Bob Carter's op-ed in The Age

27 June, 2011 by

Climate sense

Rubs eyes in disbelief. Yes, I did read that correctly. Carter gets published in the opinion pages of Pravda on the Yarra. That noise you can hear in the distance is all the urban-green trendy Age readers in Toorak choking on their organic muesli and skinny mocha soy lattes.

So here are Carter’s five “inconvenient” facts, which most Fairfax readers (or ABC listeners/watchers) would never have been exposed to:

Fact 1. A mild warming of about 0.5 degrees Celsius (well within previous natural temperature variations) occurred between 1979 and 1998, and has been followed by slight global cooling over the past 10 years. Ergo, dangerous global warming is not occurring.

Fact 2. Between 2001 and 2010 global average temperature decreased by 0.05 degrees, over the same time that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increased by 5 per cent. Ergo, carbon dioxide emissions are not driving dangerous warming.

Fact 3. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is beneficial. In increasing quantity it causes mild though diminishing warming (useful at a time of a quiet sun and likely near-future planetary cooling) and acts as a valuable plant fertiliser. Extra carbon dioxide helps to shrink the Sahara Desert, green the planet and feed the world. Ergo, carbon dioxide is neither a pollutant nor dangerous, but an environmental benefit.

Fact 4. Closing down the whole Australian industrial economy might result in the prevention of about 0.02 degrees of warming. Reducing emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 (the government’s target) will avert an even smaller warming of about 0.002 degrees. Ergo, cutting Australian emissions will make no measurable difference to global climate.

Fact 5. For an assumed tax rate of $25 a tonne of carbon dioxide, the costs passed down to an average family of four will exceed $2000 a year.

There’s also a poll, which asks “Do you think tackling climate change is a priority for Australia?” – so far 74% say NO. Hmm.

Read it here.

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Idiotic Comment of the Day: Bob Brown

27 June, 2011 by

Delusional

Bob Brown and the Greens in general make so many idiotic comments, on an hourly basis, that they would win this award every single time. But this one stands out as being the most idiotic in a long, long time. From Insiders yesterday (I’ve made it bigger so nobody misses it):

“You know the coal industry has to be replaced by renewables.”

(source) Note that Barrie Cassidy didn’t even pick Brown up about that extraordinary statement…

And reaction has been quick:

Senator Joyce said he was fascinated to know how Senator Brown proposed to keep the national economy running without revenue from coal exports.

”We need the money to pay for hospitals, roads, schools, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme so pensioners can get discounted medicine, and social security,” Senator Joyce said.

”Bob obviously has a magical new way to do it and I am fascinated to know how it works.

”What Bob says is a total and utter fantasy, that some angel will descend from heaven and make everything better. Remember Bob, after you’ve got rid of coal you’ve also got rid of cheap power so there will be no manufacturing industry we will have diddly squat, we will be white beggars of the south Pacific.”

…

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he believed the carbon tax would destroy the coal industry.

”It will destroy the steel industry, the cement industry, the aluminium industry, the motor industry it will be, over time, the death of heavy manufacturing in Australia,” he said. (source)

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Support for "climate action" falling fast

27 June, 2011 by

Sinking fast

The ABC reports this (through gritted teeth, naturally):

New research shows support for taking action on climate change is falling steeply.

The Lowy Institute’s annual poll asked about 1,000 people for their opinions on a range of topics, including climate change and the war in Afghanistan.

The poll shows that there has been a steep fall in the number of Australians who think climate change is a serious problem which needs addressing now.

It says 41 per cent of respondents want to see action even if it means a significant cost, down 27 percentage points since 2006.

Thirty-nine per cent of poll respondents said they would not be willing to pay anything extra on their electricity bill to help tackle climate change.

Read it here.

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Senate to investigate damaging effects of wind farms

24 June, 2011 by

The best thing that can happen to a wind farm

Wind farms are, as we all know, inefficient, expensive and ugly. And that’s just their good points. They are also a scandalous waste of money, generating pitiful amounts of electricity, and rarely running at more than 25% of their rated capacity. And back-up traditional power stations are still required for when the wind isn’t blowing, or isn’t blowing hard enough (which is most of the time). Not only that but there are other concerns too:

URGENT research should be undertaken into the potentially damaging health effects of wind farms on nearby residents, says a landmark Senate report released yesterday.

In a dramatic win for residents’ groups who have raised widespread concerns about the impact of wind farms on rural communities, the committee recommended that noise measurements be expanded to include low-frequency noise, or infrasound.

Campaigners welcomed the report and said there should be an immediate halt to wind farm developments until the potential health impacts were better understood.

According to the Clean Energy Council, there are 53 wind farms operating in Australia, with 1089 operating turbines that can reach the height of a 45-storey building and have blades up to 50m long.

…

The majority Senate report yesterday called for tougher rules on noise, new rules to govern how close wind farms can be built to houses, and an independent arbitrator to hear complaints.

It said arbitrary setbacks – the distance that a wind farm must be built from a residence – may not be adequate and each situation may need to be considered on its merits.

But the most dramatic findings were in the area of potential harm from low-frequency noise.

The committee said the commonwealth government should initiate as a matter of priority “thorough, adequately resourced epidemiological and laboratory studies of the possible effects of wind farms on human health”.

It doesn’t matter what route we take, as long as we put a stop to the wind farm madness.

Read it here.

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Daily Bayonet GW Hoax Weekly Roundup

24 June, 2011 by

Skewering the clueless

As always, a great read!

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Monckton oversteps the mark

23 June, 2011 by

Not a good look

I have to confess that I have mixed feelings about Lord Monckton as an advocate for the sceptics cause. On the one hand, he has built up a loyal following and his presentations are always entertaining.

But on the other, he comes across as rather eccentric (and this is in no way a criticism, merely an observation, and it is the unfortunate reality that eccentricity can subtract from credibility), a little out of touch perhaps (every PowerPoint slide features an aristocratic portcullis, both unnecessary and alienating), and, of more concern, some of his claims are sitting targets for alarmists.

We had an exchange of emails back in January regarding the baseline year for claims that temperatures had fallen (see here) which ACM viewed as unhelpful. Read the correspondence and form your own view.

But I think my mind has been made up after this latest episode. The climate debate has become even more vicious and personal in recent days and weeks. Only yesterday I posted about Jill Singer’s suggestion that sceptics should gas themselves with carbon monoxide. Richard Glover wrote recently that “deniers” should be tattooed.

And now, sadly, Monckton has confirmed Godwin’s Law and joined in:

PROFESSOR Ross Garnaut has been labelled an eco-fascist by climate-change sceptic Lord Christopher Monckton in a speech in the US.

The Scottish peer, who is scheduled to speak at the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies conference in Perth next week, said Prof Garnaut, the government’s chief climate-change adviser, held fascist views.

Footage of Lord Monckton aired on the Seven Network showed him variously describing Prof Ross Garnaut as having “a fascist point of view”, as someone who expected people to “accept authority without question”.

“Heil Hitler, on we go,” said Lord Monckton in discussing Prof Garnaut, as a quote was displayed beside a swastika. (source)

Now, I agree in principle with the sentiment of all this, but invoking Nazi symbols and references is uncalled for.

The last thing we should be doing is abandoning our standards of conduct towards those with whom we disagree. Let the alarmists call us names and try to silence us, but at the same time, we must try our very best to maintain dignity and rise above the petty schoolyard bullying of the alarmist camp. As Anthony Watts correctly states, this doesn’t help.

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Breaking: pissweak Fielding scuttles plebiscite call

22 June, 2011 by

A right stunt

Steve Fielding – never has so much hope been placed on someone so incapable of delivering. The lamentable Senator voted Abbott’s plebiscite down, calling it a “political stunt” – I guess you of all people should know one when you see one (see right).

I remember back in the day, when Fielding actually had some sceptical gumption (see here for an example from 2009). Happy to challenge the science, he actually went to the US to discuss it. But now he can’t even bring himself to give the people a vote on a policy that will not only do bugger all for the climate, but about which the Prime Minister LIED before the election.

What a total waste of space. At least he’ll be gone by the end of the week, off to the land of political obscurity, never to be seen or heard of again.

Read it here.

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Final Solution: alarmist wants sceptics to gas themselves

22 June, 2011 by

Jill Singer - charming

Offensive on so very many levels, but I guess it’s what we should expect from alarmists with no arguments left:

I’m prepared to keep an open mind and propose another stunt for climate sceptics – put your strong views to the test by exposing yourselves to high concentrations of either carbon dioxide or some other colourless, odourless gas – say, carbon monoxide.

You wouldn’t see or smell anything. Nor would your anti-science nonsense be heard of again. How very refreshing.

On second thoughts, maybe you should be tattooed first, then gassed. All we need now are the sceptic death camps and we’d have a fully fledged Final Solution on our hands. Is that maybe what’s being suggested?

Read it here.

See here for information about the real dangers of carbon monoxide, which kills many people as a result of faulty gas heaters…

(h/t Bolta)

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Aussie Chief Scientist only wants to hear from warmists

22 June, 2011 by

Counting heads ISN'T SCIENCE

UPDATE: Just in case you were in any doubt about Chubb’s views on climate change, The Age helps us out:

Professor Chubb rejected accusations that he was partisan because he believed that ”the science is in on climate change”.

”Well, I don’t think that’s partisan. I think that I can read English – as Ross Garnaut once said – and understand it. And I think that the evidence is overwhelming,” he said at the National Press Club. (source)

Call me an old fogey, but I thought that the whole point of science was about challenging a hypothesis in order to see if it stands up to scrutiny, and if it does not, moving on to develop a new hypothesis. Apparently not, according to Australia’s own Chief Scientist, who is following in the same sorry footsteps as his predecessor, alarmist Penny Sackett. He seems to believe that science is done by counting heads. He needs an urgent lesson in the scientific method, and in scientific history:

AUSTRALIA’S chief scientist Ian Chubb has waded into the highly charged debate surrounding climate change, arguing people who disagree with the scientific evidence supporting human-induced global warming do not “deserve equal weight”.

Professor Chubb yesterday used the stage at the National Press Club in Canberra to say the debate on climate change had been “appalling” and “hysterical”, and to label the scientific literacy of politicians as lacking. [I agree with that – Ed]

He also signalled his intention to take a more robust involvement in policy development. [Call me an old fogey again, but what has the Chief Scientist’s role got to do with policy development? – Ed]

Professor Chubb took over the job after Penny Sackett, who failed to secure one face-to-face meeting with Julia Gillard, resigned earlier this year.

He yesterday took aim at the media’s coverage of the climate change debate, saying it had not conveyed the science in a “proper and balanced” way. [No, just look at ABC and Fairfax – bias is in their genes – I don’t think that’s what he meant – Ed]

“I think attacking people because they’re giving a message is appalling. I think some of the language that’s used is bordering on the hysterical,” he said. “I’ve seen literature that suggests (more than) 90 per cent of experts in climate science are all of one view. And that is that the planet is warming and humans have intervened to accelerate that process.

“So somebody who comes along and says it’s not true doesn’t deserve equal weight. [Try telling that to Galileo, or to Robin Warren and Barry J. Marshall – Ed]. They deserve to have their views considered if they’ve gone through the proper and scientific process and it’s ended up in the peer review literature.” (source)

So I assume he will be speaking out forcefully and standing up for giving equal weight to Professors Carter, Lindzen, and the hundreds of other highly respected scientists who have published peer-reviewed works challenging the alarmist consensus. Oops, I don’t think that’s what he meant, do you?

Shutting down those who don’t share your views. Oldest trick in the book.

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Kiwis not so dumb? Scaling back ETS already

21 June, 2011 by

Slightly less mad?

Following on from yesterday’s post on the New Zealand ETS that, according to PM John Key, is “working”, The Australian today reports that our neighbour across the ditch is actually scaling back its ETS in the face of economic pressures. Julia didn’t mention that, did she?

AS Julia Gillard urged Australia to follow the “gutsy Kiwi” lead on carbon pricing, Prime Minister John Key has declared New Zealand will be slowing its expansion of emissions trading and doesn’t want to “lead the world”.

Mr Key refused to offer advice to Australian politicians embroiled in the carbon tax debate and signed an agreement with the Australian Prime Minister for a joint working party on trans-Tasman carbon emissions trading.

But he warned that New Zealand would be delaying the inclusion of agricultural emissions in its system for at least four years and was unlikely to double the carbon price from 2013, as previously planned, because of pressure on consumers.

…

Earlier, Mr Key said in an interview with The Australian his government was reviewing the ETS he inherited from the former Labour government and there would be changes to the “quite expensive system”.

Mr Key said the New Zealand system, which prices carbon at $NZ12.50 ($9.55) a tonne and includes all gases and emitters, was costing consumers about $NZ150 a year but the price was due to double to $NZ25 a tonne from 2013 and include agriculture, which accounts for 50 per cent of New Zealand’s emissions.

Mr Key told The Australian the review would mean “the government is likely to move a bit more slowly because of the global financial crisis and other countries are moving more slowly”. (source)

So NZ is actually taking notice of the fact that the other major emitters are doing nothing, and responding appropriately. How refreshing. Just as the Kiwis sensibly don’t want to “lead the world”, neither should Australia.

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