Sunday, October 26, 2008

CCS — Use It Or Lose It

One of the most compelling chapters in the PBS Frontline 2-hour special on global warming that aired earlier this week was the segment on America's Addiction to Coal.
PBS dives headfirst into the myth of clean coal and pretty much tears it apart using something we don't often see these days when it come US energy issues: facts.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Pay the deniers, call the tune

frankbi of the International Journal of Inactivism is onto something:

So, what prompted me to write the above long-winded complaint was a page on the Heartland Institute’s web site, on how people can sponsor their upcoming climate inactivist conference. It’s the kind of jaw-dropping thing that made me think, “Oy, why am I the one writing about this?...

I blogged about their program, earlier. But, with none of the intrepid reportage of citizen frankbi:

Yep, you read that right. First, sponsors will have a hand in deciding what the topics of the conference will be. I must say — my friends — this is totally above and beyond what actual serious scientific conferences do! (My experience is that the conference organizers will just give them some booth space to tout their stuff and recruit folks, and perhaps a time slot for them to talk about their fine work.)

Second, note that there’s no fee for sponsorship — yes, no fee — but “sponsors” are asked to spread the word about the conference and to get people to attend. That is, Heartland is looking for sponsorship not in the form of money, but in the form of noise. The more noise, the merrier.

And… one other thing: According to the registration information for the conference, there’s a 20% registration fee discount for signers of the “Oregon Petition”. I still can’t tell what Heartland’s trying to achieve with this move.


They can use their Frequent Denier's point.

 

Arctic melt season post mortem

From The National Snow and Ice Data Center:

2 October 2008

Arctic Sea Ice Down to Second-Lowest Extent; Likely Record-Low Volume

Despite cooler temperatures and ice-favoring conditions, long-term decline continues

Arctic sea ice extent during the 2008 melt season dropped to the second-lowest level since satellite measurements began in 1979, reaching the lowest point in its annual cycle of melt and growth on September 14, 2008. Average sea ice extent over the month of September, a standard measure in the scientific study of Arctic sea ice, was 4.67 million square kilometers (1.80 million square miles) (Figure 1). The record monthly low, set in 2007, was 4.28 million square kilometers (1.65 million square miles); the now-third-lowest monthly value, set in 2005, was 5.57 million square kilometers (2.15 million square miles).

The 2008 season strongly reinforces the thirty-year downward trend in Arctic ice extent. The 2008 September low was 34% below the long-term average from 1979 to 2000 and only 9% greater than the 2007 record (Figure 2). Because the 2008 low was so far below the September average, the negative trend in September extent has been pulled downward, from –10.7 % per decade to –11.7 % per decade (Figure 3).

NSIDC Senior Scientist Mark Serreze said, “When you look at the sharp decline that we’ve seen over the past thirty years, a ‘recovery’ from lowest to second lowest is no recovery at all. Both within and beyond the Arctic, the implications of the decline are enormous.”


 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Get in early for a breakthrough in AGW Denial

program

last updated: October 13, 2008

Where and When

The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change will take place in New York City on March 8-10, 2009 (Sunday - Tuesday), at the Marriott New York Marquis Times Square Hotel, 1535 Broadway, New York, NY.

There will be four tracks of panel discussions:

1. Paleoclimatology
2. Climatology
3. Impact of Climate Change
4. Economics and Politics

Or maybe no breakthrough next year. Maybe just the same tired old speakers with the same tired old self-contradictory, cherry-picking arguements...

Confirmed Speakers

NameAffiliation
Dennis AveryHudson Institute
Joseph BastThe Heartland Institute
Robert BradleyInstitute for Energy Research
Bob CarterJames Cook University (Australia)
Frank ClementePenn State University
John ColemanKUSI-TV - San Diego
Joseph D'AleoInternational Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project
David DouglassUniversity of Rochester
Myron EbellCompetitive Enterprise Institute
Michelle FossUniversity of Texas - Center for Energy Economics
Fred GoldbergRoyal School of Technology (Sweden)
Laurence GouldUniversity of Hartford
William GrayColorado State University
Chris HornerCompetitive Enterprise Institute
Craig IdsoCenter for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change
David LegatesUniversity of Delaware
Jay LehrThe Heartland Institute
Marlo LewisCompetitive Enterprise Institute
Richard LindzenMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Ross McKitrickUniversity of Guelph
Christopher MoncktonScience and Public Policy Institute
Jim O'BrienFlorida State University
Tim PattersonCarleton University
Benny PeiserLiverpool John Moores University (United Kingdom)
Paul ReiterInstitut Pasteur (France)
Arthur RobinsonOregon Institute of Science and Medicine
Joel SchwartzAmerican Enterprise Institute
S. Fred SingerScience and Environmental Policy Project
Fred SmithCompetitive Enterprise Institute
Willie SoonScience and Public Policy Project
Roy SpencerUniversity of Alabama at Huntsville
James M. TaylorThe Heartland Institute
Anthony WattsSurfacestations.org