We just sent this email out to everyone who signed onto our subsidies petition. Haven't signed on yet? Get to it: www.350.org/subsidies Dear friends, When we launched our campaign to end fossil fuel subsidies last week, we didn't quite know what to expect. Well, we've got good news: in just a few days, you were joined by over 30,000 people who have signed onto our call to action -- including thousands of people who have never before been a part of the growing 350.org network. We launched this campaign with a powerful rally in DC that brought together environmental groups, Congressman…
Climate Change
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Most Topular Stories
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The subsidies campaign is catching fire.
350.org - Movement Dispatches and Climate News15 May 2012 | 4:14 pm -
Hurricane drought days at an all time high – Katrina Karma ?
Watts Up With That?16 May 2012 | 12:33 pmEver since Al Gore used hurricane Katrina as a false example of AGW driven severe weather, there has been a drought of major landfalling U.S. Hurricanes, which can only be a good thing. This year I hope Mr. Gore makes … Continue reading → -
To see climate change, watch the sea - The Daily Yomiuri
"climate change" - Google News16 May 2012 | 1:33 pmTo see climate change, watch the seaThe Daily YomiuriThus, detailed observation of the sea is necessary to detect climate change. But observing the sea is not easy at all. Satellites can only observe the surface of the sea. To observe conditions underwater, the surveying devices need to be in the water, -
New Data from Hantemirov
Climate Audit15 May 2012 | 7:31 amYesterday, I received updated Yamal data (to 2005) from Rashit Hantemirov, together with a cordial cover note. As CA and other readers know, Hantemirov had also promptly sent me data for Hantemirov and Shiyatov 2002. There are 120 cores in the data set, which comes up to 2005. I’ve calculated a chronology from this information – see below. In the wake of the 2009 Yamal discussion, CRU had contacted Hantemirov for additional data. In CG2-1025 on Oct 5, 2009, Hantemirov wrote Melvin, sending additional data as follows: Dear Tom, files with living trees data attached, that I use to… -
Ancient tree-ring records from southwest U.S. suggest today's megafires are truly unusual
ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News16 May 2012 | 11:03 amToday's mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests an unprecedented study that examined 1,500 years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods. Researchers constructed and analyzed a statistical model and found that today's dry, hot climate combined with the past century of human fire suppression is causing megafires.
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350.org - Movement Dispatches and Climate News
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The subsidies campaign is catching fire.
15 May 2012 | 4:14 pmWe just sent this email out to everyone who signed onto our subsidies petition. Haven't signed on yet? Get to it: www.350.org/subsidies Dear friends, When we launched our campaign to end fossil fuel subsidies last week, we didn't quite know what to expect. Well, we've got good news: in just a few days, you were joined by over 30,000 people who have signed onto our call to action -- including thousands of people who have never before been a part of the growing 350.org network. We launched this campaign with a powerful rally in DC that brought together environmental groups, Congressman… -
Robinhood Tax Week of Action Begins
15 May 2012 | 11:39 amYesterday marked the start of a week of action in support of a Robinhood Tax (Financial Transaction Tax) that would put a tiny tax on the financial sector and generate billions of dollars, pounds, euros that can be put towards fighting climate change and poverty. Some 350 organizers were involved in similar local events roughly a year ago (the photo to the right is from Cairo, Egypt), and now is the time to dig out those robinhoood suits again. The week of action is planned to coincide with with the G8 leaders summit at Camp David in the USA (May 18-19th) and a meeting of European leaders… -
Getting our money back
14 May 2012 | 9:17 pmOn May 10th, 350.org joined with Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Keith Ellison to launch a new bill that would cut $113 billion in subsidies to the coal, oil and gas lobby over the next 10 years. Almost everyone in the country opposes handing cash over to big oil, big coal, and big gas—the numbers are in the 70% range among Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. That means that we'll be working to get all sorts of people on board with this fight, maybe even that cranky uncle of yours who doesn't believe in global warming but wants to cut government spending. This won’t be any… -
The latest on Keystone XL
14 May 2012 | 5:35 pmI haven’t written you about the Keystone Pipeline for several weeks, because I haven’t known quite what to say. But many things are moving, and here’s how the situation seems to me right now: 1) TransCanada, as expected, re-applied for a permit last week from the State Department, and just as they said last November — State said they would have an answer sometime in 2013. An open question is whether or not the State Department will do a real review, and aggressively investigate the climate implications of tar sands oil, which they punted on last time. Another… -
Two photos from Texas...
14 May 2012 | 4:32 pm...that show us how much we need to connect the dots. The photo on the left is from Austin, Texas -- here's the story behind it: Almost one year after severe drought conditions contributed to wildfires that burned 96% of the 6,600 acres of Bastrop State Park, the park is showing signs of rebirth, which is good news to my dogs, Dylan and Sophie. (Photographer Credit: Mary Priddy) And, the photo on the right is from Georgetown, Texas -- here's what local organizers had to say: We lost thousands of "century trees" in Central Texas due to the record-breaking Drought of 2011 -- a worse drought is…
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Watts Up With That?
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Hurricane drought days at an all time high – Katrina Karma ?
16 May 2012 | 12:33 pmEver since Al Gore used hurricane Katrina as a false example of AGW driven severe weather, there has been a drought of major landfalling U.S. Hurricanes, which can only be a good thing. This year I hope Mr. Gore makes … Continue reading → -
Hump day Hilarity – China’s wind powered car
16 May 2012 | 10:04 amThe world has been waiting patiently for a solution to the perpetual motion machine problem. Leave it to the Chinese to solve it. Now, where the hell is my flying car Popular Science has been promising me for 50 years? … Continue reading → -
Using Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis for climate understanding and prediction – after Lovelock threw climate under the bus
16 May 2012 | 5:00 amAs you may recall, James Lovelock recently threw global warming/climate change under the bus. I guess these guys need to get out more. I post this press release solely for the entertainment value, because I can find little else in … Continue reading → -
Is Sea Level Rise Accelerating?
16 May 2012 | 2:01 amGuest post by Paul Homewood It is generally accepted that sea levels increased during the 20thC at a rate of about 185mm or about 7”. Furthermore studies suggest that there was no acceleration in this rate during that … Continue reading → -
Modeling in the red
15 May 2012 | 10:58 pmFrom an Ohio State University press release where they see a lot of red, and little else, yet another warm certainty model: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS PROJECTS FUTURE TEMPERATURES IN NORTH AMERICA COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the first time, researchers have been … Continue reading →
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"climate change" - Google News
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To see climate change, watch the sea - The Daily Yomiuri
16 May 2012 | 1:33 pmTo see climate change, watch the seaThe Daily YomiuriThus, detailed observation of the sea is necessary to detect climate change. But observing the sea is not easy at all. Satellites can only observe the surface of the sea. To observe conditions underwater, the surveying devices need to be in the water, -
USGS details effects of climate change on water availability in 14 local ... - Phys.Org (press release)
16 May 2012 | 10:21 amUSGS details effects of climate change on water availability in 14 local Phys.Org (press release)Climate change projections indicate a steady increase in temperature progressing through the 21st century, generally resulting in snowpack reductions, changes to the timing of snowmelt, altered streamflows, and reductions in soil moisture, and more » -
Is climate change research holding back advances in weather forecasting? - Washington Post (blog)
16 May 2012 | 10:12 amIs climate change research holding back advances in weather forecasting?Washington Post (blog)The bottom line is that the computational power available for climate simulations, for understanding and predicting climate change over the next few decades to a century, absolutely dwarfs what is available for predicting the weather and for -
Bonn climate talks: EU plays down talk of Kyoto protocol rift - The Guardian
16 May 2012 | 9:17 amEnvironment News ServiceBonn climate talks: EU plays down talk of Kyoto protocol riftThe GuardianDivisions have again emerged on the first few days of the latest round of international climate change talks in Bonn, with the EU and groups of developing countries clashing over the future of the controversial Kyoto protocol.Climate change talks from Durban to BonnPakistan ObserverFiji Participates at Climate Change meetingThe Jet NewspaperStakes High in Bonn Climate Talks: Global Deal, $100B FundEnvironment News ServiceThe Local.de -Afrique en Ligueall 194 news articles » -
Climate Change Worsening At Faster Rate? - Patch.com
16 May 2012 | 8:01 amClimate Change Worsening At Faster Rate?Patch.com"Climate change is just one of the ways in which we are changing the planet," she said. "But it is the most serious one." That fact alone is incredibly dangerous, she said, because our species evolved under predominantly stable and pleasant conditions, and more »
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Climate Audit
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New Data from Hantemirov
15 May 2012 | 7:31 amYesterday, I received updated Yamal data (to 2005) from Rashit Hantemirov, together with a cordial cover note. As CA and other readers know, Hantemirov had also promptly sent me data for Hantemirov and Shiyatov 2002. There are 120 cores in the data set, which comes up to 2005. I’ve calculated a chronology from this information – see below. In the wake of the 2009 Yamal discussion, CRU had contacted Hantemirov for additional data. In CG2-1025 on Oct 5, 2009, Hantemirov wrote Melvin, sending additional data as follows: Dear Tom, files with living trees data attached, that I use to… -
Schmidt on FOI
14 May 2012 | 4:41 pmIn yesterday’s post (as noted), I only responded to one aspect of Schmidt’s Yamal article, as it contains numerous extraneous spitballs, each of which takes time to respond to. In yesterday’s post, I focused on points of agreement or points where agreement ought to be possible. In a subsequent RC comment, Schmidt complained that I had failed to respond to his “main point”, which now appears to be his ruminations on the UK Freedom of Information Act. Schmidt complained inline: Also of interest is that McIntyre doesn’t even mention the main point I brought up. -
Stocker’s Earmark: An Update
14 May 2012 | 10:09 amInteresting news at Bishop Hill. A UK minister informed David Holland’s MP that the extra secrecy measures at IPCC, arising from the instigation of Phil Jones and persistence of Thomas Stocker, arose unintentionally and as a “drafting error”. The Inter Academy Council had strongly endorsed transparency at IPCC: it is essential that the processes and procedures used to produce assessment reports be as transparent as possible. Transparency is an important principle for promoting trust by the public, the scientific community, and governments. Interviews and responses to the… -
Schmidt’s Rant on Yamal
13 May 2012 | 2:59 pmTwo days ago, NASA blogger Gavin Schmidt posted an extended rant against me at Real Climate, a rant directed in part at my recent post on Yamal. I’ve now looked through his post carefully and, beneath Schmidt’s fulminations, did not find any rebuttal to any points actually made in my post, as I’ll discuss in detail below. Much of Schmidt’s post fulminates against my criticism of inadequate disclosure of adverse results. This is a large topic in itself that provides a context to the Yamal controversy, but the exposition of this context is lengthy and, in my opinion, the… -
Steig’s “Hockey Stick”
12 May 2012 | 3:56 pmI’m writing a response to Gavin Schmidt’s rant about Yamal, which I should finish by tomorrow. Schmidt’s rant does not refute anything in my Yamal post. Indeed, Schmidt barely touches on the actual content of my post. Most of his post has nothing to do with Yamal. In the present post, I’ll deal with the following spitball: Similarly, McIntyre recently accused Eric Steig of suppressing ‘inconvenient’ results from an ice core record from Siple Dome (Antarctica). Examination of the record in question actually demonstrates that it has exceptionally high values in the…
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ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News
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Ancient tree-ring records from southwest U.S. suggest today's megafires are truly unusual
16 May 2012 | 11:03 amToday's mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests an unprecedented study that examined 1,500 years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods. Researchers constructed and analyzed a statistical model and found that today's dry, hot climate combined with the past century of human fire suppression is causing megafires. -
Common fungicide wreaks havoc on freshwater ecosystems
16 May 2012 | 11:01 amA new study on chlorothalonil, one of the world's most common fungicides, shows it was lethal to a wide variety of freshwater organisms. -
Chocolate and diamonds: Why volcanoes could be 'a girl's best friend'
16 May 2012 | 8:32 amScientists have discovered a previously unrecognized volcanic process, similar to one that is used in chocolate manufacturing, which gives important new insights into the dynamics of volcanic eruptions. The scientists investigated how a process called ‘fluidized spray granulation’ can occur during kimberlite eruptions to produce well-rounded particles containing fragments from the Earth’s mantle, most notably diamonds. -
Plant growth without light control
16 May 2012 | 8:31 amPlants are dependent on the sun. Sunlight does not only supply them with energy, but also controls their development steps. So-called photoreceptors activate the processes of germination, leaf development, bud formation, and blossoming in the cells. The light-absorbing component of a photoreceptor may be replaced by a chemically similar synthetic substance. For the first time, the effects on complete plants have now been described. -
Sulfur finding may hold key to Gaia theory of Earth as living organism
15 May 2012 | 7:31 pmIs Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts? A new discovery may provide a key to answering this question. This key of sulfur could allow scientists to unlock heretofore hidden interactions between ocean organisms, atmosphere, and land -- interactions that might provide evidence supporting this famous theory.
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Climate Sanity
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Rahmstorf: Is it OK to call him an “alarmist” now?
9 May 2012 | 3:40 pmSome folks never give up. In the following video Stefan Rahmstorf says… To me a tipping point in the climate system is like a sweet spot in the climate system, where a small perturbation can have a major, even qualitative effect. It’s like a small change in temperature moving, for example, the Greenland Ice sheet beyond the point where eventually it will melt down all together…from about 2 degrees global warming there would be a risk of the complete meltdown of the Greenland Ice sheet…I think this two degree limit agreed in Cancun by the politicians may not be… -
ClimateCentral and Michael D. Lemonick are afraid to really “connect the dots”
22 Apr 2012 | 8:26 amI posted a comment at ClimateCentral yesterday, but they are afraid to let you see it. The particular article was ostensibly the work of Michael D. Lemonick, a veteran Time magazine science author. His biographical blurb at ClimateCentral says that he has taught “science” at Princeton, Columbia and John Hopkins, but his degree is a Master of Science in Journalism. So much for introductions. Why do I say he is the “ostensible” author of the article at ClimateCentral? Because the article is steeped with the “connect the dots” talking points. … -
Updated PSMSL sea level video
11 Mar 2012 | 3:20 pmThe following video shows all the PSMSL tide gauge data so you can search for a sea level rise acceleration. It replaces an earlier version that was taken down by youtube because of music license violations. This version has music with Creative Commons license. The text and data are the same as before. Vermeer’s and Rahmstorf’s “Global sea level linked to global temperature” (PNAS, 2009) relied on Church’s and White’s “A 20th century acceleration in global sea-level rise” (GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33,) for their sea level data. Church and White built their… -
Rahmstorf vs. Rahmstorf
5 Mar 2012 | 9:13 pmOh, what a tangled web we create, when first we practice to exaggerate. ClimateSanity with apologies to Sir Walter Scott Intrepid mathematician Stefan Rahmstorf has calculated the global temperature increase rate for the last 31 years. (Global temperature evolution 1979–2010, Foster and Rahmstorf, Environ. Res. Lett. 6, 2011) For the fun of it, lets take him at his word. The problem is that when his temperatures from this new paper are inserted into his sea level rise rate formula from one of his earlier papers (Global sea level linked to global temperature, Vermeer and Rahmstorf, PNAS,… -
Nobel Prize winning biochemist says ALL biofuels are “nonsense.”
25 Feb 2012 | 2:01 pmHartmut Michel Hartmut Michel won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on photosynthesis. So, it is fair to say that he knows a thing or two about energy transport and storage in plants. Today he is director of the Molecular Membrane Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics. He recently penned an editorial in Angewandte Chemie International Edition in which he hammered the use of biofuels for alternative energy. Note that Angewandte Chemie International Edition has the world’s highest impact factor of all chemistry journals. His simple but pointed…
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Climate Skeptic
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Burning Down the House
23 Apr 2012 | 11:19 amSteve Zwick walked back his comments about letting skeptics’s houses burn down and tries to clarify the point he was trying to make. I have further comments in a new Forbes article here. An excerpt: Steve Zwick has posted an update to the post I wrote about last week and has decided the house-burning analogy was unproductive. Fine. I have written a lot of dumb stuff on a deadline. In his new post, he has gone so far in the opposite direction of balance and fairness that I am not even sure what his point is any more — the only one I can tease out is that people… -
A Vivid Reminder of How The Climate Debate is Broken
19 Apr 2012 | 3:27 pmMy Forbes column is up this week. I really did not want to write about climate, but when Forbes conctributor Steve Zwick wrote this, I had to respond We know who the active denialists are – not the people who buy the lies, mind you, but the people who create the lies. Let’s start keeping track of them now, and when the famines come, let’s make them pay. Let’s let their houses burn. Let’s swap their safe land for submerged islands. Let’s force them to bear the cost of rising food prices. They broke the climate. Why should the rest of us have to pay for it? The bizarre… -
Updated Charts
19 Apr 2012 | 3:02 pmThese are some updated charts I need for linking from a Forbes article. Look for the link coming soon. -
Server Issues
16 Mar 2012 | 12:08 pmI upgraded my server account – we will see if that gets us past the server issues the site has been experiencing over the last few days. -
Tilting at Straw Men
16 Mar 2012 | 12:08 pmIn my Forbes article a few weeks ago, I showed how the arguments alarmists most frequently use to “prove” that skeptics are wrong are actually straw men. Alarmists want to fight the war over whether the greenhouse gas effect of CO2 is true and whether the world has seen warming over the last century, both propositions that skeptics like myself accept. The issue for us is whether man is causing a catastrophe (mainly due to large positive feedbacks in the climate system), and whether past warming has been consistent with catastrophic rates of man-made warming. Both of these…
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Climate Change: Changing our World
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Island Nations Criticize EU Over Kyoto Climate Deal Extension
15 May 2012 | 8:07 pmA bloc of 42 island nations said the European Union is backtracking on agreements made at the last round of United Nations climate talks in Durban, South Africa, threatening the environmental integrity of an eventual treaty.The 27-nation EU joined with the Alliance of Small Island States and other developing nations in Durban to push for a road map leading to a new climate treaty drawing in all nations. Now the Europeans are pulling back from some commitments, according to a statement e-mailed today by the island bloc.The EU in Durban agreed to accept new emissions targets after 2012, while… -
Join The Debate: Elders & Youngers
14 May 2012 | 2:10 pmDear friends,I’m writing to let you know of an important new project of ours that has just begun. It is called 'Elders+Youngers' – and we would like you to be part of it.Over the coming weeks my fellow EldersGro Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mary Robinson and I are hosting an online, global debate with four ‘Youngers’ – Esther, Marvin, Pedro andSara – a fantastic bunch of young activists from Nigeria, China, Brazil and Sweden.We are debating the very future of our planet. What kind of world do we want for our great-great-grandchildren?Many of you will remember the… -
Global Warming: An Exclusive Look at James Hansen’s Scary New Math
11 May 2012 | 6:39 amHow can NASA physicist and climatologist James E. Hansen, writing in the New York Times today, “say with high confidence” that recent heat waves in Texas and Russia “were not natural events” but actually “caused by human-induced climate change”?“The climate dice are loaded now, just as we said back in the 1980s that they would be,” Hansen wrote to Time.com. “People should be able to recognize the change, especially the increasingly extreme events. Don’t be surprised if there are more examples this summer.”In 2005, Emanuel reported that hurricane intensity, which is fed… -
Game Over for the Climate - By James Hansen
10 May 2012 | 6:55 amGLOBAL warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening. That is why I was so troubled to read a recent interview with President Obama in Rolling Stone in which he said that Canada would exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves “regardless of what we do.”If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate.Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal… -
End ecocide at the Earth Summit this June!
10 May 2012 | 6:45 amWhy this is important Ecocide is the extensive destruction of ecosystems and environments which has severe consequences for people as well as the environment. To world leaders: “As concerned citizens of a fragile planet, we call on you to back an international law of Ecocide at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June this year. We call on you to make ecocide the 5th International Crime Against Peace. Life on Earth as it is now cannot survive if we continue to treat our environment as we are currently doing. Take this opportunity to back strong measures to make ecocide a crime, to protect humanity…
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Jennifer Marohasy
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Trends: Hot Days West of Sydney
15 May 2012 | 8:13 amYESTERDAY his Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Australia’s Climate Commissioner Tim Flannery has studied the climate record and discovered that the number of hot days are increasing in western Sydney, more koalas are falling out of trees, and people sitting in traffic jams are forgetting to turn on their air-conditioning. You can read everything here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-14/heatwaves-bushfires-predicted-to-hammer-nsw/4009006 My name is Mr Koala Bear and I’ve been studying his report. Naughty Tim has NOT told the whole story. There are a lot of problems… -
Climate Commission Fudges Hot Day Data
14 May 2012 | 7:41 amIF you believe Australia’s Climate Commissioner, Tim Flannery, it is getting hotter and hotter in Western Sydney.[1] But scientist Basil Beamish noticed that in the Climate Commission report they only show the trend of the number of hot days from 1970-2011. There is data for Sydney, measured at Observatory Hill, back to 1890. Dr Beamish noticed that if you use all of the hot days data back to 1890 it is clear there is a different long-term pattern in play (see blue line in chart). In fact the year with the greatest number of hot days for Sydney is 1926 (12 days) and this has not been beaten… -
Counting More Tornadoes in the US, & Heat Waves in Western Sydney
13 May 2012 | 7:34 amTHOSE committed to catastrophic global warming can keep finding new evidence for global warming while those sceptical keep attempting to debunk the new claims. For example, the number of tornados in the US is increasing. But the increasing count is due to better weather tracking technology recording more low intensity events, according to Alan Cheetam. The charts are from Alan Cheetham’s website. Its a trove of information and data that helps puts the dire warnings about tornados and much more in some perspective. It can be accessed here: http://www.appinsys.com/globalwarming/ Tornado… -
Who filmed the video clip of Australian cattle in the Indonesian abattoirs?
9 May 2012 | 9:59 pmIN June 2011 the Australian government halted all live cattle exports to Indonesia after ABC Four Corners broadcast disturbing footage of Australian cattle being mistreated in Indonesian abattoirs. Australians were lead to believe that this footage, that shocked the nation, was typical of what occurs inside many abattoirs in Indonesia: that the footage was real. We were told the footage wasn’t taken by Four Corners or the ABC. Lyn White from Animals Australia is the face of the campaign against live cattle export and she starred in the documentary. She was at pains to tell us it was… -
WWF & The REDD Menace in Tanzania: Christopher Booker
7 May 2012 | 4:37 pm“LAST November, Prince Charles, as president of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) UK, flew to Tanzania to hand out Living Planet awards to five community leaders involved in WWF projects around the delta of the Rufiji River, which holds the world’s largest mangrove forest. Part of their intention has been to halt further damage to the forest by local farmers, who have been clearing it to grow rice and coconuts. This is because the mangroves store unusual amounts of carbon (CO2), viewed as the major contributor to global warming… “Shortly before the Prince’s arrival,…
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The Blackboard
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LOWESS: End Point Sensitivity to Future Data.
15 May 2012 | 11:45 amRon Broberg was curious about how Lowess smooth plots of the temperature in the lower 48 would look if the smoothing parameter ‘f’ was selected to create a window of approximately 30 years. To do this he picked created plots using f=0.26 and applied that to a temperature series for US temperature anomalies for the lower 48. Using his value for f which owing to rounding computes to 366 months and the same data, I recreated a similar graph– shown in black below. (Note: I don’t know what value he set for ‘iter’; this can have some consequences.) Meanwhile,… -
Bet on May UAH.
14 May 2012 | 8:13 amAnteros claims he has developed foolproof way to win the Quatloos. Those of you who want to challenge him, now is your chance to bet. Bets will close May 18. Cut off date: May 18! -
A Surprising Validation of USHCN Adjustments
11 May 2012 | 10:01 amIts not often that I get to surprise Richard Muller. But at the Berkeley Earth meeting the other week he was flabbergasted by the results of a simple comparison between CONUS Berkeley data and NCDC’s published USHCN data: Figure 1: Comparison of Berkeley CONUS and USHCN adjusted tavg A bit of background might be in order. USHCN contains some rather large adjustments to correct for issues such as time of observation changes, station moves, and instrumental changes. Figure 2: USHCN adjusted - USHCN raw These adjustments are done in two stages. First data is adjusted based on… -
“To get what he wanted”: Upturned end points.
11 May 2012 | 9:52 amThere is no doubt that when smoothing, one has a choice of a vast array of smoothing techniques each of which permits a choice of parameters, end point treatments, and various fiddle factors. Techniques range from simple (e.g. least squares line) to complicated. Sometimes, readers develop the impression that analysts pick their smoothing method, parameters and fiddle factors to obtain a graph that looks the way “they want” it too look. In Tamino’s penultimate post, he tries to ally suspicious that the smoothing method he chose to present in his graph illustrating 1 year… -
It’s “Fancy,” Sort of…
10 May 2012 | 1:55 pmUpdate: This blog post contains mistakes because of a programming error. The mistakes will be addressed as soon as I am capable of doing so, but in the meantime, I direct anyone who hasn’t been following the comments section to read this comment. My apologies – Brandon Shollenberger I have a confession to make. I was wrong. Tamino was right. Yesterday, I happened across a blog post Tamino recently wrote. I had never heard of any of the people or groups being discussed in it, so I only skimmed at first. I was barely paying attention until I reached the second figure: I…
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RealClimate
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Greenland Glaciers — not so fast!
15 May 2012 | 10:41 amThere have been several recent papers on ice sheets and sea level that have gotten a bit of press of the journalistic whiplash variety (“The ice is melting faster than we thought!” “No, its not!”). As usual the papers themselves are much better than the press about them, and the results less confusing. They add rich detail to our understanding of the ice sheets; they do not change estimates of the magnitude of future sea level rise. One of these recent papers, by Hellmer et al., discusses possible mechanisms by which loss of ice from the great ice sheets may occur in… -
Yamalian yawns
11 May 2012 | 5:55 amSteve McIntyre is free to do any analysis he wants on any data he can find. But when he ladles his work with unjustified and false accusations of misconduct and deception, he demeans both himself and his contributions. The idea that scientists should be bullied into doing analyses McIntyre wants and delivering the results to him prior to publication out of fear of very public attacks on their integrity is ludicrous. By rights we should be outraged and appalled that (yet again) unfounded claims of scientific misconduct and dishonesty are buzzing around the blogosphere, once again initiated by… -
The legend of the Titanic
3 May 2012 | 1:39 amIt’s 100 years since the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, and it’s still remembered today. It was one of those landmark events that make a deep impression on people. It also fits a pattern of how we respond to different conditions, according to a recent book about the impact of environmental science on the society (Gudmund Hernes Hot Topic – Cold Comfort): major events are the stimulus and the change of mind is the response. Hernes suggests that one of those turning moments that made us realize our true position in the universe was when we for the first time saw our own… -
Unforced variations: May 2012
1 May 2012 | 3:23 pmNew open thread for this month: misrepresentations of wind farm impacts on local climate? Clouds and contrarians? or whatever… -
Unlocking the secrets to ending an Ice Age
28 Apr 2012 | 6:25 amGuest Commentary by Chris Colose, SUNY Albany It has long been known that characteristics of the Earth’s orbit (its eccentricity, the degree to which it is tilted, and its “wobble”) are slightly altered on timescales of tens to hundreds of thousands of years. Such variations, collectively known as Milankovitch cycles, conspire to pace the timing of glacial-to-interglacial variations. Despite the immense explanatory power that this hypothesis has provided, some big questions still remain. For one, the relative roles of eccentricity, obliquity, and precession in controlling glacial…
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the Air Vent
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Sometimes they forget
11 May 2012 | 9:21 pmSo I left a comment at RC today bolded below. The boys are stinging again because they are as good at PR as most engineers I know. You know the lack of disclosure of data not used, is nearly equivalent to the regression methods which automatically reject data not preferred. The mere fact that the reconstruction with ALL of the data wasn’t published is not enough to counter the obvious possibility of pre-selection. [Response: In any statistical analysis there is always a possibility of pre-selection to get a signal, or the possibility of trying different combinations until the signal… -
Some Unsolicited Advice to Heartland
6 May 2012 | 2:59 pmIt looks like I missed quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. Not only have I not been writing, I haven’t done any reading! Very unusual for me. I had to check if global warming was still happening, whether the sea still had ice and whether climategate 3.0 had broken out. It turned out pretty much as before except for the Heartland institute exhibiting Gleick-like reasoning skill. WTF?! Hell, every time I turn around someone does something so rock bottom stupid that it is difficult to get your head around. Then I see people withdrawing from a conference over this… -
Steve McIntyre – FOI Granted
6 May 2012 | 1:42 pmLong time readers will be familiar with the Yamal saga. Yamal is the name of a region which allegedly demonstrated proof of extreme recent warming in tree ring data. Recently, after years, Steve McIntyre was granted access to the total dataset site list. Unsurprisingly for paleoclimatology, the results using all of the data are a little different. -
Sea Ice – Because I Promised
30 Apr 2012 | 6:42 pmThis post is in fairness to the sea ice doom mongers. Some have written that sea ice is the Achilles heel of the non-alarmist. The implication is that the melting is unequivocal and absolutely destructive to the skeptic argument. I’m not an idiot, so why keep posting on sea ice? Because my opinion is that sea ice isn’t melting from global atmospheric warming – at least not in a major way. My Mrs. Cleo impersonation, which is no better than Klimatologists, is that we will see a little sea ice egg-on-the-face data in the next 5 years. Still, the data is the data, and I did… -
No Time Part XX
30 Apr 2012 | 9:05 amI’m going to try and do something soon but I have no time to blog at all. tAV still has quite a few readers who stop by every day so if anyone would like to contribute, send me a Word doc by email. Jeff
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CTBR - News
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Trina Solar to supply 2.1MW off-grid project in Tibet
16 May 2012 | 9:03 amTrina Solar) has signed a supply agreement with Longyuan (Tibet) New Energy to supply a 2.1MW off-grid solar system project in the Northern Tibetan region of Naqu. -
RusHydro, Alstom begin joint construction of Russian plant
16 May 2012 | 9:03 amJSC RusHydro and Alstom have started a joint construction of a hydropower equipment manufacturing facility in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. -
Skyline completes three solar hot water systems for California buildings
16 May 2012 | 9:03 amSkyline Innovations and WGL Holdings have completed solar water heating systems for three multifamily buildings in southern California, US, owned by Williams Holdings. -
NIB to provide EUR15m loan for new electricity metering system in Finland
16 May 2012 | 6:04 amThe Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and Kymenlaakson Sähköverkko Oy have signed a ten-year-maturity loan totaling €15m for the implementation of a remote reading system of electricity metering in South-East Finland. -
GE-Tamoin consortium inks wind turbine service deal with Iberdrola
16 May 2012 | 12:43 amA consortium including GE and Spanish energy services firm Tamoin Energías Renovables has signed a single GE wind turbine maintenance agreement with Iberdrola Renovables of Madrid.
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Powwownow Blog
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Technology is changing the world we work in – embrace the change
16 May 2012 | 9:10 amOur latest blog featured on the Work Wise Week website, as it is National Work Wise Week from 13th- 19th May, with Friday 18th May being National Work From Home Day. Work Wise Week 2012 The revolution of technology within business has made it possible for the way we work to completely change. The adaptation of things such as the smartphone, tablets and high speed broadband and Wi-Fi now allows you to be on the go 24/7 and choose your working patterns. You don’t have to be bound by the 9am-5pm drudgery of office working and commuting. Instead, this technology allows you to stay in touch… -
Save the Children hosts global conference with Powwownow technology
11 May 2012 | 5:30 amThis week Save the Children hosted a global live interactive video conference using Powwownow technology. The global conference gathered a host of influential global mothers including AriannaHuffington, of the Huffington Post and Shabana Azmi, Indian Bollywood star to discuss the state of motherhood and child survival in 2012. The conference, which was streamed live on the Global Motherhood 2012 website, covered issues that mothers face, such as health, nutrition and educational barriers in what can be some of the most difficult places to live in the world. Save the children used… -
Now even more ways to stay in touch…
10 May 2012 | 10:01 amTo enhance your customer experience with us, we have now created a dedicated customer service handle on Twitter. Are you a fan of social media? Are you constantly on Twitter and like to have the answers to your questions at your fingertips? Then our new dedicated customer service handle on Twitter is for you. You can contact us via @Powwownow_Help and have your questions answered by one of our friendly customer service team. Operating Monday to Friday 8am-6pm BST. To keep up to date with the latest industry news and what is happening at Powwownow, check out our Twitter and Facebook page. -
‘Strategy, Strategy, Strategy… it’s the most important thing in business’
3 May 2012 | 8:38 amSo last night saw another episode of BBC’s The Apprentice and it seems that ‘Strategy’ was the popular word of the show! Twitter streams flooded with the hashtag ‘Strategy’ as Azhar went into overdrive using the term, which ended up in his demise by being the unlucky fired candidate. We are strong believers in having a strategy for business success, but there comes a point when you need to have a strong strategy that works, not just talk about one so much it makes your ears want to bleed! Last night’s show saw the candidates go back to Lord Sugar’s roots in Essex and every… -
How to Build Better Business Relationships
1 May 2012 | 6:39 amWhat many people don’t realise about building relationships is that you’ve got to go out there and find them in the first place. New friends, customers and suppliers are not just going to land on your doorstep, unless your advertising and marketing is incredible. You need to be a little more proactive. Here are four of my best ideas to help you source and build the relationships you need for profit and success! 1. Take More Risks. Be brave. Take a chance! Approach a stranger. Who knows what conversations lie on the other side of a courageous question? Who knows what sales lie on…
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Justmeans
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Pipeline Protestors Partner to Launch Campaign to Fight Oil-Friendly National Budget
8 May 2012 | 6:38 amFor Canadians that keep up with news-specifically, the federal budget-it should come as no surprise that a coalition made of the country's largest environmental groups is mounting a campaign. Since the Conservative party has won a majority government a year ago, cuts to environmental research, groups and federal departments have been plentiful. In March, the budget proposed sweeping changes to environmental laws that typically would garner public consultation-but not this time. The response? Increased media attention and growing online communication from environmental groups about being… -
Canadian Oil Sands Discourse: Bad or Good for Business - Depends on Who's Talking
1 Mar 2012 | 12:47 pmWith the news that TransCanada Corporation would reapply for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline from the oil sands in Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, the oil sands discussion is back in the media.[1] It didn't really leave. Last week was a crucial vote by the EU on its fuel directive, which generated much attention. While environmental and community groups have argued against expansion of the oil sands, provincial governments now find each other at odds, as well.Alberta and Ontario do not have the reputation of having much of a warm relationship. Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty… -
Canadian Government Threatens EU with Trade Action Over Oil Sands
22 Feb 2012 | 7:48 amCanada's Oil sands are once again in the news. This time, it is Canadian diplomacy at its worse: threats of trade complaint against the EU, if its Fuel Quality Directive classifies Oil sands crude as more harmful to the environment than other fuels, which essentially bans it. Although there is no Alberta crude in Europe, this latest stand is all about reputation. [1] A special EU committee is scheduled to vote on the directive February 23rd before a European parliamentary vote.The incident cements Canada's position of support for the long-term use of fossil fuels regardless of a global call… -
The Global 500 Tackles Climate Change: Low Carbon Growth Central to World's Largest Companies
16 Sep 2011 | 1:45 pm"Managing carbon emission and protecting the business from climate change impacts is fundamental to achieving sustainable and strong shareholder returns." -- Paul Simpson, CEO, Carbon Disclosure Project[1]If you've ever wondered what the world's largest publicly traded companies are thinking and doing about climate change, the Carbon Disclosure Project has a report for you. Since 2003, CDP, a UK-registered charity, has sent its annual questionnaire to the 500 largest companies by market capitalization listed on the FTSE Global Equity Index Series to produce the Global 500 Report, which… -
Imported Goods are Hidden to Alter Real Carbon Emission Stats
26 Apr 2011 | 6:11 pmCarbon emissions that are related to imported goods in many developing countries are on the increase according to two new studies. However, researchers have suggested that the amount of carbon emissions resulting from imported goods is not included on the official statistics and that this is misleading and obscuring the facts when it comes to carbon emissions.The National Academy of Sciences has already reported that 26% of global emissions come from trading goods and these are not included in the statistics when it comes to calculating carbon emissions. Glenn Peters who works with the…
