Australian Chief Scientist: 5 years to "save the world"

4 December, 2009 by

Embarrassment

Embarrassment

No alarmism or exaggeration there. Mark it in your diaries for the 4 December 2014, because in five years time, it will be too late, we may as well shut up shop, and all commit harakiri. But the most astonishing thing is that this isn’t from some sandwich-board-wearing religious nut, this is from our Chief Scientist.

THE planet has just five years to avoid disastrous global warming, says the Federal Government’s chief scientist.

Prof Penny Sackett yesterday urged all Australians to reduce their carbon footprint.

Australians – among the world’s biggest producers of carbon dioxide – were “better placed than others to do something about it“, she said.

“Australians can make an enormous contribution, so why would we not rise to this challenge and this opportunity,” she told a business conference in Melbourne.

Really, it’s just embarrassing.

Read it here.

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Nepal cabinet to meet on Everest

3 December, 2009 by

Large hills

Large hills

Wacky Stunt Alert. Following on from the underwater Maldives meeting, this was covered a while ago, but is in the news again:

Nepalese ministers arrived Thursday in Lukla, one of the main towns in the Everest region, ahead of a high-altitude cabinet meeting to stress the impact of global warming on the Himalayas.

Nepal’s cabinet is due to hold a meeting on Friday on a plateau 5,262 metres (17,192 feet) high, in the shadow of Mount Everest, to draw attention to the effects of global warming before a key climate change summit in Copenhagen.

Scientists say the Himalayan glaciers are melting at an alarming rate and creating huge glacial lakes that threaten to burst, devastating mountain communities downstream.

They warn that the glaciers could disappear within decades, bringing drought to large swathes of Asia, where 1.3 billion people depend on rivers that originate in the Himalayas.

The meeting has drawn comparisons with a stunt in the Maldives where ministers held an underwater cabinet meeting on October 17 to highlight the dangers of rising sea levels for the island nation.

At least they acknowledge it was a “stunt.”

Read it here.

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CSIRO scientist resigns over ETS "censorship"

3 December, 2009 by

Censored paper?

Censored paper?

This will cause a stir. Wouldn’t mind seeing some of the internal CSIRO emails either! Too much to hope for, I think…

A senior CSIRO environmental economist has resigned after saying his criticism of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) was censored.

Dr Clive Spash has resigned after three years with CSIRO. For most of this year, he had been in a dispute over the publication of his paper which criticised carbon trading schemes.

Read it here.

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Shock: ABC mentions "Climategate"

3 December, 2009 by

Climate alarmism 24/7

Climate alarmism 24/7

But then plays it down, quotes Pachauri, yawn yawn. Nothing to see here…

Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, will step aside “until the completion of an independent review,” the university said in a statement.

“It is an important step to ensure that CRU can continue to operate normally,” university vice-chancellor Professor Edward Acton said.

Dubbing the affair “Climategate”, some climate change sceptics have seized upon the emails, some of them written 13 years ago, and accused scientists at CRU of colluding to suppress data which might have undermined their arguments.

Sceptics have pointed to phrases in the emails in which climate scientists talk of using a “trick” to “hide the decline” in temperatures as evidence that they adjusted data to fit their theories. CRU denies any manipulation.

The head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC) Change, Rajendra Pachauri, said last week that the leaks do not affect findings in 2007 that it was more than 90 per cent certain that human activities were causing climate change.

“This private communication in no way damages the credibility of the … findings,” he said, saying that all conclusions were subjected to rigorous review.

Nah, course it doesn’t mate. Destroying data is just standard procedure, I guess?

Pachauri the Denier.

Read it here.

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Daily Bayonet: ClimateGate Round Up #5

3 December, 2009 by

Skewering the clueless

Skewering the clueless

A bit of light relief! Read it here.

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Climate madness from "Lord" Stern

3 December, 2009 by

Stern: Bonkers

Stern: Bonkers

Just to remind us all that the defeat of the ETS will not stop the bandwagon of global warming alarmism, Lord Stern (he of the woefully flawed Stern Report of 2006 – read pages 24 – 29 Lawrence Solomon’s The Deniers for the full story of just how woeful it is) has weighed in with yet more hysterics:

The Copenhagen summit is the world’s last chance to save the planet from “catastrophic” global warming, according to a major study led by Lord Stern of Brentford, the country’s leading authority on climate change.

Without an international agreement to limit global warming, temperatures are likely to rise by 9F (5C) by the end of the century – triggering mass migration, warfare and world hunger, according to the report.

Stern’s an economist. If he’s the UK’s leading authority on climate, heaven help the UK. And clearly there’s no vested interest, because he has no interest in any climate change organisation… no, wait:

Lord Stern, who is now chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, said world leaders at Copenhagen must agree to cut emissions while also providing a “global” fund to help poor countries of at least £30 billion per annum by 2015 and rising to £120 billion during the 2020s. (source)

Must keep the bandwagon rolling, to keep the paycheques rolling in. And if that wasn’t enough, Stern then goes on to produce a detailed and cogent rebuttal of climate change sceptic arguments… well, guess what, no he doesn’t – he calls them “muddled” instead (‘cos that’s a bit easier):

“This is evidence that is overwhelming, from all sources, that’s the kind of climate science we’re talking about,” he said.

“I think it is very important that those with any kind of views on the science or economics have their say – that does not mean that unscientific muddle also has the right to be recognised as searing insight.”

He added: “If they are muddled and confused, they do not have the right to be described as anything other than muddled and confused.” (source)

I’m literally blown away by the power of that argument from the UK’s “leading climate authority on climate change”. I’m sure you are too.

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UK: Australia's ETS defeat "threatens Copenhagen"

3 December, 2009 by

Sunk - by the Aussies!

Sunk - by the Aussies!

It’s the gift that keeps on giving! News of the ETS defeat has spread far and wide. Not only have we sunk the domestic ETS, but the UK Telegraph reports that our actions might scupper any remaining vestiges of a chance of a deal at Copenhagen:

Australia has dealt a major blow to any international deal on climate change ahead of the Copenhagen summit by failing to introduce new laws to control pollution.

The carbon trading bill, which has been rejected by parliament, would have set up one of the world’s biggest “cap and trade” markets.

The scheme works by limiting the amount of greenhouse gases industry can produce and forcing them to pay money for any extra emissions by trading with other companies.

But the Australian Senate, that is already deeply divided over the science of climate change, voted down the new legislation.

It is not only damaging to Kevin Rudd, the country’s Prime Minister, but could scupper efforts to control greenhouse gases on a wider scale at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen later this month.

Mr Rudd was seen as a leading advocate of tackling climate change on the world stage and was on his way back from a meeting with President Obama on the issue when news of the defeat came through.

…

Frank Jotzo, an Australian National University expert on international climate change negotiations, said the failure of Australia to introduce legislation will make developing countries less likely to agree to cut their own emissions.

“It’s not like the talks will stall because of the lack of an Australian emissions trading scheme,” he said. “But if the legislation had been passed, that would have sent a very positive signal internationally and, in particular, to developing countries.”

I am looking forward to Rudd’s forlorn entrance to Copenhagen – empty handed.

Read it here.

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No ETS in Coalition policy

3 December, 2009 by

The way ahead for Australia

The way ahead for Australia

The Coalition policy on climate change will not include any ETS or carbon tax, and will re-open the debate on nuclear power – about time too. Penny Wong, in her closing speech to the Senate yesterday held up the examples of the US, UK and France as countries which have working emissions trading schemes, conveniently forgetting one key fact: they all have massive nuclear power capability.

TONY Abbott plans to fight a climate change election using land management and energy efficiency measures to slash greenhouse emissions instead of an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax.

And as the Senate yesterday buried Kevin Rudd’s proposed carbon emissions trading scheme, the new Opposition Leader said his alternative means of reducing emissions would meet the same targets for sharp reductions in emissions proposed by Labor.

Mr Abbott’s promise came as Labor folded in the face of his dare for an early election on climate.

Despite the Senate’s rejection of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme establishing a double-dissolution trigger, Julia Gillard said the government would give the Coalition “one more chance” to change its mind. The Acting Prime Minister said Labor would introduce a new CPRS bill, including amendments agreed to by the Coalition under ousted leader Malcolm Turnbull, to parliament in February in the hope that “calmer heads” within the Coalition would shift their positions. (source)

But there is precious little hope of that:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he expects the Coalition’s position to harden over the summer break.

He has ruled out taking an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax to the next election as Coalition policy and says there is “very little” chance the Coalition would vote for one in February.

Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce does not think the public will be impressed by the idea of a third vote.

“The Australian people will just get furious with you. We’ve made our decision, you’re playing a game and we’re sick of it,” he said.

“Get over it, get on with life and get back to the next item of politics.” (source)

Well said, Barnaby, who may soon be on the front bench…

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Labor to bring back ETS in February

2 December, 2009 by

Elocution lessons required

Gillard: fish wife

The ETS is like Monty Python’s parrot: “It’s not dead, it’s just pinin’ for the fjords!”

In an astonishing display of arrogance, Julia Gillard has announced at a press conference that the ETS will be reintroduced into parliament on the first sitting day next year, and she is encouraging Coalition members to vote against their own party to get it through!

Is she hoping to get a different result next time? Sorry, Julia. I can tell you now, it will be voted down again… and again, and again, and again, and again.

The ETS is dead. Get used to it.

However, it is very interesting that they chose not to call a DD straight away, and give the Opposition “one last chance” to pass the ETS. Are they running scared, as Andrew Bolt suggests?

UPDATE: Here’s an excerpt from Julia Gillard’s patronising speech:

We are doing this to give the Liberal Party one chance to work through and deal with this legislation in the national interest. We all know the Liberal Party is deeply divided on this question and there have been many Liberal voices prepared to speak up for the national interest [remind me, how is a massive tax with no effect on the climate “in the national interest” again? – Ed] and to speak in favour of our plan to tackle climate change.

We believe that over the Christmas period there is time for the calmer heads in the Liberal Party to consider this question: to consider acting in the national interest and to join with the Government on the first sitting day when Parliament resumes to take decisive steps to deal with climate change. [maybe you’re hoping that an excess of turkey and mince pies will some how affect Coalition brains? Duh – Ed]

We will bring this Bill back into the Parliament because it’s the right thing to do in the national interest. We are determined to see this legislation pass the Parliament. We know that there are Liberals who are prepared to support this legislation. We know supporting this legislation was the position of the Liberal Party only a few short days ago.

We call on those in the Liberal Party over the summer period who believe in taking responsible action on climate change to consider their position, to consider the position of their Party and to come back to the Parliament next year ready to take action on climate change. (source)

In your dreams, Julia.

Just for the record, Gillard used the phrase “national interest” sixteen times in the press conference, and Penny Wong used it twice. There has seldom been a piece of legislation before the Australian parliament that is less in the national interest.

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ABC News Radio poll on ETS backfires

2 December, 2009 by

In all the acres of media coverage of the Coalition’s decision to dump the ETS, 99% of it meekly follows the government line: that the Australian people “want action on climate change” – despite the fact that the action in question, the ETS, will do nothing for climate [I am so sick of writing that – Ed]. The ABC is no different, having already smeared Tony Abbott in various articles, and having hardly reported ClimateGate at all.

So it is interesting that an ABC News Radio poll is currently showing nearly 55%, a sizeable majority, in favour of the Coalition blocking the ETS.

Oops, wrong result

Oops, wrong result

See the current results in the past poll list here.

UPDATE: The final result was 53.2% in favour of the Opposition’s rejection of the ETS, and 46.8% against

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