Clipmarks | merrie's 'global warming' clips

Dr. David Evans: Australian Greenhouse Office - 1999 to 2005

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:57:50 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: There has not been a public debate about the causes of global warming and most of the public and our decision makers are not aware of the most basic salient facts:

1. The greenhouse signature is missing. We have been looking and measuring for years, and cannot find it.

The signature of an increased greenhouse effect is a hot spot about 10km up in the atmosphere over the tropics. We have been measuring the atmosphere for decades using radiosondes: weather balloons with thermometers that radio back the temperature as the balloon ascends through the atmosphere. They show no hot spot. Whatsoever.

If there is no hot spot then an increased greenhouse effect is not the cause of global warming. So we know for sure that carbon emissions are not a significant cause of the global warming. If we had found the greenhouse signature then I would be an alarmist again.

When the signature was found to be missing in 2007 (after the latest IPCC report),

Clip Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty good: CO2 is a greenhouse gas, the old ice core data, no other suspects.

The evidence was not conclusive, but why wait until we were certain when it appeared we needed to act quickly? Soon government and the scientific community were working together and lots of science research jobs were created. We scientists had political support, the ear of government, big budgets, and we felt fairly important and useful (well, I did anyway). It was great. We were working to save the planet.

But since 1999 new evidence has seriously weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role and was not the main cause of the recent global warming. As Lord Keynes famously said, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"

Tags: carbon emissions, radiosondes thermometers, weather balloons, greenhouse signature

Myth Of Consensus Explodes: American Physical Society Opens Debate

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 08:16:28 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming "incontrovertible."

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=12403

Clip Source: www.floppingaces.net

The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming “incontrovertible.”

In a posting to the APS forum, editor Jeffrey Marque explains,”There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution.”

An inconvenient truth for the left, its leaders, its parrots, its talkingheads, and of course…for the Heatmeiser

[Video]

Tags: american physical society, larry gould, monckton's paper, ipcc, exaggerations and "extensive errors"

Gore Less Welcome When Gas Costs 4 Bucks

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:27:12 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Some lawmakers warn that Americans are angry about gas prices and don’t necessarily want to be reminded about the economic sacrifices that may be necessary to reduce the nation’s oil consumption.

“People’s anger about a lot of things is crystallized as a result of the gas prices,” said Lautenberg. “The anger is focused by the visibility [of inflated prices] at the pump.”

Lautenberg warned that Americans aren’t eager to hear about the need for more financial sacrifices if there’s not a possible reward in the not-too-distant future.

“If it looks like it’s just a continuation of an attack of our economy and family budgets, then its starts getting dispiriting,” he said of innovative yet expensive energy proposals.

Clip Source: thehill.com

Gore hopes to deliver a major speech on the environment at Constitution Hall in Washington Thursday that will “press the reset button on how people are looking at the energy crisis and the climate crisis,” said Brian Hardwick, spokesman for Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.

“I think the American public will be much more receptive to arguments about climate change when gas prices aren’t so critical,” said Rep. Zack Space, a freshman Democrat who represents a mostly rural district in Ohio.

“Mr. Gore will yet again call attention to the policies called for by radical environmentalists that would result in even higher gas prices,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio).

Democratic lawmakers have backed away from the global warming debate in the past few weeks, concentrating instead on attempts to lower gas prices.

Environmental activists are hoping for big things from Gore.

Tags: gore, constitution hall, washington, global warming, radical environmentalists, high gas prices, john boehner, michael steel

Markey (D-Mass) Global Warming Led To ‘Black Hawk Down’

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:47:33 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Markey was speaking to 25 students from the World Wildlife Fund's Allianz Southeast Climate Witness Program. The students had come to the Capitol to brief members of Congress on the risks of global warming. The students were from the Gulf States.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House (Select) Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, also equated the drive for global warming legislation with the drive for women’s suffrage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“Yes, that part of the world is subject to drought at times, but it has very little to do with global warming,” said Ebell. (Myron Ebell, director of Energy and Global Warming Policy at CEI) “It is subject to drought whether the global average temperature is going up, down, or staying the same. To say you know the conflict was caused by global warming is to show how really ignorant you are of the scientific issues involved.”

Clip Source: www.cnsnews.com

On the Spot (CNSNews.com) – A top Democrat told high school students gathered at the U.S. Capitol Thursday that climate change caused Hurricane Katrina and the conflict in Darfur, which led to the “black hawk down” battle between U.S. troops and Somali rebels.

Markey also told the students that there no longer exists any debate about whether or not disasters like Katrina are caused by climate change.

“The planet is running a fever. It’s heating up but there is no emergency rooms for planets,” he said. “The worst consequences affect the planet -- not only New Orleans -- but the whole planet.

“There now is no question that this harm is being caused by human activity,” said Markey. “It’s warming up the planet and melting the glaciers. There is an underwater heat wave going on. The waters get warmer and warmer and that intensifies the storms and creates even greater havoc when those storms reach land.”

Tags: rep.markey (d-mass), house select energy independence, global warming committee, somalia, darfur, hurricane katrina

Saturday Funnies: 'Imagine There's No Global Warming'

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:57:56 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Lyrics to tune "Imagine There's No Global Warming" to John Lennon's "Imagine"
video 3:17

Clip Source: newsbusters.org

Our friends at Minnesotans for Global Warming -- the folks who brought us the fabulous video "If We Had Some Global Warming" -- have just released a new number deliciously set to John Lennon's "Imagine."

[Video]

Imagine there's no warming
It's all just been a lie
CO2 is not a pollutant
The Polar Bears aren’t gonna die
Imagine if all the people

Livin' another day

Imagine there's no Kyoto
It isn't hard to do
Gas at 99 cents a gallon
And no carbon taxes too
Imagine all the people

Driving SUVs

You may say I'm a denier
But I'm not the only one
31,000 scientists

Say the world’s climate follows the sun

Imagine no politicians
I wonder if you can
No one to fear monger
No need to eliminate man
Imagine all the people

Drilling all over the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be more fun

Tags: john lennon's "imagine", global warming, satire

Holding Liberals Accountable For Energy Woes

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:52:51 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: In essence, an artificial “monopoly” has been created among the member nations, whereby they can unilaterally determine what the rest of the world will pay for its energy needs. But for this monopoly to survive and thrive, it requires the defacto cooperation of all other parties involved. Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of this situation is that such “cooperation” is effectively coming from the Democrat controlled Congress of the United States.

In a sinister sense, America is officially refusing to increase the world production of oil, thus strengthening the OPEC monopoly and its ability to deliberately inflate the price of crude oil. By stubbornly refusing any consideration of exploring, drilling, and thus expanding American oil production, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-CA) and Senate Majority Harry Reid (D.-NV) along with their Democrat political machine in Washington, are effectively forcing the entire American oil industry into the role of collaborating OPEC members.

Clip Source: mensnewsdaily.com

How long can Congressional Democrats hope to continue their anti-capitalist, anti-American agenda without facing accountability from the voting public?

Concurrently, liberals are showcasing their disingenuousness by making two distinctly disparate claims regarding the economic repercussions of their actions. On the one hand, they castigate market speculators as the ultimate culprits of the current price spike. Yet in the very next breath, they deny any possible immediate benefits from renewed exploration, drilling and production by Americans.

This fact being well understood among oil producing nations, particularly in the Middle East, where major oil producers banded together to form the infamous “Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries” or OPEC.

Under its auspices, participating nations agree to non-market driven limitations in their oil production, thus ensuring that any losses in profit from volume sales would be offset by increases in profit margins.

Tags: nancy pelosi, harry reid, opec, inflated gasosline and food prices, global-warming hoax

How The Greens Captured Energy Policy

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:57:38 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Other aspects of the Green argument have also collapsed. New discoveries off Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico have nearly doubled international oil reserves, pushing backwards from the "peak oil" date. And global warming, that notorious by-product of "oil addiction," has faded to the point that its advocates are now reduced to threatening dissenters with prison.

It has gone almost completely unacknowledged that with oil shale, offshore deposits, and new resources such as the hydrocarbon sludge deposits off B.C. and Alaska, the OPEC of the late 21st century is going to be right here. That's a goal worth working toward. Breaking the power of the Greens is yet another possible benefit.

Energy reform is an egg and rock situation for the Democrats. From the old Irish proverb: "When the rock hits the egg, alas for the egg. When the egg hits the rock, alas for the egg."

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

The Democrats -- Obama chief among them -- can neither adequately defend it nor abandon it, as is clearly shown by their refusal to even consider loosening drilling restrictions. The GOP holds all the cards on this one, and all they need to do is keep building the pressure. (Always granted, of course, that they play it better than their last few runs of hands.) No better electoral tool will be found during this cycle. We just can't expect results immediately - this will be a long and drawn-out battle, requiring maximum, sustained effort from all involved.

Environmentalism is a luxury, and like all such, is best taken in moderation. The environment requires protection, but that's all. Primitive panthiesm has no place in this millennium. Nature is not an utterly benign continuum, and human beings are not a disease. Pseudo-religious environmentalism has long outlived its welcome. It's time to bring down the curtain.

Tags: environmentalism, oil exploration, democrats, gop

Wikipropaganda

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:37:14 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: I checked with Peiser, who said he had done no such thing. I then corrected the Wikipedia entry, and advised Peiser that I had done so.

Peiser wrote back saying he couldn’t see my corrections on the Wikipedia page. I made the changes again, and this time confirmed that the changes had been saved. But then, in a twinkle, they were gone again. I made other changes. And others. They all disappeared shortly after they were made.

Turns out that on Wikipedia some folks are more equal than others. Kim Dabelstein Petersen is a Wikipedia “editor” who seems to devote a large part of his life to editing reams and reams of Wikipedia pages to pump the assertions of global-warming alarmists and deprecate or make disappear the arguments of skeptics.

Holding the far more prestigious and powerful position of “administrator” is William Connolley. Connolley, a ruthless enforcer of the doomsday consensus, may be the world’s most influential person in the global warming debate after Al Gore.

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

I first noticed this when I entered a correction to a Wikipedia page on the work of Naomi Oreskes, author of the now-infamous paper, published in the prestigious journal Science, claiming to have exhaustively reviewed the scientific literature and found not one single article dissenting from the alarmist version of global warming.

Of course Oreskes’s conclusions were absurd, and have been widely ridiculed. I myself have profiled dozens of truly world-eminent scientists whose work casts doubt on the Gore-U.N. version of global warming. Following the references in my book The Deniers, one can find hundreds of refereed papers that cast doubt on some aspect of the Gore/U.N. case, and that only scratches the surface.

Naturally I was surprised to read on Wikipedia that Oreskes’s work had been vindicated and that, for instance, one of her most thorough critics, British scientist and publisher Bennie Peiser, not only had been discredited but had grudgingly conceded Oreskes was right.

Tags: wikipedia, global warming, lawrence solomon, "the deniers", extreme left perspective

Conservatives At Odds With McCain

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:24:21 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: But perhaps more importantly, he has long been an advocate of entitlement reform. He was early an ardent support of personal accounts for Social Security, and has pushed for serious Medicare reform, including means-testing. Almost alone among Republicans, he opposed the disastrous Medicare prescription drug benefit.

"On domestic policy, he has shown a disturbing predilection for elevating every personal pet peeve, from steroids in baseball to airplane service quality, to a federal issue. And, he has embraced heavily regulatory environmental policies and compulsory national service. Like George W. Bush, he tends to support federal power over federalism, executive authority over legislative, and generally leans toward the imperial presidency. For believers in individual liberty and limited government, it's a decidedly mixed bag. But, then again, aren't they all?"

Clip Source: www.cato.org

"Conservative activists are preparing to do battle with allies of Sen. John McCain in advance of September's Republican National Convention, hoping to prevent his views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined in the party's official declaration of principles," The Washington Post reports. "McCain has not yet signaled the changes he plans to make in the GOP platform, but many conservatives say they fear wholesale revisions could emerge as candidate McCain seeks to put his stamp on a document that currently reflects the policies and principles of President Bush."

In the Cato-at-Liberty blog post "John McCain: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," Cato senior fellow Michael Tanner writes: "While Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity sometimes portray McCain as a virtual clone of Ted Kennedy, the fact is that he is a true fiscal conservative. He is well known as an opponent of earmarks and pork barrel spending.

Tags: mccain, rnc, global warming, immigration, stem cell research, campaign finance, fiscal conservative, opponent of earmarks

Put A Stop To Cut-Rate Gas: International Monetary Fund

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:17:59 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Governments that try to create a false economy for oil are not revealing the truth to their people.

About half of humanity, from India to Chile, now benefits from cut-rate petroleum prices. In 2008, these countries will account for all the growth in world oil demand, or an additional one million barrels a day, according to Deutsche Bank. Their consumption will be the highest in eight years.

In China, oil demand is estimated to rise 5 to 10 percent this year, but the government has resisted calls to end price controls. A few other countries – Chile and South Korea – are now moving toward subsidies to appease political pressures.

In Congress, bills to combat global warming would raise costs for oil users, even possibly adding a dollar to gasoline prices. But proposals by lawmakers to relieve those costs with subsidies to consumers would only defeat the purpose of reducing oil demand.

Clip Source: www.csmonitor.com

In China, the government caps gas prices. Drivers there pay about half of what Americans pay. In many countries, oil prices are held artificially low, either by fiat or subsidy. The result? Consumption keeps rising, boosting global prices. The rest of the world – the part now racing to conserve – ends up paying more than it should.

Unfair?

Yes, say global actors such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is calling on governments to let consumers face market prices in order to kick-start conservation and reduce official spending.

A few nations that do subsidize fuel are feeling the financial pinch on budgets and moving to reduce subsidies or end price caps, despite street protests against such moves. Most of them are in Asia, the region that will account for 70 percent of the increase in oil demand this year.

The biggest culprits are oil exporting nations, especially in the Gulf. They continue to throw petrodollars at both fuel subsidies and big projects that consume oil.

Tags: gas price caps, cut-rate petroleum prices, india, china, gulf states, increased comsuption, imf

Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson Willing To Pay Carbon Offsets

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:08:32 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Former United Nation's chief Kofi Annan. "We must have climate justice."

Abdul Gayoom is president of The Maldives, a band of 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean. He said his nation faces elimination if sea levels rise, as a result of global warming... and suggested proceeds from aviation-related carbon offsets go towards benefitting small nations.

Clip Source: www.aero-news.net

There's at least one airline CEO willing to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to paying for greenhouse gas emissions from commercial airliners. Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson told attendees of a meeting on climate change Tuesday that all carriers should be willing to pay so-called "carbon offsets" against damaging emissions from their planes.

The Associated Press reports Branson told the Global Humanitarian Forum he is willing to lead by example, and offered to pay carbon-related taxes on his aviation-related businesses.

"If you run a dirty business -- an airline business, a shipping business, ... coal business, you should pay for the privilege because you are doing damage," Branson said.

That position was applauded by the head of the forum, former United Nation's chief Kofi Annan. "We must recognize that the polluter must pay, and not the poor and vulnerable," Annan said. "We must have climate justice."

Tags: global humanitarian forum, sir richard branson, virgin group chariman

Jim Hansen Is At It Again......Ever More Desperate And Irrational

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:15:02 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: It's the fact that money talks in Washington, and that democracy is not working the way it's intended to work."

Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be taken immediately if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate change is not to become inevitable. Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers of companies such as ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about climate change they are spreading.

Clip Source: boards.msn.com

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming

In an interview with the Guardian he said: "When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that's a crime."He is also considering personally targeting members of Congress who have a poor track record on climate change in the coming November elections. He will campaign to have several of them unseated.

His sharpest words are reserved for the special interests he blames for public confusion about the nature of the global warming threat. "The problem is not political will, it's the alligator shoes - the lobbyists.

Tags: james hansen, congress, oil companies ceo's, "crimes against humanity"

Hoax Whore James Hansen Calls for Stalinesque Show Trials

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:02:13 GMT

clipped by: Smoke TNT

Clip Source: www.moonbattery.com

Believe it or not, Al Gore isn't the creepiest moonbat to exploit the global warming hoax. Creepier still is his friend James Hansen, the NASA bureaucrat who during the 70s prostituted science for global cooling. Hansen, who provided propaganda support for Gore's A Convenient Lie, is making a pretty penny from the pernicious hoax. Revealing the Bolshevik red that can always be found beneath the green facade of environmental fanaticism, Hansen is now calling for the arrest of oil company CEOs.

Their crime: providing the energy required for modern civilization to function.

Like Lenin, Mao, Castro, and other luminaries of the Left, Hansen regards doubting progressive ideology to be literally criminal.

Hansen had better keep screaming at the top of his lungs, if he wants to drown out the fact that it hasn't gotten any warmer in the last 11 years. Hopefully he will yell himself hoarse before disseminating such information becomes illegal.

Tags: liberals, oil, insanity

Thanks AP And ABC News For Spinning Liberal Bias

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:28:38 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: My argument is bolstered further by the authors' ridiculous description of the weather as "out-of-control." They would have you believe that until eight years ago, when a certain Republican became President of the United States, the country had never experienced hurricanes, tornadoes, extremely high and low temperatures, and floods. The weather has been calm for the billions of years of the earth's existence and then suddenly, boom! The weather's out of control. AND we can make the weather not be out of control (i.e., if we elect a certain Democrat president.)

Really, this article is an absolute embarrassment in every way. A DNC press release couldn't be more biased. There is positively nothing the least bit objective about this article. It's a string of hysterical [yes, I can use it] unsubstantiated Democrat talking points.

Clip Source: vocalminority.typepad.com

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning out of Control / Out-of-control weather, gas prices, economy chip away at American self-confidence

Are you f'ing kidding me??? First of all, I'm no journalism major, but how can you use a word like "seemingly" in the body, let alone title, of an objective news story?

Second, I'll admit that gas prices and the economy are politically fair game, but out-of-control weather? The only way weather could be considered a political issue is if you are an anti-capitalist (read: anti-Republican) shill for the man-made global warming hysteria crowd (read: pro-Democrat).

Here's the first paragraph of the "report." It reads like a litany of lefty grievances repeated by virtually every Dem since McGovern.

Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism.

Tags: associated press, american broadcast company, barack obama, 'the view', michelle obama

Poll: Most Britons Doubt Cause Of Climate Change

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:52:03 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: However Professor Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, said politicians and campaigners were to blame for over-simplifying the problem by only publicising evidence to support the case. 'Things that we do know - like humans do cause climate change - are being put in doubt,' said Lomborg. 'If you're saying, "We're not going to tell you the whole truth, but we're going to ask you to pay up a lot of money," people are going to be unsure.'

More than half of those polled did not have confidence in international or British political leaders to tackle climate change, but only just over a quarter think it's too late to stop it. Two thirds want the government to do more but nearly as many said they were cynical about government policies such as green taxes, which they see as 'stealth' taxes.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The majority of the British public is still not convinced that climate change is caused by humans - and many others believe scientists are exaggerating the problem, according to an exclusive poll for The Observer.

The results have shocked campaigners who hoped that doubts would have been silenced by a report last year by more than 2,500 scientists for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which found a 90 per cent chance that humans were the main cause of climate change and warned that drastic action was needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

There is growing concern that an economic depression and rising fuel and food prices are denting public interest in environmental issues. Some environmentalists blame the public's doubts on last year's Channel 4 documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle, and on recent books, including one by Lord Lawson, the former Chancellor, that question the consensus on climate change.

Tags: "climate change consensus", uk poll, ipcc, environmentalists, public sceptics, 'stealth' taxes