Heliogenic Climate Change

Ten of the best.

Ten of the worst.

“Britons should be subjected to random carbon spotchecks and intensive surveillance of their diets, transport and waste disposal habits, says the Government’s architecture and design quango in a new report today.

The word “monitoring” occurs 19 times in the 32-page publication by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). If the proposals in the report What Makes An Eco Town? are implemented few aspects of life will go unrecorded.

CABE says the strict monitoring is needed to ensure the carbon footprint of the eco-town dwellers remains at one-third of the British average, which is the requirement for what’s called “one-planet living”, the quango says.

Examples of monitoring include “the ecological footprint of the diet of 100 randomly selected residents”, and the number of shops selling local produce. Waste disposal and transportion habits will also be scrutinized.

The Carbon Cult also wants to choose what you food you eat, and will carefully pre-select only the most righteous retailers.” “Britons face carbon spotchecks“

“There are many reasons oil is trading above $100 per barrel, including soaring global demand and the fading luster of the U.S. dollar. But perhaps the most important factor is the mismanagement and inefficiency of state-run oil companies. More than 90 percent [94%] of the world’s oil and gas reserves are controlled by national oil companies or by Russian energy giants caught in the Kremlin’s orbit. And as the price of oil and gas continues to rise, those outfits have less incentive to increase their production because they can collect the same amount of rent (or more) by keeping their production flat. Nor do these companies feel much pressure to operate in a transparent, efficient manner. …

Last year, Nadejda Makarova Victor of Stanford University’s Program on Energy and Sustainable Development estimated that if the national oil companies were operated as efficiently as the international oil companies, global oil output could be more than double its current levels. Victor claimed that if all of the oil reserves now controlled by the national oil companies were instead under the control of the international oil companies, “world oil production would be about 140 million barrels per day higher.” …

[I]t’s abundantly clear that if the national oil companies were run more efficiently, global oil production would be dramatically higher and prices would likely be far lower than they are today.

The obvious need is for more capitalism—and less socialism—in the oil sector. With the national oil companies controlling so much of the world’s hydrocarbons, the main impediment to increased supplies is not the amount of available resources. Rather, it is an overall lack of capital discipline, technical skill, and aggressive exploitation of the resources.” “The Petrobras Exception“

“Suicidal animals star in global-warming PSA“

“Sen. Jim DeMint’s office reports just now that Harry Reid is trying to sneak the oil shale ban — backed by House Democrats — back into legislation under cover of the bailout frenzy. Details:

“We’ve just been alerted that despite House Democrats relenting on extending bans on offshore drilling and oil shale in the continuing resolution (CR) appropriations bill, Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid has decided to sneak an extension of the oil shale ban through as Congress fights over the financial bailout. Oil shale in America’s West is estimated to hold be between 800 billion and 2 trillion barrels of oil — that is more than three times the proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia alone.

Here is the text of Reid’s proposed new ban on oil shale, that he is trying to add as an amendment to the CR or move seperately as a “stimulus” package, or we should say an anti-stimulus package if this is included. Sec 1602 continues ban on oil shale. The language follows:

SEC. 1602. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including section 152 of division A of H.R. 2638 (110th Congress), the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009, the terms and conditions contained in section 433 of division F of Public Law 110–161 shall remain in effect for the 19 fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.

It would be an insult to all Americans if Senate Democrats worked to bailout Wall Street while damaging our future prosperity by banning development of vast energy reserves in oil shale.”" “Reid tries to sneak oil shale ban back into legislation“

“A University of Waterloo scientist says that cosmic rays are a key cause for expanding the hole in the ozone layer over the South Pole — and predicts the largest ozone hole will occur in one or two weeks.

Qing-Bin Lu, a professor of physics and astronomy who studies ozone depletion, says that it was generally accepted for more than two decades that the Earth’s ozone layer is depleted by chlorine atoms produced by sunlight-induced destruction of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere. But more and more evidence now points to a new theory that the cosmic rays (energy particles that originate in space) play a major role. …

Lu says that data from several sources, including NASA satellites, show a strong correlation between cosmic ray intensity and ozone depletion. Lab measurements demonstrate a mechanism by which cosmic rays cause drastic reactions of ozone-depleting chlorine inside polar clouds.

Satellite data in the period of 1980-2007, covering two full 11-year solar cycles, demonstrate the significant correlation between cosmic rays and ozone depletion.

“This finding, combined with laboratory measurements, provides strong evidence of the role of cosmic-ray driven reactions in causing the ozone hole and resolves the mystery why a large discrepancy between the sunlight-related photochemical model and the observed ozone depletion exists,” Lu says. …

In sharp contrast, Lu says his study predicts the severest ozone loss — resulting in the largest ozone hole — will occur over the South Pole this month. The study also predicts another large hole will probably occur around 2019.” “New theory predicts the largest ozone hole over Antarctica will occur this month“

“Michael E. Mann, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist [WHAT?!], had just spent an hour explaining why he thinks there is virtual scientific consensus that people are causing the earth to warm and sea levels to rise, when a self-described “left-leaning, pro-environment person,” a meteorologist, rose to angrily dispute him.

The critic said thousands of scientists disagree with Mann’s contention that carbon dioxide is causing climate change. Others have discredited Mann’s figures on unprecedented temperature hikes. … “I’ve spent a lot of time in the last 10 years researching this matter. It is the greatest hoax perpetrated on mankind.”

Natural forces don’t account for the warming that is being observed, [Mann] said. Only carbon dioxide fits. Then he added:

“A fossil-fuel funded amateur [Steve McIntyre] has a Web site that vilifies scientists in my field,” he said. Questions about his data were rejected, he said, by the National Academy of Science [wrong, it verified McIntyre] and by the United Nations’ International [sic] Panel on Climate Change.

“I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination has our science been discredited, except perhaps by some far-out fringe of the blogosphere.” …

He later said he is used to the attacks. Climate change skeptics see that they are losing the scientific arguments, he said, so they are stepping up ad hominem attacks on scientists.” “At URI, Nobel Prize-winning scientist answers critics of climate change“

I think Steve McIntyre has shown who the amateur is.

“Sen. Barbara Boxer called top Bush administration officials cowards Wednesday after they failed to attend a hearing on the administration’s environmental record.

Boxer, D-Calif. and chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was incensed that two high-level officials at the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior skipped the committee hearing.

“They’re cowardly and they have been a danger to the people of this country,” Boxer said. …

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar called Boxer’s comments absurd.

“I think the American people are honestly tired of this ridiculous political rhetoric,” he said. “It’s time for Senator Boxer to actually take action in Congress to do things like reinstate (a clean-air rule) to protect the environment and our human health.”” “Boxer calls absent Bush officials ‘cowardly’“

“The answer to these questions is that no human global climate signal has yet been measured, and it is therefore likely that any such signal lies embedded within the variability of the natural climate system. Meanwhile, global temperature change is occurring, as it always naturally does, and a phase of cooling has succeeded the mild late 20th century warming.

Ironically, though the late 20th century warming was manifestly not dangerous, the current cooling may yet prove to be because of mounting evidence of solar causation. A relationship exists between the length of the sunspot cycle and the annual average temperature (Friis-Christensen and Lassen 1991). Currently, the sun remains in the quiet phase at the end of solar
cycle 23, which is already more than 2 years longer than the average 10.7 year cycle length; one estimate is that as the quiet period continues to extend, there will be 1.4 thousandths of a degree/day of incremental cooling (Archibald 2007). Accordingly, some solar physicists are now warning that continuation of the quiet phase may result in an extended cooling (Clilverd, Clarke, Ulrich, Rishbeth, and Jarvis 2006; Schatten and Pesnell 2007), perhaps even as intense as the damaging Dalton (1780-1830) minimum that marked the last part of the Little Ice Age.

In addition to the fact that the earth is now cooling, the specific hypothesis that dangerous global warming will be caused by human carbon dioxide emissions has itself been thoroughly explored and tested over the last 20 years. The hypothesis has failed all tests to which it has been subjected, and despite great research effort and financial expenditure no convincing or strong countermanding evidence has emerged that suggests it to be true.” “Knock, Knock: Where is the Evidence for Dangerous Human-Caused Global Warming?“

“We have roughly 27% of the world’s recoverable coal. …

A ton of coal can generate two barrels of synthetic oil. On that basis, as the New York Times pointed out a few years ago, “The coal in the ground in Illinois alone has more energy than all the oil in Saudi Arabia.”

At the above conversion rate, America’s coal reserves are equivalent to 20 times our proven crude oil reserves. Liquefied coal could solve our liquid energy needs for the next two centuries. …

Speaking on the Fox Business Network, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: “Coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick. It’s global warming. It’s ruining our country. It’s ruining our world. We’ve got to stop using fossil fuel.”

If the Democrats win in November, the only coal you’ll get will be a lump of it in your stocking this Christmas.” “No coal for you!“

“GOP Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina noted in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the possibility that Democrats would “use environmental lawsuits to block exploration until they can reinstate these energy bans after the November elections.” DeMint warned Reid that it “would be a major mistake.”

So with the ban ending, what are the next moves toward reducing America’s dependence on oil from hostile regimes in places such as the Middle East, Russia and leftist Venezuela?

DeMint has introduced a bill to expedite drilling leases, ensure that states share in oil and gas revenues, and prevent frivolous litigation designed to delay exploration for and production of oil. …

There are tens of billions of barrels of oil and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas in our Outer Continental Shelf waiting for American consumers. That doesn’t include the 10 billion barrels of oil in the North Slope of Alaska. The oil shale in our Western states could provide hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of barrels of oil, dwarfing the crude reserves of current No. 1 Saudi Arabia.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, is calling the end of the ban just the beginning of a new comprehensive energy policy. The House Republicans’ American Energy Act would expand drilling in remote areas, both on land and at sea, plus employ conservationist measures and promote alternative fuels.” “Drilling forward“

These bills have no chance as long as Congress is controlled by Democrats, who are enthralled by rabid anti-fossil-fuel “environmentalists”.

“Gore Urges Civil Disobedience to Stop Coal Plants“

Birds of a feather.

“An act sponsored by 25 representatives asking the government to reconsider its ban on incandescent light bulbs has been stalled in committee – and the leading sponsor is faulting Democratic leadership.

The Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act highlights growing concerns over the safety and environmental impact of compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFLs. Before the sale of incandescent bulbs is banned, the representatives are asking the comptroller general to prove replacement with CFLs will be cost-effective, reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent in the United States by 2025 and that the bulbs will not pose a health risk to the general public.

However, the act has been delayed in the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality since March 14 – more than six months. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., leading sponsor of the legislation, told WND Democrats are not concerned about pushing the act through.

“The Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, H.R. 5616, is currently collecting dust in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, held up by Democrat leadership that refuses to make this legislation a priority,” Bachmann said.” “Congress protects you – from light bulbs!“

“Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, today told a Senate Committee in Washington D.C. that Congressional action is urgently needed to set a firm and ambitious cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

The ARB chairman addressed the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, chaired by Senator Boxer.

“California, and other states are already seeing the effects of global warming,” said Nichols. “We need action now. Addressing climate change with tough federal legislation must be the first item in the new President’s inbox.”

In April, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant and ordered the EPA to examine the impacts of global warming and how it could regulate greenhouse gases. Instead, the EPA only described the harm, but declined to make a definitive statement.

“We cannot wait another minute to begin to reverse the neglect of the past eight years and start to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” she said. “The Clean Air Act is a powerful tool that is ready to be put to use starting on day one of the next administration.”" “ARB chairman tells U.S. Senate committee Clean Air Act is powerful tool to fight global warming“

Perpetuates the myth that 5 scientifically illiterate lawyers on the Supreme Court ruled that CO2 is a pollutant which EPA must regulate. The court ruled that EPA must itself determine whether CO2 is “dangerous to public health” before it can regulate it. No such determination has been made.

“Unexpected snowfall and freezing temperatures in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa has been described by so called climate experts as a feature of global warming.

The country experienced its coldest night on record two nights ago — in the spring time. …

The snow is part of a continuing pattern of cold snaps across the continent that has also seen unprecedented ice storms in Kenya, resulting in 4 inch deep hail covering the ground. …

Lack of solar activity in 2008 has coincided with evidence of a cooling trend across the world. …

The comments echo those of World Wildlife Fund development and sustainability program manager Paul Toni, who recently told reporters in Australia that “The freezing temperatures are proof of the urgent need to cut carbon pollution.”

That’s right – in case you weren’t aware of the new climate change catch-all explanation, man made CO2 emissions now cause global cooling as well as global warming.

Indeed, all weather events, be it snow, rainfall, storms, hurricanes, typhoons or earthquakes are also now caused by CO2 emissions.” “Heavy Snow Fall In South Africa Blamed On Global Warming“

“The sun has dialed back its furnace to the lowest levels seen in the space age, new measurements from a space probe show.

But don’t worry — it’s too small a difference to change life on Earth, scientists said Tuesday. …

The solar wind — a stream of charged particles ejected from the sun’s upper atmosphere at 1 million miles per hour — is significantly weaker, cooler and less dense than it has been in 50 years, according to new data from the NASA-European solar probe Ulysses.

And for the first time in about a century, the sun went for two months this summer without sunspots, said NASA solar physicist David Hathaway. …

But scientists said Tuesday the sun is in “a very prolonged minimum.” Typically a solar minimum lasts about a year, but this low point has gone on since the summer of 2006.

It is “like turning down the heat on a stove,” said McComas, a scientist who used the Ulysses solar probe to document a significantly weaker solar wind. …

Recently, the solar wind has been about 14 percent cooler and 17 percent less dense, according to a paper by McComas in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

For the past 15 years or so, the sun’s overall output seems to be lower than normal, even when it was at the maximum for its cycle about eight years ago, McComas said. …

But solar scientists say there is no evidence to make any connection between solar activity and weather or long-term climate change.” “Sun’s wind and output on extended dimmer switch“

Yeah, don’t worry, the consensus “scientists” (pardon the oxymoron) say the Sun has nothing to do with climate, only humans do.

“Latest data from Ulysses show that the Sun has reduced its output of solar wind to the lowest levels since accurate readings have become available. This current state of the Sun could reduce the natural shielding that envelops our Solar System. …

“Ulysses data indicate the solar wind’s global pressure is the lowest we have seen since the beginning of the space age.” …

“With the solar wind at an all-time low, there is an excellent chance that the heliosphere will diminish in size and strength. If that occurs, more galactic cosmic rays will make it into the inner part of our Solar System.” …

When the results were compared with Ulysses observations from the previous cycle, the strength of the solar wind pressure and the radial component of the magnetic field embedded in the solar wind were found to have decreased by 20%. The field strength near the spacecraft has decreased by 36%. …

“Right now, we are in a period of minimal activity that has stretched on longer than anyone anticipated.”” “Ulysses spacecraft data indicate Solar System shield lowering“

This glittering jewel of colossal ignorance, a “professor of economics and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University“, no doubt considers himself an expert in “climate science”. After all, all his colleagues agree, and the enemy are right wingers:

“Climate change, for example, poses dire threats to the planet that must be assessed according to prevailing scientific norms and the evolving capacity of climate science. The Nobel Prize-winning global scientific process called the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has set the gold standard for scientific rigor in analyzing the threats of human-induced climate change. We need scientifically literate politicians adept at evidence-based critical thinking to translate these findings and recommendations into policy and international agreements.

In the US, however, the attitudes of President Bush, leading Republicans, and now Sarah Palin, have been the opposite of scientific. The White House did all it could for eight years to hide the overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are contributing to climate change. It tried to prevent government scientists from speaking honestly to the public. The Wall Street Journal has similarly peddled anti-science and pseudo-science to oppose policies to fight human-induced climate change. …

They reflect the fact that a significant portion of American society, which currently votes mainly Republican, rejects or is simply unaware of basic scientific evidence regarding climate change … . These voters … reject the evidence and advice of scientists regarding public policies.

Recent survey data by the Pew Foundation found that while 58 percent of Democrats believe that human beings are causing global warming, only 28 percent of Republicans do. …

To be sure, some of these deniers are simply scientifically ignorant, having been failed by the poor quality of science education in America. …

The US must return to the global consensus based on shared science rather than anti-intellectualism. That is the urgent challenge at the heart of American society today.” “The American anti-intellectual threat“

Earth to Jeffrey: consensus is not science, and science is not consensus; the IPCC is not a scientific process, it is a political process; it’s not the gold standard for scientific rigor, it’s the fool’s gold standard for ecotheist political correctness.

He’s right though about the poor quality of science education in America (as he and his ecotheist fundamentalist cohorts amply demonstrate) and the anti-intellectual threat it poses (ditto).

“One day after a scientist [Roy Spencer] told Kansas leaders not to worry about global warming, one of the leading experts on climate change stated Tuesday that if carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase it will eventually mean the end of life.

“If we don’t get this thing under control we are going to destroy the creation,” said James Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and was one of the first scientists to raise the alarm about global warming in the 1980s.” “NASA climate expert warns Kansans of dire consequences of global warming“

James the fundamentalist, how did “the creation” survive most of the last 600 million years, when temperatures were 10 degK warmer and CO2 concentration 8 times higher? Huh? Roy Spencer merely “a scientist”, Hansen “a leading expert”? Please.

“Liberal leader Stephane Dion described the cuts and introduction of a new 40-billion dollar carbon tax to stem emissions linked to global warming as “reconciling the environment and the economy.”

He promised it would lead to a “richer, fairer, greener Canada” while maintaining the plan is fiscally “prudent.”" “Liberals crunch carbon tax for Canadians“

Wrong, Stephane. More CO2 makes Canada greener, not less.