AMUSING

Even "The Guardian" is realizing that if global warming did happen, it would have pluses and minuses.

Climate change could "dramatically" change the face of British tourism in the next 20 years, with European tourists flocking to the UK to escape unbearably hot continental summers, experts say. Research shows that European tourists may choose to holiday in Britain as resorts nearer to home become too hot.



Weather changes may provide revival opportunities for northern seaside towns such as Blackpool and put new strains on roads and development in southern coastal resorts, a study in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism said.

Academic David Viner, a researcher at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in Norwich, produced the report after analysing the work of experts around the globe. "The likelihood [is] that Mediterranean summers may be too hot for tourists after 2020, as a result of too much heat and water shortages," the study said.

There were "opportunities for the revival of northern European resorts, including Blackpool, in the next 20 years, as climate change and rising transport costs offer new holiday opportunities," it said. The study added: "Climate change will impact on many holiday destinations. For many this will be problematic, for others it will produce benefits."

Source





EMPTY PROPAGANDA EXERCISE IN CALIFORNIA

Declaring California and the United Kingdom partners in an international fight against climate change, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a unique accord Monday to develop plans to curb pollution and avert global warming. The unusual summit, between the British leader and the governor of a state accounting for the world's sixth-largest economy, was hailed in a joint mission statement as a commitment to "urgent action to reduce greenhouse gases" and promote cleaner technologies. "I think the evidence of climate change and its danger is overwhelming," Blair said, appearing with Schwarzenegger at the Port of Long Beach. "I think it is now very hard for anyone to dispute it."

Officially, California has no authority to enter into treaties with foreign governments, and the agreement announced by Blair and Schwarzenegger includes no binding requirements to reduce pollution. Instead, it is a joint pledge by Britain and California to share expertise, ideas and business strategies to respond to climate change.

But the announcement of a shared United Kingdom-California effort to combat the problem appeared to bypass -- and upstage -- the Bush administration in planning ways to cut carbon dioxide and other pollutants scientists blame for global warming. "We're collaborating on a long-term challenge . on the single most important issue we face as a global community," Schwarzenegger said. "California is like a nation-state and when we act, the world takes notice." Schwarzenegger added: "There is not great leadership from the federal government in protecting the environment and that's why we as a state are moving forward."

More here




GREENIES LOSE ONE IN CALIFORNIA

Mosquito control officials have scheduled aerial pesticide spraying in urban Yolo County this week, saying they want to prevent an epidemic of West Nile virus. The treatment is planned for Thursday and Friday from 8 p.m. to midnight over 15,000 acres in Davis and 13,000 acres in Woodland. All 28,000 acres are set to be sprayed the first night, with a repeat application the second night. David Brown, manager of the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District, said the agency also may spray Galt and Elverta in far southern and northern Sacramento County, respectively, but no definitive plans are in place.

This is the second year in a row that the mosquito district has opted to deliver chemical insecticides by aircraft over urban residential areas to combat West Nile virus, which has an unpredictable ability to cripple and kill. Some people can be infected and never know it, while others develop symptoms ranging from body aches and fever to paralysis. Last year's aerial spraying over 110,000 acres in Sacramento County triggered vociferous protest.

On Monday, Jack Milton, an organizer of a group called Stop West Nile Spraying Now, presented more than 400 letters to the Davis City Council from residents opposed to spraying. He and others propose a resolution asking that Davis be allowed to opt out of the spraying. They also want a moratorium on spraying while that resolution is considered. Milton said he realizes the resolution wouldn't be binding -- the Mosquito and Vector Control District, not the City Council, decides when spraying is necessary -- but that it would send a strong message. "We're astonished at what is happening," said Milton, a math professor at the University of California, Davis. "They don't have any evidence to do what they are doing."

Mosquito district and state health department officials have said last year's spraying was effective. Following the treatments, which occurred on seven nights in August, the mosquito population shrank and no new human cases of West Nile virus were reported in the county. Sacramento was the nation's epicenter for the virus in 2005, with 177 cases and one death. California as a whole logged 935 cases, with 19 deaths. So far this year, Sacramento has reported no cases; Yolo has two. Both involve men, one 18, the other 36, according to Yolo County Health Officer Bette Hinton. She said Monday that both patients are recovering.

District officials said they don't want to see a repeat of last year's epidemic. "Are we spraying too early?" Brown, the district manager, asked rhetorically. "We could say we sprayed too late last year." Brown said he is particularly concerned that during the current cool spell, people are more likely to spend time outside, increasing their exposure to mosquitoes. West Nile virus is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes.

Normally, the district controls mosquitoes by treating standing water with larvicides or mosquito-eating fish, with the aim of preventing juvenile mosquitoes from becoming flying adults. Spraying pesticides to kill adult mosquitoes, or "adulticiding," is considered a less-effective last resort. Brown said the number of infected mosquitoes in urban Yolo County, along with rising numbers of dead infected birds and the onset of human cases, calls for emergency measures.

Hinton appeared at a mosquito district news conference Monday to show her support for the spraying. "The risk of the disease is hugely larger than any risk of the (pesticide) product," she said.

The district is using the same pesticide as last year, EverGreen Crop Protection EC 60-6. It contains two active ingredients: pyrethrins, which are extracted from chrysanthemums and attack some insects' nervous systems, and piperonyl butoxide, or PBO, a "synergist" that impedes the ability of an insect's body to break down pyrethrins. Pyrethrins break down quickly in sunlight and moisture, and are considered a relatively benign choice among pesticides. PBO is more insidious. A UC Berkeley study published online last week in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology found that PBO from last August's treatments doubled the toxicity of pesticides that had already accumulated in local creeks.

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GREENIE FANATIC PAYS THE PRICE OF HIS UNREALISM

Famed global warming activist James Schneider and a journalist friend were both found frozen to death on Saturday, about 90 miles from South Pole Station, by the pilot of a ski plane practicing emergency evacuation procedures. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing", recounted the pilot, Jimmy Dolittle. "There were two snowmobiles with cargo sleds, a tent, and a bright orange rope that had been laid out on the ice, forming the words, 'HELP-COLD'".

One friend of Prof. Schneider told ecoEnquirer that he had been planning a trip to an ice sheet to film the devastation brought on by global warming. His wife, Linda, said that she had heard him discussing the trip with his environmental activist friends, but she assumed that he was talking about the Greenland ice sheet, a much smaller ice sheet than Antarctica. "He kept talking about when they 'get down to chili', and I thought they were talking about the order in which they would consume their food supplies", Mrs. Schneider recounted. "I had no idea they were talking about Chile, the country from which you usually fly or sail in order to reach Antarctica".

Apparently, while all of Prof. Schneider's friends were assuming that the July trek would be to Greenland, during Northern Hemisphere summer, his plans were actually to snowmobile to the South Pole - which, in July, is in the dead of winter.

Mr. Dolittle related how some people do not realize that, even if there has been warming in Antarctica, the average temperature at the South Pole in July still runs about 70 degrees F below zero. "Some people think that July is warm everywhere on Earth." "And I was surprised to see how close they got to South Pole Station. They ran through all of their gas supplies for the snowmobiles", explained Doolittle. "They had cold weather gear and clothes, but during this time of year you just don't go outside unless it is an emergency." "At least James died for something he believed in", said Mrs. Schneider. "He died while trying to raise awareness of the enormous toll that global warming is taking on the Earth."

Source

Update:

I only glanced at the above story when I first put it up but, on reflection, it is probably a spoof. Interesting that it is hard to satirize Greenies without it seeming totally believable!

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Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.

Global warming has taken the place of Communism as an absurdity that "liberals" will defend to the death regardless of the evidence showing its folly. Evidence never has mattered to real Leftists

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