Convention -
an international treaty to prevent marine pollution - is now set to be another
nail in the coffin of what once seemed a promising way to tackle climate change.

"It's vastly more complex than assessing carbon storage in a forest," says
Doug Wallace of the Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel,
Germany, who chaired the IOC expert group. "The carbon, and many of the
potential impacts, are largely invisible and likely to be spread over vast dista
nces."

[24 more news items]


---
It takes more than warmth to grow crops; otherwise the Sahara would be green!
--
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [82 nyms and counting], 21 Jan 2011 11:16 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-02 08:00:01 UTC
Permalink
UK greenhouse gas emissions fall 8.7%

Total UK emissions plummet as recession lowers electricity and fuel use

1 Feb 2011
Guardian

A dramatic fall in greenhouse gas emissions following the recession
has brought the UK's climate change targets for the next 5 y
within easy reach, taking the pressure off govt and business to
comply.

Government estimates released on Tuesday showed greenhouse gas
emissions fell by 8.7% from 2008 to 2009, the biggest drop since
records began in 1990. Carbon dioxide levels plunged 9.8%, a fall only
matched in 1980, in records extending to 1970.

The unexpectedly deep slump in emissions mirrors the fall in industrial
output in the recession, with high-emitting sectors including
construction and transport hit particularly hard.

But it also means that govt-set climate change targets of
cutting emissions by 35% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, now look
much easier to meet. The UK has already met the targets for 2016,
provided emissions stay at 2009 levels.

This raises the prospect that businesses could effectively take an
"emissions holiday", absolving them from the need to invest in
energy efficiency and renewable power for several y. Green experts warn
that such inactivity would make it much more expensive to achieve the
further steep falls in the UK's emissions needed after 2020.

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate change secretary,
said ministers were keeping up the pressure: "Yes, emissions were down
in 2009 but so was the economy so this is no time for back-slapping. A
low-carbon approach has to be a vital part of kick-starting and
future-proofing our economy, getting us off the oil hook and onto
long-term green growth. That's why we're wasting no time in reforming
the electricity market, setting up the green investment bank, and
legislating for the green deal."

A related concern is that if businesses and govt fail to invest
soon in emissions-cutting technology, such as renewable energy, then
emissions could quickly bounce back to their pre-recession levels as
the economic recovery picks up pace.

Greenhouse gases

Environmental campaigners said early indications showed last y's
figures, preliminary estimates for which will be published in March,
were higher than 2009. Mike Childs, head of climate at Friends of the
Earth, said: "The recession may have led to a fall in UK greenhouse
gases in 2009, but our economy remains heavily addicted to fossil
fuels, and early estimates suggest that emissions grew again last year."

He said the energy bill currently in parliament was a "golden
opportunity" to ensure emissions continued to fall as the economy
improved. "The bill must include new legislation to stop our homes
leaking heat, boost renewable energy and require local councils to play
their part in tackling climate change. We must build a clean,
low-carbon economy out of the rubble of the old to create a safe and
prosperous future."

The govt's estimate shows slightly steeper falls for 2008 than
that produced by the US Energy Information Administration, reported
by the Guardian on Monday. Those estimates, which measure only carbon
dioxide from fuel use, such as electricity generation and transport,
suggested that global emissions held steady through the recession
despite a plunge in industrialised countries, including the US, Japan
and the European Union. Rapid growth in greenhouse gas output from
China and a handful of other emerging economies, including India, was
enough to offset the fall from the traditional big emitters, keeping
emissions for 2009 level with the previous y.

Scientists say emissions must peak around 2015 for the world to avoid
dangerous climate change.

Household carbon emissions

Britain's households are still responsible for almost the same level of
greenhouse gas emissions as they were 20 y ago, despite y of
encouragement to insulate, double glaze and fit low-energy lightbulbs.

Energy suppliers have slashed their greenhouse gas emissions by 28% in
the last 2 decades, largely owing to the "dash for gas", and some
investment in renewable power. Emissions from businesses have dropped
by about a quarter, reflecting in part the migration of some heavy
industry overseas.

But emissions from households remain stubbornly high - only 3% lower in
2009 than they were in 1990.

In part, this reflects factors such as population growth, and the
increasing number of people living alone. Successive govt
campaigns to encourage people to insulate have failed to persuade
mn of householders. Add to that the profusion of electronic
devices in UK living rooms - plasma screens and computers drink up far
more energy than the TV screens of the past.

Meanwhile, the govt is slashing by half its funding for the
Energy Saving Trust, the only body charged with helping consumers to
cut their household energy use.

[23 more news items]


---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [82 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-03 14:00:03 UTC
Permalink
American Samoa leader says climate change ideas will be taken seriously

Radio New Zealand
2 Feb, 2011

American Samoa's governor, Togiola Tulafono, has promised participants in the
territory's first climate change summit that any recommendations will be taken
seriously.

More than 100 local and off island scientists, policy makers, educators and
students are taking part in the event that's aimed at establishing a climate
change framework for local communities.

Togiola opened the meeting, saying one of the critical things to accomplish is
how to minimise American Samoa's vulnerability to the effects of climate
change through smart and careful planning.

The keynote speaker, Dr Charles Fletcher, of the University of Hawaii - Manoa,
who's been studying sea level rise in the territory, revealed findings of a
study he made of Amouli village.

He says land in Amouli near the sea could be covered by water within 10 years.

[40 more news items]


---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [82 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-03 23:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Vietnam launches climate impact initiative

Asian Development Bank to help fund climate action plans

By Tom Young
03 Feb 2011
Business Green

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Nordic Development Fund are to help
Vietnam draw up and implement climate change action plans for cities and
government departments, it was announced this week.

The Nordic Development Fund will provide a technical assistance grant of $2.5m
(£1.5m) to be administered by the ADB, which will be used to help the cities
of Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang, as well as the Ministry of Transport, and the
Ministries of Industry and Trade develop formal strategies for addressing
rising climate change risks. The government of Vietnam will also provide
$250,000 towards the scheme.

Ayumi Konishi, ADB country director for Vietnam, said the finance is much
needed. "This project will help increase the capacity of the target cities,
ministries and province to respond effectively to the impacts of climate
change," he said.

The project will fund impact assessments to identify the risks to economic
sectors and communities from climate change, and will also explore various
mitigation and adaptation options.

In addition, it will fund climate change community awareness campaigns and the
creation of an emissions database which will be regularly updated.

The project is due to begin in May 2011 and will be completed by May 2013.

The initiative is the latest in a series of measures from Vietnam's government
designed to help the country develop low-carbon infrastructure.

For example, last y the country announced a plan to develop solar, wind and
biomass resources as part of a plan to become a low-carbon economy by
2020. The government also set a target of generating five% of the nation's
electricity from alternative energy sources by 2020.

It estimates Vietnam has 1,000GW of potential wind capacity and hopes to
develop 12GW of wind power by 2020, accounting for about 3% of the
country's total generation.

In addition, the country is aiming to produce 8GW of biomass power from rice
husk, sugarcane, cassava, wood and animal waste by 2020.

Vietnam also plans to build 14 nuclear reactors by 2030 as part of its move to
a low-carbon economy.

Last y it signed a $5.6bn deal with Russia for help building Vietnam's
first nuclear power plant and increasing its hydroelectric capacity, while a
similar $14bn deal will see 2 Japanese firms build 2 1GW nuclear reactors in
the south-eastern province of Ninh Thuan.

[38 more news items]


---
A scientist cites a data point that is consistent with a trend and
says "This data is consistent with the trend; no surprise".
A kook cites a data point inconsistent with the trend and says "Surprise!
The trend is Wrong Wrong Wrong!".
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-05 20:20:10 UTC
Permalink
Hundreds evacuate as Bunyip River rises

Vic flooding starts up again.

[Reports say it's likely another record for Vic].

Edwina Scott
Feb 6, 2011 - 6:06AM

AAP

Hundreds of residents in W Gippsland have evacuated their homes as
the Bunyip River threatens to rise to its highest peak in 40 years.

Victoria's State Emergency Service (SES) says the river is expected to
exceed the predicted flood level of 7.2 m, above the 1971 flood record.

Residents in the townships of Koo Wee Rup, Iona, Cora Lynn and Bayles
and surrounding areas were advised to evacuate their homes by 9.30pm
(AEDT) on Sat or risk inundation and possible isolation.

The SES said anyone who chose to stay in their homes risked becoming
trapped in floodwaters, or cut off by road congestion or closures in
the area.

Two relief centres opened at Cranbourne Sports Complex at the
intersection of Berwick and Cranbourne Roads and at the Cranbourne East
and Cardinia Cultural Centre in Lakeside Boulevard, Pakenham.

Paramedics helped to relocate 50 patients from the Koo Wee Rup Hospital
to nursing facilities in Leongatha, Camberwell and Malvern.

Other relief centres have been established at Swan Hill, Stawell,
Cohuna, Clunes, Creswick and Ballarat.

Overnight on Sat residents in the state's northeast, particularly
in the Buckland Valley and Sun Creek, were advised that severe
thunderstorms were likely to produce intense rainfall and flash
flooding.

The flood alerts come after emergency services received more than 3500
calls for help, people were plucked from rescues trapped cars and
inundated homes, while several major roads and train lines were closed
when the deluge began on Fri evening.

In some parts of the state 100 to 150 mm fell in just a few
hours, causing severe flash flooding.

Some towns have been inundated by floodwaters even before they
recovered from flooding that occurred last month.

People are urged not to drive, ride or play in floodwaters.

The state government has announced temporary relief grants to support
Victorians impacted by the heavy floods.

Grants of up to $25,950 are available for people whose homes are
uninhabitable.

Emergency grants of up to $427 per adult and $213 per child to a
maximum of $1067 per household are available to provide immediate
assistance to people in urgent need of food, clothing and shelter.

[40 more news items]


---
[If I make history stop in 1899 things can not get worse:]
Yes, but [Yasi was] not as bad as the cat 5 Mahina in 1899!
And what about 1918 when Qld had TWO CAT 5 CYCLONES!
The more things change the more they stay the same.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 3 Feb 2011 16:09 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-05 21:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Efforts to Fight Climate Change Revive Optimism

By James Kanter
The New York Times
Jan 25, 2011

For years, China was seen as a major obstacle to global efforts to combat
climate change because of its refusal to reduce emissions under the Kyoto
Protocol.

Now, for some, the concern is not that China is moving too slowly but that it
is rushing ahead so fast that clean-energy companies in the West will be left
in the dust.

Demands on China for verifiable monitoring of emissions have been a
long-running source of tension in climate negotiations. They helped to sour
the mood at the United Nations climate meeting in Copenhagen a y ago, which
broke up in acrimony after poorer countries balked at accepting limits on
their emissions.

Heading into 2011, however, there were some surprising signs of renewed
movement in efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions.

Davos 2011

A United Nations climate meeting in Dec in Mexico pleased many
environmentalists by putting global talks back on track. And this m,
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research group, reported that investors had
injected a record $243 bn into cleaner sources of energy in 2010 as the
rising price of oil gave a lift to the prospects for renewable and low-carbon
alternatives.

With the gloomy atmosphere dissipating, organizers at the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland, said this wk that they expected business leaders were
ready to pay attention again to climate issues.

The meeting in Mexico showed an "enhanced spirit of cooperation" on cutting
emissions, said Caio Koch-Weser, who leads sustainability initiatives for the
forum and is vice chairman of the Deutsche Bank Group. And the clean-energy
sector "has never been more dynamic than it is today," he said.

But along with such optimism, there is also mounting anxiety about which
countries -- and whose companies -- will benefit from the clean-energy
boom. As financially struggling governments in Europe and the United States
trim support for clean-energy development, emerging countries, led by China,
have been pouring state resources into the sector.

China represents "a huge challenge" for established clean-energy businesses,
said Connie Hedegaard, the European Union's commissioner for climate
action. "We can never subsidize it as much as they would do in China."

She said that China was preparing a five-year plan that would be the clearest
indication yet of its determination to become a clean-energy
powerhouse. European nations would need to "pool our efforts better" to remain
competitive, said Ms. Hedegaard, who is expected to attend the forum.

Investment in clean energy in China rose 30% last year, to $51.1
bn -- by far the largest figure for a single country -- and represented
more than 20% of the total global investment of $243 bn, according
to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

At the same time, the issue of clean-energy subsidies in China is at the heart
of an investigation the Obama administration started in Dec. The
administration is looking at bringing a case against China, including
accusations about manufacturing subsidies for wind turbines, before the World
Trade Organization.

This m, in what looked like a countermove, President Obama signed a law
that contained a "buy American" provision for Defense Department purchases of
solar panels.

The European Commission has raised concerns with China about access to rare
earth minerals and other elements used in clean-energy industries, including
the manufacturing of electric cars. But so far, the commission has taken no
formal action on trade in the wind and solar industries.

Not everyone sees China's drive to dominate the clean-energy sector as
worrisome.

"China is moving so far into the lead" on a number of clean-energy
technologies "that we don't have to worry as much about whether they'll really
keep their commitments because they have a commercial drive to do it," said
Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, an environmental
research group in Washington.

The surge of investment in climate-related industries, as well as growing
concerns about extreme weather, should deliver significant business
opportunities in the coming year, and not just in China.

Vincent Mages, a director for climate change initiatives at Lafarge, the giant
cement company based in France, said catastrophic flooding in Australia and
Pakistan and a scorching summer heat wave in Russia should be good for
businesses like his.

Cities and regions grappling with a changing climate increasingly need the
kinds of products made by Lafarge, he said, to make buildings and
infrastructure more energy-efficient and robust.

But, he added, Europe and the United States could do more to support domestic
industries by adopting tougher rules for new buildings and retrofittings now,
rather than setting goals that are decades away for cutting emissions or
adopting renewable power.

"China talks about programs and policies rather than focusing on targets,"
Mr Mages said. "We focus on targets too much."

The main tool most governments in the developed world are counting on to cut
emissions and drive investment into climate-related industries is carbon
trading, also known as cap and trade. The European Union established its
system 6 y ago. Its goal is to cut emissions by 1/5 from 1990 levels by 2020.

Carbon trading has run into obstacles in Europe, where the system has been
rocked by extreme volatility, computer attacks, tax fraud, recycling of used
credits and suspicions of profiteering.

In Australia, Japan and South Korea, governments that have supported carbon
trading have been delayed by political concerns.

Mr Koch-Weser said he believed that "shortcomings" in international carbon
trading could be overcome, adding that he saw no need to invalidate any
existing carbon credits.

He also said business leaders at the World Economic Forum would push for
progress on a Green Climate Fund for countries most vulnerable to the effects
of climate change, which could help to channel $100 bn each y by the end
of the decade.

The committee running that fund should include representatives from the
private sector and multilateral lenders, he said.

Failure to raise that money, he said, would "reinforce mistrust and breed
cynicism" in the developing world before the next round of global climate
talks, in Durban, South Africa, in Nov.

[39 more news items]


---
[A]ll science is lies and the only thing we can trust is right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-08 23:00:02 UTC
Permalink
IET: Adapting UK infrastructure to climate change

politics.co.uk
08 Feb 2011 08:41

Engineering the Future (EtF) is an alliance of the UK's leading engineering
and technological institutions.

On 8 Feb they will publish a report, commissioned by DEFRA, on the
challenges of adapting the UK's infrastructure to the threat of climate
change.

The EtF group warns of the cost of tackling such issues as

. Electrification of transport

. Flooding from sea-level rise and extreme weather

. 'Greening' of buildings

Infrastructure, Engineering and Climate Change Adaptation: Ensuring services
in an uncertain future also examines the vulnerability to the effects of
climate change in different sectors of UK infrastructure; the modifications
needed to increase resilience; and the lessons we need to learn from overseas.

Come to the SMC to hear the report's authors discuss their findings a day
ahead of publication.

Speakers include:

Prof Will Stewart FREng, Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
Communications Policy Panel

Prof Eric Sampson CBE, IET Transport Policy Panel

David Nickols, Chair of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Water Panel

For further information please call Tom Sheldon on 020 7670 2976 or Robert
Beahan at the IET on 01438 767336

[59 more news items]


---
[Cause and effect:]
[explanations for climate change]
You left out "emerging from an ice age"!
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 12:40 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-09 01:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Farmers leading with emission cuts of 64%

Rosslyn Beeby
09 Feb, 2011 08:16 AM
The Canberra Times

Australia's farmers have made the nation's biggest carbon pollution
cuts over the past 20 years, slashing emissions by 64 per cent, a new
Federal report reveals.

But Australia's emissions are set to rise by 1.8% a y over
the next 10 y without urgent policy action on climate change,
according to an analysis published today by the Federal Department of
Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

Federal climate change minister Greg Combet said the report showed
Australia's greenhouse emissions would continue to "rise steeply"
unless a price was put on carbon.

"Clearly more needs to be done, and that's why we need a carbon price,
soon ... it is important to remember that it is not too late for us to
act," Mr Combet said.

Greens deputy leader Christine Milne warned Australia faced "a massive
blow-out" in greenhouse pollution caused by "the political power of
the fossil fuel industries" blocking action on climate change.

"At some point the Government will have to confront the reality that
its energy policy and climate policy are on a collision course, with
ever-growing investment in coal, gas and coal-seam gas undermining any
moves to turn our economy around," Senator Milne said.

Australia Institute executive director Richard Denniss accused the
Gillard Government of using the report to "outrageously inflate the
problems we face" as a political bargaining ploy to influence
international negotiations on climate change.

"We can't be confident about the emissions projections outlined in
this report. It is virtually impossible to predict the emissions
intensity of economic growth in 2017 no one knows what is going to
happen, so these figures are meaningless," he said.

The report analyses the impact of more than 30 policies in reducing
Australia's greenhouse emissions. These include the Federal
Government's Renewable Energy Target and carbon-cutting measures
outlined by the National Strategy on Energy Efficiency. The report does
not include the impact of a carbon price or the Government's recent
carbon-farming initiative.

It shows transport emissions have increased by 37% on 1990
levels. Fossil fuel emissions are up 51% and fugitive emissions
from coalmines, oil and natural gas have risen by 46 per cent.

Waste management, forestry and agriculture, which include cuts achieved
by lower levels of land clearing, are the only 3 sectors to record
carbon cuts.

For more from Mr Combet on this issue, see the print edition of today's
Canberra Times.

[69 more news items]


---
Why is it relevant that the 'chief scientist' is a woman?
Because women are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 11:28 +1100
Gordhill
2011-02-09 01:09:08 UTC
Permalink
Post by r***@kymhorsell.com
Farmers leading with emission cuts of 64%
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!



Warmest Regards

B0nz0

"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps
US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists
worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct
from natural variation."
Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville

"If climate has not "tipped" in over 4 billion years it's not going to tip
now due to mankind. The planet has a natural thermostat"
Richard S. Lindzen, Atmospheric Physicist, Professor of Meteorology MIT,
Former IPCC Lead Author

"It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you
have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your
side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is
wrong. Period."
Professor Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics

"A core problem is that science has given way to ideology. The scientific
method has been dispensed with, or abused, to serve the myth of man-made
global warming."
"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips

"Computer models are built in an almost backwards fashion: The goal is to
show evidence of AGW, and the "scientists" go to work to produce such a
result. When even these models fail to show what advocates want, the data
and interpretations are "fudged" to bring about the desired result"
"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips

"Ocean acidification looks suspiciously like a back-up plan by the
environmental pressure groups in case the climate fails to warm: another try
at condemning fossil fuels!"
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/threat-ocean-acidification-greatly-exaggerated

Before attacking hypothetical problems, let us first solve the real problems
that threaten humanity. One single water pump at an equivalent cost of a
couple of solar panels can indeed spare hundreds of Sahel women the daily
journey to the spring and spare many infections and lives.
Martin De Vlieghere, philosopher

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that
it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of
mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."
Bertrand Russell
Mr Robot
2011-02-22 23:00:02 UTC
Permalink
EU grants EUR 170 mn to vital infrastructure projects across Europe

21 Feb 2011
FOCUS News Agency

Brussels. The European Commission today announced the projects selected to
receive a total of EUR170 mn of trans-European transport network (TEN-T) funds
to build and upgrade vital transport infrastructure across the European Union,
the EC press service announced.

The grants, which stem from the 2010 TEN-T annual and multi-annual calls
published on 19 May, will help Member States to build missing transport links,
remove bottlenecks and increase the safety and security of transport, with a
special focus on making transport more sustainable, promoting the
interconnection of different transport modes, accelerating and facilitating
the implementation of projects and providing support for public-private
partnerships.

Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: "I am
delighted to be signing the decision today that gives the green light to
EUR170 mn of the TEN-T budget to co-finance key infrastructure projects of
European added value. These include projects in the fields of Motorways of the
Sea and River Information Services, under the multi-annual programme, and
projects under the annual programme helping us to prepare for future transport
priorities: notably making transport greener, connecting Europe's E and west,
and providing support to public-private partnerships."

Over the course of 2010, 51 projects involving 24 Member States were selected
to receive funding as part of 3 separate calls. All projects were evaluated on
the basis of their relevance to TEN-T priorities and policy objectives: their
maturity, their impact (particularly socio-economic and environmental) and
their quality in terms of completeness, clarity, soundness and coherence. The
awarded funding helps to attract substantial public and private financing,
with the leverage effect being almost 5 times the level of EU assistance (see
MEMO/11/101).

The 2010 multi-annual work programme (EUR112.4 mn in total funding) aimed to
finance the highest priorities of the TEN-T network, and focused on 3 fields:

- Motorways of the Sea (MoS ), providing viable alternatives for congested
roads by shifting freight to sea routes - 8 projects selected, EUR84.9 mn in
funding.

- River Information Services (RIS), involving traffic management
infrastructure on the inland waterway network - 5 projects selected,
EUR7.1million in funding.

- Air traffic management systems and functional airspace blocks (ATM/FABs) - 4
projects selected, EUR20.5 mn in funding, which was allocated in a separate
call published on 16 Feb.

The 2010 annual work programme (EUR78.2 mn in total funding) complements the
efforts developed under the multi-annual work programme with a view to better
utilise scarce EU funds and maximise the impact in priority areas. It is
focused on 3 priorities:

Priority 1: Promoting the development of an integrated and environmentally
friendly transport system as well as studies for the preparation of deployment
projects contributing to the addressing of climate change - 13 projects
selected, EUR32.1 mn in funding.

Priority 2: Accelerating/facilitating the implementation of TEN-T projects
(studies for all modes, works for mature projects, notably in the rail and
inland waterways sectors), as well as projects supporting the Single European
Sky policy - 18 projects selected, EUR41.1 mn in funding.

Priority 3: Studies to support Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - three
projects selected, EUR4.9 mn in funding.

The projects will be managed by the TEN-T Executive Agency, under the auspices
of the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport of the European
Commission.

MYREF: 20110223100001 msg201102233481

[104 more news items]

---
[It's not "land" warming -- it's just "ocean" warming!]
QUOTE: Evidence is presented that the recent worldwide land warming has
occurred largely in response to a worldwide warming of the oceans rather
than as a direct response to increasing greenhouse gases over land.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Dec 2010 10:35 +1100
Mr Robot
2011-02-23 06:46:31 UTC
Permalink
Deutsche Bank's Asset Management division releases Investing in Climate Change 2
011

Mayura Hooper
Deutsche Bank AG
Press Release
Feb 21, 2011 5:34 AM CST

A DB Climate Change Advisors (DBCCA) report released today, "Investing in
Climate Change 2011, The Mega-Trend Continues: Exploring Risk and Return",
examines the risks associated with climate change investing across different
asset classes and provides a framework to understand how asset managers can
manage these risks. DBCCA is the climate change investment and research
business of Deutsche Bank's Asset Management business.

In the report, DBCCA argues that a major shift in investor attitudes is
leading institutional investors around the world to undertake this analysis
because of a growing realization of the potentially profound impact climate
change may have on their existing portfolios.

"Institutional investors are giving greater consideration than ever before to
climate change in their assessment of asset allocation," said Kevin Parker,
Global Head of Deutsche Bank's Asset Management division (DeAM) and a member
of Deutsche Bank's Group Executive Committee. "I believe that we have reached
a critical point in our industry at which all the talk about climate change
begins to translate into action. Asset owners everywhere are starting to move
and their 1st impulse is to identify where in their portfolios the climate
risk lies. To do so effectively and efficiently, they need a new intellectual
framework and set of tools. And they need them now."

The report, DBCCA's 4th annual review of the climate change investment market,
points out that 2010 was the largest y on record for investment in clean
energy* and globally, the investment opportunity steadily continues to
improve.

The paper also includes an updated global database of climate change policy
initiatives with China, Europe and US states leading the charge in 2010.
DBCCA points out that the flow of government stimulus capital into low-carbon
energy sectors peaked in 2010**, with China allocating the bulk of
capital. China's investment in clean energy will be a game changer for clean
technology industries globally, the report says.

The report identifies 8 key trends which will influence investors' capital
allocations over the next year:

# The climate change megatrend persists

# A more sophisticated exploration of climate change risk within portfolios

# Policy is a key driver for cleaner energy

# The ambitious scale, scope and commitment of Chinese leadership will foment
structural change in clean technologies

# Investors will look to US state projects rather than projects driven by Federa
l policy

# Natural gas as a lower-emission transition fuel in the US

# The risk-return profile in the climate change sector varies between asset
classes

# Global policy makers recognize the need for more in-depth dialogue to
explore how public and private partnerships can support renewable energy
scale-up in developing countries

For a copy of the report please visit:
http://www.dbcca.com/dbcca/EN/investment-research/investment_research_2361.jsp

DB Climate Change Advisors (DBCCA) is the climate change investment and
research business of Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM). DeAM is one of the
leading climate change investors in the world, with approximately $6.5 bn
under management as of Dec 2010. With a world-class in-house research team
focusing on this theme, DBCCA is an investment industry thought-leader on a
broad range of clean tech dynamics.

* Total global investment in clean energy in 2010 including all asset classes
= $243 billion. (Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 2011).

** It is expected that approximately $240 bn of green stimulus capital will be
spent in 2010. (Source: HSBC).

MYREF: 20110223174626 msg2011022325040

[105 more news items]

---
[If I make history stop in 1899 things can not get worse:]
Yes, but [Yasi was] not as bad as the cat 5 Mahina in 1899!
And what about 1918 when Qld had TWO CAT 5 CYCLONES!
The more things change the more they stay the same.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 3 Feb 2011 16:09 +1100
Mr Robot
2011-02-23 08:30:02 UTC
Permalink
HSBC Staff Help Plant 60k Trees In Mentiri

[In other news, HSBC's $100 mn program focusing on climate change has met 2 of
its 5 goals early. The bank's 5-y "climate partnership", set up in 2007, helps
fund projects with WWF, the Climate Group and Earthwatch].

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
Brudirect
19 Feb 2011 07:44

Bandar Seri Begawan - As part of ongoing efforts by the Forestry Department in
planting 60k trees to offset tree loss, HSBC Brunei assisted with the planting
of 150 tree seedlings recently at the Mangkubau water treatment plant in Kg
Mentiri, according to a press release.

Over 50 HSBC Brunei staff and 20 Forestry Department officials took part in
this tree-planting campaign.

The area around the Mangkubau plant has experienced slight deforestation due
to landslides and soil erosions, thus tree-planting efforts were concentrated
there to prevent further forest degradation.

Lim Boon Teck, Manager Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Brunei, said: "We are
extremely thankful to the Forestry Department for presenting us with this
opportunity.

Our staff enjoys these chances to contribute their time and efforts. We are
certainly proud to be helping in the restoration of our forests."

"HSBC Brunei has always been extremely supportive of our mission in ensuring
the sustainability of the country's forests," added Mahmud Yussof, Deputy
Director of the Forestry Department.

"The Heart of Borneo, PRYNSA, Nature Camp and Green Wave are just some of
projects that HSBC supports.

I applaud their ongoing efforts and look forward to future opportunities for
further collaborations."

Simon Martin, Head of Group Corporate Sustainability, stressed the value of
partnerships between private and government agencies.

Speaking at the HSBC Climate Partnership Review's launch at Canary Wharf, he
said, "Solutions to climate change require collective actions involving
governments, NGOs, the public and the business communities.

"The scale of achievements by the HSBC Climate Partnership shows that tangible
results can be had by going beyond corporate sponsorships and adopting a more
collaborative approach."

MYREF: 20110223193001 msg2011022312205

[102 more news items]

---
It takes more than warmth to grow crops; otherwise the Sahara would be green!
--
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 21 Jan 2011 11:16 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-02-25 04:30:02 UTC
Permalink
DOE grant joins climate modeling with local, regional empirical data

Feb 24th, 2011
Provided by Penn State

Local and regional researchers collect large amounts of high quality data on
climate change and its effects, but the researchers that create the economic
and climate models do not always have access to this information. Now, thanks
to a $2 mn grant from the Department of Energy, the on-the-ground information
will get to the modelers through the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the
Environment.

The DOE-funded project, led by Karen Fisher-Vanden, associate professor of
environmental and resource economics, seeks to bring empirical analysts and
modelers together to improve the empirical underpinnings of models used in
climate change policy analysis. Fisher-Vanden will create an integrated
assessment modeling research program for interdisciplinary collaboration.

"Our goal is to devise a way to bring these 2 communities together,
recognizing that the reason why we lack model-relevant empirical work is
because this type of work has not been rewarded historically in the journal
publication world, especially in the area of climate change impacts and
adaptation," said Fisher-Vanden. "The purpose of this research is to identify
and exploit synergies between empirical and modeling analyses in 5 key areas
by bringing applied empirical researchers in the natural and social sciences
together with modelers through joint research and workshops that foster
communication and cross-fertilization of ideas between the 2 groups."

The 5 major scientific challenges the program will address are science and
technology, impacts and adaptation, regional scale integrated assessment
modeling, key intersecting energy-relevant systems and uncertainty.

It is important to understand and communicate the uncertainties in the model
predictions for climate change and its impacts, according to Chris Forest,
associate professor of meteorology.

"These uncertainties must be grounded in observational data and be
incorporated into the models," he said. "This project puts us on the right
path for bringing these broad complex issues together."

Klaus Keller, associate professor of geoscience, will focus on improving the
representation of potential climate threshold responses. This includes abrupt
changes in the ocean circulation or ice sheets and the associated impacts in
integrated assessment models.

Patrick Reed, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and
Thorsten Wagener, associate professor of civil engineering, will apply
state-of-the-art sensitivity analysis to understand sources and implications
of uncertainty in integrated assessment models. Their diagnostic analysis will
bring a new level of insight into the working of these complex models.

Jim Shortle, Distinguished Professor of agricultural and environmental
economics, will focus on improving the regional representation of climate
impacts and adaptation in integrated assessment models.

The three-year grant is administered by the Penn State Institutes of Energy
and the Environment and is part of a larger $6 mn grant administered through
Stanford Uni that will establish an integrated assessment modeling
research community focused on model development, inter-comparisons and
diagnostic testing, and multi-model ensemble-like analyses.

In addition to Stanford and Penn State, the grant includes researchers from
Boston Uni, Uni of California-Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue Uni,
Syracuse Uni, Uni of Illinois and Yale Uni.

A variety of Penn State graduate students and post-doctoral fellows will also
participate in the project.

MYREF: 20110225153001 msg201102259029

[133 more news items]

---
[A]ll science is lies and the only thing we can trust is right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-02-25 07:00:01 UTC
Permalink
India commits $10 bn to expand forests

Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
Feb 25, 2011

The Indian government has approved a bold plan to expand and improve the
quality of its forests as a part of the nation's National Action Plan on
Climate Change. The reforestation plan, dubbed the National Mission for a
Green India (NMGI), will expand forests by 5 mn hectares (over 12 mn
acres), while improving forests quality on another 5 mn hectares for $10.14 bn
(460 bn rupees).

According to India's Ministry of Environment and Forests, the plan will result
in the carbon sequestration of 50-60 mn tons every y by, sequestering around
6% of India's total greenhouse gas emissions. Including the forest expansion,
the NMGI has a number of other goals: providing tens-of-thousands of dollars
to forest villages every year, protecting biodiversity, mitigating
human-wildlife conflict, promoting community conservation of 14k sacred
groves, and protecting important watershed.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 23% of India is
currently under forest cover or 68 mn hectares, although around 40% is
considered degraded. In contrast, ten mn hectares (14%) are considered primary
growth forest. In the last 20 years, forest cover has declined in India by
nearly a quarter of a mn hectares.

The government said it will used satellites to monitor its progress.

MYREF: 20110225180001 msg2011022524778

[129 more news items]

---
Scientists [and kooks] are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100

CORRECTION:
True science, (remember that?) can be trusted, but this "science" is ALL LIES!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 19 Feb 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-02-25 12:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Severe weather, forecasting could prompt force majeure rethink

Better weather forecasting could change provisions

Directors could face more pressure to manage climate risks

David Fogarty
Reuters Africa
Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:36am GMT

Singapore, Feb 25 (Reuters) -- Worsening weather and better forecasting methods
could push the mining sector to change force majeure provisions in supply
contracts and sharpen how blame is allotted when storms or floods disrupt
regular business.

Climate scientists predict global warming will trigger greater extremes of
weather such as more intense droughts, cyclones and bushfires. For miners and
other resource firms that means more disruption to coal, iron, bauxite and
gold operations, but many weather events are foreseeable.

Recent deadly floods and cyclones in Australia occurred during the monsoon
season that meteorologists said m in advance would be above average because of
the strong La Nina weather pattern that usually brings heavy rains and storms
to he country's N and east.

"If it is true that some of these floods were foreseeable, there is going to
be an argument whether that was in fact a force beyond the expectation of
either party," said Robert Milbourne, a mining and resources lawyer for global
law firm Norton Rose.

That meant a rethink of contract provisions under force majeure, which is
defined as a force greater than the parties had contemplated and allows for
suspension or termination of obligations during an unforeseen event.

"Going forward it is critical that people rethink the terms of force majeure
contracts. In my view, it needs to be considered, at least for commodity
contracts, a commercial term," Milbourne, a former senior counsel for
Brazilian miner Vale, told an industry seminar in Singapore on Fri.

MYREF: 20110225230001 msg2011022521636

[126 more news items]

---
[Something about "warm bath in sanctimony"]
Pop over to Tim Blair's for a look.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Feb 2011 14:39 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-02-26 03:00:02 UTC
Permalink
BASIC countries to meet in Delhi to discuss climate change

TruthDive
Feb 25 2011

New Delhi, Feb 25 (ANI): Environment Ministers from BASIC countries - Brazil,
S Africa, India and China - will meet here on Sat to assess the post Cancun
climate change policy and actions at the global and national level and discuss
coordination going forward.

Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh said: "Over the
last 15 months, BASIC has become a powerful force within the climate change
negotiations. The BASIC Ministers have been meeting regularly since Copenhagen
to exchange views and evolve a coordinated approach to important negotiating
issues."

"We will continue to work closely to ensure a positive outcome at Durban and
beyond, while advancing the interests of our countries and partners," he
added.

The two-day meeting will be held in a "BASIC Plus" format. India has invited
Ministers/Ambassadors from 3 other countries - Argentina, Algeria and Maldives
- to the meeting.

These countries represent important regional groups within the "G-77 and
China" bloc in the climate change negotiations, and will participate in the
meeting as Observers.

This is in keeping with the BASIC tradition of involving major regional groups
within G-77 and China in order to enrich discussions and represent the
interests of developing countries.

Maldives is a member of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in addition to
being a neighboring country in the S Asian region. Algeria represents the
developing countries in Africa, while Argentina is the current Chair of the
Group of 77 and China.

BASIC countries' meeting is significant as it will be the 1st major
international meeting of any group of countries since Dec 2010 when Cancun
Agreements were reached under the leadership of Mexico as the Chair of 16th
Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol.

The BASIC group was formed in Beijing in Nov 2009.

MYREF: 20110226140002 msg2011022620094

[125 more news items]

---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-02-26 22:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Philippines considers climate change "survival fund"

Thin Lei Win
alertnet
25 Feb 2011

Bangkok (AlertNet) - Lawmakers, aid workers and activists in the Philippines
are throwing their weight behind a national "survival fund" to tackle climate
change after severe flooding caused by unseasonal and persistent heavy rains.

The abnormal weather over the last 2 m shows the urgent need to adapt to the
changing climate, according to Snehal Soneji, Philippines country director of
aid agency Oxfam.

"The climate is changing, weather events are becoming more erratic and
frequent. Therefore the solution that we are pushing for is to adapt to the
climate change and this adaptation is going to require money," Soneji said.

"So what we're pushing for is for the Philippines government to pass the
People's Survival Fund bill."

About a 3rd of the country's 80 provinces, mainly in central and southern
regions, were inundated by the rains that began in late Dec. The flooding and
subsequent landslides killed at least 75 people and affected more than 2
million. Although flooding is common in the Philippines, it is usually during
the rainy season which peters out around Oct.

Damage to agricultural and infrastructure was estimated to have reached more
than 2 bn pesos (over $43 million) in early Feb. The weather bureau has said
it expects above-normal rainfall even during the summer m of March to May due
to the La Nina weather phenomenon.

PEOPLE'S FUND

The People's Survival Fund Bill, which is being championed by deputy speaker
of the Congress Lorenzo R. Tanada, aims to help vulnerable populations adapt
to climate change. These include people living in areas at risk of disasters
and those whose livelihoods are threatened by rising sea levels, stronger
storms and worse droughts.

A coalition of organisations including Oxfam, the Institute of Climate and
Sustainable Cities and an artists' collective are working to convince
Philippines' upper and lower houses to approve the bill as soon as possible.

Congressman Tanada said the Philippines - an archipelago scientists say is
particularly vulnerable to the impacts of disasters and erratic weather
patterns - has so far responded to the climate crisis in a disorderly way.

"The economic costs of the devastation - livelihoods lost, infrastructure
damaged, crops either being submerged in too much water or too little, depletion
of marine resources due to sea temperature rise - far outweigh the funds that
shall be set aside to adapt to climate change," he told AlertNet by e-mail.

"The bill establishes long-term, predictable and transparent sources of
finance accessible to vulnerable communities."

The fund will use private, public, international and domestic sources to raise m
oney.

Three potential sources cited in the bill are 10% of cash dividends declared
by all government-owned and controlled corporations, a portion of the motor
vehicle user's charge and a portion of emission units earned under the
U.N.-instituted Clean Development Mechanism.

HELPING THE POOR

Campaigners are optimistic that the bill, tabled last Oct, will be passed in Dec
.

Tanada sees the fund becoming a central source of support for urgent
adaptation activities.

"For example, (farmers) who require the deployment of small water impounding
projects in anticipation of extreme drought, structures that can dramatically
reduce the harm of intense flooding, and the ability to shift to crops more
resilient to severe or prolonged high temperatures," he said.

Coastal communities whose fishing livelihoods may be displaced by rising sea
levels could also access the fund, he added.

Oxfam's Soneji says that without an additional such fund to tackle climate
change, "what we're going to end up doing is just search and rescue. Every
time there is a typhoon whatever little funds we have will be for life-saving ne
eds".

Setting up a domestic fund would also mean that the Philippines would not be
completely reliant on the climate change negotiations taking place at the
international level.

"They are talking about putting up $100 bn fund over the next 20 y but
they're still haggling over who's going to pay and how it's going to be paid,"
Soneji said.

"So if we were to wait for it to come through as a country we'll be adversely
affected. The beauty of this idea is that we're going to generate our own resour
ces."

MYREF: 20110227090001 msg201102272048

[128 more news items]

---
[On knowing your constituents:]
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-02-28 06:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Is Lagos ready for the down pour?

Going by the predictions of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, and the
National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Lagos and indeed the whole country
will experience large volumes of rainfall in this year.

Allwell Okpi
Feb 26, 2011 08:22AM

Joseph Egbelu is still recovering from the rainy season and the floods of last
year, and the rains are here again. He lives at Ajegunle-Ikorodu, a suburb of
Lagos, where massive flooding made 1000s of people homeless.

Apart from losing some of his electronics, that became irreparable after they
got soaked in the water, Mr Egbelu, lost about a m of business time, because
flood also submerged his household-item shop. But even worrisome for him now
is the weather predictions for this y , which stated that there will be
lots of rainfall . "The experience of last y was not funny at all. I'm still
trying to recover from it. My business is yet to pick up proper like it was
before the flood last year, you know I lost some goods, for a month, I did not
sell anything. I followed them to the camp. I stayed there for more than 2
weeks with my wife and my daughter, when the water started going down, I came
back to see how I can start my business again" he said.

Though the Ikorodu flood was largely attributed to the destruction of Oyan
Dam, in the neighbouring Ogun State, resulting to a rapid increase in the
volume of water in the Ogun River and its tributaries overflowing their banks
to nearby residential estates, environmentalists said it was due to large
volume of rainfall linked to climate change.

Most city parts are flooded

Apart from Ikorodu and its environs, other parts of the city like Lekki,
Oworonshoki, Agboju-Amuwo, Ijegun, Adeniji Adele area of Lagos Island and
more, experienced lesser floods. In these places, some residents were forced
out of their homes, while some schools were closed while their premises
remained in water.

Generally, whenever it rains in Lagos, most parts of the city get
flooded. Water rises from the drains and covers the roads causing almost
stand-still traffic congestion. For many who may not have lost their homes to
the floods, the traffic jams that are caused by heavy rain falls, is their own
way of suffering the adverse effect of the season. "Any time it rains early in
the morning, I just know I will be late for work, because of the traffic
jam. And the worst is if it rains around 5pm, then you know some people coming
from the island may not get home till around 12 midnight. That is why, I
generally don't like rainy season in Lagos" said Juliet Adeiza, a banker, who
lives in Iyana Ipaja and works on Victoria Island.

It may be worse this year

Going by the predictions of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, and the
National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Lagos and indeed the whole country
will experience large volumes of rainfall in this year.

Two days after the prediction, Thu Feb 10, the 1st rain of the y fell across
most of the states in South-Western region of Nigeria, the SW coordinator of
NEMA, Iyiola Akande said the intensity of the rain which fell for over an hour
in Lagos, is confirmation of the prediction that 2011 is a disaster-prone
year. "Unlike the usual 1st rain which always comes in showers and ends
abruptly, Thu's rain was heavy. It lasted longer and covered many states at
once. This is a warning signal that must be taken seriously. This is a time
to be proactive, a time to prepare adequately for the challenges ahead" Mr
Akande said.

Both agencies attributed the expected heavy rainfall to the climate change
which is believed to be a result of global warming.

Adaptation

The prediction really got Ezebunna Gbambo, scared. He lives in Ilasan Estate,
Lekki, which usually has most parts covered with water, throughout the rainy
season. Like other residents, Mr Gbambo has prepared his rain boat and the
wooden bridge that leads to his house above the flood water. The residents
said their problem is not just the amount of rainfall, but the rise of ground
water level, which result to water welling up from the ground and remaining
stagnant for months. This is common on the Lekki Peninsula, which was largely
created by reclamation from sea.

Apart from buying umbrellas and rain coats, residents in areas where flood
water usually flow into their homes, are building barricades to stop water
from entering their houses. Nevertheless, many of these residents are not
certain that these measures will be enough to protect them; especially with
little change in the state of the drainage system in the city.

The residents that spoke to NEXT said they are worried particularly because
they have not seen any frantic effort by the state government to clean up the
drains.

According to Charles Odofin, a hydro-geologist, Lagos lands are low-lying,
with most parts less than one metre above sea level and the sea level is
rising. Therefore, it will be increasingly more difficult for water to drain
from the ground into the lagoon and then into the ocean.

"So even if they [government] succeed in cleaning all the drains in Lagos, we
will still be having a little flooding here and there because many of the
drains were not proper built, if you notice, some of them do not flow even
though they are clean, that is because the builders consider the hydraulic
head, that has to do with whether the drain is slanting in the direction of
flow of the rain water. Some of the drains are not slanting in any
direction. Some are even slanting against the flow. So the water cannot flow
freely in the drain and it pours to the roads and flow into people's houses"
he said.

"Another reason for the floods is that Lagos is congested . There are houses
almost everywhere you go, so there is very little open ground to suck in the
rain water, so it runs on the surface."

Mr Egbelu has already raised a little wall in front of his door and has raised
up his shop about 1/2 a metre. However, he said these are temporary measures;
he is planning to relocate from the area.

"I'm tired I want to leave this area. They said houses in this area, are
always at risk of flooding. " he said.

MYREF: 20110228170001 msg2011022819268

[130 more news items]

---
[Before the flood:]
The recent Murray Darling run-off since the floods would have provided
enought irrigation water to last at least 15 years.
Instead it has all run out to sea!
Crazy anti-dam greenies!
-- "BONZO"@27.32.240.172 [86 nyms and counting], 12 Nov 2010 14:05 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-02-28 08:30:02 UTC
Permalink
SBI becomes signatory to Carbon Disclosure Project [India]

MoneyControl
Feb 21, 2011

The countrys biggest lender, State Bank of India, has become a signatory
investor to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a collaboration of over 550
institutional investors with assets under management of USD 71 trillion.

State Bank has been undertaking several environmentally and socially
sustainable initiatives through its 14k plus branches spread across the length
and breadth of the country and was one of the few banks in the country to have
enunciated a Green Banking Policy, as early as in 2007.

SBI was the 1st in the entire Banking, Insurance and Financial Services sector
to have conceptualised and owned wind farms for generation of green power to
part substitute consumption of thermal power by its offices in India and we
have already launched a project to measure and manage organization level foot
print to achieve carbon neutrality said Shri OP Bhatt, Chairman, State Bank of
India. Partnering with CDP has only reiterated the Banks resolve and
commitment towards sustainable development he said.

We are delighted to welcome the financial powerhouse, State Bank of India, as
a signatory. As much of the worlds economic recovery will now come from rapid
growth in emerging economies like India, it was crucial for us to have a
strong partner like the SBI to promote the truly global fight for sustainable
development, said Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP.

"We are pleased that State Bank of India has become a signatory, as this
conveys a strong message to the Indian finance sector and the strategic role
it can play in promoting a sustainable future" said Ravi Singh, Secretary
General and CEO of WWF-India.

Being a major bank in the country, SBI stands to become a great catalyst in
encouraging the adoption of sustainable strategies by both - businesses and
the financial sector. We congratulate SBI on becoming a signatory to CDP; this
is a very important milestone for the initiative in India said Seema Arora,
Principal Counsellor & Head of CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable
Development.

Each year, on behalf of signatory investors, the CDP collects climate change
and carbon emissions data from over 5k large companies globally, which include
the top 200 companies in India listed on the National Stock Exchange. Over 550
institutional investors - ranging from pension funds like TIAA-CREF and
insurance companies like Allianz and Swiss Re through blue chip banks and
asset managers such as Black Rock, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley -
are signatories to the CDP.

In India, investors such as HDFC Bank Ltd, IDBI, IDFC, Reliance Capital, Tata
Capital, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank have also become signatories. CDP sends an
annual letter and questionnaire on behalf of these financial institutions to
the top 200 Indian companies by market capitalization. In 2010, 51 Indian
companies responded to the questionnaire. In the disclosure, Indian companies
reported on their carbon emissions data, reduction targets, associated risks
and opportunities and increasing board level managerial resources in
spearheading the execution of climate change strategies within their
organisations.

Compared to the 62% in 2009, 85% of the companies disclosed their GHG
emissions in 2010.

Although in total only 10 companies disclosed monetary savings as a result of
their actions, the reported amount stands at a staggering Rs 393.3 crores (USD
85 million), with emissions reductions of 6.2 mn metric tonne of CO2 per
year.

About Investor CDP

In 2010, over 2k global companies reported on their climate strategies, GHG
emissions and energy use, including 82% of the top 500 companies in the FTSE
Global Equity Series Index. On Feb 1, 2011 the Investor CDP information
request will be sent out to more than 5k companies in over 30 major economies
in both developed and emerging markets.

A recent study revealed that the worlds top 3k companies, by market
capitalization, were responsible for environmental damages worth USD 2.15
trillion, in 2008, covering water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions,
general waste and depleted resources. These external costs caused by companies
can reduce returns to investors.

For a diversified investor, environmental costs are unavoidable as they come
back into the portfolio as insurance premiums, taxes, inflated input prices
and the physical cost associated with disasters. These costs could also reduce
future cash flows and dividends. Ultimately, externalities caused by companies
could significantly affect the value of capital markets, or their potential
for growth, and with that, the value of diversified portfolios, according to a
report of the UNEPs Financial Initiative.

CDP provides investors, insurance companies and banks with a lens through which
to evaluate these externalities and how they will impact their specific portfoli
o.

MYREF: 20110228193001 msg201102287324

[127 more news items]

---
[Sucked in:]
1/2 of what he posts always contradict the other 1/2.
One day 50 ppmv is the warming cutoff.
Oh Puuhhleeeeeeze easy with the strawman!
Not "cutoff" but 90% of the warming effect below 50ppm.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 11:27 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-02-28 20:00:18 UTC
Permalink
Dow Chemical Spending $100 Million On Energy Efficiency, Emissions Reduction

Lora Kolodny
TechCrunch
Mar 1 2011

The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) -- which makes specialty materials and
chemicals for electronics, automotive, water, energy and agricultural sectors
-- today announced that it aims to green its own operations, in part, by
investing $100 mn in internally pitched projects that will reduce the
company's energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Doug May, vice president of energy and climate change at Dow, noted in a press
statement that a focus on "carbon management" and reduced energy consumption
would deliver favorable financial returns for the Midland, Mich. company that
has, of late, rebounded from mid-2010 losses.

Earlier this month, Dow reported sales of $13.8 bn for the 4th quarter of
2010, which was 22% higher compared to the same period a y earlier. (The
company's net income from continuing operations was $513 million, compared to
$178 mn in 2009.)

So far, business units and manufacturing sites at Dow have submitted around 60
project proposals, the company reported. These represent a potential 8
trillion BTUs of energy savings, and a reduction of over 400 thousand metric
tons of CO2 emissions according to Dow's own assessment. From 1994 to 2010,
carbon management-related projects have contributed to cost savings of $9.4 bn
Dow estimated.

The company has a recently-mixed track record with environmentalists. Dow has
clashed with Greenpeace, which says the company spied on it, and on other
environmental advocates and research organizations.

In 2010, The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), an independent unit
of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, ranked Dow Chemical as one of the
twenty most air polluting companies in America. That represented a significant
improvement from 2006 when Dow ranked 3rd on that list, however.

The company reports on its corporate and social responsibility impacts via the
Global Reporting Institute standards, as well. Its 2010 report has not yet
been published, but in 2009, Dow attained an A+ rating based on the GRI
measurements of overall sustainability.

MYREF: 20110301070003 msg201103012521

[130 more news items]

---
[Something about "warm bath in sanctimony"]
Pop over to Tim Blair's for a look.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Feb 2011 14:39 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-01 03:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Longreach grazier moves with the climate

Matthew Cawood
Queensland Country Life
27 Feb, 2011 04:00 AM

After tough times during a seven-year drought, Longreach grazier Peter Whip
revisited his management strategies with an eye to present and future climate,
and current profitability.

He soon found that moves to address climate adaptation and mitigation also
benefited his bot-tom line, and vice-versa.

Mr Whip, who runs about 2000 cattle across 12,300 hectares, decided he needed
to "get on the front foot" regarding climate change, and began talking with
scientists about how he should approach the challenge as a beef producer.

"It really was a no-brainer. They said you need to be getting your breeding
operation more efficient, your cattle turned off younger, and improving their
diet quality," he said.

"They are all things that, while reducing emissions and making your operation
more climatically resilient, make you more money anyway."

Mr Whip has been recruited as one of 33 producer Climate Champions under the
Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary Industries (CCRSPI) strategy,
which had its 1st con-ference in Melbourne last week.

Some of his changes were driven by experience of the unprecedented 2001-08
drought.

Going into the drought, he was committed to a herd fully made up of
breeders. "We'd got rid of the rubbish, got rid of the old cows - and then in
drought we'd have to sell those beautiful cows off at a fraction of what we'd
invested in them."

Today, his 7300ha home property Bandon Grove carries 1000 breeders -
composites with a Brahman base, joined to Char-bray, Droughtmaster and now
Angus ? and a 5000ha lease block carries 1000 trading cattle.

"At any stage we can sell 50% of our numbers to respond to weather
conditions, but still retain our core operation. It gives us a big buffer."

All stock are rotationally grazed, under Mr Whip's interpretation of the
principles taught by RCS, which has led to beneficial changes to pasture
composition and groundcover.

That delivers a two-pronged benefit: better groundcover means more rainfall is
taken up by the soil, and less is lost to evaporation (adaptation), while a
more palatable diet means more kilos of beef per kilo of feed intake
(mitigation). Watering points have been brought closer together - to with-in
less than 1.5km of each other ? so feed utilisation is better, and cattle
expend less energy walking to water.

In his herd, Mr Whip has swum against old trends to bring down the size of his
breeders.

"It's all about the efficiency of the breeder. A 500-550kg breeder will give
you the same calf as a 450kg breeder, but eats a lot more feed in the good
seasons and does it tougher in the bad," he said.

He has brought the average size of his breeders back from 500kg to 450kg - a
move he estimates could have reduced the breeding herd's greenhouse gas
emissions by about 10pc.

He has a strong focus on keeping birthweights down - not just because his
cattle are smaller, but because he now joins his heifers as yearlings in an
environment where most are joined as 2 - year-olds.

Joining them at 280-300kg gives him a 70pc conception rate.

Mr Whip then drafts up the 30pc empties, with the heavier dry heifers - those
over 300kg - sent to the feedlot with the steers.

The lighter dry heifers, which may have been too young to con-ceive the first
time around, are re-joined with the wet heifers at 2 years, to return an
overall con-ception from the two-year-olds of around 90pc. Again, it's about
efficiency.

"We're able to join and get an effective calf 12 m earlier, instead of
holding them for 2 y to get any production out of them."

The steers and heavier cull heifers are finished in feedlots.

Bringing them to optimum sale weight off grass at Long-reach takes three
seasons, and 3 good seasons in a row are hard to come by, Mr Whip said.

He has learned that beef production with a lighter climate footprint, and more
resilience to climatic variability, comes out of the same thinking that seeks
efficiency and profitability.

His profitability has "definitely improved", he said, as has his confidence
that he can handle the next drought, and the increased variability forecast
under climate change scenarios.

MYREF: 20110301140001 msg2011030119343

[131 more news items]

---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-01 08:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Google Ventures' next big bet: Weather insurance

Seth Weintraub
Fortune
Feb 28, 2011 6:02 PM

Together with Khosla Ventures, Google announced an investment of $42 million
into WeatherBill.

Over 90% of crop loss is due to inclement or unexpected weather conditions.
With climate change in full swing, more and more agricultural businesses are
at risk for unpredictable weather conditions.

WeatherBill uses an algorithm to calculate risk and sell insurance online
against unpredictable weather.

WeatherBill's flagship product, Total Weather Insurance (TWI) is a the 1st
full-season weather protection program for US farmers designed that addresses
the adverse weather conditions they face every season. WeatherBill's TWI
provides the US agriculture industry with a private-sector supplement to
government-subsidized crop insurance.

Today Google (GOOG) Ventures is investing.

"Google Ventures' mission is to identify and fund big ideas -- and
WeatherBill's vision of helping farmers adapt to climate change aligns
perfectly with that mission," said Bill Maris, managing partner of Google
Ventures, in a press release (bel0w). "WeatherBill's founders, CEO, David
Friedberg, and CTO, Siraj Khaliq, are ex-Googlers, so it's understandable that
they are working on turning the big problem of climate change into a big
opportunity. Google Ventures is excited to support the WeatherBill team as
they take on big data challenges and create products to protect a foundational
global industry: agriculture."

Existing investors include NEA, Index Ventures, Allen & Company, Atomico,
First Round Capital and Code Advisors.

MYREF: 20110301190002 msg201103017496

[144 more news items]

---
[On knowing your constituents:]
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-01 09:39:12 UTC
Permalink
CCEMC Announces $27.2 Million Funding to 6 Industrial Energy Efficiency Projects

TechNews
Tech Finance [Canada]
Feb 28, 2011

Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) has announced more
than $27.2 mn in funding for 6 new industrial energy efficiency
projects.

The organizations receiving funding from CCEMC are:

* NRGreen Power Limited, $7 mn for the Whitecourt Energy Efficiency
Project

* Conoco Phillips Canada, $7 mn for Energy Efficiency Projects at
Upstream Conventional Oil and Gas Facilities

* Weyerhaeuser Canada Limited, $5 mn for the Weyerhaeuser Grande Prairie
Evaporator Project

* enovus Energy Inc., $3.6 mn for Engines and Compressor Emissions
Control Project

* EnCana Corporation, $2.4 mn for their Vent Gas Capture for Engine Fuel
Use project

* Quantiam Technologies Inc., $2.225 mn to advance and test technology to
reduce emissions and improve efficiency in the manufacture of olefins using
ethane feedstock

The CCEMC is a not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to establish or
participate in funding for initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and support adaptation. The CCEMC invests in discovery, development, and
operational deployment of clean technologies.

Program money is sourced from the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund
and made available to the CCEMC by the Government of Alberta through a grant
agreement. Funds can only be spent on initiatives and other measures related
to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the ability to adapt to
climate change.

MYREF: 20110301203911 msg201103012760

[142 more news items]

---
[Before the flood:]
The recent Murray Darling run-off since the floods would have provided
enought irrigation water to last at least 15 years.
Instead it has all run out to sea!
Crazy anti-dam greenies!
-- "BONZO"@27.32.240.172 [86 nyms and counting], 12 Nov 2010 14:05 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-03 04:30:01 UTC
Permalink
New Greenhouse and Energy data

TTKN
3 March 2011

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, said
today's release of data on greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption
from more than 300 corporations demonstrates another step towards a clean
energy nation.

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting data is released annually by the
Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer in the Department of Climate Change and
Energy Efficiency. It is designed to:

* inform government policy and the Australian public about emissions;

* help meet Australia's international reporting obligations;

* assist Commonwealth, State and Territory government programs and activities;
and

* avoid the duplication in reporting requirements in the States and
Territories.

Due to a drop in publication and reporting thresholds, the number of
corporations with data published in 2009-10 has increased from the first
report, in 2008-09. In 2008-09 the publication threshold was 125 kilotonnes of
CO2 equivalence. For the 2009-10 period the threshold was lowered to 87.5
kilotonnes.

"By requiring companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and energy
use, they gain a better understanding of their carbon footprint and where they
might find opportunities to reduce emissions," Mr Combet said. "With a carbon
price, business will be motivated to innovate and cut their emissions."

"Emissions accounting is essential for a future carbon pricing mechanism and
it is good to see the progress which has been made in the reporting cycles to
date.

"It also reinforces the Gillard Government's commitment to help companies cut
pollution and to invest in clean energy, through the certainty of a carbon
price. A carbon price will drive investment in clean energy and reduce carbon
pollution."

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme was introduced by
the Howard Government in 2007 to provide data and accounting to underpin a
future carbon price mechanism to start in 2012.

The NGER data is available at: www.climatechange.gov.au .

MYREF: 20110303153001 msg2011030312721

[133 more news items]

---
A scientist cites a data point that is consistent with a trend and
says "This data is consistent with the trend; no surprise".
A kook cites a data point inconsistent with the trend and says "Surprise!
The trend is Wrong Wrong Wrong!".
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-03 09:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Qld businesses raided over insulation program

Courtney Trenwith
Brisbane Times
Mar 03, 2011

Queensland properties have been raided as part of an extensive investigation
into fraudulent activity under the federal government's botched home
insulation program.

Thirty-five properties, including some in NSW and Victoria, were raided using
commonwealth issued warrants after a forensic audit by accounting firm KPMG,
identified the companies and individuals targetted as having allegedly
committed serious fraud.

The program was scrapped in April last y after being linked to shoddy work and
several deaths.

The 1st company was charged and fined $100k on Feb 4 in relation to one of the d
eaths.

QHI Installations Pty Ltd was charged with failing to conduct its business in
a way that was electrically safe after employee Matthew Fuller, 25, was
electrocuted on Oct 14, 2009, while installing foil insulation in the ceiling
of a home at Meadowbrook, S of Brisbane.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark
Dreyfus, said the investigation was commissioned to help restore confidence in
the insulation industry.

"This is an ongoing investigation and we will continue to work with other
government agencies to identify other possible cases of fraud and misconduct
under this program", he said.

The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency today also launched a
Debt Recovery Program to identify debt owed from fraudulent or non-compliant
activities undertaken during the insulation program, and to recover money owed
to the Commonwealth.

"Almost 2000 letters were sent out today putting installers on notice that
their debt to the Commonwealth must be paid. These installers now have 30 days
to either pay the debt or raise any issues," Mr Dreyfus said.

The Opposition has repeatedly called for a judicial inquiry into the $2.45 bn
scheme, which saw subsidised insulation installed in 1.1 mn Australian
homes, many of them requiring safety inspection due to suspect workmanship.

Households were offered $1600 rebates under the program, with widespread
allegations of rorting, including payments being claimed by installers despite
no work being done.

MYREF: 20110303200001 msg2011030321026

[130 more news items]

---
[Weather is responsible for climate change:]
And that's the only reason for the heat!
Strong northeast winds being superheated desert air from the inland to the
the southern capitals.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 31 Jan 2011 13:42 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-04 00:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Italy sets new incentive rules for renewable energy

Alberto Sisto
Reuters Africa
Mar 3, 2011 6:47pm GMT

Rome, March 3 (Reuters) - Italy removed a much feared cap on incentives for
solar power production on Thu when it set new rules for renewable energy, but
other measures in the package could slow down solar growth.

A new renewable energy decree, part of the European Union's efforts to fight
climate change, removed an 8k megawatt limit on photovoltaic production
incentives, which had been expected to rein in galloping growth of the Italian
sector.

MYREF: 20110304110001 msg2011030416242

[144 more news items]

---
[W]omen are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 11:28 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-04 06:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Pacific island states align with EU on climate, receive EUR90m

Graham_Land
Greenfudge.org
1 Mar 2011

In return for casting their votes with European nations, poor Pacific island
states will receive 90m euros ($124m US) to help with climate change
adaptation.

Pacific island nations, like Vanuatu - which is due to host a climate
conference on EU-Pacific cooperation - are considered to be on the front lines
of climate change due to rising sea levels and violent tropical storms. The
cash is relatively small in European terms, but significant for small
developing nations.

The funds - which according to the commission are redeployments of existing
development funds rather than new sources of climate financing as many
development groups also demand - support projects that include mangrove
replanting, watershed reforestation, rainwater harvesting, soil retention and
the raising of infrastructure.

While practical in terms of diplomacy and realpolitik, the money is of
doubtless benefit to some of the poorest and most needy countries in the world.

Win-win?

MYREF: 20110304170002 msg2011030430983

[132 more news items]

---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-04 12:30:02 UTC
Permalink
SBI becomes signatory to Carbon Disclosure Project [India]

Feb 21, 2011
Source : Moneycontrol.com

The countrys biggest lender, State Bank of India, has become a signatory
investor to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a collaboration of over 550
institutional investors with assets under management of USD 71 trillion.

State Bank has been undertaking several environmentally and socially
sustainable initiatives through its 14k plus branches spread across the length
and breadth of the country and was one of the few banks in the country to have
enunciated a Green Banking Policy, as early as in 2007.

SBI was the 1st in the entire Banking, Insurance and Financial Services sector
to have conceptualised and owned wind farms for generation of green power to
part substitute consumption of thermal power by its offices in India and we
have already launched a project to measure and manage organization level foot
print to achieve carbon neutrality said Shri OP Bhatt, Chairman, State Bank of
India. Partnering with CDP has only reiterated the Banks resolve and
commitment towards sustainable development he said.

We are delighted to welcome the financial powerhouse, State Bank of India, as
a signatory. As much of the worlds economic recovery will now come from rapid
growth in emerging economies like India, it was crucial for us to have a
strong partner like the SBI to promote the truly global fight for sustainable
development, said Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP.

"We are pleased that State Bank of India has become a signatory, as this
conveys a strong message to the Indian finance sector and the strategic role
it can play in promoting a sustainable future" said Ravi Singh, Secretary
General and CEO of WWF-India.

Being a major bank in the country, SBI stands to become a great catalyst in
encouraging the adoption of sustainable strategies by both - businesses and
the financial sector. We congratulate SBI on becoming a signatory to CDP; this
is a very important milestone for the initiative in India said Seema Arora,
Principal Counsellor & Head of CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable
Development.

Each y, on behalf of signatory investors, the CDP collects climate change
and carbon emissions data from over 5k large companies globally, which include
the top 200 companies in India listed on the National Stock Exchange. Over 550
institutional investors - ranging from pension funds like TIAA-CREF and
insurance companies like Allianz and Swiss Re through blue chip banks and
asset managers such as Black Rock, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley -
are signatories to the CDP.

In India, investors such as HDFC Bank Ltd, IDBI, IDFC, Reliance Capital, Tata
Capital, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank have also become signatories. CDP sends an
annual letter and questionnaire on behalf of these financial institutions to
the top 200 Indian companies by market capitalization. In 2010, 51 Indian
companies responded to the questionnaire. In the disclosure, Indian companies
reported on their carbon emissions data, reduction targets, associated risks
and opportunities and increasing board level managerial resources in
spearheading the execution of climate change strategies within their
organisations.

Compared to the 62% in 2009, 85% of the companies disclosed their GHG
emissions in 2010.

Although in total only 10 companies disclosed monetary savings as a result of
their actions, the reported amount stands at a staggering Rs 393.3 crores (USD
85 mn), with emissions reductions of 6.2 mn metric tonne of CO2 per
year.

About Investor CDP

In 2010, over 2k global companies reported on their climate strategies, GHG
emissions and energy use, including 82% of the top 500 companies in the FTSE
Global Equity Series Index. On Feb 1, 2011 the Investor CDP information
request will be sent out to more than 5k companies in over 30 major economies
in both developed and emerging markets.

A recent study revealed that the worlds top 3k companies, by market
capitalization, were responsible for environmental damages worth USD 2.15
trillion, in 2008, covering water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions,
general waste and depleted resources. These external costs caused by companies
can reduce returns to investors.

For a diversified investor, environmental costs are unavoidable as they come
back into the portfolio as insurance premiums, taxes, inflated input prices
and the physical cost associated with disasters. These costs could also reduce
future cash flows and dividends. Ultimately, externalities caused by companies
could significantly affect the value of capital markets, or their potential
for growth, and with that, the value of diversified portfolios, according to a
report of the UNEPs Financial Initiative.

CDP provides investors, insurance companies and banks with a lens through
which to evaluate these externalities and how they will impact their specific
portfolio.

MYREF: 20110304233001 msg201103043222

[130 more news items]

---
[Assault on Vostok icecores:]
YOU are the one presenting the "evidence." Your evidence MUST be
performed using proven standards, not untested guesswork.
-- Michael Dobony <***@stopassaultnow.net>, 24 Feb 2011 19:49 -0600
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-04 23:00:02 UTC
Permalink
The United States Joins the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

US Department of State
Media Note
March 4, 2011

The United States today deposited its instrument of acceptance to join the
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), becoming the 63rd member. IRENA
formed in 2009 in response to growing international interest in the adoption
of renewable energy technologies to meet the challenges of sustained economic
growth, energy security and climate change. IRENA's mission is to support and
expedite member countries' transition to greater renewable energy use by
helping identify and facilitate adoption of appropriate and optimal policies,
business practices and technologies.

To date, 148 countries are IRENA signatories. The United States is the 63rd
country to ratify the IRENA statute.

Headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, IRENA is the 1st truly
international organization based in an Arab country. In addition to the
Headquarters in Abu Dhabi, IRENA also has a Liaison Office in Vienna, Austria,
and an IRENA Innovation and Technology Center in Bonn, Germany.

MYREF: 20110305100001 msg201103054721

[134 more news items]

---
[Before the flood:]
The recent Murray Darling run-off since the floods would have provided
enought irrigation water to last at least 15 years.
Instead it has all run out to sea!
Crazy anti-dam greenies!
-- "BONZO"@27.32.240.172 [86 nyms and counting], 12 Nov 2010 14:05 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-05 08:41:14 UTC
Permalink
My2050 simulation tool enables public participation in UK's low carbon future

Ingela Maledevic
TNM
03/05/2011 - 07:10

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), UK, has come up with a new
online simulation tool that enables people to participate in the decisions
that the government is making about the energy supply in the country.

The new web application - My2050 - largely pertains to the UK's low carbon
future; and enables the public to select the country's future energy mix, from
an array of wide-ranging options including, fossil fuels, nuclear power,
biofuels, onshore and offshore wind turbines, and solar panels on houses.

Furthermore, the simulation tool also gives the people the ability to manage
demand for fuel and electricity, by taking suitable measures like - making
alterations to the ways and temperatures to which people heat their homes;
making the much-required shift to increased travel on public transport or
electric vehicles; and making business greener.

To put it differently, the My2050 simulation largely allows people to
ascertain the manner in which the UK is going to meet its target of bringing
about a whopping 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050; that too,
with the lights kept on all through.

Noting that My2050 is essentially aimed giving the people the opportunity to
let the government know what they want the country to look like by mid
century, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said: "This project
is about getting to grips with the hard choices and trade-offs which need to
be made, choices which will affect our homes, communities and the way we
travel."

See <http://my2050.decc.gov.uk/>

MYREF: 20110305194112 msg2011030521588

[140 more news items]

---
[I am Luddite!]
You whackos just keep changing your "predictions" to suit reality!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 16 Feb 2011 15:57 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-05 11:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Disaster Risk Reduction Forum Kicks Off in Hanoi, Vietnam

New Tang Dynasty Television
2011-03-04 11:57

Vietnam hosted a forum on disaster risk reduction and climate change concerns
in Hanoi on Fri.

Hundreds of delegates attended the forum including Vietnamese officials and
representatives from local and international organizations. The main agenda
was to discuss the most suitable methods for disaster risk reduction in
Vietnam.

Senator Loren Legarda from the Philippines came as the regional representative
of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster.

Vietnam and the Philippines suffer 15 to 20 typhoons and storms annually,
causing floods and landslides resulting in loss of lives and livelihood.

Vietnam is increasing efforts to win support and collects skills in disaster
risk reduction.

[Loren Legarda, Philippine Senator]:

"Legislation and policies are important. We have put them in place. But the
greater challenge is to make sure that human lives are saved. The greater
challenge is to make sure that farmers don't lose their livelihood."

Vietnam can learn from the Philippine experience of successive typhoons in
2009. Typhoon Ketsana triggered the worst flooding in 40 years, followed by
Parma, which unleashed record rainfall.

The 2 typhoons killed more than 800 people, destroyed 1000s of homes and
affected around 8 mn people.

MYREF: 20110305220002 msg2011030516695

[136 more news items]

---
[On knowing your constituents:]
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-06 09:49:52 UTC
Permalink
Hepburn Wind Farm nears completion

takver
Sun 06 Mar 2011

While Governments and business have been slow to progress action on climate
change some communities are putting their money into action by financing and
establishing community owned and operated utility scale wind farms. Hepburn
Wind is arguably the 1st Australian community owned wind farm located at
Leonards Hill, near the town of Daylesford in central Victoria. When completed
this y its 2 wind turbines, each producing 2 megawatts power for the grid,
will supply enough for 2,300 homes, most of the demand generated in the
Daylesford and Hepburn Springs area.

Initial discussions and planning for the community owned Hepburn Wind Farm
started in 2005, but ran into some issues raising the $20 mn finance
capital from the community as the Global Financial Crisis hit. A bank loan
secured the final financial security for the project to proceed, and orders
were placed for the turbines, nacelles and blades from RePower AG in
Germany. Nearly 1600 people have chosen to invest in this community owned
resource, which will provide carbon free energy and return dividends over the
life of the project to community investors and also fund assistance to local
community projects.

Construction at the Leonards Hill site started on 8 Oct, 2010. Foundations
for the 2 turbines were poured in Jan and early Feb, while the towers were
being fabricated by Keppel Price Engineering in Portland, Victoria. Keppel
Engineering is now the largest manufacturer of wind turbine towers in the
country. The tower manufacturing division currently employs 150 jobs, and with
several wind farms entering a construction phase business is booming.

Last wk 239 tons of cargo from REpower in Germany, comprising 2 nacelles, 2
hubs, 6 blades and a container of support equipment was unloaded at Appleton
dock from the cargo ship 'SE Panthea'. The turbines will undergo inspection
and possible modification to ensure they fully comply with Australian
standards before travelling to Leonards Hill for installation.

It won't be long before the residents of Daylesford will be drawing green wind
power to replace some of the demand from the large CO2 polluting brown coal
power stations in the La Trobe valley.

Other community owned wind farm projects in Australia include the Denmark
Community Windfarm in Western Australia initiated in 2003 and slowly
progressing to construction phase. The Mount Barker wind farm, also in the S
western corner of Western Australia, is currently under construction and is
70% owned by the great southern community. It will consist of 3 turbines each
with a capacity of 0.8MW and will produce enough energy to power homes in
Mount Barker. And most recently, the initiation of a community owned wind
farm in the New England Region.

MYREF: 20110306204941 msg2011030630904

[131 more news items]

---
[Assault on Vostok icecores:]
YOU are the one presenting the "evidence." Your evidence MUST be
performed using proven standards, not untested guesswork.
-- Michael Dobony <***@stopassaultnow.net>, 24 Feb 2011 19:49 -0600
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-07 07:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Homes to be fitted with green energy meters [UK]

Homes are set to fitted with meters measuring how much heat they produce from
sustainable fuels under plans expected to be unveiled by ministers this week.

David Millward
Telegraph
07 Mar 2011

The meters will be used to underpin a green heating subsidy scheme which will
see more than £4 bn invested by the Government by the end of the decade.

Householders, businesses and public buildings are to be offered cash
incentives to install environmentally friendly technology under an initiative
known as the Renewable Heat Incentive.

In return they will receive a grant based on the amount of heat which is
produced from the alternative source.

Heat accounts for 47% of Britain's CO2 emissions and it is estimated this
scheme could halve bills paid by householders and businesses.

Initially the meters will be fitted on larger buildings, while individual home
owners' grants will be calculated according to the quantity of heat which they
will have been deemed to have generated from alternative sources.

"Measuring how much heat you have saved is rather harder to measure on a
domestic scale," Greg Barker, the minister responsible for the project, told
the Daily Telegraph.

The meters will be installed in individual houses as the renewable technology
develops and it becomes easier to measure how much green heat is used by
single households.

A variety of sources have been earmarked as potential sources of "sustainable"
heat.

They include solar thermal panels, which could be fitted to a roof and used to
heat water.

Homes could also install heat pumps, capable of drawing warmth from the ground
or air outside the house.

These pumps can also be reversed in the summer, to dissipate heat and cool a hom
e.

Larger buildings including blocks of flats and housing developments old use
biomass boilers. About the size of a large fridge, they generate heat by
burning woodchips and pellets.

Biomethane could be produced to heat homes from a number of sources, including
landfill sites, sewage treatment plants and animal slurry.

With oil prices soaring on the world markets, pressure is mounting on Britain
to find alternative sources of energy.

The initiative by the Department for Energy and Climate Change is similar to
that by the Department for Transport which is offering subsidies of up to £5k
for anyone buying an electric plug-in car.

"People are becoming much more focused on the need to be more energy
independent," Mr Barker added.

Ultimately the Government hopes that the bulk of homes will be generating
their heat from sustainable sources, enabling British businesses to generate
technology which could be sold to other countries.

The initiative was welcomed by Gaynor Hartnell. chief executive of the
Renewable Energy Association. ""Britain had been falling behind its targets
and swift action has been needed to address this.

"It's a novel approach being pioneered in the UK and hopefully we will be
setting an example to other countries."

MYREF: 20110307183001 msg2011030721119

[133 more news items]

---
[Call me kook:]
Post by r***@kymhorsell.com
A scientist cites a data point that is consistent with a trend and
says "This data is consistent with the trend; no surprise".
A kook cites a data point inconsistent with the trend and says "Surprise!
The trend is Wrong Wrong Wrong!".
Sorry but 1917 invalidates the trend.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 13:29 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-07 22:30:01 UTC
Permalink
Top manufacturing tips to stay lean and green

Implementing 6 Sigma, 5S and Kaizen to reduce environmental waste

Chris Davies
Manufacturing News
Mar 6, 2011

Lean manufacturing as well as techniques like 6 Sigma, 5S, and Kaizen can
significantly increase productivity, enhance employee efficiency and reduce
costs when it comes to resources. While this goes some way in reducing the
amount of raw materials being used, manufacturing companies can focus lean
manufacturing to include the elimination of unnecessary waste which could
contribute to climate change and global warming.

So here at Manufacturing Digital, we are taking a look at the top solutions a
business can implement when it comes to keeping production lean, but also
making these processes a lot more green.

1. Overproduction

Identify areas of overproduction and root causes of waste in the current
manufacturing system and find ways to reduce or eliminate them in the
future. Some raw materials can be recycled meaning your carbon footprint will
be reduced, however energy consumption will increase and the amount of
unnecessary products needing disposal is a distinct possibility.

2. Natural resources

Why not use rainwater to clean the company fleet of vehicles? Or perhaps use
natural light to make the working environment a brighter place instead of
relying on energy sapping light bulbs? You could even become self-sufficient
by installing wind or solar power generation. Short term expense - yes, long
term carbon footprint - no.

3. Quality Control

Although manufacturing companies want to reduce costs and increase efficiency,
do not neglect quality control. If this area is overlooked, you end up with
defects and added waste which will need to be disposed of. More space is
required if these products are stored for reworking or repair and therefore
means an increase in energy use for heating, cooling and lighting.

It's a tough balance to get right, but the financial and environmental
benefits to the business will be a long-term solution rather than a short-term
problem.

MYREF: 20110308093001 msg2011030819274

[129 more news items]

---
"Global warming" refers to the global-average temperature increase
that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008

This is what the real climate scientist Dr Roy Spencer said.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 3 Mar 2011 16:29 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-08 05:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) Commits To Cleaning Up Emissions

Dow has decided to invest $100 mn in GHG Emissions.

Rachael Brunelli
07 March 2011

Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) has plans to invest $100 mn in order to reduce energy
use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its operations.

Doug May, vice president, Energy and Climate Change said that, "Dow Chemical
(NYSE:DOW) has long been a recognized leader in industrial energy efficiency
and carbon management and this investment will spark further opportunities for
energy conservation. The commitment of these funds will enable new projects
that offer exceptional financial returns and significant energy and emissions
benefits."

Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) stocks were at 37.52 at the end of the last day's
trading. There's been a 12.5% change in the stock price over the past 3
months.

MYREF: 20110308163002 msg2011030818395

[130 more news items]

---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
kfuuu
2011-03-08 05:47:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by Mr Posting Robot
Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) Commits To Cleaning Up Emissions
Dow has decided to invest $100 mn in GHG Emissions.
Rachael Brunelli
07 March 2011
Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) has plans to invest $100 mn in order to reduce energy
use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its operations.
Aha!

Taking a lead from DuPont and the ozone hole scare eh?

Birds of a feather ...




DuPont Made A Killing From CFC Regulation. Now For Global Warming Profits.

DuPont made a killing in the battle over CFC regulation.

Now it's poised to do it all over again with carbon dioxide

June 27 2009



QUOTE: DuPont had spearheaded the creation of the Alliance for Responsible
CFC Policy, a lobby group that would successfully fight off regulation of
CFCs, a chemical that many companies manufactured. Then in 1986, with
patented alternatives to CFCs in hand, DuPont had a change of heart.



QUOTE: In a move its Alliance partners considered a betrayal, DuPont
switched sides, called CFCs a danger to the planet, and lobbied the Reagan
Administration to ban CFCs.



QUOTE: "The difficulties in negotiating the Montreal Protocol had nothing
whatever to do with whether the environment was damaged or not. It was all
about who was going to gain an edge over who; whether DuPont would have an
advantage over the European companies or not."



QUOTE: "When you have $3-billion of CFCs sold worldwide and 70% of that is
about to be regulated out of existence, there is a tremendous market
potential."



QUOTE: DuPont is now keen to duplicate its "monumental achievement" with
other regulatory coups in the richest regulatory environment of all - that
of global warming.



QUOTE: Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a global warming
bill - largely a USCAP product - that represents the largest transfer of
wealth from U.S. consumers to corporate interests in history.



QUOTE: If the bill does indeed become law, DuPont's estimates will look
awfully sustainable. As will those of the legions of other corporations
whose lobbying has made climate change the world's largest industry with the
world's largest payoffs for those skilled at gaming the system.









In the 1800s, DuPont's first century as an industrial concern, it cashed in
on the money to be made in explosives.



In its second century, the 1900s, DuPont morphed into a money machine in
chemistry and energy.



In this, its third century, DuPont sees green in a new cash cow, one it
projects will take it to unprecedented profitability - sustainable
development.



This corporate strategy, explains chairman Chad Holliday, is both principled
and fundamental: "DuPont's sustainability commitments aren't just good for
business - they are our business."



DuPont's commitment to sustainability began in 1997 when it decided to
abandon its membership in The Global Climate Coalition, a high-powered lobby
created by the oil, gas, coal, automobile and chemical companies to counter
fears of global warming.



Although the coalition had been created in 1989, soon after the first
meeting of the UN's IPCC, the coalition was losing the PR battle.



DuPont switched sides and began to lobby for government to stop global
warming.



In doing so, DuPont took a page out of its own playbook. In 1980, DuPont had
spearheaded the creation of the Alliance for Responsible CFC Policy, a lobby
group that would successfully fight off regulation of CFCs, a chemical that
many companies manufactured. Then in 1986, with patented alternatives to
CFCs in hand, DuPont had a change of heart.



In a move its Alliance partners considered a betrayal, DuPont switched
sides, called CFCs a danger to the planet, and lobbied the Reagan
Administration to ban CFCs.



So successful was DuPont that Ronald Reagan became the world's first head of
state to personally push his government to ban CFCs. DuPont's efforts
culminated in the Montreal Protocol, a treaty Reagan described as "a
monumental achievement."



Others were ambivalent about what had transpired. As put by Mostafa Tolba,
the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, "The difficulties in
negotiating the Montreal Protocol had nothing whatever to do with whether
the environment was damaged or not. It was all about who was going to gain
an edge over who; whether DuPont would have an advantage over the European
companies or not."



The advantage went to DuPont, which soon controlled the rich replacement
market for CFCs. Du Pont's Freon Division Director, Joseph Glass, laid out
DuPont's coup succinctly: "When you have $3-billion of CFCs sold worldwide
and 70% of that is about to be regulated out of existence, there is a
tremendous market potential."



DuPont is now keen to duplicate its "monumental achievement" with other
regulatory coups in the richest regulatory environment of all - that of
global warming.



To this end, it helped found the United States Climate Action Partnership
(USCAP), a coalition of blue-chip business and environmental groups, to
lobby the U.S. government for legislation that will suit their agenda.



From DuPont's point of view, USCAP has been another monumental achievement.



Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a global warming bill -
largely a USCAP product - that represents the largest transfer of wealth
from U.S. consumers to corporate interests in history.



As DuPont's Holliday told the committee with evident satisfaction, "we are
pleased to see that many of the ideas we have developed are reflected in
this bill."



As well he should be. The mammoth bill's cap-and-trade system not only gives
DuPont and other major emitters a windfall in free emission allowances, but
also boosts a host of the technologies that DuPont specializes in.



As a cherry on top, DuPont will not only receive subsidies for upgrades and
other investments it would have made regardless, it could even receive
subsidies for such investments made before the bill was passed.



The bill, though endorsed by environmental groups happy with the grand
bargain being made, is not without controversy. Greenpeace opposes the bill
on numerous grounds, not least because of its corporate giveaways and
because it would spur a new generation of coal and nuclear power plants.
Other environmentalists deplore its boost to biofuels, and the effect that
carbon offsets can have on the Third World's environment. But though the
bill's environmental benefits are in doubt, there are no doubts as to its
effect on DuPont's bottom line.



After it helped found USCAP two years ago, DuPont predicted that by 2015 it
would be able to grow its annual greenhouse-gas related revenues by at least
$2-billion a year, and that its sales of renewable materials that displace
fossil fuels would double to $8-billion.



If the bill does indeed become law, DuPont's estimates will look awfully
sustainable. As will those of the legions of other corporations whose
lobbying has made climate change the world's largest industry with the world's
largest payoffs for those skilled at gaming the system.



http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2009/06/27/lawrence-solomon-dupont-s-new-game.aspx





Warmest Regards



B0nz0



"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps
US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists
worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct
from natural variation."

Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville



"If climate has not "tipped" in over 4 billion years it's not going to tip
now due to mankind. The planet has a natural thermostat"

Richard S. Lindzen, Atmospheric Physicist, Professor of Meteorology MIT,
Former IPCC Lead Author



"It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you
have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your
side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is
wrong. Period."

Professor Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics



"A core problem is that science has given way to ideology. The scientific
method has been dispensed with, or abused, to serve the myth of man-made
global warming."

"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips



"Computer models are built in an almost backwards fashion: The goal is to
show evidence of AGW, and the "scientists" go to work to produce such a
result. When even these models fail to show what advocates want, the data
and interpretations are "fudged" to bring about the desired result"

"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips



"Ocean acidification looks suspiciously like a back-up plan by the
environmental pressure groups in case the climate fails to warm: another try
at condemning fossil fuels!"

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/threat-ocean-acidification-greatly-exaggerated



Before attacking hypothetical problems, let us first solve the real problems
that threaten humanity. One single water pump at an equivalent cost of a
couple of solar panels can indeed spare hundreds of Sahel women the daily
journey to the spring and spare many infections and lives.

Martin De Vlieghere, philosopher



"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that
it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of
mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."

Bertrand Russell
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-09 07:15:03 UTC
Permalink
Climate-related investing continues to heat up

Pension funds find way to incorporate strategy into their allocations

Drew Carter
[Drew Carter is a reporter at sister publication Pensions & Investments].
Investment News
March 6, 2011 6:01 am ET

Institutional investors are beginning to incorporate climate change risk
factors into their asset allocation processes, and leading funds are
contemplating a bevy of environmentally friendly investments.

Major funds such as the Swedish buffer fund AP1, the British Columbia
Investment Management Corp, the BT Pension Scheme and the Environment Agency
Active Pension Fund already have invested bn in environmentally friendly
assets and are planning to expand their investments.

But while leading funds already have made climate-related investments part of
their portfolios, the move toward incorporating climate change into their
asset allocation processes or understanding how climate change risks affect
them at the total portfolio level is just beginning.

A recent report from consulting firm Mercer LLC urges funds to speed that proces
s.

Investors need to broaden their strategic investment approaches to include an
awareness of risk factors, as well as diversifying into climate-sensitive
asset classes such as infrastructure and private equity, according to Danyelle
Guyatt, principal and global head of research for responsible investment at Merc
er.

"There is an increased source of risk from climate change, and it could be
material," she said at a recent client conference on the report in
London. Investors should "embed an early-warning system" into their risk
management processes, specifically by directing trustees to view and discuss
climate change as a strategic risk, Ms. Guyatt said.

"It should be looked at not as a nice, tree hugging thing to do, but as part
of a prudent risk management process," she said.

At AP1, the 218.8 bn Swedish kronor ($33.9 bn) fund that provides buffer
funding for Sweden's pay-as-you-go social-security system, officials "started
to [use factor risk analysis] in 2010 as part of the [Mercer] project ... and
will use it now in the future," said Ossian Ekdahl, head of communications and
corporate governance at the fund. "It's a bit early to say, but we will
explore the possibility" of allocating directly to climate change risks in the f
uture.

AP1 also has increased its exposure to climate-sensitive asset classes and is
considering investments in timberland and infrastructure. Last year, the fund
boosted its real estate exposure to 5%, from 3.3% at year-end 2009, and made
new private-equity commitments of 1.8 bn kronor ($322.8 mn).

"Of course, we make a very broad analysis before we move into a new asset
class, and climate change sensitivity is just one factor behind that," Mr
Ekdahl said.

TOTAL PORTFOLIO UNDERSTANDING

British Columbia Investment Management, which has C$85.4 bn ($86.7 bn) in
assets, is one to 2 y away from having a total portfolio understanding of its
climate change investments, said Doug Pearce, chief executive and chief
investment officer.

"There's a lot more work to be done on that," he said, adding that the fund
likely will keep allocating capital to climate change investments in the meantim
e.

The company oversees pension and trust funds for public entities in the
Canadian province. As of Dec 31, 4.3% of assets were classified as strategic
investments and infrastructure.

The fund is working to incorporate environmental, social and governance
factors into all its investments, and doesn't isolate green-only assets,
spokeswoman Gwen-Ann Chittenden wrote in an e-mail.

Mr Pearce said that he hopes to expand the fund's allocation to
infrastructure, and fund executives are looking into sustainable-agriculture
investments as a way to take advantage of rising food prices.

"This story is just beginning," he said. "Our industry is stepping out and
coming to grips with where our long-term capital should be deployed" to manage
risks of, and take advantage of, opportunities in climate change.

Helene Winch, a director and head of policy at the £34 bn ($54.8 bn) BT
Pension Scheme, said at the Mercer conference that climate change "is part of
[the] strategic-asset-allocation work we do."

Fund executives will use scenario models created for the report in their
decisions about how to allocate alternative assets, which the fund is adding
to boost diversification and lower overall risk, she said.

BT Pension Scheme executives are considering increasing their infrastructure
allocation and are devising a way to make their passive equity investments
able to take advantage of climate change. Infrastructure is part of a 20%
allocation to alternatives, according to the fund's 2009 annual report;
more-recent information wasn't available.

"A lot of our equities are passive, and by that we would have exposure to
high-carbon stocks that we don't necessarily want," Ms. Winch said. "We are
working with Trucost Data [PLC] and FTSE [International Ltd.] to help us
allocate to a different index ... which helps tilt us toward more
carbon-efficient stocks."

The U.K.'s Environment Agency Active Pension Fund has about 12% of its £1.7 bn
investments in green assets, Howard Pearce, head of environmental finance and
pension fund management, said at the Mercer conference. And green assets are
expected to make up a greater portion of the portfolio over time, he said.

"By 2015, we think 25% of our fund will be invested in contributing to the
greener economy," Mr Pearce said.

The fund is about to begin a strategic-asset-allocation review, and the Mercer
report will help trustees incorporate climate change risks into those
decisions, he said. "That will cause some changes to our asset allocation,
probably some derisking, and probably a bit more diversification. That's the
general direction we'll be heading," Mr Pearce said.

British Columbia Investment Management, BT Pension Scheme and the Environment
Agency fund were among 14 institutional investors worldwide that worked with
Mercer to develop the report. Investors provided asset allocation data and
received a tailored report on recommended changes.

In its tailored report to the Environment Agency, Mercer recommended that the
fund diversify into climate-sensitive assets such as agricultural land,
timberland, green bonds and infrastructure, Mr Pearce said.

The public report, "Climate Change Scenarios -- Implications for Strategic
Asset Allocation," took about 18 m to complete and is available as a free
download at mercer.com/climatechange.

Climate change research has looked at many investment subjects, but "one of
the things that hadn't been touched upon was what climate change might mean on
the total portfolio level for institutional investors," Simon Dietz, deputy
director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the
Environment and principal at Vivid Economics Ltd, said at the conference.

"I'd argue that it's a groundbreaking report in its focus on exactly that," he s
aid.

FOUR SCENARIOS

Grantham and Vivid developed 4 climate change scenarios as part of the report.

By overlaying asset allocation data from participating funds on the climate
change scenarios, Mercer was able to show how certain environmental and policy
variables might affect investments over the long term. In the most likely
scenario, institutional investors will be rewarded for investing in
climate-sensitive asset classes, according to the report.

In the report, Mercer found that over the next 20 years:

o Climate change policy risk could boost portfolio risk by 10 percent.

o The impact of climate change on the environment, health and food security
could cost $4 trillion.

Policy changes worldwide could boost the cost of carbon emissions by as much
as $8 trillion.

o Investments in low-carbon technology could reach $5 trillion.

The report emphasized the need for institutional investors to engage with
policymakers worldwide as part of a risk management approach.

"The longer the policy delay, the higher the impact costs will be for
investors," according to the report.

And some funds engage directly with companies in which they invest. Because
huge funds need to invest broadly -- and often passively -- in public
companies worldwide, they see active ownership as the best way to improve
efficiency and climate change practices throughout markets and industries,
thereby lowering risks to their fund.

Tom A. Fearnley, investment director at the Norwegian Ministry of Finance,
said that the 3.15 trillion kroner ($543 bn) Government Pension
Fund-Global, is simply too big to invest in most climate-sensitive asset
classes, which tend to be capacity-constrained.

"Instead, we have opted for engagement with companies," he said. "For a fund
of our size and influence, we believe that is the most effective way" to
manage climate risks.

Like the Norwegian fund, Danish fund ATP has no plans to incorporate climate
change into its strategic-level decisions.

"For us, it's about [internalizing climate change risk], not about asset
allocation; it's about the risk to the individual investment," said Ulrik Dan
Weuder, head of investment structuring at the 476 bn Danish kroner ($86.7 bn) AT
P.

Within each industry, "there will be winners and losers," he said.

"We'll still be driving cars in 30 years. The question is, what types of cars
will we be driving and who will be producing that car," Mr Weuder said.

MYREF: 20110309181502 msg201103094324

[139 more news items]

---
Why is it relevant that the 'chief scientist' is a woman?
Because women are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 11:28 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-10 21:30:05 UTC
Permalink
Renewable heat joins the green deal

Isabel Hardman
Inside Housing
10 March 2011

A government subsidy for households generating their own renewable heat has
been delayed until Oct 2012 so that it can join the green deal programme.

The renewable heat incentive will be introduced alongside the green deal
programme of energy efficiency improvements. The RHI pays a tariff based on
the amount of heat produced by biomass boilers, solar thermal panels and other
technologies.

The RHI will pay different tariffs for different technologies, but ministers
claim it will provide a 12% return on the original cost of installing the techno
logy.

Launching the incentive, energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne said
it would stimulate a new market in renewable heat equivalent to 20 gas-fired
power stations.

Mr Huhne said: `It's the 1st renewable heat incentive launched anywhere in the
world. Heat is responsible for less than 1/2 - 47% - of our carbon emissions.

`This is a scheme designed to provide support to all of the technologies that
can replace carbon technology.'

The £860 mn scheme is expected to increase the number of industrial,
commercial and public sector installations by 7 times to 2020.

From July until the RHI launches in Oct 2012, the government will pay a
`premium payment' to up to 25k installations to encourage take-up of renewable
heat generators.

Organisations which installed equipment after 15 July 2009 will also be
eligible for the RHI. But homes will need to meet minimum standards for energy
efficiency before they can qualify for the incentive.

Paul King, chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, said: `The UK
needs a step change in the amount of heat that is generated from renewable
sources and the RHI has the potential to catalyse that step change. But for
the RHI to give the taxpayer value for money and for it to make
cost-effective, carbon sense, we need a reduction in energy demand as part of
an RHI package.

`Encouragingly, this principle seems to have been enshrined for homes, where
minimum energy efficiency standards will apply.'

Energy minister Greg Barker also said this morning that the Energy and Climate
Change department will publish a set of sustainability criteria for the
technologies and fuels involved in renewable heat. He told Inside Housing that
the criteria would include the sources of fuels such as biomass, which are
often imported from countries as far away as Canada.

Energy companies welcomed the announcement. Betty Bassis, managing director of
British Gas Community Energy, said: `The additional funding mechanism provided
through RHI creates a more level playing field for renewable heat technology,
increasing the likelihood that each home will receive the right measure based
on its individual needs.'

MYREF: 20110311083003 msg2011031122673

[142 more news items]

---
[Yasi is "the worst cyclone" to hit Qld:]
CORRECTION: The worst cyclone in history was the cat 5 Mahina in 1899.
[Bzzt! Thank you, come again!]
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 3 Feb 2011 15:12 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-11 12:45:03 UTC
Permalink
Government launches initiative to boost environmental health [UK]

The government has released details of its Renewable Heat Incentive scheme

Joseph Hutton
Mar 10 2011

The Department of Energy & Climate Change has released details of an £860 mn
initiative aimed at improving the environmental health of the UK.

Details of its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme were released yesterday
(March 10th) and is expected to undergo the parliamentary approval stage later
this year.

The organisation suggested that the RHI is the 1st scheme of its kind in the
world, as the government looks to encourage the use of renewable sources such
as heat pumps and wood chip boilers.

It is hoped that the scheme will help the government reach its target of
reducing emissions by 80% by 2050.

Businesses and industries, which account for 38% of the UK's carbon emissions,
will be the 1st targets for the scheme before it is rolled out to domestic
households.

Earlier this week, energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne backed the
European Commission's plans to significantly reduce the continent's greenhouse
emissions by 2050.

MYREF: 20110311234502 msg2011031114870

[137 more news items]

---
[Irony 101:]
[By my count BONZO has called people whacko 137 times; fool 26; idiot
22 times; twit 17 times; moron 14 times in just the past 4 wks. There
is a 10+-year history, however].
Warmist Abuse Shows They're Losing
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 16 Feb 2011 17:15 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-12 06:30:03 UTC
Permalink
EU sets emissions targets for airlines as of 2012

Arthur Max
AP
March 7, 2011

Amsterdam -- The European Union told airlines Mon to trim their carbon
emissions by three% on flights to the continent next y to fall within new
pollution limits.

The limit is designed to encourage airlines to reduce greenhouse gases that
contribute to global warming by switching to cleaner fuels or economizing on
fuel consumption with lighter aircraft or more efficient flight patterns.

As of Jan 1, some 4k airlines will fall under the EU's cap and trade scheme
on flights to and from European airports. Each carrier is allocated permits to
emit a set amount of carbon dioxide. They can buy extra credits if they exceed
that limit or sell credits if they emit less.

On Mon, the European Commission, the EU's executive, set the 2012 cap at 212.9
mn tons of CO2, about 3% less than the annual average the airlines emitted in
2004-2006. The cap will be reduced the following y by another 2% of that
three-year average, where it will remain until 2020.

"Emissions from aviation are growing faster than from any other sector,"
Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, said in a
statement. "Firm action is needed."

The EU says the impact of the measure on airline tickets "will probably be
minor." It calculated that a round trip ticket from Brussels to New York will
cost an extra euro12 ($16.75) if the full price of carbon is passed on to the
customer.

In fact, the airlines will receive more than 80% of allocations for free, and
the extra cost to the company of a trans-Atlantic ticket would be about
euro2. But officials in the European Commission say it's likely the companies
may take advantage of the scheme to raise prices by the full value of the
allocation, reaping a "windfall" profit.

US airlines have challenged the imposition of emissions cap on non-European
companies, saying it breaches international law that assigns the regulation of
air travel to treaties and agreements between countries. The suit filed by the
Air Transport Association of America is now being considered by the European
Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Air travel is responsible for about 3% of greenhouse gases, but their share of
global emissions is rising rapidly. Although 1000s of airlines will fall
under the scheme, 50 major carriers are responsible for about 70% of the emissio
ns.

Atmosfair, a German-based environment group, says one trans-Atlantic flight
emits 1,600 kilograms of carbon per passenger, the same amount a person emits
for heating his home or driving his car for an entire year.

Jos Cozijnsen, a Dutch environmental lawyer, said the cap set by the EU was
"not very ambitious" and won't affect the global economy. "It bends the trend
a bit. A cleaner company has a better position than a less clean company," he
told The Associated Press.

Several airlines have been experimenting with biofuels to replace
petroleum-based jet fuels. Fokko Kroesen, of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, told a
conference in Amsterdam last wk that eventually biofuels could cut fuel
emissions 80 percent, including the full chain of production. But most
aviation experts believe biofuels need many more y of development.

Aviation experts say some airlines may adjust their international routes to
avoid transit landings at European airports on flights, for example from N
America to Asia or Africa.

The EU says emissions trading, which began in 2005 for power companies and
heavy industries, is the cheapest way to control emissions from the most
polluting sources. President Barack Obama proposed a similar scheme in the
United States, but it was scrapped after failing to win congressional
support. Some US states have created carbon trading markets, and several
countries from Mexico to Australia have drawn up plans to cap and trade emission
s.

MYREF: 20110312173002 msg2011031230444

[133 more news items]

---
What exactly are you trying to say, aside from calling me an idiot?
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 11 Feb 2011 12:20 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-20 09:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Google Takes on Climate Change Skeptics with New Technology Effort

The search giant has brought together a team of 21 climate researchers to
improve the way the science of global warming is communicated using new media

Maria Gallucci
Mar 18, 2011
Google Earth image

Kelly Levin, a senior research associate at the World Resources Institute, a
conservation group, said she hoped the Google program could tackle that
challenge by engaging wider audiences in the scientific discussion.

"Given the pace and scale of human-induced climate change, it is of great
importance that climate change science, and the urgency of addressing the
climate change problem, is communicated effectively to the public and decision
makers," she said.

She added: "Involving the public more directly in the scientific process could
increase the acceptance of ideas and help scientific advancements inform
governmental policies."

A More Accessible Approach

Throughout the year, the Google fellows will sharpen their new media skills,
learn data-sharing technologies and improve communication strategies to lend a
more accessible approach to climate science.

Following a workshop in June, fellows will have the chance to apply for grants
to support projects fostering scientific dialogue. Future participants will
take on other socially relevant topics tied to science and the environment.

"The public's understanding of science across all disciplines is extremely
low, because the scientific community is really siloed from the community in
general," Amy Luers, Google's senior environment program manager, told
SolveClimate News.

"If the scientists understand [data] in a different way than the public does,
it is impossible to see how this information is going to be integrated in the
way it needs to be to make policy and management decisions," she said.

MYREF: 20110320200001 msg2011032022957

[138 more news items]

---
[Something about "warm bath in sanctimony"]
Pop over to Tim Blair's for a look.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Feb 2011 14:39 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-22 15:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Climate Change Impacts "Call for Action by US Naval Leadership" -- National Rese
arch Council

Nick Sundt
Climate Science Watch
March 12, 2011

Arctic climate change challenge for US Navy (Image source: US Navy)

The US National Research Council warned in a new report released March 10,
National Security Implications of Climate Change for US Naval Forces, that
"even the most moderate predicted trends in climate change will present new
national security challenges for the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard."
The seriousness of the climate change preparedness discourse in this report,
commisioned by the US Department of the Navy, and the seriousness with
which it treats scientific intelligence and the assessments by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, contrasts with the rampant
denialism we have been witnessing in Congress and the right-wing blogosphere.

Regardless of one's views on US national security policy issues, this report
from the leading US scientific advisory body to the US government raises
key issues in the science-policy nexus, most particularly with regard to the
potential impacts of climate change in the Arctic region.

The following is re-posted with the permission of the author from the World
Wildlife Fund's Climate Blog.

In National Security Implications of Climate Change for US Naval Forces, the
US National Research Council (NRC) warned yesterday (10 March 2011) that "even
the most moderate predicted trends in climate change will present new national
security challenges for the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard." Frank
L. Bowman, a retired US navy admiral and co-chair of the NRC committee that
wrote the report said: "Naval forces need to monitor more closely and start
preparing now for projected challenges climate change will present in the
future." The NRC is the main operating agency of the National Academy of
Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

The study, sponsored by the US Department of the Navy, covered a wide range of
climate change implications for naval operations around the world, but it
highlighted the implications of Arctic warming. "Of all the theaters of naval
operations that the committee considered could be impacted by climate change,
the Arctic was found to have the most immediate challenges," the report
says. We provide below excerpts from the report, outlining the panel's
findings and recommendations in 6 areas for "US Naval Leadership Action."

Action Area 1: Support ratification of the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea.

FINDING: The committee has studied the implications of the failure of the
United States to ratify the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS) from the standpoint of potential impacts on national security in
the context of a changing climate. As climate change affords increased access
to the Arctic, it is envisioned that there will be new opportunities for
natural resource exploration and recovery, as well as increased ship traffic
of all kinds, and with that a need for broadened naval partnership and
cooperation, and a framework for settling potential disputes and conflicts. By
remaining outside the Convention, the United States makes it more difficult
for US naval forces to have maximum operating flexibility in the Arctic and
complicates negotiations with maritime partners for coordinated search and
rescue operations in the region. (Chapter 1)

RECOMMENDATION: The ability of US naval forces to carry out their missions
would be assisted if the United States were to ratify UNCLOS. Therefore, the
committee recommends that the Chief of Naval Operations, the Commandant of the
Marine Corps, and the Commandant of the Coast Guard continue to put forward
the naval forces' view of the potential value and operational impact of UNCLOS
ratification on US naval operations, especially in the Arctic region. (Chapter
1)

Action Area 2: Prepare for increased strain on capabilities due to greater
humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR)-related missions, as well as
the opening of new international and territorial waters in the Arctic.

FINDING: The unique capability provided by the US Navy hospital ships will
become even more important in supporting potential humanitarian
assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR)-related missions that will likely occur as
a result of crises created by climate change. The Navy needs to maintain this
capability beyond the life of its current two-ship hospital fleet. (Chapter 2)

RECOMMENDATION: The Program Executive Office for Ships (PEO-Ships), the Naval
Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), and the Military Sealift Command (MSC) should
analyze alternatives to retain the medical capability of the current hospital
ships into the future. The analysis should address construction of new
military or commercial platforms like the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) that
will join the Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF); modification to current
surface platforms or amphibious "big-decks"; or construction of
next-generation Navy fleet hospitals to meet the requirements. In this
context, PEO-Ships, NAVSEA, and MSC should also explore the feasibility of
leasing commercial ships and crews to meet the requirements, but in doing
guaranteed availability on very short notice are included. (Chapter 2)

FINDING: Global climate change projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) suggest damaging impacts in
developing and developed nations that may be destabilizing in many parts of
the world. These projections would affect US national security and stress
naval resources. In particular, naval forces will likely be required to carry
out more frequent humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR)-related
missions. At the same time, US naval forces would be expected to execute
their ongoing national security military missions and to position themselves
for supporting missions in destabilized regions around the globe. It is also
expected that the demand for US Naval Construction Force and Marine
Expeditionary Unit capabilities will increase in proportion to the operational
tempo of US-sponsored international HA/DR missions. (Chapter 2)

RECOMMENDATION: In the near term, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) should
not specifically fund new force-structure capabilities to deal with the
effects of projected climate change; however, the CNO should begin to hedge
against climate change impacts through planning for modifications of the
existing force structure as climate change requirements become clearer. The US
naval forces (the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard) should begin to
consider potential specific force-structure capabilities and training
standards for conducting missions arising from, or affected by, climate
change, particularly HA/DR-related missions. (Chapter 2)

USCGC Healy, a Coast Guard icebreaker designed to support scientific research,
in the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Henry Dick Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution /
NSF


FINDING: The nation has very limited icebreaker capability, which could limit
the US ability to train, operate, and engage in the Arctic. Furthermore, as
noted in a 2007 National Research Council report, "both operations and
maintenance of [the] polar icebreaker fleet have been underfunded for many
years, and the capabilities of the nation's icebreaking fleet have diminished
substantially" and, among other things, "the US Coast Guard [USCG] should be
provided sufficient operations and maintenance budget[s] to support an
increased, regular, and influential presence in the Arctic." Moreover, US
national icebreaker assets are old, obsolete, and under the control of another
agency that does not have a national security operational mandate. The present
committee believes that future USCG missions in the Arctic will require
autonomy and command of their vessels. (Chapter 2)

RECOMMENDATION: In order to support the US naval forces' missions in the
Arctic, the US Coast Guard (USCG) needs icebreaker capabilities under its
operational control. While there are other national requirements for such
ships, action should be taken to provide these operational capabilities to the
USCG. Therefore, the Chief of Naval Operations should support the initiatives
of the Commandant of the Coast Guard to define future USCG icebreaker
needs. As such, future US national icebreaker assets should be defined as
part of a holistic force structure that also accommodates ongoing National
Science Foundation-sponsored polar research needs. (Chapter 2)

FINDING: The current situation of the 3 combatant commanders--Commander, US
European Command; Commander, US Northern Command; and Commander, US Pacific
Command--having overlapping areas of responsibility for the Arctic was perhaps
workable when the Arctic was less important than it is rapidly becoming. This
division of responsibility in the Arctic is inconsistent with US national
interests and does not match the command structure of other US agencies
(such as the Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of
State) in this increasingly significant region of the world. (Chapter 2)

RECOMMENDATION: The Chief of Naval Operations should engage the Joint Chiefs
of Staff in a review of combatant commanders' responsibilities for the Arctic,
with the goal of ensuring the most effective command structure. Interagency
considerations, including but not limited to the US Department of State,
should be included in these deliberations. (Chapter 2)

FINDING: In the post-Cold War era, the US Navy has had a very limited surface
ship presence in true northern latitude, cold-weather conditions. According to
information presented to the committee, the US military as a whole has lost
most of its competence in cold-weather operations for high-Arctic
warfare. (Chapter 2)

RECOMMENDATION: The Chief of Naval Operations, the Commandant of the Marine
Corps, and the Commandant of the Coast Guard should establish a strong and
consistently funded effort to increase Arctic operations and share lessons,
including with allies. In the immediate term, the Navy should begin Arctic
training and the Marine Corps should also reestablish a cold-weather training
program. (Chapter 2)

Action Area 3: Address naval coastal installation vulnerabilities due to
anticipated sea-level rise and increased storm surges.

FINDING: Peer-reviewed literature since the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) suggests that loss of ice from
small ice bodies (e.g. mountain glaciers and small ice caps) may have been
underestimated in the last IPCC report and that major changes in Greenland and
Antarctic ice sheet dynamics can take place over relatively short
timescales. Sea-level variations caused by shifts in wind, rain, evaporation,
and land-ice volume can cause far greater local changes in sea-level
variations than the global mean rise that is projected from thermal expansion
of the ocean and land-surface meltwater runoff. (Chapter 3)

RECOMMENDATION: Based on recent peer-reviewed scientific literature, the
Department of the Navy should expect roughly 0.4 to 2 meters global average
sea-level rise by 2100, with a most likely value of about 0.8
meter. Projections of local sea-level rise could be much larger and should be
taken into account for naval planning purposes. However, US naval
leadership (e.g. the Oceanographer of the Navy) should be aware that this
estimate is subject to change, and it should be reviewed routinely for any
significant change. (Chapter 3)

FINDING: Neither regional nor global sea level is of primary interest in
determining naval coastal installation vulnerability. Rather, it is the
increased vulnerability associated with extreme events (storm surges) and
their dependence on changes in regional sea level, tidal amplitudes, and the
nature of extraordinary meteorological forces that are of greatest
importance. (Chapter 3)

FINDING: US Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps coastal installations around
the globe will become increasingly susceptible to projected climate
change. Several assessments now under way on naval installation
vulnerabilities appear to be focused primarily on static sea-level rise and
coastal inundation only. According to these current assessments, some adaptive
actions are indicated owing to already identified vulnerabilities at specific
naval installations. The preliminary review of climate-changerelated base
vulnerabilities across the DOD--currently under way as directed by the 2010
Quadrennial Defense Review--does not include some important factors that
affect coastal installation vulnerabilities, although it provides a baseline
assessment across all branches of the armed services and serves as a starting
point for more in-depth analysis and action. (Chapter 3)

RECOMMENDATION: The Commander, Naval Installations Command, and the Navy
Director for Fleet Readiness and Logistics should work with their US Coast
Guard and Marine Corps counterparts--and in conjunction with the other armed
services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense--to ensure that a
coordinated analysis is undertaken to address naval-installation vulnerability
to rising sea levels, higher storm surges, and other consequences of climate
change. In performing this vulnerability analysis, naval facility managers
should recognize that each and every naval facility has a unique configuration
and requires ongoing oversight of the changing risks as the climate system
shifts. For example, local storm surge impact in climate-induced extreme
storm events is likely to represent a bigger vulnerability than sea-level rise
alone. (Chapter 3)

RECOMMENDATION: For Program Objective Memorandum (POM)-14 planning purposes,
the Chief of Naval Operations should prepare to invest in early-stage
adaptation for targeted low-elevation naval installations identified in
current vulnerability assessments as being at "very high risk" from more
intense storm surges, sea-level rise, and other climate change impacts. Other
risks for naval installations as a result of projected climate change require
further analysis and planning at this time, but no immediate direct additional
substantial investment beyond current budget plans. (Chapter 3)

Action Area 4: Address US, allied, and/or international maritime
partnership demands based on climate change scenarios.

FINDING: All regions of the world will experience the effects of projected
climate change. Some climate change effects, such as changes in storm patterns
and drought, will have direct impacts in the United States. Should regional
storms and droughts intensify over time they may well drive mass migrations to
the United States from neighboring countries, including Mexico, the Caribbean,
and Central America. Projected climate change will also directly and
indirectly affect most US allies, including NATO countries, Australia,
Japan, and all other major non-NATO allies, which in turn may request or
require US assistance. (Chapter 4)

RECOMMENDATION: Given that US naval forces cannot be fully prepared for or
respond to all plausible climate contingencies, the Chief of Naval Operations,
working with the combatant commanders, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and
the Commandant of the Marine Corps, should develop or expand maritime
partnerships with other nations. Projected climate change will affect all
regions of the world, and so US naval forces should seek to develop these
partnerships with long-standing allies and nontraditional partners alike,
including Russia, China, and nongovernmental organizations. In particular,
developing climate change response capabilities within the NATO alliance could
strengthen global climate change response capabilities and the alliance
itself. (Chapter 4)

FINDING: Although the likelihood of conflict in the Arctic is low, it cannot
be ruled out, and competition in the region is a given. However, cooperation
in the region should not be considered a given, even with close
allies. Although there are mechanisms for bilateral and multilateral
cooperation in the area, including the Arctic Council, these relationships and
mechanisms are largely untested for emerging conditions. Additionally, with
the ratification of UNCLOS, US naval forces will be better positioned to
conduct future naval operations and protect national security interests,
especially in the Arctic. (Chapter 4)

RECOMMENDATION: The Chief of Naval Operations, working with the combatant
commanders, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the Commandant of the
Marine Corps, should build maritime partnerships in the Arctic region and
encourage the United States to continue to identify and adopt policies and
relationships in the Arctic that will build cooperation for new circumstances
and minimize the risks of confrontation. (For example, naval leaders should
pursue bilateral and multilateral training and exercising of US naval
personnel with partner nation personnel in maritime security, search and
rescue, and HA/DR, and continue strong support of the US efforts in the Arctic
Council.) There should be no assumption that the geostrategic situation will
take care of itself or that US interests in the region are currently protected
and promoted. (Chapter 4)

Action Area 5: Address the potential impacts on the technical underpinnings
that enable, in part, naval force capabilities, especially any impacts due to
the necessity to operate in polar regions.

FINDING: US military navigation and communications systems have been optimized
to support operations in non-polar regions. Likewise, data on terrain
elevation and bathymetry to support military operations and nautical charting
are of low resolution and sparse in the Arctic. Moreover, while accurate ice
coverage charts are available to guide surface navigation, reliable real-time
ice characterization and maps in emergent Arctic transit routes are not. The
combined effect of degraded navigation, communications, and charting systems
could impact safe operations and reduce the performance of military systems in
the polar regions. (Chapter 5)

RECOMMENDATION:The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development,
and Acquisition should increase research and development efforts at the Office
of Naval Research and the Naval Research Laboratory to address the operational
shortfalls of existing and planned navigation, communications, and charting
systems, leveraging both local and global augmentation technologies. In
conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the
Department of the Navy should increase priority for extending modern
navigation, communications, and charting coverage to include the Arctic
region. (Chapter 5)

FINDING: The United States had an Arctic research program during the Cold War
that has essentially ceased. Moreover, there is no infrastructure to support
antisubmarine warfare (ASW) in the Arctic. While there are no significant ASW
activities now in the Arctic, US naval forces need to be prepared to
operate there safely. The United States' diminished Arctic research program
and capabilities from what existed during the Cold War--plus the need for even
better performance from its ASW systems--put US naval forces' ability to
operate as needed in the Arctic at risk if the United States does not keep
pace with the capabilities of other Arctic nations, especially Russia with its
extensive claims of Arctic sovereignty, as well as with non-Arctic nations,
such as China. (Chapter 5)

RECOMMENDATION: Given that climate change may drive the US naval forces to
conduct antisubmarine warfare (ASW) operations in the Arctic, the Department
of the Navy should increase its submarine Arctic presence for training
purposes, extend its supporting ASW oceanographic data infrastructure to the
Arctic Ocean, and begin to conduct multiplatform ASW training exercises in the
Arctic. Specifically, this should include:

* Increased research for Arctic passive and active sonars;

* Long-range planning to install facilities that support Arctic ASW, such as
refurbishing and expanding the fixed array systems;

* Planning for aircraft support from the new P8;

* Development of high-latitude communications systems for relaying tactical
and environmental data;

* Identifying ports for emergencies; and

* Incorporation of a more robust under-ice capability on Virginia-class
submarines. (Chapter 5)

Action Area 6: Support investments for additional research and development
that have implications for future naval force operations and capabilities, and
might not be met by other groups pursuing climate-related research.

FINDING: Open access to previously classified Navy data and to other
Department of Defense assets through the MEDEA Program have enabled advances
in climate change research that have benefited the scientific community
studying climate change. A clear example of this benefit is the analysis of
submarine upward looking sonar, which shows that sea ice has been thinning in
response to climate change. (Chapter 6)

RECOMMENDATION: The Chief of Naval Research, the Oceanographer of the Navy,
and the Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, should consider
findings by the MEDEA Program (and take lessons from MEDEA actions within the
intelligence community) to develop and support a Navy philosophy for providing
access to previously classified information that can be used by the climate
research community. Such actions would enhance the potential of these
researchers to help the Navy better prepare for its mission in a future with a
warmer climate. (Chapter 6)

FINDING: The Navy has billions of dollars in assets exposed to the threats of
climate change, and it must make strategic decisions in the face of
considerable uncertainty about the pace, magnitude, and regional
manifestations of climate change. Yet Navy research at present has no
capability for modeling the coupled ocean-atmosphere-land-cryosphere system
and how it will respond to greenhouse gas forcing. The Navy also has no
programs in seasonal-to-decadal timescale climate forecasting to help guide
longrange strategic planning for operations, platforms, and facilities; it
relies almost entirely on civilian agencies and international assessments to
inform its policies and practices related to climate change. (Chapter 6)

RECOMMENDATION: The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development,
and Acquisition (ASN RDA) should examine the US Navy's overall research and
development capabilities vis-à-vis climate studies, especially with respect to
coupled models and climate forecasting on seasonal-to-decadal timescales. The
ASN RDA should give special emphasis to regional aspects of sea-level rise,
and sea-ice concentration and extent, because of their relevance to coastal
infrastructure and operational needs. The Department of the Navy should also
become actively engaged in the development of an Arctic Observing System,
specifically with respect to development and deployment of in situ and remote
sensing systems (i.e. gliders, buoys, and satellites) as well as icebreakers
in support of research. (Chapter 6)

Online Resources

National Security Implications of Climate Change for US Naval Forces. By
National Research Council, 2011. See also press release (dated 10 March
2011), US Naval Forces Need to Prepare for Effects of Climate Change; and a
summary document [PDF].
http://www.nap.edu/nap-cgi/report.cgi?record_id=12914&type=pdfxsum

MYREF: 20110323023002 msg2011032311672

[137 more news items]

---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-23 05:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Changing contracts, increasing efficiency and reducing use all adds up to save c
ash

Kathie Griffiths
Bradford Telegraph and Argus
12th March 2011

Bradford Council has cut its energy bill by £1.5 mn and it's mostly down to
good housekeeping.

In the past 8 m £900k was saved by shopping round for the best gas and
electric providers and on a buy-in-advance energy scheme.

At the moment the annual energy bill for the Council's operations including
street lighting but not schools is in the region of £7 million.

The other £600k saved so far was achieved by increasing energy efficiency,
said the Council's environment and climate change manager Richard Williamson.

Cavities and loft spaces have been insulated, more intelligent central heating
controls used and covers purchased for the Council's swimming pools so the
water does not need to be warmed up as much in the morning.

Another cost-cutting initiative is switching off computers at night.

Mr Williamson said: "When you think of the 1000s of computers the Council has,
switching them off over night will make quite a big difference. And if people
walk away from their screens, go for lunch or off to meetings the computers
now go into hibernation.

"All of these measures are easy-wins and now we've done it we will keep
reaping the rewards.

"People are responding really well and are getting into the right habits, they
are all playing a part in keeping the energy bill down and saving taxpayers'
money."

In the same 8 m the saving on energy use equates to a massive 3,666 tonnes
reduction in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.

Mr Williamson said: "We've got a target to reduce those emissions by 40 per
cent by 2020, we've reduced it by about seven% already so we're well on our way.
"

MYREF: 20110323160002 msg201103237601

[135 more news items]

---
[Assault on Vostok icecores:]
YOU are the one presenting the "evidence." Your evidence MUST be
performed using proven standards, not untested guesswork.
-- Michael Dobony <***@stopassaultnow.net>, 24 Feb 2011 19:49 -0600
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-23 11:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Guyana Deforestation Triples Despite Funding for Forest Protection

Georgetown, Guyana, March 7, 2011 (ENS) - Deforestation rates in the S American
country of Guyana have increased during the last year, despite a 2009 agreement
with the Norwegian government aimed at supporting forest protection to avert
climate change, the nonprofit watchdog organization Global Witness said today.

Signed in Nov 2009 and worth up to US$250 mn over 4 years, the agreement was
initially welcomed as a potential breakthrough, and a blueprint for other
countries to follow to preserve forests. Deforestation and land use change
contributes 20 to 25% of the carbon emissions that cause climate change.

The agreement provides that Norway will pay for Guyana's performance on
limiting greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation,
and for progress made against governance-related indicators. Guyana will
invest the payments it receives, and any income earned on them, in its Low
Carbon Development Strategy.

However, once the technical details were made public, initial optimism gave
way to widespread concern since a clause in the agreement allows deforestation
rates in Guyana to increase, at Norway's expense.

Located on the northern coast of S America, Guyana is about the size of Great
Britain. One of the world's last intact tropical rainforests covers some 18.5
mn hectares, about 87% of the country's land area. Guyana has one of the
highest levels of biodiversity of any country, with some 8k plant species, 1/2
of which are endemic.

"Over the past year, deforestation rates in Guyana have increased 300
percent," said Laura Furones of Global Witness. "It's too early to say if this
increase is a direct result of the flawed data in the agreement, but there is
undoubtedly an incentive for Guyana to both profit from expanding forestry
activities and simultaneously get paid by Norway to reduce deforestation."

The clause assumed an existing annual baseline deforestation rate in Guyana of
0.45% on an interim basis until a more accurate baseline could be determined.

A Jan report commissioned by the Guyana Forestry Commission, and carried out
by New Zealand-based consultants, Pöyry Forest Industry, concluded that the
actual deforestation rate over the period 1990-2009 was in fact only 0.02%.

So, if the interim baseline is not adjusted under the terms of the agreement,
deforestation in Guyana could increase 20-fold and still remain within the
agreed limits.

The report confirmed that over the 1st y of the agreement the rate of actual
deforestation in the country had trebled, reaching 0.06 percent.

Furones said, "The Norwegian and Guyanese governments must therefore adopt the
precautionary principle to ensure that this is not the beginning of an upward
trend that threatens local livelihoods and biodiversity."

Uncertainties about actual levels of deforestation were acknowledged by the
Norwegian and Guyanese governments soon after the deal was negotiated. At that
time, both agreed to set a new reference level as close as possible to
Guyana's historical deforestation rate when further data was available.

The Pöyry report confirms that the interim deforestation rate was
unrealistically high, and Global Witness is urging governments of Guyana and
Norway to set a new reference level when they meet later this month.

Global Witness says a new reference level must be based on accurate historical
data and ensure compensation is only paid to the government of Guyana if it
takes positive steps to tackle the existing human pressures on Guyana's
forests, including logging and mining.

"It's in nobody's interests to see Guyana's forests disappear or Norwegian
taxpayers' money go to waste" said Furones.

The agreement extends REDD+, formally known as the UN Collaborative Programme
on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing
Countries. The agreement between Guyana and Norway seeks to embark on one of
the 1st national-scale REDD-plus initiatives in the world.

The Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund was established in Oct 2010 with the World
Bank acting as the Trustee. The 1st payment from Norway to the fund of US$30
mn was processed at that time.

Ashni Singh, Minister of Finance of Guyana said then, "Today represents a big
step forward in our joint efforts to show that we can create a low
deforestation, low carbon, climate resilient economy in Guyana. Our two
countries are forging new ground in trying to work out how REDD+ can help to
reconcile the world's need for urgent action to avert climate catastrophe with
Guyana's sustainable development."

"Whilst we applaud the Norwegian government for its leading role in efforts to
preserve the world's rainforests," said Furones today, "it must recognize that
if their agreement does not demand a deviation from business as usual, then
this deal will undermine global efforts to protect forests and mitigate
climate change."

"Both governments must take the findings of this report seriously and
renegotiate the agreement based on the reality on the ground," Furones
said. "Only a dramatic reduction in the baseline rate will secure this and
show that the Guyana-Norway agreement is succeeding in incentivizing the
protection of Guyana's forests."

Guyana is also receiving payments from Germany to preserve its rainforest. On
April 10, 2010, Finance Minister Singh and German Ambassador to Guyana Ernest
Martens signed an agreement making an additional 5 mn euros available to fund
forest protection. This second agreement takes Germany's financial support for
Guyana's tropical rainforest up to 8.1 mn euros.

Part of Germany's long-term support to the fight against climate change in the
Caribbean Community Region, the funds are supposed to safeguard Guyana's
existing protected areas, and establish new protected areas as well.

MYREF: 20110323223001 msg2011032316225

[135 more news items]

---
[Cause and effect:]
[explanations for climate change]
You left out "emerging from an ice age"!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 12:40 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-03-29 11:30:01 UTC
Permalink
Clean-tech revenues are soaring in the US - survey

Legalbrief
Mar 28 2011

A report, 'Clean-energy Trends 2011', from Clean Edge - a research and
advisory firm devoted to the clean-tech sector - has surveyed the past 10 y of
clean-energy activity in the US and abroad, and found that since 2009,
revenues of the 3 benchmark technologies of biofuels, wind power, and solar
photovoltaics have grown by 35.2% to $188.1bn.

<http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_0_0_t&usg=AFQjCNFl72Rgv-Wok
owxtz43Bzq9Ftk2tw&did=ff49e5ac3ba24deb&sig2=WbFFlORPtXh6jtxHO-9yXg&cid=0&ei=p56R
TYqSB5HnkAWShpnyAw&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.legalbrief.co.za%2
Farticle.php%3Fstory%3D20110329102056216>

MYREF: 20110329223001 msg201103295734

[130 more news items]

---
It takes more than warmth to grow crops; otherwise the Sahara would be green!
--
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 21 Jan 2011 11:16 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-06-20 17:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[coal lobby spin]
UN meets to mull climate change quick-fix options

The Gabardan solar plant can provide enough electricity for up to 40k people

Marlowe Hood
AFP/Physorg
June 19, 2011

Worker assembles solar panels at the Gabardan solar electric plant at Losse in
S western France in 2009. On the heels of another halting round of talks on
climate change, UN scientists this wk will review quick-fix options for
beating back the threat of global warming that rely on technology rather than
political wrangling.

On the heels of another halting round of talks on climate change, UN
scientists this wk will review quick-fix options for beating back the threat
of global warming that rely on technology rather than political wrangling.

Experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), meeting for
3 days from Mon in the Peruvian capital Lima, will ponder "geo-engineering"
solutions designed to cool the planet, or at least brake the startling rise in
Earth's temperature.

Seeding the ocean with iron, scattering heat-reflecting particles in the
stratosphere, building towers to suck CO2 (CO2) out of the atmosphere, and
erecting a giant sunshade in space are all on the examining table.

Critics say such schemes -- some of which have been tested experimentally --
are a roll of the dice with Earth's climate system and its complex web of biodiv
ersity.

And even if one problem is solved, they argue, it may be impossible to
anticipate knock-on effects and unintended consequences.

There is a political danger as well, climate policy experts caution: the
prospect of a quick fix to global warming could weaken an already fragile
global consensus on the need to reduce greenhouse gases or subvert complicated
methods for measuring emissions cuts.

"It's a convenient way for Northern governments to dodge their commitments to
emissions reduction," said Silvia Ribeiro of the ETC Group, a technology
watchdog group.

Evening rush hour traffic comes to a standstill on a hazy and polluted day in
Beijing last Dec. On the heels of another halting round of talks on climate
change, UN scientists this wk will review quick-fix options for beating back
the threat of global warming that rely on technology rather than political
wrangling. Last week, more than 100 organisations, including ETC and Friends
of the Earth, sent an open letter to the IPCC "demanding a clear statement of
its commitment to precaution and to the existing international moratorium on
geo-engineering."

Only 4 y ago, in its landmark Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC dismissed
geo-engineering in a brief aside as charged with potential risk and
unquantified cost.

But now the Nobel-winning panel is taking a closer look, a telling sign, for
some, that the effort to tackle global warming through politics is taking too
long and bearing too little fruit.

Delegates ended another 12-day talkfest in Bonn on Fri under the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), still deeply riven over who should cut
their emissions, by how much and when.

Current pledges fall far short of holding temperature rise in check below 2.0
degree Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial levels, a
widely accepted threshold for safety.

IPCC officials defend the new review on several grounds.

On the heels of another halting round of talks on climate change, UN
scientists this wk will review quick-fix options for beating back the threat
of global warming that rely on technology rather than political wrangling.

To begin with, it is what members of the 194-nation intergovernmental body
asked for, said Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a leading Belgian scientist and vice
chair of the IPCC.

"My concern is to fulfill an IPCC mandate to provide the best information
available to take informed decisions to protect the climate and the
environment," he said by telephone.

"We will look at the advantages and possibilities, but we will also look at
the potentially negative aspects."

The experts meeting Mon, he added, review the state of scientific knowledge
but do not make policy recommendations.

"In the absence of an objective IPCC assessment, the only information
available to policy makers would be from quite a diverse range of sources,
some of which might have an interest at stake," he said.

Geo-engineering schemes can be as simple as planting trees to absorb CO2 or
painting flat roofs white to reflect sunlight back into space, a technique
already in use in many sun-baked urban settings.

They also include scattering sea salt aerosols in low marine clouds to render
them more mirror-like, sowing the stratosphere with reflective sulphate
particles, or "fertilising" the ocean surface with iron to spur the growth of
micro-organisms that gobble up CO2.

View taken this wk of the 37-meter (120-foot) high statue "Christ of the
Pacific", under construction on a hill overlooking Lima. UN scientists meetung
in Lima this wk will review quick-fix options for beating back the threat of
global warming that rely on technology rather than political wrangling. At
the sci-fi end of the scale is a proposal -- which exists, for now, only on
paper -- for a sunshade positioned at a key point between Earth and the Sun
that would deflect one or two% of solar radiation, turning the planet's
thermostat down a notch.

In an analysis published in September 2009, the Royal Society, Britain's
academy of sciences, judged that planting forests and building towers to
capture CO2 could make a useful contribution -- once they are demonstrated to
be "safe, effective, sustainable and affordable."

It also noted that blunting the impact of solar radiation would still not
lower atmospheric concentrations of CO2, which is also driving ocean
acidification.

MYREF: 20110621030001 msg2011062124877

[218 more news items]

---
"Global warming" refers to the global-average temperature increase
that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008

This is what the real climate scientist Dr Roy Spencer said.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 3 Mar 2011 16:29 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
2011-07-04 06:45:01 UTC
Permalink
[coal lobby spin]
New vehicle rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions spark debate

Related:
* Hybrid drivers lose perks on Calif. freeways

Juliet Eilperin,
Wash Post
Jul 3 2011

Heather Zichal, deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate
change, makes a forceful case for why we need to slash greenhouse gas
emissions from cars and small trucks: It will cut America's oil consumption;
foster the nation's energy independence; save consumers money at the pump; and
help revive domestic auto manufacturers.

What she doesn't volunteer is that it will curb climate change.

The Obama administration is crafting 2 regulations -- one targeting passenger
vehicles, another focused on heavier trucks and buses -- that will do more to
cut global warming pollution than any other policy in his term.

But that fact is barely mentioned as officials negotiate with automakers,
environmentalists and others, particularly about the contentious car and light
truck rule due out in September.

"This rule fits very well within the broader framework of what we're trying to
do to make sure we have a healthy, robust, domestic auto industry," Zichal
said of the proposed fuel efficiency requirements.

Has the administration given up on climate change after legislation died in
the Senate last year, as some advocates now charge? Or has it simply
re-branded the idea and its goals, as others complain?

Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, said the
administration runs a risk when it minimizes global warming's public profile.

"I don't blame the president for the failure of climate legislation, but I do
hold him accountable for allowing opponents to fill the void with
misinformation and outright lies about climate change," he said. "By excising
`climate change' from his vocabulary, the president has surrendered the power
that only he has to explain challenging issues and advance complex solutions
for our country."

With potentially dramatic fuel-use requirements coming to the car and truck
worlds in particular, the issue has returned to prominence -- however it may
be defined.

Just last week, officials from EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration told U.S automakers it was considering requiring their fleet to
average 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025. But automakers and conservative
politicians are facing off against environmentalists over what mileage
passenger vehicles can achieve.

Many of those carmakers, along with their congressional and gubernatorial
allies, have cautioned the administration could be pushing too aggressively
for stricter fuel standards. On Wed 14 GOP and one Democratic governor wrote
top Obama officials that they need to take several factors into consideration
when setting emission limits, including Americans' need for large cars and
trucks that can accommodate everything from skis to farm equipment and child
car seats.

"If fuel economy standards increase too quickly, resulting in more expensive
vehicles, consumers can be expected to hold onto their older vehicles longer
and defer buying a new car, which could put auto jobs across the country at
risk and delay compliance with federal air standards," the governors wrote.

MYREF: 20110704164501 msg201107043350

[219 more news items]

---
[Irony 101:]
[By my count BONZO has called people whacko 137 times; fool 26; idiot
22 times; twit 17 times; moron 14 times in just the past 4 wks. There
is a 10+-year history, however].
Warmist Abuse Shows They're Losing
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 16 Feb 2011 17:15 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-07-14 04:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[coal lobby spin]
Cloud Computing Platform To Manage UK Weather Risks

Irish Weather
Wed Jul 13, 12:09 pm

Organisations currently struggle to access reliable external information about
environmental perils such as floods. Organisations currently struggle to
access reliable external information about environmental perils such as floods.

Researchers are creating a web-based cloud computing platform where people can
access and exchange data and algorithms to manage risks associated with
environmental changes and extreme weather, in a newly announced project.

The Open Platform project will see Imperial College Business School and the
Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London collaborating
with the Met Office and IBM, in a multi- mn pound initiative funded by
the Technology Strategy Board, as part of the Digital Economy Collaborative
R&D progreamme. The Met Office are the Open Platform consortium leader.

Currently, many organisations struggle to access reliable external information
about environmental perils such as floods, wind and earthquakes when they are
trying to make investment and insurance decisions, or decide where to focus
resources. Not only is the data hard to obtain, but it is also difficult to
find models that can `compute' the data into useful information and
organisations often need to call in experts to interpret the outputs. In
addition, where data and models are accessible, it is not always clear how
reliable these predictions are as making comparisons between models is complex
and expensive.

The Open Platform project aims to address and overcome these issues, by
creating a site for climate and environmental data that can be used in as
simple a way as the website `Amazon'. The idea is to bring a wealth of data
and algorithms into one place, making it easy for people to search through,
and allowing customers to rate the usefulness of information, so that other
users can gauge which data and algorithms have proved most reliable.
Essentially, users should also be able to combine, create and exchange data
and algorithms to better understand environmental risk. The Met Office and
IBM have developed innovative new technology to power the Open Platform.

It is hoped these measures will help organisations to better understand and
mitigate the risks arising from the environment and climate change, as they
will have indications about the validity, quality and origin of the
information they are using. The researchers are exploring the most effective
business models to allow Open Platform users to access services free at the
point of use as well as business models appropriate for commercial applications.

Initially the offering will focus on risk management, enabling Government
bodies and specialists in disaster risk and insurance to exchange knowledge,
data and modelling techniques. As a result, organisations may then be more
able to find innovative solutions to managing risk and adapting to
environmental change and extremes. Once they have created this new platform,
the researchers anticipate it could ultimately be used for applications across
many other industries.

Professor David Gann, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Director of
the Digital Economy Lab at Imperial College London, said: "The Open Platform
will enable new business models to provide better use of data, improve
business performance and open avenues to manage environmental impact. Imperial
College Business School is pleased to contribute our expertise in innovation
and entrepreneurship to this project. The results of our research will also
inform new projects in the Digital Economy Lab."

Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate
Change at Imperial College London added: "This is an exciting new venture in
the area of climate science and a great opportunity for encouraging the use of
climate data in new and innovative ways. We're delighted to be involved in it
at this early stage of its conception."

The researchers hope that the new website will be available in 2012.

MYREF: 20110714140002 msg2011071415622

[227 more news items]

---
[If I make history stop in 1899 things can not get worse:]
Yes, but [Yasi was] not as bad as the cat 5 Mahina in 1899!
And what about 1918 when Qld had TWO CAT 5 CYCLONES!
The more things change the more they stay the same.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 3 Feb 2011 16:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-08-17 20:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
NOAA's National Weather Service taking action to build a 'Weather-ready' nation

2011 ties record for billion-dollar disasters

NOAA News
August 17, 2011

NOAA is launching a comprehensive initiative to build a "Weather-ready" nation
to make America safer by saving more lives and protecting livelihoods as
communities across the country become increasingly vulnerable to severe
weather events, such as tornado outbreaks, intense heat waves, flooding,
active hurricane seasons, and solar storms that threaten electrical and
communication systems.

NOAA is also announcing that the United States has so far this year
experienced 9 separate disasters, each with an economic loss of $1 bn or
more -- tying the record set in 2008. The latest event to surpass the $1 bn
price tag is this summer's flooding along the Missouri and Souris rivers in
the upper Midwest. This year's losses have so far amounted to more than $35
billion.

"Severe weather represents a very real threat to public safety that requires
additional robust action," said Jack Hayes, director of NOAA's National
Weather Service. "The increasing impacts of natural disasters, as seen this
year, are a stark reminder of the lives and livelihoods at risk."

In partnership with other government agencies, researchers, and the private
sector, the National Weather Service is charting a path to a weather-ready
nation through:

* Improved precision of weather and water forecasts and effective
communication of risk to local authorities;

* Improved weather decision support services with new initiatives such as the
development of mobile-ready emergency response specialist teams;

* Innovative science and technological solutions such as the nationwide
implementation of Dual Pol radar technology, Integrated Water Resources
Science and Services, and the Joint Polar Satellite System;

* Strengthening joint partnerships to enhance community preparedness;

* Working with weather enterprise partners and the emergency management
community to enhance safety and economic output and effectively manage
environmental resources.

The National Weather Service is also planning innovative, community-based test
projects across the country, ranging in focus from emergency response to
ecological forecasting, to enhance the agency's preparedness efforts to better
address the impacts of extreme weather. Test projects will initially be
launched at strategic locations in the Gulf Coast, S and mid-Atlantic.

"These test projects serve as tangible examples of how the National Weather
Service is trying to address the impact of weather-related disasters," said
Hayes. "Ultimately, these projects will provide the specific action plans
necessary for us to adapt to extreme weather events and represent an important
step in building a weather-ready nation."

In the past 30 years, the United States has experienced a total of 108
weather-related disasters that have caused more than $1 bn dollars in
damages. Overall, these disasters have resulted in three-quarters of $1
trillion in standardized losses since 1980, according to NOAA records.

According to Munich Reinsurance America, one of the top providers of property
and casualty reinsurance in the U.S., the number of natural disasters has
tripled in the last 20 y and 2010 was a record breaker with about 250. Average
thunderstorm losses have increased five-fold since 1980. For the 1st 1/2 of
2011 there have been $20 bn in thunderstorm losses, up from the previous
three-year average of $10 billion.

This increase in weather-related disasters coupled with population growth and
density in high-risk areas, has moved NOAA and its partners -- from the
emergency management community and across America's weather enterprise -- from
concern to action.

"Building a Weather-ready nation is everyone's responsibility," said Eddie
Hicks, IAEM USA president. "It starts with National Weather Service and
emergency managers, like the US Council of International Association of
Emergency Managers, but it ends with actions by individuals and businesses to
reduce their risks. The more prepared communities are for destructive weather,
the less of a human and economic toll we'll experience in the future, and
that's a great thing for the country."

"The partnership between the government, private, and academic sectors, all
represented in the professional membership of the American Meteorological
Society, is extremely strong and is essential in achieving this vision," said
Jonathan Malay, president of the AMS. "Given the resources to grow our
scientific understanding of our complex environment through observations and
research and to apply this knowledge in serving society, we can do amazing
things together."

NOAA's National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data,
forecasts and warnings for the United States and its territories. NOAA's
National Weather Service operates the most advanced weather and flood warning
and forecast system in the world, helping to protect lives and property and
enhance the national economy. Visit us online at weather.gov and on Facebook.

NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's
environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to
conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook,
Twitter and our other social media channels.

MYREF: 20110818060001 msg201108182981

[230 more news items]

---
Temperatures don't follow the 11-year solar cycle.
Other than that 11-year cycle the total solar output
is reasonably constant.
-- BONZO [various nyms], 5 Jun 2011 00:08 +1000
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-08-18 08:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Falkirk Council plans for 'extreme weather event'

PHOTO: Heavy snow near Denny, Falkirk Parts of the Falkirk area were cut off
by heavy snow last winter

BBC
17 August 2011

A local authority has announced its 1st "extreme weather event" plan after
dealing with "Arctic" conditions over the past 2 winters.

The measures have just been approved by Falkirk Council's community safety
committee and are part of the winter service plan.

Recent severe winter weather had stretched council services "to the limit",
the authority said.

The new plan includes emergency grit bins being placed on streets.

Craig R Martin, vice convenor of the community safety committee, said: "Over
the last 2 y we have suffered from very severe winter weather that affected
the whole country.

"This resulted in extreme conditions throughout the Falkirk Council area,
which not only stretched our services to the limit but also made life
difficult for the people of Falkirk."

"Though we would hope that there won't be a repeat of the Arctic conditions
for many more y to come we still have a duty and responsibility to always
prepare for the worst."

The Falkirk area was hit badly by winter storms in Nov and Dec 2010, with many
areas of the county cut off by ice and heavy snow.

MYREF: 20110818180002 msg2011081825987

[229 more news items]

---
[Irony 101:]
[By my count BONZO has called people whacko 137 times; fool 26; idiot
22 times; twit 17 times; moron 14 times in just the past 4 wks. There
is a 10+-year history, however].
Warmist Abuse Shows They're Losing
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 16 Feb 2011 17:15 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-09-01 18:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
US heat wave highlights the need for further business resilience

Prolonged weather conditions can have a damaging effect on how companies
manage their commercial affairs

PHOTO: Extreme weather conditions, such as the recent heat wave in America,
can instantly have a damaging effect on businesses.

David Beer
guardian.co.uk
Wed 31 August 2011 18.08 BST

The recent heat wave in the US has affected over 150 mn people across the
mid-west to the north-east. As Americans bake in temperatures soaring into the
high 90s for days on end, communities, businesses and utilities have been
struggling to cope.

Prolonged weather conditions, like those seen in America, can have an
instantaneous and damaging impact on how we do business. Weather patterns
affect every commercial sector from agriculture to IT, but organisations are
persistently failing to correlate this with their commercial performance and
resilience.

Events, such as a heat wave, are put down as an externality and not seen as a
true risk, and businesses are failing to learn from past
experiences. Companies must take lessons on board and incorporate them into
future planning, product design, supply chains, operations, risk registers and
business strategies. Most businesses label such events as "extreme" and
one-off, and continue with their day-to-day activities, having missed the need
to build in long-term risks or maximised the business opportunities linked to
climate change.

The electricity industry is one that does understand the effects of changes in
the weather and as a result is adept at crisis-management. The process of
electricity generation can be variously exposed to changes in temperature,
precipitation, sea-level and storm intensity. These conditions can affect
operational performance and customer demands, creating cost and reputational
risk around customer satisfaction.

In America, during this year's heat wave, significant pressure has been placed
on power utilities to meet the demands of residential and business
customers. In some cases this has caused low voltages, and intentional
blackouts, to manage the electricity supply. For example in New York, power
supplier, Con Edison, reduced voltage, urged customers to conserve power and
even activated a demand response program, which pays consumers to reduce power
usage during peak times when needed.

However, most organisations don't have appropriate adaptation strategies to
deal with a future climate. Adaptation and carbon are interlinked, yet the
sector often views them as 2 separate risks.

Extreme events have taken place all over the globe in recent years,
highlighting the need for change. The European summer of 2003 gave us a
warning of things to come and highlighted the need for a transformative change
of direction when it comes to building resilience to climate change. The
overall financial impact was estimated to be just over EUR13bn (£11.5bn). We
saw heat-related fatalities exceeding 45k and increased pressure on the health
service. In the power sector, EDF had to close a quarter of its 58 nuclear
power plants which resulted in a loss of EUR300m. Agricultural production also
fell by 10%. Under medium-range Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
scenarios, by the summer of 2040 temperatures seen during the heat wave of
2003 will be well below the averagefor Europe. Troublingly, very little has
been done since 2003 to prepare businesses for similar future challenges.

Learning lessons from the past is integral to how we plan for the future. As
our climate changes, it is inevitable that we will be faced day-to-day with
conditions we currently consider as extreme. Return periods on these events
are getting shorter and without the right risk assessment, businesses may be
making incorrect risk assumptions and investment decisions. Businesses must
understand how their organisation is exposed today and what changes a future
climate will bring. It is also crucial for businesses to understand how
interconnected the climate is with other sustainability impacts, such as
energy use, carbon profile, water availability, environmental concerns and
biodiversity loss. These interlinked effects need to be assessed across the
organisation's value chain, exploring the risks and opportunities from every
facet of the business. Organisations that have a sound risk management and
integrated sustainability plan embedded in the business strategy will be the
real winners.

MYREF: 20110902040001 msg2011090220842

[229 more news items]

---
"Global warming" refers to the global-average temperature increase
that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008

This is what the real climate scientist Dr Roy Spencer said.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 3 Mar 2011 16:29 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-09-07 13:00:03 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Cutting energy bills and saving the environment

With the number of households in fuel poverty on the rise, consumers are
missing a trick when it comes to finding the cheapest energy tariffs

PHOTO: Fuel poverty: 5.5 mn UK households are in fuel poverty.

Verity Hambrook for IndustryRE
Guardian
Wed 31 August 2011 18.08 BST

The rollercoaster of rising energy prices has been in the headlines for some
time but this worrying trend took a dark turn last m when it was announced
that 5.5 mn UK households were in fuel poverty. Statistics from the
Department of Energy and Climate Change show that 700k more UK families - one
in 5 of all households - fell into fuel poverty.

In the UK, the term "fuel poverty" is applied to a household that needs to
spend more than 10% of its income on fuel in order to heat its home to an
adequate standard, have hot water and run lights and appliances. Fuel poverty
is determined by the interaction of a number of factors but the 3 that stand
out are household income, the energy efficiency of the property, and the cost
of energy.

What can consumers do to avoid fuel poverty? The government admits failings in
the number of houses with adequate insulation to prevent energy
wastage. "Homes in the UK are among the most expensive to heat in Europe,"
says climate change minister Greg Barker. "Next y we start the most ambitious
home improvement since the second world war, where we're not just putting a
bit of lagging in people's lofts but will transform, on a whole-house basis,
millions of homes over the next decade."

But with the number of families in fuel poverty rising every y - the
department expect another 100k families in England alone to enter into fuel
poverty this y - what can consumers do to cut energy costs in the short-term?

Prices are rising. British Gas has just put gas rates up by 18% and
electricity by 16%. Scottish Power has raised its gas prices by 19% and
electricity by 10% and Southern Electricity has just announced similar
hikes. Others are expected to do the same. However, consumers should still be
shopping around.

Unlike other areas of stiff competition, such as the travel and car insurance
markets, consumers appear to be immobilised by a fatigue or perhaps low
expectations when it comes to finding competitive energy prices. Energy
regulator Ofgem says that those who fail to shop around are paying at least
£170 a y more than they need to on bills.

Ofgem's Retail Market Review showed that energy companies make higher profits
from consumers who do not switch. This is important as Ofgem's research also
shows that only one in 5 consumers say that they are actively engaged in the
market. This means 4 out of 5 consumers are at risk of paying more for their
energy than they need to.

From credit cards to car insurance, consumers demonstrate a willingness again
and again to invest time in searching for the best deal by combing price
comparison sites. This buyer behaviour is not seen as much when it comes to
finding a cheaper energy tariff. It is estimated that 60% of UK domestic
energy consumers have never switched and apathetically accept the highest
tariffs offered by the utility firms because that is what they are given.

How do consumers who decide to switch guarantee they are getting a better
deal? In light of recent headlines, switching with a doorstep salesman is not
advised. Mis-selling is rife. MPs were recently told that 40% of those who
switched suppliers on the doorstep failed to end up with a better deal.

Comparison sites are the best option and if the potential £100 saving isn't
enough of an enticement, consumers should try using a site that gives
something back to the earth itself, the biggest loser when it comes to energy su
pply.

Mytreefrog.com does just this. Determined to spark a revolution in the way
that consumers buy their energy - and other carbon producing products such as
car insurance and travel - it offers a very accessible platform to browse and
compare energy tariffs and give those who switch free carbon credits.

These carbon credits, critical in the battle to tackle rising carbon emissions
and deforestation, are paid for by mytreefrog.com. The money goes directly to
support initiatives to help communities find alternatives to deforestation,
bolstering the local economy and helping them to continue forestry in a
managed sustainable way.

The site is user-friendly. Consumers simply enter the details of their current
tariff for gas and electricity on an online form. Mytreefrog.com returns all
tariff options. Users can opt for green rates, by getting electricity from
renewable sources such as wind and wave power, as well as conventional
supply. And each tariff is marked with the potential annual saving.

There are no hidden deals. Unlike, the front door salesperson, comparison
sites have to display the same rates by law. Mytreefrog.com, like any other
site, will give consumers the true picture of the energy tariff landscape, and
will always honour the quoted tariff.

We all need energy. It is unavoidable, but offsetting what we buy in a bid to
halt the rapid escalation of carbon production is another way to embed green
living into our day-to-day behaviour. Switching through mytreefrog.com gives
consumers the chance to do their bit in saving the planet in a tangible,
measurable way, while also saving them money.

It's not just energy; switching through mytreefrog.com could awaken a
transformation in the way consumers buy. New customers will be given access to
a range of products from camping gear to car insurance, all with embedded
carbon credit opportunity at no cost to them. These purchases will offset the
carbon they are forced to use day-to-day. For the environmentally conscious
consumer, switching through mytreefrog.com is an indisputable win-win.

MYREF: 20110907230002 msg20110907324

[230 more news items]

---
[The difference between "real science" and "pseudo science":]
So you really, really believe that our universe just came about by
sheer chance? I prersonally, find that extremely hard to accept.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 11 Jan 2011 15:02 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-09-15 00:00:03 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Jakarta hosts 24 hours of climate reality

Warief Djajanto Basorie
The Jakarta Post
Wed, September 14, 2011 13:29 PM

The catch line is short: 24 presenters, 24 time zones, 13 languages, one
message. The message is that the climate crisis is real; everybody get
real. That one message goes out to all 4 corners of the globe in all 24 time zon
es.

In getting that message across, former United States vice president Al Gore
(1993-2001), chairman of the Climate Reality Project, has created "24 Hours of
Reality", a worldwide multimedia event broadcasting the reality of the world's c
limate.

On Sept 14-15, one presenter in every time zone will deliver a climate
message in turn by the hour for 24 hours around the globe. The cycle starts in
Mexico City. It travels westward and ends in New York with Al Gore
speaking. In between, Asian points involved are Seoul, Beijing, Jakarta, New
Delhi, Islamabad, Dubai and Istanbul. People can view live stream broadcasts
in real time at 7 p.m. local time in each of the time zones at www.ustream.tv.

In Jakarta, the event takes place at @america, Pacific Place, Sept 15 at 7
p.m. Amanda Katili of the Climate Reality Project Indonesia is the organizer.

The presenters are not public figures with household names. They are people
who live the reality of climate change. They can explain recent extreme
weather events they have experienced -- floods and storms, to name two. They
can talk about the man-made pollution that causes climate change.

Each presenter has a story to tell. Jakarta's presenter is Charles Wiriawan, a
program manager with the non-profit Eka Cipta Foundation that focuses on
environmental education. He can relate the massive floods that inundated at
least one-fifth of Jakarta in Feb 2007 that he himself went through.

In New Delhi, Nitin Raikar can relate what he experienced in Mumbai on July
26, 2005. On that single day, Mumbai suffered a record rainfall of 944
millimeters. Raikar, a Mumbai resident, works in Suzlon Energy, which develops
renewable energy equipment such as wind turbines.

"`24 Hours of Reality' will focus the world's attention on the full truth,
scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis to remove the doubt, reveal the
deniers and catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us," Al
Gore said in a video clip at climaterealityproject.org.

One prominent denier in the United States is Texas Governor Rick Perry. On
Aug. 17 in a breakfast talk in Bedford, New Hampshire, this major Republican
presidential candidate reaffirmed his view that global warming was an unproven
scientific theory advanced by scientists who have "manipulated data".

"We are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists coming forward and
questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing
the climate to change," Perry remarked without specifying which scientists
support his skepticism.

At the Climate Project Asia-Pacific Summit in Jakarta on Jan. 8-10, 2011, Al
Gore spoke about the doubters of climate change. Asked how he would respond to
the deniers, Gore said he would present them the scientific arguments "politely"
.

For Indonesia, "24 Hours of Reality" is another in a continuing series of "do
events" with people's participation. The training of 215 Indonesian presenters
at the Jan summit at the Jakarta Convention Center has considerably expanded
public awareness of climate change, with each presenter developing their own
outreach programs.

The writer teaches journalism at Dr Soetomo Press Institute (LPDS) in Jakarta.

MYREF: 20110915100002 msg2011091513713

[231 more news items]

---
You would think that we'd know the Earth's `climate sensitivity' by
now, but it has been surprisingly difficult to determine. How
atmospheric processes like clouds and precipitation systems respond to
warming is critical, as they are either amplifying the warming, or
reducing it.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-09-15 10:00:05 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Preparation of Nations for 12/2011 Climate Change Summit

David Stephen
GroundReport
September 15, 2011

Dec 2011 is wk away as the United Nations Summit on Climate Change
nears. Previous summits brought attention and improvements to the topic with
aims at the main objective, a Climate Change Deal. This for 2011 is unlikely
because of obvious challenges faced by Nations.

Economy is precedent for most, followed by security; these issues with varying
stability of late draw the attention of Governments and citizens more than
(to-occur-in-future) effects of Climate Change.

Studies from atmospheric chemistry tell of the danger of continuous
accumulation of heat trapping gases in the troposphere over the long
term. This without doubt leaves a ground for Nations to be Climate Change
conscious for the future from now.

Skeptics are hammering and their views are sometimes uncivil for their notion
that Global warming's Climate Change is not contributing to any weather
anomaly for now. They have a point but should not be posted to hinder moves
for the future distorting objectives of Nations and the UN.

Nations and Institutions will be represented at the summit; attendance should
complement their effort towards emission caps and cuts. As reports are
presented to the United Nations, recommendations for workable and affordable
moves to drive approval by the people and Government should be made.

Certain nations and blocs are making visible moves towards this, Australia for
example introduced pollution tax to check and `punish' reckless emissions; The
United States Environmental Protection Agency is monitoring emissions
throughout the land; The European Union are looking to ordain Carbon tax and
China recently instructed automakers to look more towards fuel-efficient vehicle
s.

These and other efforts should to be accompanied by related moves globally
because the warming is global not national. Nations should recommend to
themselves moves in-line with their advancement to curb emissions over the
long term and not wait for the action of others or sit with technology
transfer tarradiddle these times of economic shake-up.

The UN should urge Nations to work with local Climate Change institutions for
reports submitting realistic moves (achievable in their environment
economically and politically) to cap and cut emissions. Cooperation towards
emission cuts should be lengthened at the summit for Nations with similar
economy and politics. The World can win in battle against future Climate
Change effects.

MYREF: 20110915200003 msg2011091525879

[234 more news items]

---
[Assault on Vostok icecores:]
YOU are the one presenting the "evidence." Your evidence MUST be
performed using proven standards, not untested guesswork.
-- Michael Dobony <***@stopassaultnow.net>, 24 Feb 2011 19:49 -0600
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-09-23 04:45:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
CIA Says Global-Warming Intelligence Is `Classified'

David Kravets
Threat Level
September 22, 2011

Two y ago, the Central Intelligence Agency announced it was creating a center
to analyze the geopolitical ramifications of "phenomena such as
desertification, rising sea levels, population shifts and heightened
competition for natural resources."

But whatever work the Center on Climate Change and National Security has done
remains secret.

In response to National Security Archive scholar Jeffrey Richelson's Freedom
of Information Act request, the CIA said all of its work is "classified."

"We completed a thorough search for records responsive to your request and
located material that we determined is currently and properly classified and
must be denied in its entirety," (.pdf) Susan Viscuso, the agency's
information and privacy coordinator, wrote Richelson.

Richelson, in a Thu telephone interview from Los Angeles, said the CIA has not
released anything about its climate change research, other than its initial
press release announcing the center's founding.

"As far as I know, they have not released any of their products or anything
else," Richelson said. "There was a statement announcing its creation and that
has been pretty much it."

Steven Aftergood, who directs the Federation of American Scientists Project on
Government Secrecy, blasted the CIA's response to Richelson.

The CIA's position, he said, means all "the center's work is classified and
there is not even a single study, or a single passage in a single study, that
could be released without damage to national security. That's a familiar
song, and it became tiresome long ago."

When the center was announced, the CIA said it would become "a powerful asset
recognized throughout our government, and beyond, for its knowledge and insight.
"

President Barack Obama also promised a transparent administration, which he
might not be living up to. For instance, in 2009, the Obama administration
played the national security card to hide details of the controversial
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that is still being negotiated across the gl
obe.

What's more, consider the 33-page report the White House issued Fri, "The
Obama Administration's Commitment to Open Government."

Aftergood said the report "downplays or overlooks many of the administration's
principal achievements in reducing inappropriate secrecy. At the same time, it
fails to acknowledge the major defects of the openness program to date. And so
it presents a muddled picture of the state of open government, while providing
a poor guide to future policy."

In any case, the Center for Climate Change and National Security might not
continue much longer "because of pressure for intelligence budget cuts and
resistance from conservative lawmakers."

See Also:
* Army Intelligence Analyst Charged With Leaking Classified Information
* Classified Recordings of First Fusion Bomb Test Found in Old Safe
* WikiLeaks Airs Classified CIA Memo, But Real Message Is No Secret
* Pentagon Demands WikiLeaks `Return' All Classified Documents
* Spy Network Pilfered Classified Docs From Indian Government and Others
* Appeals Court Allows Classified Evidence in Spy Case
* FBI Linguist Guilty of Leaking Classified Documents
* Obama Administration Declares Proposed IP Treaty a `National Security' Secret

David Kravets is a senior staff writer for Wired.com and founder of the fake
news site TheYellowDailyNews.com. He's a dad of 2 boys and has been a reporter
since the manual typewriter days.

MYREF: 20110923144502 msg2011092319951

[233 more news items]

---
[T]he United States has less than a century left of its turn as top
nation. Since the modern nation-state was invented around the year 1500, a
succession of countries have taken turns at being top nation, first Spain,
then France, Britain, America. Each turn lasted about 150 years. Ours began in
1920, so it should end about 2070.
-- Freeman Dyson, "Many Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the
Universe", 2007.
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-09-29 03:00:03 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Report details how global warming may affect Mass.

Jay Lindsay
AP/BostonGlobe.com
September 27, 2011

Online:
Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Report:
http://1.usa.gov/q0Prw0

Boston--A state-mandated report on global warming and Massachusetts, released
Tue, predicts more ice storms and droughts and endangered coastal development
in the decades to come, but also details ways the state can prevent or adapt
to predicted changes.

The Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Report was required under a 2008
law aimed at sharply curbing the state's greenhouse gas emissions, a major
factor in global warming. The law requires the state to make an 80% reduction
in total emissions by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

The 129-page report sums up how rising temperatures would hit various sectors,
including the ecology, business and local infrastructure. A 34-member advisory
committee of scientists, environmentalists, local and regional planners, and
medical and business groups helped prepare the report.

Steve Long, director of government relations for The Nature Conservancy, which
pushed to make the assessment a mandatory part of the law, said he sees the
report as a "blueprint," containing basic principles and steps for
policymakers to use to deal with unwanted effects of global warming.

"Climate change impacts are going to affect every facet of our lives," Long
said. "We need to be smart about the way we go about living our lives."

Among the new realities Massachusetts could face by 2100 are far more 100
degree days annually, less snow, and warmer, rising coastal waters. The
report notes various local climate and weather trends, including an average
temperature increase of 1/2 a degree per decade in the Northeast since the
1970s and a 5 to 10% increase in total precipitation in the region since 1818
-- with more of this precipitation now falling as rain.

Other predictions about changes in Massachusetts by 2100 included a high and
low range to cover uncertainties about future levels of greenhouse gas
emissions. Among them are:

-- Temperatures an average of 5 to 10 degrees higher.

-- 3 to 28 more days annually of temperatures 100 degrees or higher.

-- 29 to 43 more days in the growing season.

-- A rise in sea level from 11 to 79 inches.

The consequences of such changes would be wide-ranging, from altered bird and
fish migrations to endangering the development in coastal towns, according to
the report.

A map included in the report shows key Boston infrastructure and landmarks
that were not previously threatened in a 100-year flood, such as Quincy Market
and the TD Banknorth Garden, would be surrounded by water in such a flood.

And rainy, icy winters would increase the number of damaging ice storms, while
less snow would mean less skiing and deal a blow of several 100 mn dollars to
the local economy, the report says.

The projections aren't universally grim: A longer growing season could mean
greater crop yields, with more varieties, as well as extended spring and
summer tourist seasons, the report says.

"Societies across the world have a long record of adapting and reducing their
vulnerability to the impacts of weather- and climate-related events such as
floods, droughts and storms," the report read. "Nevertheless, additional
adaptation measures will be required ... to reduce the adverse impacts of
projected climate change and variability."

The report says planners should work with utilities to make sure they have the
land needed to build energy infrastructure away from parcels that might be
threatened by rising sea levels or more frequent floods.

To combat more frequent droughts, the report suggests improving water storage
and recycling. It also suggests reducing the number of vulnerable coastal
properties by having the government buy them when possible, or through new
conservation restrictions.

MYREF: 20110929130002 msg2011092912146

[234 more news items]

---
Scientists [and kooks] are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100

CORRECTION:
True science, (remember that?) can be trusted, but this "science" is ALL LIES!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 19 Feb 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-09-30 17:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Climate change compounds global security threat, British admiral says

Richard T. Griffiths
CNN
September 28th, 2011

Stresses from global climate change are increasing the threat of wars around
the world, a British admiral said Wed.

Royal Navy Rear Adm. Neil Morisetti told students and faculty at Georgia
Institute of Technology that global climate change threats to food, water,
land and energy will present substantive security challenges in regions of the
world where there are already stresses.

"Those climate stress multipliers are increasing the threat of armed conflict
around the world," Morisetti said.

Morisetti pointed out that existing stress points form a band around the
globe, running from Central and S America, across Africa, the Middle E and S
Asia. That band, he said, intersects with the regions of the globe most
susceptible to climate change.

With climate change, Morisetti said, "we're going to add more to that cocktail."

Morisetti, who holds the title of the British government's climate and energy
security envoy, is on a tour of the United States, speaking to academics and
military officials.

He says climate change represents a significant challenge for governments
because the "new and emerging threat doesn't fit into the traditional
stovepipe of governments.

"It's a threat that won't manifest for the next 15 to 20 years, which means
that you have to look at potential threats, not particular threats."

"Part of the problem is to get people to understand that there is a problem,"
he said, and governments and the public "have to be able to see the
opportunities, not just the threats."

Governments will have to work together to deal with the problem, he said.

"Climate change just doesn't recognize national or international boundaries."

The recent pattern of global weather-related disasters illustrate how climate
change is already putting pressure on military forces to help with rescue and
disaster-recovery missions, Morisetti said.

As a Royal Navy admiral, Morisetti also says he sees soaring energy costs
affecting the ability of governments and their military forces to be able to
adequately respond to security threats.

He described how one of his former commands, the aircraft carrier HMS
Invincible, required an imperial gallon (1.2 US gallons) of fuel to move just
12 inches. If fuel prices spike, he said, it would not be financially
cost-effective to operate.

"We just couldn't do it."

To compensate, military forces must develop new fuel sources, Morisetti said.

As to how soon and precisely where global climate change would present a
security threat, Morisetti was not willing to make guesses.

"I can't tell you when or where," he said, "but they will happen."

MYREF: 20111001030001 msg2011100111301

[240 more news items]

---
"America in Longest Warm Spell Since 1776;
Temperature Line Records a 25-Year Rise."
The New York Times's headline.
Well, what's so new about that?
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 18 Aug 2011 14:24 +1000
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-02 03:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
UN talks start in Panama on climate deadlock

AFP
Oct 1 2011


Panama City -- Climate envoys from around the world opened talks Sat in Panama
in a bid to help break the deadlock on key sticking points ahead of a closely
watched year-end conference in Durban, S Africa.

The major obstacle is the fate of the landmark Kyoto Protocol, which requires
wealthy countries to cut carbon emissions blamed for climate change. Its
obligations run out at the end of 2012 with no new treaty in sight.

Officials do not expect any firm announcements during the wk of UN-led talks
in Panama but hope to lay the groundwork for the Durban conference, which
opens Nov 28 and is seen as a last chance to take action on Kyoto.

Dessima Williams, who represents small island states that fear catastrophic
damage from rising water levels, appealed to all negotiators to "step forward
and guarantee the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol."

"Countries that are serious about addressing climate change should be using
this meeting to raise, not lower, expectations for Durban," Williams, who is
Grenada's representative to the United Nations, said in a statement.

"Last year, we learned that greenhouse gas emissions hit their highest level
on record, and some parties are acting like we have all the time in the world
to act when, in fact, any additional delay endangers the survival of entire nati
ons."

The European Union, the main champion of the Kyoto Protocol, has proposed a
new round of commitments under the treaty. Emerging economies such as China --
which is now the largest emitter and has no obligations under Kyoto -- welcome
the idea.

But no other major economy that would be affected by a Kyoto extension has
endorsed the European Union view, with Canada, Japan and Russia all adamantly op
posed.

Australia and Norway have submitted a joint plan that would set a 2015
deadline for a new climate treaty that involves both developed and developing na
tions.

To avoid any gap in action -- a key fear of environmentalists -- the
Australian-Norwegian proposal would ask all nations to chart out climate
actions for the coming years, which would gradually become more ambitious
until they fold into a post-Kyoto treaty.

Scientists backed by the United Nations have warned that carbon emissions must
peak by 2015, fearing that otherwise damage from climate change will become
irreversible with rising floods, droughts and other extreme weather.

The United States, the world's second largest emitter, was the only nation to
reject the Kyoto Protocol, with former president George W. Bush saying it was
unfair to developed countries.

While technically not part of Kyoto discussions, the United States has stood
firm that it would only accept an agreement that includes all countries.

"We could consider it only if it's genuinely binding with respect to all the
major players, whether developed or developing, including China and others,"
Todd Stern, the top US climate negotiator, said before the talks.

President Barack Obama is facing strong opposition on climate change from the
rival Republican Party, many of whose members dispute science that human
activity is causing rising temperatures.

The Republicans' control of the House of Representatives throws another
question mark on pledges made at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit for rich
nations to drum up $100 bn a y in climate help for the most vulnerable
countries starting in 2020.

Japan, by far the largest donor to near-time assistance, is recovering from
its devastating March tsunami, while the European Union is in the midst of a
public debt scare.

MYREF: 20111002140002 msg201110024720

[235 more news items]

---
You would think that we'd know the Earth's `climate sensitivity' by
now, but it has been surprisingly difficult to determine. How
atmospheric processes like clouds and precipitation systems respond to
warming is critical, as they are either amplifying the warming, or
reducing it.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-04 10:30:03 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Hundreds of mobile homes hit hard by heavy floods

Lisa Rathke

Berlin, Vt. (AP) -- After paying rent for her entire adult life, buying a
mobile home was a dream come true for Sandra Gaffney. But 11 m later,
that dream was destroyed by floodwaters when the remnants of Hurricane Irene
ripped through her mobile home park, flooding her trailer and about 70 others.

Gaffney, 64, had gotten out in time, fleeing to her sister's home in
neighboring Montpelier, unlike her neighbors at Weston's Mobile Home Park, who
had to be rescued by boats and high-water vehicles.

The retired paraeducator learned of the devastation when she saw a photo of
her trailer on a local radio station's Facebook page.

"I saw my trailer with water all the way up to the windows," she said. "And
then I totally sobbed."

Thirteen mobile home parks in Vermont were flooded when the Aug. 28 storm hit,
turning streams and rivers into raging waterways that carried away bridges and
large segments of roads and damaged or destroyed 840 homes. That includes at
least 141 mobile homes that were destroyed and 220 that were flooded, some so
severely they may be declared total losses.

Now those homeowners -- many of them with no flood insurance -- must pay to
remove the destroyed trailers and some are waiting for Federal Emergency
Management Agency help. Others have no long-term option for housing with
winter just a few m away.

"My impression from talking to people is that a lot them still don't know what
they're going to do," said Sarah Weintraub, an organizer with the Vermont
Workers' Center, a group that works for social and economic justice in Vermont.

"We are concerned that a lot of people are doubling up with neighbors, staying
with family, some may even be staying in campers," said Jennifer Hollar,
deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Economic, Housing and
Community Development.

"We feel there might be a second wave of need as people run to the end of the
time when their temporary situations are going to work for them. Our message
to everyone -- and we're trying to send this message as loudly and as clearly
-- is to register with FEMA, even if you have a temporary situation."

Mobile homes, an affordable housing option for many, are especially vulnerable
to floodwaters. In Vermont, many were built in the 1960s on flood plains
before the state's land-use rules were enacted, said Shawn Gilpin, program
director for the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity mobile home pro
ject.

The materials used in older homes and the way many of them were constructed
make them rife for mold infiltration, he said.

"They tend to be more difficult to repair than to replace, usually," he said.

In Williamstown, Mass., near the Vermont state line, floodwaters entered more
than 200 mobile homes in one mobile home park on the Hoosick River. 5 wk
later, only 25 homes have been repaired and made habitable.

"More units are going to be very hard and very expensive to come by," said
Town Manager Peter Fohlin.

In Vermont and other parts of the country hit by disastrous floods this year,
existing shortages of affordable housing have compounded efforts to get
replacement housing for trailer dwellers.

Thousands of homes, including 650 mobile homes, were inundated by flooding
that lasted for 3 wk in Minot, N.D., from June to early July.

"And Minot had a critical housing shortage before the flood ... so basically
there are no apartments to be rented and no homes to be bought. And then we
lost 4k housing units," said Maj. Gen. Murray Sagsveen, the National Guard
officer coordinating the state's flood relief efforts.

Because the flooding took place in the summer, when temperatures soared into
the 90s, mold became a tremendous problem at the mobile home parks, Sagsveen sai
d.

"You didn't even want to get close to them," he said.

FEMA has brought in about 1k trailers so people can live on their lots as they
repair their homes, he said. The agency has also put people up in motels. More
than 100 are still in shelters, Sagsveen said.

In eastern and central Pennsylvania, hard-hit by Irene and the remnants of
Hurricane Lee, floodwaters destroyed at least one trailer park, in Pine
Grove. Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency director Glenn Cannon said
about 400 temporary housing units will be needed around the region. About 25
relief trailers have been delivered for flood victims in the Harrisburg area.

Vermont Gov Peter Shumlin has asked FEMA to provide temporary housing for his
state's victims.

Lawrence Miller, secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community
Development, said FEMA has about 10 mobile housing units on standby in
Springfield in anticipation that Shumlin's request will be granted. More
could be brought in if needed.

Gaffney is paying $650 for 3 m to stay in a condo that's for sale. After that
she doesn't know what she'll do.

"Because of the flood and everything, I'm moving on," she said.

She said she can't afford to fix her trailer with its buckled floor, damaged
walls and insulation. And she can't buy another one, she said. Unlike many of
her neighbors, she did have flood insurance and hopes it will cover her
remaining $24k mortgage.

Lt Gov Phil Scott and Lawrence Miller, the secretary of the Agency of
Commerce and Community Development, negotiated with contractors to set the
cost of removing a mobile home at $1,500, much lower than the $4k that
homeowners faced paying.

But Gaffney and others say $1,500 is still a lot to pay for those on a fixed inc
ome.

Some of her neighbors are fixing up their trailers. Gaffney worries about mold.

"Some people are fixing theirs up, the folks that don't have mortgages,
because they have nothing else," she said. "They're feverishly trying to fix
up their mobile homes."

Some Vermont mobile home owners have gotten FEMA checks -- they're eligible
for up to $30,200 -- and bought new homes, Hollar said.

"We're hearing anecdotally that sales among the state's mobile home dealers
have gone way up since the storm," she said.

Others are appealing for more assistance since the water damage turned out to
be worse than originally thought, she said.

"So we expect that number of destroyed (mobile homes) to go up," Hollar said.

MYREF: 20111004213002 msg2011100412811

[234 more news items]

---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-10 10:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
GOP and Global Warming

Tracy Ratledge
New University
Oct 04, 2011

Global warming is not a question nor is it a debate in terms of existence. CO2
levels have skyrocketed in an age that where the multitasking human being is
burning a mind-boggling amount of fossil fuel per day than ever before.

The depletion of the ozone layer in cohorts with the consequences of DDT and
other pesticide uses has increased the number of people diagnosed with skin
and thyroid cancer by tenfold. The global temperature has risen 1.4 more
degrees, diminishing the glaciers, thus causing the ocean levels to
rise. There has been a correlation between climate change and an elevated
surge in El Niño and La Niña storms. Coral bleaching is destroying a habitat
for 1000s of aquatic organisms and flora.

What do the GOP candidates plan to do in order to mitigate these dire
consequences? Not as much as one would hope for the sake of humanity and the
planet we call home.

Like in the case of Ron Paul, most classify the entire notion of climate
change as a "hoax" or as Rick Santorum put, a "beautifully concocted scheme."

It's not insane to suggest that the environmental agenda is not the 1st and
foremost priority; it's understandable to put health care and the economy that
are currently more pressing matters before an issue that has more latent
consequences. However, to speculate that the world-renowned scientists of
today are sitting in their dark laboratories, twirling their mustaches,
contemplating ways to manipulate the general public is flat out irrational.

To completely disregard an entire scientific theory, calling it filthy
hogwash, is not having a difference of opinion; it's having an unhealthy
amount of hubris and closed-mindedness. Now if a GOP candidate were to argue
whether human activity or the Earth's natural cycles are at fault for climate
change is an absolutely different story. Milankovitch cycles and the Earth's
tilt have proven to alter the climate significantly. Moreover, just as I've
mentioned previously this debate was not under wraps; the existence of climate
change is still mundane in the eyes of the majority of the GOP candidates.

This approach of treating the idea of climate change as the epitome of rubbish
explains why those who oppose justify market cap and trade policy which clouds
the reality of emission levels in order for businesses to avoid fines for over-p
olluting.

Leaving aside party tendencies, one cannot simply cast impenetrable doubt just
because the candidate belongs to the GOP nor can they blindly entrust the
presidency to a Democrat. The impertinent issue is that the potential
candidate is capable of taking an unbiased analysis of the raw data at hand,
and realizing that deteriorating the planet at exponential rates is not
exactly the plan for success.

One extreme is not better than another; whoever is able to take the matter
into logical consideration by encouraging sustainability, waste management,
decreasing anthropological air pollution and minimizing reliance on
nonrenewable resources is what we should be aiming for in a candidate on the
topic of global warming. We need to take crucial steps to combat climate
change, but we must do so without irrevocable stepping on too many prominent toe
s.

Furthermore, we need to take into account for the American reputation in terms
of environmentalism and geopolitics. The country that normally leads the way
in terms of innovation has lagged behind the trail blazing status of Japan,
Switzerland and New Zealand. Critics raved at our conspicuous absence at the
Kyoto Protocol which, for it was detrimental to its success in lowering
greenhouse gas emissions world wide due to the gargantuan influence the United
States has as a world power. Participation in the Copenhagen Conference made
significant process in improving America's eco-friendly image, but still many
countries believe the U.S has given too little, too late.

We are treading on very thin ice (quite literally when discussing the polar
ice caps melting). It's imperative that we have a course of action that can:
appease a compromise between the 2 main parties, establish an international
distinction as an example in environmentalism and at the same time do what is
best in the Earth's interest. So basically I'd advise anyone concerned with
this issue to be familiar with the individual candidates' policies and not
rely too heavily on party trends.

MYREF: 20111010210001 msg2011101026223

[235 more news items]

---
"Global warming" refers to the global-average temperature increase
that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more. But to
many politicians and the public, the term carries the implication that
mankind is responsible for that warming.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-11 04:01:19 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie mining lobby spin]
U.K.'s CO2 Floor Uses `Trick' to Circumvent EU Law, RWE Says

Mathew Carr and Catherine Airlie
Bloomberg
Oct 10, 2011 0:47 PM EDT

The UK is using a regulatory "trick" to introduce its carbon tax on
fossil-fueled power generation, which would not have been allowed under
European Union emissions trading law, said the UK unit of RWE AG.

Britain is using an exemption under the EU Energy Products Directive to
proceed with its tax, which it named a carbon floor, John McElroy, director of
policy at RWE Npower, said in an interview at the Platts emissions conference
in Brussels.

"That's the trick that they have used," he said Oct. 6. "It's not permitted
under the EU emissions trading system."

Chancellor George Osborne in March fixed a carbon tax of 4.94 pounds ($7.71) a
metric ton from 2013 to raise revenue and prompt investment into power
generation such as wind farms and nuclear. Wind turbines are subsidized and
the coalition government has said no subsidy will be given to new nuclear
power stations. The government indicated the tax, part of the
Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition agreement when they took office in May
2010, may rise to 9.86 pounds in 2015.

No exemptions from EU law were necessary to introduce the floor, a Treasury
official, who asked not to be identified in line with department policy, said
by e-mail. EU laws allow the nation to tax fossil fuels for environmental
reasons and the policy will provide more certainty on carbon prices than
previous rules, the official said.

Talks With EU

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change last m declined to provide
Bloomberg News with e-mails and letters between Britain and the European
Commission over its planned changes to energy-market regulations and the
carbon floor.

"Its disclosure would provoke a negative reaction by the European Commission
and could undermine the commission's willingness to enter into further
discussions and negotiations with the U.K.," Tim Warham, an energy markets and
networks official in DECC in London, said in a Sept. 23 letter to Bloomberg News
.

"The U.K.'s ability to protect and promote its interests in the context of
electricity market reform would be adversely affected if the requested
information was disclosed," he said.

Britain will scrutinize Electricite de France SA's profit from its nuclear
power plants under the tax, according to Tim Yeo, chairman of parliament's
energy and climate change committee. The nation should introduce a windfall
tax on existing atomic plants to claw back additional profit, the Liberal
Democrats, the junior partner in the coalition, agreed at a party conference
last month.

`Revenue Raising Exercise'

The floor will undermine the EU emissions market and increase costs
unnecessarily, McElroy said. "It's a revenue raising exercise by Treasury," he
said. RWE, Europe's biggest emitter, has coal and natural-gas power stations
in the U.K.

Nuclear generation, which emits almost no carbon, may benefit from higher
electricity rates after the tax on fossil- fueled power generation is
introduced in 2013, Citigroup Inc. said in March. EDF, owner of 8 of the 10
atomic power stations in Britain, may earn as much as 154 mn pounds, the bank
said. Estimates of any profit EDF may earn as a result of the tax is
"speculation," Kaa Holmes, a company spokesman in London, said at the time.

The EU's carbon cap-and-trade program already requires Britain's power
stations to buy permits to cover a portion of emissions and they'll have to
purchase all allowances from 2013. EU permits for Dec rose 1.8% to 10.65 euros
a metric ton at 10:26 a.m. in London. They have fallen 25% this year.

`Poor Example'

The UK carbon floor is cutting the need for emission reductions in other EU
nations because it encourages a faster pace of abatement in Britain, said
David Hone, climate adviser at Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and chairman
of the International Emissions Trading Association.

The policy effectively subsidizes power generation in other EU nations and
increases the total cost of complying with climate-protection measures, Hone
said last wk at the Platts emissions conference in Brussels. "We are probably
setting a poor example for the rest of the world."

EU lawmakers need to object more stridently when member states propose energy
policies and subsidies that work against single power and natural gas markets
in the bloc, Johannes Teyssen, chairman and chief executive officer of EON AG,
said Sept. 29.

In March, the EU commission said the UK tax will "weaken" the bloc's carbon
price signal.

Future British governments may abandon the tax, McElroy said. "The unilateral
approach undermines the EU emissions trading system as the principle
instrument for delivering low- carbon investment across Europe."

MYREF: 20111011150054 msg2011101111112

[241 more news items]

---
[Cause and effect:]
[explanations for climate change]
You left out "emerging from an ice age"!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 8 Feb 2011 12:40 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-11 16:40:33 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie mining lobby spin]
Military surveillance data: Shared intelligence

The military has a vast array of scientifically valuable data -- some more
accessible than you think.

Geoff Brumfiel
Nature 477, 388-389 (2011)
21 September 2011
doi:10.1038/477388a

Download a PDF of this article
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110921/pdf/477388a.pdf

No one monitors our planet more closely than the military. Thirty-six thousand
km above Earth, US Air Force satellites watch for the heat plume of a
ballistic missile. An array of other surveillance satellites patrol lower
altitudes. Some can see a rifle from space; others penetrate cloud cover with
radar, seeking military hardware or installations. Still closer in, aircraft
and drones fly over conflict zones collecting intelligence, and seismometers
listen for shudders from an underground nuclear test. Even the deepest oceans
are prowled by military submarines, watching their foreign adversaries.

Through most of their history, the data collected by this vast blanket of
military sensors have been highly classified. But on occasions when scientists
are lucky enough to see the data, their view is considerably different from
that of the generals. Satellites designed to track missiles can also spot the
flaming trails of meteors; aerial photographs of Iraq have allowed
archaeologists to trace ancient canals. Even the military's most banal weather
satellites collect data on ocean precipitation that are valuable for
understanding Earth's energy cycles.

After the cold war, some of these data did start trickling out to scientists,
mainly in the United States, which has vast military resources and a vibrant
scientific community. The flow ebbed after 2000 -- but there are hints that it
is resuming, and that more fruitful data collaborations are to come. A group
of security-cleared scientists called MEDEA has recently rekindled ties with
the US intelligence community to discuss the use of military environmental
data for the study of climate change. And an agreement set to be finalized in
Oct between NASA and the US Air Force will give astronomers unprecedented
access to data on meteors entering the atmosphere. Some details of those data
must be obfuscated to preserve state secrets, but researchers say that the
trove nonetheless has enormous scientific potential. "I think it's become more
useful now than it ever has been before," says John Orcutt, an oceanographer
at the University of California, San Diego, and a member of MEDEA.

In the United States, the start of the Manhattan Project in 1942 set the tone
for collaboration between the modern military and civilian scientists. The
greatest physicists of the era, conscripted to build the atomic bomb, spent y
working closely with the US Army. The Pentagon has used outside scientists to
help shape its capabilities ever since. It maintains a handful of
quasi-academic labs near university campuses, and a truculent panel of
independent scientists -- known as the JASONs -- advises it on technical
topics such as submarine detection and nuclear weapons (see page 397).

At the same time, opportunistic collaborations have sprung up between civilian
scientists and the defence establishment. With the advent of nuclear submarine
warfare in the 1950s, the US Navy devoted enormous resources to mapping and
understanding the sea floor -- including mid-ocean ridges, where Navy mapping
yielded clues to the theory of plate tectonics, according to Raymond Jeanloz,
an Earth scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a long-time
member of the JASONs. Seismic networks used to monitor nuclear tests have also
mapped earthquakes. Jeffrey Richelson, a historian at the National Security
Archive in Washington DC, says that since the 1970s, the US defence department
has occasionally shared satellite imagery with civilian agencies in response
to natural disasters such as flooding and forest fires.

But the military's most sensitive data remained off-limits to academics. In
1967, for example, early-warning radar in Alaska spotted pulsars -- rotating
stars that emit a pulsing radio signal -- m before any civilian
astronomers did. The staff sergeant who made the observations kept quiet about
his discovery for 40 years, until the sightings were declassified in 2007.

After the end of the cold war, restrictions began to loosen. In the mid-1990s,
astronomers struck up an ad hoc arrangement with Air Force Space Command in
which they could ask for data on specific meteors that had been collected by
missile-warning satellites. At around the same time, Al Gore, then a
Democratic senator from Tennessee, began to ask what the intelligence
community could offer climate scientists. Gore was interested in environmental
issues and had also served on intelligence and military committees in
Congress. He wrote to Robert Gates, then the director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, prompting Gates to invite a group of scientists to gain
security clearance and take a look at what the military had to offer. After
Gore took office as Bill Clinton's vice-president in 1993, the group
solidified under the name MEDEA -- Measurements of Earth Data for
Environmental Analysis.

"With the proper justification, I could ask for almost anything," says William
Schlesinger, a MEDEA member and president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem
Studies in Millbrook, New York. Schlesinger used reconnaissance imagery going
back to the Second World War to search for climate change's influence on
desertification of the Sahara (he didn't find any).

Trade secrets

MEDEA did succeed in getting intelligence satellites to systematically
photograph locations of environmental interest in the Arctic, Antarctic and
the continental United States. In 1995, the group also successfully lobbied
for the release of images from early photo-reconnaissance satellites Corona,
Argon and Lanyard, which took more than 860k photographs of Earth between
1960 and 1972, recorded on rolls of film. Since then, an entire cottage
industry has sprung up involving archaeologists who search for roads and other
ancient features in the photos, many of which show tracts of land that have
since been consumed by urban sprawl. Jason Ur, an archaeologist at Harvard
University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for example, has used them to map
massive canals dug by ancient Assyrian kings (see 'Spying on an ancient city').

In the late 1990s, work by Gore and MEDEA led the United States and Russia to
declassify Arctic-sea-ice data recorded between the 1970s and 1990s by
satellites, submarines and other sources. Scientists have since been able to
use those data to reconstruct the gradual thinning of Arctic ice in the
decades before civilian monitoring began. "Without the early classified data,
people wouldn't have a clue," says Ralph Cicerone, the president of the US
National Academy of Sciences.

Then, around 2000, MEDEA abruptly halted its work and, in 2009, the informal
meteor data from the Air Force stopped flowing too. No one really knows
why. But such twists and turns are the price of working with the intelligence
community. As Schlesinger puts it, researchers aren't privy to the "darkened
world where a bunch of people make a decision".

Sharing will never be a priority for those charged with defending the United
States, says Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at
the Federation of American Scientists in Washington DC and has spent decades
tracking the US intelligence agencies. Even if information is unclassified,
agencies may not want to dole it out freely -- or devote resources to
converting it into formats that scientists can use. "No organization
spontaneously discloses and shares its information; that's just a bureaucratic
law of physics," Aftergood says. Political pressure, such as that applied by
Gore, is key to persuading intelligence agencies to share data, he says.

"With the proper justification, i could ask for almost anything."

These days, new collaborations are emerging. In 2008, congressional committees
concerned about climate change quietly reconvened MEDEA to examine whether
military- and intelligence-community assets could supply environmental
data. The answer was yes, according to Cicerone, who has served as informal
chair of MEDEA since 2008. Although intelligence satellites aren't as useful
as custom-built instruments, the panel concluded that they could fill some
gaps in climate data gathered by civilian satellites, particularly given
recent budget shortfalls and launch failures such as the loss of the NASA
Orbiting Carbon Observatory in Feb 2009.

Also in 2009, MEDEA persuaded intelligence officials to publicly share images
of areas of environmental interest that had, by that time, been photographed
regularly for more than a decade. The images are now archived as the Global
Fiducials Library, available through the US Geological Survey (USGS). Orcutt
says they are "relatively priceless at this point" because they are gathered
roughly once every few wk -- more frequently and continuously than those from
civilian research satellites.

Lindley Johnson, who oversees NASA's Near-Earth Object Observation programme,
believes that the space policy unveiled in 2010 by US President Barack Obama,
which explicitly endorses data sharing, may have smoothed his efforts to
secure data from the US Air Force. Johnson says the new arrangement, which
will give astronomers access to data from missile-warning satellites on all
meteors -- not just the ones researchers knew about already -- will allow
scientists to gain a better understanding of the range of near-Earth objects
in orbit.

How much science will emerge from these burgeoning relationships remains to be
seen. So far, the newly available image libraries of the Arctic and Antarctic
have seen only modest use from scientists. "One of our biggest challenges is
to educate the science community about the existence of our programme," says
Bruce Molnia, executive director of the Civil Applications Committee at the
USGS in Reston, Virginia, which oversees civilian use of classified image
data. And the members of MEDEA, who have access to the full array of
classified data, are, for now at least, using it to address policy questions
raised by government agencies -- such as what national security risks are
posed by climate change -- rather than conducting fundamental research of
their own choosing.

Yet Cicerone is hopeful that even more of the intelligence data being
collected can eventually be shared. It is now feasible to save almost
everything that the military's eyes and ears are recording about Earth. "As
scientists, we don't want observations to be thrown away," he says. "With the
Earth, as time passes, you just get one shot at it."

MYREF: 20111012033951 msg2011101218983

[241 more news items]

---
Earth's atmosphere contains natural greenhouse gases (mostly water
vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) which act to keep the lower layers
of the atmosphere warmer than they otherwise would be without those
gases. Greenhouse gases trap infrared radiation - the radiant heat
energy that the Earth naturally emits to outer space in response to
solar heating. Mankind's burning of fossil fuels (mostly coal,
petroleum, and natural gas) releases carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere and this is believed to be enhancing the Earth's natural
greenhouse effect. As of 2008, the concentration of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere was about 40% to 45% higher than it was before the
start of the industrial revolution in the 1800's.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-11 17:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Hurricane Jova set to strike Mexico

Oct 11 2011

Mexico City (AFP) -- Hurricane Jova barreled towards Mexico on Tue and was
expected to slam into the Pacific coast later in the day, bringing high winds,
heavy rains and the risk of devastating mudslides.

Mexican authorities have placed 4 southern coastal states on high alert
ahead of the expected arrival of the category 3 storm.

The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said in a 0900 GMT bulletin that
Jova was packing maximum sustained winds of 185 km (115 miles) per
hour and was 235 km (150 miles) southwest of the busy port city of
Manzanillo, in Colima state. It was moving north-northeast at 9 km/h (6 mph).

"The center of the hurricane will be near the coast of Mexico in the hurricane
warning area by this afternoon or evening," the NHC said, adding it expected
the storm to reach the coast at "near major hurricane strength."

Mexico has issued hurricane alerts for large swaths of the Pacific coast.

The zone stretched N from the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan for
almost 480 km (298 miles), encompassing the popular tourist cape of
Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco, Mexico's meteorological institute said.

Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan and Nayarit state to the N were all put on
guard for possible landslides from heavy rain expected to be dumped by the
ninth Pacific hurricane of the season.

"A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding
near and to the E of where the center makes landfall," the NHC warned.

The surge, said the hurricane center, "will be accompanied by large and
destructive waves" as well as torrential rainfall with accumulations of up to
20 inches (50 centimeters) in some areas.

"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides over
mountainous terrain," the NHC said.

Several major storms or hurricanes have buffeted Mexico's Pacific coast in
recent m but most have remained offshore.

The season's 1st named storm, Arlene, left at least 16 people dead and
drenched much of the country in July.

Tropical storms and hurricanes last y caused flooding and mudslides in
Mexico that killed 125 people, left 100s of 1000s homeless and caused
more than $4 bn in damage.

MYREF: 20111012040002 msg2011101232146

[241 more news items]

---
[Even-number day of week:]
What feedbacks?
Oh ... you mean those mythical feedbacks in GIGO computer models.
Yeah right.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 11 May 2011 10:39 +1000
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-25 07:00:01 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
The Post-Global Warming World

Moving on from climate virtue.

WSJ
Oct 25, 2011

The United Nations will convene its 17th annual climate-change conference next
m in Durban, S Africa, with the purpose of sealing a new carbon-cutting deal
to succeed the soon-to-expire 1997 Kyoto Protocol. It promises to be a
historic event, if not in the way the organizers might hope.

The chances that a global deal on carbon would ever be reached were always
slim, a point brought home by the collapse of the comic 2009 Copenhagen
summit. But obituaries are sometimes late to print. Now, at last, the U.S.,
Russia and Japan have all said they won't agree to any new measures ...

<http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_21_0_t&bvm=grid&topic=blend
ed&sid=2d7e00adbedf2176&usg=AFQjCNHGJrF8SRVmGhhwsy-cfTGIb5BZfg&did=b5ef20415dc40
246&sig2=4azpJwjq5yn8AwS6-vMWDA&cid=8797763740012&ei=TQ-mToD8KouElQX7Jw&rt=HOMEP
AGE&vm=STANDARD&authuser=0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB1000142
4052970204618704576640730949448812.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj>

MYREF: 20111025180001 msg2011102527572

[251 more news items]

---
Kooks don't accept evaporation without a book reference? ROTFLOL!
Huh? I can't find your cite ....
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 14 Oct 2011 11:56 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-26 13:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Charles Bayless Lectures on Climate Change

A former CEO of major power companies, Charles Bayless, lectured on climate
change Tue.

Andrew Clay
WBOY TV
Tue, Oct 25, 2011 ; 10:14 PM

Morgantown -- A former energy executive and CEO was presenting at WVU's School
of Law Tue.

Successful and accomplished businessman, Charles Bayless, spoke about climate
change at the Marlyn E Lugar Courtroom.

His accomplishments in growing and merging power companies have made him an
authority on industry policy, and these days he has become a respected leader
and lecturer on climate change and global warming.

While global warming and climate change is often mocked, Bayless says the
problem is real, and at this point it will effect people.

"I think it's really going to be the defining issue of this century," says
Bayless. "I mean the green house gasses we've already put into the atmosphere
are going to lead to another 1.5 to 2 degree rise."

Those rising temperatures he says, could lead to major weather and
environmental changes.

"The studies show that Texas will turn into a dust bowl so people say 'fine,
who cares,' but Texans do, I can tell you that after this year," says
Bayless. "So I think it's going to bring massive upheaval to weather patterns,
rain patters, agriculture, and things like that."

Throughout the summer across America, people saw a string of floods,
tornadoes, hurricanes and droughts. Bayless says this is just the beginning of
things to come.

"We've had more bn dollar disasters this y than any other year," said
Bayless."You look at the floods, the droughts, the tornadoes, the hurricanes
and on and on and on. That's probably what we see the most of today. In the
future we'll gradually see the true climate change where whole areas turn into
a dust bowl and droughts just like that."

Bayless says there are ways for people to do their part and help out.

"Start Conserving," said Bayless. "There are so many ways we can conserve
energy at home that people haven't really looked at. Energy has always been
cheap. But today, with new light bulbs, and every efficient appliances and
energy efficient motors and energy efficient cars etcetera, etcetera, we can
do a lot."

Bayless is currently serving on the boards of several energy companies as
well, and in 2011, was a judge for the Platts Global Energy Awards.

MYREF: 20111027000002 msg2011102721932

[241 more news items]

---
ISI Web of Science indexed 39,177 publications related to climate change
and global warming between 1970 to 2007.

800 PEER REVIEWED Papers Supporting Skepticism of ManMade Global Warming Alarm
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 19 Dec 2010 12:51 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-10-28 09:00:03 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Discovering Climate Change near Rochester, NY

Discovering Climate Change near Rochester, NY --our grandparents
were on to something Photos by Frank J. Regan
http://www.examiner.com/environmental-news-in-rochester/lakes-change-with-climat
e-change-photo

Frank Regan
Rochester Examiner
Oct 27, 2011

There were indications from various sources in bygone days that our atmosphere
has been warming up for some time. Many tend to think the idea of Climate
Change has sprung from nowhere sometime in the 1980's--just to annoy the
Republicans. But some scientists thought there would be repercussions from
putting a whole lot of manmade CO2 into our atmosphere long ago.
To get and idea of this trend read a series of scientific thought since 1900
on Climate Change from Bill McKibben:

The Global Warming Reader, by Bill McKibben "This is a book for all of us:
students, activists, Earthlings. Edited by perhaps the most widely-respected
writer on the environment today, GWR is a comprehensive resource that collects
seminal texts and voices on climate change from the phenomenon's discovery in
the late 19th century to the present." -- Bill McKibben's website

If your mind is not already clouded with corporate glee over the use of fossil
fuels, Climate Change in the face of burning massive amounts of wood, oil,
coal, and natural gas for more than a century makes a lot of sense. The
carbon dioxide, which is released from fossil fuels, is the same stuff that
warmed our planet enough to grow something. Don't try putting your tongue on
an icicle on Mars.

There is other data from farmers, naturalists, weather gathers for whom
Climate Change was not even a glitter in their eyes at all. They were just
trying to figure out when to plant, when they could expect to boat across a
lake without hitting ice, and go ice fishing. A lot of information about
Climate Change has been gathered from these sources. And our area, the N
American Northeast, is one of them.

"In the Northeast there are 56 stations that have been continuously operating
since 1899, providing the best record of temperature variations for the
region." Indicators of Climate Change in the Northeast 2005, by Clean Air --
Cool Planet and Cameron P. Wake,The Climate Change Research Center, University
of New Hampshire

Even in the Northeast, where weather tends to vary quite a bit, a trend
towards warming can be seen in this ad hoc, though rigorous, data from our
area's forefathers. The Climate in our region warms steadily then spikes
upwards even more in the later part of the twentieth century. Read this
report, it gives some great insight into warming trends in our region of the
world: Indicators of Climate Change in the Northeast 2005 Our grandparents
were on to something.

BTW: We here in the Northeast, who are one of the main contributors to Climate
Change via our ubiquitous factories over the years, which by the way we are
still trying to clean up after with Brownfields, are going to experience a lot
of Likely Changes. But those changes are probably little (at least for a
little while) compared to those areas of the world that did not contribute
greatly to Climate Change, but will suffer a lot:

IMAGE: This map shows stark divide between who caused climate change and who's
being hit "The global N is at lower risk of global warming impacts and is
better placed to cope than the global south, but globalisation means we are
all affected. When the world's nations convene in Durban in Nov in the latest
attempt to inch towards a global deal to tackle climate change, one
fundamental principle will, as ever, underlie the negotiations. Is is the
contention that while rich, industrialised nations caused climate change
through past carbon emissions, it is the developing world that is bearing the
brunt. It follows from that, developing nations say, that the rich nations
must therefore pay to enable the developing nations to both develop cleanly
and adapt to the impacts of global warming." -- The Guardian

MYREF: 20111028200002 msg201110286266

[241 more news items]

---
Ever seen film of the Polar bear bashing through the ice to get seal
cubs? Less ice more food for the Polar Bear
-- george <***@hnpl.net>, 27 Oct 2010 15:55:37 -0700
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-11-09 09:30:03 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
The Developing World, Leading on Climate Change?

Vivek Dehejia
India Ink
Nov 9, 2011, 1:15 am

PHOTO: Factory chimneys on the outskirts of Ahmadabad, India. Factory chimneys
on the outskirts of Ahmadabad, India.

In what may turn out to be one of the abiding ironies of global geopolitics,
leadership on climate change seems to have suddenly passed from the developed
to the developing world, as has public anxiety about the damaging effects of a
changing climate.

As recently as the Copenhagen summit in late 2009, the W blamed large
developing countries such as China and India for scuppering the chances of a
"grand agreement" to curb the emission of greenhouse gases. Poor developing
countries argued they needed the right to pollute in order to catch up to the
W in terms of economic development, while the rich nations clucked that the
world could ill afford more carbon emissions.

On the flip side, at the Cancun summit a y later, India's then environment
minister, Jairam Ramesh, was pilloried in the domestic press, and accused, by
his own admission, of "caving in to the United States" in the final
near-consensus plan that was agreed.

How quickly things have changed.

In the unfolding presidential election campaign in the United States, climate
change is not a major issue. According to a recent poll, only 59% of Americans
even believe that the planet is warming, as compared to 79% in 2006.

In the developing world, which was long accused of ignoring the environment in
order to focus on growth, concern about the environment has been growing. A
2010 survey found that more than 70% of people in China, India and S Korea
would be willing to pay more for energy if this would help mitigate the
effects of climate change. Fewer than 40% of Americans are willing to do that.

While it may not be surprising that Americans' enthusiasm for tackling climate
change is flagging in lockstep with the stagnating economy, the evolution of
attitudes in India and elsewhere in the developing world is surely noteworthy.

The conventional wisdom suggests that most people in poorer countries blame
the rich world for creating the problem of global warming, which goes hand in
glove with the belief that rich countries are both morally and economically
responsible for fixing it.

Scientists, meanwhile, have long argued that the developing world is likely to
pay the highest price for the effects of global warming. The apparently
increasing occurrence of extreme weather events in places like India, such as
worsening problems caused by flooding, may be evidence of this point of view,
and hence responsible, in part, for the changing mindset in poorer countries.

To the extent that changed attitudes feed through into policy, one might
expect increasingly stringent environmental regulation in India in
future. That could help mitigate the effects of climate change, but what
impact is it likely to have on economic growth? With their rapidly growing
populations that harbor ever-higher aspirations, political stability and
social harmony in India and China require increased and more widely shared
prosperity.

To understand the likely effect of strengthened environmental regulation, it
is worth taking a look at the impact, both in terms of well-being and economic
growth, of existing regulations.

Unfortunately, the way that economists have generally modeled the relationship
between the environment and economic development precludes a fully-fledged
answer to these questions. They typically assume that the channel of causation
runs from a given level, or growth rate, of economic activity to the level of
environmental degradation. This makes it impossible to explore the possibility
that causality may run in the opposite direction, feeding back from a
worsening environment to economic growth.

Even still, some useful results may be found in a recent study by economists
Michael Greenstone of M.I.T. and Rema Hanna of Harvard's Kennedy School. Using
a rich trove of data, the authors conduct a statistical analysis to determine
if government regulations have been effective in their stated objectives of
improving the quality of air and water, and whether there has been any
discernible impact on infant mortality.

The results reveal that air pollution regulations have been effective at
reducing ambient concentrations of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and
nitrogen dioxide, all of which are contributors to global warming. The fact
that this has occurred during a period of rapid economic growth is striking.

Likewise, the effect of air pollution regulations on infant mortality works in
the "right" direction of improved outcomes, but the effect is statistically
indiscernible. By contrast, the water pollution regulations have had no
statistically measurable effect on water quality.

So why have the air pollution regulations been effective while the water
quality regulations have not? Mr Greenstone and Ms. Hanna argue that
"bottom-up environmental policies," such as Supreme Court-mandated air quality
regulations coming out of public interest litigation, "are more likely to
succeed than policies, like the water pollution regulations that are initiated
by political institutions."

This tallies with the opinion of environmental policy experts. Rajendra
K. Pachauri, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an
organization that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President
Al Gore, recently told India Ink that the resources devoted to cleaning
India's rivers have not led to tangible results. He blamed the lack of an
"appropriate oversight mechanism" which would create transparency and
accountability.

So, do the Greenstone-Hanna findings represent good news? The answer depends
on your point of view. To the extent that they establish the effectiveness of
air, albeit not water, pollution regulations, supporters of a cleaner
environment have something to cheer about. However, this leaves open whether
the improved environmental outcome has been "bought" at the expense of a
reduction in the rate of economic growth.

Until that larger question is addressed by scholars and policy analysts,
critics of more stringent environmental regulation in India and elsewhere in
the developing world are unlikely to be silenced.

MYREF: 20111109203002 msg2011110927864

[241 more news items]

---
[The difference between "real science" and "pseudo science":]
So you really, really believe that our universe just came about by
sheer chance? I prersonally, find that extremely hard to accept.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 11 Jan 2011 15:02 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-11-15 00:15:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
CIA urged to be more open about climate change

US government agency says CIA should abandon its traditional culture of
secrecy and begin sharing its intelligence on the issue

PHOTO: Flooding in Bangkok this month. The CIA has been urged to be less
secretive about climate change following an epic y of natural weather disasters.

Suzanne Goldenberg
The Guardian
Mon 14 Nov 2011 21.34 GMT



After a y of epic weather, drought, heatwaves, hurricanes and floods,
America's intelligence establishment has come out with a bold new suggestion:
maybe it's time the CIA stopped treating climate change as a secret.

A new report from the Defence Science Board - a US government agency - urges
the CIA to step outside its traditional culture of secrecy and begin sharing
the intelligence it has been gathering on climate change.
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/dsb/climate.pdf

The report, Trends and Implications of Climate Change for National and
International Security, goes as far as to recommend the establishment of a new
agency devoted to the study of climate change - one that would operate in the
open and transparent manner so alien to the CIA.

The report is the latest in the series of blows to CIA's climate centre, which
has been struggling to justify its existence to the public since its
establishment in 2009.

Republicans in Congress have derided the very notion of climate change as a
national security threat, despite the Pentagon's view that it is a threat
multiplier. Now it faces criticism that it has been hoarding data.

The report does not call for scrapping the CIA climate centre, but it does
suggest that CIA's climate experts have been going about their business the
wrong way.

The CIA's insistence on classifying the climate centre's reports have cut it
off from university research on the cutting edge of climate science as well as
other government agencies working on the issue, it said. "Compartmentalising
climate change impact research can only hinder progress," the report said.

The CIA's secrecy on climate change has long irked other government agencies
working in the same area. The climate centre last y turned down a freedom of
information request for copies of its reports on climate impacts.

Although much of the data on climate change is gathered by satellites, the
agency - citing the need to protect intelligence sources - said it was unable
to release a single document. It declared the material "currently and properly c
lassified".

Two analysts from the CIA climate centre did venture out to an off-the-record
briefing with environmental groups earlier this year. But the analysts, who
insisted they went unnamed, kept to generalities, a number of people at the
briefing said.

Instead, a much more effective approach would be for the CIA climate centre to
"make extensive use of open sources, seek to co-operate with other domestic
and international intelligence efforts, and report most of its products
broadly within governmental and non-governmental communities, the report said.

It went on to propose that the CIA climate centre produce an analysis of
global hotspots where climate change and water supply was destabilising
government and economies.

Then, crucially, it proposed the CIA should share that information.

MYREF: 20111115111502 msg2011111526649

[240 more news items]

---
co2 has no climate forcing effect and is not a greenhouse gas and, for that
matter, neither is water vapour.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [100s of nyms], 5 Sep 2009
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-11-15 02:45:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
SLC lauded for plans for extreme weather

"Planning for the future" amid y of US climate extremes.

JUDY FAHYS
The Salt Lake Tribune
Nov 14, 2011 07:34PM

Salt Lake City, like most city and county governments nationwide, has started
making plans for managing natural disasters related to climate change.

But Utah's largest city received a shoutout Mon for its leading work in
finding ways to adapt as advocacy groups prepared for a report later this wk
from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the link between climate
change and weird weather.

Protecting watersheds, promoting conservation and other practical strategies
are already being mapped out to help Salt Lake City residents become more
resilient to the impacts of extreme weather, said Vicki Bennett, city director
of Sustainability and Environment.

"It's no different from any other risk-management exercise," she said.
"People in this state are always planning for the future, and this is no differe
nt."

The capital's efforts to prepare for the kinds of natural disasters related to
climate change -- drought, heat waves, flooding and the like -- have been
stepped up in what 30-year meteorologist Jeff Masters calls a "remarkable y
for weather extremes."

"One event after another," he said in a news conference Mon. "It never seems
to stop."

Co-founder of the forecasting organization Weather Underground, Masters noted
that there have been a record-breaking 14 extreme weather events so far this
year. That's 5 more than the past record -- 9 in 2008 -- and almost 5 times
the usual number.

He said scientists predict more severe weather events because people have
pumped more energy into the climate system. More energy means more fuel for
tornadoes, drought, flood and other forms of climate calamity, he said.

Pointing to tornados, Masters noted that there were 7 times in just 2 m when
a tornado's damage toll topped $1 billion.

One outbreak in April claimed 346 lives and destroyed $9 bn in property, the
single largest weather event of the year. Another in late May leveled Joplin,
Mo., killing 59 people and caused $3 bn in damage.

"Mother Nature has made it abundantly clear this y the gloves are off,"
Masters concluded. "And, with climate change likely to boost the destructive
power of storms, heat waves and droughts, we can expect an increasing number
of these bare-knuckle y in the decades to come."

Brian Holland, of the International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives, said his group's recent poll of local governments found that 59%
of the 300 communities reported already taking steps to deal with climate change
.

He pointed to the Western Adaptation Alliance, a collaborative that includes
Salt Lake City and Park City, as well as larger western cities such as Las
Vegas, which have zeroed in on water use.

Laura Briefer, of the city's Department of Public Utilities, said local
efforts are aimed at preserving high-quality, low-cost and dependable water supp
lies.

"In a nutshell," she said, "we're trying to plan for the resilience of our
communities, and our community relies on water for its sustainability and health
."

MYREF: 20111115134502 msg2011111512229

[242 more news items]

---
Am I therefore unqualified to form an opinion? Being able to read is a
prerequisite to an engineering degree, and I have exercised this ability
over the years with regard to GW.
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], Fri, 9 Sep 2011 11:15 +1000

Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172, 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
2011-11-15 07:00:02 UTC
Permalink
[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Plan D Already

By Nick Robins, Zoe Knight, Wai-Shin Chan & Katyayini Krishnamoorthy
Climate Spectator
8:43 AM, 15 Nov 2011


Global climate strategy needs a new storyline. The original United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ("Plan A") was signed almost
20 y ago, but lacked the specifics to drive real action. The Kyoto Protocol
aimed to resolve this by curbing emissions from the industrialised world, but
the US refused to play its part (Plan B). Just as Kyoto came into effect in
2005, the world was changing, with emerging economies not only driving the
global economy, but also emissions growth.

The Copenhagen summit in 2009 succeeded in delivering unprecedented
commitments from these emerging economies. But the industrialised world was
unable to follow through in terms of its historical `carbon debt'. The result
was the soft consensus in last year's Cancun Agreements to holding global
warming to 2°C this century (Plan C). But the commitments made at the same
meeting only took the world 1/2 way to that goal by 2020.

So what can Durban deliver?

1 y on from Cancun and global climate talks are 1 y closer to the "cliff
of 2012," when the 1st commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires and
when the $US30 bn in "fast start finance" for developing countries runs
out. Durban has 3 tasks:

- Arrive at a diplomatic stopgap on the Kyoto Protocol that keeps its
mechanisms alive and papers over the gulf between industrialised and
developing countries on future carbon targets;

- Agree the design of the new Green Climate Fund and ensure that there is no
gap in funding after the end of 2013;

- Set out a roadmap to a truly global deal, ideally with a deadline of 2015.

In addition, we believe that Durban will need to avoid a flare up of the
mounting controversy over EU inclusion of aviation into its Emission Trading
Scheme (ETS). But Durban can also take a set of pragmatic decisions on
adaptation, forests, monitoring and technology.

How to build a Plan D

Reaching a mandate for a global agreement at Durban is one thing; negotiating
an effective global deal is another. For us, the lesson of Copenhagen is that
climate security will not be delivered through climate policy alone. The
propositions that have underpinned climate strategy so far no longer work (see
Chart 1). The science is robust, but is insufficient to drive policy; the
industrialised countries have ceased to lead; and a global carbon market is a
distant prospect.

In their place, 3 news propositions underpin emerging thinking. Climate
factors exacerbate underlying resource stress (see Scoring Climate Change
Risk, 9 August 2011) and emerging markets are now in the vanguard. And it is
through industrial strategies for low-carbon growth that the gigatonnes of
GHGs will be eliminated.

To get a deal that has real positive impact on both economic prosperity and
climate security, a global Plan D will need to mirror the packages of measures
that governments and business are already putting in place at the national
level to deliver `green growth.' We argue that, in terms of climate policy, a
dominant focus on international negotiations masks the progress that is being
made at the national level.

In spite of `economic permafrost' in the industrialised world, Australia's new
Clean Energy Future plan, approved in Nov, goes beyond carbon to boost
investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency as well as giving
tax-breaks for households. On a much larger scale, this year's 12^th Five-Year
Plan in China also integrates reductions in energy, carbon and water intensity
in the country's strategy for growth (see China's rising climate risk, Oct 6, 20
11).

At a global level, adopting this real world approach would mean negotiating
just as hard for carbon targets, finance and markets, as well as adaptation
within the UNFCCC. Bu t it would also require supplementing a classical
climate treaty with international targets, finance and markets for energy
efficiency, renewable and environmental health. For example, we estimate that
halving the energy intensity of the global economy by 2030 alone would be
enough to bring GHGs down to levels needed to hit the 2°C target. Doing this
would also bring clear spill over benefits in terms of fuel costs, energy
security and innovation - all essential in a world of rising resource stress.

MYREF: 20111115180002 msg2011111521345

[244 more news items]

---
[Asked an answered:]
So How Do Met Office Carbon Based Forecasts Compare To Solar Based Forecasts?
-- BONZO [various nyms], 25 May 2011 16:00 +1000

Temperatures don't follow the 11-year solar cycle.
Other than that 11-year cycle the total solar output
is reasonably constant.
-- BONZO [various nyms], 5 Jun 2011 00:08 +1000

Robot
2011-02-15 02:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Vietnam to increase forest coverage to 42% by 2015

Vovnews.vn

The forestry sector will continue the project to plant 5 mn ha of trees to
improve the quality and value of forests and increase the country's forest
coverage to 42% by 2015, said Ha Cong Tuan, Deputy Director General of the
General Forestry Office.

Tuan said this forest protection project during the 2011-2015 period will help
minimise the negative impact of climate change.

Forest protection will affect more than 20 mn people, said Tuan, adding that
it is one of the country's key projects to encourage afforestation.

Since the project was launched in 1998, more than 2 mn ha of forest have been
planted and 2.5 mn ha have been effectively protected.

In addition to its economic and environmental significance, the project has
created jobs for local people and contributed to reducing poverty.

It has also raised the awareness of local authorities and people about forest
protection and brought about socio-economic change in many localities.

[79 more news items]


---
This ***global warming**** appears to be HIGHLY LOCALISED!
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 5 Feb 2011 21:59 +1100
Of course "global temperature are rising", we're emerging from an ICE AGE!!
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 12:22 +1100
Robot
2011-02-15 15:00:03 UTC
Permalink
Germany, Norway Give $5 Million to UN Group's Emissions Program

Isis Almeida
Feb 15 2011
Bloomberg

Germany and Norway together gave $5 mn to support the United Nations'
Food and Agriculture Organization's program to improve data on greenhouse gas
emissions from agriculture, the FAO said.

Norway is contributing $3 mn and Germany $2 mn to the mitigation of climate
change in agriculture program, the UN body said today in a statement on its webs
ite.

"Having access to improved data will give governments, development planners,
farmers and agribusinesses a tool they can use to access international funding
for mitigation projects and design and implement policies, programs and
practices intended to reduce agriculture's GHG emissions," the FAO said.

Agriculture accounts for around 14% of all global greenhouse gas emissions,
according to the FAO.

[88 more news items]


---
[Sucked in:]
1/2 of what he posts always contradict the other 1/2.
One day 50 ppmv is the warming cutoff.
Oh Puuhhleeeeeeze easy with the strawman!
Not "cutoff" but 90% of the warming effect below 50ppm.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 11:27 +1100
Mr Robot
2011-02-18 13:30:01 UTC
Permalink
UN Applauds Pakistan's Climate Change Efforts

08 Feb 2011

The UN on Tue commended Pakistan for electively making efforts to
curb heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.

Though still shaken by recent widespread flooding, the nation has taken
steps toward combatting climate change by restricting emissions in
accordance with the Kyoto Protocol.

Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad Tue, Christina
Figueres, executive secretary of UN framework convention on climatic
change, praised Pakistan's voluntary efforts to cut back on emissions.

"Pakistan currently does not have any legally binding obligation under
the (framework) convention or under the Kyoto Protocol. Pakistan has
participated on voluntary basis," Figueres said.

Adhering to the Kyoto Protocol's guidelines for developing countries,
Pakistan is enacting 10 projects under a Clean Development Mechanism,
with another 145 planned, Figueres said.

While India's carbon output makes up just 0.38% of global
emissions, that number will increase exponentially as the country
develops, AFP reports.

Local environmental analyst Shafqat Kakahel told AFP that as an
agricultural country, Pakistan is especially vulnerable to climate
change, which causes an increased chance of environmental disasters
like floods and droughts.

MYREF: 20110219003001 msg201102193701

[104 more news items]

---
[On knowing your constituents:]
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100
Mr Robot
2011-02-19 00:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Curbing soot could slow climate change: UN

By Alister Doyle
Feb 18, 2011

Oslo (Reuters) -- Strict curbs on soot and ozone air pollution would limit
global warming by 0.5 C (0.9 F) in a step toward achieving tough
world climate goals, a UN-backed study showed on Fri.

Stricter limits on "black carbon" soot and tropospheric ozone -- a greenhouse
gas that is a big component of smog -- would also clear the air and so reduce
human deaths and improve crop yields, especially in Asia, it said.

"Rapid implementation of proven emission reduction measures would have
immediate and multiple benefits for human well-being," it said.

Proposed measures include cuts in flaring of natural gas, curbing gas leaks
from pipelines and reducing methane emissions from livestock. Poor countries
should make wider use of cleaner-burning stoves, and open-field burning of
farm waste should be banned.

The study, backed by the UN Environment Program, the World Meteorological
Organization and the Stockholm Environment Institute, will be reviewed by
environment ministers from around the world during a meeting in Nairobi from
Feb 21-25.

Full implementation of proposed measures to clamp down on black carbon and
ozone would reduce future global warming by 0.5 C (0.9 F), within an
estimated range from 0.2 to 0.7 C, the report said.

Almost 200 countries agreed in Cancun, Mexico, in Dec to limit a rise in world
temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial
times, mainly by curbing emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Many studies show that existing pledges for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions
are insufficient to reach the 2 degree goal, which is viewed as a threshold to
dangerous change from floods, heatwaves, desertification and rising sea levels.

"This is not an alternative to CO2 reductions, it's complementary," Johan
Kuylenstierna, of the Stockholm Environment Institute who was scientific
coordinator of the report, told Reuters.

The study also estimated that less air pollution could avoid 2.4 million
premature human deaths a y and the annual loss of 52 mn metric tons, or
about 2 percent, of world production of maize, rice, soybean and wheat.

"The most substantial benefits will be felt immediately in or close to the
regions where action is taken to reduce emissions, with the greatest health
and crop benefits expected in Asia," it said.

Black carbon, caused by incomplete burning mainly of fossil fuels and wood, is
blamed for accelerating global warming by soaking up heat from the sun. Soot
can darken snow and ice when it lands, hastening a thaw such as in the Arctic
or Himalayas.

Ozone is not directly emitted but is produced from precursors including
methane and carbon monoxide. The troposphere is the lower atmosphere -- higher
up, ozone is beneficial as un ultra-violet sunshield.

MYREF: 20110219113001 msg2011021915159

[115 more news items]

---
Of course "global temperature are rising", we're emerging from an ICE AGE!!
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 12:22 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-09 02:02:15 UTC
Permalink
HSBC reveals achievements of its Climate Partnership scheme

ClickGreen
08 Feb 2011

Banking group HSBC has reported that it had not only cut the bankâs
carbon footprint over the last 3 y but â by working with four
NGO partners in a $100 mn partnership â it had also supported
measurable progress in safeguarding some of the worldâs major cities,
forests, rivers and wetlands from the growing threat of climate change.

The HSBC Climate Partnership celebrates its real and tangible
achievements in the HSBC Climate Partnership Review 2010, published
today.

The five-year environmental programme between HSBC, The Climate Group,
Earthwatch, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF, which
has been groundbreaking in its scale and collaborative approach, is
reducing the impact of climate change on people, forests, freshwater
and cities, and accelerating the adoption of low-carbon policies by:

* Carrying out innovate scientific research

* Developing demonstration projects and test out new methodologies

* Creating working models, showing how the new ideas work in practice

* Providing clear solutions so that governments can agree policy and
enact legislation

Globally, the work is securing and is improving water supplies for
millions, piloting clean tech solutions, understanding the role of
forests in climate change, protecting the habitats of threatened
species, influencing government policy, and engaging more than 100,000
HSBC staff as a worldwide taskforce to drive change.

Simon Martin, Head of Group Corporate Sustainability, said, âSolutions
to climate change require collective action involving governments,
NGOs, the public and the business community. The scale of the
achievements announced today by the HSBC Climate Partnership shows that
tangible results can be achieved by going beyond corporate sponsorship
and adopting a more collaborative approach.â
Mark Kenber, CEO of The Climate Group, added, âWhen the HSBC Climate
Partnership was conceived, it demonstrated real thought leadership in
the way that corporate and NGOs can work together on the ground as a
force for good.

âIt is also a smart move â HSBCâs research has identified that the size
of the global market for low carbon goods will be $2.2 trillion by
2020. Partnerships like this one are immensely valued and crucial to
our efforts to unlock a clean industrial revolution.â

[70 more news items]


---
A scientist cites a data point that is consistent with a trend and
says "This data is consistent with the trend; no surprise". A
kook cites a data point inconsistent with the trend and says
"Surprise! The trend is Wrong Wrong Wrong!".
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-09 14:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, PM to open

Oneindia News
Feb 2, 2011, 20:00 [IST]

New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) Leaders of a number of countrieswill assemble here
tomorrow to discuss ways to address theproblem of climate change through local
initiatives at aconclave to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, President of the DominicanRepublic Leonel
Fernandez Reyna and President of SeychellesJames Alix Michel will attend the
11th edition of the ''DelhiSustainable Development Summit'' (DSDS 2011) with a
theme of"Tapping Local Initiatives and Tackling Global Inertia".

Decision-makers from governments, corporate, NGOs,multilateral and bilateral
organisations, academia andresearch institutions will be attending the summit,
said theEnergy and Resources Institute (TERI), the organisers of thesummit, in
a release here.

"DSDS 2011 will serve as a platform to appreciate debateand identify key
learnings from examples of local successesneeded to move the world as a whole
in the right direction. Itwill enable creating a uniform level of
understanding amongall stakeholders; provide an opportunity for
constructivedialogue on climate change to arrive at an agreement toformulate
meaningful policy options," it said.

TERI along with the Norwegian Institute for Agriculturaland Environmental
Research today organised a workshop on Waterand Climate Change -- a special
event -- before commencing thesummit tomorrow.

Speaking on the occasion, Director General of TERI andchairman of
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change R KPachauri expressed his concern
over the increase in pollutionin the country''s major rivers, including the
Ganga.

He requested Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid totravel down the Ganga
river to study the factors that make itimpossible to even take bath in the
holy river.

"I think he was to do that and go down the Ganga riverand see what are the
factors making it almost impossible forpeople to even take bath in a river,
which everybody regardswith religious respect. I think that (this is)
something thathe needs to be very concerned about," Pachauri said at
theworkshop presided over by Khurshid here. .

[69 more news items]


---
[Weather is responsible for climate change:]
And that's the only reason for the heat!
Strong northeast winds being superheated desert air from the inland to the
the southern capitals.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 31 Jan 2011 13:42 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-09 21:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Report identifies risks to UK infrastructure

Feb 9, 2011
Provided by Institute of Physics

A report published today highlights the serious damage which climate
change could cause to UK society and the economy by crippling vital
services such as electricity, roads and broadband.

The report calls for a more joined up process of decision making in
Government and a new approach to sharing information in the commercial
sector. It also identifies a key role for engineering in meeting the
challenges posed.

'Infrastructure, Engineering and Climate Change Adaptation -
Ensuring services in an uncertain future' examines vulnerabilities in
energy, transport, communications and water systems and identifies
vulnerabilities that affect the infrastructure system as a whole.

It examines 'cascade failures', when failure in one service has a
domino effect on others, will cause major disruption and have
significant economic impact if action is not taken to build resilience
into vital infrastructure networks.

The report identifies ways to prevent and prepare for such events.

The report was written for Defra and prepared from the perspective of
the engineering profession with input particularly from the Institution
of Engineering and Technology, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the
Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

It was published on behalf of the Engineering the Future alliance, of
which the Institute of Physics is a member.

[74 more news items]


---
A scientist cites a data point that is consistent with a trend and
says "This data is consistent with the trend; no surprise". A
kook cites a data point inconsistent with the trend and says
"Surprise! The trend is Wrong Wrong Wrong!".
Robot
2011-02-14 08:00:01 UTC
Permalink
ISO 50001 energy management standard targeted for publication in 3Q2011

Today in Manufacturing
Feb 13, 2011

Against a background of rising world energy prices, ISO's announcement of a
3rd quarter 2011 target for publication of its ISO 50001 International
Standard for energy management is particularly timely. ISO 50001 will help
organizations to improve their energy performance, increase energy efficiency
and reduce climate change impacts.

ISO 50001 will establish a framework for industrial plants, commercial
facilities or entire organizations to manage energy. Targeting broad
applicability across national economic sectors, it is estimated that the
standard could influence up to 60% of the world's energy use.

ISO 50001 is being developed by ISO project committee ISO/PC 242, Energy
management, whose Chair, Edwin Piñero, comments: "Everyday, organizations all
over the world deal with issues such as energy supply availability,
reliability, climate change, and resource depletion. A critical element in
addressing these issues is how effectively an organization manages its energy us
e.

"ISO 50001 provides a proven model that helps organizations systematically
plan and manage their energy use. With a strong focus on performance and
continual improvement, ISO 50001 will contribute to enhanced energy efficiency
and prudent energy use. An extremely high level of consensus drove our
committee's fast progress toward publication - proof that the world needs and
wants this standard."

The secretariat of ISO/PC 242 is provided by the partnership of the ISO
members for the United States (American National Standards Institute - ANSI)
and Brazil (Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas - ABNT). Forty-three ISO
member countries are participating in its development, with another 12 as
observers. Liaison organizations include the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Energy Council (WEC).

The document is based on the common elements found in all of ISO's management
system standards, assuring a high level of compatibility with ISO 9001
(quality management) and ISO 14001 (environmental management). ISO 50001 will
provide the following benefits:

* A framework for integrating energy efficiency into management practices

* Making better use of existing energy-consuming assets

* Benchmarking, measuring, documenting, and reporting energy intensity
improvements and their projected impact on reductions in greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions

* Transparency and communication on the management of energy resources

* Energy management best practices and good energy management behaviours

* Evaluating and prioritizing the implementation of new energy-efficient
technologies

* A framework for promoting energy efficiency throughout the supply chain

* Energy management improvements in the context of GHG emission reduction
projects.

Roland Risser, Chair of the US Technical Advisory Group to ISO/PC 242, and
Manager of the Building Technologies Program at the US Department of
Energy, underlines that, "This new International Standard provides the
structural framework for commercial and industrial companies to continually
improve their energy intensity - saving money, improving competitiveness and
reducing pollution. When companies can link efficiency to profitability,
that's a win-win."

[86 more news items]


---
It takes more than warmth to grow crops; otherwise the Sahara would be green!
--
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 21 Jan 2011 11:16 +1100
Robot
2011-02-14 11:30:02 UTC
Permalink
E.ON to build USD480m offshore wind farm in UK

StrategyEye
Feb 13 2011

Energy firm E.ON has received approval from the UK Department of Energy and
Climate Change to develop a wind farm off the Holderness coast in the
northeast of England. The Humber Gateway Offshore project, located in E
Riding, Yorkshire, is projected to cost around GBP300m (USD479.9m) and will
have a 230MW capacity. The wind farm is expected to create 1k jobs during
construction and will comprise 77 wind turbines.

When complete, the project will be the UK's 5th offshore project. E.ON
already operates the Blyth, Scroby Sands and Robin Rigg offshore wind farms in
the UK, and is a partner in the development of the London Array. The London
Array is being developed with Abu Dhabi's Masdar and DONG Energy and will have
a 1GW capacity when complete.

[86 more news items]


---
[W]omen are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 11:28 +1100
Robot
2011-02-15 10:30:10 UTC
Permalink
New waste processing plants in NSW & WA

Inside Waste Weekly
15 Feb 2011

A new glass reprocessing plant opened at JR Richards Tuncurry Material
Resource Facility yesterday which will recycle more than 4,500 tonnes of glass
collected through council kerbside recycling systems each year. On the other
side of the country, major construction work officially commenced on the $35
mn DiCOM® Bioconversion Waste Processing System in Shenton Park when WA's
Minister for Environment Bill Marmion turned the 1st sod.

Glass recycling solutions

Funded by the Australian Food and Grocery Council's Packaging Stewardship
Forum (PSF) and JR Richards & Sons, the new glass reprocessing plant was
officially opened by Rob Oakeshott MP, Member for Lyne.

This coincided with the announcement of a new demonstration project using
crushed glass within Great Lakes Council area on NSW's mid N coast.

The plant is part of a regional strategy to provide a local recycling solution
for glass bottles and jars collected from 3 local government areas: Greater
Taree City Council, Gloucester Shire Council and Great Lakes Council.

Oakeshott said, "This is a great regional solution. The glass collected by
councils can now be processed locally and used in regional construction
projects. It's a win for the environment and the economy and a model that I
would recommend to others."

JR Richards & Sons will crush the collected glass to a specification standard
suitable for use in a range of alternative local markets including road base,
asphalt, concrete and pipe embedment as a partial sand replacement.

Greg Turner, from JR Richards & Sons said, "The decision to process and re-use
the glass locally was taken because we believe this delivered the most
sustainable outcome as we no longer have to transport it long distances as we
have in the past. This reduces our carbon footprint." PSF chairman, Alec
Wagstaff said the use of recycled crushed glass in the road construction
sector provides one of the most significant opportunities to dramatically
boost glass recycling rates nationally.

"Through our kerbside recycling systems we're collecting more than 76% of
glass beverage containers annually but due to breakage we're recycling just
over 1/2 back into new containers. That means around 120k tonnes is either
stockpiled or going to waste in our landfills annually," he said.

Wagstaff said there is now momentum building in NSW as councils see the
benefits of using recycled materials in civil engineering projects. Member
for Paterson, Bob Baldwin, also announced a 1st for regional NSW, the public
demonstration of the use of recycled crushed glass (from the Tuncurry plant)
in 2 sections of road pavement within Great Lakes Council.

Construction of 2 sections of road pavement will commence in March 2011 and
will use an estimated 100 tonnes of recycled crushed glass from the new JR
Richard & Sons glass reprocessing facility in road pavement (asphalt and
granular pavement).

DiCOM construction works commence

The DiCOM System will be constructed at the JFR (Jim) McGeough Resource
Recovery Facility (formerly Brockway Transfer Station) in Shenton Park and
will be the 1st time in Australia that an existing transfer station has been
retrofitted with alternative waste processing technology.

The system will convert household waste from Perth's western suburbs into
market-quality compost and biogas, processing up to 55k tonnes of waste per
annum and diverting 65%-80% of waste from landfill. The finished system will
consist of 3 processing vessels, 2 water storage tanks, a materials recovery
building, power generation equipment and a waste receival and loading area.

Construction works are expected to take 12 months, with the DICOM System
expected to be operational by March 2012.

WMRC Chairman, Mayor Ron Norris said "Today marks an important stage in our
ongoing efforts to provide sustainable waste management solutions for Perth's
western suburbs. Over the next 12 m this will be one of the largest Local
Government construction projects in Perth."

"Upon completion of this project, our residents will benefit from
environmentally responsible disposal of household waste at a predictable price
for the next 20 years. The proportion of our waste which we will divert from
landfill will be free from increasing transport costs and expected increases
to the landfill levy."

The DiCOM System was invented in Western Australia and developed by AnaeCo
Limited. Monadelphous Group Limited, a leading engineering group with its head
office in Perth, will carry out the construction works under a Joint Venture
with AnaeCo Limited. This will be the 1st facility constructed under the
joint venture.

The Western Metropolitan Regional Council works on behalf of the Town of
Claremont, Town of Cottesloe, Town of Mosman Park, Shire of Peppermint Grove
and City of Subiaco.

[77 more news items]


---
[Yasi is "the worst cyclone" to hit Qld:]
CORRECTION: The worst cyclone in history was the cat 5 Mahina in 1899.
[Bzzt! Thank you, come again!]
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 3 Feb 2011 15:12 +1100
Robot
2011-02-17 02:00:02 UTC
Permalink
Report assesses climate change impacts, adaptation strategies

Feb 7, 2011
UW-Madison

A statewide collaborative of scientists and diverse stakeholders is proposing
a multitude of measures to help protect and enhance Wisconsin's natural
resources, economic vitality, and public well-being as the state's climate
becomes warmer and wetter.

Their report, "Wisconsin's Changing Climate: Impacts and Adaptation," was
released today by the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts
(WICCI). It is available online here.

"This report is the 1st comprehensive survey of climate change impacts in
Wisconsin, and it provides information that will help decision-makers begin to
plan for the kinds of changes we're likely to see in the y ahead," says
Lewis Gilbert, associate director of the Nelson Institute for
Environmental Studies at the Uni of Wisconsin-Madison and member of
WICCI's science council.

Public officials, resource managers, business owners, and farmers are among
the many groups expected to draw upon the new report's recommendations as they
anticipate and address the impacts of current and future climate change across
the state.

"We need to think about what climate change could mean for our natural
resources and actively plan to address the issue," says Jack Sullivan,
director of science services at the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources (DNR). Sullivan coordinates efforts within the agency to evaluate
how a changing climate may alter its management responsibilities and how to
minimize negative impacts.

UW-Madison scientists already have documented changes in Wisconsin's climate
that have occurred over the past 60 y, including a 1.3 degree Fahrenheit
increase in the annual average temperature -- 2.5 degrees in winter -- and
more frequent occurrences of heavy rainfall.

Using sophisticated computer models, the scientists also have projected that
Wisconsin's average temperature is likely to rise an additional 4 to 9 degrees
Fahrenheit by mid-century and that more total precipitation and more intense
storms are highly probable in many parts of the state.

Armed with this information, more than a dozen WICCI working groups assessed
potential impacts on areas of concern ranging from fisheries, forests, and
wildlife habitat to stormwater management, agriculture and human health. The
new report details their conclusions. Among them:

Water resources

* Rising winter temperatures will continue to shorten the duration of
lake ice cover.

* More frequent heavy rains will wash polluted runoff into lakes, triggering
more algae blooms.

Natural habitats

* Earlier onset of spring may alter relationships between plants and
pollinators, affecting reproduction cycles.

* Some wildlife, fish, and tree species now at the southern edge of their
ranges in Wisconsin may move out of the state, while species more tolerant
of warmer temperatures will expand.

Agriculture

* A longer growing season may help boost agricultural production.

* Hotter summers could reduce yields of crops such as corn and soybeans.

Coastal areas

* Diminishing ice cover, changing water levels, and higher winds over the
Great Lakes could increase shoreline erosion and risks to shoreline property.

* Increased runoff and flooding could affect the biological integrity of
coastal wetlands.

Public health

* Summer heat waves may become more frequent and last longer.

* Accumulations of smog and ground-level ozone could pose more frequent
air-quality hazards.

Infrastructure

* Roads, bridges, and urban areas will face greater risk of damage from
intense storms.

* More heavy rain events could overwhelm storm sewers.

Each of the WICCI working groups cites specific actions that decision-makers
could take to reduce the negative consequences of climate change and
capitalize on potential benefits. Many of these actions, according to the
report, promise multiple payoffs regardless of how much climate change occurs.

For example, while more precise targeting of agricultural lands for the
federal Conservation Reserve Program could help cushion coldwater streams that
harbor native brook trout from rising temperatures, it also could reduce
streambank erosion and preserve wetlands that absorb polluted runoff and
protect water quality.

Similarly, besides providing better data for public natural resource managers,
monitoring forest ecosystems more closely would help commercial timber
producers anticipate changing conditions that favor some tree species over
others and adjust their mixes of species accordingly.

The WICCI report "confirms our suspicions about the conditions we've been
working with for several years," says Ned Zuelsdorff, a member of WICCI's
advisory group and executive director of the American Birkebeiner Ski
Foundation, which stages the largest, most prestigious cross-country ski
marathon in N America each Feb between Cable and Hayward in northwestern
Wisconsin.

The 54-km "Birkie" main event, the shorter Kortelopet, and associated
activities typically attract more than 11k skiers and 20k spectators, pumping
mns of dollars annually into the local economy.

Weather and snow are always variable, says Zuelsdorff, who has directed the
event for the past 6 y and skied it himself 17 times. But "there probably have
been more instances in the last 15 y than the previous 15 y where the race had
to be shortened, or other changes made, to deal with climate change. We have
already made adjustments and will likely make additional adjustments."

The WICCI report calls for a precautionary approach against climate change
impacts where full scientific certainty is lacking but there are threats of
serious damage, explaining that "'better safe than sorry' strategies can be
modified later if new information suggests that little or no harm will result
from a climate impact."

The Nelson Institute and the DNR launched WICCI in 2007 to assess the
potential impacts of climate change on Wisconsin's natural resources,
industry, and human health. Since then, the initiative has expanded to include
some 250 participants representing more than 70 state and federal agencies, UW
System schools, tribal organizations, businesses, and nonprofit groups.

The new report is the 1st in what is expected to be a series to be issued by
WICCI every 4 to 5 y. Future reports will delve further into potential
impacts and adaption strategies based on the latest scientific assessments of
climate change in the state.

Partial funding for the report was provided by Wisconsin's Focus on Energy and
the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment.

[95 more news items]


---
What exactly are you trying to say, aside from calling me an idiot?
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 11 Feb 2011 12:20 +1100
Robot
2011-02-17 03:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Comprehensive climate change strategy a `matter of life and death'

Drought and saline water encroachment choke cultivated land in Co Do District
in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

VNS
Feb, 17 2011

Ha Noi -- PM Nguyen Tan Dung asked relevant agencies to rapidly complete and
publish the latest climate change and rising sea level scenarios for likely
affected localities.

The PM was speaking to members of the Steering Board of the National Target
Programme (NTP) on Climate Change in the capital city yesterday.

That was the second time the National Steering Board had met to discuss
orientations and plans for the implementation of the NTP for the 2011-15
period.

It is forecast that Viet Nam is one of several developing countries that will
be seriously affected by climate change, particularly rising sea levels.

Climate change will seriously affect people's livelihoods, the environment and
infrastructure as well as the gains Viet Nam has achieved in poverty reduction
in recent years.

As a proactive response to climate change, Viet Nam ratified the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol in 2008,
with the country adopting its own NTP.

Viet Nam has successfully mobilised more than US$1.2 bn from international
donors for activities in response to climate change. So far funding of about
$1.3 bn has been committed or is in the process of negotiation with
international donors for the NTP.

During their discussions, members of the steering board agreed to focus on
drafting legal documents in response to climate change while reviewing the
contents of the NTP. The meeting focused on immediate points of action.

They also agreed on the need to have international donors involved in the
programme's activities and management unit, with specific tasks assigned to
each locality and agency.

"In the comprehensive strategy on climate change and rising sea levels we have
to highlight the importance of the issue - a matter of life or death of the
nation," said Dung adding "Having a good strategy will guide us developing
action plans to ensure the NTP is successfully executed."

He asked all sectors and localities to make best use of their internal
resources while mobilising external support to invest in projects to respond
to climate change and the sea level rises.

He ordered the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to co-ordinate
with other ministries, sectors and localities to specify activities that must
be urgently undertaken to cope with the negative impact of climate change,
including the reduction of the greenhouse gases.

[97 more news items]


---
[Call me kook:]
Post by r***@kymhorsell.com
A scientist cites a data point that is consistent with a trend and
says "This data is consistent with the trend; no surprise".
A kook cites a data point inconsistent with the trend and says "Surprise!
The trend is Wrong Wrong Wrong!".
Sorry but 1917 invalidates the trend.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 13:29 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-02 06:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Bankers learn climate science

By Carrie Madren
Monday, Jan 31, 2011
The Washington Post

At the woods' edge, small groups of HSBC technology managers, armed with
clipboards and measuring tapes, meticulously determine the circumference of
specially tagged trees down to 1/10 in. They're wearing bright
orange vests because it's deer-hunting season, and though field science isn't
in their job descriptions, their employer, HSBC bank, wants them to understand
climate change.

HSBC joined with Earthwatch Institute in 2007 in a $100 mn partnership to
train 2k bank employees in climate change science and conduct the
largest-ever field experiment looking at the long-term effects of climate
change on forests. In 5 climate centers on 4 continents, bank workers --
from cashiers to staff in marketing, human resources, technology services and
call centers -- become so-called "Climate Champions" through 2-wk
trainings, during which they meet with scientists, learn about sustainability
and contribute to the international study.

"Everyone comes in with a different background," says Anna Janovicz, a
learning and communications manager at Earthwatch, "and the light bulb that
goes off is different for everybody."

For Wa'il Ashshowwaf, from HSBC's DC office, the light bulb was realizing
that rising sea levels may change our global landscape within our lifetimes.

But before he went through the program last spring at the Smithsonian
Environmental Research Center, in Edgewater, Md., he rarely thought about
sustainability. "The whole climate change issue was a footnote, not at the
forefront of my mind," says the senior relationship manager. "After I went, it
[climate change] went from being a footnote to a headline," says Ashshowwaf,
now co-chairman of the branch's green committee.

To help participants have a bigger impact at their offices, a second program
trains those in charge of information technology systems, data centers,
purchasing and real estate to find ways to reduce the bank's carbon footprint
and energy usage.

HSBC is not alone in its quest to teach its workers -- other large,
international corporations are greening their grass roots, too, in the belief
that engaging employees boosts retention and offers corporations insight into
how to save resources or energy and money.

At HSBC, a Climate Champion-inspired program that automatically shuts down PCs
at night saved the bank's North American offices more than $300k in the
2010 FY.

For Tom Higgins, a DC-based HSBC banker with green-oriented nonprofit
clients, having a fluency in environmental issues makes him more attuned to
their perspectives. He also initiated a partnership program between the bank
and the National Environmental Education Foundation that taught DC students
about rainwater and runoff.

Higgins, who attended the training in 2008, now informally trains his
colleagues on how to make small changes -- recycling, using the revolving
doors instead of the electric door -- that add up when everyone does them. "A
lot of it is awareness," he says.

[25 more news items]


---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [82 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-08 09:42:18 UTC
Permalink
Vietnam to launch int'l initiative on green economy

08/02/2011
Vietnamnet.vn

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam will launch an international initiative on a green
economy for sustainable development in Hanoi in September, said a Vietnamese
diplomat to the UN.

The initiative, which will be conducted in collaboration with the Netherlands
Government, will focus on the role of the market and sustainable forest
management.

At the 9th session of the ongoing UN Forum on Forest in New York, Ambassador
Bui The Giang, Deputy Head of Vietnamese Delegation to the UN, said that 2011
was announced by the UN as the International Year of Forest, and that forestry
and sustainable forest management made an important contribution to
sustainable development, poverty reduction and reaching development goals in
Vietnam.

He added that forests have become an important factor providing solutions for
many global issues, especially climate change, biodiversity, food security and
energy supply.

Ambassador Giang said the international initiative hosted by Vietnam will help
boost dialogue and cooperation to accelerate sustainable forest management and
land use, which will help improve life in rural areas and development of small
and medium forest enterprises.

The initiative is expected to affirm the role of international trade in
accelerating sustainable management of land, particularly sustainable
management of forest.

[60 more news items]


---
Of course "global temperature are rising" [...]
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 12:22 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-12 04:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Climate change investment in Peru exceeds S/. 3 bn

Lima, Feb. 11 (ANDINA). Climate change investment in Peru exceeds S/. 3 bn
(some US$ 1.08 bn), said the Environment Ministry, which so far is
working in 68 adaptation, anti-desertification and mitigation projects.

Some 37% of these projects belong to those liable to execution, while the
remaining 63% are in phases of negotiation and formulation, noted the General
Directorate of Climate Change, Desertification and Water Resources at the
Environment Ministry.

Every project comes from different sectors in the 3 levels of government
(central, regional and local), as well as from international cooperation.

The investment amount of these projects, which are part of the ministry's
Adaptation and Mitigation Action Plan Against Climate Change, are related to
the registry and quantification of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation
measures to climate change, vigilance systems, and adaptation and mitigation
capacities, among others.

For instance, there is a project worth S/. 30 mn for the quantification of
greenhouse gas emissions, report systems and verification of the information.

[82 more news items]


---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
r***@kymhorsell.com
2011-02-12 20:00:02 UTC
Permalink
World Bank to finance Strengthened Competitiveness

Kate Donald
Feb 3, 2011

Buenos Aires - The Argentine Republic is preparing its Third National
Communiqué on Climate Change, a study that will provide updated information
regarding its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, allowing it to identify
mitigation measures for the country.

The initiative will benefit from a US$2.4 mn grant from the Global Environment
Facility (GEF) and will be carried out with the collaboration of the World
Bank as implementation agent.

"Argentina is particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change.
Droughts and floods, glacial melting and environmental degradation are just
some of the risks identified by the Second Communiqué. The project, which is
to be approved today, is going to promote new tools to facilitate informed
decision making on environmental issues," maintained Marcelo Acerbi, project
manager for the World Bank.

As part of the obligations assumed within the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Argentine government is
elaborating, updating, publishing and facilitating national inventories for
all GHG emissions to the Conference of the Parties. In this way, the First
National Communiqué on this issue was presented in 1997, later revised in
1999. By late 2006, the Second National Communiqué was presented, also with
the support of the GEF, and through the World Bank.

The goals of the Third National Communiqué include 3 components:

· Strengthening the national potential for climate change mitigation: it
contemplates updating the national GHG emission inventory for each emitting
sector; the elaboration of tools and procedures for improving data collection
and management; and the evaluation and elaboration of mitigation measures and
policies. It will also support the execution of studies on mitigation
potential in those sectors with the greatest carbon footprint.

· Strengthening the National Adaptation Agenda: the objective is to assess the
impact of climate change and study the most vulnerable sectors and areas in
Argentina. In the Second Communiqué, some of the most vulnerable areas
included coastal areas, the Buenos Aires pampas region, water resources in the
Littoral - Mesopotamia, Patagonia and southern La Pampa and Buenos Aires. It
will also identify priority areas for adaptation and it will elaborate
policies and measures that will allow it to attain adaptation in different
economic sectors.

· Institutional Strengthening, Capacity Development and Information
Management: the focus will be on strengthening institutional capacities at a
national, provincial and municipal level; and to publish the results of this
project in order to increase public awareness.

The project will be financed with a US$2.4 mn grant from the Global
Environment Facility (GEF).

[94 more news items]


---
What exactly are you trying to say, aside from calling me an idiot?
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 11 Feb 2011 12:20 +1100
Robot
2011-02-15 05:30:02 UTC
Permalink
Totnes: Britain's town of the future

Totnes in Devon might be the most forward-thinking eco settlement in the
world. As fossil-fuel reserves dwindle and the economy contracts, will
resident-led Transition Towns become the way that we all live?

Lucy Siegle
The Observer
6 Feb 2011

Totnes is an ancient market town on the mouth of the river Dart in Devon. It
has the well- preserved shell of a motte-and-bailey castle, an Elizabethan
butterwalk and a steep high street featuring many charming gift shops. All of
which makes it catnip to tourists. A person might initially be lulled into the
belief that this was somewhere with as much cultural punch as, say, Winchester.

But bubbling below the surface is a subversive hub of alternative living, a
legacy of the radical goings-on from Dartington Hall, just down the road,
where Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst's vision of a rural utopia gathered steam
in the 1920s. Indeed, there are more new age "characters" than you can shake a
rain stick at, more alternative-therapy practitioners per square inch than
anywhere else in the UK and the town was once named "capital of new age chic"
by Time magazine.

My family moved here when I was 10. A child of relentlessly suburban mindset,
I found the town's granola outlook unsettling. I balked at the indigenous
footwear worn by Totnesians - multicoloured pieces of hand-stitched leather
called "conkers" - and longed for a world where it was not atypical to own a
TV and talk about Dallas rather than nuclear disarmament. My fear growing up
in this neck of the woods was that people would continue to get even
weirder. So it was probably just as well that I had left when Rob Hopkins
arrived in 2005 and let loose the Great Unleashing, aka the launch of
Transition Town Totnes (TTT).

Six y on, the Transition initiative, which attempts to provide a blueprint for
communities to enable them to make the change from a life dependent on oil to
one that functions without, seems to me one of the most viable and sensible
plans we have for modern society. I write this on the day it is announced that
the UK economy shrank by a "shock" 0.5% in the last quarter of 2010. Everyone
is blaming the weather. Hopkins isn't. Neither is he particularly shocked.

"I think the unravelling of the debt bubble has only really started," he
says. "Up until 2008 it was all about a growing economy and cheap energy. Then
we had expensive energy plus economic growth, then we had cheap energy and
economic contraction. So the next phase is volatile energy and economic
contraction. It's not rocket science."

Hopkins was in Kinsale, Ireland, working as a teacher of permaculture - a
sustainable, design-based horticultural technique where growing systems mimic
the ecology of the natural world - and establishing an eco village, when he
attended a lecture on "peak oil" in 2004. It was his Damascene
moment. According to theorists such as Richard Heinberg, whose tome The
Party's Over charts life without oil, we have passed the point at which oil
supplies peak (that was back in May 2005). From there on in oil production
declines and we attempt ever more audacious land grabs to get it. But oil
remains the lifeblood of our economy and lifestyle. What happens when the oil
runs out or is disrupted? In 2000 UK truck drivers brought the UK's food chain
to its knees by blockading oil terminals. At the height of the protest the UK
was 72 hours away from running out of food. If there were scant emergency
measures in place, there was absolutely no vision of a life after oil.

Hopkins began to see how dependent he was on his car, to ferry his kids around
and get to work. As a constructive response he began to develop an Energy
Descent Action Plan for Kinsale with his students. They looked for historical
examples of when the area had been more robust, more resilient to shock
changes, such as when it had possessed a more localised food system. The plan
split life up into categories - energy, food, transport, homes - all of which
had their own solutions.

Critically, it dealt with practical considerations - for example, how much
well-managed woodland would it take to heat a town? Central to the whole plan
was the idea that permaculture gardening could be scaled up to bring food
resilience to town centres. It offered Plan B, because Plan A was doomed to
failure.

In search of a town big enough for the plan to have a wider effect, Hopkins
moved back to Totnes, with its population of 23k, with his wife Emma and
their 4 children, and he worked on a version of the Energy Descent Action Plan
with local resident Naresh Giangrande. "After I'd been involved in Kinsale I
wanted to live somewhere where there were examples of a more resilient
community already up and running, pieces of the jigsaw such as a good local
food system, so that people could envisage how we could develop a community."

Ben Brangwyn, a relatively recent arrival to Totnes who was to become
co-founder of the Transition Network was sold as soon as he heard Hopkins
giving a lecture. "It was pretty clear to me, having studied re-localistion
efforts around the world, that what Rob and his students had developed in
Kinsale was pretty much the smartest bottom-up response to climate change and
peak oil that we had seen," says Brangwyn. He wasn't the only person that
thought so. Word that there was a man with an actual plan had spread fast and
Hopkins was deluged by interest from all over the world. It was clear his
ideas needed to be worked up into a more formal movement. "The leap of
brilliance in the energy plan was the idea that you can segregate responses to
these pressures into energy, food, education, use of transport, local
economics, etc," explains Brangwyn. "That's one of the secrets of transition:
anybody who has a passion can find a place."

"It's not my movement," Hopkins explains, clearly uncomfortable at being
portrayed as the face of the Transition Towns movement. "We're not
Coca-Cola, we don't send out a franchise model. It's up to individual
communities to interpret Transition however it works best."

The Transition movement works on the basis that if we wait for govt to
act on issues such as climate change we'll be waiting until hell freezes over;
and if we only act as individuals, that's too little. So it's working together
as communities where the real change will happen. In offices on that steep
high street, squeezed between the pet shop and a travel agency, Transition
Town Totnes was formed, swiftly followed by the Transition Network, to support
the growth of the movement outside Totnes.

There are now more than 350 Transition movements, 200 of them in the UK. Last
m the 1st Australian region, Sunshine Coast, became an official Transition
Town. Hundreds more communities are mulling over the idea of embracing
Transition (they are known as mullers). While there has been some debate among
greens as to whether Transitioners are right to put so much emphasis on peak
oil, and whether climate change should really be the main driver for change,
it is clear that the strategy laid out in the latest Energy Descent Action
Plan is one that will protect communities in the event of both oil shocks and
climate change (and possibly economic shocks, too). It certainly beats
stockpiling tinned food and buying a firearm.

As I leaf through the neat action plan, it brings order to apocalyptic
scenarios and creates a vision of how Transition Town Totnes could be in
2030. Some strategies are niche, but some strategies are the stuff of
market-town revolution. George Heath ran a flourishing market garden in the
1920s; his son inherited the business, opening a shop on the high street to
sell the local, fresh produce. Today David Heath, his grandson, shows me the
site of the market garden and large urban greenhouse in the centre of
town. Since 1981 it's functioned as one of the town's main car parks. The
Transition plan is to convert it back to a market garden by 2030. How close is
the town to realising its alternative narrative?

"We did have a German visitor who was very disappointed," says Brangwyn,
"because there were still cars in the town and there were no goats on the
roof." Totnes hosts an increasing number of Transition pilgrims who want to
see what's going on, and, says Brangwyn, "People have different
expectations. We're not going to make big visual changes overnight. Transition
is ground up, it's about people doing the work for themselves. So the culture
has to change first.'

I look for visual signs of change regardless. Walking through town, the most
obvious is the 74 photovoltaic panels on the roof of the civic hall. I wander
down an alleyway in the centre of town to observe some gardens belonging to
householders who were previously too busy or lacking the green fingers to make
them productive. They are now little engines of town-centre production, part
of the Transition Network's garden-share scheme run by Lou Brown.

"I began the project because I spent a long time in rented accommodation
wandering around the town with my husband, coveting bits of garden," says
Brown. "We have up to 30 gardeners across 16 gardens producing a lot of
food. A quarter to a 5th generally goes to the garden owner. Kale, flowers,
beetroot, you name it, it gets grown. Obviously this is great for developing
local food resistance, particularly because we have a shortage of allotments
in Totnes and a big waiting list. The allotment society is trying to find new
land all the time, and the garden share is like a seedbed for some growers
while they are waiting."

I find resident Steve Paul delighted with his ten 1.85 kW photovoltaic panels,
bought through Transition's Street Scheme. "I've already avoided 0.55lb of
carbon this morning," he says, checking the monitor. One notable aspect of
Transition Town Totnes is that you find renewables on perfectly normal
housing. Last y the Transition Street Programme was one of 20 projects to win
funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change. It invited streets
to get together to change behaviour, improve energy efficiency and then to
install renewable energy systems. What's more it provided quantifiable data:
more than 500 households became part of the scheme, 70% were households on a
limited income, and every household cut their carbon by an average of 1.2
tonnes, saving £600 a y.

Not everything has gone as swimmingly. A local currency is central to the
Transition plan. "Think of a leaky bucket," explains Brangwyn. "Any time we
spend money with a business that's got more links outside the community than
in it, we leak money from the local economy. What local currency does is allow
that wealth to bounce around in that bucket. We've barely touched the surface
of systems that will benefit the local economy. We don't just need our own
pound note but a credit union, electronic means of transaction, a time bank."
And although you can detect a certain fondness for the Totnes pound note on
the local high street, it hasn't been as successful as Transition currency in
Lewes, Brixton and Stroud. There's still work to be done.

But Hopkins reckons TTT is still ahead of schedule. "When I wrote The
Transition Handbook (published in 2008) I was working up to the Energy Descent
Plan, a sort of blueprint for the development of any community. But we did
that in Totnes 1 y ago. So strictly speaking we've finished and we can pack up
and go home feeling good about ourselves. But that was just the
beginning. The aim of Transition is to try to relocalise the economy where
it's happening, and be a catalyst for that process of intentional
relocalisation."

There is a fine line between making residents aware of initiatives such as the
Transition Street Project and haranguing them until they sign
up. Transitioners seem of the opinion that the latter would be fruitless; the
drive needs to come from the community to join up. So at the moment it is
perfectly possible to visit Totnes and not be aware it's a Transition Town at
all. But that will inevitably change. Local councillors already report that
when they introduce themselves at national conferences and say "from Totnes",
other delegates comment, "Ah, Transition Town Totnes." Word is spreading.

Hopkins is keen to stress that this is very different to David Cameron's
interpretation of localism, devolving power from central govt. "It
doesn't mean putting a big fence up around Totnes and not letting anything in
or out. It doesn't mean Totnes will be making its own laptops and frying
pans. But it means in terms of food, building materials, a lot more of that
can be done locally. Which in turn makes the place much more resilient to
shocks from the outside."

And funnily enough Transition principles seem to appeal to politicians. As
the Guardian journalist Madeleine Bunting put it, in May 2009: "If you want to
catch a glimpse of the kinds of places outside the political mainstream where
that new politics might be incubated, take a look at the Transition
movement. Ed Miliband... was one of the 1st to spot its potential... and last
y The Transition Handbook came 5th in MPs' lists of summer reading... The
Transition movement is engaging people in a way that conventional politics is
failing to do." But what of David Cameron's coalition govt? "I think
Transition could be part of a genuine Big Society," says Hopkins, "but only
where initiatives really give power and assets to the community."

The great plan in Totnes included the planting of 186 hybrid nut trees around
town. You can just walk around and help yourself to free nuts, which can only
help community cohesion. But John Crisp, a local farmer who in his spare time
heads up Transition Town's new Food Hub project, is keen to point out that the
vision extends beyond nuts and that, come April, Totnesians will be able to
order their weekly shop online and collect it on a Sat from the local
school. "This is an initiative that connects local farmers to Transition,
automatically engaging us with the farming community, of which I am one. And
consumers get to buy local produce at prices comparable to those at the
supermarket. Our overheads are so small that while shops and supermarkets
charge a 30-40% mark up, we'll be at 10%. Meanwhile we give producers a fair
return for their produce - more than they would get anywhere else."

More change is coming. Totnes Renewable Energy Society (TRESOC), an offshoot
of TTT, has 2 applications in for wind turbines on nearby Kingsbridge hill and
recently issued shares so Totnesians will be able to power-down, saving their
own energy. And the TTT has designs on the old Dairy Crest building near the
station as part of its bid to get more assets into community ownership. When
these totemic Transition symbols are up, they should invite the German guy
back.

[79 more news items]


---
So you really, really believe that our universe just came about by
sheer chance? I prersonally, find that extremely hard to accept.
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 11 Jan 2011 15:02 +1100
Robot
2011-02-16 10:00:01 UTC
Permalink
Asia faces climate-induced migration 'crisis'

Polonnaruwa and central regions that have been flooded for the second time
since Jan.

Martin Abbugao
AFP
Feb 5, 2011 7:01 PM

Singapore, Feb 6, 2011 (AFP) - Asia must prepare for mns of people to
flee their homes to safer havens within countries and across borders as
weather patterns become more extreme, the Asian Development Bank warns.

A draft of an ADB report obtained by AFP over the weekend and confirmed by
bank officials cautioned that failure to make preparations now for vast
movements of people could lead to "humanitarian crises" in the coming decades.

Governments are currently focused on mitigating climate change blamed for the
weather changes, but the report said they should start laying down policies
and mechanisms to deal with the projected population shifts.

"What is clear is that Asia and the Pacific will be amongst the global regions
most affected by the impacts of climate change," said the report entitled
"Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific".

"Such impacts include significant temperature increases, changing rainfall
patterns, greater monsoon variability, sea-level rise, floods and more intense
tropical cyclones," it said.

The report, expected to be released in the next few wks, comes as flooding
overwhelms parts of Asia-Pacific, most recently in Australia, where a powerful
cyclone worsened the impact of wk of record inundations.

"Asia and the Pacific is particularly vulnerable because of its high degree of
exposure to environmental risks and high population density. As a result, it
could experience population displacements of unprecedented scale in the next
decades," said the report, primarily targeted at regional policymakers.

Research carried out for the United Nations showed that 2010 was one of the
worst y on record worldwide for natural disasters.

Asians accounted for 89% of the 207 mn people affected by disasters globally
last y, according to the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).

Summer floods and landslides in China caused an estimated $18 bn dollars
in damage, while floods in Pakistan cost $9.5 bn dollars, CRED's annual study
showed. Not to mention the catastrophic human cost.

"Governments are not prepared and that is why ADB is conducting this project,"
said Bart Edes, director of the Manila-based lending institution's poverty
reduction, gender and social development division.

"There is no international cooperation mechanism established to manage
climate-induced migration. Protection and assistance schemes to help manage
that flow is opaque, poorly coordinated and scattered," he told AFP.

"Policymakers need to take action now," he stressed, noting that negotiating
treaties and efforts to raise funds takes time.

Last y's natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific, including mns of
people displaced in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, "give us a flavour of what
to expect in the future", said Edes.

"Migration in general is not being properly addressed and the situation is
going be made worse," added Edes, referring to the additional impact of climate
change on migration patterns, fuelled by economic needs and armed conflicts.

"Now we have another driver of migration."

The draft ADB report said the people forced to leave due to the extreme
weather changes "have come to incarnate the human face of climate change" and
while many of them will return home, many will be displaced permanently.

Those expected to suffer the most will be the poor as they lack the means to
easily pack up and leave for safer havens, the report said.

"The issue of climate-induced migration will grow in magnitude and will take
different forms," the report added, urging national govts and the global
community to "urgently address this issue in a proactive manner."

"Failure to do so could result in humanitarian crises with great social and
economic costs," it warned.

[90 more news items]


---
It takes more than warmth to grow crops; otherwise the Sahara would be green!
--
-- ***@27-32-240-172.static.tpgi.com.au [86 nyms and counting], 21 Jan 2011 11:16 +1100
Mr Robot
2011-02-22 04:00:02 UTC
Permalink
US Dept of Energy addressing climate change

Jessica Machetta
Missourinet
Feb 21, 2011

The US Department of Energy says Americans aren't accepting climate change as
truth, and that puts us behind the 8-ball. But, a University of Alumnus says
science continues to advance.

William Brinkman is the director of the Office of Science for the
Department of Energy -- he earned his bachelor's at MU in 1960 and a
Ph.D. in physics in '65. Brinkman visited the university physics
department to present an overview of man-made climate changes, along with a
summary of the major sources and uses of energy in the US.

He says Americans resist the need for reducing carbon emissions, despite clear
scientific evidence that global warming is a reality. Brinkman says the US is
unique in that we are also the only country that politicizes the issue.

Brinkman says in an unpoliticized effort, America is working with the EU,
China, Russia, S Korea, India and Japan on a huge renewable project in
France. It involves a plasma reactor and is the 1st of its kind. France has
long been a leader in nuclear technology.

He says trapping carbon can already be done, but the cost is prohibitive to
common-sense implementation. Therefore, he says, the Department of Energy
continues its research.

Brinkman presented evidence of climate change, alternatives being explored and
a timeline of when something must happen to prevent irreversible damage to the e
arth.

All science aside, Brinkman sums it up thusly: "I think the issue is what are
we doing for our children and our next generation" -- Are we going to do the
things that make sure they have a better place to live? It's a very important
concept to consider. We want our kids to have and live the life we've been
living, which is very nice."

MYREF: 20110222150001 msg201102223522

[104 more news items]

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Of course "global temperature are rising" [...]
-- ***@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 12:22 +1100
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