Through gritted teeth, the ABC has to concede that a decline in frog populations is caused by a fungal disease and has nothing to do with “climage change”.

More than 50 frog species in the Americas and at least four in Australia have been wiped out.

Initially global warming was thought to help the fungus spread but this has been ruled out.

So I eagerly await the correction from News.com.au regarding this gem published earlier this month and commented on here:

Going, going … primatologist Dr Jane Goodall with a Splendid Tree Frog at Adelaide Zoo. Adelaide, Berlin, London and San Francisco Zoos are starting a frog insurance program because they are dying out all over the world due to climate change.

How long do you think I’ll have to wait?

Read it here.

The ABC publishes results from an ANU poll and in order to stoke up its PC greenie credentials manages to spin them in the most remarkable way. The first paragraph blares that:

“Australians are deeply concerned about global warming”

and then reveals that:

“two in five people believe global warming [sic] was the most serious threat facing the planet.”

So only two in five are deeply concerned apparently, the remainder couldn’t give a fig, and are rightly more concerned about other things.

However, Professor Ian McAllister of ANU does make one very pertinent comment in this sea of propaganda:

“There needs to be a much greater debate about the pros and cons of the emissions trading scheme so ordinary voters are more informed about the whole issue,” he said.

Yes indeed.

Read it here.

Royal Tree Hugger Prince Charles doesn’t miss an opportunity to wade into issues about which he knows little, and climate change is one of them.

“But we take our eye off the ‘climate crunch’ at our peril,” he said in a speech at Japan’s National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.

“While we hope and pray that the underlying strengths of the global economy will once again enable it to bounce back, the effects of climate change will be far from temporary and will, indeed, be irreversible,” he said.

So that’s irreversible in the sense that countless other climate changes that have taken place over millions of years of earth’s history are “irreversible”?

Read it here.

The Age, my favourite paper, gleefully trumpets that “treasury modelling” will reject claims that an ETS will force industries offshore.

It is believed the modelling finds that even if Australia were to cut its emissions sharply — such as the 25% cut from base levels by 2020 proposed by Professor Ross Garnaut — it would not be enough to force the closure of aluminium smelters or cement plants.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but the modelling has been going on since last year, and takes no account of the global economic crisis, so is about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. Next.

Read it here.

The Moonbat Herald is falling over itself with doom and gloom with a bit of sucking up to a radio presenter about his virtuous “green” habits. All deeply nauseating, but here we go anyway.

Firstly, the New South Wales Premier, Nathan Rees, has revealed himself to be an AGW alarmist (as we knew he would) by launching a scathing attack on former Treasurer, Michael Costa:

“Today, the science is in for Sydney,” Mr Rees said yesterday as he proclaimed the influence of the climate sceptic and former treasurer Michael Costa at an end in NSW.

“The Costa era of ambiguity around this issue is over. Along with the rest of the NSW public, I recognise that climate change is a reality and that the NSW Government needs to prepare for it,” the Premier said. “There is no longer a climate-change sceptic at the centre of government decision-making in this state”.

The rest of the NSW public? Don’t include me, mate. And no sceptics means no debate, which is just what every alarmist wants. To the poor voters of NSW, get rid of this hopeless government at the next election. Then the SMH goes into full scaremonger mode, under the headline “Beaches will wash away”:

By 2050, most of Sydney’s 150-odd major beaches will need thousands of tonnes of extra sand delivered by truck to survive in anything like their current condition, experts believe.

The projected sea level rise of up to 40 centimetres in the next four decades, revealed yesterday by the NSW Government, will change the city’s coastline.

40 cm in 40 years? Sea levels have been rising at 1 – 2 mm per year since the last Ice Age, and are showing no appreciable signs of acceleration. But, as always, who cares about the facts when we can run an alarmist story that will sell more papers? And finally, Adam Spencer reveals his policitally correct greenie agenda in a sycophantic interview under the laughable headline “Use your legs and save the planet”. This guy does the breakfast show on ABC local radio in Sydney, and more worryingly has hosted science programmes as well.

Q. You hold a first-class honours degree in pure mathematics. What doesn’t add up to you when it comes to how leaders are dealing with global warming?

A. When I see the intransigence and half-heartedness with which many leaders are approaching this, I think, “Well, what would the figures need to be to get you to pull your finger out, pal?”

With first class honours in mathematics, he should have more of a clue about proper scientific enquiry and scepticism than he demonstrates. But then again, this is the Herald. I couldn’t imagine it getting published if he’d said, well, actually, I think there’s a bit of a debate to be had here. OK, thanks, we’ll leave it there… And there’s a “Global Warming” Alert too: didn’t that stop in 2001?

Q. What do you get the green guilts about?

A. I’m pretty happy with how my family runs its affairs environmentally. We are on 100 per cent GreenPower.

Read it here, here and here if you can bear it.

Some particularly offensive remarks from some EU busybody who is Down Under telling us how we should run our lives (let’s not forget, the EU are experts at regulating every microsecond of the EU’s downtrodden populus, and they don’t know how to stop when they go abroad):

He gave the thumbs up to Australia’s draft plan for emissions trading, due to start in 2010.

“I think you’re going along the right path,” said the senior policy officer with the European Commission’s environment division.

Phew, relief, that’s all we were waiting for – a “thumbs up” from an EU bureaucrat…

Dr Marr dismissed critics who want emissions trading delayed because of the financial crisis, telling them they should look for another planet to live on.

I know – I’ve got a better idea, you find another planet to live on. Preferably one at the darkest and dingiest end of the galaxy. It’s so mind-numbingly tedious when people can’t be bothered to come up with cogent responses to “sceptics” and simply launch into clichéd ad hominem attacks.

Dr Marr said that since arriving in Australia he had read some “quite embarrassing” comments in the media from people who did not want to take action on climate change.

Clearly “Dr” Marr has never read The Age, then, or the ABC web site, which every day is full of alarmist and scaremongering claptrap which is far more embarrassing. I mean really, why do we give a flying carbon credit what this guy thinks? The EU is in a complete shambles when it comes to its emissions reduction plans, so the only thing we could learn from them is how to screw it up. Actually, on second thoughts, Dr Marr, keep talking!!

Read it here.

Let’s hope so. The ABC reports that Malcolm Turnbull has attacked the Government’s climate change policy ahead of the release of the economic modelling on the impact of an ETS.

The Opposition says the modelling is months late and does not take into account the turmoil in global financial markets.

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says the Government should not be rushing to introduce an emissions trading scheme in 2010.

“It’s likely to be economically very damaging and environmentally very ineffective so a lose-lose [situation],” he said.

“It’s important to put Australia first to be environmentally effective and economically responsible.”

Dead right, and all he needs to do now is drop his agreement to a “carbon” copy of the ETS (excuse the pun), merely delayed by a couple of years, and we’ll be making progress. Come on Malcolm, we’re all counting on you to put an end to this madness.

Read it here.

There won’t be many posts this week as I have other commitments. Stay tuned in the days ahead.

Best wishes,

Simon from Sydney

More regulation, more regulation and yet more regulation, all courtesy of this panacea for those who seek to control our lives even more than they are already, “climate change”.

The CSIRO and local councils say the Federal Government must urgently draw up a national plan to stop sea changers building in places which could soon be under water.

I hope he doesn’t go on to cite increased storms as another reason, because that argument was blown out years ago:

A combination of a little bit of sea level rise and storm surges can lead to dramatic effects.

Oh well, never mind.

Read it here.

Arse-over-Apex Logic Alert: Screaming Lord Stern (formerly plain old Sir Nicholas) is peddling his own particular brand of logic when he claims that the global economy will face a more severe downturn that the current crisis if it fails to “halt climate change”. Halting climate change is like holding back the tide – it can’t be done – climate has changed since the dawn of time and will continue to do so until the sun reaches the end of its life and swallows the earth whole (actually, Al Gore’s made a movie about that too… see here).

“One thing we should have learned from this experience of the financial crisis is if we ignore risk building in the system, that risk will get much more difficult to manage than if we recognise it and tackle it early,” the British economist said.

Yeah, that’s right, we’ve gotta do it NOW! Science, Schmience – who cares? It’s gotta be now, I tell you, NOW! Give me your money, sign on the dotted line (credit cards accepted).

He added that failure to act could lead to a temperature rise that would have severe consequences for global stability.

“These kinds of changes will transform the physical geography of the planet. They will transform where people will live,” he said at an event for HSBC, a bank where he is a part-time policy adviser.

“You will see movements of billions of people, (and) the result of that will probably be extreme conflict.”

That would be like the “temperature rise” we’ve seen in the last 8 years, would it? Like, Hello! And the most important word in that last sentence: “probably”, i.e. based on flawed models with flawed data, and a bit of reckless imagination.

Read it here.

P.S. I’m thinking of appointing Stern UK patron of the ACM blog, as he sums up everything this blog is campaigning against. Climate Penny would be his Australian equivalent, or Ross Garnaut, or Kevin Rudd, or Peter Garrett or Bob Brown or… too much choice.