Sunday, October 09, 2011

An ancient logical fallacy from whom else? A prominent Warmist, of course

From Logic 101: "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". But the guy's not even trying to be honest anyway. He ignores Svensmark's now well-substantiated theory of cosmic ray effects on clouds and hence temperatures

A pre-eminent U.S. climate-change scientist is to speak tonight at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

While some climate change is normal, says Dr. Richard Alley, what's going on now is clearly man-made, since researchers have looked at all possible natural causes and found nothing.

"So, we can go down the list and say, 'Is there anything that could explain this other than us?' and we can't find it. Then we say, 'OK, but the physics of CO2 are really well known,' so we actually can see with high scientific confidence that our fingerprint is on the changing climate."

More HERE





Al Gore's inconvenient untruths of the day

Gore's rant today on his unreality blog suggests some companies are helping to 'solve the climate [hoax] crisis' by preparing for alleged cotton shortages from global warming and lack of snow for the skiing industry. The inconvenient truth is that despite Gore's manufactured "climate crisis," world cotton production and yields are at record highs and winter North American snow extent has been on a rising trend over the past 50 years:





Gore says:
The Climate Reality blog points to companies that have discovered solving the climate crisis makes good business sense:

"Over the past several years, electric utilities, automobile manufacturers, investors and other businesses have started to recognize that climate change is real and that humans are contributing to it. These companies also realize that they can be part of the solution — and that it makes business sense to do so."

"To this end, a number of forward-thinking companies formed “Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy” or BICEP nearly three years ago. Members include Nike, Starbucks, Levi Strauss & Co., Timberland, Target, Best Buy and other major brands."

"These companies know that climate change threatens their supply chains, and therefore increases risk and uncertainty. For example, 95% of Levi products are made from cotton, which is sensitive to extreme heat and both too much and too little water. Aspen Skiing Co. will feel the impacts of climate change directly; a lack of snow affects the entire $66 billion-per-year industry that depends on skiers and other winter sports enthusiasts for financial survival."

SOURCE







Warmists are well-funded

UMASS Amherst was the home of Michael Mann and Caspar Amman of Climategate fame and Mark Serreze of NSIDC

The University of Massachusetts Amherst has been awarded a $7.5 million federal grant over five years to lead a consortium of seven universities and host the Northeast Climate Science Center.

The climate center is one of eight in the country established by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar since he founded the program in 2009, according to a press release.

The center at UMass includes New England and states west to Minnesota and south to Maryland.

The money will support federal, state and other agencies by studying the effects of climate change on ecosystems, wildlife, water and other resources in the region.

UMass will partner with institutions in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and Massachusetts. More money for specific projects would be available, according to the release.

“The nationwide network of Climate Science Centers will provide the scientific talent and commitment necessary for understanding how climate change and other landscape stressors will change the face of the United States, and how the Department of the Interior, as our nation’s chief steward of natural and cultural resources, can prepare and respond,” Salazar said in a statement.

More HERE





No such thing as a happy Greenie

A planeload of British holidaymakers have made aviation history by flying to Lanzarote on a plane fuelled by used chip pan oil. The Thomson Airways flight from Birmingham airport was the first UK commercial biofuels flight ever from a UK airport.

One of the engines on the twin- engined Boeing 757 flight was operated on a 50 per cent blend of 'Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids', produced from used cooking oil, and 50 per cent Jet A1 fuel.

But environmental protesters stripped naked and covered themselves in red body paint in a bid to disrupt the launch. Calling themselves Plane Stupid they said that rainforests were being wrecked to make way for biofuel plantations.

The cooking oil used for the Thomson flights is collected from the kitchens of hotels and restaurants and then goes through a special processing treatment.

Carl Gissing, director of customer service at Thomson Airways, admitted that the biofuel cost around five to six times the price of aviation fuel, but said the airline was prepared to 'put its money where our mouth is' because it believed in sustainable biofuels.

After today's light, carrying 232 passengers, there will be a six-week gap before Thomson starts a full programme of biofuel flights in 2012 from Birmingham Airport.

Dirk Konemeijer, managing director of skyNRG, which supplies the biofuel, said it made sense to utilise used cooking oil because it was a waste product which couldn't be used for anything else.

It was not economically viable at present to supply the whole of the aviation industry with the fuel and that was why government support was needed.

Long-term other technology was necessary and in three to four years a totally new fuel could come along.

Joe Peacock, from Birmingham Friends of the Earth, however, said: 'We cannot ignore the massive environmental and social problems caused by trying to feed our addiction to fossil fuels with plant-based alternatives.'

Plane Stupid protester Chris Cooper said: 'Thomson seem to be acknowledging that we can't continue business as usual in the face of the current climate emergency. 'It's a shame their solution is to make matters worse.

'Vast tracts of rainforest, eco systems vital to halting climate change, are currently being trashed to make way for biofuel plantations. 'Land that grows food is being stolen from some of the world's poorest people so that it can start feeding planes. It's a disaster.'

SOURCE




A prominent British Greenie regrets

Credit to warming alarmist George Monbiot for walking the talk, but it turns out that living green costs plenty:
I have two investments:

A savings account with Smile, which currently contains £12,971.

A savings account with Alliance and Leicester (now Santander), which currently contains £1,200.

Until recently I had more savings, but I spent them eco-fitting my house. In view of what has now happened to the market, that might not have been the wisest of investments.


SOURCE





A Leftist who opposes a carbon tax

Comment from Australia

AMERICAN Michael Shellenberger may be a left-wing but he is anti-carbon tax and a nuclear power champion. He is in Adelaide for the 2011 Festival of Ideas to tell us to put our faith in the human race to develop new technologies to combat climate change.

Mr Shellenberger yesterday outlined his philosophy on how the world and Australia should tackle climate change. He said the Federal Government's controversial carbon tax bill - to be introduced to Parliament this week - was not the solution.

"Our basic view is the most important thing is to make clean energy cheaper through technological innovation," the 40-year-old said. "Our proposal is to put a small fee on coal production, that no one will notice, but will create enough money to fund those new technologies to reduce the cost of clean energy." Mr Shellenberger also believes nuclear power has a big future in this country.

"It is definitely an option for Australia in the future. "You have uranium mining, great universities (to train technicians and scientists) and can move to fourth generation nuclear plants which don't have the same (safety) challenges older plants have and can be as cheap a power source as coal," he said.

Mr Shellenberger, who was named one of Time magazine's 2008 Heroes of the Environment, is one of 80 international and local speakers challenging perceptions and sparking debate among audiences at this year's ideas fest.

Mr Shellenberger will host a talk titled A New Politics for a New Century with Ted Nordhaus, his co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute, at Elder Hall from 1.15pm.

The US experts will explore how to achieve a future where the world's population can live a secure, free, prosperous and fulfilling lives on an "ecologically vibrant planet".

SOURCE

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