Cold weather upsets people

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Extended-cold-wave-upsets-people/articleshow/7584610.cms

MANALI: The record snowfall in some parts of the state has made normal life go awry. Tourists from the plains may enjoy the experience, but the harsh weather has proved to be a nightmare for locals who had never expected such a long winter spell. 

The harsh cold climate and continuous snowfall, especially in Manali and Lahaul-Spiti have caught residents unprepared. Koksar, Yoche, Dimfu, Sissu, Khanjar, Chokhang, Naingar and around 25 remote villages of Lahaul that have been cut off from the bazaars and district headquarters are worried about their depleting ration and firewood stock. 

Kothi, Solang, Hamta and around a dozen villages of Kullu which have received more than 5 feet of snow were not ready for the situation. Kullu villagers are concerned about their cattle most. 

Cold weather draws rodents to warm car engines - San Jose Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17492870?nclick_check=1

When the weather turns cold, roof rats are among the animals that look for a warm place to hole up.

Unfortunately for vehicle owners, that place is often under the warm hood of a car or truck, whether it is parked indoors or out. While there, the rodents chew on everything, including electrical wiring and hoses.

John Coleman on the state of global warming | Watts Up With That?

They have become “believers”, not unlike those who believe in a set of religious beliefs. All good Democrats believe in global warming, after all, it is the science of one of their key heroes, former Vice President and Senator Al Gore. And all good environmentalists are aboard the global warming band wagon. And, for all of them, the Agenda is what is important. Their Agenda is to eliminate fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine from our civilization. The carbon dioxide, CO2, thing is simply the means to the end. And if the means is not true; who cares. It is only the Agenda that is important. To all of these people, my effort to debunk the CO2 greenhouse gas science is irrelevant.

[Carbon] Tax may kill off Gillard | The Daily Telegraph

Conventional wisdom tells us that if the next election really is about the cost of living, Gillard is already dead.

The carbon price is on track to kill a fourth political leader.

Medical Groups Warn Of Climate Change's Potential Impact on Health

"The science is unequivocal that global warming is occurring and human activity is the cause of it," Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association said during a press conference Thursday.
...
Sterling Burnett is a senior fellow at the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank focused on free-market approaches to public policy. In an interview, he said the effects of climate change on human health remain in question, as does the wisdom of earmarking EPA funds to fight global warming.

"I don't know if the world is going to be warmer 100 years from now than it is today, but if it is, there are likely to be less deaths from a variety of illnesses overall than more deaths from cardiopulmonary diseases due to the warmth," Burnett said.
...
[Kristie L. Ebi, lead author for the human health chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report]  "No one should die in a heat wave,"...

5 must-see coral reefs before 'they' die (PHOTOS)

Coral reefs are vulnerable to climate change and without rapid genetic adaptation, they will not survive projected sea temperature increases over the next 40 years, experts say.

In fact, Coral Reefs around the world may be wiped out by 2050, according to a latest research report released by the World Resources Institute in Washington

Great Barrier Reef, North Queensland, Australia

# The Great Barrier Reef is around 18 million years of age in the north and 2 million Years old in the south, with the existing reef system being between 10,000 and 6000 years old.

Al's Journal : Montana Rep Attempts to Codify Climate Denial

State Representative Joe Read is attempting to write climate denial into state law.

Ojmjakon Averaging -56F This Month | Real Science

That is fifteen degrees colder than February, 2010

The New Nostradamus of the North: The green agenda

What is at stake in the Greens’ “revolution” is the heart and soul of Western civilisation, built on the Judeo-Christian/Enlightenment synthesis that upholds the individual—with obligations and responsibilities to others, but ultimately judged on his or her own conscience and actions—as the possessor of an inherent dignity and inalienable rights. What is also at stake is the economic system that has resulted in the creation of wealth and prosperity for the most people in human history.

Vancouver Island: Record-low temperatures keep shelter workers busy

Nanaimo residents shivered on Friday morning as an Arctic front hit East Vancouver Island hard.

The mercury hit an all-time low for Feb. 25 overnight Thursday as temperatures fell to -10.2 C, said Lisa Caldwell of Environment Canada.

The previous record was -8.3 C in 1962.

South Dakota: Friday morning sets record low temperature

An early Friday morning temperature at Rapid City Regional Airport broke the record low for Feb. 25 by three degrees, according to Jeff Johnson, meteorologist at Rapid City's National Weather Service office.

Keneally, O'Farrell trade blows over carbon tax - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Ms Keneally spent the morning trying to discredit Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell, who is opposed to the proposed new carbon tax.

She called him a climate change denier.

Your guide to a great green weekend in Portland | Grist

Can you think of a greener city than Portland? Nope, didn't think so. The City of Roses occupies a warm, squishy spot in the hearts of many a biker, climate hawk, and nature-lovah. We asked you to share your fave local breweries, organic cafés, and green hangouts, and compiled your best ideas into a car-free guide to a great green weekend in Portland.

As if the Gulf Coast hasn’t had enough to deal with, now there are dead baby dolphins | Grist

Cold water can also kill dolphins, and the water has been cold lately -- in fact, NOAA was already starting to look into weather-related dolphin mortality in the Gulf last year, right before the oil spill hit.

Emissions and Southwestern Drought - NYTimes.com

Rising global temperatures resulting from emissions of human origin could tip the southwestern United States into a period of prolonged extreme drought seen before only in distant geological history, a new study suggests.

Dust Bowl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936 (in some areas until 1940).
...
During the drought of the 1930s, without natural anchors to keep the soil in place, it dried, turned to dust, and blew away eastward and southward in large dark clouds. At times the clouds blackened the sky reaching all the way to East Coast cities such as New York and Washington, D.C.

We're saved! Some people may start pretending that some cars in Chicago are solar-powered!

Chicago to build electric car charging network | Grist

In a move that indicates electric cars won't just be a phenomenon of Greater Portlandia, utility Exelon and the city will roll out 280 charging stations across Chicagoland by year's end. Two stations will even be solar-powered.

THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: Teleconference will attempt to explain huge snowstorms are due to global warming

In an apparent bid to counter skepticism of the specious claim that global warming caused the string of heavy snowfalls in the US and Europe this winter, a media teleconference with "two leading climate and weather experts" has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 1, 2011. Mark "death spiral" Serreze and Jeff Masters will "discuss how a rise in the number of snowfalls of 6 inches or more may be related to an increase in moisture in the atmosphere," allegedly due to global warming.

Middle School Teacher Fired for Leading Students in Climate Activism : TreeHugger

Lindsay Floyd was a middle school teacher who hosted the renowned environmental activist Tim DeCristopher, who gave a speech at her school. His talk -- which he closed out by citing a study that revealed how little people are willing to invest in preventing climate change -- fired up her students. They decided to do a little protest at the University of Utah, nothing offensive of controversial -- the idea was to simply hold a sticker that read "how much are you willing to pay for my future?" Unfortunately, Floyd didn't have permission from the school to carry out the action, and she was fired when parents complained.

Oscars Go Green With Environmentally Themed Nominees | GreenAnswers

Sun Come Up is a documentary that looks at the effects of climate change on the South Pacific Carteret Islands, which could become uninhabitable by rising ocean waters by 2015.

New York Times suggests that climate realism is based on "fact-free science"

Fact-Free Science - NYTimes.com

Some conservatives argue that the Republican war on science is bad politics and that catering to the “climate-denier sect” in the party is a dangerous strategy, as David Jenkins, a member of Republicans for Environmental Protection wrote recently on the FrumForum blog. Public opinion, after all, has not kept pace with Republican rhetoric on the topic of climate change.

Northwest Storm Shatters Records

Seattle has broken the record low temperature three days in a row. The city recorded 21 degrees at 7 a.m. Friday, breaking the record of 22 degrees set in 1960.

Billings, Mont., also had a record low Friday morning of minus 14 degrees, breaking the old record of minus 10 set in 1994.

Miles City, Mont., shattered its record low of minus 16, recording minus 27 degrees Friday morning. This record is tied for the tenth coldest February temperature recorded in the city.

Cold snap hits Metro Vancouver; temperature reaches -8 in city

In Chilliwack Friday morning the temperature hit a record low of -10 C (11.5 C below normal), according to Roger Pannett, volunteer weather observer for Environment Canada.

"Add on the wind chill and we are down to near -20 C," Pannett said.

The previous low record for Feb. 25 was -8.6 C in 1993. Records go back to 1881.

Climate change [hoax] game takes stage in Asheville | The Asheville Citizen-Times | citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE — A British video game designer wants to put the “Fate of the World” at the fingertips of gamers like Gabriel Forgie.

The North Buncombe High sophomore was among about 250 people at the worldwide unveiling Thursday of the game designed to alter the way people learn about climate change.

Overheated planet update: Alaska's Nenana ice thicker than it was 20 years ago

Nenana ice

24-Feb 40.75 Inches [2011]
...
25-Feb 28 Inches [1991]
...
25-Feb 35 Inches [1990]

Alaska's coordinator for endangered species: "Polar bears are at an all-time high of abundance level"

Debate: Polar Bear’s Status Roils Alaska

"Polar bears are at an all-time high of abundance level," said Doug Vincent-Lang, the state's coordinator for endangered species. "The only reason the service listed them was based on speculation from fairly untested models based on what the fate of polar bears may be in the future

Seattle sets record for cold | Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle recorded an all-time low temperature for this date Friday when the temperatures dipped to 21 degrees at 4 a.m., breaking the record of 22 degrees set in 1962.

The Reference Frame: Freeman Dyson ultimately redirects a pushy AGW interviewer into spam folder

How can we explain to those idiots that they should be listening and they should be humble because they know nothing about science? This is really the main meta-message in this whole issue.

INHOFE HIGHLIGHTS COMMERCE INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT

"I want to thank the Inspector General for conducting a thorough, objective, and balanced investigation," Inhofe said. "NOAA is one of the nation's leading scientific organizations. Unfortunately, in reading past the executive summary, this report shows that some NOAA employees potentially violated federal contract law and engaged in data manipulation. It also appears that one senior NOAA employee possibly thwarted the release of important federal scientific information for the public to assess and analyze. Her justification for blocking the release was contradicted by two career attorneys in the Office of General Counsel. This is no doubt a serious matter that deserves further investigation.

"Also, the IG recommended that certain NOAA-related emails ‘warrant further investigation,' so I will be following up to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent according to federal law, and that the public will get access to the science NOAA produces."

These people think you're stupid: Trace amounts of CO2 are allegedly hurting Americans now

Top medical groups warn Americans of health risks posed by climate change « Climate Progress

Top medical and health experts came together Thursday to say climate change is hurting Americans now — and if we don’t act now its effects will only get worse.

What if: Standing in Line for Climate [Swindle Cash] - NYTimes.com

Will you see climate adaptation money spent on family planning? Given that population has barely been mentioned in climate negotiations. I wouldn’t bet on it, even though the logic is there.

Of course, everything above presumes that substantial sums of money — beyond existing foreign development assistance — start flowing soon.

Climate change will kill laughs: comic

Climate change could rob Melbourne of its beloved comedy festival, one of Australia's best-known stand-up comedians says.

Nuclear Weapons: the most urgent green issue - Ecocentric - TIME.com

Environmentalists: Wake up! There is a greater and more urgent threat to the climate than even global warming: the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

Bill Clinton: Ethanol Will Cause Food Riots - By Greg Pollowitz - Planet Gore - National Review Online

Hey, he’s the President-of-the-World, so, we should listen.

Deep freeze puts Baltic on track for record ice - The Local

Following another extended stretch of sub-zero temperatures, ice coverage on the Baltic Sea is greater than it's been in nearly a quarter century, Sweden's meteorological agency reports.

Freeman Dyson v the 'Independent' – Telegraph Blogs

Here are some of the highlights. (Yes, it’s familiar stuff: but how good it is to see a man of Professor Dyson’s standing and intellect expressing it with such confidence and clarity).

I wonder: do they even read their own press releases? | Watts Up With That?

All these things happened before CO2, AGW, and worldwide worry wartism, and yet someday, somehow, we are warned, it will be worse, except that it isn’t likely. That and this zinger: “Climate models have yet to simulate the full scope of the event.” Well, of course, how can you simulate such an event with such spotty paleo data anyway?

A Warmer Climate Is A More Extreme Climate | Real Science

That is why so many people from Florida and Hawaii vacation in Winnipeg. To escape the extreme weather of the South.

Spokane gets record snowfall, allegedly induced by global warming, on a record-cold day

Spokane temperature drops below zero - Spokesman.com - Feb. 25, 2011

Temperatures below zero across the region this morning met expectations of weather forecasters who said the current winter outbreak would be the strongest in 18 years.
...
Spokane set three daily weather records on Thursday for snowfall at 5.4 inches, for the coldest maximum temperature at 18 degrees and the coldest low at 3.

Political motivations behind scientists' denial of global warming

On Feb. 28 at 12:15 p.m., Naomi Oreskes, will explain what - or rather, who - is to blame for this misperception of scientific opinion.

Mexico Takes Steps to Counter Damage of Crop-Mauling Cold Snap | iMarketNews.com

MEXICO CITY (MNI) - Mexico's government has been working the past two weeks counteract the impact of unseasonal fierce frosts this month to ensure that lost corn crop will not trigger an inflation spiral through prices of the corn tortillas, a staple food.

Rolls Royce electric car will let blue-bloods go green | Grist

Here's what needs to happen for electric cars to become the new industry standard: They need to be seen as sexier, manlier, and more upscale than original fossil-fuel flavor.

C3: Global Investment Gurus Conclude Climate Change Poses Little Risk To Investors

Mercer, an expert global investment consulting concern, recently published a study that indicated the portfolio risk from actual global warming (climate change) is not significant.

Dyson on warmists: "My impression is that the experts are deluded"

Letters to a heretic: An email conversation with climate change sceptic Professor Freeman Dyson - Climate Change, Environment - The Independent

[Dyson] Among my friends, I do not find much of a consensus. Most of us are sceptical and do not pretend to be experts. My impression is that the experts are deluded because they have been studying the details of climate models for 30 years and they come to believe the models are real. After 30 years they lose the ability to think outside the models. And it is normal for experts in a narrow area to think alike and develop a settled dogma. The dogma is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. In astronomy this happens all the time, and it is great fun to see new observations that prove the old dogmas wrong.

Unfortunately things are different in climate science because the arguments have become heavily politicised. To say that the dogmas are wrong has become politically incorrect. As a result, the media generally exaggerate the degree of consensus and also exaggerate the importance of the questions.

A medieval climate – Rooted

Dr Andrew Glikson, earth and paleoclimate scientist at ANU, writes: The end of the IPCC?
...
In Noam Chomsky’s view: “All of this combines the latest election a couple of days ago…. You could almost interpret it [the Republicans victory in the Congress elections] as a kind of a death knell for the species.”
...
Hopefully the Representatives are correct and Chomsky is mistaken. As “internet science” tells, the world is not warming or, at least, not due to human factors, and climate research organizations (Hadley-Met, NASA-GISS, Colorado-NSIDC, Potsdam, CSIRO, BOM) and peer reviewed science are all in error?

Should this not be the case and the future lies in the hands of those who reject the scientific method, claiming authority to speak in God’s name, this would herald the end of the enlightenment, an era of intellectual, scientific and cultural life emerging from the 18th century where evidence and reason are the basis for legitimacy and authority.

Carbon control isn't real goal - NYPOST.com

These data expose the basic truth: Neither the cap-and-trade bill nor EPA carbon regulation is needed to lower US emissions. The bureaucratic/environmentalist alliance wants these measures to increase public control over our economy, not to fight global warming.

Just as the Obama stimulus package was designed to increase public spending, not to stimulate anything, so the environmental regulations are exploiting public concern over climate change to ratify a growth in government power and oversight.

And that's the inconvenient truth.

Obama Administration Formally Opening Nation’s 'First Climate Science Center' | CNSnews.com

According to the Fiscal 2012 U.S. Geological Survey budget proposal, “The Climate Science Centers will provide the scientific base for land and water management decisions related to changing climates.” The budget requests $11 million to complete the planned network of eight Climate Science Centers.

CapitalClimate: San Francisco Snow? Fifth Occurrence in Last Century

If measurable snow were to occur at sea level, it would be only the 5th such occurrence in the past century, according to Golden Gate Weather Services.

Arctic Ice Outlook | Real Science

Summer 2011 will start with considerably more multi-year ice than any of the last three years, and temperatures will probably be cooler. Romm may have to work very hard this summer to spin his cataclysmic message of “hope.”

Joe Bastardi Explains Why the Cold Miser Is Winning the Climate-Change Showdown | Little Gold Men | Vanity Fair

We’ve had the third snowiest weather in Northern Hemisphere history, but moisture in the snow pack is below normal. Which means it’s not because there’s more moisture but because it’s been colder. He’s just not looking at the facts. With the global temperature collapsing, you can’t be saying, “Well, it’s getting colder because it’s getting warmer.” That’s the opposite argument they were using when the temperature was going up.

Job creators: EPA the biggest barrier to job creation | Heliogenic Climate Change

“The Environmental Protection Agency is the biggest barrier to doing business in the U.S., according to an analysis of a congressional survey.”

The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Enviro Poll: Global Warming Overblown

In a survey conducted for Colorado College's State of the Rockies project -- one in which most questions were designed to produce environmentalism-friendly results (of the "Do you favor clean air?" "Do you favor clean water?" nature) -- most respondents in five Mountain states ranked global warming as a low priority and overblown as a problem. Asked to identify the top two or three most important environmental problems today, only 4 percent cited global warming and 1 percent mentioned climate change (7 percent said the federal government was one of the most important environmental problems!). Forty-three percent of respondents characterized climate change as "not a problem," while 27 percent believed it was an "extremely serious" or "very serious" problem.

Further, when asked their views on global warming, 32 percent of respondents said it was "overblown" as a problem and 51 percent believed no action should be taken, while 48 percent believed some action is warranted.

Solomon’s “Divergence” Problem « Climate Audit

Although NOAA were minor players in the Climategate letters, the recent report from the Inspector General of the US Department of Commerce (re NOAA) is the first report to date in which the investigators made any effort to crosscheck evidence from Climategate correspondents against independent sources.

NOAA Misrepresents Inspector General Report « Climate Audit

NOAA’s assertion that Solomon had been “given legal advice that IPCC work done by scientists were records of the IPCC, not NOAA” is not a finding of the report. Solomon claimed that she’d been given such advice, but the NOAA lawyers denied giving it to her, with the IG saying that he was unable to reconcile the divergent claims.

NOAA’s assertion in the press release misrepresents the IG report, a misrepresentation that has been picked up by various news outlets, e.g. CBC here.

Scientist's View: In Climate Action, No Shortcuts Around CO2 - NYTimes.com

Given the recent push on other substances, many of the scientists most deeply immersed in charted human-driven heating of the planet have become increasingly concerned that carbon dioxide’s primacy is under-appreciated.

This group includes Susan Solomon, the federal climate scientist who led the 2007 science review by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Kenneth Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University and Raymond T. Pierrehumbert of the University of Chicago and (on occasion) Realclimate.org.

I recently toyed with the idea of calling such scientists “CO2 hawks” — as distinct from self-described “ climate hawks.” But Solomon (wisely) counseled me against adding yet another divisive and implicitly political labels to the caustic mix.

Spending plans for carbon capture, green transit appear stalled

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is struggling to make up for lost time on a number of environmental initiatives in this year’s budget, including everything from carbon capture and storage to public transit and monitoring.

The government says it is confident it will be able to spend $73 million on carbon capture and storage this year, despite budgeting $100 million last year and ultimately spending only about $2 million on the program so far. This technology is the linchpin of Alberta’s plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. In 2008, the province announced it would commit $2 billion to the program.
...
As well, the government is expecting to collect $10 million less in its Climate Change Emissions Management Fund. Companies are expected to buy more offsets to reduce their overall greenhouse gas emissions, rather than pay $15 for every tonne they emit over their limit, Carrier said.

Chu blames nuke industry for slow growth? « Green Hell Blog

What? Does he really believe the reason that there’s been no new nukes in more than 30 years is because the industry can’t poor concrete fast enough?

You mean it’s not the anti-nuclear activists who use the courts and byzantine regulatory process to block nuke plant construction at every turn?

You mean it’s not the Obama administration that pulled the plug on the Yucca Mountain respository for spent nuclear fuel?

You mean it’s not the EPA which slowed progress at Yucca Mountain to a crawl, including by requiring that the Department of Energy certify the security of stored spent fuel for one million years?

Earth to Chu…

'Climategate' report clears scientists - The Hill's E2-Wire

a slew of investigations into the e-mails have cleared scientists of any wrongdoing.

Soros and Obama’s Clean-Energy Czar Join New Clean Energy Fund - William Pentland - Clean Beta - Forbes

Private equity firm Silver Lake is launching a new fund, Silver Lake Kraftwerk, with billionaire financier George Soros to invest in clean energy businesses.
...
In addition to Soros, the new fund also secured a commitment from Cathy Zoi, who recently resigned as the Obama administration’s acting under secretary for energy and assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, to join the fund in April. Zoi earned her spurs working for Al Gore as a climate-change crusader and has since ascended the ranks to become a star in her own right at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Greater Vancouver on the verge of breaking cold-weather record

What does -17 C feel like? You'll find out tonight as a record low of about -8 C will be set in the Lower Mainland and the wind-chill factor makes it feel even colder.
...
The previous record low of -5.2 C was set Feb. 25, 1983. Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Coldwells says cold arctic air funnelling out of the Interior will continue to Friday.

The Reference Frame: Judith Curry vs Gavin Schmidt

But in one context, Curry has become a more "clearcut" skeptic than Steve McIntyre himself. And it's the question whether there's dishonesty behind all those mistakes that "accidentally" always happen to skew the results and predictions in the same direction. Steve McIntyre has avoided the term "dishonesty" for many years.

But it's just not plausible that all those problems occurred by chance.

Climate Resistance » The Astro Turf is Always Browner on the Other Side…

If there’s a film which questions climate change, it’s because the broadcaster has declared a war against science. If there’s an organised effort to challenge environmentalism, there’s a ‘tobacco strategy’ and a conspiracy. If his fellow greens take issue with his religiosity, they have been sucked into the corporate agenda. If people in internet chat rooms disagree with Monbiot, it is because there are paid minions of Big Oil, tapping away at their keyboards for money. If the public don’t buy his ideas, it’s because they are feckless, stupid, sheep, blindly following their base drives and instincts. This is the consistent pattern of Monbiot’s arguments. Climate change has little to do with it… It’s about people. The environment is merely the thing which Monbiot uses to legitimise his elitism, and his anti-humanism. It’s a device, a story, a myth that elevates him. That’s why nobody buys it, because they’re not so stupid, after all.

Global Warming Hoax Weekly Round-Up, Feb. 24th 2011 « The Daily Bayonet

CSI: NOAA fingerprints a snowstorm, mercury causes bipolar disorder at the EPA and the world can finally buy the cardboard computer it craves.

£25,000 eco-classroom that can't be used because solar panels don't provide enough heat | Mail Online

Eco-campaigners who built a classroom powered by the sun believed they were paving the way for the future.

Instead they have been taught a valuable lesson - there is not enough sun in North London to sufficiently heat their building.
...
But there is snag - its solar panels only provide enough energy to power a few lightbulbs.

As a result the classroom is bitterly cold and uninhabitable for lessons.
...
Local councillors, at Labour run Haringey council, who were behind the initiative, opened it with great fanfare in December as a beacon of their climate change policy.

Global warming hoax promoters at Munich Re still blaming carbon dioxide for floods and fires

Insurance Company Ranks 2010 among Worst Years Ever for Climate Disasters: Scientific American

"Fire, water, earth and air -- the four basic elements have seldom been so destructive as in 2010," said Torsten Jeworrek, chairman of Munich Re's reinsurance committee in a letter accompanying a new report.

"The overall economic loss amounted to some US$ 150bn, with earthquakes alone accounting for almost one-third of this total," Jeworrek said in the letter. "Altogether, the insurance industry had to shoulder losses in the order of US$ 37bn for natural catastrophes worldwide in 2010."
...
"Such catastrophes as the floods in Pakistan or the wildfires in Russia are extreme occurrences within the framework of regional trends which are in all probability attributable to climate change," says the report
...
The insurer urged Europe's emissions trading program to continue operating, even as negotiators debate the post-Kyoto framework. Munich Re pointed to an uptick in business interest, noting "a clear political signal showing that industry has, to a large extent, already pushed ahead on climate protection, and that a political framework must now be established to ensure the further development of climate protection."

More insanity from your mainstream media: Regarding the climate hoax, NY Times asks "Is it worse to be swallowed by the sea or racked by famine?'

Which Nations Are Most Vulnerable to Climate Change? The Daunting Politics of Choosing - NYTimes.com

Is it worse to be swallowed by the sea or racked by famine?

As climate change tightens its grip on the world, institutions charged with protecting the most vulnerable nations could be faced with just such a question.

A week after we were told that India is heading towards a record wheat harvest, an Economist sob story claims that trace amounts of CO2 make it much harder to grow wheat there

A special report on feeding the world: No easy fix | The Economist

Global warming upsets the world’s water cycle, increases the burden of pests, desiccates soil and reduces yields. In 2010 the world got an unpleasant taste of what climate change might bring.
...
But a lot else is happening. An increase of 2°C in global temperatures, says Hans-Joachim Braun, the head of CIMMYT’s wheat programme, could cause a 20% fall in wheat yields. This would exceed any possible gains from warming in areas currently too cold to grow crops and would also offset the benefits of rising carbon-dioxide concentrations. Plants eat CO2, so if there is more of it in the atmosphere, photosynthesis should increase and yields rise. But no one knows by how much.
...
When the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) tried to work out the impacts of climate change on the main cereal crops, almost all its results suggested that yields in 2050 are likely to be lower than they were in 2000, sometimes much lower. Almost half the forecasts showed yield reductions of 9-18% by 2050. One came up with a drop in rainfed-maize yields of 30%. The most vulnerable crop turned out to be wheat, with the largest losses forecast in developing countries. The Indo-Gangetic plain, home to a seventh of mankind and purveyor of a fifth of the world’s wheat, is likely to be especially hard hit.

Feb. 2011: Overheated world update: India heading towards record wheat crop

India, the world's second biggest wheat producer after China, is heading towards harvesting a record 81.47 million tonnes of the produce in the 2010-11 crop year.

Hackers target European carbon [scam] registries - USATODAY.com

An Eastern European cybergang has perfected an emerging form of digital theft to steal millions of dollars from Europe's carbon registries.

Elite cybergangs are gaining deep access to corporate networks and carrying out Ocean's 11-like capers that are equal parts digital con game and digital burglary.

Another such gang, for instance, gained recent media attention for its deep access to Nasdaq's Directors Desk, a cloud-based collaboration service for senior executives. Authorities have released few details. But that gang went undetected for at least a year, giving it plenty of time to try different ways to pilfer sensitive corporate documents from 175 organizations.

Al Fin: Shale Gas Promise is Real, "Gasland" Is A Fraud

s providing a much needed energy boost. Over the next 20 years, shale gas is destined to grow from 15% of US gas production to roughly 50% of production.

Contrary to the blatant falsehoods (PDF) displayed in the Oscar-nominated "documentary" Gasland, production of shale gas is as clean or cleaner than production of any other type of non-nuclear energy or fuel.

Multi-million pound fund to fill potholes (From Worcester News)

THE county council will be bidding to get a slice of a £100 million pot of government cash to help patch up Worcestershire’s roads.
...
While officials at County Hall say they still do not know exactly how much damage was caused by the severe winter weather – temperatures in some parts of the county reached as low as -19C in December – they have welcomed yesterday’s announcement by the Government that more funds will be available.

Overheated Earth update: "Viciously cold" winter only kills 50-80% of North Korean wheat and barley

More North Koreans malnourished as harsh winter leaves country short of food | World news | The Guardian

US aid agencies warn that wheat, barley and potatoes have failed and people are being forced to forage in the wild
...
A bitter winter and rising prices have created food shortages and alarming levels of malnutrition in North Korea, five US aid agencies have warned.
...
The US organisations spent a week assessing conditions across three provinces, North Pyongan, South Pyongan and Chagang. Authorities told them a viciously cold winter had killed 50-80% of the wheat and barley planted for spring harvest, as well as potato seedlings.

BBC continues to enthusiastically promote the greatest scientific fraud in human history

BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch: US climate cuts threaten isolation

The latest flirtations of the US political right with "climate denial" look set to marginalise the country even further within the global community of nations - at least when it comes to climate change.
...
The claims used to back the proposed IPCC cuts are easily countered.
...
The IPCC has never been found fraudulent by any investigation - indeed, successive reviews, notably by the InterAcademy Council, have found just the opposite.
....
While criticising proponents of climate action for basing their policies on dodgy ground, Mr Luetkemayer apparently had no problem making allegations demonstrably lacking a factual basis.
...
And climate science - despite Mr Luetkemeyer's interpretation - has hardened, with real-world changes that look very like the signatures of greenhouse warming being registered from the Arctic to the Amazon heightening the concerns of vulnerable nations.

Poll: Westerners wary of climate change action - BusinessWeek

The survey said 61 percent of voters in Wyoming and Utah agreed either that concerns about global warming have been greatly exaggerated or that more research is needed on global warming before action is taken. Close to half of voters felt that way in Colorado, Montana and New Mexico.

Breaking: Trace amounts of natural, harmless, invisible atmospheric gas will allegedly cause "mass human casualties"

Would Better Marketing Help the Coral Reefs? | Fast Company

But who's speaking out for the reefs? With their beautiful schools of fish and eye-popping colors, coral reefs are a tangible face for the climate change cause, which, like malaria, will also cause mass human casualties--in the form of food shortage-induced hunger and forced migration.

Interview: Rob Bernard, the man driving Microsoft's green agenda | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Bernard is on a "flying visit" to London offices before heading to a European conference. But he's keen to stress that this means train travel where possible, and apologises for the bottled water on the table.

Flashback: Bill Gates and Andy Revkin think you're stupid: They both imagine that you're ready to be lectured on energy efficiency by a guy who owns a private jet and lives in a 66,000 square foot mansion with a $360,000 annual electric bill

Junk scientist Kevin Anderson: Global warming hoax "requires radical changes in behaviour"

Models guiding climate policy are 'dangerously optimistic' | Environment | guardian.co.uk

He believes that this false hope that the output from these models has been spreading is one reason why policymakers and the general public have not engaged with the sweeping changes necessary for industrialised nations to drastically reduce their emissions. "This requires radical changes in behaviour, particularly from those of us with very high energy consumption," said Anderson. "But as long as the scientists continue to spread the message that we will be ok if we all make a few small changes, then climate change will never be on top of the policy agenda and we will fail to meet our international commitments to avoid a 2°C rise."

C3: New UN Research Determines Cutting CO2 Emissions Has Little Impact On Future Temperatures

As the IPCC's quest for the holy grail of reduced CO2 has assumed the feeling of a Monty Python movie, the UN is now turning its focus on other human factors that likely affect global temperatures, including black soot. Besides changing the focus, this new UN study makes an amazing admission of CO2-mitigation futility

Connecticut Town Wants To Reduce CO2 Emissions To Save Themselves From Sea Level Rise | Real Science

There can be little doubt that emissions from the cars of of Groton, Connecticut control the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic. And it has been 20 years since a hurricane (Bob category 2) hit Connecticut, but no doubt things will pick up in the future.

Resources for Learning More About Climate Science - NYTimes.com

The Web does have some excellent resources, to be sure. I often send people to Climate Central, a fine site based in Princeton that works to translate climate science into understandable prose. For people starting from a contrarian bent, nothing beats Skeptical Science, a Web site that directly answers various skeptic talking points, with links to some of the original science. And Real Climate is a must-read, since it includes some of the world’s top climate scientists translating their research into layman’s language.

Denmark joins the fray over Europe's climate change targets | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Denmark on Thursday set out its own vision for energy supplies in 2050, showing how the country could meet its aim of becoming independent of coal, oil and natural gas by the middle of the century.

Chevy to spend $40 million on carbon [swindle] offsets next three years « Hot Air

General Motors has yet to return most of the TARP funds sunk into its operations by George Bush and Barack Obama. They claimed to have paid back the loans given the automaker, but as Chuck Grassley angrily pointed out at the time, they paid back the loans using other TARP funding for the cash. Taxpayers still have tens of billions of dollars stuck in GM stock, and whether Treasury ever gets to a break-even point is anyone’s guess.

That hasn’t stopped Chevrolet from dumping $40 million in cash into carbon offsets over the next five years, however:

Joe Bastardi On CO2 Driving The Climate: “Your big toe runs your body” | Real Science

Bastardi sees modern climate scientists as inordinately fixated on carbon dioxide at the expense of other major factors (an example of their narrow, model-focused approaches, versus his tendency toward holistic empirical observation). “It’s almost the equivalent of saying, ‘Your big toe runs your body,’” he says. “Carbon dioxide is a trace gas, a tiny gas, part of this huge system. You’re trying to tell me that’s going to control the system and influence the energy of the system? When you have things like the sun, which is obviously the greatest contributor to the world’s energy? It almost defies common sense.”

Wonk Room » 350.Org To Launch New Campaign: ‘The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak For Me’

“With my colleagues at 350.org, I’ll do what I can to help undermine the chamber’s claim to represent American business,” McKibben writes. “I don’t know if we can win this fight against money pollution, but we’re going to do what we can to clear the air.”

In Europe, the Promise and Fears of a New Fuel - NYTimes.com

With global temperatures rising, some say that pursuing new sources of fossil fuels is a recipe for disaster.

If there is any hope of keeping global temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), as world leaders promised at the 2009 Copenhagen climate meeting, “then the math shows there is no space left for shale gas, or for that matter for other fossil fuels, but you certainly wouldn’t add another one to the mix,” said Kevin Anderson, a professor at the Tyndall Center for Climate Change at the University of Manchester in England.

The Reference Frame: ClimateGate's Gene Wahl: I did delete the e-mails

Sadly, Phil, Mike, Caspar, and Keith still can't speak the truth because they are still employed as climate scientists by the same institutions whose policies forbid the employees to do what those folks have been systematically doing. And being employed as a climate scientist, unfortunately, requires the people to lie 100% of their lives.

Piers Corbyn Blasts Met Office: “Bunkering, Self-Serving – Delusional As Gaddafi”

When you have an institution that can longer function because of incompetence, corruption, or whatever human element, it is impossible to repair it without first replacing the bad personnel behind the problem. Anything else is like trying to cure someone with a bad liver by treating everything else except the liver itself.

That’s the case at the Met Office. If you truly want to reform it, then it has to be purged of its rotten apples.

Texas Crop Report

Central:...The freezing temperatures from the previous weeks apparently had a very negative effect on other small grains. Oats were the hardest hit; many fields were not expected to recover from the freeze.
...
Far West:...Frost damage on winter wheat from the previous week was reported. El Paso County had a 100-percent loss of some stands of recently germinated wheat as well as in young seedlings. Frost damage in fall-planted onions caused as much as 40-percent loss of stands in some areas.

Gillard confirms: she lied about about no carbon tax | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

So Gillard broke a solem promise - or lied. Asked about this - six or so questions into the press conference - she avoided giving any kind of direct answer.

Worse than the lie, here is a tax on the carbon dioxide emissions that will do zero to world temperatures - which may not even cause us harm if they rose. We will pay plenty in exchange for zero good. Many MPs within Labor know this, too, but dare say nothing.

Abbott: "people's revolt" against carbon tax | Australian Climate Madness

TONY Abbott has predicted a "people's revolt" over Julia Gillard's proposed carbon tax, saying the measure is a breach of faith with the Australian people and an assault on their standard of living.

New Poll. More skeptics than ever and yet the carbon tax is coming « JoNova

From the full results it’s clear that belief is mostly a “young” naive thing, and that by the age of 30 people are waking up to the truth. Half of the 18-24 year olds think that man is to blame, but only a quarter of the over 50′s do. The old cats who’ve been there and done that are wiser to exaggerated scare campaigns. Half of the 25 -34 year old group answered that they are not sure.

Climate Common Sense: You may not believe in climate change, but you will pay!

Alan Moran of the Institute of Public Affairs comments on the Institute's poll showing only 34% of Australians believing in Global Warming/Climate Change/Climate Disruption or whatever the scare is called this week! Following on Gillard announcing that the carbon tax she promised would not be implemented is scheduled for next year it is up to the 66% of Aussies who are not being fooled to make their presence felt.

Maybe no one cares about climate change because we’re wired for extinction | Grist

[Psychologist named Andrew Shatté], a professor at the University of Arizona, is best known for his work on resilience -- the ability of humans to deal with adversity. His thesis on climate change, in a nutshell, is that we are hardwired for extinction. He compares us to the Irish elk, which went extinct about 11,000 years ago. The male of that species evolved to grow big antlers -- I mean really gargantuan antlers, racks up to 12 feet wide, designed for the usual reasons of aggression, defense, and sexual display. Over time, the antlers got so big that the elk couldn't consume enough calories to sustain their growth, so instead the antlers began to feed in auto-parasitic fashion on the calcium in the animals' bones. If galloping osteoporosis didn't kill them, they got their antlers impossibly tangled up in the overhead branches and starved to death.

May 2011: Warmist Andy Revkin to take yet another long fossil-fueled trip in his quest to convince us that we shouldn't take long fossil-fueled trips?

Geological Society - London - The Anthropocene: A New Epoch of Geological Time?

Andrew Revkin (New York Times)

Global warming rate could be halved by controlling 2 pollutants, U.N. study says

The projected rise in global temperatures could be cut in half in coming years if world governments focused on reducing emissions of two harmful pollutants - black carbon and ground-level ozone, including methane - rather than carbon dioxide alone, according to a U.N. study released Wednesday.
...
"I think what this study does that hasn't been done in the past is look at the contributions to global warming by gases with short lifetimes," said Steve Seidel, vice president of policy analysis for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

Career lost gives a voice to climate change - Unleashed (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[Australia's chief scientist Penny Sackett] Most of it [CO2] stays there for a very long period of time

Snowstorm picks up speed, heads toward Bay Area

Get those parkas out now, because the snow is racing even faster to the Bay Area than forecasters had thought.

Richard Kerr in May 1997 Science magazine: "Climate modelers have been cheating for so long it’s almost become respectable"

RANGE magazine.com, the Cowboy Spirit on America's Outback

All the climate disaster scenarios that dominate popular understanding of the threat C02 poses to the world’s climate are products of computer-based models of atmospheric chemical and physical processes that, in fact, are not well understood. In order to resemble today’s climate, the models need to be fudged. “Climate modelers have been cheating for so long it’s almost become respectable,” explains Richard Kerr in a May 1997 Science magazine.

YouTube - Nick Griffin MEP: Man-made climate change is the deadliest scam in history

"Whenever I hear MEPs discussing ways to extract more money out of the little people in the name of 'climate change', I am struck by two things.

The first is how no-one talks about 'global warming' any more. Clearly even the most out-of-touch MEPs have realised that exposes of fraudulent pseudo science, and record cold winters across the globe, have made the public rightly very skeptical about all the deceitful propaganda about drowning polar bears.

The second is the car park beneath us. Porsches, Mercs, BMWs, SUVs - a show-room of gas-guzzling luxury for the people who tut-tut in disapproval at men in white vans and plot to make their working lives even harder with speed limiters and financial penalties.
...
While I appreciate the efforts of some MEPs to blunt the worst excesses of this C02 hysteria, the plain truth is that anyone who even gives credence to the threadbare hoax of man-made global warming is a collaborator with the deadliest scam in history.

Yes, deadly, because it isn't only robbing ordinary people and de-industrialising the West. It is also, right now, starving to death hundreds of thousands of the world's poorest children as food crops are replaced by taxpayer-subsidised bio-fuels.

Global warming debate headed for Salt Lake City - ksl.com

SALT LAKE CITY -- Salt Lake is about to become ground zero in the global warming debate. Activists are heading here from across the country, including a couple of celebrities.
...
Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary fame is coming. In an email he wrote: "Tim is focused entirely on stopping the desecration of the environment."

Actress Daryl Hannah also plans to be here for protests Monday. She wrote: "Tim DeChristopher is a hero, not a criminal."

You know when Georgia was really dry, then really wet? That was your fault

Linking ‘big weather’ to global warming | Meet the minds behind all that climate change data | Grist

With funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Duke University, Li and her collaborators set out to examine seemingly confusing trends in the region's rainfall in recent years. A severe drought in 2007 -- the worst in Georgia in a century -- famously led that state's then-governor, Sonny Perdue (R), to hold a prayer service for rain. But two years later, Georgia faced unusual late-summer flooding.

Revkin 2.0 - New York Times Pole-ocaplypse?

[Updated] Climate naysayer Steven Goddard (aided by his quasi-publicist, Marc Morano) has focused attention on a quirky New York Times report from 1881 on an astronomer’s worries about climate disruption from a shift in the inclination of the axis of the Earth

Harsh winter weather worries almond growers

The California Farm Bureau Federation says a winter storm expected this weekend in the central San Joaquin Valley has almond growers worried. Weather forecasters say snow could reach below 1,000 feet.

"If we do want to have reefs around by 2050 we are going to have to do something about carbon dioxide"

Coral reefs report warns of mass loss threat | Environment | The Guardian

"If we do want to have reefs around by 2050 we are going to have to do something about carbon dioxide," said Nancy Knowlton, chair of marine sciences at the Smithsonian.

The Never-Policy-Prescriptive Pachauri « NoFrakkingConsensus

The IPCC is supposed to be – as its website makes clear – “policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive.” Yet practically every time its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, opens his mouth he advocates specific responses to climate change. Nor does he restrict himself to discussing measures that governments should embrace – he wants to talk about you and me, as well.

I have a problem with this since I was provided with no opportunity to elect – or reject – Pachauri. As far as I’m concerned he’s some distant bloke associated with a United Nations body that is looking less accountable by the minute. So I actually don’t care what he thinks of my personal lifestyle choices.

Nevertheless, it’s important to be aware of the judgmental, highly moralistic nature of this man’s views.

Do Fights Over Climate Communication Reflect the End of 'Scientism'? - NYTimes.com

My denial, I said, lay in my longstanding presumption, like that of many scientists and journalists, that better communication of information will tend to change people’s perceptions, priorities and behavior. This attitude, in my view, crested for climate scientists in the wake of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Capital Weather Gang - Global warming, extreme events and weird weather

For this reason, the oft-made assertions that "global warming will make the weather more extreme" or that warming "caused" a particular severe weather event to occur, make me cringe.

There are core scientific findings in climate science that most climate researchers, and most science journalists, including myself, no longer consider to be hotly debated, such as the conclusion that most of global warming is very likely due to manmade emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.

Snow Like 1976 « Musings from the Chiefio

So we have a “90 foot elevation” snow in 2006, just after the cold phase started. Last snow actually IN San Jose at the lower elevation of downtown? 1976. 30 years earlier.

Two takeaway points:

1) This is an absolutely normal event that happens every few decades. It is NOT signs of catastrophe.

2) If we’d had 30 to 60 years of “Global Warming” it would not be happening. We are measuring the impact in tens of feet ( 90 vs Sea Level) and finding not a bit of change toward warmer (meaning higher elevations of snow). Rare events are still reaching the ground, and most of the time it’s about 2000 foot snow line.

There is no “Global Warming” in San Jose… but there is a 60 year weather cycle changing regimes.

New Hampshire smacks down cap and trade

The New Hampshire House of Representatives today voted overwhelmingly - 246 to 104 - for New Hampshire to become the first state to repeal an up-and-running global warming cap-and-trade energy tax system. The state senate is expected to follow suit with a similarly veto-proof repeal. The move has major implications both in the region and nationally.

New Light on “Delete Any Emails” « Climate Audit

Previously we knew (from the Climategate emails) that Mann had told Phil Jones that he would ask Wahl to delete any emails on AR4. Now we know that Wahl “believes that he deleted the referenced emails at the time”.

These people think you're stupid: Although the planet allegedly has a fever, a drop of 1.25 C would allegedly cause "widespread famine and disease"

Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years?

Even a regional nuclear war could spark "unprecedented" global cooling and reduce rainfall for years, according to U.S. government computer models.

Widespread famine and disease would likely follow, experts speculate.
...
Earth is currently in a long-term warming trend. After a regional nuclear war, though, average global temperatures would drop by 2.25 degrees F (1.25 degrees C) for two to three years afterward, the models suggest.

[Four?] Global Warming Skeptics Unite to Denounce Attorney General's Climate Witch Hunt : TreeHugger

Rudolf spoke with a veritable who's-who of the nation's top (non-politician) skeptics and deniers -- there's Canadian statistician Ross McKitrick, Stephen McIntyre, the retired Canadian mining engineer and amateur statistician (and primo Michael Mann foe), Thomas Fuller, the author of "Climategate", and the scientist John Christy -- and each and every one of them thought that what Cuccinelli was doing was reckless and wrong.

A number of them even took to "Watts Up With That?", the top online depository for anti-climate science misinformation -- to decry Cuccinelli's misguided crusade.

Duty to Disclose | Climate Skeptic

I hesitate to pile on much on the tree ring studies at this point, as they have about as much integrity right now as the study of alchemy.

American Thinker Blog: Rats leaving sinking ship: DOE loses a crony capitalist

With Republicans controlling the House of Representatives and able to subpoena officials, certain Obama administration officials are heading for the hills. The New York Times reports on the latest exodus of Obama appointees. This time the Department of Energy is losing acting Undersecretary of Energy Cathy Zoi
...
She was the "ex-CEO of Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection and, while in government service maintained major investments in "green " companies that benefited directly from her decisions", reported Christopher Horner at Pajamas Media back in June, 2010 / .
...
The New York Times mentions nothing about Zoi's conflicts of interest. Her departure may be a sign that she sees greener pastures elsewhere now that Republicans have taken over the House and she might be subject to inquiries regarding her conflicts from Chairmen of various committees, particular from Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who has expressed a strong interest in investigation corruption in the administration.

Broun touts plans for climate science hearings - The Hill's E2-Wire

“We're going to get all voices heard about the science of climate,” said Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) in an Athens Banner-Herald story. “Right now the [Obama] administration turns a blind ear and eye to opposing views.”

It's come to this: warmist Tom Friedman argues for increased gas tax, but fails to even mention the global warming hoax

If Not Now, When? - NYTimes.com

The smart thing for us to do right now is to impose a $1-a-gallon gasoline tax, to be phased in at 5 cents a month beginning in 2012, with all the money going to pay down the deficit.

DIE WELT: “Certainly: Global Warming Stopped”

Who knows! Maybe parts of the German media are beginning to see the the big block-letter writing on the wall and are now slowly taking baby-steps towards acknowledging the claims and science behind catastrophic global warming are not all what they are cracked up to be.

Maybe the far-fetched, cockamamie explanations on why all the cold is caused by warming has led the less zealous among the media to reconsider the science. Maybe all the phony predictions that keep turning out to be wrong are finally raising suspicions.

Chris Mooney | The Strange Case of Ralph Hall

Recently, amid the flurry of budgetary cuts introduced by House Republicans, Hall sponsored an amendment (which passed 233 to 187) to block the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's attempt to create a national Climate Service—an initiative that would greatly aid states and districts like Hall’s in preparing for the serious impacts of climate change. The Climate Service is designed to "provide a one stop shop for users across the nation in much the same way NOAA’s National Weather Service has been providing weather information and services for 140 years." To this end, among other tasks the service will create "products and decision support tools that are relevant and useful to equip policy makers, business leaders, local governments and other decision-makers to plan for a changing climate."

1831 : A Low Carbon Hurricane Wiped Out Barbados | Real Science

Atmospheric CO2 was an incredibly safe 284 ppm at the time.

1869 : Arctic Summers Believed To Be “almost free of ice” | Real Science

China revokes top science award : Nature News

But researchers fear fraud case may be the tip of the iceberg.

High school student promotes a greener lifestyle - Clarion

Alec Loorz, 16, has committed himself to teaching young people around the world about global warming in an effort to motivate them to think about sustainability in their everyday lives.
...
At the age of 12, Loorz found himself inspired to think about environmental problems after watching former Vice President Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth."
...
"Alec Loorz is widely considered to be an expert on the subject of global warming," said Patricia Rasmussen, president of the Citrus Community College District Board of Trustees.

C3: Peer-Reviewed Study Finds No Relationship Between Global Warming & Tropical Cyclones In South Pacific

For decades, AGW alarmists have been predicting an increase of cyclone/hurricane frequency and intensity due to CO2-induced global warming. Unfortunately for the alarmists and IPCC Climategate scientists, the predictions have been hugely wrong.

Hybrids vs. Non-Hybrids: The 5-Year Equation - NYTimes.com

For example, the Honda Insight comes only in a hybrid version, so it was compared with the nonhybrid Honda Fit; gasoline would have to rise to $10.08 to even out the extra expense, Consumer Reports said.

William M. Briggs, Statistician » Midweek Catchup: The Natural Advantage Of Doomsayers

Consider the doomsayer, a man who leads a charmed life in our culture. The doomsayer has a natural advantage over his more sanguine colleague. If he is, like most are, an academic, he writes a grant with the title, “The Calamity That Awaits Us When The Climate Changes.” The granting agency is skeptical, but they reason: “Although the probability of calamity is low, if it does occur the effects will be calamitous. Therefore, our doling out this meager sum is nothing compared to what it would cost us if the calamity occurred.”

Meanwhile, the other man writes a grant entitled, “People Worry Too Much: Life Is Pretty Good” which attracts no funders.

The doomsayer, sitting in his newly appointed office, writes his speculative papers which, when joined with the output of his nervous brothers, become authoritative because of their sheer number, just like ghost stories.

Worse, when it comes time to promotion the doomsayer can point to his steady stream of grants (which employ administrators) and papers, while the other man can only point to failures in these areas. The effect on the system is obvious.

Competing To Be The Next “Idol” Might Involve More Than You Think | Cision Wire

Eight North American families compete for the title of “Climate Idol”
...
This is the third straight year MXenergy has voluntarily partnered with the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) to offset the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the company’s national operations.

The limits of doubt-mongering - Peter C. Frumhoff and Naomi Oreskes  - The Hill's Congress Blog

The sister campaign by the fossil fuel industry and its political allies to sow doubt about climate science might be reaching a similar limit. The widespread evidence for human-caused climate change is becoming increasingly difficult to deny with a straight face.

Record cold predicted for western Montana

"The point is that it's very frigid," he said. "By Friday morning, I think we'll have near record temperatures (across the region)."

The temperature in Seeley Lake is expected to drop to 22 degrees below zero by then. The record low for Feb. 25 in Kalispell is 13 degrees below zero. Bauck expects that to be broken this year.

Death toll mounts as deep freeze in Poland continues - TheNews.pl :: News from Poland

Three more people have died from extreme cold in the past 24 hours in Poland, as night time temperatures drop to minus 20 Celsius.

In February alone 29 people have frozen to death with over 200 dying of hypothermia this winter in total.

Astroturf goes green side up « The Daily Bayonet

George believes the Guardian is flooded with computer-generated negative comments on his global warming stories because it doesn’t fit his worldview that he might not be correct about everything, all the time. In his world, there is no way that many people could disagree with his wisdom, so it must be the Big Oil funded denier machine using evil computer programs to emulate skeptics.

Unfortunately for George, the threat of astroturf is real. But it’s being employed not by skeptics, but greens.

UPDATE 1-BoA-ML, Nuru Energy sign African CO2 [swindle] deal | Reuters

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N) and Nuru Energy have signed an agreement to generate several million U.N.-backed carbon credits from a clean energy project in sub-Saharan Africa, the bank said on Wednesday.

Environmentalism Refuted

A rational response to the possibility of large-scale environmental change is to establish the economic freedom of individuals to deal with it, if and when it comes. Capitalism and the free market are the essential means of doing this, not paralyzing government controls and “environmentalism.”

Chief [Junk] Scientist feels eft out in the cold | The Australian

OUTGOING Chief Scientist Penny Sackett has urged the government to work out what it wants from her post after securing face-to-face time with a prime minister just once in 2 1/2 years.

Professor Sackett, who announced unexpectedly last week that she would cut short her five-year term, cited personal and professional reasons for the early resignation at a Senate estimates hearing yesterday.

But the economics committee was told Professor Sackett had secured only one personal briefing with former prime minister Kevin Rudd and none with Julia Gillard as Prime Minister since her November 2008 appointment.

She was also not asked by Mr Rudd for advice on his government's climate change position in the lead-up to the 2009 Copenhagen meeting, or invited to join his delegation of more than 50 officials to the forum, despite her strong public comments on the need to reduce emissions.

Mexico's 2010/11 sugar output seen slightly below initial forecast

The downward revision was attributed to frost damage in the western state of Jalisco in November and December 2010.

Kenneth Cuccinelli of Virginia Wages War on Climate Science - NYTimes.com

Now his allegations of manipulated data and scientific fraud are resonating in Congress, where Republican leaders face an influx of new members, many of them Tea Party stalwarts like Mr. Cuccinelli, eager to inveigh against the body of research linking man-made emissions to warming.

“There’s a huge appetite among the rank-and-file to raise fundamental questions about the underlying science,” said Michael McKenna, a Republican strategist and energy lobbyist.

Public says fight climate change - Times Union

Climate change contrarians, who haunt Internet postings on the topic and often vigorously claim climate science is a global scientific conspiracy, were less than a whisper among the 1,700 comments on the state's draft Climate Action Plan over the last three months that were reviewed by the Times Union.

Those who support action against climate change flooded the comments, with six different identically worded letters offered by environmental groups to their members accounting for more 1,000 comments.

Only two comments, neither of which offered expertise in climate science nor referred to scientific studies, said global warming was a hoax that the state should ignore.

Elitest, arrogant Gavin Schmidt: Let's not try to come across as elitest and arrogant

Why Are Americans So Ill-Informed on the Topic of Climate Change?: Scientific American

"You haven't persuaded the public," replied Elizabeth Shogren of National Public Radio. Emanuel immediately countered, smiling and pointing at Shogren, "No, YOU haven't." Scattered applause followed in the audience of mostly scientists, with one heckler saying aloud, "That's right. Kerry said it."

A tone of searching bewilderment was typical of a handful of sessions that dealt with the struggle to motivate Americans on the topic of climate change.
...
It's a given that an organized and well-funded campaign has led efforts to confuse the public regarding the consensus around anthropogenic climate change.
...Naomi Oreskes, a University of California, San Diego, science historian rejected that hypothesis that during a session on climate change denialism. "It's quite clear there are many highly educated people who do not accept global warming," she said. Still, scientists "must communicate climate science as clearly and effectively and robustly as we can," she added.

The current political and cultural context drive the nation's denialism around climate change, evolution and vaccines, said Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, during a session. Education and scientific literacy and general intelligence levels are not causing the problem.
...
Surveys show that most people want more information about climate science, Schmidt said, so scientists should engage in public forums such as blogs, question-and-answer sessions and public talks, provided they are not simply stacked with angry debaters.

Scientists must engage with the public and be vigilant against projecting stereotypes of their profession—such as the elitist, arrogant scientist, Schmidt said.
...
"Fourth estate reporting will get better," [Kerry Emanuel] said. "The fact that we're here today is an indicator of that. At the same time, the availability of the Internet soapbox will ensure that the amount of background noise will go up. I don't see any way of preventing that."

Health, well-being take a hit during mid-Hudson's harsh winter | recordonline.com

So local experts agree that it's a good idea to get acquainted — or reacquainted — with some safety guidelines to help you stay healthy for the remainder of the winter.

China's 2010/11 sugar output seen significantly below official forecast

. The shortfall was ascribed to the impact of sleet and cold weather as well as a drought.

Finland's homeless shelters full as cold snap bites

Finland's homeless shelters are overcrowded, with people sleeping in corridors as a cold snap persists, the No Fixed Abode association said on Wednesday.

- Bishop Hill blog - The Beddington challenge

It's pretty interesting to see Sir John Beddington, Sir Paul Nurse and rest of the scientific establishment, as well as most of the sci-bloggers in the UK, all lining themselves up on the side of pseudoscience on the Climategate issue and Hide the Decline in particular. I wonder how long they can sustain the charade that everything is well in UK climatology?

Skeptic's Corner: Evil Fruit

I would probably have gone through life believing this and have remained blissfully unaware of the the greatest scientific scandal in history had I not stumbled upon a blog over at the Weather Underground site and become interested in the debate. What began to change my attitude from benign acceptance to complete "denial" of the theory of catastrophic man made global warming was the attitude of the proponents of the theory. What grated me the most as I became interested in the debate was the utter contempt proponents of AGW displayed towards those who questioned their narrative. Had it just been childish bloggers it would probably not have gotten on my nerves, but it was the so called consensus community that promoted this abrasive and dismissive approach that they displayed towards those who dared question the narrative. Nowhere was this more grating to me than the way they treated the people who should have been at least listened to in the climate science community but instead were ridiculed and mocked.

Response to UCS’ Kevin Knobloch-head… « Green Hell Blog

Below is a recent commentary by Union of Concerned Scientists president Kevin Knobloch. A reader requested a review of the piece, so here’s a quick one. My comments in [[bracketed bold]].

Warmist Guru Dr Field--Sucking up Big Bucks from Big Oil

An initial review of Field's background and snout in the trough seems identical to any number of "climate scientists" (Field's scientific background is Biological Sciences. His PhD research was on Leaf Aging in a California Shrub) sucking off the National Academy of Sciences, NASA, NOAA, and other government teats.

Their use of government grant money allows them to maintain their ideological purity. Their purity allows them to criticize any critics as "shills for Big Oil," the standard warmist put-down.

Well, Dr Field has got some 'splaining to do, Ricky.

"Expert" Calls for "Voices from the Political Right" to Revive Climate Change Debate

Indicating how climate change has become a political issue, [Andrew Hoffman, an expert on the sociological aspects of environmental policies] noted that only 35 percent of Republicans believe the science behind it, compared to 75 percent of Democrats.
....
Hoffman, who is visiting at MIT Sloan from the University of Michigan, has no illusions that gaining consensus on the causes of climate change, let alone their solutions, will be easy. But with the debate currently polarized, solutions must emerge from the center. "When everything becomes so heated, it's hard for anyone to speak above the din," he said. "You need to get the extreme voices out of the space, those who present this debate in simplistic black and white, all-or-nothing terms. Instead, you have to create room for discussion with the large mass of people who are ready to debate the issue in its full complexity." This would include both those who are skeptical and those who are convinced about its causes and solutions.

Hoffman distinguishes between "climate deniers," who reject both the existence and science of climate change, and "climate skeptics," who are asking serious questions and are open to discuss new information as it arises. Climate deniers "flatly reject the science and have organized with the objective of challenging any steps towards accepting its existence or mitigating its effects," he said. "They are not interested in debate and will not move from their position. But, by focusing on the truly climate skeptical we can skip the name calling by both sides and allow reasoned logic to help us move toward appropriate conclusions."
...."The big collapse in climate change was when the far right was able to code it as a liberal issue, which threw it into the domain of the culture wars."

The New Nostradamus of the North: Global warming in the Gulf of Finland - Russia sends nuclear icebreaker

According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, 67 ships were waiting for the help of icebreakers in the eastern Gulf of Finland on Monday.
Twelve icebreakers were trying to assist them, but the ice conditions were too difficult.
The ice situation off St. Petersburg has been severe from the beginning of February, with pack ice up to a metre thick.

Settled science?: Sunlight's effect on climate to be studied - UPI.com

BOULDER, Colo., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A NASA satellite is set to carry a university-designed instrument to study the effect of changes in the sun's brightness on Earth's climate, officials said.

Developed by the University of Colorado Boulder, the $28 million instrument will be on board NASA's Glory mission, scheduled to launch Feb. 23 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a university release said Tuesday.
...
Variations in the sun's radiation can influence long-term climate change on Earth, TIM principal investigator Greg Kopp says.

"We'd like to know how the sun's energy changes over both the short and long term," Kopp says. "This spacecraft is carrying extremely sensitive instruments for monitoring solar variability, which makes the mission especially relevant given climate change on Earth and the importance of determining the natural influence on those changes."