More on Carol Browner, Obama's Energy Czar

She was unusual in another way: “she refused to use e-mail when she served as President Clinton's Environmental Protection Agency chief in the 1990s for fear of leaving a digital trail. She also ordered her government computer hard drive wiped clean of records just before leaving office. "It was a conscious decision not to use a piece of equipment or to learn how to use a piece of equipment because I didn't want to be in a situation similar to what I had been in Florida," "This is why I made this decision not to use my computer," she said. "I was very careful."

Tone May Be Key to Obama's Agenda - washingtonpost.com

Senate centrists have warned that the incoming administration's ambitious global warming legislation might be a non-starter.

Cross country race canceled because of frigid cold - International Herald Tribune

ANCHORAGE, Alaska: Frigid temperatures forced organizers of the U.S. Cross Country Championship sprint race to cancel the event Saturday.

Race organizers hoped to hold the sprint races on Sunday, if the cold snap that has gripped much of Alaska for the past week loosens its grip a bit.

Forecasters, however, said the bitterly cold weather was expected to continue.

Sanity slowly returns: In an article about Connecticut political issues, climate change barely gets a mention around paragraph 32 of maybe 35

Roy said that he will also work this year for a continued attempt to slow global climate change and expand restrictions on toxic chemicals in children's products.

Skinned Polar Bears for Global Warming - Visceral Friends of the Earth PSA (GALLERY)

This global warming awareness ad by Friends of the Earth goes for the shock value with a skinned polar bear walking around while dragging his fur behind in a sign that the earth is heating up to the extent that the animal had to get rid of its fur to cool down.

The eye-popping ad is created to encourage people to sign a petition asking the Belgian government for stronger and stricter climate laws.

More from a guy who went to Antarctica to raise global "warming" awareness

Now 45years old and twelve days from when I first stumbled up to the South Pole, my left eye, lungs and feet deeply frozen and hallucinating that all my friends and family were plugging along with me, this, cast against me know, warm, 20 pounds heavier and safe in my office - I now know what time travel is like.
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I still cannot quite feel my feet, parts of my left leg, the ends of my fingers or see clearly through my left eye or breath without trouble – but I am warm, safe and at home, with my wife, my dogs and my friends.

Arizona: State chamber scales back in wake of budget crisis

One of the first battles will be whether Arizona proceeds with the "cap and trade'' program being pushed by Napolitano as part of the Western Climate Initiative. It would require businesses, beginning in 2012, to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to specified levels or purchase credits from companies that exceed their goals.

Hamer said the chamber believes climate change is an international problem that should be addressed internationally, including limits on the emissions of technologically emerging nations like China and India. If nothing else, he said, there should be a single national program so that companies in areas without these emission standards do not have competitive advantages over Arizona firms that will face higher costs.

Lawmakers approved a measure backed by the chamber last session to ban new greenhouse gas regulations without specific legislative authority. That bill, however, was vetoed by Napolitano.

James Taylor: Global warming : Guest_Columns : Naples Daily News

Global-warming activism is long on unsubstantiated assertions and short on objective facts. Only by comparing today’s temperatures to the abnormal cold of the little ice are — and by completely ignoring the warmer temperatures that predominated during most of the past 10,000 years — can global-warming activists paint a picture of a planet suffering a global warming crisis. Moreover, sound science has thrown cold water on each and every one of the alleged global-warming crises, such as endangered polar bears, melting ice caps, etc., alleged to result from global warming.

EU denounces socialite’s carbon offset project - Times Online

A PIONEERING climate change project in Africa run by Robin Birley, the socialite, has been accused by the European commission, its main donor, of making unsubstantiated claims about its environmental impact.

The project has received more than £1m in public grants and money from celebrities in the music and film business. They include Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones and Brad Pitt, the actor.

Scientists gather in Wellington for conference on climate change

World authorities on the history of climate change are converging on Wellington for a conference on the greenhouse climate of the Paleogene period, 65 to 35 million years ago.

The Paleogene was the last time that the Earth experienced greenhouse climate conditions and associated global warming on a scale comparable to projected future global warming.

So it's NOT all about carbon dioxide?!: Soot reduction 'could help to stop global warming'

Governments could slow global warming dramatically, and buy time to avert disastrous climate change, by slashing emissions of one of humanity's most familiar pollutants – soot – according to Nasa scientists. A study by the space agency shows that cutting down on the pollutant, which has so far been largely ignored by climate scientists, can have an immediate cooling effect – and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from air pollution at the same time.

EU Referendum: Windmills are not for turning

Mr Peter Mosley of Croachy, Inverness has a letter published today noting that he got into his car at 9am on Tuesday and the display said that the temperature outside was -13°C. On his journey he went past a windfarm and observed that the turbines were not turning. They had been the same for the previous few cold days.

Does this mean, he asks, that the 132,000 homes this installation claims to supply are without power, or do they manage to get electricity somehow from elsewhere? He thus concludes that, "Wind power does not appear to be a very good solution to the country's energy problem."

Mr Mosely is, of course, dead right. In the last three days, the coldest so far this winter and colder than we have experienced from some considerable time, we are effectively becalmed...

EU gas prices set to rise after supplies disrupted by Russia's Ukraine feud | Mail Online

Britain is facing rising gas prices after European countries were hit by a dramatic drop in supplies from Russia.

Gazprom, the Russian state-run gas producer, said that the crisis caused by the feud with neighbour Ukraine would force European energy suppliers to pay more.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said last night that it was taking the matter ‘seriously’ and revealed that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband had spoken to EU counterparts about the situation.

Bryan St. James: Comment at Watts Up With That?

I have to say I am excited with a growing trend I see of actual scientific truth trumping the hype of ‘Global Warming’. In a WordPress tag surf on the same term, I will typically see 7 or 8 common sense climate posts to each alarmist or sound-byte reguritator. Everyone keep blogging the truth!

Recycling crisis: Taxpayers foot the bill for UK's growing waste paper mountain as market collapses | Mail Online

Taxpayers are facing a multi-million-pound bill to store 100,000 tons of waste paper and cardboard as the British recycling industry plunges into crisis.

Rubbish carefully sorted by householders is piling up in vast warehouses as the market for waste paper collapses, and experts have warned that the mountain of garbage could double in the next three months.

Waste paper is now virtually unsellable, so the private firms contracted to deal with household rubbish have been forced to put it into storage, incurring huge bills.
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PM still using carrier bags he vowed to scrap

Gordon Brown still uses plastic carrier bags for his weekly supermarket shop despite pledging to eliminate them.

The Prime Minister has now revealed in an interview that he and his wife Sarah often order through supermarket websites and receive ‘a lot of unnecessary packaging and plastic bags’.

Last year Mr Brown announced plans to wipe out the 13billion plastic bags given out by Britain’s shops each year, ordering supermarkets to cut the number they give away from 9.1billion to 3.9billion by the spring.

A bit of good news for climate realists?

Next Ariz. governor seen taking conservative path

Look for a turn to the right.

That's the widespread expectation of what will happen when Republican Secretary of State Jan Brewer replaces Gov. Janet Napolitano after the Democratic incumbent resigns to become U.S. homeland security director.
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On the flip side, Sierra Club lobbyist Sandy Bahr said Brewer got failing grades as a legislator on report cards issued by conservation groups.

Brewer wasn't a key player on environmental issues, Bahr said. ``I just remember she was a bad vote.''

Added Bahr: ``Obviously I would not expect her to be strong on environmental protection and not really promoting or taking a leadership role on issues like climate change or energy efficiency.''

Brewer said in an interview that she recognizes that climate change is a major issue.

``It's something that I really want to get my arms around and get lots of information on,'' she said. ``But we also have to realize that we have an economy that we have to also be cognizant of and act responsibly.''

Global Warming is "Caused By Computers"?

As the "skeptic" points out, all of the "warming" comes from adjustments to the graph; the original data actually shows a cooling trend.

In blue economy, green jobs are in play | Dallas Business News

Skeptics fear that the president-elect's Green New Deal will do little but waste taxpayer's money. The government squandered billions on the Jimmy Carter-era synthetic-fuels program, a failed effort to create vehicle fuel from coal. Corn-based ethanol -- the latest recipient of fat subsidies -- is loathed by many environmentalists, who say it's an inefficient fuel that gobbles precious cropland and helps to drive up food prices.

Better to let the market decide, not the state, said Donald Boudreaux, chairman of the economics department at George Mason University in Virginia.

"The history of government picking winners in the U.S. is not that grand," he said. "People instinctively love the idea of green jobs. ... But there is a lot of mass stupidity out there."

Renewable energy proponents, such as former California Treasurer Phil Angelides, say stupidity would be sticking with current U.S. energy policy, which has turbocharged global warming, super-sized the trade deficit and propped up oil-rich regimes hostile to American interests.

Farmers fail to buy into Gore's scam - Salt Lake Tribune

...But running counter to this notion is the Utah Farm Bureau, with its 21,000 members, which insists that the nation must exploit its own oil and coal stocks for the foreseeable future. Because farm leaders aren't convinced there is such a phenomenon as global warming, they see no need to press for wide use of renewable fuels that in their minds may be decades away from being a cost-effective alternative to coal and oil.

"There are those in the media …who claim consensus -- 'that man's activities are the cause of global warming," wrote Farm Bureau CEO Randy Parker in the group's December newsletter. Parker said this claim is based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose members are "promoting parochial political agendas."

Time at state farm conventions is spent assailing global warming assertions -- leaving it up to individual farmers to develop alternative strategies on their own.

Is Solar Rickshaw really a Panacea? Dangers of Media Hype : EcoWorldly

My big fear from media in relation to technology is hype. Media hype completely puts things out of perspective. In the case of technology, I am afraid that such euphoria will kill the technology with raised expectations that will not be fulfilled. I fear the same for Delhi’s ’soleckshaw.’ The soleckshaw is being presented as the grand, all-in-one solution to all kinds of things: from respect for the rickshaw-pullers to global warming. Soleckshaw has also been discussed here on Ecowordly and Planetsave in earlier postings.

Wind power is not the answer advocates claim it is : Another Voice : The Buffalo News

If viability were the quantifying test, then no wind developer would ever meet the standard. Our decision-makers and their advisers must stop pandering to special interests and start making a genuine effort to understand the basics of the many options out there, and the distinct differences between them.

Building an Anti-Capitalist Movement for Climate Justice : Indybay

Still, the recent upswing in people who are interested in taking action on climate change is proof that people do care and are increasingly more aware of the issues. People are getting hyped-up about buying carbon offsets and energy-efficient light bulbs, because these are the only solutions being offered to them. No one is telling them how to realistically make a dent in the massive amount of greenhouse gases we spew into the atmosphere everyday. We all have to get serious about localizing our lives, getting to know our communities and looking to the land around us to meet our needs for food, shelter, energy and medicine.

In this context, a clear, well-communicated anti-capitalist analysis is more relevant than ever. Both the climate crisis and the current economic turmoil are good illustrations that an economic model based on continuous growth is destroying our (and millions of other species’) ability to survive on Earth. Some of the US’s most mainstream newspapers and magazines are outright questioning unfettered capitalism. Where are we in this dialogue? The time is ripe for a radical intervention.

Tony Blair works to convert the remaining CO2 hysteria into profit for carbon traders

Khaleej Times Online - Blair to Report on Climate Change Deals at Abu Dhabi Summit

ABU DHABI - Former British prime minister Tony Blair will report on the state of the deals on climate change at the World Future Energy Summit 2009 to be held here from January 19 to 21 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre (ADNEC).

Tony Blair will be delivering the closing speech at the Summit which brings together over 100 experts, 300 exhibiting companies and 12 national country pavilions from around the world, the organisers told Khaleej Times here.

The former British prime minister is now leading the ‘Breaking the Climate Deadlock Initiative’, through which he is working with world leaders to develop an international climate policy framework.

Backed by the Climate Group, a non-profit international business body dedicated to a global deal on climate change, Blair is leading a team of international experts to work on various international projects to tackle the intractable problem of securing a global deal on climate change.

The Climate Group | Partners

International Emissions Trading Association
IETA is the most well-recognised business association that works solely on emissions trading and carbon markets. A founding partner of the VCS, IETA supplied the initiative both leading intellectual thought on carbon market design and direct experience with what works in practice.

Will Obama rule that next year's models must be solar-powered?

Snowblower sales shooting up this winter

Dealers are having trouble keeping up with demand for the second straight year

In Obama’s Team, Two Camps on Climate - NYTimes.com

The Obama transition did not make Ms. Browner or Mr. Summers available for on-the-record interviews. A spokesman, Nick Shapiro, said that Mr. Obama had appointed advisers with differing views but that ultimately he would set policy.

Flashback: E Magazine Predicted Winter's Demise Last January | NewsBusters.org

If media could be found legally liable for worsening the current economic crisis, mightn't they be similarly prosecuted for exaggerating anthropogenic global warming if it leads citizens, companies, and governments to waste money solving a problem that doesn't exist?

Consider if you will a January 2008 cover story by E magazine which predicted the end of winter as we know it.

Given the often record cold that has gripped the nation the last four weeks, "Losing Winter: As Climate Change Takes Hold, Our Coldest Season is the First Casualty" seems the perfect example of how dangerous -- and potentially costly -- the media's climate alarmism is...

Tennessee - Conservatives Are Being Educated Out Of Existence

Foundations like Annenberg, Lyndhurst, and the PEF are making sure that textbooks, teachers, and curriculum push a liberal agenda. A prime example is the global warming hoax. In schools, global warming and, what I call the teaching of "green dogma," has reached the status of a religion. Never mind the scientific facts don't support their view of man-made climate change. Never mind that 10's of thousands of scientists think that this view is bunk. Our children, like in any other religion, must have faith in the almighty Al Gore that mankind is responsible.

The Canadian Press: Minus 45 C wind chills grip the prairies, Saskatchewan digging out from storm

UNDATED — Snow drifts and wind chills as cool as -45 are gripping the Prairie provinces where travel warnings are in effect in some areas and plows are trying to clear up to 25 centimetres of new snow in southern Saskatchewan.

The Clinton Herald, Clinton, Iowa - Snow and cold winter temperatures hit hard in ’08

For the first time since 2004, there were no 90-degree temperatures reported during the month of June. This was the sixth June in the last 50 years to not have a single 90-degree day. The month of July followed the same suit, being the fourth July in the last 50 years to have no 90-degree days.

The first 90-degree temperature for the summer came on Aug. 4. The temperature was reached again on Sept. 2. The Sept. 2 and Aug. 4 temperatures of 90 degrees were the year’s highest temperature. Blaess said a year typically has 18, 90-degree days, while this year had only two.

Blaess said the winter months saw a trend of colder temperatures. A record low of -17 chilled the Gateway area on Jan. 24. This temperature beat the 1936 record of -16. The month of February was the fourth one on record that did not have a 40-degree temperature since 1892. Area residents had to bundle up during December since it was the 18th coldest December since 1879.

A look back on the winter storm of the century (so far) | KOMO News - Seattle

The weird weather of 2008 — chilly holiday, sure, but spring was no picnic | Seattle Times Newspaper

The images of snow-packed streets and buses mired in slush may be too fresh, but can you remember spring?

It was lousy, too.

According to the "barbecue index" developed by University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass, the spring of 2008 may have been the second-coldest on record in Western Washington, after that of 1917.

Anchorage: Cold weather could hinder Nordic racers

In hopes that the temperature will warm to an allowable minus 4 degrees, organizers tentatively pushed back the beginning of the classic sprint 90 minutes to 11:30 a.m. That’s the temperature threshold imposed by international rules under which this week’s races will be governed.

Today’s weather forecast is not promising, with highs of 5 below to 15 below anticipated.

newsminer.com • No end in sight to Interior Alaska cold spell

FAIRBANKS — Friday marked day six of the worst cold snap to hit Fairbanks in several years and there is no relief in sight for residents who live in Alaska’s second-largest city — or the business owners they call to bail them out when their cars, pipes and septic tanks freeze.

“Aarrgh,” is how Dee Born, owner of Homestead Pumping and Thawing in North Pole, put it on Thursday afternoon while dealing with a waiting list that was about three days long. “As soon as it touched 50 below, the phones were ringing.”

The temperature in North Pole dipped to 55 degrees below zero on Wednesday night, the lowest temperature recorded in the greater Fairbanks area during what has been six days of severe cold.
...
By Friday, it had reached the point where Locke was no longer responding to requests to jump-start dead cars or change flat tires.

“It’s just too cold to be changing tires,” Locke said.

As far as jump-starting dead cars that haven’t been plugged in, “it’s just a waste of time,” he said.

An attempt to defend The Center for Climate Strategies

About this global warming dustup | Arkansas News

3. It’s customary — not a conspiracy — for a governor’s commission like this to hire a consulting firm like ours, or, more to the point, exactly ours. It is customary for the consultants to have a point of view. It was so on education reform. In this case, the commission chose a consultant that believes global warming exists and that man can do a little something state-by-state to slow it. These right-wingers who don’t believe in global warming call these global-warming alarmists.

SHOCK: Scathing, lengthy climate realist piece published at the Huffington Post

Harold Ambler: Mr. Gore: Apology Accepted

You are probably wondering whether President-elect Obama owes the world an apology for his actions regarding global warming. The answer is, not yet. There is one person, however, who does. You have probably guessed his name: Al Gore.

Mr. Gore has stated, regarding climate change, that "the science is in." Well, he is absolutely right about that, except for one tiny thing. It is the biggest whopper ever sold to the public in the history of humankind.
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And, Mr. Obama, though I voted for you for a thousand times a thousand reasons, I hope never to need one from you.

Flashback to Aug '07: (according to idiots in the mainstream media) "The Truth About Denial"

Global Warming Deniers Allegedly Well Funded | Newsweek Project Green | Newsweek.com

Since the late 1980s, this well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt around climate change.
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At a hearing last month on the Kyoto treaty, GOP Congressman Dana Rohrabacher asked whether "changes in the Earth's temperature in the past—all of these glaciers moving back and forth—and the changes that we see now" might be "a natural occurrence." (Hundreds of studies have ruled that out.)

Wintry weather slows emergency response time

Last year's fire in Corinth had firefighters dealing with frozen equipment and ice-coated gear. The number one danger for emergency personnel during the winter is extreme exposure to the bitter cold and whipping winds.

Offsets in the Air in San Francisco - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

Details — such as how exactly the offsets will reduce carbon emissions — are as yet vague. According to The Chronicle, S.F.O. has partnered with 3Degrees, a San Francisco-based offsets firm that invests in clean-energy and carbon-reduction projects. The airport is supplying the kiosks and putting $163,000 into the program — and while the prices from are yet to be determined, a 3Degrees official told The Chronicle that offsetting a trip to Europe currently costs around $36.

GISS Temp Slope is Exaggerated « The Air Vent

...I’ve known about this for a long time. These are the reasons I don’t trust what I am hearing from the CONSENSUS! The one place where we should have the best data and the temp curve is being exaggerated by the correction algorithm. Damn, there are a bunch of expensive PhD’s out there who work on this data, how is it acceptable. If they say GISS is right, let’s shoot down the F’n satellites giving us such bad data.

GISS needs to address this and as far as I’m concerned they have to address the early 1900’s corrections as well.

Sir Richard Branson: Hand over the $25 million! | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

Let's look at the 82 canceled, abandoned, or sidetracked proposals. Collectively, they amount to 51,016 MW of generating capacity [PDF] that [allegedly] can now be replaced with climate friendly technologies such as conservation retrofits, solar thermal plants, or wind generators.

Red Maryland: Well, That Didn't Take Long

Well, it didn’t take long for the Sun to publish its first inane, jingoistic editorial of 2009. The editorial board weighed in on what it sees as Barack Obama’s top priority for his first year: stopping climate change.

2008 was a bad year for alarmism. As more and more research unraveled their so-called “consensus”, and more scientists join the ranks of skeptics, the more shrill alarmists became. They doubled down on the old debunked arguments, and found new ad hominem slurs to hurl at those who disagree with them. The latest tripe from the Sun is more of the same...

Global warming? Yes? No? Oh No! - Orange Punch - OCRegister.com

...Fascinating, no? Even though it’s posted by an apparent true believer, it is an interesting picture of how the divide is shaping up on this predicted catastrophe: Is it even worse than catastrophe, or no sweat at all? How about that for polarized views drifting farther and farther apart by the moment?
Is this faux scare really a faux scare, requiring us to do nothing at all, or is it real and too late to do anything reasonable about it?
With those increasingly divergent options, you can bet the odds are that government will do something - and something terribly expensive and annoyingly intrusive and do it in a big hurry. Just wait ’til Al Gore and company hear about the suggestion to deflect sunlight with a fleet of mirrors between the Earth and the Sun. That shouldn’t cost much.

Citizens Against the Global Warming Hoax » Lessons From History on Climate Change

The Carbon Sense Coalition today congratulated Senator Barnaby Joyce, Senator Ron Boswell, Senator Cory Bernardi and Dr Dennis Jensen MP for their principled stand against the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Releasing a new paper entitled “Climate Change in Perspective” the Chairman of the Carbon Sense Coalition, Mr Viv Forbes, said that changing climate was a permanent feature of Earth’s history – man did not cause it and cannot change it.

“All over the world, politicians, scientists, taxpayers and shareholders are waking up to the fact that they have been conned by the global warming story. All we need to do is read a bit of climate history to get things into perspective and realize how lucky we are today.”

The Conflicted Middle East To Worsen As Global Warming Causes Rising Sea Levels | Green Prophet

If you think things seem pretty dicey in the Middle East right now with Israel and Hamas fighting, according to IRIN, expect tensions to become a whole lot worse, once global warming comes into play. Rising sea levels, they say, will have severe environmental, economic and political implications for the already water-stressed Middle East.

The report they site is called “Climate Change: A New Threat to Middle East Security,” written by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME), who we’ve blogged about extensively.

Councillors criticised for not caring enough about climate change - Bexhill Today - Back to Home Page

Local campaign group Hastings Environment Network (HEN) surveyed every member of Hastings Borough Council to ask them what they were doing to reduce their own carbon footprint.

However, despite climate change being a regular topic for discussion in the council chamber, only ten councillors bothered to reply.

That means that 22 councillors - more than 60 per cent - could either not find the time to complete the survey or were embarrassed by their likely response.
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Some said they have take to growing their own vegetables, using energy saving lightbulbs, buying local produce and reusing carrier bags.

Warming Earth Blows Hot, Cold and Chaotic - WSJ.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Three independent research groups have concluded that 2008 was a comparatively cool year on planet Earth -- a feverish chill on our warming world.
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"I wouldn't run for the hills," says glacier analyst Eric Rignot at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "But it might be time to start walking."
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To a seasoned eye, day-to-day weather patterns now seem chaotic. Among the Inuit of the eastern Canadian Arctic, University of Colorado researchers reported last month, many elders are no longer willing to trust their forecasting skills, honed by a life in the field, to guide local hunting parties and travelers.

Booker: More hot air from Met Office - Telegraph

The Met Office, which played a key part in setting up the IPCC, has long since abandoned any pretence that it is an impartial scientific body when it comes to promoting its favourite cause of man-made climate change.

As the Met Office's website boasts, its ''world-leading expertise'' enables it to provide ''an understanding of the future through risk analysis and long-range forecasting''. It stages seminars to equip ''professionals in Government and the public sector'' to ''dispel scepticism about climate change in your organisation''.

It is just a pity that our Met Office's comically consistent inability to predict weather even a few weeks ahead (let alone a century hence) is beginning to make it an international laughing stock.

EU's new figurehead believes climate change is a myth - Times Online

The European Union's new figurehead believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and has compared the union to a Communist state.

The views of President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, 67, have left the government of Mirek Topolanek, his bitter opponent, determined to keep him as far away as possible from the EU presidency, which it took over from France yesterday.

The Czech president, who caused a diplomatic incident by dining with opponents of the EU’s Lisbon treaty on a recent visit to Ireland, has a largely ceremonial role.

But there are already fears that, after the dynamic EU presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy - including his hyper-active attempts at international diplomacy over the credit crisis and Georgia as well as an historic agreement to cut greenhouse gases - the Czech effort will be mired in infighting and overshadowed by the platform it will give to Mr Klaus and his controversial views.

Attempting to Intimidate a Skeptic? | JoNova

Leo Elshof from Arcadia University in Canada has written to me asking that I put a comedy disclaimer on the Skeptics Handbook, and otherwise threatens to ridicule me at international conferences and set the media onto me. The email is here and my reply is below. What have our universities sunk too?

Cold wave claims over 50 lives in northern India : India World

New Delhi - Over 50 people have died as towns and cities in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state came under the grip of a cold wave, a news report said Saturday. "Over 50 deaths due to cold were recorded in hospitals across the state in the past week. Most of the victims were pavement dwellers," a government spokesman told the Indo-Asian News Service, IANS.

RealClimate: Environmental reporters ought to be more responsible too

At RealClimate, we have more than once been accused of being imbalanced — criticizing those who would deny the basic science of climate change, while leaving inflammatory statements by what might be called the "environmentalist side" without comment. It's not an entirely a fair criticism, because there is a world of difference between the willful obfuscation of science and the naive exaggeration of it. There are however plenty of silly, and sometimes outrageous, claims made - see e.g. the Telegraph on Jan. 3rd — and we probably ought to do a better job of calling these out, particularly when they show up in prominent places. So to inaugurate the New Year, I humbly offer a rant about a minor but illustrative example that I happened to notice because there was a link to it on Nature Reports Climate Change.
...
... The fact is, climate changes are — so far — small enough in most places, relative to the natural variability, that one's personal experience is a very poor guide to what is happening over the long term (observations of sea ice changes by those that live in the high Arctic notwithstanding).

Arkansas Dem. Gov. Beebe: Global warming not a 'hoax' - Forbes.com

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said Friday he doesn't believe that global warming is a "hoax," but said he doesn't think it can be solved through state-by-state approaches.

"I've read some pundits lately who say, 'oh, this is just a hoax, global warming's not really a serious threat.' I don't subscribe to that theory," Beebe said on his monthly call-in radio show. "I think it is a threat, and I think global warming is occurring."

Beebe, however, said he doesn't think the problem can be solved through individual state actions and said that measures such as a so-called "carbon tax" must be looked on from a national level.

Joanne Nova of 'Skeptic's Handbook' slaps down Tim Lambert's pathetic attacks

Reply to Deltoid | JoNova

...What kind of a debunking is this?—the irrelevant kind; mention who she’s related too, point out that it’s not ‘novel’ , state that she doesn’t understand (even when she gets it right), and pull in comments from depressed bloggers who feel like they are fighting a losing war (because they are) and who write 600 words without referencing a single piece of evidence.

As for James Hrynyshyn (the depressed blogger), I sympathize. Cut your loses now James, the repetition of points that you have no good answer too is about to become a downpour. Go on, become a real scientist, be skeptical, demand to see evidence!

We’ll welcome yet another converted alarmist with open arms. That goes for you too Tim.

The Status of "Spaceship Earth"

Today, Lovelock believes that a rapid drop in carbon in the atmosphere could actually do more damage than good. He believes that the global warming that we are currently experiencing is offset by a cooling of 2-3ºC, caused by Global Dimming -essentially, the reduction of direct irradiance at the earth’s atmosphere as a result of industrial pollution, known to others as aerosol particles.

It’s a horrible catch 22 situation that leaves only a very small gap for any joy at all. If we continue to do nothing (note the use of the word continue), then we will doom ourselves. If we do do something, like a massive cut back in the emission of carbon in to our atmosphere, Lovelock believes that we would further damage Earth.

Why alleged global warming is allegedly driving penguins toward the Equator | GreenTech Pastures | ZDNet.com

A raft of Magellan penguins have turned up in Brazil thousands of miles north of their usual ocean haunts. Some scientists blame the changing ocean temps and currents caused by global warming. About half of the birds have been saved despite their wayward ways.

How does global warming affect these penguins? It changes both the surface temp of the Atlantic. It’s now one degree warmer than in past decades. That may force the birds’ anchovy dinners to dive deeper. Thus the birds kept migrating northin search for anchovies and found none, starving and stranding many. Scientists observing the penguins say they waters around Patagonia where they breed are now far less salty. That’s due to melting glaciers pouring more fresh water into the nearshore ocean. Also the rainfall in that region is increasing.

Global Warming Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg - washingtonpost.com

The Cold War shaped world politics for half a century. But global warming may shape the patterns of global conflict for much longer than that -- and help spark clashes that will be, in every sense of the word, hot wars.

We're used to thinking of climate change as an environmental problem, not a military one, but it's long past time to alter that mindset. Climate change may mean changes in Western lifestyles, but in some parts of the world, it will mean far more. Living in Washington, I may respond to global warming by buying a Prius, planting a tree or lowering my thermostat. But elsewhere, people will respond to climate change by building bomb shelters and buying guns.

"There is every reason to believe that as the 21st century unfolds, the security story will be bound together with climate change," warns John Ashton, a veteran diplomat who is now the United Kingdom's first special envoy on climate change. "The last time the world faced a challenge this complex was during the Cold War. Yet the stakes this time are even higher because the enemy now is ourselves, the choices we make."
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This is, admittedly, a glum view of the future. But we can still avoid the new hot wars -- or at least cool them down a bit. For starters, we should redouble our efforts to slow down global warming and undo the damage humanity has already done to the environment. Every little bit helps, so by all means, hassle your senator and recycle those bottles.

Is the climate ripe for the Association of Corporate Climate Change Officers?: ENN -- Know Your Environment

A pair of Washington lawyers is hoping to brand a new kind of corporate executive: the CCO, or chief climate officer.

A small but growing number of companies have been jumping on the climate bandwagon in recent years, trying to figure out how to make their products and processes greener. The trend has caught on in various industries, from apparel to technology to foodstuffs, and many companies have turned their strategies over to an in-house climate czar.

New CO2-Eating Cement Could Help Fight Global Warming | EarthFirst.com

This new technology is already attracting the attention of the industry and investors. The only question that remains is whether the cement will perform as well as traditional cement, and used on a wide scale.

Brainwashing Youth Allegedly to Cool the Earth

Kids vs Global Warming is a non profit organization founded and led by Alec Loorz, who is now 14 years old. We are a group of kids that Educate other kids about the science of global warming and Empower them to take action.

Through educational presentations, community activism projects, action teams, and hands on demonstrations, we teach youth that they have a voice, and that they can do something about global warming.

Prediction 2009: No Agreement at Copenhagen | OpenMarket.org

So despite the optimism, a genuine international agreement looks some way off. Copenhagen will doubtless be sold as a triumph, but in reality the world will be no closer to a genuine, binding international agreement than it was in 2001.

An Eighteen-Hundred-Year Climate Record from China

...when one compares the peak warmth thus implied by their data for the Current and Medieval Warm Periods, it is readily seen that the Medieval Warm Period comes out on top as having been the warmer of the two.

[Via Greenie Watch]

New wind turbine could dramatically increase generation efficiency - AutoblogGreen

This new design should theoretically be much less expensive to produce and install. The smaller size would also allow up to three times the installation density compared to current conventional types. You can check out a video here.

GLOBAL COOLING: At least once in Earth’s history, global warming ended quickly, and scientists …

Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again any time soon.

Wind Watch: Investigation: 'Foreign object' caused wind farm fire

An investigation suggests an explosion and fire inside a Nebraska wind turbine– that’s part of the largest wind farm in the state– was caused by a “foreign object”.

A spokesperson for the company building the 80 megawatt Elkhorn Ridge farm, near Bloomfield, says the “object” blew into the turbine causing the blast. The incident injured three workers, including one who suffered first and second-degree burns from the waist up.

Wind Watch: Oregon is exceptionally generous with green-energy subsidies

Oregon taxpayers are shelling out tens of millions of dollars to subsidize green energy projects, making the state a magnet for solar and wind companies.

But an investigation by The Oregonian shows that the money also is going to risky ventures with questionable environmental benefits and to prosperous companies that need no incentives but are cashing in anyway.

Wind Watch: Shut up and pay for your windmill

Must we destroy the environment in order to save it? In the province of Ontario, the answer seems to be “yes.”

This month, the Liberal provincial government of Dalton McGuinty will finish drafting its proposed Green Energy Act. The Act’s early drafts call for a big increase in renewable energy production in Ontario. Sounds nice! How do we get there?

The plan contains two big elements: (1) a huge cash giveaway and (2) a brusque slap-down of local democracy.

Let’s talk about local democracy first. Communities often resist wind and solar power for the simple reason that they ruin the beauty of local landscapes. When you think of wind power, for example, don’t think of the solitary turbine that overtops the CNE grounds in Toronto. To meet the goals set out in the Green Energy Act, Ontario will have to build tens of thousands of these massive turbines, linked by a vast network of electrical transmission wires. Many hundreds of these turbines are proposed for my own beloved Prince Edward County.

When people in places such as Prince Edward County hear about “the environment,” they think of their environment. They think responsible stewardship means protecting what is lovely and natural. To them, it seems perverse to ruin the landscape in the name of preserving the environment. So they resist.

Climate Skeptic: "Anti-Scientific”

Only one side in this debate ever argues that the other should be banned from even speaking or being heard. I think you know which one that is. So which side is the one that is “anti-science” — the one that is happy to mix it up in open debate or the one that is trying to get its opposition silenced?

Warming Sun: Too Cold To Be Warm

San Pedro, Laguna, is now 25 deg. C colder than any month of December in my two decades stay in this suburban town closest to Metro Manila...

Australia: Winter strikes Victoria « Where’s my Global Warming Dude? By Global Freeze

Melbourne only reached 18.6 degrees, seven below average and there has not been a colder daytime temperature in January for 13 years.

‘Generation E’ — Innovating, Motivating - Revkin, Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com

I’ve gotten to know a heap of young people of late — people I call “Generation E” — who are working on every facet of the climate-energy challenge. Some are trying to spread awareness of climate science and its implications. Others are working on ways to cut the human impact on the environment as inventors or entrepreneurs.

Alarmist Journalist Richard Littlemore: "A New List of Climate Quibblers: Paid Deniers, Dead Guys and Ill-informed Fellow Travellers" | DeSmogBlog

The latest list of "650 International Scientists (who) Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming" seems to be more of the same: dead guys (Fred Seitz, Marcel Leroux, Reid Bryson ...), paid deniers (Fred Singer, Tim Ball, Sallie Baliunas ...), and a much larger group of weather forecasters and "experts" from unrelated fields, many of whom (eg., Edward Wegman) don't even disagree with the scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change.

When Sir Isaac Newton died, was his work immediately invalidated?

Died: 20 March 1727

Richard Littlemore | DeSmogBlog

Richard spent 20 years in daily newspapers (the Ottawa Citizen, the Winnipeg Tribune, the Vancouver Sun), before turning his hand in 1995 to freelance journalism and public affairs. He wrote the David Suzuki Foundation’s first public information package on climate change in 1996, was vice-chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional District's Air Quality Committee in 1996 and 1997 and sat as a delegate to the Canadian government's (failed) Kyoto Implementation Process from 1997 to 1999.

Australian Climate Madness: The alarmists will be the deniers in 2009

I think we should start using the term "denier" to apply to those alarmists who refuse to acknowledge that the world is cooling, and has been since at least 2001. It's the IPCC who are in denial - denying the clear facts in order to push a pre-conceived agenda. And so it is with most of the mainstream media.

The Australian cannot grasp the fact that spending trillions of dollars tinkering with a harmless trace gas is a complete waste of time, continuing to spread doom, such as the following...

Climate change idiots: Cate Blanchett

“We all know the facts about dangerous climate change,” she says. “It’s very easy to shift from despair to suicidal depression in the wake of that information.

“In 2006 the inspirational Al Gore came out to ignite the Climate Project (TCP), which is generously supported by the ACF, where citizens from all walks of life in Australia are indoctrinated and empowered with the information [and a version of the slide show featured in Gore’s documentary film] An Inconvenient Truth to go out into their communities and spread the word.

“He trained 70 people then [in Sydney]. [Via Gore Lied]

London's Mayor, Boris Johnson, Issues a Challenge to Gordon Brown - WSJ.com

Talking up the need for bigger apartments at the introduction of his new housing strategy, he says Londoners have grown too fat to live like Hobbits. He indulges his passion for cycling by seeking to make London friendlier to bikes -- for aesthetic green reasons, he says, to get people out of cars and fat burned off their bodies. Recently, he infuriated earnest greens by describing climate change as "a religion" in his weekly column. "Not all religions are bad!" he says. "Climate change might be the faith that supervenes and brings the human race together. Fear of the Sun God. . ." he adds, before trailing off in a chuckle.

2008: Another Grim Year for the Global Warmers

A nation which abolishes its fossil energy sources (coal. oil, and natural gas), nuclear energy, hydro energy, as these political forces are pushing, will lose all of the energy needed for our industries, homes, and infrastructure such as hospitals, office buildings, schools, and hotels. A powerful nation such as ours cannot sustain its energy needs on sunbeams and gentle breezes, as many of the warmers propose. That pathway to the future is dangerous and instead is a pathway to economic suicide

Investor's Business Daily -- Green Comes Clean

Hansen and his ilk never seem to question whether the government should be involved in behavior modification. They believe so zealously in their cause — establishing an egalitarian society where conspicuous consumption is limited to the few who make the rules — that they have no misgivings about using the police power of the federal and state governments to beat society into shape.

Nor do they question their hunch — the idea doesn't even rise to the level of theory — that CO2 emissions are causing climate change even as there are ample reasons to doubt it.

To his credit, Hansen expresses support in the letter for fourth-generation "nuclear power and coal-fired power plants with carbon capture and sequestration." But he's done so much yammering about global warming and encouraging "young people" to do "whatever is necessary to block construction of dirty coal-fired power plants," that any sensible ideas he might have are lost.

That's what happens, though, when a first-rate mind latches onto a third-rate assumption.

Cold grips the Balkans - News news

Bitter cold, snow, rain and strong wind are in the forecast for the following days for Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Macedonia, website netinfo.bg wrote on January 2 2009.

Global warming screed suffers from scarcity of facts

With the holiday season on the wane, 'tis once again the season for fictitious global-warming scares. New Jersey Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel's latest foray into the fictitious world of global warming make-believe ("State's plan to curb global warming tepid," Dec. 26 op-ed) would make even Pinocchio blush.

More frustration from Joe Romm

Climate Progress » Blog Archive » Weblog Awards duped by deniers — again!

The finalist list is out for the 2008 Weblog awards “Best Science Blog,” and two of the ten finalists are anti-scientific websites primarily devoted to spreading disinformation (and noninformation) on global warming– just like 2007.

The 2007 “competition” ended up being yet another classic exercise in the right wing perverting an otherwise reasonable web idea — online voting for the best science blog. As Desmogblog explained in a post titled, The “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” beating “Vast Left Wing” Voting for Best Science Weblog, the right wing voted en masse for Climate Audit and the rational people all voted for Discover magazine’s excellent Bad Astronomy Blog. In the end, the process was so controverisal that the Awards folk simply called it a tie — saying each blog ended up with exactly 20,000 votes.
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The Weblog Awards should not be legitimizing anti-scientific denialism.

One more thing: Yes some people have e-mailed me to express their dismay that I didn’t make the finalist list. I confessed to being a tad pissed off for about an hour. But how annoyed can one really be not being on the same list as Climate Audit and Watts Up With That? I am more annoyed that I wasted your time voting to nominate me. It is odd and unexpected (at least by me) that Weblog Awards would use popular vote to select the winner but an undemocratic process to select a nominee.

I had thought I might be a finalist and beat the deniers. But it is more likely a general interest web science site can garner the votes to beat back the right wing.

Get metaphorically naked with the Green and Healthy Author of Gardening Nude!

The guide book includes features about real-life people and corporations who are living the life and setting a green example for the world to follow. Quoted in Gardening Nude are authors, medical, and conservation experts such as Andrew Weil, M.D.; David Edelberg, M.D.; Nirmala Arora, M.D.; Al Gore; and Richard Louv, Ph.D.

The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Where is Global Warming When We Need It?

I know global warming a serious topic. If Al Gore is right, we will burn to a crisp, life as we know it will end, and even the UN won't be able to save us. Alas, it's hard for laymen to figure out all of the details. Still, shouldn't global warming mean, well, the planet is warming? But it hasn't over the last decade. If the alarmists can't get today's temperature right, I keep wondering why we chould believe them when they purport to predict the temperature a century from now. "Some day we'll get it right" seems to be the mantra of the alarmist lobby.

Reducing carbon footprints: A New Year's resolution | The Philippine Star

Alvarez, who has been dubbed by Washington-based Climate Institute president, John Topping as the “Al Gore of the Philippines”, is disseminating a New Year’s list of climate change solutions based from a UNEP-NGO program that has been translated into Pilipino by Professor Tomas Ongoco, a Father Neri Satur Awardee for Environmental Education.

The collective will for survival must be our best New Year’s resolution. These are simple earth-saving things we can do right now to cut our carbon footprints...

New snow sends more roofs to the ground

SPOKANE -- The snowfall Friday morning took a toll on business around Spokane including the roof of the North Spokane Costco.

At 8:30 this morning the owner of Futon Visions, at 7011 N. Division St., confirmed his roof had collapsed, along with the roof of Donuts To Go and Added Touch Framing and Gallery. The three businesses are all connected under one roof.

The collapse broke a natural gas line, which was quickly capped.
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A third call that came in as a possible roof collapse in a residential section of Spokane turned out to be a natural gas line break. An ice dam that formed on the side of a house at 12th and Ivory fell and ruptured the line, filling the home with natural gas.

American Thinker Blog: NASA's James Hansen to the Rescue!

NASA's James Hansen has written a personal letter to President-elect Obama outlining his plans for saving the planet from global warming. Hansen has been wrong so many times about the "inevitability" of global warming that most of us have lost count. But it is hard to be wrong -- when it feels so right.
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Maybe Hansen should just stick to his job. I think it has something to do with rockets.

Britain in grip of longest cold snap for 10 years - Telegraph

For this time of year, forecasters say it is likely to be the longest prolonged spell of cold weather - where temperatures barely rise above zero centigrade (32F) - since 1996.

Usually long spells of cold weather occur around February when the effect of warming from the Atlantic sea is reduced.

"We have another five to seven days of colder weather still to come which will make it the longest spell since 1996 at this early stage of winter," said Philip Eden, the Daily Telegraph weather correspondent.

Australia: Cool start to summer

BALLARAT has started summer under a cool cloud with temperatures up to 10 degrees below the monthly average.

And meteorologists do not expect the mercury to reach the 30s for a few days yet.
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Dr Stern said the cold snap was due to a strong high to the south of the bite, which would also cause snow on Victoria's Alpine National Park.

He said -3.7C was recorded at Mt Hotham yesterday, which was close to the state's record low of -3.9C for January.

And would Scarlett sign on if she hadn't personally vetted the science?

Scarlett Johansson And Others Sign Oxfam Climate Change Letter

Most recently Oxfam recruited nineteen actors, musicians and activists – including stars like Scarlett Johansson, Annie Lennox, Colin Firth and Kristin Davis — to sign a climate change letter written to world leaders who attended the UN climate negotiations in Poland.
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With so many people getting involved, it’s hard to believe that only a few years ago the verdict was still out on climate change.

BlueRidgeForum » Exposing the Dangerous Deceptions of Climate Extremists

In his 2007 book, “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism,” Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI’s) Chris Horner took something of a mocking tone. Think of an analyst in a candy shop of tasty falsifications: so many fabrications of history and weather science to share with readers; such risible posturings by politicians to point out; such transparent attempts by warming advocates to bully skeptical experts; such wrongheaded policy recommendations to expose. Seen through Horner’s talented eye, so many opportunities to expose them.

Horner is every bit as witty in his just-released “Red Hot Lies,” a well-documented exploration of the structure, tactics, and allies of the global warming movement. As he says of his subject, “It is an amazing story, one which I take great pleasure in exploring, and exposing.”

Al Gore’s global warming debunked – by kids!

Russell Young, a Minnesota writer who captured first place in the essay competition, explained the importance of using celebrities such as Gore and the medium of movies to enhance the educational experience for students.

“Here are just a few other films schools might use for their teaching curriculums. ‘The Polar Express’ could be used for instruction on transportation systems. ‘Borat’ is a perfect teaching tool for understanding how the Democratic Party uses focus groups. ‘Alien,’ could be used to teach students about anatomy and homeland security, all at the same time,” he wrote.

“‘Far fetched,’ you say. Maybe, but ‘Moby Dick’ taught me all I ever needed to know about whales, and I’m a marine biologist,” he said.

“Kids across America are being victimized by global warming hysteria,” according to Holly Fretwell, author of The Sky’s Not Falling: Why It’s OK to Chill About Global Warming.

Climate Science: Roger Pielke Sr. Research Group News » New JGR Paper “Inter-annual Variations In Earth’s Reflectance” By Pallé Et Al 2009

The new 2009 Pallé et alstudy further highlights the limited understanding that we still have of the role of natural and human climate forcings.

Physical Scientist Branches Out « Global Warming: A Worn-Out Hoax

A new maven, and font, of socio-economic wealth deployment planning has appeared on the scene at (where else) Columbia University and Washington DC.

Having successfully completed his mission to model the impact of highly toxic anthropogenic carbon dioxide on Earth’s future (as opposed to present) temperature, James Hansen is now productively engaged in pointing out to President-Elect Obama some key, previously obscure, means of spreading wealth around. Who would’ve thought that AGW was a play against capitalism?

Let There Be Dark?

Some astronomers seem to be willing to say and do just about anything just to get a better look at the heavens, including making city streets safer for criminals.

Obama's energy czar is an official with Socialist International

JunkScience.com -- Steven Milloy, Publisher

Seeing any RED? Obama energy/environment 'czar' is an offical with Socialist International - That's right comrades... Carol Browner is a member of Socialist International's Commission for a Sustainable World Society. Check out SI's principles -- including, "it is imperative to establish a genuinely new international economic order."

California thinkin'

Duncan Clark on the carbon footprint of nuclear war | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Almost 700m tonnes of CO2 would be released into the Earth's atmosphere by even the smallest nuclear conflict, according to a US study that compares the environmental costs of developing various power sources
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The paper's author, Mark Z Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, calculated the emissions of such a conflict by totting up the burn rate and carbon content of the fabric of our cities. "Materials have the following carbon contents: plastics, 38–92%; tyres and other rubbers, 59–91%; synthetic fibres, 63–86%; woody biomass, 41–45%; charcoal, 71%; asphalt, 80%; steel, 0.05–2%. We approximate roughly the carbon content of all combustible material in a city as 40–60%."

But why would a Stanford engineer bother calculating such a thing? Given that the nuclear exchange would also kill up to 17 million people, who's going to be thinking about the impact on global warming?

The purpose of the paper is to compare the total human and environmental costs of a wide range of different power sources, from solar and wind to nuclear and biofuels. One of the side-effects of nuclear power, the report argues, is an increased risk of nuclear war: "Because the production of nuclear weapons material is occurring only in countries that have developed civilian nuclear energy programs, the risk of a limited nuclear exchange between countries or the detonation of a nuclear device by terrorists has increased due to the dissemination of nuclear energy facilities worldwide."

"As such," Jacobson continues, "it is a valid exercise to estimate the potential number of immediate deaths and carbon emissions due to the burning of buildings and infrastructure associated with the proliferation of nuclear energy facilities and the resulting proliferation of nuclear weapons … Although concern at the time of an explosion will be the deaths and not carbon emissions, policy makers today must weigh all the potential future risks of mortality and carbon emissions when comparing energy sources."

Where Thermometers Go To Die - How not to measure temperature, part 80 « Watts Up With That?

In my 30 years in meteorology, I never questioned how NOAA climate monitoring stations were setup. It wasn’t until I stumbled on the Marysville California fire station and its thermometer that that I began to notice just how badly sited these stations are. When I started looking further, I never expected to find USHCN climate monitoring stations placed at sewage treatment plants, next to burn barrels, or in parking lots of University Atmospheric Science Departments, or next to air conditioning heat exchangers. These were all huge surprises.

I didn’t think I’d be surprised anymore. I thought I’d seen the weirdest of the weird, and that I would not be surprised again with bad station placement examples.

Then I saw this station, submitted from Fort Scott, Kansas...
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From a wider perspective, you can see all the things around it. Not only do we have a fountain (extra humidity), a nearby brick wall, a large concrete driveway that curves around the station, a tree for shade in the late afternoon, a big brick building with a south facing brick wall, but we also have cobblestone streets and convenient nearby parking.

Lake Minnetonka Liberty: Debunking the myth, part 53: It's cold out there!

So... how many simpletons bought in to the climate change/global warming fairy tale? What? Nobody? I know you're too embarrassed to admit it. I would be too, but I 'm not, because I wasn't as stupid as you that bought that pile of trash the eco-kooks were selling. Let's just see what we have here...

2009: Another good year for CO2Sceptics?

What will they get up to in 2009? (thanks to Jim Peden for the art work)

Motorists' habits spur call for tax increases

Charles Whittington, chairman of the American Trucking Associations, which supports a fuel tax increase as long as the money goes to highway projects, said Congress may decide to disguise a fuel tax hike as a surcharge to combat climate change.

Transportation is responsible for about a third of all U.S. carbon emissions created by burning fossil fuels. Traffic congestion wastes an estimated 2.9 billion gallons of fuel a year. Less congestion would reduce greenhouse gases and dependence on foreign oil.

"Instead of calling it a gas tax, call it a carbon tax," Whittington said.

StreetInsider.com - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) pockets $224 million in bet against CO2 hysteria

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) won a $224 million bet that Florida would escape major damage from hurricanes this season.

BBC NEWS - Arctic explorer in Thames trial

"I have been exploring the Arctic for 25 years and in this time I've seen the dramatic effects of global warming," Mr McNeill said.

"It used to be one solid sheet of ice that you could walk across.

"Now it's interspersed with stretches of icy water - if you look at it from satellite images it's like crazy paving, hence the need to build the Qajaq."

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation

...in this century, major PDO eras have persisted for 20 to 30 years...

2007: Jeremy Clarkson's drive to the north pole

I recently watched the 'Top Gear' special - where Jeremy and James May drove a specially modified Toyota Hilux pick-up to the magnetic North Pole from Canada's resolute bay!
That feat in itself is unbelievable, as it has never been done before: but what makes it so astonishing is that Jeremy and James managed to do it with a certain amount of ease.

1909: Peary talks about having to "cross and recross" open water in the Arctic

The difficulties and hardships of a journey to the North Pole are too complex to be summed up in a paragraph. But, briefly stated, the worst of them are: the ragged and mountainous ice over which the traveler must journey with his heavily loaded sledges...
...the open leads already described, which he must cross and recross, somehow...

Global Warming, Global Cooling, Climate Change… - Crippy’s blog - RedState

No sense letting facts get in the way of a multi-billion dollar fiction.

God help us!

The Wenatchee World Online - Bug expert: Deep freeze may kill off forest pests

Beginning Dec. 12, and extending clear through Dec. 27, every day was colder than average, and many days it was significantly colder at Pangborn.

According to the National Weather Service data, most of those days were at least 10 degrees colder than average, and three were more than 20 degrees colder. The biggest departure from average came on Dec. 20, when it was 27 degrees colder than the combined average. That day’s low was minus 7, and the thermometer only climbed to 7 degrees above zero all day.

Many of the outlying areas were even colder, Mehmel said, especially at higher elevations, where the bugs live.

Mehmel said the last extended cold snap she can remember was during the winter of 1994-95. "It seemed like it never got above zero," she recalled. "And we didn’t have too much insect activity for a year or two after that. But they’re good at coming back. And you don’t want them to go away forever," she said.

Cold weather blamed for structural concerns at local mall

KINGSTON, Mass. -- Extreme cold resulted in a threat to shoppers at a local mall Thursday afternoon.

The Independence Mall in Kingston was evacuated when a six by six foot section of the ceiling came crashing down near the food court.

Firefighters said there was a major malfunction with the sprinkler system.

Cold temperatures caused a sprinkler head to burst resulting in the structural concerns in the building.

£18million super research centre for Cornwall?

The £18million project aims to create the world's first establishment to research the links between the environment and human health.

The centre would in particular look at how human health is affected by extreme weather events such as climate change, and how the environment can be used to improve people's health and well-being, for example by providing opportunities for exercise.

McCain packs venue

RYE — Republican presidential candidate John McCain told a local audience that he supports continued efforts against terrorism and global climate change.

McCain made his remarks at the home of Rye resident Bill Gilmore in front of more than 100 people. After being introduced by Gilmore and Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays, McCain talked about the adoption of green technologies as a key for future generations of American citizens.

"If we adopt green technologies ... all we've done is leave our children a cleaner planet," McCain said, citing ethanol, hydrogen and nuclear power as possible alternative energy sources.

Finland poll: After previously topping people's priority list, combating climate change drops out of the top three

Job security now weighs heavier than issues that previously topped people's priority list for government, such as combating climate change and cutting taxes. Fighting unemployment now ranks third after two other top priorities: securing basic services and reducing poverty.

Brutal cold complicates jobs of firefighters, shelters, police - The Boston Globe

As gusts of wind made single-digit temperatures feel brutally colder yesterday, Newton firefighters battled a blaze on Woodward Street while trying to keep their balance on surfaces that the spray of fire hoses turned into instant skating rinks.
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Rising temperatures and increasing clouds should offer respite today, said Charlie Foley, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. As for the cold, blame a low pressure system.

"The low did two things: It brought the snow, and as it departed, it brought the cold arctic air," Foley said. "It had a twofold purpose and it just drew down this cold Canadian air on northwest winds. So in spite of the sunshine, it was still bitterly cold."

Indeed, he added, "with a clear sky, any heating from the sun just goes right up into the atmosphere, and the temperature plummets. The clouds act as somewhat of a blanket to moderate things."

But shouldn't that heat bounce of the carbon dioxide and return back to the ground?

NC Media Watch: Don't bother us we are busy destroying an economy

Skaidra Smith-Heisters, has a special report from Reason.org, published online at the Sacramento Union, the environmentalist are ignoring California's growing economic crisis.

Blue Crab Boulevard » Polar Bear Plunge Canceled - Due To Ice

In 19 years, Thursday was the first time the Splash and Dash had been called off, said Ben Oksiuta, one of the organizers. He said the polar plunge was canceled because of unsafe conditions at the lakeshore.

Canada's forests, once huge help on greenhouse gases, now allegedly contribute to climate change -- Courant.com

In an alarming yet little-noticed series of recent studies, scientists have concluded that Canada's precious forests, stressed from damage caused by global warming, insect infestations and persistent fires, have crossed an ominous line and are now pumping out more climate-changing carbon dioxide than they are sequestering.

Worse yet, the experts predict that Canada's forests will remain net carbon sources, as opposed to carbon storage "sinks," until at least 2022, and possibly much longer.

"We are seeing a significant distortion of the natural trend," said Werner Kurz, senior research scientist at the Canadian Forest Service and the leading expert on carbon cycles in the nation's forests. "Since 1999, and especially in the last five years, the forests have shifted from being a carbon sink to a carbon source."

Translation: Earth's lungs have come down with emphysema. Canada's forests are no longer our friends.

50 Years of CO2: Time for a Vision Test « Roy Spencer, Ph. D.

Well, 50 years of that kind of pollution is really taking its toll. So, without further ado, here’s what 50 years of increasing levels of CO2 looks like on the Big Island...

Washington: Snow closes three mountain passes until Friday

Heavy snowfall and an unstable snowpack in the mountains have created such an extremely high risk of avalanches that state transportation officials on Thursday closed all major passes -- Snoqualmie, Stevens and White -- until they can reassess the danger on Friday.
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"This is fairly uncommon," state Department of Transportation spokesman Travis Phelps. "Last year was the first year in quite some time we've had all three of the passes closed ... We've had a tremendous amount of snow."
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Some forecasts have called for 5 to 6 feet of snow in the Cascades through Saturday, though the National Weather Service gave a slightly more conservative estimate Thursday afternoon.

March '07: Scientists: Cascade Snowpack is NOT Down 50%. Researcher Fired Anyway - Right Mind

The Cascade Mountain snowpack in Washington and Oregon has supposedly declined fifty-percent since 1950. That alarming statistic has taken on a life of its own in the Northwest. The problem is, Northwest scientists say it's not accurate. But when a leading researcher tried to set the record straight, he lost a prestigious appointment.

Keep open mind on global warming - Berkshire Eagle Online

There remains much debate among climatologists, scientists and related experts and some whose voices are being blocked out or silenced if they disagree with the IPCC dogma. Eventually their voices will be heard, so until the debate is over please keep an open mind, don't blindly accept what the media is championing. Listen carefully and learn.

I am not suggesting we ignore CO2 emissions. They represent mankind's short-sightedness and waste. But I am saying we are not facing a panic situation and we should look very closely at each and every program being devised and pushed upon us while siphoning your tax dollars as the only way to save the planet.

CHARLES KITTLE
Pittsfield

LACK OF SUN SPOTS A CONCERN

I am very disturbed that the entire country, plus the politicians are behind the idea of global warming.

While people cause some carbon dioxide, and oceans provide much more with discharges of methane and carbon dioxide, the auto industry and electric power plants are saddled with a lot of high costs of pollution, and Al Gore is going to get rich with Carbon Trading Units, the culprit is sun spots.
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Lou Shornick
Madison

Leader of the Nationals in the Senate Barnaby Joyce - The Innate Problems With Labors Emissions Trading Scheme

My current concern with the emissions trading scheme is that a religious fervour has built up around the altar of global warming. Those who serve at the altar have become ruthless in their denigration of alternate views. This fervour has now received its imprimatur by reason of a new tax, or should it be tithe to be paid to the Rudd Labor Government.

The similarity in this newest forte of socialism can be defined by the ultimate purpose of divesting the individual of their asset or income stream on the premise of an apparent greater moral good.

But who becomes the benefactors of this divestment? The administrators and the traders. Their pockets are lined with the property and income of others.

Speak Up North Ameicans..Quit Thinking Like A Bunch of Energy Wimps

We have to get back to THINKING and DREAMING SMART like our predecessors that built our Nations did, and quit wasting our time and tax dollars on non-existent make-believe problems like Global Warming or fantasy Climate Change issues that simply don’t exist. It is a Kyoto contrived United Nations scam to ‘spread the wealth’ from us to countries with corrupt leaders that will spend it to buy arms, promote terrorism and kill their people, which is happening in Africa and other third world countries. The Enviro-nuts are silent on this as it contributes to their depopulation philosophy.

The Global Warming Myth: Your Week-in-Review for January 2, 2009 | Skeptics Global Warming

Welcome to the Global Warming Myth round-up, the first for 2009. I’m going to go ahead and assume that our friend The Daily Bayonet is still enjoying time with his visiting family, so I’ve put together the best-of-the-best for this week’s review.

An Opportunity for Europe in 2009 « Watts Up With That?

Britain is experiencing a seemingly irresolvable conflict in it’s collective belief system. Brits want to save the planet from global warming, and yet are faced with power shortages which may affect their livelihoods and ability to stay warm in a cold climate. The Church of England is wagering huge sums of cash on Al Gore’s understanding of the world. And as the New Year rings in with bitter cold, the Met Office warns of yet another hot year. The last “hot” day in London was July 27, 2006 when temperatures reached 30C (86F.) That was 889 days ago.
Can the great country which survived the Nazi Blitz overcome it’s own internal conflicts in 2009? I predict that England will pull herself together like she always has, but who will be the next Churchill to lead England out of it’s most clueless hour?

Tips on avoiding hypothermia at California's Rose Parade

As the 120th Rose Parade approaches, the Pasadena Fire Department and Pasadena Police Department are issuing safety tips for the thousands of residents and visitors who line the route on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
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* Dress for cold weather. Children and senior citizens may need extra layers of clothing to avoid hypothermia.

Despite its problems, 2008 was a totally cool year (Wizbang)

With the Democrats and their prophet of doom James Hansen at the helm of our government, bolstered by the anti-capitalist sentiments deeply rooted within our press, I fear that we are headed directly toward that ultimate solution. But our understanding of the Earth's climate is still far too primitive for anyone to declare that climate debates are "over." Now is the time for us to resist political and financial threats and demand to keep the climate debate open and vigorous. After all, we have 2008 on our side. How much does the other side have left?

May '07: Matt Dillon and Yahoo! Kick Off Green City Challenge : amystodghill - Green Options

Actor Matt Dillon said, "I'm concerned with many environmental threats facing us and I want to do my part at reducing global warming." He encouraged the use of motion sensored lights, and suggested a few things each person can do such as replacing incandescnet light bulbs with CFLs, turning off the lights in empty rooms, walking or taking public transportation and unplugging chargers from outlets.

Dec '08: Actor Matt Dillon charged with speeding in Vermont

NEWBURY, Vt. (AP) — Actor Matt Dillon was charged with driving at an excessive speed for allegedly going 106 mph on an interstate highway, Vermont State Police said. Dillon, 44, of New York, was pulled over by a trooper on Interstate 91 in Newbury about 10 p.m. EST Tuesday. He was driving a rented 2009 Chevrolet Impala. The posted speed limit is 65 mph, so Dillon was charged criminally under a statute that bans going more than 30 mph above the limit while traveling 60 mph or more.

American Thinker Blog: A Global Warming Howler for the New Year

Of course, it's absurd to think that today's less than abundant buyer, having been satisfied with the selling price and mileage ratings, will give a rodent's butt about a car's Global Warming Score.

But today's California milestone is a stark reminder that misplaced, even though hilarious, AGW legislation currently in the pipeline has taken on an impetus that even recent challenges to its very foundation will not easily redirect. And it may be years before misinformed Pols (including the President elect) realize they've been duped by self-serving and/or just plain wrong alarmists and manage a strategy reassessment.

Imagine: A car's Global Warming Score.

The very fact that to very many the very concept is not very comical is very disturbing.

Yet the very thought of a car salesman pitching such inanity my way really kills me with laughter.

As does my confidence that all too many misinformed believers (Californian or otherwise) will likely nod, smile, accept, and ultimately proselytize the very same idiocy.

The 2009 Resolution Revolution - Ted Nugent

I will plant more trees and encourage everyone I know to be more conservative and conscientious of their consumerism in order to reduce the gluttonous waste of so many Americans. I will raise as much hell as I can to expose the dangerous, counterproductive lies of the global warming fraud. I will eat more wild game.