The Greens have been pointing to the “ambitious” US draft [daft? – Ed] climate change legislation as proof that Australia was not going far enough in its emissions reduction targets. But the reality is that the legislation has “zero chance” of being passed any time soon:

The bill, introduced by chairman of the energy and commerce committee Henry Waxman, stunned climate change proponents with its aggressive call for carbon emissions to be cut by 20 per cent by 2020, from 2005 levels. But it is seen by many in Washington as simply an ambit claim in US climate change legislation stakes.

Moves towards a comprehensive cap and trade system are being blasted by Republicans as a tax increase and senior Democrats and moderate Republicans have been pouring cold water this week on expectations of anything happening this year.

While Australian Greens senator Christine Milne characterised the Waxman bill this week as a sign the US had seized the leadership role and was surpassing countries such as Australia, the reality is very different in the US capital.
…
“The Democrats’ plan to raise energy taxes in the midst of a serious recession is the wrong thing to do and the worst possible time to do it,” said Republican leader of the house John Boehner.

Sorry Christine. Back to the drawing board.

Read it here.

As always, a great read!

I love the Fairytalefax comment – I think I may change it slightly to Fairytale Facts, which is what Fairfax prints most of the time.

The climate change hierarchy goes like this: Rudd, Garrett, Wong, Combet. Rudd is too busy toadying up to Obama at the G20 to give a monkey’s about climate change, Peter Garrett – sorry, who’s he again?, Wong – so last year, and we’re left with Combet to spout the government’s pitiful “climate change policy” – which is sort of like having a policy to “tackle the sun turning into a red giant and swallowing the earth whole in 4.5 billion years”. Anyway, Combet is learning the ropes of double-speak and spin with announcements like this:

“Many industries which are affected by the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme or potentially affected by it of course are also being severely impacted by the global economic downturn, and so its increasingly in the commentary of the industries becoming mixed up between the two issues,” he said.

“We’re obviously very concerned to ensure that we support jobs in all the current industries, but I can assure you the principal driver of the job insecurity at the moment is the global economic downturn, not the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme draft legislation.”

So let’s just analyse this – industries are being affected more by a global downturn than a bunch of draft legislation which has no effect whatsoever? Gee, that’s a surprise. How does he imagine businesses are currently affected by the draft legislation, which, until made law, isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on?

So much to learn, so little time, Greg.

Read it here and weep.

Can you believe it? The greatest challenge to humanity since the dawn of time (© Al Gore, James Hansen, IPCC etc etc) but the G20 choose to sidestep it completely. As the understandably miserable sounding Ohn Sauven, Executive Director of Greenpeace, puts it, sounding for all the world like a kid whose just lost his favourite teddy bear:

“Hundreds of billions were found for the IMF and World Bank, but for making the transition to a green economy there is no money on the table, just vague aspirations, talks about talks and agreements to agree.

“A clear financial commitment to green investment and jobs could have helped kick-start a green economy and tackle climate change.” (source)

No it couldn’t. At least the G20 are right on this issue.

Any gathering of world leaders, no matter how left wing or moonbattish (think Obama, Brown and Rudd) will bring all the anti-globalisation headbangers out of the woodwork for a free punch-up. Thus, the G20 summit has become the target of thousands of protesters, resulting in one death:

The man fell over unconscious, prompting a member of the public to call emergency services.
…
Police “made extensive efforts to resuscitate him both there and on the way to hospital”, an emergency services spokesperson said.

The man’s death came as police, many dressed in riot gear, were out in force as thousands demonstrated through the city’s financial district, outside the US embassy and in Trafalgar Square.

Chanting anti-capitalist, anti-war and anti-pollution slogans, they vented their fury as G20 leaders prepare to discuss the world financial crisis tomorrow.

Read it here.

UPDATE: It turns out that the police who tried to administer first aid to this person, who was a passer-by, were themselves pelted with missiles – disgusting. The UK Daily Mail has the full story.

IATA, the International Air Transport Association, a global airline trade organisation, has signed up to the full “CO2-causes-global-warming” script by announcing that it wants to reduce emissions during the landing phase of an aircraft’s flight in order to “combat climate change”:

In all, airlines are hoping to save 500,000 metric tons of carbon gas this way each year, said IATA’s head of infrastructure Guenther Matschnigg.

The measure – the first continent-wide plan of its kind – is part of the airline industry’s effort to combat climate change, IATA said.

500,000 metric tons is about 2 thousandths of one percent of global emissions. Let’s hope it doesn’t compromise safety.

Read it here.

Another day, another bishop wading in on the climate debate feet first. This time it’s George Browning, former bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, and a renowned expert on atmospheric physics and meteorology in his spare time, who has blamed the Victorian bush fires on “climate change”. Speaking at a memorial service in Westminster Abbey, attended by Krudd and his Kronies, he said:

“Weather patterns are changing and the human footprint is a major contributor.”

“[Arse-lick Alert] I am therefore grateful and proud that the Australian Government has made a significant contribution to reduce the Australian contribution to the adverse effects of the human footprint.

“We dare not contemplate a future without learning the lessons this experience has taught us.”

As with wacky Rowan Williams (see here), he should stick to bothering god, not the rest of us with his ill-informed claptrap.

Read it here.

That’s nearly a billion people, according to the Sydney Moonbat Herald:

ABOUT one person in every seven around the world is believed to have followed Sydney’s lead and switched off lights on Saturday night to call for stronger action against climate change.

Earth Hour has grown far beyond the expectations of its organiser, WWF Australia, in the year when nations must decide whether to commit to binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

“This is the foundation we needed to give political leaders a mandate to act on climate change, if they choose to take it,” said Earth Hour’s global director, Andy Ridley.

All complete BS, of course. The web is awash with before/during/after photos of Earth Hour, all looking remarkably, er, the same, such as this one in Times Square, New York:

Spot the one missing bulb (source)

And to add insult to injury, this whopper:

Half the population of Sydney again joined Earth Hour, which is supported by Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald.

Andrew Bolt demolishes that by simply showing the electricity demand curves for Saturday which show no evidence of Earth Hour whatsoever …

The more the evidence shows no warming, no rising sea levels, no link to CO2 etc, the more desperate the enviro-headbangers get, and the more ludicrous their lies and distortions become. Expect worse in the future.

Read it here.

We asked:

ACM should no longer blog Fairfax news items

You said:

• 51% (23 votes) said Agree, I’m bored of Fairfax Posts
• 49% (22 votes) said Disagree, I think it’s entertaining

It’s such a close result that we’ll be cutting down our Fairfax posts, but not eliminating them completely. And they will always be prefaced with “Fairfax Fantasy” so you can choose to ignore them! Thanks for voting!

Although “taking a lead on climate” is like trying to hold back the tide, the US president is a card-carrying warmist who thinks we can stop the natural variations in the earth’s climate by cutting emissions and as a result crippling the global economy.

Mr Obama announced over the weekend the formation of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate – a grouping of 17 major economies including Australia – with a ministerial meeting to be held in April and a leaders’ meeting in Italy in July.

The President said that his aim was to “help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome in Copenhagen“.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, who is in the US for talks with key administration officials, said the Rudd Government “fully supported” the President’s plan.

All sounds great, doesn’t it? But how are they going to reconcile the huge increase forecast for China’s and India’s emissions with the plan to reduce them globally? China and India have more important things to worry about, like providing an economy strong enough to provide a decent standard of living for their populations.

Read it here.