Papa Gore! DiCaprio on Gore’s influence: ‘He literally took me, you know, like a child….and explained what global warming was’

And he's learnt nothing since

DiCaprio: “I actually got to meet Al Gore, who — I asked him what was the, you know, the most important environmental issue in the world, and he, without hesitation, said ‘global warming’ and literally took me, you know, like a child and wrote out a chart and explained what global warming was and how, um, basically because of, you know, carbon emissions in our atmosphere, we’re going to, you know, change our climate forever.” - Interview at 42:50 min. with Charlie Rose on PBS in a 2004.

SOURCE  Video at link





Ecofascists Still Looking for Bogeymen

Exxon ordered to turn over 40 years of documents on climate

In the latest chapter of the saga regarding ecofascist persecution over global warming, New York Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager ordered ExxonMobil and its accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to provide 40 years-worth of scientific, technical and administrative documents related to the energy company’s internal studies on the impact of fossil fuels on climate change.

Ostrager’s ruling appears to come in response to actions taken by state attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who last year opened an investigation into whether ExxonMobil deliberately misled the public and the government about the true impact of its products on the environment. Because the Left would never mislead about its agenda.

Schneiderman didn’t have any real proof regarding malfeasance by the energy company, but he does have political momentum in the form of a group called Green 20. This climate mafia of sorts is yet another offshoot of the Left’s attempts to shut down debate over climate change by pursuing actual criminal charges against those who disagree with the climate alarmist crowd’s interpretation of data and prescription for policy.

For the ecofascists and their enablers in the judiciary (i.e., the aforementioned Ostrager), actual proof of misdeeds is not necessary to compel ExxonMobil to produce the documents in question. Worse still is that Ostrager’s ruling presents a dangerous precedent, demonstrating that political will alone can drive judicial decisions, with Rule of Law left to twist in the wind.

ExxonMobil and PwC have claimed that any legal action against them should take place in Texas, as that is where the company is headquartered. They also recognize that Texas is friendlier to the relationship between companies and their accounting firms. Unsurprisingly, Ostrager rejected their claim, stating that New York is a perfectly good venue for this case as ExxonMobil also does business there. He stated his belief that ExxonMobil and PwC’s interpretation of Texas business laws is skewed, therefore apparently giving him the right to fleece the company in the Empire State.

ExxonMobil is sure to fight this order. It had better do so unless it wants the government to run roughshod over its rights. The challenge that has been laid down with this case will take some time to wind its way through the courts, so it will be worth watching what happens very closely. More than mere hot air is at stake.

SOURCE





Trump: We Will Cancel ‘Global Warming Payments’ To The UN

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told supporters at a Florida campaign rally he would “cancel billions in global warming payments to the United Nations” if he won the election.

“We will also cancel billions in global warming payments to the United Nations, and use that money to support America’s vital environmental infrastructure and natural resources,” Trump told supporters Wednesday.

Democrats often take the opposite tact in Florida when it comes to global warming. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign has pointed to flooding in Miami Beach as evidence of global warming’s worsening effects.

The former secretary of state also suggested global warming strengthened Hurricane Matthew as it devastated Florida’s eastern coastline in October. Clinton also attacked Trump for calling global warming a Chinese “hoax.”

Trump has shaken off such criticisms and is playing up the billions of taxpayer dollars President Barack Obama pledged to give the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF). Obama said he’d give the GCF $3 billion — the president’s already handed over $500 million to the GCF.

“We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars. We don’t even know who’s doing what with the money,” Trump said, promising to spend that money in the U.S. instead.

“We’re gonna work on our own environment, Trump said. “That includes repairing the Herbert Hoover Dike in Lake Okeechobee, protecting the Florida Everglades.”

Florida is often portrayed by environmentalists as on the frontlines of global warming, but that message doesn’t seem to be a winning one based on recent polling.

RealClearPolitics has Trump leading by one percentage point in Florida, based on the average of seven October polls. For perspective, Clinton was leading by four points in late October, according to RCP.

SOURCE





Australian power station closure: Electricity bills could rise 8pc, Victorian Government modelling shows

A Greenie triumph.  They have been agitating to achieve this shut-down for a long time.  Why?  Because it is Victoria's "dirtiest" power station.  But Greenie dirt is different.  In this case the dirt is an invisible, tasteless and odorless gas that our bodies create all the time up until our death: CO2

Household power bills could increase by between 4 and 8 per cent following the closure of the Hazelwood power station, modelling released by the Victorian Government shows.

Hazelwood's majority French owner, ENGIE, is tomorrow expected to announce the plant will close in March next year.

Hazelwood generates up to a quarter of Victoria's energy supply, and the loss of its cheap, brown-coal fired electricity would push up power prices.

The ABC has obtained government-commissioned modelling that estimated the average residential power bill would rise by about 4 per cent in 2017, or $44 a year.

That's the equivalent of 85 cents a week.

The analysis, by Carbon + Energy Markets, is based on futures market wholesale price projections.

However a separate analysis based on assumptions by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, predicted the average household bill would remain unchanged in 2017, then rise by about 8 per cent in 2018, or $86 a year. That's the equivalent of $1.65 a week.

"The reality will be that if Hazelwood closes there will be an impact on electricity pricing," Treasurer Tim Pallas said.

"How much that will be we'll need to continue to monitor."

However Mr Pallas said the closure of Hazelwood would not jeopardise Victoria's energy security.

With continued questions about the future of the Hazelwood power station, the next generation has its eyes set on renewable energy.

"We have been given absolute assurances that there is more than enough energy in the network to sustain and support the community's energy needs," he said.

Shadow Treasurer Michael O'Brien disagreed.

"Put it this way. Hazelwood provides 25 per cent of our electricity needs," he said. "If you're sitting on a four-legged chair and one leg falls off, it's not going to stay upright for very long."

Mr O'Brien quoted analysis by Frontier Economics which forecast retail prices for Victorian householders would increase by up to 25 per cent immediately after a Hazelwood shut down.

The closure of Hazelwood would cost about 800 jobs in the Latrobe Valley, which already has a high unemployment rate.

SOURCE





Irresponsible peddlers of a Green/Left scare story get their just desserts

Fronted by Maryanne Demasi, the Australian ABC "Catalyst" program aired  a scare story saying that mobile phones and Wi-Fi caused health impacts including brain tumours. That caused an immediate outcry from the scientific community who know the evidence on such a hoary old nonsense.

The Catalyst staff should have known better.  The effect of electromagnetic radiation on health has been a big boogeyman for many years but the contrary evidence is huge. Notably: From the early days of mobile phones until now there has been no upsurge in brain cancer.  Now that mobiles are very widely used, we should be swimming in brain cancer cases by now.  But we are not. High or low levels of mobile phone use and the resultant radiation makes no difference. It's all just attention-seekers big-noting themselves


Staff on the ABC’s Catalyst program staff have been told by the ABC’s director of television Richard Finlayson that they will all be made redundant.

In a meeting at Ultimo attended by TV management and human resources the presenters and producers were told the magazine style program was ending.

A last-minute bid by senior ABC staff on Wednesday to overturn the board’s decision to axe Catalyst failed, sources told Guardian Australia.

The board had been presented with reasons why the ABC should continue to cover science properly with an in-house science unit.

An internal review after Catalyst presenter Maryanne Demasi’s Wi-Fried? program was found to have breached the ABC’s impartiality guidelines recommended the program be axed and Demasi and all the other staff be made redundant.

Finlayson told staff that nine people will lose their jobs and that the changes to Catalyst were not driven by the Demasi incident alone.

“For 2017, Catalyst will move from the current half-hour, magazine-style program structure to a one-hour documentary format, focused on high-impact, single-issue programs or series,” he said.

“It will be presented by leading science experts, chosen for the various programs. This shift will align Catalyst with world’s best practice for science programming. An embedded digital capability will deliver short-form content around each program and throughout the year to increase the ABC’s digital science offering on ABC and third party social platforms.

“Finally, we must recognise that Catalyst and its team have served our audiences and the science community well for many years. However, we need to do what we believe is best for audiences, and that means adjusting our approach to best meet their needs and the realities of a changing market. We will work closely with those staff impacted by these changes to ensure they are treated respectfully throughout this transition.”

Under the baord’s plan the award-winning program will be replaced by 17 one-hour science specials, mainly from the independent production sector, commissioned by new staff the ABC is going to hire.

The ABC staff union, the Community and Public Sector Union, was holding meetings with management and staff on Thursday morning.

A letter from the ABC section secretary, Sinddy Ealy, to management fell on deaf ears.

“Catalyst fills a unique and important place in Australian science journalism and we share concerns that a longer-format replacement would mean important and exciting scientific work was ignored,” Ealy said.

“It would be a huge disservice to the Australian public if the ABC’s strategy is to intentionally dumb down specialist content in favour of ratings.

“The changing media landscape means the importance of ABC’s specialist content has never been greater. We recognise that ABC should review its programs regularly, but they also need to ensure that quality specialist content and the staff behind that content are retained.”

Senior ABC program makers warned that ditching the weekly half-hour program and disbanding the science unit would lead to a dumbing down of science programming and in effect kill off Australian science on television.

Demasi has been on leave since a review of her Wi-Fried? program – which linked Wi-Fi and mobile phones with health risks including brain cancer – was found to have breached the ABC’s impartiality guidelines.

The discredited program was the second Catalyst story by Demasi to be found in breach of the ABC’s editorial policies and to be removed from the website. In 2013 Demasi kept her job despite an editorial breach for a program about statins.

SOURCE


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