More from Joseph Romm

The deniers are winning, but [allegedly] only with the GOP

I do believe that if the conservative movement continues to strongly oppose serious climate action, then it will ultimately be destroyed by that self-destructive myopia. But that will be very small comfort to the billions and billions of people whose lives are ruined by catastrophic global warming in the coming decades and centuries.

Hot Topic’s Gareth graciously concedes wager on Arctic sea ice melt after ice cap springs back from last year’s post-1979 low « Poneke’s Weblog

Good news doesn’t sell of course, especially when it runs counter to what amounts to a secular religious belief in catastrophic global warming that is entrenched in the world’s news media.

Personally, I believe we should be doing as much as possible — globally as well as locally — to reduce pollution of the environment, whether from car exhausts, factory chimneys, fertiliser run-offs from farms, and all other sources. But this is so we have a clean environment to live in. If human-induced global warming is more than a computer prediction and if it is a bad thing and if cleaning up the global environment really can reduce it, well, that would be wonderful.

I’m not sure, however, that we should be trashing the global economy and starving large numbers of people by introducing extreme measures designed to counter something that exists to date only in computer models.

Farmers Cool On Warming

Global Warming Politics

The Almanac then presents three special pages of analysis: ‘How Solar Goes Polar’; ‘How Oceans Chill the Air’; and, ‘The Case for a Cool Climate’.

These are all worth a read.

“The Past Is Always A Rebuke To The Present”

But, above all, I love their brilliant ‘Time Line’. Here are just a few selected entries [you should, however, relish the whole (here), which is also niftily illustrated (see title picture)]:

1895: from The New York Times - “Geologists think that the world may be frozen up again”;

1923: from The Washington Post - “The Ice Age is Coming Here”;

1933: from The New York Times - “America is in longest warm spell since 1776”;

1939: from TIME Magazine - “weathermen have no doubt that ... the world is growing warmer”;

1960s: cold prevails worldwide, so that both TIME Magazine and Newsweek predict “the coming Ice Age”;

1979: from The New York Times - “Plan for the Study of Dome over Town is Approved.” This refers to Winooski, Vermont, and to protecting the town from the coming freeze with a big dome. 1980 experiences a heat wave ... ;

1998: from The New York Times - “Earth Temperature in 1998 is Reported at Record High”;

2007: from the International Herald Tribune - “First Major Snow in Buenos Aires since 1918.” Australia records its coldest June;

2008: from the International Herald Tribune - “Snow Day in Baghdad” [see title picture].

No further comment is surely required. Anybody with even a smidgen of a sense of history knows that the whole ‘global warming’ caboodle is ‘presentism’ gone mad.

More than 60 per cent of ‘climate envelope’ studies maybe wrong

A new research has cast doubts on the value of climate envelope models, saying more than 60 per cent of such studies maybe wrong.

According to a report in Nature News, estimates of the impact climate change will have on wildlife may be much less reliable than thought, with a research that is reopening debate over a widely used modelling method endorsed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

‘Climate envelope’ models use current distributions of species to construct an idea of the climatic conditions that suit them. This ‘envelope’ can then be used to see where species could live under predictions of future climate.

Use of climate envelope models has been contentious, not least because they omit a number of factors that may be as or more important than climate in controlling species distribution, for example human activity, interactions with other species and pure chance.

Now, a paper from Colin Beale of the UK’s Macaulay Institute of Land Use Research, in Aberdeen, and colleagues has cast further doubt on the value of climate envelope models, saying they quite frequently do no better than chance in explaining why species live where they do.

“At the moment, people are overconfident in our ability to make these projections,” said Beale. “We really need to start to think about models that include a lot more biology,” he added.

opinion: James Hopf: Nuclear power safer than fossil fuels

As for nuclear's economics, if nuclear plants are so much more expensive than other sources, as Goldstein suggests, then they won't be built, whether or not the moratorium is removed. So what is he worried about?

Wishful thinking on the part of Matthew Mosk and Juliet Eilperin?

Palin Not Convinced on Global Warming | washingtonpost.com

Palin's comments stand in sharp contrast to those of McCain, who says at every campaign stop that he believes human activity is driving global warming,

McCain did a campaign stop yesterday in Minnesota, and I was there to check on this claim by Mosk and Eilperin. McCain did NOT say that he believes human activity is driving global warming; in fact, he didn't say a single word about global warming/climate change/greenhouse gases/cap-and-trade/etc. Video is available here.

They come and go

The Wenatchee World Online - Safety Valve: Letters from readers

This is in regards your articles of Sept. 14 “Gone within 50 years” and “The great melt.” That global warming and cooling does occur is indisputable. However, Mauri Pelto and reporter K.C. Mehaffey insinuate the so-called global warming crisis is man-caused. I do not accept the premise and offer some facts to support my opinion.

As the ice recedes at Greenland — yes it is receding there also — archaeologists are finding evidence of less-icy times. Norse settlements abandoned in 1350 are being excavated from glacial sand. Google James Brooke about the site dubbed Pompeii of the North. Could a few SUVs have saved the Norse settlements?

In the last major glaciation the continental glaciers came south to Indiana. What must early man have done to melt those glaciers back to the Rockies and Cascades?

Undoubtedly Pelto did wonderful work measuring and documenting the retreat of the glaciers, but geologic history has shown those glaciers could advance again or melt completely away. Either result would be completely normal.

Glaciers do not get “in trouble” as Pelto says. They do advance, recede, and stagnate. They do not “live” or “die.” They are not alive.

Pelto wonders “how people ... will react once they realize what it means to lose these frozen reservoirs.” They’ll adapt, just like they’ve always done. What if the continental glaciers come back?

How do we explain global warming/cooling? The sun, and especially sunspot activity. Relatively low sunspot activity was used to explain the mini ice age of the 1800s.

Ron Lee
Retired geologist
Wenatchee

More on Dion

The Sault Star - Ontario, CA

He managed to quell some criticism when he decided in June to stake his political fate on a single bold measure: a complicated plan to impose a carbon tax on fossil fuels, offset by income tax cuts and tax benefits for the most vulnerable.

The details of the so-called Green Shift have met with mixed reviews -- accolades from environmentalists and some economists, fierce denunciations from farmers, truckers and some provinces who fear they'll be disproportionately whacked by increased fossil fuel costs.

And the proposal has presented the Tories with a juicy target. As Prime Minister Stephen Harper so eloquently put it, Dion's plan would "screw everybody'' by imposing a "tax on everything.''

Still, it's helped Dion's bid to redefine himself as a visionary leader with the courage and conviction to tackle climate change, despite the obvious political risks.

Note that Dion seems already to be backing away from his own Green Shift.

The Ice in the Arctic Sea Reaches its Yearly Low - DigitalJournal.com: The Power of Citizen Journalism

In spite of dire warnings, it seems that the ice in the Arctic sea has reached its lowest level for the year, and it has failed to break the record shrinkage of last year.

Nature reports that shrinking of the sea-ice in the Arctic is normal. As such, this has nothing whatsoever to do with climate change or global warming. The ice simply melts because it is summer and because the temperature rises as a result. In winter, the ice grows again.

This year, many people had predicted that we would witness the lowest sea-ice level ever. In fact, the messages were sometimes disturbing, because one could easily get the impression that global-warming alarmists were beyond happy that this would occur, but it didn't.

India: Modi’s bureaucrats "learn" about climate change | Latest News

In a first of its kind initiative, all 40 top officials of the Gujarat government Friday attended here a crash course on climate change on the directive of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The two-day course, which will also examine the impact of climate change and policies to meet the challenge, opened at The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI).

"Global terrorism and global warming are two major threats to mankind. I have brought all my top officers to learn about climate change and implement policies at the ground level," Modi said after inaugurating the workshop.
...
As part of the orientation course, the officers will attend several lectures by eminent environmentalists like Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairman R.K. Pachauri and former environment secretary Prodipto Ghosh.

On the occasion, Gujarat and TERI signed an agreement to work jointly on missions specific to the state identified in National Action Plan on Climate Change in various fields.

Note that IPCC chief Pachauri also happens to be director-general of TERI.

Pain and no gain

Anyone can set arbitrary targets, but meeting them (without massive cost implications and the risk of wrecking the economy) is an entirely different matter. The LGA has a catchy soundbite, ‘small change, big difference’, but the reality, in my experience, is that most small changes make a small difference. The
change from 2% to 15% of renewable energy would be a massive change, requiring immense cost.

It is now becoming clear that there is no consensus that CO2 levels are causing significant climate change. Indeed, global warming has stopped for almost a decade.

Also there is no binding international agreement to limit CO2, so for the EU to act unilaterally without firm commitment from developing countries such as India and China will cause no reduction in CO2 anyway.

All pain with no gain.

China’s Climate Change Stance

China, of course, knows this, so the only reason for publishing the provocative comments of Mr. Lin must be to counterbalance those of Professor Hu. This way China can say there are “extremist” on both sides within its negotiating camp, but it will try to adhere to a middle ground. The exact contours of that middle ground are still unclear, but they will certainly require, as even Mr. Hu acknowledges, massive “infusions of pollution-reducing technology from advanced economies” as well as cash.

Denial at twenty thousand feet - Irish climate change activists target Ryanair’s denialist stance on human-induced climate change and the growth of the aviation industry « without your walls

A pair of “Eco-Clowns” turned up near the banner and juggled for a while. The clowns were wearing Pinocchio noses to represent the lies being told by Michael O Leary.

One of the ‘Eco-clowns’, Ian Clotworthy, said ‘O’Leary is clearly misleading the public to try to protect his profits. Ask any scientific institution from NASA to MET Eireann and they will tell you climate change is real. Climate change can’t be denied anymore and neither can aviation’s contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it’.

The campaigners are members of the Irish group Plane Mad. The action was designed to draw attention to denial of climate change by the CEO of Ryanair in recent press and radio statements. Plane Mad believe that climate change is the defining challenge of our generation. The group believes that there are solutions to this challenge and that we need to face them head on as soon as possible.

Van Jones visits the Arctic

Van Jones: We Can't Drill Our Way Out of Our Energy Problems | Environment | AlterNet

Deseret News | Climate change real, Y. expert says

PROVO — Until now, humans have had room for error in regard to emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

But now, Brigham Young University biology professor and climate change expert Richard Gill told a group of students and professors Thursday at BYU, the earth has essentially reached its potential to absorb and store carbon dioxide. The result, he said, is that climate change is more of a reality now than ever before.
...
Gill used examples from findings published in 2007 by the International Panel on Climate Change and studies he took part in to show the reasons behind climate change, which he said is often misrepresented in politics. He said the validity of climate change is nearly universally accepted by the scientific community and is not controversial.
...
BYU chemistry professor David Belnap said he invited Gill to speak after he realized how much he didn't know about climate change when the topic came up in his classes. He said those discussions angered some of his students, who thought he was crossing the political neutrality line by bringing up a hoax.

"A lot of them are worried that their freedom is threatened," he said. "I think our freedom is more threatened if we allow it to go on and don't do something about it."

A Dog Named Kyoto: Dion shifting away from Green Shift

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said today that his Green Shift plan featuring a controversial carbon tax is not a major part of his election platform.

"You have said it was but never me," Dion told reporters.

His surprise declaration follows by a day campaign appearances in the Toronto area where he failed to mention it once in his speeches.

UAF professor emeritus continues to question sources of global warming

FAIRBANKS — A University of Alaska Fairbanks professor emeritus known for his belief that carbon dioxide is not the sole cause of climate change presented his latest research Thursday.

More than 40 researchers and students gathered into a room at the International Arctic Research Center, now named after Syun-Ichi Akasofu, for the hour-long presentation.

ADAMANT: The Hundred Years Climate War ?

'The Earth is steadily growing warmer. As all the ice at the two poles melts a stupendous volume of water will be released.

Fish will swim in Buckingham Palace...New York will be marked by the...taller skyscrapers as they jut out of the water...the climate..as when dinosaurs roamed the earth and dense jungles...grew in...Canada.

Palms and alligators would flourish at the poles ...man's food supply will not ...it is a question if he will survive '


..................-- The New York Times..May 15, 1932

Global Warming to Bring Catastrophic Rockslides, Tsunamis? : Ecoscraps

Here’s a possible consequence of climate change you might not have heard of yet: giant rockslides that could cause devastating tsunamis.

Figures plucked out of the air

So how did 2 degC become so widely accepted as the `critical' level? I think it's because it is the "Goldilocks" solution: not too small, not too large, just right. If Rodhe and Azar had picked, say 0.5 degC, then we would all be long since dead, with the climate system in ruins, and nothing could help us. Perhaps people who moved to the Antarctic could survive, to paraphrase Sir David King. On the other hand, if they had picked 5.0 degC, then there would have been no need to do anything to mitigate CO2.

Is Tom Friedman really suggesting that human CO2 emissions kill off one species every 20 minutes?

Tom Friedman at my alma mater

On loss of biodiversity:

We lose one species every 20 minutes.

When people make these claims, why don't they ever give us a list of the names of the species in question? One day's worth of extinctions is all I ask.

Really odd claims, considering the reported Arctic sea ice extent GAIN of about 10% over last year

Is Man Alone To Blame For The Collapse Of The Arctic?

In just 12 months the Arctic is showing an increased level of meltdown. An upswing by 10% over last year. And this decrease in mass is the highest in recent history. Just what are the attributed causes of such a rapid shrinkage - Is it just the weather or can it be pinpointed to man-made global warming?

Remember, you're doing this for the children

PriusChat: Short trips? Here's a trick!

Alright, when I'm at work I sometimes have to go to the orthodontist or run errands. These trips take me 1-2 miles, or less than 5 minutes total drive time. Killer on mileage, right? Yeah, it was for me, too. That is, until I figured out a little trick!

If you have the time and patience, drive one block. Pull over and park. The ICE will shut itself off within 15 seconds. Sit there for a few minutes. After that, you should be ready to go. I can do a full pulse and glide with no problems. My mileage from these frequent short trips are completely unaffected.

Also unclear on the concept

Keep Winter Cold

Join thousands of concerned climate activists across the country as we jump into cold bodies of water - or ski down slopes in our shorts! - on January 10, 2009, raising money and awareness and making clear our demand as a new Congress and President take office: Keep Winter Cold! Fight Global Warming!

All that for a token 4 dollar fee?

UMD Passes landmark student fee increase for Clean Energy « It’s Getting Hot In Here

Just yesterday, the SGA passed a student fee increase at the University of Maryland. The new legislation creates an additional student fee increase of 4 dollars in 2010, and later more or less depending on the market in the future. This ”could potentially purchase 100 percent of student consumption in clean, renewable energy,” according to the act itself. The money will go to developing clean energy technologies on campus, integrating sustainability education in the classroom, and making the campus run more efficiently.

New Gallup poll underscores the monumental failure of Gore's "We" campaign

Gallup asked voters to cite the main reasons they support their preferred presidential candidate
Note that "Environment/Global warming" ranked dead last at 1%, behind even "No reason in particular (volunteered)".
April 1, 2008: Gore to recruit 10m-strong green army

During the next three years, his Alliance for Climate Protection plans to spend $300m (about £150m) on television advertising and online organising to make global warming among the most urgent issues for elected American leaders.

Unclear on the concept

Budding climate alarmists get a taste of that allegedly overheated Arctic water--2008 Cape Farewell Expedition Blog

AND LASTLY WHAT FOLLOWED WAS THE GREAT POLAR DIP. The temperature out there was about -6 degrees and we had earlier decided to plunge in the arctic waters. Now the time had come, and all of us were off with our protective covers. AND IT WAS COOOOOOOOOLD. We were howling and jumping (well quite a few were swearing as well) on the rocky beach as we got ready. By the time we jumped into the water we were all numb ……. And when we did we wished we had died on the spot. Trust me; I have never seen superhuman strength being put in order to rush out of the water. The crew then went running and giving us towels and help us quickly change. We all felt like a piece of numb flesh and could not even wear our clothes without help. Although I make it look sound a terrible experience it was a lot of fun.

"Honest Al" tries to scam us out of yet another $80,000

Al Gore's Take on the Climate Crisis

So the Alliance for Climate Protection has put together an ad that tells this simple story. And we're going to put it on national cable TV.

If we can raise an additional $80,000 online, we'll also put it on 60 Minutes and 20/20 this coming week. Wouldn't that be great?

Can you help? Just go here:

http://www.wecansolveit.org/oilandcoal

Here's the script:

The solution to our climate crisis seems simple.
Repower America with wind and solar.
End our dependence on foreign oil. A stronger economy.
So why are we still stuck with dirty and expensive energy?
Because big oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy.
Lobbyists, ads, even scandals.
All to increase their profits, while America suffers.
Breaking big oil's lock on our government ...
Now that's change.
We're the American people and we approve this message.

And you can view the ad on our donation page, here:

http://www.wecansolveit.org/oilandcoal

We're taking on the oil and coal lobbies, because there's simply no other choice. We need your help.

Thanks,

Al Gore

So what happened to the Alliance's mysterious hundreds of millions?

During the next three years, his Alliance for Climate Protection plans to spend $300m (about £150m) on television advertising and online organising to make global warming among the most urgent issues for elected American leaders.

The wecansolveit.org initiative aims to build up pressure on the next US president to support stringent mandatory emissions controls when they come before Congress, and take a leadership role at the renegotiation of the Kyoto treaty.

Environmental activists yesterday described the plan as the most ambitious public campaign launched in the US.

"The resources are completely unprecedented in American politics," said Philip Clapp, of the Pew Environment Group.

And why doesn't Gore just spend his own $80,000?

Oct '07: Al Gore Getting Rich Spreading Global Warming Hysteria With Media’s Help | NewsBusters.org

Americans willing to look at the manmade global warming debate with any degree of impartiality and honesty are well aware that those spreading the hysteria have made a lot of money doing so, and stand to gain much more if governments mandate carbon dioxide emissions reductions.

In fact, just two months ago, ABC News.com estimated soon-to-be-Nobel Laureate Al Gore's net worth at $100 million, which isn't bad considering that he was supposedly worth about $1 million when he watched George W. Bush get sworn in as president in January 2001.

Talk about your get-rich-quick schemes, how'd you like to increase your net worth 10,000 percent in less than seven years?

California PUC says no to renewable energy measure - East Bay Business Times:

The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously Thursday to oppose Proposition 7, the ballot measure that would, among other things, order California utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025.

The CPUC is opposed to the measure primarily because “it would establish an excessively rigid, and potentially unworkable, structure for the further development of renewable energy in California,” the agency said in a press release. The structure of the measure may hinder in the short term the state’s aggressive renewable energy goals, the CPUC said, by interfering with or delaying programs already under way.

Living on Earth gives alarmist Phil Clapp a very fond farewell

Living on Earth: Farewell, Phil

Some prominent climate realists have died in the last year or two, but I don't remember similar Living on Earth tributes for them. Why is that?

A scientist speaks out

Alas, Alcoa is just one of many large corporations that have succumbed to the growing politically correct hysteria over man-made global warming. President John F. Kennedy was right when he observed, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -– deliberate, contrived, and dishonest –- but the myth –- persistent, persuasive, and realistic."

Despite the fact that many scientists offer evidence that counters the theory of man-made global warming, many stubbornly believe it's true. One scientist who is challenging the idea that mankind has contributed significantly to climate change is David Evans of Australia.

You really should hear this

I just re-listened to this 30-minute talk by David Archibald at the March 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, and I highly recommend it:

The Solar Cycle Length – Temperature Relationship in US Climate Records and the Implications of Solar Cycle 24

Bravo, GM

General Motors Responds, Defends Climate Realist Bob Lutz - The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics

[Tom Wilkinson, Director of News Relations at GM] Increased energy efficiency and reduced petroleum use are desirable for a lot of reasons. There is no reason a three-dimensional human being (like Bob Lutz) can’t be skeptical about global warming orthodoxy and still be wildly passionate about more efficient vehicles. Which he is, by the way.

As for GM policy, it is set by a board of directors and a senior leadership group, not by one individual. And you might be surprised to find that dissenting voices are welcome within GM. In fact, they are encouraged.

Kansas: Cool weather brings threat of sorghum ergot

"The combination of cool nighttime temperatures and late-flowering sorghum in late August and early September is the reason," Jardine said. "Cool nighttime temperatures inhibit pollination and create an avenue of infection for the organism."

Expert: Clean Air Act Won't Help Global Warming

DALLAS (Sept. 19, 2008)- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has no evidence that greenhouse gas emissions are harming the environment, according to comments filed this week by Sterling Burnett, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

The EPA is considering whether it should be regulating greenhouse gas emissions and whether the Clean Air Act is an effective way to do so.

"Using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases is not at all what the law was intended to do," Burnett said. "You're seeing a lot of regulation without any results."

According to Burnett, laws intended to fight global warming will only hurt American progress.

"No regulation that the EPA could propose will actually prevent or even substantially mitigate the future harms they posit global warming might cause, but they will hurt the economy and working people. The government ought not to bash the poor in a vain effort to control the climate," Burnett said.

Can't "clean" air contain CO2?

Very good snow season in Australia

The quality and quantity of spring snow are in the hands of the weather - how cold it stays and whether it snows or rains when the precipitation comes through - but this has been a very good snow season by any measure and the benefits should flow through.

Every ski season is different. Some are frustratingly light for snow cover, some begin with a rush and then fizzle, some tease you with great, wild blizzards dumping snow, only to be ruined by torrential rain, and some bring so much snow you need to dig to find the lodge and lifts.

The standout feature of the 2008 season has been consistent snowfall and consistently low cold temperatures. At Mount Hotham, a record 48 days of below-zero temperatures kept the snow dry and in perfect working order for skiers and snowboarders and even for the snow groomers and the snowsports instructors.

Caribou, Maine, hits a record low overnight

CARIBOU, Maine (AP) Parts of northern Maine hit record lows Friday morning as a hard freeze brought the growing season to an end.

Regardless of the question, Al Gore always has the answer--give him more money

Al Gore has an answer for the economic downturn

The Chilling Effect |  WSJ Not Amused By Pelosi’s Energy Bill

Less shocking is that the bill orders up more than $18 billion in pork for “renewable” energy — and it comes with the works. There are the usual huge subsidies for wind and solar power, and even “marine renewables” (whale oil?). These are “paid for” by raising taxes on the major American oil companies, which would also be forced to retroactively “renegotiate” the terms of their late-1990s lease contracts in the Gulf of Mexico. If that wealth transfer isn’t a big enough crutch for the alternatives, there’s also a mandate that utilities generate 15% of their electricity from such sources by 2020. In other words, taxpayers get charged twice — once to pay for Congress’s green welfare program, and again when they pay their electric bill.

Then there’s a tax credit of up to $5,000 for anyone who buys a plug-in electric car, though normal drivers will still be able to fill up with “fuel from America’s heartland,” aka the fiasco known as corn ethanol. Congress may be strapped for dollars, but Members found a few million under the mattress to encourage commuters to bike to work or maybe take the “vanpool pilot program.” Some $10 million goes to “increasing sustainable low-income community development,” while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are told to favor “energy-efficient mortgages.”

Link [to WSJ story] here.

Explore Climate Change and Sustainable Ag at U of M

Farm Forum Article | FarmForum.net

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN -Forty experts on issues surrounding sustainable agriculture and global climate change will assemble at the University of Minnesota for a public forum sponsored by the Center for Austrian Studies. “Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture, and Bioresources” takes place Sept. 24-26. The keynote will be delivered by Michael Braungart, co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.

Minnesota and Austria are on the cutting edge of organic farming, innovative and sustainable uses of biological resources, and research on climate change. Experts from both sides of the Atlantic will come together to share their knowledge on topics such as general trends in climate change, its effect on sustainable and organic farming, water and habitat, and the challenges of and opportunities for effective public policy to slow or even reverse climate change.

In addition to Braungart, featured speakers include polar explorer Will Steger, noted organic farmer Carmen Fernholz (A-Frame Farm, Madison, Minn.), Institute on the Environment director Jon Foley, and many experts from the U.S. and Austria.

Could this factor affect climate more than cell phone charger use?

NASA To Discuss Changing Conditions On And Surrounding The Sun : Rush PR News - Newswire & Press Release Distribution Services

NASA will hold a media teleconference Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 12:30 p.m. EDT, to discuss data from the joint NASA and European Space Agency Ulysses mission that reveals the sun’s solar wind is at a 50-year low. The sun’s current state could result in changing conditions in the solar system.

Shock: Climate realism appears on an alarmist website

About Us | celsias°

Celsias is becoming the world's leading action-based climate change website that enables individuals, organizations and companies to take real action against global warming. On Celsias, you can learn, commit and do actions that will reduce your carbon footprint.

Welcome to the Ice Age? Global Warming vs. Global Cooling | celsias°

Global temperature patterns and predictions about warming or cooling are experiencing a sort of schizophrenia lately, with warming enthusiasts suggesting the oceans may rise even more than IPCC predictions, and cooling enthusiasts - supported by the weather - arguing that human-caused emissions are only a small part of the equation, in which the sun's activity (or lack of it, as now) plays the major role.
...
A lot of people are going to be caught unprepared if the next few years grow progressively colder. It may be vindication for Chapman, but for the rest of us, such unexpected cooling will lead to unaffordable heating bills in a world where energy prices are already getting out of hand.

Since we can't all move south, expect a colder world to again divide populations into have and have-nots. This time, the division will occur in developed nations, where the fortunate live south of the 35th parallel and the rest burn their furniture to keep from freezing to death.

Linked from the post above: Ocean cycle may explain cool Alaskan summer

July in Fairbanks averaged 60.6 degrees, almost two degrees below normal. And August is averaging 51.4 degrees, a whopping 7.7 degrees below the long-term norms.

So I put in a call to the National Weather Service up there, and eventually found myself chatting with Gary L. Hufford, the regional scientist for the NWS in Alaska. He's in Anchorage, which enjoyed a rare sunny day yesterday (above, from an FAA web cam). He said temperatures in Alaska this summer really have been unusually cold.

Alaskans are "certainly noticing it," he said, "especially because the period of 2002 to last summer. 2007, we've had some incredibly pleasant summers." It was so warm, in fact, that the summers of 2004 to 2006 were very bad forest fire years for the state, as the warm weather speeded drying in the bush and left it prone to fires. But in Alaska, they're adapting, according to one Fairbanks writer, who said this summer is "becoming the most miserable in recorded history."

What seems to have occurred, Hufford said, is a shift to what climatologists call the cold phase of a cycle in the North Pacific Ocean called the "Pacific Decadal Oscillation," or PDO.

I've written about this phenomenon. NASA climatologists said in May the cool phase seems to have begun last fall, and could influence temperature and rainfall patterns in the United States for decades to come, including enhanced hurricane seasons in the Atlantic, milder winters in Maryland, more dry weather in the Southwest and Southeast, and cooler, rainier weather in the northwest.

Hufford said the Arctic Low, a persistent feature of the far northern atmosphere that usually hangs out near Greenland, has shifted west to the northeast corner of Siberia.

"That has ... put us into a lot of flow from the northwest, out of the arctic. And anytime you get air off the arctic, it's not gonna be warm," Hufford said. It also brings persistent cloudiness to the skies over Alaska.

"Everybody's aware of it," he said, "and that's what's getting to them."

The lack of sunshine has impaired the development of wild berries, which Alaskans love to pick in summer. "What berries you get are not very sweet," he said. Hufford also reported a big flock of cranes flying through Fairbanks last week, perhaps a sign of colder weather in the far north and an early fall.

The cool-phase PDO also tends to produce disappointing salmon runs in Alaska, while enhancing them in the northwestern corner of the lower 48 states.

"What really makes it interesting is that we've seen two or three events of snow down to 3,500 feet or so (in the mountains), right in the middle of summer. That's definitely not as usual thing here," he added.

If this really is the start of a cool-phase PDO they're seeing, it's of no small concern to Alaskans. And it's not just because of one summer of bland blueberries and scarce salmon.

When these PDO phases shift, they tend to do so for decades, not the 4- to 7-year cycles typical of the El Nino/La Nina cyclings in the tropical Pacific. The Icebox State could be in for a long haul.

"That's what's concerning us, if this is in fact the PDO," Huffford said.

The last time the PDO shifted into a cool phase was in 1947. And it stayed there until 1976, bringing cooler, cloudier summers.

Global Warming Hoax: News / Comments / Lies, Damned Lies, and Arctic Temperature Statistics

If CO2 levels have been increasing every year since 1959 (and they have) and CO2 levels are suppose to be causing global warming thus Arctic ice loss, then how can we have so many Arctic "record" warm days before 1960? Do we know with any degree of certainty that Arctic ice extent wasn't lower in 1934? Going back even further (but still very much recent history on a geological time scale) what was the Arctic ice extent in the year 1250 AD near the end of the Medieval Warm Period? Ice cores don't help us with the Arctic because ice there is constantly churned and moves, so old ice can can get churned to the top and move to the edge where it melts (thus destroying any record). So we really have no proxy measurements for Arctic ice, all we have is human observations which only go back about 100 years (and are not at all accurate) and satellite measurements that only go back 29 years.

We have no Arctic "climate record" because we have no Arctic climate history.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Gang of 10/16/20 disbands

In looking at their principles, it’s easy to see why. It’s a Utopian list of policy goals that have almost no basis in reality, and which doesn’t provide any real path to opening American energy resources in the near- and mid-term.

* Transitioning 85% of all autos to non-petroleum fuels in 20 years. Uh, sure. What would be the fuel, and how would the nation build an infrastructure to meet the need in just 20 years? Apart from those two questions, hey, the plan sounds brilliant...

Bloomberg Speaks Out Against 'Carbon Tariff' - September 19, 2008 - The New York Sun

The mayor faced resistance from several Republicans on the panel who warned of higher energy costs because of a cap on carbon emissions, as well as from a fellow witness who favored a "carbon tariff."

"Any measure, including climate change legislation, that places significant additional costs on U.S. manufacturers without imposing similar costs on imports will plainly harm U.S. workers and businesses, put additional pressure on core U.S. industries, and lead to a further worsening of our trade deficit," an attorney specializing in international trade issues, Robert Lighthizer, told the committee.

Is This The Beginning of Global Cooling

Since there was global cooling from ~1940 to ~1979, this means there has been no net warming since ~1940, is spite of an ~800% increase in human emissions of carbon dioxide. This indicates that the recent warming trend was natural, and CO2 is an insignificant driver of global warming.

Furthermore, the best fit polynomial shows a strong declining trend. Are we seeing the beginning of a natural cooling cycle? YES. Further cooling, with upward and downward variability, is expected because the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) has returned to its cool phase, as announced by NASA this year.

Global warming and cooling have closely followed the phases of the PDO. The most significant pattern of PDO behavior is a shift between “warm” and “cool” phases that last 20 to 30 years. In 1905, the PDO shifted to its “warm” phase. In 1946, the PDO changed to its “cool” phase. In 1977, the PDO returned to its “warm” phase and produced the current warming. In 2007-8, the PDO turned cold again, so we can expect several decades of naturally-caused global cooling.

Some scientists are predicting that this cooling will be severe, and is a greater threat to humanity than global warming ever was. Meanwhile, politicians are still obsessing about global warming.

ClimateAudit.org • View topic - Have we been this way before? Help needed

I am also fascinated by Roman History and the evidence from the Roman period is particularly interesting as this demonstrates another warming period apparently greater than the MWP. The Romans used to patrol their near empire by marching through high level routes, some of which are only just melting again. It seems unlikely that Hanibal crossed the Alps in the severe glacial conditions depicted by the Victorian romantics. Patrick Hunt has long studied Roman use of high alpine passes. [This] link can be explored much further to find numerous stories of his various fact finding expeditions.

Oregon: Gore-trained politician gives barking-mad climate presentation at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Lab

MailTribune.com: Bill Bradbury tailors Al Gore's global warming speech to Oregon

Bradbury, who was trained in the climate change presentation years ago by former Vice President Al Gore, has focused it on the Northwest, including predictions that, because of global warming, the Rogue Valley will have less snowpack, a hike in summer temperatures of 115 degrees by 2080, earlier snow melt, more rain, more flooding, more streams going dry in summer, fewer fish, more wildfires and fewer conifer trees.
...
Bradbury said "as we are painfully aware," wildfires are increasing at a radical rate, which he demonstrated on a graph, showing about five times the fires now as in the 1990s because of warming and drying of the climate.

Many climate models have proved off the mark by underestimating the impact of greenhouse gases, Bradbury said, noting that a 5 degree increase in atmospheric temperature would not be evenly distributed but would likely end up as 1 degree at the equator and 12 degrees at poles, leading to earlier ocean level rises than anticipated.

The effect could be summed up as "the worse it gets, the worse it gets," he said, because the warmer it gets, the more ice melts and the less it reflects sunlight off the planet, so it gets still warmer faster.

The Arctic ice used to cover an area about the size of the lower 48 states, but now it would only cover the part west of the Mississippi — and the Greenland ice cap is melting twice as fast as it was a decade ago, he said. Ocean waves striking Oregon average 4 meters high, compared to 3 meters a few decades ago.
...
Most of the graphs on Bradbury's charts were steady through the years, but began a steep spike in about 1980. Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, held at around 300 parts per million until that period; it is now 387 ppm.

Corn could stand a little heat | Fargo, North Dakota - Moorhead, Minnesota

Nobody would appreciate continued warm weather more than area corn farmers.

Corn fields aren’t as advanced as they should be, and that could cause big problems if the weather doesn’t cooperate.

“We’re two weeks behind (in normal corn development). That’s not good news,” said Joel Ransom, agronomist with the North Dakota State University Extension Service.

He estimated 12 to 20 days of favorable weather are needed to get the corn crop to where it should be.

Only 2 percent of North Dakota’s corn crop and 6 percent of Minnesota’s corn are mature, or safe from frost, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
...
Cool weather this spring and early summer slowed corn planting and its subsequent development.

Indur Goklany: IPCC "perpetrated a fraud on the readers"

How the IPCC Portrayed a Net Positive Impact of Climate Change as a Negative « Watts Up With That?

To summarize, with respect to water resources, Figure SPM.2 — and its clones — don’t make any false statements, but by withholding information that might place climate change in a positive light, they have perpetrated a fraud on the readers.

CEO Chairman David J. O’Reilly speaks

RealClearPolitics - Articles - The New Energy Consensus

Renewable energy is very real. We need it. It will be an essential part of the future I envision. But it's not realistic to suppose that it can replace conventional energy in a timeframe that some suggest.
...
Even with the rapid growth of renewables, experts estimate that over 80 percent of global energy consumed in 2030 will still come from oil, natural gas and coal.
...
One of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere is fossil fuels.

There is no doubt that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have increased. And although there is uncertainty about the future impacts on climate, most people agree that it's not a good idea to continue unrestricted hydrocarbon combustion. And I agree.

But how should we reduce emissions in a realistic timeframe given the scale of the energy system and the growing demand?

Once again, many proposals are being discussed.

Some talk about reducing emissions by 20 percent by 2020. It sounds good! 20 by 20! Others talk about reducing emissions by 50, 60 or even 70 percent by 2050.

Even with the best of intentions, it will be challenging. If we were to shutdown the entire global transportation system today - all cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes and ships, we would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 15 percent! That's one-five percent.

And meaningful reductions will be expensive to achieve.

The International Energy Agency predicts that the real costs to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets will be $45 trillion dollars. That's above and beyond the investments necessary to meet future energy demand. It's a cost every one of us in this room needs to understand. Not just a cost on business, it is a cost on society. One that you and I will pay.

The Chilling Effect | Some Thoughts on The House “Comprehensive” Energy & Global Warming Bill

We’re hearing lots of people in the Beltway going bananas over the House bill, 6899, becoming known as the “don’t drill bill.” The AP has some background on the top-line points of the plan. We thought we’d share some thoughts...

Geophysical Research Letters: Greenland warming of 1920-1930 and 1995-2005

Abstract:
We provide an analysis of Greenland temperature records to compare the current (1995-2005) warming period with the previous (1920-1930) Greenland warming. We find that the current Greenland warming is not unprecedented in recent Greenland history. Temperature increases in the two warming periods are of a similar magnitude, however, the rate of warming in 1920-1930 was about 50% higher than that in 1995 - 2005.

How many scientists are actually telling us that we have 10 years, and can we see their supporting calculations, if any?

City acts on climate change | The Burlington Free Press

Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss challenged teams of residents Thursday to find ways to cut the community’s 426,000-ton carbon footprint at the rate of 1.5 percent a year, or 20 percent by the year 2020.

After 2020, he said the pace should accelerate to 2 percent a year, or an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

Kiss launched a citizen-driven rewrite of the city’s climate action plan before an audience of 60 volunteers at City Hall. Working in eight teams, they will recommend changes in public policy and voluntary action by residents and businesses.

“All the scientists are telling us we have 10 years,” Kiss said, referring to the need to reduce global carbon emissions quickly, if the worst effects of global climate change are to be avoided. “Change is possible. We have to be part of making a difference.”

Really odd stuff from alleged environmental "expert" Ray Clark

Huh?

Environmental expert Ray Clark anchored William Penn University’s Fall Academic Convocation and painted a dire picture now and in the future if global climate change goes unchecked.

What made Clark’s “Change is Inevitable, Not a Philosophy” convocation address Wednesday in George Daily Auditorium unusual was his nonpartisan approach to the cause of climate change.

“The argument over whether or not this is man-made or whether or not this is a natural cycle. You know, all of that. That is a waste of time,” Clark said. “It does not matter. It does not matter if that’s just a cycle. It doesn’t matter to me. If nature created it, so what, it’s still four degree Celsius. If man created it, it’s still four degree Celsius.”

Greenhouse gas emissions jump 5% in year - Scotsman.com News

SCOTLAND'S greenhouse gas emissions rose by more than 5 per cent in a year, new figures show.
Despite the Scottish Government's ambitions to reduce damaging emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, latest figures show they increased by 5.4 per cent between 2005 and 2006.

When July temperatures in Iceland nearly reached 1939's high, were the residents bummed out and plagued by kidney stones and dengue fever?

“It may be the last summer where I can enjoy such blissfulness so I couldn’t be happier,” Lára Gunnarsdóttir, 92, told Fréttabladid while basking in the sun at Thingvellir yesterday.

Thingvellir enjoyed the warmest weather in Iceland yesterday, although heat records were broken in other parts of the country as well.
...
Iceland’s all-time heat record was set on June 22, 1939 in Berufjördur in the East Fjords where the temperature went up to 30.5°C.
...
Local residents used the opportunity to tan at swimming pools around the city and at the thermal beach in Nauthólsvík where a traffic jam was created because of all the eager sunbathers.

Another perspective on last July's warm weather in Iceland:

I expect that every single person in Iceland who had the slightest possibility to skip out from work yesterday did so. You see, up here businesses close due to weather during the summers rather than in the winter [seriously] - warm and sunny days have traditionally been such a rarity here that every single one is precious.

The Daily Bayonet: Global Warming Hoax Weekly Round-Up, Sept. 19th 2008

I've got a veritable legion of linkitude for your denier delight this week.

Does this polar bear look like it's starving?

Polar bear in Barrow, early Sept. 2008

CO2sceptics News Blog | Video: Founder of Weather Channel Speaks Out on Global Warming

Springfield, MO) -- The founder of the Weather Channel makes a stop in Springfield on Wednesday.

John Coleman stopped by Missouri State University to reiterate his stance that while the climate patterns may change, it isn't anything under our control.

"There has never been any significant man-made global warming. There isn't any now and there isn't going to be any in the future. Al Gore is full of prunes." says Coleman.

globeandmail.com: Ancient ice survived hotter Earth than today

A team of Canadian researchers has discovered the oldest ice in North America, 700,000-year-old wedges unearthed near Dawson City in the Yukon that stayed solid when the Earth was much hotter than it is today.

The discovery suggests that one of the most catastrophic global warming scenarios, in which melting permafrost releases vast amounts of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, may not occur as quickly as some scientists fear.

“There is a certain stubbornness to permafrost, ” says Duane Froese, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science at the University of Alberta and lead author of a paper that will appear in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

The ice was found only a few metres beneath the surface. It formed in cracks in the permafrost, the frozen soil which covers nearly a quarter of the land in the northern hemisphere, including parts of the Klondike gold field. Some of it is rich in ice.

Normally, ice is difficult to date beyond 50,000 years. But in this case, the wedges were covered with volcanic ash that the team, including researchers at the University of Toronto and the Geological Survey of Canada, determined was roughly 700,000 years old.

This means it didn't melt during two periods when many scientists believe the planet was warmer than it is today. In the most recent of those periods, 120,000 years ago, temperatures were likely several degrees hotter than they are today. It may have been even steamier 400,000 years ago.

Al Gore to Buy Environmental Magazine, 'Plenty'?

Al Gore's getting into the magazine business. Sources familiar with the former vice president's plans say he is set to announce the acquisition of a stake in Plenty, a four-year-old title about environmentally-conscious living. As it happens, Gore -- who already has a toe in the media business through his TV network, Current -- is on the cover of the current issue.

TheHill.com - Gore joins MoveOn to raise cash for Senate candidates

Former vice president and 2000 Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore has joined the liberal group MoveOn.org to raise funds for Democratic Senate candidates.

In a fundraising e-mail, Gore singles out Al Franken (Minn.), Rep. Mark Udall (Colo.) and state Sen. Kay Hagan (N.C.) as “three champions of clean energy” who should be elected to the Senate.

The former vice president began his fundraising bid by promising that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) is the best candidate to address pressing energy issues facing the country

Gore Unveils Global-Warming Plan - washingtonpost.com

NEW YORK, Sept. 18 [2006] -- Former vice president Al Gore laid out his prescription for an ailing and overheated planet Monday, urging a series of steps from freezing carbon dioxide emissions to revamping the auto industry, factories and farms.

Gore proposed a Carbon Neutral Mortgage Association ("Connie Mae," to echo the familiar Fannie Mae) devoted to helping homeowners retrofit and build energy-efficient homes. He urged creation of an "electranet," which would let homeowners and business owners buy and sell surplus electricity.

"This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue -- it affects the survival of human civilization," Gore said in an hour-long speech at the New York University School of Law.

Since we were all anxiously awaiting a luxury limousine company's carbon dioxide "leadership"...

Luxury Limousines of Sacramento Becomes a "Climate Leader" - MarketWatch

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sep 18, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Luxury Limousines of Sacramento is pleased to announce that it is one of the first five limousine companies in the nation to have qualified for partnership in the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Leaders Program.
"Very few companies from the transportation industry are part of the Climate Leaders Program," says Bill Murray, President of Luxury Limousines. "We are proud to show the EPA that the chauffeured ground transportation industry has a serious commitment to environmental sustainability."

When Gore was Vice President

NYTimes.com

In June 1997, environmental groups voiced anger because, in their view, Vice President Gore had failed to push hard enough for tougher air pollution standards and for negotiating deep cuts in worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases. They distributed a statement to editorial writers that derided remarks by the Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore about global warming as “hot air.”

“The failure of the White House to provide any leadership on the clean air standards and on climate change raises real questions about what real environmental progress Vice President Gore can point to in claiming the mantle of the environmental candidate in the year 2000,” Mr. Clapp told The New York Times.

SolveClimate.com

...He told the story once of the final days of the UN meeting in Kyoto, from which the Protocol would emerge. Gore was still a no-show, and they needed him there to succeed. So they created a media event in the capital around a gigantic replica of an airline ticket for the Vice President -- departing DC, arriving Kyoto -- to make sure he got on a plane, which he did.

skepticlawyer » The problem with financial modelling - comment by Joe Cambria

I’ve worked as a trader for a while and saw my fair share of models used either for trading or valuation purposes. Trading models were basically useless as they were essentially trend following in various degrees. They made money when the trend was in full swing, but they gave all the money away when there was no trend. Valuation models to assess risk across markets arriving at a firm wide risk envelope were not only silly, they were actually quite dangerous.

Why then are we relying on models to predict climate change and adjust our way of life as a result? Are they more accurate than financial models in figuring the impact of GHGs in climate for a period of 100 years? The IPCC has handed out confidence levels of 90% as a result of models suggesting global temps will rise around 2 degrees over the next 100 years.

I highly recommend reading the link; it shows just how human minds can close down as a result of groupthink. I’m seeing speculative evidence this is also happening to climate scientists that mostly rely on models to make climate predictions.

We live in interesting times.

More BS from Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection

Alliance for Climate Protection: Oil Industry Hijacking Energy Debate - MarketWatch

"The path to a stronger economy and clean energy should be simple," said Cathy Zoi, CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection. "But oil and coal lobbies are blocking the switch clean power. It's time for Americans to stand up and demand an end to this stranglehold on a clean energy future."
Asks the ad's narrator: "Why are we still stuck with dirty and expensive energy?"
"Because big oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy -- lobbyists, ads, even scandals -- all to increase their profits, while America suffers," comes the response. "Breaking big oil's lock on our government -- now that's change."
The ad launches with a substantial national cable television buy starting this Friday.
"An energy future fueled by limitless clean sources like the sun and wind, efficient technologies and a smart grid will finally address our climate, energy and national security crises," said Zoi.

Climate Skeptic: We Can't Think of Anything Else It Could Be

Well, a number of folks would beg to differ that scientists have truly eliminated every other possible cause, particularly Mr. Sun (more than really eliminating these effects, they seem to be seeking excuses to ignore them). In fact, climate models of late have admitted that they don't even include the Pacific Decadal Osculation in their models, or didn't until recently. So much for thinking of everything.

Prometheus » Blog Archive » Tax and Charade

[Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative ] may do many things, but reducing emissions does not seem to be among them. It is high time we started calling cap and trade what it really is — tax and charade.

Bravo, GM Vice-chair Bob Lutz

Click on this hilarious video and you will hear comedian Stephen Colbert asking if global warming is being caused by "sunspots" and GM vice-chair Bob Lutz answering:

"... in the opinion of about 32,000 of the world's leading scientists, yes."

(The above video link didn't work for me personally, but this one did.)

New Live Earth: Scaled back from seven continents to just one, and more about solar energy than CO2 this time?

AFP: India to host new Live Earth concert: organisers

MUMBAI (AFP) — India is to host a Live Earth concert later this year, featuring stars from the world of music, film and television to raise funds for solar energy, organisers announced Thursday.

The event will take place in Mumbai on December 7, Live Earth founder Kevin Wall said, predicting it would be "one of the biggest events ever produced here and one of the major events on television."

"If you're alive in India, somewhere, somehow, you can see or hear or become part of this event," he told a news conference.

Wall, who with former US vice-president Al Gore organised a series of concerts on seven continents over 24 hours on July 7 last year, said the India show would be taken live by more than 100 countries.

The All Important Blade of the Stick Uses Less Than 5% of the Data « The Air Vent

Tracy Press - End-of-the-world nonsense

The "man-made" global-warming crowd wants America to spend billions to reduce a naturally occurring gas (carbon dioxide) that has a virtually zero effect on global warming. This is insane. People who willfully set aside common sense and allow themselves and their children to be brainwashed and never question what they are hearing are without excuse.

Prophets of doom meet proponents of dialogue

"If you hear that a thousand scientists agree that global warming is due to mankind, chances are that only ten of that thousand actually know enough about the problem to cast any judgment on the issue at all," says Dr. Roy Spencer.

Kevin Rudd's $100m clean coal plan | The Australian

KEVIN Rudd has summoned mining and industry chief executives, environmentalists and union leaders to Canberra this morning to unveil a $100 million clean coal research institute aimed at making Australia the world hub for the climate-change-fighting technology.

Philip E. Clapp, 54; Led Environmental Policy Group - washingtonpost.com

Philip E. Clapp, 54, who created an environmental policy and advocacy group that is now part of the Pew Environment Group and who successfully agitated for environmental causes through jet-setting diplomacy and grass-roots mobilizing, died of pneumonia Sept. 17 at Spaarne Hospital while on vacation in Hoofddorp, Amsterdam. He was a District resident.

Mr. Clapp devoted his 32-year career in Washington to fighting global warming, preserving the world's oceans and reducing air and water pollution. A practicing Buddhist who was also a workaholic and a chain smoker, he focused much of his work on trying to fashion a international pact that would make significant cuts in greenhouse gases.

Buffett invests in another energy company

When the Oracle of Omaha is investing in nuclear and fossil energy, why should bureaucrats bet massive amounts of our public money on solar and wind power?

Warren Buffett buys Constellation Energy Group for $4.7 billion in cash

"MidAmerican has been a wonderful steward of its energy assets and the acquisition of Constellation Energy, when completed, will prove beneficial to all constituents," said Warren E. Buffett, chairman, Berkshire Hathaway.

Constellation Energy - SourceWatch

Out of its total 9,614 MW of electric generating capacity in 2005 (0.90% of the U.S. total), Constellation produces 44.2% from nuclear, 28.3% from coal, 13.0% from oil, 8.7% from natural gas, 4.7% from hydroelectricity, 1.2% from biomass, 0.2% from geothermal, and 0.1% from solar [what about wind?]. Constellation owns power plants in California, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Utah; 59.1% of its generating capacity is in Maryland, and 25.2% is in New York.[3]

Professor transforms car for efficiency

The Exponent - Purdue's Student Newspaper

Kane said the car is perfect for driving around Lafayette and West Lafayette, because while it doesn't use any fuel [unless you count the coal that may be burned to generate the electricity to power the car], the car can only travel a distance of approximately 20 miles before needing to charge its batteries. But he's not sure what will happen this winter, when the cold weather causes battery efficiency to drop. [and when you might want to run the heater] He said it would be helpful if there were parking spots specifically designed for electric cars. [ie, wired for electricity, with metering and payment facilities]

Oops! Nets Wrong On Warming; Arctic Ice Still There | NewsBusters.org

Wrong again! It must stink being a network global warming alarmist. They just can't seem to get their stories straight.

'A bit anarchic' | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

Lehman quietly shuts down its carbon-trading desk

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Planet Gore on National Review Online

Or a tasty little baby seal, maybe?

The D.C. bomb squad was called out to deal with a piece of global-warming street art in the nation’s capital on Wednesday: a mannequin dressed up as a homeless polar bear. File this one under Your Tax Dollars at Work

That's not a tax, it's just a mandatory contribution

AFP: France to create 'picnic tax' on pollution

PARIS (AFP) — France's environment minister Monday announced plans for a "picnic tax" on throw-away plates, cups and cutlery, as part of a broad drive to slash pollution and energy use.

"We are doing it," Jean-Louis Borloo told RTL radio, saying the levy would apply to items made of non-recyclable plastic or paper, and would represent about 90 eurocents per kilogram.

"Rather than a tax, we prefer to call it a contribution on high waste-producing products," his ministry said, adding that the proceeds would be used to subsidise recyclable goods.

Is Gore's "Climate Project" fizzling out?

At the link below, you can see lists of past and future Climate Project propaganda sessions.  The September '08 list looks much shorter than the September '07 list, and it currently looks like October '08 will have to surge dramatically to match October '07...

The Climate Project

A feeble attempt to sell the idea of runaway greenhouse warming

Sinking feeling: Hot year damages carbon uptake by plants

Plant and soil can take up to two years to recover from an exceptionally hot year, a finding that has implications for the combat against global warming, according to research published on Wednesday.

Harmless Sky -  If I was a politician, I’d believe in global warming too!

A well-informed sceptic recently asked me if I understood why politicians are so keen on global warming. He said that he found this hard to explain. So although Harmless Sky’s blog rules say that party politics are out of bounds, and its impossible to discuss this subject without breaking those rules just a little, I’m going to set down a few reasons why, if I were a politician, I would believe in anthropogenic climate change too...

Hybrids Not Worth It in the Long Run - Daily Nexus

I recently walked out of a restaurant with my family to find a pamphlet slid under the windshield wiper of our car. It read, “You are killing the environment!” I read on to learn that the reason we were killing the environment was because we drove a Chevrolet Suburban (SUV), which gets only half the gas mileage of a sedan or coupe. The note went on to explain why we were such terrible people and how many animals we were killing, as if we secretly connived with our evil sidekick “Global Warming” to rid the world of cool breezes and icebergs and snow cones and all that is cold and beautiful. You really have got to love those tree-huggers and their witty humor and scientific jargon. It’s almost as if they know what they’re talking about.

Six Alaska Natives take fossil-fueled trips to New York City for CO2-hysteric event

On the cobblestone street outside the gallery, yellow taxis sped past a slowly melting ice sculpture of a mother bear based on the work of Sylvester Ayek. From King Island in the Bering Strait, Ayek was one of six Alaska Native artists at the opening, along with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Alaska House founder Alice Rogoff Rubenstein.

I wonder if fossil fuel energy was used to generate the ice for that sculpture...

Alarmist Mark Lynas - Why greens must learn to love nuclear power

But why not ditch nuclear and focus only on renewables, as the greens suggest? MacKay calculates that even if we covered the windiest 10 per cent of the UK with wind turbines, put solar panels on all south-facing roofs, implemented strong energy efficiency measures across the economy, built offshore wind turbines across an area of sea two-thirds the size of Wales, and fully exploited every other conceivable source of renewables (including wave and tidal power), energy production would still not match current consumption.

World Tourism Day Recognized in the United States and Nations Worldwide on Saturday, September 27

Washington, DC – September 2008 – Across the globe, September 27th heralds World Tourism Day, an annual event sanctioned by the U.N. World Tourism Organization.
...
The global theme of World Tourism Day, “Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change”, is among the key business and public policy issues fronting the U.S. travel industry....

Travel and tourism is one of the largest employers in the United States, directly generating earnings of $171 billion that supports 7.5 million jobs across every local economy. Domestic and international travel expenditures total $740 billion, making it one of America’s largest industries.

If the CO2 situation is really "desperately serious" and is leading us all to "oblivion" as the head of the UN claimed, how could the UN ever sanction the burning of large amounts of fossil fuel for something as frivolous as tourism? And if a potential tourist has the money to buy bogus carbon offsets, why not forestall oblivion both by buying the bogus offsets AND by not burning the fossil fuel?

edmontonsun.com -  Carbon disaster

Canadian politicians seldom mention these problems, or how they will avoid them, in promoting cap-and-trade, which has failed to reduce carbon emissions, increased costs to consumers and delighted mainly large industrial emitters, speculators and hedge funds.

It's time we demanded some answers.

Claim: More Dutch will die due to global warming

The first-ever scientific study into the health effects of global warming on the Dutch population says it will lead to hundreds of additional deaths. Thousands of additional people are expected to develop skin cancer or contract Lyme's disease after tick bites.

A truly remarkable post, considering that it appears on an alarmist blog

Environmentalism is Still Dead « It’s Getting Hot In Here

We can no longer trust greens to save the planet. Their track record and anti-pragmatic approach demonstrates one thing above all else: environmentalism is still dead. And at this point, that’s a good thing. But what’s the way out of this mess?

The new pragmatic Democratic leadership is already leading the way: when it comes to energy, ignore the greens. As long as they are unwilling to embrace political realities, they are irrelevant. Rather, meet your constituencies where they’re at — in this case, by supporting limited offshore drilling — and work around their concerns to advance new solutions — by advancing new investments in clean energy.

Spotter plane will spy Coventry's heat-leaking homes - Coventry Telegraph

COUNCIL chiefs are set to swoop on Coventry's heat-leaking homes with a spotter plane.

The £25,000 hi-tech initiative will see an aircraft fly over the city taking thermal images of every building to find out which are energy efficient and which are leaking heat.

The three-hour flight in the early hours of the morning will collect pictures of every home and business and the council wants to put the results on the internet for all to see.

Councillor for climate change, housing and sustainability Nigel Lee said: "If your home is blue it isn't losing heat.

"But if it glows red you're wasting energy and money.
...
"If this data goes on the internet, people worldwide can come and see it.

"Potentially people looking at buying a house could type in the postcode and see how energy efficient that house is."

But he added: "You always have to take it with a pinch of salt because the house that glows red could have left their roof hatch open, while the blue house could have been away on holiday."

Emissions scheme will kill NT economy: truckies - Northern Territory News

But three environmental scientists, all authors with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have said Prof Garnaut's deal would guarantee environmental and social disaster.

Bill Hare, David Karoly and Amanda Lynch criticised Prof Garnaut's recommendation and reportedly want carbon emission cuts of up to 40 per cent.

They said if more ambitious greenhouse targets are not adopted, ecosystems would be destroyed.

But scientist and climate sceptic David Evans, once with the Australian Greenhouse Office, said carbon emissions would rise worldwide regardless of what Australia does.

"What Australia does has a negligible effect on the atmosphere,'' he said.

"The dire consequences are unlikely ... as the Earth has never gone into runaway greenhouse warming, despite carbon dioxide levels in the past of over 20 times the current levels.

"If carbon emissions don't cause significant global warming then we are trashing our economies for no good reason, pointlessly making us poorer by wasting time and resources.''

THE BBC'S CLIMATE BIASES -- AGAIN

GREENIE WATCH: An email from David Tyler

I am planning to put in a complaint about the standard of Iain Stewart's coverage of the Climate Sceptic issue (BBC 2: The Climate Wars). He had plenty of clips showing them in denial, but very little allowing them to say why they take a dissenting position. He presented the Hockey Stick graph in a positive light, giving viewers very little appreciation of the scientific controversies that it has generated. For example, material the BBC itself has reported was omitted completely...

RealClimate vs Me. Part 1 « Carbonated Climate

My main gripe here today is their post entitled “Convenient Untruths.” It’s quite an old post, and it attempts to defend the science in Al Gore’s super terrific movie. As in any case where the ’science’ in this ‘movie’ is backed up by climate scientists, the results are easily debunked.

So here we go, debunking the debunked. Let’s just hope my debunkment is debunkier than the original debunk.

DeSmogBlog on Inhofe

One tired argument that he and his oily friends have consistently brought up is that global warming is cyclical, and is caused by sunspots. Regardless of the fact that the "sunspots and cosmic rays" theory of global warming has been conclusively disproved (multiple times), Inhofe brought it up in today's Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meeting, citing the Farmer's Almanac as his "research" source.

In another poll of voter concerns, global warming brings up the rear

Business briefs for September 18, 2008 — Baton Rouge, LA

The most pressing concerns for Louisiana voters are the economy and jobs, according to a poll commissioned by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

The poll of 600 likely voters found 22.2 percent considered the economy and jobs the most important issue. Education followed at 13.9 percent and the situation in Iraq at 13.8 percent. Gasoline and energy prices were at 12.7 percent.

Federal spending/deficit was the top concern for 7.4 percent; health insurance, 6.9 percent; illegal immigration, 6.1 percent; crime and drugs, 4.9 percent; federal taxes, 4.4 percent; and global warming/climate change, 2.6 percent.

ScandAsia.Com - Denmark Grants US $ 40 Million For Climate Change Programme

The Danish International Development Agency (Danida) Board in Copenhagen has just approved a new climate change programme of approximately US $ 40 million for Vietnam in its climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.

BBC's The Climate Wars: "some rather dreary propaganda for the anthropogenic global-warming lobby, funded by you the licence-fee payer, and masqueradering with typically BBC disingenuousness as objective truth"

But I’ve done TV myself and I know how these things work. Right from the commissioning stage — especially if, as here, it’s three hours’ worth of expensive prime-time — you know exactly which way your programme’s going to go. But you’re told to hide this as much as possible because TV execs have this obsession with perceived balance and with the idea of documentaries being a ‘journey’.

Stewart’s conclusion by the end of episode two was that the debate on global warming is over, GW is mostly our fault, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a nutcase on the extreme fringes, probably in the pay of Big Oil. This is what Al Gore said in An Inconvenient Truth. In fact, it’s what the green lobby always says, because it’s much easier to win an argument by closing down the debate than by engaging with your opponents’ objections, point by awkward point. But is it actually true?

Well no. I could point you towards hundreds of scientists — many in even greater positions of eminence than Plymouth Uni’s geology department — who still disagree quite vehemently with this thesis and have much solid evidence to back it up. Stewart is perfectly entitled to disagree with them, but not, I think, at our expense, while posing as an impartial seeker of truth on a channel which, regrettably, still has a reputation for reliability and authority.

TheGreenMiles.net: GM Exec Denies Global Warming, Disses Own Car

General Motors Vice Chairman of Global Product Development Bob Lutz was just on The Colbert Report blaming global warming on sunspots and dissing his own Chevrolet Volt as a weak, unattractive car. I'll post the video here as soon as it's online.

Unstoppable Solar Cycles: The Real Story of Greenland.

At URI, global warming as a natural event

A student asked where the movie’s support came from. Robinson said the Heartland Institute has received funds from Exxon-Mobil.

What about the two scientists in the film?

Merrill said both are established scientists, but he could not find any of their research in peer-reviewed journals since 2000.

Asked what solutions they recommended for climate change, both scientists demurred at first. Finally Merrill said people should try to conserve energy. Robinson said, “Educate yourself and vote.”

One audience member said she is a teacher and she can’t decide who is right in the debate, so she shows both Unstoppable Solar Cycles and An Inconvenient Truth to her classes.

Robinson said people need to evaluate what they hear. Legates and Soon don’t vet their findings with the scientific community, she said. Whereas most other scientists have reached a consensus that climate change is occurring and humans are causing it.

Richard Lindzen to speak - SalemNews.com, Salem, MA

ENVIRONMENT. "Global Warming: What is it All About?" Wednesday, Sept. 24, 6:30 p.m., Hamilton-Wenham Public Library, 14 Union St. With Richard S. Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences at MIT. For more information, call the library at 978-468-5577 or visit www.hwlibrary.org.

Metro - Farmer's Almanac calls for a bitter winter

December is predicted to be a very cold month, with temperatures expected to be about five degrees below normal. In fact, for the dates of December 23 to 25, the words “snowstorm” and “very cold” are both used.

If cold’s not your thing, there’s more bad news. The Almanac has forecasts through to next October, and is predicting temperatures in Atlantic Canada to be one or two degrees below normal in the summer of 2009.

“We’re actually predicting a cooling trend over the next two decades, which is kind of running counter to global warming,” Trowbridge said.

UK seeking CO2 trading increase

In practice the CDM is under fire because some investors are obtaining credits for clean energy projects in countries like China and India that would have been built anyway, meaning that no CO2 is saved overall.

Various reports suggest that between 20% and 60% of CDM projects do not save additional CO2.

Networks Wrong On Global Warming Again; Arctic Ice Still There

This fits an ongoing pattern of media hype about climate change where networks no longer report the issue with any sense of objectivity. A study published by the Business & Media Institute earlier this year showed how rarely dissenting voices were included in the climate debate. The study found that global warming proponents overwhelmingly outnumbered those with dissenting opinions. On average for every skeptic there were nearly 13 proponents featured. ABC did a slightly better job with a 7-to-1 ratio, while CBS’s ratio was abysmal at nearly 38-to-1.

Rudd lashes climate change sceptics

Most of Mr Rudd's speech emphasised the need for urgent action.

The scientific evidence of climate change continued to accumulate, he said.

"Expert analysis points to severe global and national consequences including rising sea levels, more severe weather events, water shortages, large-scale migration, increased threats to border security, loss of infrastructure and regional conflict over increasingly scarce resources."

Australia was more exposed than probably any other industrialised nation, particularly through the impact on agriculture, water, the tourism industry and the environment.

"We must prepare for a low-carbon economy," Mr Rudd said.

"To delay any longer, to stay in denial as the climate change sceptics and some members opposite would have us do, is reckless and irresponsible.

"For our generation, for our kids and future generations, we must act now."