Even James Hansen wants Copenhagen to fail

4 December, 2009 by

Hansen (L), Homer (R)

Hansen (L), Homer (R)

And with Al Gore pulling out of a $1,200-a-head presentation, things aren’t looking that hot:

The scientist who convinced the world that global warming was a looming danger says the planet will be better off if next week’s Copenhagen climate change summit ends in collapse.

James Hansen, considered the most distinguished climate scientist [Ha, ha! My aching sides – Ed], says any agreement to emerge from the meeting will be so flawed that it would be better to start again from scratch.

His words came on the same day as the University of East Anglia announced an investigation into the thousands of damaging leaked emails emanating from its Climatic Research Unit.

Professor Hansen heads the NASA Goddard Institute earth sciences unit in New York. In 1989 he made several appearances before Congress and did more than any other scientist to educate [“brainwash” – Ed] politicians about the causes of global warming and the urgent need to change behaviour.

Earlier this year, he was awarded the Carl Gustaf Rossby Research Medal by the American Meteorological Society. It was awarded for his outstanding contribution to climate modelling and for clear communication of climate science in the public arena. [The ABC is in full hyperbole mode here, as you can see – Ed]

He certainly was not mincing his words when he gave his views to the Guardian newspaper online about the prospects for next week’s climate change conference.

“The approach that’s being talked about is so fundamentally wrong that it’s better to reassess the situation,” he said.

“I think it’s just as well that we not have a substantive treaty.”

Advice to Copenhagen delegates. Save the airfare, save the CO2, stay at home instead.

Read it here.

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Turnbull backs Rudd on climate

4 December, 2009 by

Not worth reading

Not worth reading

“Which Side Are You On” Alert, as Malcolm Turnbull backs Kevin Rudd’s attack on Tony Abbott’s climate policies:

KEVIN Rudd has launched his campaign to demolish Tony Abbott, warning that the new Opposition Leader wants to dot the nation with nuclear reactors and reinstate John Howard’s industrial relations laws.

The Prime Minister has also accused Mr Abbott of espousing “magic pudding politics” by claiming Australia could tackle climate change without the market-based solution of putting a price on carbon.

And Malcolm Turnbull, ousted by Mr Abbott as Liberal leader on Tuesday, has reignited party tension by endorsing Mr Rudd’s argument on the issue. (source)

Here is the extract from Turnbull’s newsletter, from which I have now unsubcribed with great haste:

And I regret that the party room changed its policy on climate change from one of supporting the emissions trading scheme legislation, as amended at our request, to opposing it.

…

Many people have asked me whether it is possible to cut emissions without an ETS, a carbon tax or raising electricity prices. The short answer is “No”.

If I never hear Malcolm Turnbull’s name again, it will be too soon. A disgrace to his party, and as Andrew Bolt puts it, “Liberal’s Latham.”

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Daily Bayonet: GW Hoax Weekly Round-up

4 December, 2009 by

As always, a great read!

Skewering the clueless

Skewering the clueless

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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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