UK CLIMATE MINISTER TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

Here is an opportunity to ask the UK Climate Minister a question. Looking at the website, the question will need to be cleverly phrased, as any obviously sceptic questions would not be likely to get selected.

UK ON-SHORE WIND TARGETS CUT

This article explains how Lord Deben has changed his mind over the number of on-shore wind farms required in the UK. It seems odd that he has made such a U-turn in such a short time. Is this a sign that the government is softening its policies?

EU TWIST FACTS TO FIT POLITICAL AGENDA SAYS CHIEF SCIENTIST

This report gives the details. This confirms what many already know, that scientists will produce a report that confirms what those who pay for it want to see. Scientists are no longer free to reach the conclusions the data dictates. How sad.

DOES THE US EPAs ATTACK ON CO2 EMISSIONS BREAK FEDERAL LAW?

This article looks at the policy of the USA's Environment Protection Agency to classify CO2 as a pollutant, thereby enabling the Agency to bypass the government and go ahead and attack CO2 emissions directly. This policy is now being challenged as being illegal on the grounds that the science was not independently reviewed.

A PROPER ENERGY POLICY MEANS TOUGH CHOICES

Here is an excellent letter, which was recently published in the Times. It sets out the simple truth, that any government which fails to ensure that a reliable, affordable electricity supply is maintained will suffer the wrath of the voters. Both Labour and the current Conservative/Lib Dem coalition will be hoping for a mild winter ahead of next May's general election. A cold one could lead to power cuts, maybe just what UKIP's Nigel Farage needs.

THE UK HAS BEEN FRACKING FOR DECADES WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS

I just came across this report relating to the debate on fracking. Although it is a few months old it seems extremely relevant to the issue. All those protestors who thought fracking was completely new need to get better informed. Unlike wind turbines which are an expensive irrelevance, fracking will be a profitable venture and produce vital energy for the UK. 

UK TO BOOST FRACKING PROSPECTS WITH NEW LAW ON LAND ACCESS

This BBC article looks at the new report showing large deposits of shale oil in the south of England and the new proposals for land access by the government to encourage drilling.

CLIMATE PAPER REJECTED FOR BEING "UNHELPFUL" TO ALARMISM

This article gives the details of a climate science paper by a leading expert and four colleagues was rejected by a scientific journal for being "unhelpful" and "uninteresting", when it showed that the IPCC had exaggerated climate sensitivity to CO2 by a large margin. Yet again we see how a cabal of alarmist scientists are attempting to prevent any adverse or critical papers from being published. 

NORTH KOREA FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE

That is according to this article which quotes a piece from the Guardian newspaper. It came as a surprise to me as I thought they already had one of the smallest carbon footprints due to the great shortage of power in the country. I expect they are turning a disaster into a triumph and hoping for more hand outs from the West.

SOLAR SCIENTISTS STILL NOT CERTAIN WHETHER SUNSPOTS CYCLE IS REACHING GRAND MINIMUM

Here is a report on what is happening with our sun. Like the climate, the sun's behaviour is difficult to predict.

IS A SUPER EL NINO ON THE WAY?

http://www.thegwpf.org/is-a-super-el-nino-on-the-way/>This article

looks at the evidence and the likely outcome for the climate. Like much that is written about climate, the author cannot be sure, so we will just have to wait and see.

WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET IN IRREVERSIBLE COLLAPSE IN 200 TO 1000 YEARS

This article in the New York Times puts this into context. Of course if it is irreversible then there is nothing which can stop it. So whether more CO2 is put into the atmosphere or not will not affect it. Also because an particular part of the Antarctic is experiencing this does not prove that it is global warming or that it is caused by CO2.

It is important to understand that climate change is happening at certain places on the planet. It has always been the case and always will be. In most cases there is nothing we can do about it.

ANTI-FRACKING LEAFLET WITHDRAWN AFTER COMPLAINT SENT TO THE ASA

This article explains how an anti-fracking group has been forced to withdraw a campaigning leaflet after a complaint was sent to the Advertising Standards Authority. The complaint comprehensively de-bunked the extreme claims being made in the leaflet. I am sure other anti-fracking groups will be looking closely at the claims being made in their own leaflets, as will those who oppose them. 

MAJOR REPORT SAYS NO CHANGE IN ENERGY USE FOR DECADES

This report gives the details of a detailed look at our future energy use. Despite all the efforts from government and others to get us to move away from fossil fuels, this report informs us that any change will be marginal, and that, as we already know, the developing nations will increase their use of coal and oil far faster than we will reduce ours, leaving the world with more and more CO2 in the atmosphere. Lucky that it is not a major problem. 

TOP IPCC SCIENTIST ASSERTS THAT 75% OF REPORT WAS DELETED BY POLITICIANS

Here is the story in the Mail.

TOP CLIMATE SCIENTIST FORCED TO RESIGN FROM GWPF

Here are the details including a resignation letter from Prof Lennart Bengtssen who only joined the GWPF three weeks ago. Other scientists are now writing in to support him. See here . This shows the alarmist scientists in a very bad light and I expect it will rebound on them, giving more publicity than if they had simply kept quiet. It is no wonder that many scientists are afraid to speak out against this cult of alarmist science.

 

Mark Steyn has written a piece about this here.

Update - further support from Mike Hulme see here
 

UNIVERSITY ACADEMICS WANT TO PUT UP ELECTRICITY PRICE

Here is the story. It just shows the lack of joined up thinking these people have. They only see as far as their idealistic theoretical world allows them to. They imagine that putting up the price will allow more funding to insulate poor peoples homes, forgetting that by making electricity more expensive it will wipe out any savings gained by having insulation done.  We will all end up paying more to heat our homes and it won't make the slightest difference to the climate.

MASSIVE SOLAR FARM PRODUCES A TRICKLE OF POWER AT GREAT COST

This piece looks at the real truth behind the hype, and calculates the real output of a "massive" solar farm.

YET ANOTHER EMINENT CLIMATE SCIENTIST JOINS THE SCEPTICS

Gradually, the ice seems to be melting – if not at the polar caps, then at least in the climate debates: for the first time, a widely recognized expert has changed camps. Lennart Bengtsson , the Swedish climatologist, meteorologist and former director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, has now joined the GWPF’s academic advisory council. Bengtsson’s arguments do not sound like the radicalism of old age. Rather, he exhorts his colleagues to be more prudent and empirical. For the uninitiated, this approach may be comforting, because the climate debate has long been a highly complex issue. Now, for the first time, an expert like Bengtsson admits that he and others like him fare little better: how the world’s climate will develop in coming years and decades remains pure speculation. --Hans Jörg Müller, Basler Zeitung, 7 May 2014  We urgently need to explore realistic ways to address the scientific, technical and economic challenges in solving the energy problems of the world and the associated environmental problems. I think the best and perhaps only sensible policy for the future is to prepare society for adaptation and change. In 25 years the world will have nine to ten billion people. This will require twice as much primary energy as today. We need to foster new science and technology. We need a more open approach, especially here in Europe, which includes the issues of nuclear energy and genetic engineering, in order to supply the growing world population with energy and food. --Lennart Bengtsson, Spiegel Online, 5 May 2014 My main conclusion from reading the U.S. National Climate Assessment Report is this: the phrase ‘climate change’ is now officially meaningless. The report effectively implies that there is no climate change other than what is caused by humans, and that extreme weather events are equivalent to climate change. Any increase in adverse impacts from extreme weather events or sea level rise is caused by humans. Possible scenarios of future climate change depend only on emissions scenarios that are translated into warming by climate models that produce far more warming than has recently been observed. --Judith Curry, Climate Etc., 6 May 2014 Attempts to stem sea level rises by reducing CO2 levels in order to “combat” global warming are a complete waste of time says a new report by two of the world’s leading oceanographic scientists. Over the last 150 years, average global sea levels have risen by around 1.8 mm – a continuation of the melting of the ice sheets which began 17,000 years ago. Such modest rises, argue oceanographer Willem P de Lange and marine geologist Bob Carter in their report for the Global Warming Policy Foundation, are far better dealt with by adaptation than by costly, ineffectual schemes to decarbonise the global economy. --James Delingpole, Breitbart London, 7 May 2014

NEW THREAT TO UK FROM ICELANDIC VOLCANO

Below is an article sent to me from the UK times. 


Sunday Times         27 April 2014
Britain faces climate chaos from toxic Icelandic volcano blast
Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor

Iceland’s Krafla volcano generates a fissure eruption — but on a far smaller
scale than the Laki event
BRITAIN’S greatest future threat may come not from flooding, terrorism or economic collapse but from a supervolcano erupting in Iceland, a Cabinet Office report is to warn ministers.

Such an eruption would blanket the UK and northern Europe with ash and toxic fumes, creating climatic chaos — including roastingly hot summers and bitterly cold winters, a cycle that could last several years, the report will warn.

The alert emerged from a study commissioned by the Cabinet Office from scientists at the Met Office, British Geological Survey (BGS), and the universities of Leeds, Edinburgh and others.

The scientists, who will detail their findings at the European Geosciences Union annual meeting in Vienna this week, found that such eruptions had happened before. The last was in 1783 but Iceland has produced at least three other large ones and more than 200 smaller ones in the last 1,130 years.

A paper, to be presented by Sue Loughlin, head of volcanology at the BGS, said that the study was prompted by the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010, when volcanic dust over Britain and the Atlantic became so dense that hundreds of flights had to be cancelled for fear it would cause aircraft engines to seize up.

Loughlin will say it has become apparent that Eyjafjallajokull was a relatively small event so the chaos it caused showed that volcanic eruptions present a far greater hazard to the UK than had been realised — with the greatest threat coming from a so-called “effusive gas-rich eruption”.

Her paper warns that such eruptions “typified by the Laki eruption in Iceland in 1783-84, have been identified as one of the three highest priority natural hazards faced by the UK”.

It means the Cabinet Office’s civil contingencies secretariat will now rank the threat of a supervolcanic eruption in Iceland alongside an outbreak of pandemic influenza, similar to the one that killed up to 100m people globally from 1918-20, and on a par with a terrorist attack involving a nuclear device.

The 1783 event began when lava erupted not from a classic, cone-shaped volcano but from a 17-mile crack that appeared in the Earth’s surface within the Grimsvotn volcanic complex in eastern Iceland.

Over the following eight months the crack’s 130 craters poured out 3.6 cubic miles of lava and generated lava fountains nearly a mile high.

The volcano devastated Iceland, killing 80% of the country’s livestock; 20% of the human population starved to death.

For Europe, however, the biggest impact came from the plume of fine dust and gases, including 120m tons of sulphur dioxide, that were carried 10 miles into the sky where high-level winds pushed them southwest.

Loughlin and her colleagues have conducted an extensive study of weather and mortality data in Britain. Their report says: “Meteorological records show that there was extreme heat in the summer of 1783, followed by an exceptionally cold winter in the northern hemisphere. There were unusual thunderstorms, ball lightning and large hailstones.”

The impact on health was also huge. Sulphur dioxide breathed into the lungs forms sulphuric acid, causing inflammation that can be fatal. In Britain, about 23,000 people are estimated to have died — in a population that was far lower than today and with fewer older people.

For David Cameron and his ministers, perhaps the most sobering aspect of the scientists’ report concerns the social turmoil caused by the Laki eruption — mostly linked to crops failing because of the bad weather. In France, this could even have helped provoke the French Revolution of 1789.

The sheer power of Iceland’s volcanoes emerged from other work that found they had poured out 20.8 cubic miles of lava over the past 1,130 years. Grimsvotn alone has erupted 21 times, while Katla, another volcanic system, has exploded 25 times.

The government has now set up a volcanic ash advisory centre, run by the Met Office, to monitor Iceland’s 30 active volcano systems.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY TO SELL ALL ITS COAL STOCK

Here is the story. I think the headline figure of 18 billion dollars refers to the whole of their portfolio, and not the value of coal stock, which is probably quite small. I am sure there are plenty of other investors out there who will buy up the surplus stock, if it represents good value. This seems to come under the heading of "gesture dealing".

THE CLIMATE CHANGE LEGAL WAR

This story shows that lawyers are trying to muscle into the global warming area. I am not sure how such litigation is going, but it is a sinister development, potentially adding a further massive sum to the unfortunate taxpayer, who is most likely to end up paying.

NEW ALARMIST CLIMATE REPORT ISSUED IN USA

Here is an update on the report and the exaggeration used in it to try and boost flagging support for more tax increases to deal with the inflated problem.

SWEDES GIVE UP ON CARBON CAPTURE

This piece gives the details. It does seem to point out that capturing and storing CO2 is currently a non-starter. Someone should tell our climate change minister, Ed Davey. 

US EPA PUSHES UP ENERGY PRICES BY THE BACK DOOR

This article explains how the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is gaining new powers from the Supreme Court to enforce ever stricter regulations on energy companies. This is causing higher energy prices for consumers and industry. A similar picture to that here in the UK, though they are regulating directly.

TOP LEVEL NZ GEOSCIENTIST DECLARES HIMSELF A CLIMATE CHANGE SCEPTIC

http://joannenova.com.au/2014/05/david-kear-former-director-general-nz-dsir-says-a-non-existent-threat/#more-35166> This article

gives the detailed explanation of why he has decided to speak out. It is always interesting to read the views of a senior scientist who makes this decision. It is not as if he needed to do this and so it is a voluntary act done as a sense of duty to his fellow man.

 

SINKING CITIES OUTPACE SEA LEVEL RISE BY 10 TO 1

Here is the link to the article explaining the research, which blames ground water extraction as one of the main causes of cities sinking.

NEW LECTURE FROM LORD LAWSON

Here is a link to the text of a recent lecture given by Lord Lawson. It is a very persuasive mix of logic and reason which we have come to expect from him. Well worth reading.

MONEY RUNNING OUT IN UN CLIMATE FUND

This article lifts the lid on the massive amounts of money that have been transferred from western nations to those in the developing world via the UN's Clean Development Mechanism. Now that growth in the West has slowed the vast sums have slowed to a trickle, and yet the bureaucracy lives on. Apparently western governments have pledged £100 billion a year by 2020. How nice of our government to promise to continue to give away our taxes in order to save us from global warming that stopped 17 years ago. No wonder UKIP are doing so well in the polls.

MANN'S HOCKEY STICK LAID BARE

Here is a great article which examines the working of Alarmist climate scientist Michael Mann. It covers six pages, though the pages are short and it does not take very long to read.  It broadly sketches out the case for the National Review in its defence against Michel Mann's libel action. After reading it you may wonder what possessed Mann in bringing this action.

NEW STUDY SHOWS CLIMATE CHANGE MAKES EXTREME RAINFALL MORE LIKELY IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND

This report unsurprisingly comes from the Guardian, and it shows no links to an actual paper. Here is a short extract from the Guardian "Friederike Otto, from the university’s school of geography and the environment, said: “It will never be possible to say that any specific flood was caused by human-induced climate change. We have shown, however, that the odds of getting an extremely wet winter [in the UK] are changing due to man-made climate change. Past greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of pollution have loaded the weather dice so the probability of the south of England experiencing extremely wet winters has increased.”

Only a few years ago the "experts" were saying the opposite http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/3334871/South-East-same-as-Sahara-for-drought-risk.html  "The South East of England will be at risk of serious water shortages which could lead to higher bills and rationing by 2030, according to a report published today."