Global Warming Watch

Clean Energy Bill Passed Last Week. Sun Still Shines .

2011-10-18T18:46:00.004+11:00

Having passed by 74 votes to 72 in the lower house, the Clean Energy Bill's passage into Australian law is assured with the Greens holding the balance of power in the senate.What a wake of destruction she has left in her path. Four political leaders felled. Prime Ministers John Howard in 2007, Liberal, and Kevin Rudd in 2010, Labor. Howard lost because his 11th hour climate conversion was not

World GHG Emissions Flow Chart

2011-07-29T22:00:00.002+10:00

Click for a visual summary of what's contributing to manmade CO2 by sector and source. Global Warning Climate Change Energy

House of Lords to impersonator: 'cease and desist'

2011-07-19T12:26:00.001+10:00

Looks like the House of Lords has rebuked “Lord” Monckton and sent him a ‘cease and desist’ letter, in an unprecedented fit of annoyance at his grandstanding:Climate sceptic Lord Monckton told he’s not member of House of LordsClerk of parliaments publishes letter on Lords’ site saying peer is not and has ‘never been a member of the House of Lords’The House of Lords has taken the unprecedented

Carbon Tax Phone Hack

2011-07-14T18:48:00.005+10:00

A tumultuous confluence of events has hit the Australian climate debate and brought me out of a brief blogging hiatus.Sorry for the headline, it reads like a 'pick-me' for Google's search engine algorithm. But it best describe this confluence.It had been building up for a while. Climate change rumblings had been heard decades ago, but were only picked up on the public radar early in the 2000s.

Beat the carbon tax before it gets here

2011-03-28T11:28:00.003+11:00

Buy this book:The CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook – How to save energy, save money and reduce your carbon footprintThe CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook is a practical guide designed to help Australian households reduce their carbon footprints and take action against climate change.Click for a radio interview by one of the CSIRO authors, who talks about how we can save an average of 50% off our

Andy Pitman mops up misinformation mess

2011-03-28T11:05:00.006+11:00

The proposed Carbon Dioxide tax has caused big fossil fuel to put a lot of misinformation about carbon dioxide out into radio-land. Every shock-jock around the country is plugging denier talking points. It's clear Big Denial is in campaign mode, facilitating Tony Abbott's "people's revolt".Luckily, we have Professor Andy Pitman, Centre director for ARC Centres of Excellence for Climate System

Tony Abbott supports a carbon tax

2011-03-13T22:22:00.006+11:00

It's hard to believe than Tony Abbott ever endorsed a carbon tax, even tacitly, given the ferocity of his sustained attack on Julia Gillard for announcing her government's intention to set a carbon price next year in anticipation of an emission trading system.But endorse it he did, on page 172 of Battlelines, the book he wrote after the Liberals lost office and before he took over leadership of

Liberal's global warming history: fair weathered and fickle

2011-03-11T10:22:00.005+11:00

Rod Tiffen is emeritus professor, government and international relations, at the University of Sydney.He catalogues the Australian Liberal party's shameful record on climate change and pens a devastating critique of their performance over time:The Liberals were the first main party to wholeheartedly embrace the challenge of global warming. In 1990 Andrew Peacock, and again in 1993 John Hewson,

Ice sheets melting faster than predicted

2011-03-10T22:06:00.003+11:00

... causing a greater rate of sea-level rise:The pace at which the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting is "accelerating rapidly" and raising the global sea level, according to findings of a study financed by NASA.The findings suggest that the ice sheets - more so than ice loss from earth's mountain glaciers and ice caps - have become "the dominant contributor to global sea level rise,

Your blog is a load of crap

2011-03-10T16:56:00.005+11:00

I received this in my comments section of my last post.The Sciolist said...since you are running this awesome blog.....maybe you can just read what i have to say on global warming and tell me wat u think......http://desciolist.blogspot.com/2011/02/global-warming-really.html 12:07 AM ESTThank god you are a denier, because I don't have time to guild the lily. I make no apologies if this is harsh;

Dumb, dumber, and dumbed right down

2011-03-05T17:18:00.011+11:00

I doubt my challenge to Andrew Bolt Blog's winged monkeys will be published in the readers' comments section following another post about Tim Flannery's alleged failed climate change "predictions". This time Bolt is piggy-backing off Clive James, a part time denier.So here it is for posterity:Except it's a lie, a denier's canard, a propagandist's fit-up. It’s a lousy deception that relies on an

Hidden carbon price: We already pay $170 a tonne

2011-03-03T13:31:00.008+11:00

Every since Gillard's unsurprising statement a week ago that there will be a carbon price set by the end of next financial year (in preparation for an ETS in a few years) there has been Federal mayhem. Death-threats, comparisons of Gillard to Gaddafi, and shrieks of outrage as Tony Abbott marshals his "People's Revolt" via angry, right-wing shock-jockery and his Liberal troops hyperbolate the

IPCC attack: US house Republicans win day, risk epoch

2011-02-22T23:36:00.008+11:00

US Republicans may have won the day in the recent house vote to cut all their funds to the UN IPCC, the planet's leading climate science synthesis body, but they risk losing the Holocene. For everybody.America is to cut off all funding to the United Nations climate science panel under sweeping Republican budget cuts that seek to gut spending on environmental protection.The funding ban to the

Fox News journos directed to promote AGW denial

2011-01-02T21:45:00.003+11:00

While News Corp proudly advertised three years ago that it would be carbon neutral by now, Fox News can't even serve up a neutral report on the state of climate science.Literally.They are not simply not allowed to, as an email edict from Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon to all Fox News producers now proves: From: Sammon, Bill To: 169 -SPECIAL REPORT; 036 -FOX.WHU; 054 -FNSunday;

Wikileaks, eat your heart out

2010-11-29T09:03:00.005+11:00

I may soon have in my hands hot evidence that suggests The Climate Sceptic (TCS) party is not a political party, but a covert black-pr operation designed to influence the public into thinking there is more support for the denial of the science of climate change than there really is.In the meantime, this morning I have been sent the following mass-broadcast email from my tame and obedient TCS

A professional climate denier replies

2010-11-26T14:42:00.011+11:00

I have received a nice comment from Geoff Brown of the Climate Skeptic Party (TCS) astroturfing outfit in my comments section of my piece about their covert astroturfing campaign: Geoff Brown said...To the misguided individual who unfortunately does not seem to feel a need to put her/his name to this blog.I invoke the time-honoured WWW (Woof Woof Woof) defence: On the Internet, know one knows you

AGW deniers' astroturfing campaign underway

2010-10-29T23:18:00.005+11:00

First it was picked up in the MSM by Andrew Bolt, climate denial's Don Quixote.Why are schools promoting this deceitful film?220 CommentsAndrew BoltWednesday, October 27, 2010 at 11:46amThe film is error-riddled and alarmist, and the work of a prize hypocrite and deceiver who dodges any attempt to hold him to account. Even an otherwise sympathetic British judge says the film contains so many

Emissions down, interest up: Banking on a carbon neutral future

2010-09-30T23:17:00.010+10:00

It's highly unlikely that the thing to bring me back out of my grumpy hiatus from blogging about climate change (after ex-PM Rudd stalled on the ETS), would be a press release. Particular one from a bank. Like most of Australia, I suspect, the only reason why I am still with my current bank is that they are the best of a bad lot.But, when one of the big four are telling me they are now carbon

Limber up for the pre-election backflip season

2010-05-08T21:51:00.006+10:00

The Australian Labor Government may have abandoned the ETS field in the lead up the election. Ironically leaving Malcolm Turnbull as the only pro-CPRS player left, but on his way out. Not content with his Pyrrhic victory, he uses this for his very own backflip back into politics. Welcome back on entertainment value alone, given this:Kevin Rudd blames an opposition backflip and slow global

Our problem is climate change is not our problem

2010-03-21T00:26:00.005+11:00

"... it is hard to make people value the long-term future as much as the immediate future."and other pearls of wisdom from the mind of Lord Rees of Ludlow, astrophysicist and Astronomer Royal, can be found here."Global warming poses a unique political challenge for two reasons. First, the effect is non-localised: the CO2 emissions from Britain have no more effect here than they do in Australia,

How climate denial really works #2: 50% of news is spin

2010-03-17T23:10:00.006+11:00

We learned in the first post that by just turning up in a media report, skeptical views gain enough credibility to influence audiences' views. But, how do they turn up in the first place?Crikey has published their six month long investigation into how much news is pr spin, like that of climate deniers and skeptics:Hard questions, because this is what came out in the wash: after analysing a

How climate denial really works

2010-03-17T21:23:00.003+11:00

Desmogblog carries the results of Stanford study which shows how including a "skeptic" view to balance a climate science news report affects the audience.Providing climate skeptics a voice in “balanced” mainstream media coverage skews public perception of the scientific consensus regarding climate change, leaving viewers less likely to understand the threat of climate disruption and less likely

China pings climate denial as extreme, Aussies agree

2010-03-14T23:08:00.006+11:00

ABC - The Drum: Current Poll ResultsDo you agree with China's view that man-made climate change denial is an extreme stance and out of touch with mainstream thought?Yes73%No27%3000 votes countedThat's pretty clear.Global Warning Climate Change Energy

Deconstructing climate denial — #1. De cudgel

2010-03-13T22:55:00.012+11:00

Forearmed is forewarned.Argumentum ad baculum (Latin for argument to the cudgel or appeal to the stick), also known as appeal to force, is an argument where force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as a justification for a conclusion. It is a specific case of the negative form of an argument to the consequences.Mix with some argumentum ad hominem, and you get this thick paste:“Mr. xxx,

Energy efficiency adds up to $700 million savings for Australian business

2010-03-08T10:30:00.004+11:00

Far from being onerous on business, research by the Energy Efficiency Council demonstrates the potential for business to reap big savings by reducing emissions.CLAIMS that even small greenhouse gas targets will hurt big industry have been undermined by a government report that found basic efficiency improvements could cut national emissions and save businesses more than $700 million.An assessment

The 90% chance we cause observed global warming now sits at 95%

2010-03-05T15:46:00.004+11:00

The 2007 IPCC Summary Report reported a 90% likelihood that mankind's signature was in the currently experienced global warming, leaving the chances that nature was causing the warming estimated at 10%. Now a new study by scientists at Britain's Met Office Hadley Centre, the University of Edinburgh, Melbourne University and Victoria University in Canada estimates that there was a less than 5 per

Cycling to work, I emit hydrocarbons

2010-02-28T22:12:00.003+11:00

Not me - my car that is sitting back at home. While I'm saving those co2 emissions, it is releasing hydrocarbons and contributing to smog:Vehicles sitting in the sun for days at a time can spew out damaging hydrocarbons – one of the main ingredients in smog, a federal government study has found.Hydrocarbons are in the vapour that escapes from petrol tanks on a warm day. Most newer cars have

Australia's carbon intensity begins to fall

2010-02-27T13:16:00.003+11:00

While electricity use increased, emissions from electricity generation fell due to a shift to gas-fired and renewable generators from black coal plants, as Ben Cubby, environmental reporter for the SMH, writes:AUSTRALIA'S greenhouse gas emissions may be reaching a plateau, even though demand for electricity is rising inexorably, new data suggests.A slight trend towards burning gas instead of coal

It's the quick and the dead in the climate wars with this killer iPhone app

2010-02-25T22:17:00.012+11:00

Ever reached an impasse in an argument about climate change, for want of accurate knowledge?Science's answers to the common climate deniers' talking-points, painstakingly assembled by John Cook over many years, are now available at the tips of your fingers and right before your opponent's lying eyes, right when you need them next:The app, published by Skeptical Science and Shine Technologies, has

Garnaut's post-Copenhagen waiting game - Plan B

2010-02-18T23:34:00.004+11:00

Professor Ross Garnaut, Australia's answer to Sir Nicholas Stern, tells Tony Jones where the emerging global emissions trading market finds itself post-Copenhagen - we have entered the "waiting game":And my proposal is a proposal that was in the original report. I call the situation we're in after Copenhagen, the waiting game.We're waiting for international agreement to provide a basis for

Where do we go from here?

2010-02-16T21:22:00.006+11:00

The last three months or so has been somewhat depressing for those hoping for concerted global action on climate change (which is on reason why my blogging has been light). Yet, they have been heady months for what is becoming a powerful climate-skeptic movement.The relentless amplification of allegations from 'climategate', the damp-squib Copenhagen conference, and the constant attacks on the

AGW debate: Lord Christopher Mockington vs Timothy Lambert

2010-02-08T22:29:00.004+11:00

Have you heard the one about the amateur scientific genius who has been a member of the House of Lords? Apparently, it's not true:For some time - Google “Monckton” and “Nobel Prize” and see for yourself - the great sceptic-in-chief has been passing himself off as a Nobel Laureate.Cornered last month by the Sydney Morning Herald, he reportedly said it was “a joke, a joke.” Anyhoo, said comedic

The last time co2 levels were this high, we dragged our knuckles around

2010-02-08T21:45:00.005+11:00

If you were to believe global warming deniers, climate change is all right because the climate changes all the time.True enough; but the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were sustained at 387 parts per million (ppm) was 15 million years ago, during the Burdigalian stage of the Mioscene Epoc, according to XXXX of UCLA in his paper XXXX.Unlike now, 15 million years ago CO2 levels were

To watch in 2010: Tony Abbott vs Tony Abbott

2010-01-04T11:15:00.007+11:00

Happy New Decade to you all... let's hope it is the decade when the world finally takes man-made climate change by the horns, and soothes the savage beast. Science tells us that we don't have much option but to do so.Anyway, I'm back from brief but restful holidays, so that also means I'm back to watching the big game in town. I am not talking about the cricketing carnage that Pakistan is putting

COP15 Copenhagen — What the...

2009-12-16T23:37:00.003+11:00

Poorer nations walk out yesterday because they are afraid that Kyoto will be abandoned, India tell Kevin Rudd he is the ayatollah for his drive to abandon Kyoto in favour of a new deal; an African representative says his actions are those of a climate change sceptic. The US is balking at prematurely cutting emissions. Protesters clash outside. Two separate deals are now mooted. No takers.

Monboit vs Plimer: We've had the debate, finally

2009-12-15T23:49:00.008+11:00

Watching Lateline on ABC tonight was a treat. Host Tony Jones has immersed himself in both the science and politics of climate change, and it is great to see a mainstream journo so well across the on-again, off-again, much threatened debate between Guardian science journalist, George Monboit and retired geologist turned avid AGW denial megaphone, Ian Plimer, that he managed to get them both on

Joyce hoist on his own petard

2009-12-13T23:07:00.007+11:00

One of the most useful sayings that French, that fabulous language, has given us is 'hoist on his own petard' - to be blown up by your own bomb (pronounced 'bembh' for ze Pink Panther fans).Petard also handily translates to 'fart' -- the same noise emanating from Malcolm Turnbull's opposition backbench whenever he tried to push the Coalition's promised bipartisan message on climate change action

Andrew Bolt: liar, denier, and father

2009-12-09T21:07:00.011+11:00

Andrew Bolt really is a piece of work, of the guilty, paranoid kind:Today he is having a go at Clive Hamilton for trying to "trying to turn my children against me":Leave my children alone, HamiltonThis is seriously creepy. Is Green extremist Clive Hamilton now trying to turn my children against me - and by warning them I’m a corrupt killer?Hi there,There’s something you need to know about your

Ex-CIA director wants oil to go the way of salt

2009-12-01T22:23:00.004+11:00

Over 100 years ago world powers fought over salt. True - salt preserves meat. Then they invented refrigeration, and the salt wars stopped. Is refrigeration one reason why Gandhi dodged the British bullet for his salt satyagraha (not to take anything from the fact that he was a brilliant strategist)? Just a thought.Anyhoo, that's what we need to happen with oil, say James Woolsey, ex-CIA director

Opposition now opposes Australian people's will

2009-12-01T20:35:00.004+11:00

How's that for an election strategy when staring down the barrel of an anytime-now double-dissolution election?With 66 per cent of Australians supporting the emissions trading scheme, according to the Herald's Nielsen poll on Monday, and only 25 per cent supporting it, the Liberal party elects a hard-right, stem-cell research stopping, God-bothering wacko, preferred by only 25 per cent of Aussie

A pox on your house

2009-11-30T21:24:00.005+11:00

The Liberal National Coalition of the Welching is in good form today, with "Mad Monk" Tony Abbott now reneging on his Friday pledge to not contest the leadership spill tomorrow if consensus-candidate, "cuddly" Joe Hockey, steps into the ring. Commentators are saying that Hockey will have made a Faustian pact to gain the loyalty of the brain hemorrhaging right wing of the Liberal party by sinking

Dissecting the brain of an AGW denier #2

2009-11-29T23:51:00.005+11:00

This brain belongs to Cory Bernardi:They said ...Senator Cory Bernardi, Liberal, South Australia: "This ETS [emissions trading scheme] will also fundamentally change the way our legal system operates. It reverses some important legal concepts such as presumption of innocence, the right to remain silent, the burden of proof and protection from self-incrimination." Altogether after me: Huh?Peter

I hope ILoveCarbonDioxide.com readers also love methane

2009-11-29T01:01:00.006+11:00

Someone put a few denier dollars up and presto, the world now has ilovecarbondioxide.com for the time-capsule we should leave for aliens. Let's hope they merchandise plastic bags for their CO2-devoted readership. Huge mark-up potential -- how much does a plastic bag cost? Good for the environment too.Has anyone told ilovecarbondioxide.com that the permafrost is melting, releasing the GHG, methane

Dissecting the brain of an AGW denier

2009-11-26T22:06:00.007+11:00

I have a lovely little email from Miranda Divine, a SMH opinion writer, that gives great insight into how the mind of a denier works when challenged by inconvenient truths.It's not lovely: it is down-right rude, as was mine that prompted her response. But I had resisted the idea of publishing it on GWW due to the one-on-one nature of the correspondence.That's until I read this from her latest

Send world leaders at Copenhagen your thoughts

2009-11-26T21:51:00.003+11:00

A penny planet for your thoughts.Send a digital postcard with your personal climate greeting to the world leaders. Greetings will be displayed on the official website of cop15.dk and on screens in the conference area during COP15.And if you have a blog, link the website and the greeting facility; as we already know from the carbon pollution pickle we find ourselves in -- every little bit

Who is who in the Coalition zoo

2009-11-24T21:32:00.004+11:00

Further to my post below, you might like to know who supports the CPRS and negotiated amendments, and who doesn't. The never-learn-from-an-election Liberals/Nationals look like rabble:Among the Coalition party room speakers in favour of the bill were Richard Colbeck, Judith Troeth, Andrew Laming, Simon Birmingham, Gary Humphries, Sue Boyce, Mal Washer, Bruce Billson, Barry Haase, Marise Payne,

Don't let evil flourish...

2009-11-24T21:07:00.003+11:00

Calling all good men and women of Australia. Malcolm Tunbull and the human chainsaw, Macfarlane, finally have negotiated their CPRS amendments with Penny Wong et al. Finally. The Liberal party has reconvened after dinner break to vote on supporting the bill. It looks like the doers might just trump the deniers and vote to push the bill though to the Senate for the vote to turn the bill into

Following myself

2009-11-24T20:49:00.003+11:00

I just did it to see if I could, honest. I clicked on Google Followers to check out the widget functionality, and was promptly invited to befriend my own site. Sure - one can't have too many friends. Global Warning Climate Change Energy

Hadley Center CRU hack confounds deniersphere

2009-11-20T23:51:00.005+11:00

The part of the blogosphere where politics informs science is abuzz with the conspiracy-busting exploits of a hacker who allegedly broke into the UK Met Office Hadley Center Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia mail-server and downloaded 1079 emails and 92 documents in a file called FOI2009.zip. (Warning: I cannot vouch for the safety of that link - I stole it from Andrew Bolt's blog

How to tell your child about global warming

2009-11-07T23:49:00.005+11:00

I've been grappling with how and when to tell my six years old about man-made global warming, its claimed effect on his climate, and the implications for his world when he is my age. He has natural interest in weather events, and can tell me the geographic differences between tornadoes, cyclones and hurricanes, for example. Knowing he has gleaned all this under his own steam, driven by his own

Shrinking ozone hole heralds success of global treaties

2009-11-07T21:09:00.006+11:00

In 1987 the world came together via the UN, and signed the historic Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. The participating countries passed legislation banning industry from using chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), hydrochloroflourocarbon (HCFC) and other ozone depleting substances. CFCs, scientists told us in peer-review research, gobble up the ozone layer by releasing chlorine

All power to you, Google!

2009-11-06T23:03:00.004+11:00

My leprechaun friend, below, tells me that it's motivated, grass-root ideas that are going to create the groundswell needed for meaningful change at the level where it has to happen — the consumer.I would rather throw my lot in with a market-signalling coalition of the good-willing than all the vapid international treaties and lobby-bruised politicians in the world. And Google PowerMeter now

About f'king time, Mr Rudd

2009-11-06T17:10:00.011+11:00

Respectfully, you should have been using this sort of hard language to publicly out and route these most insidious AGW deniers (not sceptics ~ sceptics form their views based on the peer-reviewed evidence) in the Liberal party, a lot earlier. We've already seen how many political cowards in the Liberal Party snuck across into the denier camp as the public bought your you-are-doing-something and

Thought Experiment: Getting hot feet over cool headedness

2009-11-02T01:10:00.004+11:00

In response to this:Sydney is warm in theory, thoughAndrew BoltMonday, November 02, 2009 at 12:09amStill waiting for that warming:SYDNEYSIDERS are repacking their winter woollies after the coldest October in 17 years.I left this:Imagine getting into a bathtub half filled with water at body temperature. Turn on the hot water tap so there is a little pressure, but not enough to scald you and lay

Last 10 years period warmest on modern record

2009-10-27T23:17:00.005+11:00

The AGW denier canard that the earth has been cooling since 1998 is taken apart by Seth Borenstein in AJC.The case that the Earth might be cooling partly stems from recent weather. Last year was cooler than previous years. It's been a while since the super-hot years of 1998 and 2005. So is this a longer climate trend or just weather's normal ups and downs?In a blind test, the AP gave temperature

Glasses charged for Copenhagen

2009-10-25T22:52:00.007+11:00

I don't like admitting it because I'm a glass-half-full guy, but, right now, the political climate change world is wobbling some.In Australia, we have a Government that is finally negotiating Carbon Pollution Reductions Scheme bill amendments with an opposition determined to destroy itself for their claque of Carbon Pollution Freedom Scheme lobbyists, in an agonisingly slow-mo train crash over

What's the worse that could happen?

2009-09-01T22:11:00.004+10:00

Greg Craven is the guy who injected himself into the AGW deniers propaganda war two years ago, with a simple risk analysis grid pointing out the obvious — that, if the scientists are wrong, the worst that could happen is that we move to a carbon free economy sooner in our history than otherwise, but if the AGW deniers are wrong (ie. the scientists are right), we are toast. Then he did not sleep

Climate changlings news

2009-07-08T22:20:00.005+10:00

The climate blogosphere is ticking over: At Deltoid, Tim Lambert takes Chilinger and Pielke (Sr) to task for their latest crimes against deductive reasoning and statistics, respectively. Marvel at the desperation of the deniers' arguments, all relying on the poor scientific understanding of the average person to sound plausable, none of it on hard science.With usual eruditon, Barry Brooks covers

Who would have tipped that Tip would tip?

2009-06-15T22:06:00.002+10:00

Staunch to the last:Andrew Bolt Monday, June 15, 2009 at 02:53pmNice profile on the (perhaps) next member for Higgins. I suspect, however, that Peter Costello will make the impressive John Roskam wait. UPDATE No sooner predicted than contradicted. Roskam is as startled by the news as am I: PETER Costello has finally put an end to speculation about his future, confirming

1 tonne of co2 equals 0.0000000000015 °C of global warming

2009-06-14T21:48:00.010+10:00

From my unscientific understanding, if the latest findings of Damon Matthews, a professor in Concordia University's Department of Geography, Planning and the Environment bear out, then the public understanding of AGW will have it's smoking gun. Matthews and his colleagues claim to have found a direct relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming.The latest edition of Nature,

Australia's climate bill may be scuttled

2009-06-14T19:43:00.003+10:00

The ETS circus plays on:Australian Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne said the Government would also have no alternative but to reverse its plan to link passage of the emissions bill to renewable energy measures."The [emissions trading] bill will be defeated. There is no question about that," she told ABC Television."The Government hasn't been able to reach a compromise with the

Crime will organise to go green

2009-06-13T23:29:00.004+10:00

So suggest sooths spotted by Desmogblog.Just in time for the rocked Australian biker club scene, desperate as they are to rehabilitate their public image after the Sydney Airport brawl showed them up to be the mongrels they are.Future Banditos and Notorious meetings to resolve grievances will be so much more in line with public sensibilities: The fat biker wog turns to the skinny biker wog, "You

Fielding staring at the sun for too long

2009-06-13T22:39:00.004+10:00

My reaction to the news of Senator Stephen Fielding coming back from attending an AGW denier's conference hosted by the Heartland Institute, is that he seeks to betray the path of ETS legislation for thirty pieces of Big Fossil-Fuel silver. My evidence? Simply that Fielding is replaying their great canard, 'It's the sun, stupid'.Professor Barry Brook's reaction is to patiently explain why the

Punters and pundits call the Arctic Summer Melt

2009-06-13T21:57:00.007+10:00

It's that time of the year, when types that think about these things, turn their attention to predicting what this year's lowest Arctic sea-ice extent will be. Eli Rabbet kicks off with a rough round-up of pundits and early predictions. There are rumours of money changing hands.If none of this makes sense to you, here's the good oil from a Kiwi called Gareth of Hot Topic. And, as a GWW service

US Emissions Talks With China Hit Great Wall

2009-06-11T23:13:00.003+10:00

Five months ahead of the Copenhagen talks, a round of climate talks between the world's two biggest polluters has stalled, reports the Financial Times:Chinese officials maintained that the two countries should have a “common but differentiated approach” – code for Beijing’s reluctance to adopt a formal domestic mandate to reduce its carbon emissions. The US Congress is considering a bill that

Turnbull hands Rudd ETS early election trigger — Chk Chk Boom

2009-05-27T01:20:00.006+10:00

IMHO, everything that has gone wrong with the Liberal party has to do with their inability to maintain the bipartisan approach to a carbon cap and trade system. Turnbull used to be the one who seemed to be across the issues, but what a flip-flop, opportunistic waverer he turned out to be. How's that holding Rudd accountable?Now we got a damn election to get through. Liberals are going to get hit

Australia coping best with global recession

2009-05-26T20:40:00.004+10:00

Top 10 recession refuges:The top countries best surviving the global recession, according to a survey of 7500 businesspeople from 24 nations.1st - Australia2nd - China3rd - India and Singapore (equal)5th - Hong Kong6th - Canada7th - Japan and Qatar (equal)9th - New Zealand10th - Malaysia, Sweden and Vietnam (equal)Source: Servcorp International Business Confidence Survey.Well, there you go, who

Do future generations have rights to a stable climate?

2009-05-19T00:35:00.003+10:00

Recalibrating the Law of Humans with the Laws of Nature: Climate Change, Human Rights, and Intergenerational JusticeHigh ambition deserves a lofty title. The paper is the product of the University of Iowa's Centre for Human Rights and the University of Vermont's Environmental Law Centre having jointly started an initiative to seek legal protection for future generations. If today's unborn have

The history of the politics of the theory of evolution

2009-05-19T00:23:00.003+10:00

Darwinania: n. If your "interests include Darwin, politics involving Victorian-Era scientists, public perceptions of evolution, anti-evolution movements, and the history of paleontology, especially the presentations of dinosaurs in museums and scientific literature from the 1800s on", you have Darwinania. Global Warning Climate Change Energy

Obama's Bush holdovers attack EPA co2 ruling

2009-05-18T23:10:00.006+10:00

An interesting insight into how the Bush government used to play its cards in thwarting EPA global warming legislation is provided by Jim Tankersley of the L.A Times:The agency's declaration that emissions pose a health danger could have 'serious economic consequences,' Bush-era holdovers in the Small Business Administration assert.Reporting from Washington -- In ruling last month that greenhouse

AGW denier says peer-review is a public enemy

2009-05-18T21:17:00.009+10:00

James Dellingpole plumbs the depth of his intellect in The Spectator:I don’t bait greens only for fun. I do it because they’re public enemy number oneHow so?Here is what’s so terrifying about the modern green movement: its complete refusal to accept that anyone who disagrees with it can be anything other than wilfully perverse, certifiably insane or secretly in the pay of Big Oil.Or stupid and

Is Ian Plimer's Heaven and Earth a sell-out?

2009-05-13T22:46:00.004+10:00

Well yes, considering he challenges the fundamentals of the spectrum of multidisciplinary sciences making up the body of climate science. Problem is, he won't do this in the peer-reviewed literature.But has it really sold out of its 25,000 print run, as claimed by Andrew Bolt? Not according to Tim Lambert of Deltoid, whose mate reckons it's more like probably around~3700. Global Warning Climate

Reduced emissions with increased productivity

2009-05-13T21:54:00.004+10:00

In the search for every-day global warming solutions, Eli of Rabett Run suggests that cheap is good. Think low-tech solutions for everyday tasks.Consider where the costs and problems associated with reducing carbon emissions comes from, from having to transform a dispersed, costless source of energy such as wind or solar or geothermal, into a form which can be centrally distributed to cover all

Government ETS delay: A back-flip to the future

2009-05-13T20:12:00.007+10:00

I don't know what to think about the Australian Government's 2011 back-flip on the starting date of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.The economy is going sideways. This means fewer carbon emissions caused by lower productivity. A delayed introduction will help businesses by delaying compliance costs, but it is only a delay. And, we miss the chance to go to Copenhagen and negotiate with more

AGW deniers deny World Vision children

2009-05-12T21:33:00.012+10:00

By day Andrew Bolt pumps out AGW denial propaganda that has its genesis in a handful of Exxon-Mobil supported think-tank workshops. By any measure it's distasteful stuff, with Andrew regularly branding 9 out of 10 Australians as alarmist, pagan, lefty, earth-worshipping, green-fascists who have fallen for the great global warming hoax.Then he takes his work home with him, teaching his ten year

Andrew Bolt: affirmed yet cognition challenged

2009-04-29T20:34:00.007+10:00

Who still does not appear to understand that the definition of climate change can take in extreme cold? Oops. I made a mistake in today’s column when I said that despite all this alleged global warming, Australia’s record temperatures had not been broken for decades. Reader Cameron says I’ve been proved wrong - and on the very day my column appeared: A new Australian record was set

Climate Sceptics needs all the help it can get

2009-04-12T21:36:00.006+10:00

Found this in my inbox, forwarded to me by a reader after reading this: Climate Sceptics News - 10/04/09 www.climatesceptics.com.au to unsubscribe - reply "please unsubribe" (sic)Welcome to the first of what will be regular updates of what Climate Sceptics around the country are doing to change the perspective of the community on global warming scares etc. As President of "The Climate

Financial crisis equals breathing space on climate

2009-03-03T22:11:00.005+11:00

In news that Andrew Bolt is sure to jump on, climate adviser Ross Garnaut claims that the economic crisis has bought Australia at least two years of "breathing space" in the fight against climate change.The crisis has clamped down on industry and production, which has put a lid on greenhouse gas emissions.Australia's emissions have been rising every year, but are now some years behind predictions

Who is fueling new Climate Sceptics political party?

2009-02-20T23:45:00.008+11:00

Witness the birth of The Climate Sceptics, Australia's newest political party. Aren't we truly the lucky country? They bill themselves as "The World's first up front political party representing climate sceptics"Well, after John Howard's Liberals here in Australia, and George W. Bush's Republicans in the US. And then there was that Vaclav Klaus' Civic Democratic Party in Checkloslavakia. That's

Intelligent design falsified by cdesign proponentsists' intellligence decline

2008-12-07T22:13:00.005+11:00

I have just finished watching a fascinating documentary on SBS, called Judgment Day, about how a bunch of weird Christian extremists tried to introduce stealth creationism into the science class of Dover High School as an alternative to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. This was obviously Dover, Pa, in the US, and not Dover, England. They called this stealth creationism Intelligent Design (ID

Climate change tougher than Sydney roofs

2008-12-07T21:45:00.003+11:00

Great!The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) called on the Federal and State governments to toughen the Building Code of Australia and address the problem of "brittle buildings".It seems research conducted by Professor Alan Jeary, a structural design specialist from the University of Western Sydney's school of engineering, concludes that roofs tiles will not withstand the onslaught of a summer

AGW deniers desperate in their death throws.

2008-12-06T23:40:00.005+11:00

Desmogblog asks why we have seen such a flurry of activity from the global warming denial lobby, lately:Barack Obama has promised to lead the nation in a massive climate intervention and reengage with the international community on climate change. The past weeks have also seen progressive environmentalist Rep. Henry Waxman take over as chairman of the House Energy and Environment Committee and

Andrew Bolt: The climate concerned are Nazis

2008-12-06T22:23:00.007+11:00

Andrew Bolt reckons "the Global Day of Climate Action, which, to judge from this Friends of the Earth ad requires greenshirts to stage rallies eerily similar to the ones once seen at Nuremberg".What an uncut dick-head! What a prize scumbag this Andrew Bolt is. Only he can be flippant about 6 million murdered Jews and Gypsies, and 80 million dead all up. Put it down to the evidential success of

This isn't Funk — it's the Flying Spagetti Monster

2008-12-04T23:06:00.004+11:00

Heathens! What's this, a creepy schism?The full Old Greg (minus ending)Old Greg -- The Ending

Oceans cooling. Not.

2008-12-01T23:39:00.005+11:00

A common misconception about measuring global warming, one that deniers prey upon, is that the average global temperature is the whole story. Ergo, if the last ten years of lower atmosphere temperatures plateau, the warming must have stopped, so the meme goes... on and on. No so, according to Josh Willis, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who specialises in estimating how much heat

Cheney grounded $100 million climate satellite

2008-12-01T23:12:00.004+11:00

Desmogblog is right into the unfolding story of the Bush Administration's interference with NASA's climate science research. This time it is allegations of Cheney's hand in the mothballing of the DSCOVR satellite question :An unnamed source within NASA intimately familiar with the mothballed Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission spoke to Desmog Blog on the condition of anonymity. The

Obama wins the US elocution

2008-11-26T22:09:00.010+11:00

I'm sure I am not the only one outside the US who has become fixated on US President-elect Barrack Hussain Obama. I was one of the lucky few who survived the long, long US election media flood by simply ignoring it all. But tuning into the thrilling finish has wet my appetite for more about Obama. The confluence of an historic presidential choice by the US electorate, a global financial crisis of

EPA ruling gives Obama clean slate to build the clean economy

2008-11-15T00:54:00.008+11:00

Breaking news at Desmogblog. Kevin Grandia is as surprised as I:Wow. A decision by the Environmental Protection Agency today has ruled that all new and proposed coal-fired power plants must have their carbon dioxide emissions regulated.The implications are very opportune, according to John Spalding, attorney of the Sierra Club, who successfully prosecuted the case:Today’s decision opens the way

The Foole is Dead. Long live the King!

2008-11-07T23:35:00.004+11:00

Barrack Hussein Obama delivered a fine acceptance speech on becoming President Elect. So said my goosebumps. Very powerful stuff.It was the first time I had seen and heard more than a soundbite of Obama's famed oratory — two avoidance years plus eighteen listening minutes, and I then knew why he has this reputation. Compelling cadence, great words, good looks, and authoritative body language make

CCS — Use It Or Lose It

2008-10-26T23:30:00.002+11:00

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.

Pay the deniers, call the tune

2008-10-16T00:39:00.006+11:00

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,

Arctic melt season post mortem

2008-10-16T00:12:00.003+11:00

From The National Snow and Ice Data Center:2 October 2008Arctic Sea Ice Down to Second-Lowest Extent; Likely Record-Low VolumeDespite cooler temperatures and ice-favoring conditions, long-term decline continuesArctic 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

Get in early for a breakthrough in AGW Denial

2008-10-15T23:32:00.005+11:00

programlast updated: October 13, 2008Where and WhenThe 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. Paleoclimatology2. Climatology3. Impact of Climate Change4. Economics and PoliticsOr maybe

Desmogblog on election climate politics

2008-09-30T21:48:00.001+10:00

Australia had it's green election ten months ago, and the new government signed the Kyoto Protocol as their first act . They transformed us from pariah to trier in one stroke, and today we had the Garnaut report released, recommending 10% emissions reductions by 2020, or 25% in the event of a workable international consensus at Copenhagen.So that's one of the big three per-capita emitters on

Oreskes outs Nierenberg

2008-09-28T22:49:00.003+10:00

Story so far: Ronald Regan does not like the first three climate science reports provided by the government's elite scientific advisory group, the Jasons. But he like the fourth. It was synthesised by Bill Nierenberg, a Jason who had worked on the Manhattan project.So bringing us into the now, to history in the making, is Naomi Oreskes, of 'consensus' fame as she dissects how Bill Nierenberg

Life's Good and Do No Evil to power low-carbon grid

2008-09-28T22:06:00.001+10:00

clipped from www.worldwatch.orgThe recently announced alliance between technology giants General Electric and Google may provide the lobbying arsenal necessary for the U.S. to overhaul an outdated electric grid widely considered as a barricade to a low-carbon future. The collaboration brings together two industry

Woah there Putin, woah, easy boy

2008-09-28T21:56:00.001+10:00

Michael Tobias explores Sarah Palin's ability to portray foreign leaders in animal terms, and her appreciation of geography. Palin:"it's very important when you consider even national security issueswith Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of theUnited States of America, where, where do they go? It's Alaska. It'sjust right over the border."...Tobias: But if Putin were to

Summer will be an erratic El Nino and La Nina sandwich

2008-09-17T19:35:00.002+10:00

clipped from www.smh.com.auAfter the coldest winter in a decade, weather experts are warning Sydney to expect an erratic summer.Veteran weatherman and director of Weatherwatch Don White said people should expect the mercury to soar and sink this year, with temperatures in the Pacific Ocean indicating that the

Global warming — bad guys found at last

2008-09-14T21:23:00.003+10:00

The science on global warming is so clear that it's hard to understand why the public doesn't push the politicians to pass the laws necessary for our preservation.But, as a species we do not respond to changes on a geological time-scale, even those as rapid as our anthropocene. We can intellectualise the threat of climate change, but it takes a visceral threat, say - a bushfire, to move us into

Sarah "Shapeshifter" Palin's climate change change

2008-09-14T20:11:00.003+10:00

From this audio of a long letter of a disgruntled Alaskan, who claims to know Sarah Palin — minus lipstick — we learn that she does not believe that man-made global warming is shrinking the habitat of polar bears. Ergo, legislation protecting their habitat — from oil extraction — should be overturned.That's from before she was thrust into the public spotlight (and into dissonance with McCain's