Aussie alarmists in the news

24 September, 2011 by

Click for embiggenisation

Two of Australia’s worst alarmists are in the climate science news this morning. Firstly Andrew Glikson launches a nasty attack on sceptics, this time portraying them as “Orwellian”:

Ideologically dominated or totalitarian societies – such as George Orwell’s famous “1984” Ingsoc – are marked by:

  • attempts to alter reality (“2 + 2 = 5 if the party says so”)
  • elimination of history (“He who controls the past, controls the future”)
  • rewriting collective memory (“Oceania is at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia”)
  • The corruption of logic through aleration and elimination of language “Newspeak”
  • mind control (“thought crime”). (source)

Glikson then claims that the science on solar effects and cosmic rays are “unsupported mechanisms” despite the fact that research is still ongoing and very far from conclusive, lumps in the fringe group of Sky Dragon slayers with the majority of sceptics (who accept the scientific basis of the greenhouse effect), and claims that the Medieval Warm Period was cooler than the warming we would have had in the late 20th and early 21st centuries if something hadn’t stopped it. Follow that?

Nowhere is there any introspection as to the horribly corrupted and politicised state of climate science, any criticism of the actions of the IPCC, for example in accepting grey literature where it boosts their pre-conceived agenda of man-made warming, but strangely ignoring peer-reviewed papers which challenge that agenda, or any acceptance that the consensus side of science has been anything other than squeaky clean.

Bishop Hill responds here.

And secondly, our very own Eureka Prize Winning author of the (Un-) Skeptical Science website is the subject of Josh’s pen, for having been discovered (again, by Bishop Hill here and here) rewriting articles but leaving critical comments unchanged, adding responses to those comments in order to give the impression that silly sceptics hadn’t read the articles to which they refer. See image.

Filed Under: Climate

Neutrinos clocked breaking the cosmic speed limit?

23 September, 2011 by

The carabinieri have pulled over the neutrinos and confiscated their licences

Not climate (obviously) but so fundamental to physics that it was worth noting. The BBC reports:

Puzzling results from Cern, home of the LHC, have confounded physicists – because it appears subatomic particles have exceeded the speed of light.

Neutrinos sent through the ground from Cern toward the Gran Sasso laboratory 732km away seemed to show up a tiny fraction of a second early.

The result – which threatens to upend a century of physics – will be put online for scrutiny by other scientists.

In the meantime, the group says it is being very cautious about its claims.

“We tried to find all possible explanations for this,” said report author Antonio Ereditato of the Opera collaboration.

“We wanted to find a mistake – trivial mistakes, more complicated mistakes, or nasty effects – and we didn’t,” he told BBC News.

“When you don’t find anything, then you say ‘Well, now I’m forced to go out and ask the community to scrutinise this.'” (source)

It’s far too early to conclude anything from these results, but the laws of physics [regarding the existence in nature of the hypothetical super-luminal particles known as tachyons] may need a little rewrite if found to be correct.

UPDATE: The incomparable Lubos Motl dissects the results here – well worth a read, if rather technical.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With:

New book by Ian Plimer

23 September, 2011 by

Tricky questions

Professor Ian Plimer has written a new book, due to be released in November through publishers Connor Court, entitled:

“How to get expelled from School – a guide to climate change for pupils, parents and punters”.

From the Connor Court website:

Are pupils, parents and the public being fed political propaganda on climate change? Now is your chance to find out. Professor Plimer gives 101 simple questions with answers for you to ask teachers, activists, journalists and politicians. The climate industry adjusts the temperature record and withholds raw data, computer codes and information from scrutiny. Computer predictions of a scary future don’t agree with measurements. Past natural climate changes have been larger and more rapid than the worst case predictions yet humans adapted.  Is human-induced global warming the biggest financial and scientific scam in history? If it is, we will pay dearly.

More information and a pre-order form can be found here.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With:

Climate Spin of the Week: Mark Dreyfus

22 September, 2011 by

Spin cycle…

Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Mark Dreyfus huffs and puffs in The Australian today, having been found out by Henry Ergas last week of planting poison pills in the carbon tax legislation. Dreyfus attempts to explain it all away by citing “certainty” – i.e. it’s certain that we’ll be screwed under this legislation.

But the most shockingly misrepresentative statements in his article must be the following:

Ergas refers to carbon pricing in Australia as “unilateral action” and claims it will undermine our international competitiveness. This ignores the fact 89 countries, accounting for more than 80 per cent of global emissions and more than 90 per cent of the global economy, have pledged to reduce or limit emissions by 2020 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Could you be any more economical with the truth? Dreyfus’ statement is utter nonsense. The Copenhagen accord is non-binding and is barely worth the paper it is printed on, so to say they have “pledged” is simply weasel words for talking big to get a shaky agreement. The US, China and India (which make up nearly 50% of emissions globally) are doing NOTHING. Yeah, maybe China is making the right noises about cutting carbon intensity, but absolute emissions will continue to rise for decades. Ditto India. And the US is more worried about GFC Mk II than tackling climate change. The claims made by Dreyfus just don’t hold up.

Secondly, Dreyfus inflates the importance of existing trading schemes:

Key economies are already constraining emissions or emissions growth. Emissions trading schemes have operated for years in 31 European countries, New Zealand and in 10 US states.

New Zealand emits precisely square root of sod all. The “10” states in the RGGI (actually only eight since New Hampshire and New Jersey announced they were pulling out) make up a tiny token gesture. The EU ETS is in the process of helping to reduce the European economy to rubble. What a great act to follow!

And the Parliamentary Secretary really must check his facts:

California, the world’s eighth largest economy in its own right, will launch its ETS next year.

Wrong. The moonbat state has delayed it until 2013, which isn’t “next year”. Duh.

Read it here.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With: ,

Times World Atlas falls prey to climate alarmism

21 September, 2011 by

(Click to enlarge)

Some things you really believe you can trust. The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, for example. Not any more. Like so many grand old institutions, it has fallen prey to nonsensical claims that 15% of the Greenland ice sheet has disappeared in the last few years. So the cartographers meekly acquiesce, showing a massive retreat in the ice sheet in the latest edition (see image).

But having been pilloried in the press for the ridiculous claim (even by the BBC and Guardian), they’ve had to back down, as the Guardian reports:

The publishers of the Times Atlas were forced to admit on Tuesday that they were wrong to claim the Greenland ice pack had shrunk by 15%, asArctic scientists rounded on the company for misinterpreting data and failing to consult them.

The humiliating climbdown for HarperCollins – part of Rupert Murdoch’s publishing empire – came after key sources of data on the Greenland ice denied that their research, cited by the Times Atlas, warranted the claims. Despite criticism of the claim by scientists, a spokeswoman for the atlas had, as recently as Monday, issued a robust defence of the claim, saying: “We are the best there is … Our data shows that it has reduced by 15%. That’s categorical.”

But HarperCollins put out a statement on Tuesday saying: “For the launch of the latest edition of the atlas we issued a press release which unfortunately has been misleading with regard to the Greenland statistics. We came to these statistics by comparing the extent of the ice cap between the 10th and 13th editions of the atlas. The conclusion that was drawn from this, that 15% of Greenland’s once permanent ice cover has had to be erased, was highlighted in the press release not in the atlas itself. This was done without consulting the scientific community and was incorrect. We apologise for this and will seek the advice of scientists on any future public statements.” (source)

Maurizio Morabito has a theory:

So the following series of events is consistent with the observations:

  1. Times Atlas personnel read or listen from somewhere that the Greenland ice sheet is melting
  2. They open the Wikipedia page on the Greenland ice sheet
  3. As if by magic…that page contains a map of Greenland
  4. Times Atlas personnel convert that map to the Times Atlas high-quality standard

Now where’s the evidence for it? Where is it indeed, as Michael Corleone would have asked.

And furthermore, Hockey Schtick reports on a new paper that shows an ice sheet on the northern tip of Greenland has remained unchanged or grown slightly in the last few years:

Warmists tell us the effects of AGW should be most evident at the poles. A paper published today in the Journal of Geophysical Research closely examines the Flade Isblink Ice Cap at the northern tip of Greenland using data from two satellites from 2002-2008 and finds a slightly positive/near zero change in surface elevation and no change whatsoever in mass. However, according to the experts at The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, this entire ice cap has completely disappeared.

Another blow to alarmist credibility – and the Times Atlas – thanks to its desperation to advance an agenda by any means possible.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With: , ,

Early snow in Switzerland. Alarmists blame "global warming" in 3, 2, 1…

20 September, 2011 by

Six inches of global warming…

I didn’t know Al Gore was in Switzerland at the moment… From the Weather Isn’t Climate Department. 

RECORD SNOWFALL IN SWITZERLAND – 45CM IN ST MORITZ

Snow fell in the Swiss Alps overnight Sunday to levels unseen for the month of September, Swiss weather agency Meteosuisse reported on Monday.

In the ski resort of St Moritz, in the southeast canton of Grison, a total of 45 centimetres (nearly 18 inches) of snow was recorded on Monday morning, it said.

The weather agency said the high levels of precipitation were due to a cold front which lowered the snow line to 800 metres (2,600 feet).

Rainfall was also higher than usual, with around 100 liters per square meter measured in the town of Santa Maria, also in Grison, the highest level since records began in 1901, Meteosuisse said.

The snowfall also provoked traffic disturbances in the mountains, with the St Bernard, Flueela and Nufenen passes closed, according to ViaSuisse, which reports on the condition of Swiss roads.

The Gothard, Lukmanier and Oberalp passes are also covered in snow, it added. (source)

Dang, that global warming sure is tricky ain’t it?

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With:

ABC cossets the alarmists – again

19 September, 2011 by

Journalism at its worst?

Look out for ABC’s Four Corners tonight at 8.30 Eastern. It promises to be another hatchet job on the filthy deniers, raking up all the usual nonsensical sob-stories, including the non-existent death threats story, as a way to garner sympathy for the poor old climate scientists. Sky News reports:

Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb says the climate change debate is continuing to hit new lows.

Professor Ian Chubb wants politicians to consider compelling evidence that human activity has adversely affected the climate through global warming.

He says while it’s important people have different views about climate science, there are concerns about the level of threats sent to those working in the field.

‘Every time I think it’s reached a low, we then go on and reach a new low,‘ Prof Chubb has told ABC Television’s Four Corners Program.

‘And I think that’s of very little benefits to us as we’re trying to grapple with what is a very serious problem that needs serious discussion.

‘I would urge politicians to look at all the evidence and to wonder why it might be that something like 32 national academies of science all around the world are all saying that it’s very likely that human activity has adversely affected our climate through global warming.’

One scientist told the program he and some of his colleagues have received threats of violence.

Professor Will Steffen [who else? – Ed] from the Australian National University’s Climate Change Institute says some were direct threats of violence, while others were ‘simply very nasty emails with veiled threats in them that what might happen to us in a very general way’.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the plunge in debate should be blamed on the Opposition’s preparedness to ‘abuse scientists’.

She says some Tea Party-type tactics being used in the US have been imported to Australia.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has created ‘hyperventilating tripe’ about the impacts of carbon pricing as part of a quest to become the next prime minister.

‘I think the whole thing is really most unfortunate for our democracy, how it’s been hyped up, the call for the peoples’ revolt…’ (source)

Notice how there isn’t a single mention about keeping up standards of scientific integrity, or any criticism of the Team and the manner in which climate science has been politicised and corrupted. And notice also how Gillard and Combet blame everything on Tony Abbott! Hilarious! What about accepting responsibility for forcing through a policy with NO MANDATE which will achieve NOTHING for the climate? Geez.

I will force myself to watch it (probably tomorrow on the Foxtel IQ) although I would rather stick red hot needles in my eyeballs. If anyone would like to watch and write a review for ACM, feel free!

Filed Under: ABC Bias, Climate Tagged With: ,

Coalition to demolish carbon tax

19 September, 2011 by

The Coalition's plan

There is currently a flurry of activity to beat the deadline for written submissions from members of the public to the Joint Select Committee on the proposed carbon tax. But in all honesty, why bother? Why does anyone think that a government that is hell bent on introducing this tax at any price will take any notice of what the public think? The whole exercise, like everything else to do with the carbon tax, is a sham which will make no difference whatsoever. Have they listened before? No. Are they listening now? No.

Save your ink and the postage (or your fingers and a few KB of data sending an email). There are only two ways that this tax will be defeated: (a) some Labor MPs with a conscience vote it down; or (b) we wait for an incoming Coalition government to repeal it. Option (a) won’t work because, there aren’t any Labor politicians with a conscience (and even if there were, they would be prohibited from voting against the party anyway), so we’re left with option (b), which fortunately looks more and more likely:

THE Coalition will today sink Julia Gillard’s plan to send asylum-seekers to Malaysia and has vowed it will purge all elements of Labor’s mining and carbon taxes when it wins the next election.

In an escalation of the Coalition’s policy rhetoric, Joe Hockey has warned householders and businesses that any compensation they receive from the government over next July’s introduction of the carbon tax will be taken back by an incoming Coalition government as part of a push to improve the government’s budget position.

The opposition Treasury spokesman has also vowed to amend Labor’s industrial relations laws to deliver “worker mobility”, re-emphasised the Coalition’s promise to demolish Labor’s mineral resources rent tax and rejected the use of its proposed parliamentary budget office. (source)

In other words, any last trace of this appalling government will be airbrushed out of history. Good.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With: , ,

Josh on the Goreathon

18 September, 2011 by

Nobody's listening to ya, Al!

If you, like me and 99.9999999% of the population of the planet, missed the 24-hour Goreathon of climate spin either by good fortune or by design, Josh provides a useful summary over at Bishop Hill. By all accounts it was the usual hysteria and misrepresentation, so much so that even the Greenies switched off.

To paraphrase Steve Fleming in The Thick of It, Al Gore is moving from the man people love to hate, to the man people just hate. From Simon Cowell to Piers Morgan.

Enjoy.

UPDATE: Piers Corbyn draws our attention to a post on Climate Realists which is worth a read.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With:

US CO2 regulation on hold indefinitely

17 September, 2011 by

No action

You see? Australia IS slipping behind the rest of the world. Slipping behind in abandoning action on climate, that is. Only Julia Gillard, Greg Combet and the rest of the Labor no-hopers think that the world is still rushing ahead.

Europe’s economy is heading down the pan, and very soon they will be rueing the day when they set in stone ridiculous and unachievable emissions cuts and renewable energy targets, and that leaves just a few tiny contributors with emissions trading schemes, like New Zealand. The US is far too nervous about a possible GFC II to take any action that might damage its economy further, and as for China and India, well, apart from a few transparent gestures to keep the eco-tards happy, it’s business as usual thanks very much.

The Environmental Protection Agency is again delaying a plan to curb greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, saying it needs more time to propose the rule. The move comes amid intense pushback from business groups and Republican lawmakers who complain a recent slate of EPA proposals are chilling business investment and hindering the economic recovery.

“I am very pleased by today’s announcement that one of EPA’s most economically damaging rules will be delayed,” Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe said in a statement, adding that Republicans would work to block other EPA rules from coming into effect. (source – subscription)

So, Julia and Greg, how long can you keep up the presence that the world is “moving forward” with climate action? Just until the carbon tax bill is passed, perhaps?

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With:
«Previous Page
Next Page»