Heliogenic Climate Change

See what a decade of global cooling can do:

“A report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says that some species are more threatened by climate change than others sea turtles, already an endangered species, are under serious threat. The warming of the earth is having a disastrous effect on turtle reproduction. Turtles lay their eggs in underground nests; the increased temperature in the nests is changing the sex of the embryos and far too few males are being born. The number of beaches where Turtles lay their eggs has also been reduced by rising sea levels.

The WWF says coral reefs, tigers, orangutans and the pied flycatcher are being hardest hit by climate change. Coral reefs are essential for maintaining a healthy marine environment and widespread coral destruction could have a devastating effect on food chains.” “Climate change threatening turtles”

Another example of the AGW canon that climate change does good things to bad species and bad things to good species.
-

“Next year is set to be one of the top-five warmest on record, British climate scientists [at the Met Office Hadley Center] said on Tuesday.” “2009 to be one of warmest years on record: researchers“
-

“Speed-limiting devices should be fitted to cars on a voluntary basis to … cut carbon emissions, according to a new report. …

The speed-limiting devices will then use satellite positioning to check a vehicle’s location and when its speed exceeds the limit, power will be reduced and the brakes applied if necessary.

The Commission for Integrated Transport and the Motorists’ Forum, which both advise the government, are calling on ministers to promote a wide introduction of the system. …

There would … be a positive impact on emissions … he added. …

Motoring journalist Quentin Willson said he also believed taking away driver control was a “really, really bad thing”.

“Remotely policing the roads from satellites in the sky – I would worry about it an awful lot.”" “Calls for ‘speed-limiting’ cars“

Voluntary now, compulsory later.
-

“Did you need any more proof that climate alarmism is indeed an environmental religion?

The Church of England has invested 150 million pounds with Generation Investment Management, the green fund started by Nobel Laureate Al Gore.

Can I get a “Hallelujah” ladies and gentlemen?

As reported by Religious Intelligence News Tuesday:

The Church of England’s Church Commissioners have gone green, investing £150 million with former US Vice-President Al Gore’s environmentally minded investment firm, Generation Investment Management.

On Nov 18 the First Church Estates Commissioner, Andreas Whittam Smith reported that in late September the Commissioners had placed the funds with Gore’s boutique management firm which follows an “environmentally sustainable global equities mandate.” Funding for the investment came from “cash and Treasury bills”, he said, and not from the sale of UK equities as initially planned. …

We can only hope for the Church’s sake that Gore knows more about investing than he does climatology.” “Church of England Gives 150 Million Pounds to Gore’s Investment Firm“
-

(Bottom picture 1972. In 1960 elevated 20 feet)

Joe D’Aleo has an article with startling visual evidence of snow/ice buildup in Greenland in the last 50 years:

“The selected locations for the new radar sites were found to receive from three to four feet of snow fall each year. Since the winds were constantly blowing with speeds as much as 100 mph, this snow accumulation constantly formed large drifts. To overcome this potential problem, it was decided that the Dye sites [built in 1959-1960] should be elevated approximately twenty feet above the surface of the ice cap.” “Ice Core Sites In Greenland Show Snow Levels Rising“

I know, an alternative explanation is that the radar sites sank into the ice. But D’Aleo cites a 2005 paper which found 2 inches per year growth in the thickness of the Greenland Ice Sheet. That’s 100 inches, or more than 8 feet, growth in 50 years.

“Two words played a big role in politics in 2008 — carbon tax.

While the words may be environmentally correct, in an age of political correctness they are politically incorrect and dangerous.

Ask Stephane Dion.

The federal Liberal leader told Canadians he’d introduce a carbon tax, and they told him where to go — away.

Ask Gordon Campbell.

His carbon tax — which kicked in at the most politically incorrect point with mid-summer gas prices at an all-time high — successfully revived the election hopes of the provincial NDP.

B.C. NDP leader Carole James, who most pollsters had written off as political roadkill to be trounced by the Liberals’ “Best Place On Earth” steamroller, appeared reinvigorated as voters took to the street to “Axe the Tax.”" “Dion, Campbell felt sting of carbon tax“

“The state of North Carolina recently proposed a change in the way taxes are collected for the Department of Transportation. Instead of relying solely on the statewide gasoline tax, North Carolina wants to implement a road-use tax of one-quarter cents per mile, with the first 2,000 miles free. You, as a North Carolina resident, would be required to have your odometer read annually and taxed based on your vehicle’s usage. There has even been some talk of using GPS satellites to determine when and where you drive, and charge you accordingly, to “manage congestion”.

Now, it’s being reported that Oregon wants to do the same thing. Oregon’s plan doesn’t mention a 2,000 mile freebie period, but does state that drivers will pay 1.2 cents per mile but will be refunded the 24 cents per gallon of gasoline tax. Drivers whose vehicles aren’t equipped with GPS systems allowing the state to track their vehicle usage will pay a higher gasoline tax at the pump. James Whitty, the Oregon Department of Transportation official leading the project said it would take about $20 million to determine if the project is commercially viable as fueling stations and new cars would require additional equipment.

Thought you were going to save money with that fuel-efficient vehicle? Think again.” “Think Fuel-Efficient Autos Save You Money? Think Again“

“Scientists have reported a rapid recovery in some of the coral reefs that were damaged by the Indian Ocean tsunami four years ago.

It had been feared that some of the reefs off the coast of Indonesia could take a decade to recover.

The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) found evidence of rapid growth of young corals in badly-hit areas.

A spokesman said reefs damaged before the tsunami were also recovering. …

“This is a great story of ecosystem resilience and recovery,” said Stuart Campbell, co-ordinator of the WCS’s Indonesia Marine Program. …

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a reef expert from the University of Queensland in Australia who did not take part in the study, said the findings were not surprising since corals typically recovered …

“We are seeing similar things around the southern Great Barrier Reef where reefs that experience major catastrophe can bounce back quite quickly,” the scientist told the Associated Press.” “Coral springs back from tsunami“

“Global, cyclic, decadal, climate patterns can be traced over the past millennium in glacier fluctuations, oxygen isotope ratios in ice cores, sea surface temperatures, and historic observations. The recurring climate cycles clearly show that natural climatic warming and cooling have occurred many times, long before increases in anthropogenic atmospheric CO₂ levels. The Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are well known examples of such climate changes, but in addition, at least 23 periods of climatic warming and cooling have occurred in the past 500 years. Each period of warming or cooling lasted about 25-30 years (average 27 years). Two cycles of global warming and two of global cooling have occurred during the past century, and the global cooling that has occurred since 1998 is exactly in phase with the long term pattern. Global cooling occurred from 1880 to ~1915; global warming occurred from ~1915 to ~1945; global cooling occurred from ~1945-1977;, global warming occurred from 1977 to 1998; and global cooling has occurred since 1998. All of these global climate changes show exceptionally good correlation with solar variation since the Little Ice Age 400 years ago.” “Solar Influence on Recurring Global, Decadal, Climate Cycles Recorded by Glacial Fluctuations, Ice Cores, Sea Surface Temperatures, and Historic Measurements Over the Past Millennium“
-

“Natural disasters killed over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record and underlining the need for a global climate deal, the world’s number two reinsurer said Monday. …

Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes,” Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said. …

The world needed “effective and binding rules on CO2 emissions, so that climate change is curbed and future generations do not have to live with weather scenarios that are difficult to control,” board member Jeworrek said.” “Natural disasters ‘killed over 220,000′ in 2008“

Good excuse to raise premiums, eh?
-

“Australia’s most iconic and beloved marsupial, the koala, is under threat from rising levels of carbon that are effectively poisoning their only food source, the eucalyptus tree.” “Koalas in danger of extinction as rising carbon levels poison eucalyptus trees” Recycled from April here.

Another example of the canon that AGW always does bad things to good species and and good things to bad species.
-

“Britain has just a year to save some of its most well-loved species including hedgehogs, house sparrows and dormice, from possible terminal decline, a Government agency has warned. …

Moths and butterflies

Data from 2002 has shown that there has been a major decline in moth abundance, with overall numbers falling by almost one-third since 1968. Butterflies are also in decline or moving north with climate change.

Frogs and toads

Most are doing quite badly because of a loss of ponds and habitats. Unlike birds and insects it is more difficult for frogs and toads to move north as the climate changes. The natterjack toads has been reintroduced in many areas but is struggling to keep up numbers.” “Native species in ‘biodiversity freefall,’ claim environmentalists“

“Next December … [t]he stakes at Copenhagen could not be much higher. Global surface temperatures have risen by a tolerable three quarters of a degree celsius over the past century [actually less], but the rate of increase is accelerating. The Kyoto Protocol has had negligible impact on greenhouse gas emissions, and projections for the mean global temperature rise in the next century range from 1.1 to 6.4 degrees. Whether fast or very fast, the Earth is heating up.

There will be continued argument about the science of climate change over the next 12 months, but not, except on the conspiratorial fringe, about the threat. Climate change is real and worsening, and there is an overwhelming likelihood that much of it is man-made.” “The war on carbon“

Whether they want to or not:

“[The auto industry] must be financially self-sufficient. It also must be capable of producing highly fuel-efficient, next-generation vehicles that can help the nation cope with climate change and finite supplies of oil.

Yet for all the conditions attached to it, the multibillion-dollar aid package for Detroit’s carmakers approved by the White House (with Mr. Obama’s support) fails to address one crucial question: Who will buy all the fuel-efficient cars that Detroit carmakers are supposed to make?

The danger is that too few will, especially if gasoline prices remain low. Therefore, it might be time for the president-elect and Congress to think seriously about imposing a gas tax or similar levy to keep gas prices up after the economy recovers from recession.” “The gas tax“
-

“The lights might go out in Virginia in two years. As media reports have noted, blackouts are likely in the commonwealth by 2011 because demand for electricity is outstripping supply and the state needs access to new sources of power.

Sadly, Virginia’s predicament can be seen around the country. The United States faces an energy crisis: More power generation and more transmission lines are needed, and all this must be created quickly while also meeting climate change goals.” “How to prevent the lights from going out across U.S.“

Build the power plants and transmission lines now, power them with fossil fuels, and forget the “climate change goals” nonsense.

Here you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Using Hansen’s computer model USGS and CCSP think we’re all gonna die. WWF and NRDC agree (send money and we can stop it), and the VP of WWF’s climate change program was the head of the CCSP coordination office. My oh my:

“Report Projects 4-Foot Rise in Global Sea Level by End of Century [!]

Rising Waters to Flood Coasts [!]

An Iditarod without snow, Florida’s coastal towns lost forever to the Gulf of Mexico, wheat farmers in Kansas without crops.

What sounds like the climatic end of days could be coming a lot sooner than previously anticipated.

A recent report released by the U.S. Geological Survey paints abrupt climactic shifts, including a more rapid climate change with global sea level increases of up to four feet by the year 2100 and arid climatic shifts in the North American Southwest by mid-century.

Previous estimates anticipated a global sea level rise of 1.5 feet by the end of the century. The current survey, commissioned by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, estimated that the compounding effects of the loss of Arctic Sea ice will more than double previous projections by the end of the century.”The Arctic is a regulator of Earth’s climate,” Martin Sommerkorn, a senior adviser on climate change to the World Wildlife Federation, cautioned in a statement.

The National Resources Defense Council describes the Arctic as “global warming’s canary in the coal mine.” Arctic ice melt, the NRDC warns, will have devastating effects beyond the polar region and well into the American heartland. …

Using a NASA computer model, the NRDC links Arctic melts to wheat farming in Kansas, projecting that without ice covers, the state would be 4 degrees warmer in the winter, which would hurt wheat farmers who rely on freezing temperatures to grow their crops. Kansas summers would face drier crop soil sapped of 10 percent of its moisture.

“These findings [they're not findings, they're climate model output!] offer a startling view of climate change in the Arctic and the profound impact it may already be having on the future of the entire planet,” said Richard Moss, vice president for WWF’s Climate Change Program and previously head of the CCSP coordination office, in a statement.” “American Shores Face Threat of Rising Sea Level“

“A proposed Internet filter dubbed the “Great Aussie Firewall” is promising to make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries.

Consumers, civil-rights activists, engineers, Internet providers and politicians from opposition parties are among the critics of a mandatory Internet filter that would block at least 1,300 Web sites prohibited by the government …

Hundreds protested in state capitals earlier this month.

“This is obviously censorship,” said Justin Pearson Smith, 29, organizer of protests in Melbourne and an officer of one of a dozen Facebook groups against the filter.

The list of prohibited sites, which the government isn’t making public, is arbitrary and not subject to legal scrutiny, Smith said, leaving it to the government or lawmakers to pursue their own online agendas.” “Uproar in Australia over plan to block Web sites”

Wonder if KRudd and PWong will be blocking climate realist websites.

“The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has launched a wonderful little feature that will run until Barack Obama takes the oath of office next month. They are calling it “Dear Mr. Obama” and it is a heartwarming exercise in child indoctrination and brainwashing. The Post-Gazette will be publishing letters from local students to Obama asking him for all sorts of global warming fixes, Iraq war enders, and big government programs. …

The tykes are all about the alternative energy these days. They are full of exhortations to The One that he should force upon us all a reliance on wind power and solar cells. Obviously these youngsters have not been taught that no alternative energy source has thus far been found that is cheaper than oil and the fossil fuels. These kids are under the illusion that just instituting a government program is all it takes to overcome the science of the matter and make them cost effective and feasible. …

Several of the children are worried about mythical man-made, global warming and have been indoctrinated that Obama can control such things from the Mount Olympus of Washington. Here, for instance, are the worries of little Anna Devinney.

The first one is pollution. A lot of animals are dying because of pollution. Fish are dying from garbage being dumped into their habitat. People are dumping barrels of toxins into the oceans and many sea animals are losing food.

Another problem in the U.S. is global warming. In the future, all the land will be flooded with water because the icebergs are melting and the sea level is rising.

To be so misled by one’s teachers is so disheartening. …

Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, thinking it’s cute, is all too willing to display for all to see what a failed education looks like.” “‘Dear Mr. Obama,’ Why are our Kids so Brainwashed?“
-

“The heavily subsidized ethanol industry is the latest to seek a federal bailout. If there is any industry that deserves to go bankrupt, it’s this one. Time has come to stop putting food in our gas tanks. …

Ethanol never made much sense economically or environmentally. It never would have made it to market without congressional mandates and huge subsidies. Having the first presidential contest in the corm state of Iowa didn’t hurt either. With oil prices plummeting, it is even less competitive — if it ever was.

The product has benefited from a tax credit paid to gasoline producers to blend gasoline with ethanol; a federal fuel economy standard that sets a minimum amount of ethanol to be blended; and a 54-cents-a-gallon tariff on cheaper imported ethanol made in places like Brazil. Brazilian ethanol is made from sugar, not corn. But corn is grown in Iowa, and Brazilians can’t vote.

Recent legislation mandated increased ethanol use as well as a 51-cent-a-gallon tax credit and more corn subsidies. Over the last two decades the ethanol industry has been kept alive with more than $25 billion in federal handouts. Yet it still can’t compete. …

Even the environmentalists are getting wise to this game. The Environmental Working Group and five other groups came out against such a bailout last week, saying subsidies “for corn-based ethanol have produced unintended, yet potentially catastrophic, environmental consequences, with little or no return to taxpayers in energy security (or) protection from global warming.”" “Ethanol Bailout? Time To Shuck Corn“
-

“Aptly, perhaps, for an era of hard times, coal is making a comeback as a home heating fuel.

Problematic in some ways and difficult to handle, coal is nonetheless a cheap, plentiful, mined-in-America source of heat. And with the cost of heating oil and natural gas increasingly prone to spikes, some homeowners in the Northeast, pockets of the Midwest and even Alaska are deciding coal is worth the trouble.” “Burning Coal at Home Is Making a Comeback“
-