Saturday, May 30, 2009

Climate Change: The GOP 'Gets it'

GOP belittles Democrats' climate change proposal

The GOP understands the futility surrounding turning back climate change. 

Unfortunately, it appears expecting the Democrats to achieve similar enlightenment would itself be an exercise in futility.  Perhaps The Nancy should take the House Dems down to the seaside and familiarize themselve's with King Knute's task.

Note:  The GOP is not 'belittling' anything.  That choice of wording for the headline reflects the AP's editorial bias.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

More scare tactics ahead of COP15

Climate health costs: bug-borne ills, killer heat

Tree munching beetles, malaria carrying mosquitoes, killer heat; the article is a veritable description of apocalypse.  The only thing missing was an outright invocation of the Four Horsemen.

This article is an exaggeration of conditions mankind is already living with and successfully mitigating the worst effects of.

Warnings of killer heat waves fly in the face of the fact that cold weather routinely kills more people than heat and that it is easier to adapt to heat than cold.  And, it totally ignores the fact that speciation of flora and fauna is richer in hot climates than cold.

It is not hard to conclude all this media hype is designed to move public opinion to accept the regulations that will come out of domestic legislation (e.g., H. R. 2454) and COP15.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Alarming news from Copenhagen

Global CEOs back greenhouse gas cuts, carbon caps

The article headline says it all.  Businesses lining up to receive new, international regulations?  Or, are they really?

This article—World Business Summit on Climate Change falls short in delivering what is needed - Oxfam—gives reason for hope.  One of the speakers at Copenhagen—Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs of Oxfam—summed up the results as follows:

“It’s a mystery how such influential and passionate voices could demand more urgency and specific commitments from the global business community - from Ban Ki-Moon, to Al Gore, to progressive businesses - only to be ignored in the final statement,” he said. “It is ironic that Prime Minister Rassmussen’s remarks at the end were clearer on targets for CO2 emissions cuts than the Summit was able to make to him.”

So, what is up with the first headline?  Overstatement of the support for regulation similar to the overstatement of consensus on global warming?  It would be interesting to see how many CEOs really backed these regulations during the summit.

Trackposted to The Pink Flamingo, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Call for action: H.R.2454

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) has been introduced in the House as H.R.2454.  There are three major sections (titles) in this bill:

  1. Title I--Clean Energy
  2. Title II--Energy Efficiency
  3. Title III--Reducing Global Warming Pollution

Title III,  is the real clunker in this bill.

Title III calls for designation of certain gases, including CO2, as 'pollution' requiring extensive regulation of their emissions.  These regulations, one of which is the 'carbon cap and trade' regime, promise to levy an onerous burden on American commerce; the cost of which will certainly be passed along to American consumers.

Worse, the entire premise of this section--global warming--is highly debatable.[Link]  We should not be taking the rash actions called for by Title III that easily could turn out to be futile if not misdirected.

So, now is the time for your Representatives and Senators to hear from you.   Encourage them to vote No on any version of H.R.2454 that includes Title III.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

If the facts are against you...

...try laying on a guilt trip.

Global Warming Biggest Health Threat of 21st Century, Experts Say

In a tome jointly published by The Lancet journal and the Institute for Global Health at University College London there appears this gem:

Climate change raises an important issue of intergenerational justice, that we are setting up a world for our children and grandchildren that may be extremely frightening and turbulent.

The author, Anthony Costello, is a professor and director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London.

Kirby Donnelly, head of environmental and occupational health at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health chimed in with

The vast majority of experts, 95 percent, maybe even 99 percent, agree that global warming is taking place...

All of this flies in the face of the facts:  a) warming has stalled for the last decade or so, and b) cold routinely kills more people than heat. [link]

So, what's happening here?  Why are intelligent people making such statements?  It's obvious to me:  Given their position in their organizations, they are shamelessly going where the money is.  Thirty years ago, during the 'coming ice age' scare, their story would have been just the opposite.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

EPA criticized for rule-making effort

White House memo challenges EPA finding on warming

The EPA recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) proposing to regulate six greenhouse gases (GHG)  to counter global warming.  The White House responded with a critique that basically pokes holes in the NPRM and the Technical Supporting Document (TSD).

The White House document is a good read because it lays out (perhaps unintentionally) all the reasons we should not be taking the UN/IPCC alarmist hype over climate change seriously.

There is a bit of a puzzle here, though.  The authors of the White House memorandum, like the EPA, are part of the executive branch of the government.  And, the administration speaks with one voice, right?  So, the Obama administration's pursuit of caps on GHGs while, at the same time, issuing a memo that undercuts the reasons for having such caps seems non sequitur.

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Saturday, May 09, 2009

Associated Press back to it's old tricks

Warning: Sunspot cycle beginning to rise

The article that followed the scare mongering headline attempted to make a mountain out of a molehill and failed.  Interspersed amongst speculations over a world crisis precipitated by violent sunspot activity was the truth:  The sun is the quietest it has ever been.

By normal reckoning, the sun should be well into the upswing of the eleven-year sunspot cycle.   The fact is, the sun went quiet around May, 2006 and that quiet period persists to this day.  As an example, the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory report for April 9, 2009 shows a typical placid sun.

So, why the obfuscation over sunspot activity?  Could it be that  the current quiescent sun has been cited as the reason for the recent global cooling?