WORLD AWASH WITH OIL

This article looks at the current situation. It looks as though peak oils is some while away/

RIO TALKS A TOTAL FAILURE

This article in the Toronto Sun looks at what has come out of the recent Rio+20 Climate Conference and concludes it is the dying phase of the recent obsession over global warming. Although I suspect they are right there is still a lot of damage being caused by the policies already enacted. This religion is going to take a long time to die.

IPCC PUBLISHES POLITICS DRESSED UP AS SCIENCE

This article gives an excellent insight into the workings of the IPCC. How much longer will the media and the politicians take it seriously? The following quote from the article neatly sums up the situation, "So it doesn’t matter if total waffle is produced by unheard of academics, on the instruction of Western NGOs and advocacy organisations… The next IPCC report will produce politically correct science, which must surely be nearly as good as ‘truth’. So will this let Greenpeace smuggle its agenda into AR5, on the basis of ‘positive discrimination’? We’ll have to wait and see."

FOSSIL FUEL TO LAST FOR CENTURIES

Roger Helmer's excellent blog post looks at the abundance of methane hydrates as a source of methane. It is a reality that no nation can ignore, and a much more realistic contribution than wind power. This blog also referred to this here

MET OFFICE COMPUTER MODELS ARE RUBBISH

Here is a reminder from the GWPF website just how way out the computer models of the Met Office are this year. No doubt they will tell us that weather and climate are different and they are rubbish at the former but brilliant at the latter. But why should we believe them?

RIO+20 - THE FUTURE WE DON'T WANT

This piece from the Telegraph looks at the agreement coming from the latest environmental conference of world governments being held in Cancun. It finds that the agreement is considered "weak" by the environmental lobby, which is good news for the rest of us, though clearly disappointing for our Deputy PM, Nick Clegg. He, of course, is the leader who promised students no tuition fees, and then went on to back much higher fees - so much for his word. So let us rejoice. For more on the talks go here

CALIFORNIA IN DESPERATE MEASURES

This article shows what has become of the Golden State as increasing bureaucracy and taxation, many of them to follow the green agenda, has whittled away its natural advantages of the pioneering spirit. It is now privatising its national parks which for the environmentalists must be the equivalent of selling the family silver.

THE PEER REVIEW SCANDAL

This article by Prof Bob Carter clearly and succinctly points out the weakness of the peer review process for scientific articles. It shows clearly that we should not regard peer review as some sort of gold standard.

US BANKS FORCED TO FOLLOW GREEN AGENDA

This article tells the story of how banks are being coerced by threats to abandon coal and fund green alternatives.

CHARITIES FUNDED BY GOVERNMENT AND THE EU

This article looks at the way the government lobbyists are actually charities funded largely by the government. It's all a massive merry-go-round using taxpayers money to fund those lobbying the government to do what it intends to do anyway.

WALK OUT AT CLIMATE TALKS

This report in the Guardian tells us that the Rio + 20 climate talks are even more disjointed than usual. No doubt in the end there will be some backroom stitch up that will leave us all worse off.

ANOTHER SCIENTIST SACKED FOR BEING A GW SCEPTIC

Below is an email I came by via another scientist. It reveals a sad and worrying train of events. I just thought readers should see it.

 ----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Gordon Fulks ...>
To:
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 6:01:33 PM
Subject: Oregon State University purges another skeptical faculty member

Hello Everyone,

In theory at least Oregon State University (OSU) seems to be a bastion of academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance.  A wide range of ideas are openly discussed.  The most viable rise to the top and the least viable fade away.  But it is all a fairy tale, because OSU operates under a politically correct regimen that dictates what is acceptable to say and what is not. Transgressors who dare to be different are eventually weeded out so that the campus maintains its ideological purity.

OSU is not yet as swift or efficient as the Soviet system when Joseph Stalin was trying to quash dissent among biologists who refused to go along with Trofim Lysenko.  If warnings to compromise their integrity were not followed, Stalin simply had biologists shot.  That quickly thinned the ranks of all biologists and persuaded the remaining ones to comply with Stalin's wishes.  Of course, it also destroyed Soviet biology, because Lysenko was pedaling nonsense.  And Russian biology has never recovered.

We learned over the weekend that chemist Nickolas Drapela, PhD has been summarily fired from his position as a "Senior Instructor" in the Department of Chemistry.  The department chairman Richard Carter told him that he was fired but would not provide any reason.  Subsequent attempts to extract a reason from the OSU administration have been stonewalled.  Drapela appears to have been highly competent and well-liked by his students.  Some have even taken up the fight to have him reinstated.

What could possibly have provoked the OSU administration to take precipitous action against one of their academics who has been on their staff for ten years, just bought a house in Corvallis, and has four young children (one with severe medical problems)?  Dr. Drapela is an outspoken critic of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming, the official religion of the State of Oregon, the Oregon Democratic Party, and Governor John Kitzhaber.

Five years ago, Oregon State Climatologist George Taylor went around quietly saying that he was not a believer.  Then Governor Ted Kulongoski and many faculty at OSU including Dr. Jane Lubchenco made life impossible for Taylor, and he retired.  (Lubchenco is now head of NOAA in the Obama administration.)  Under those currently in charge, OSU climate research has grown to be a huge business, reportedly $90 million per year with no real deliverables beyond solid academic support for climate hysteria.  A small army of researchers ponder the effects of Global Warming on all sorts of things from tube worms living along the Oregon Coast to butterflies inland.  When the climate refuses to warm (as it has for the last twenty years), they just study 'warming in reverse!'  Most of us call that "cooling," but they are very careful not to upset their Obama administration contract monitors with politically incorrect terminology.

Skeptics of Global Warming who oppose the OSU approach and oppose the politicians who make it all possible but do not work for OSU also find themselves attacked.  Dr. Art Robinson who is running against Peter DeFazio for an Oregon Congressional seat found three of his children under attack at OSU.  All were attempting to obtain advanced degrees in the Nuclear Engineering Department and were threatened with dismissal.  Because Robinson fought back, we understand that the OSU administration backed down.

As to the latest victim of political correctness at OSU, Dr. Nickolas Drapela gives us an excellent synopsis of what is going on:

"The fact of the matter is that it is now two weeks since I was fired and no one has had the cajones or the common courtesy to even tell me why.  I have spoken with the Dept. Chair (Rich Carter) who fired me, and he refused to tell me why.  I spoke to the Dean of Science (Vince Remcho) and he couldn't tell me why.  I spoke to HR who set up a meeting with me, then cancelled it an hour before.  Then I went to the Vice President of Academic Affairs (Becky Warner) and she sent me back to Rich Carter, the chemistry chair.

It's just a sad, sad state of affairs that an institution like OSU would fire a good employee for (ostensibly) no reason and then run around and hide from the person they fired.  I had stellar teaching evaluations, I won College of Science awards for teaching, and published textbooks.  My class sections were always full and I was well-liked by students (see ratemyprofessors.com).  I was doing my job very well.  But I guess I didn't march in step with their philosophies.

There were quite a few student protests over this at OSU (Barometer, Facebook, etc.) but to no avail.

I was given no severance and had no warning this was about to happen.  In fact, I was lured into the chair's office under the guise of a fallacious story before being fired.

As you know, I was probably the most visibly-outspoken critic of the Global Warming doctrine at OSU.  I gave several public talks on the topic and did research in the area which I regularly posted on the web.  I was also on a few talk radio shows in the area.  I think they finally just said, we can't have this.

Can it be that a university whose motto is "Open minds. Open doors" cannot abide even one faculty member who disagrees with their dogma?  I suppose I am too naive, but I'm still reeling from it.  Unbelievable.

I should say that they regularly read all my email communications, which is why I am writing from this private email address.  That has been going on for quite some time now.

As far as my options at this point, like I said I haven't even really grasped what has just happened.  I don't know what I'm going to do, or what options I have yet.  I'm sure OSU wants their story to be tight and perfectly identical among all administration before coming out with an official reason why I was fired, hence the long wait and refusal to speak to me.

I truly thank you for your concern, and I hope there is some recourse, even just for the sake of exposing what is happening at OSU."

In a separate e-mail Drapela went on to say:

"Thanks so much for your support and your concern.  That's really nice.  My students were all really upset about it.  They started an email writing campaign to have me re-hired but I guess no one cares what they think.

I find that the people who want to keep things secret all the time are usually the people that have something to hide.  It is certainly ok by me for you to disseminate this story.  But I'm sure OSU would be horrified.

I'm not sure how I will support my family at this point.  We just bought a house in Corvallis.  I have four kids, one of whom has a rare, blood disorder and requires regular trips to Doernbecher's Children's Hospital for treatment.  Now we will be without health insurance."

We can only speculate as to how the decision to fire Drapela was made.  Unlike the decision to force Taylor out (which came from the governor's office), this decision was likely internal to OSU with the implicit backing of Governor Kitzhaber and NOAA administrator Lubchenco.  I would suspect that Dr. Phil Mote (Director of their Climate Change Research Institute) had a hand in the decision, because he has previously been highly intolerant of those who oppose his ideas and could potentially threaten his business empire.

Please join with me in supporting Nick Drapela.  Please join with me in supporting objective science, as well as academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance.  The issues here go far beyond just Global Warming and strike at the very heart of who we are as scientists and Americans.

Gordon J. Fulks, PhD (Physics)
Corbett, Oregon USA

P.S. Please circulate this e-mail far and wide.  The world needs to know what is going on here.

RIO CLIMATE TALKS - MAD DEMANDS COULD IMPOVERISH THE WEST

This report contains the details of what is at stake in the Rio + 20 talks. Most commentators predict deadlock, which is not surprising, given what is at stake.

UNFCC WANTS IMMUNITY FOR ITS ACTIONS

This report gives the details of how the United Nations Framework on Climate Change is trying to get immunity for its actions. This hardly seems the behaviour of a body that believes its activity is beyond reproach. On the contrary it knows that a lot of its activity is underhand if not reprehensible.

RATIONAL DEBATE ON GW BY BOTH SIDES

Here is an interesting exchange on the causes of global warming which is well worth reading for the wide use of links as well as being carried out in a measured and reasonable tone as befits any serious scientific discussion. It is also done in a way that is easy to follow by those not immersed in the minutiae of climate science.

WIND POWER - AN EXPENSIVE FAILING POLICY

This report from the GWPF takes a close look at wind farms and concludes that they will not reduce carbon emissions and they are very expensive, while damaging the environment and not delivering sufficient electricity.

GLOBAL TEMP ROSE FASTER IN THE PAST

Here is a very interesting post by Roger Helmer MEP who rebuts the words of a prominent climate alarmist by quoting peer-reviewed science showing that earth's surface temperature rose much faster 12,000 years ago than it is today, which puts a very different complexion on our current climate. We must not allow alarmists to get away with their doom-laden pronouncements.

NEW PAPER - PAST CLIMATE WARMER WITH LOWER CO2

This article looks at the new paper which appears to show that ten million years ago temperatures were warmer than today and yet CO2 levels were lower. Clearly this indicates that other factors must have warmed the planet.

CHINESE WINTERS WARMED 3x AS FAST AS GLOBAL AVERAGE

This article looks at the new paper and its findings. What it shows is that the climate is behaving differently in different places, so talking about global average temperatures is fairly meaningless in the context of what is happening in a particular place at a particular time.

DISLIKE WINDFARMS - BBC THINKS YOU ARE A MAD DENIER

This article in the Mail highlights a piece on the BBC's current affairs radio4 programme "Today" in which a county council leader was given a very rough ride for saying that his county, Lincolnshire had enough wind farms and would make it tougher for more to be built. The article points out the BBC bias in favour of wind farms, and of course man made global warming.

SCIENTISTS FORCED TO BE TRANSPARENT BY COURT

This article by a scientist looks at the case in which BP is asking for full disclosure of scientists working for the US government measuring oil flows from the Deepwater Horizon spillage. The same reasoning applies to government research into global warming.

UN ADVOCATES GREEN POVERTY

This article by Bjorn Lomborg looks at the real priorities for the third world, and why the UN's alternative to growth will not deliver.

GREENLAND GLACIERS RETREAT IN 1930'S

Old photographs have been discovered which show that Greenland's glaciers were retreating faster in the 1930's than they are today. See here

for the article. It seems nothing happening now is without a precedent.

UK LOOK BOTH WAYS ON CLIMATE

This article from the Guardian has found evidence that the UK government is trying to water down EU policies on reducing CO2 emissions while claiming the opposite in public. At least they seem to be showing common sense in private, but why do they not have the courage to acknowledge it in public. Presumably because they believe there are more votes in being "green". They should look to Canada as an example.

MORE SCIENCE TRAINING MAKES YOU A CLIMATE SCEPTIC

This is according to a new report - see here. The article reveals that the people carrying out the research did not expect to come to this conclusion, but having done so they then, hilariously, try to find ways of overcoming this "incorrect" answer. You could not make this up!

UK POLITICIAN SPEAKS OUT ON CLIMATE POLICY

It is very unusual for any prominent UK politician to speak out against the alarmist position on climate change and so I am delighted to bring to readers attention this speech to the Heartlands Institute Climate Conference in Chicago a few days ago by MEP Roger Helmer. His message is clear and well reasoned and covers both the climate issue and the euro issue, before his speech there is a brief look at the small band of protestors outside the conference which shows them to be a motley crew.

UK VILLAGE WINS LANDMARK WIND FARM VICTORY

This report in the Daily Mail gives the details of a landmark court victory in which a judge ruled that local landscape was more important than government renewable energy targets. At last common sense is starting to come through.