How much does the BOM care about misleading Australians? Not much apparently, unless they are caught doing it. Everyone makes mistakes, but what matters is what they do to correct it.
The BOM claimed (and the ABC broadcast) that this Queensland drought is the worst in 80 years, but Ken Stewart showed with their own graphs that it was only the worst for 9 years. Stewart politely informed both groups two weeks ago. The ABC excused themselves immediately because they always believe the BOM no matter what it says and never ask any hard questions (it’s not like they are paid to make sure Australians get the right information is it? what do you expect for $1bn?). The BOM took five days to fob the error off even though the “mistake” was obvious against the BOM’s own graphs.
But yesterday Maurice Newman mentioned the mythical 80 year drought in The Australian, lo, suddenly the BOM feel the urge to send another email to Ken and the ABC.
Dear Ken,
Further to our correspondence we can confirm that media statements made to the ABC by a Bureau employee on 6 January 2014 did not accurately reflect the relative severity of the current Queensland rainfall deficiencies. Unfortunately the Bureau spokesperson misinterpreted some of the information. We have advised the ABC of the inaccuracy and asked them for an opportunity to update the story, if possible.
Regards,
Climate Analysis Section
Ken Stewart spent today doing their job and contacting other media outlets that the BOM should have.
The message ladies and gentlemen is that we ought send as many letters as we can bear to editors and journalists of all the major daily newspapers and commercial radio stations pointing out BOM mistakes. CC your letters to the BOM.
The next question then is whether the ABC takes the quietest road possible or issues a new story of equal prominence — in ABC Radio Country Hour, ABC TV 7.00 p.m. News, and the Queensland Country Life — pointing out the BOM spokesman gave the wrong message, that droughts have been worse in the past, and despite helpful people pointing this out to the BOM, they still took an extraordinary two weeks to correct it.
We await reports from Queensland.
If we surveyed the punters in two weeks time, how many ABC viewers would say “the hottest year” and “the worst drought”?
There are many in the “weather prediction” business like Stewart Franks whose input makes a difference to those relying on accurate guidance regarding potential rains or droughts.
The BOM seems to not be very interested in this basic area of their enterprise.
KK
190
And now they are also forced to withdraw the claim of record high temperature at Alice Spring, those darn faulty thermometers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-21/bom-withdraws-alice-springs-hottest-day-record-advice/6030090
200
When a record was announced in Melbourne recently, I called the Bureau and spoke to a Meteorologist who assured me it was a record temperature for the media and not as he read it on the bulb
330
How much integrity does it take to claim hottest day EVER!!??
70
Alice Springs
“The standing record of 45.2C had been set on January 3 in 1960.”
Had anyone asked me [No one did.] about high temp in Alice Springs I would have expected something closer to 50 than to 45. I saw a very short video about Coober Pedy many years ago, so that makes me an expert on central Australia. Okay, maybe not, but I wonder if anyone from the BOM has ever been to either place on a hot summer day?
Many years ago I was in Tucson, AZ and it was 47° C.
110
We regularly get 46 degrees in Melbourne in January. It’s not even worth remarking on. And this is a coastal city. Inland towns are generally a lot hotter. I’ve been to Mildura in 47, Coober Pedy in 47, Longreach in 47. I suspect a lot of places are hotter than that.
90
I experienced more heat in the 1970’s and also more dry conditions. I was in Birdsville on a Christmas day when the bulb was 50c, not the adjusted down version of 49.5c, I was there, it was 50c. Worst drought in 80 years is laughable, Australia is a land of floods and droughts, an 80 year drought would have seen all of us leave Australia for NZ perhaps
250
No government department authorises any employee to make public statements that aren’t fully authorised by the appropriate PR department. Any statement made by any government department has been endorsed by that department. Period.
400
Yep – saw that too.
They think we’re all stupid!
Cheers
180
Maybe not official press releases bemused, but government employees who are “expert” or the “contact person” can still find themselves talking to the media or even politicians. It happened to me regularly when I was at the ABS many moons ago and the contact for population estimates. My name even appeared on the front page of the Adelaide Advertiser once and I was just a lowly middle level employee. The reporter said it was a slow day for news!
I doubt things have changed much. The executive don’t want to be bothered with such tasks and anyway, they’re not the experts.
130
By what you say, it appears that you were an authorised person for specific requests. Government departments are extremely careful about who can say what to the media nowadays and most commentary is carefully vetted, especially when it comes to significant and potentially controversial topics. Then again, maybe the BoM doesn’t consider climate statements significant or potentially controversial.
60
I guess you could say that I was “authorised” in the sense that mine was one of many names the switchboard operator had to refer an enquiry. The caller was not obliged to identify themselves although media people usually did. I was also the named contact person in publications. I’m talking about the era before the internet.
I think it would depend on the department. The business of the ABS isn’t controversial beyond the usual “privacy” mutterings surrounding every population census. The business of the BOM certainly is controversial and this episode uncovered by Ken Stewart shows that even authorised employees are not infallible.
40
– most commentary is carefully scripted, more like it.
10
In PR speak, ‘vetted’ usually means scripted. 🙂
10
I vote for Ken Stewart to be put in charge of the BOM, he then can make professional performance assessments of all personnel and politely remove the scientifically illiterate dead weight.
Love your work Ken.
402
Oh no no no.
That would be a wasteful duplication of expensive salaries since, as we are all informed ad nauseam, the ABC has a relentless FACT-CHECKING department.
(Do I really need a “/sarc” at this point?)
200
Surely the fact was at least checked to see if it would influence the outcome of the Queensland election and help to sabotage the country?
These journalists know which foreign masters the serve.
# this text has been searched and found to be sarc free.
130
The AlpBC indicated that the fact checking department is only there to check the facts of politicians and public figures and not the media. As we all know media watch is there to check on the media. (sarc)
50
The ABC fact checker site’s mission statement makes interesting reading, considering it’s woeful performance on this and many other issues:
When will the ABC conform to its own BS?
130
About never, as long as the sol called facts being presented suit the green blob running the ABC.
61
Is that a rhetorical question, Allen?
22
I suspect most mainstream media outlets have superb fact checking departments who are doing their job exceedingly well.
The problem is we expect a fact checker to check the facts in an article, while it appears they expect their fact checkers to ensure their are no facts in the article.
🙂
40
Thanks but no thanks- surrounded by the likes of David Jones, Karl Braganza? No way!
140
Better still just close the place down and get the weather advice from an old lady with arthritis or look at what ants are doing(btw ditch the climate science section at CSIRO)!
110
MacSual…………I vote for the ants………
80
They got rid of the building research unit.
00
This entire warming/climate change SCAM makes me want to VOMIT!
What we have endured for many years from an entire group of people with their hands in our wallets, their snouts in the trough and their desire to control every aspect of our lives is criminal.
NOT ONE OUNCE of scientific integrity can be ascribed to any of the MONGRELS that promote this SCAM.
Additionally, every single one of them (be it media, so-called “scientists”, greenie, whomever) are monumental HYPOCRITES. eg Gore, DiCaprio (I used to like him), Flammery, Steffen, Karoly etc etc etc. They KNOW the science is CORRUPTED and nothing but BS but continue as if they are gods and above our scrutiny. The ONLY thing they are removed from though, is REALITY!
Worse, however, are the institutions such as BOM, the CSIRO & the ABC etc. WHAT IS UP WITH THESE INSTITUTIONS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO SERVE US?
In the end when the SCAM is finally busted (and it WILL be – the truth in science cannot remain hidden forever) the perpetrators should be rightly prosecuted, fined and jailed for their part in promoting and prolonging this EVIL anti-science agenda.
I truly hope to see this happen in my lifetime – in fact, it gives me the will to live to 120+ 🙂
Had my little rant!
Cheers,
382
Much as I agree I should point out that it is Flannery. You probably got confused thinking about his brain, which is made of Flummery.
Also, I point out that if they are removed from reality then they may not know what they sprout is rubbish. I doubt that is the case esp. Karoly, I think they indulge in deliberate scare tactics and will increasingly do so until the Paris Conference. It is the same before every biennial Talk Fest, the screams get increasingly hysterical until the Conference fails to deliver what they want, then they get despondent.
I look forward to them becoming depressed, not suppressed.
181
Popeye26
Ditto, but very angry now
These institutions are supposed to be HONEST
They’re not
They WILL be held to account
So F….ng angry about this
I’ll print this off and tell as many people as I can tomorrow, the next day until I run out of new people to tell
BOM must be AUDITED NOW
251
Fantastic Ken,
I was not even expecting a reply, let alone an admission, which you seem to have got.
170
Just remember, it’s what’s reported first and repeated that counts in the propaganda wars of modern MSM – not the retractions or corrective facts that emerge. For example, this study, if reported at all in the MSM, will not have “legs” and will simply disappear if not for blogs. Even with blogs, it may take months, years or decades to reverse the initial inaccurate reporting.
200
‘it’s what’s reported first and repeated that counts in the propaganda wars’
That is correct and unfortunately there seems little we can do to counter it, the ‘rusted ons’ won’t believe the retraction.
What’s needed is a stand up comic to break through the ignorance with devastation accuracy.
110
** devastating **
20
Just as everyone where is calling this a win for people power. I would be hoping that everyone of you get and keep a copy of the temperature records in question as I would bet you that the BOM is busy right now think up just how they will be adjusting them as soon as they can get away with it. Bet the record that Ken Stewart used to point out the BOM mistake go of line very soon. Only to return with you guess it they were right all a long it was the worst drought after all.If so I hope some of you with Ken and Jo mention it Maurice Newman and anyone else that will listen in the MSM. Watch the BOM’s site and we shell see my friends.
170
(with apologies to George)
Was 2014 Queensland’s worst drought on record? How many birds were cut down by the wind turbines of Britain? Does Australia welcome the New Carbon Order? In no case do you get one answer which is universally accepted because it is true: in each case you get a number of totally incompatible answers, one of which is finally adopted as the result of a physical struggle. History is written by the winners.
Try again, BOM.
80
A new word for “Organized Crime”: Government.
230
The Alarmists know perfectly well, from reading their Alinsky and Gramsci playbooks, that it is far better to get an obvious lie into play and then retract it, than to not publish it in the first place.
Nobody remembers retractions.
The end justifies the Greens.
220
When this was announced, it was wrong. They knew it was wrong. Now a correction will be made, as quietly as possible.
This year will be full of these mistakes as they keep the narrative going until the big play in Paris, the attempt to use fake Global Warming to force a world government. How many of the people deliberately releasing this wrong information will be in Paris, at our expense?
270
.
When the law is changed so that all correction reports by MSM’s are give exactly the same prominence and broadcast time (or print space) as the original erroneous report(s) IMO, then maybe things will impove. Maybe then the sheeple will get the message about how much they are being manipulated.
190
The drought in Queensland has been financially devastating for beef producers, because the Gillard/Brown government in 2011,at the behest of an animal liberation group, stopped live cattle exports to Indonesia for a large part of the season. This deprived many producers of their income for that year, and the extra cattle remaining in Australia caused the drought to have a much worse effect than it would normally have.
Finally, the extra cattle forced onto the local market caused a glut of beef, which forced cattle prices in Australia below the cost of production.
Not AGW, but part of the same overall plan of destruction.
210
Cattle prices in Qld now very high.
70
Too late for many, Ken. They’ve been forced off and had to sell at lower prices. The high prices being commanded now must be a bitter pill for many who struggled through drought and government mismanagement.
80
Makes restocking expensive.
80
Congrats to ‘Super Ken,’ – persistence pays off.
South Western Queensland ‘farmers’ have always complained of drought conditions – that’s what happens when you try to farm in arid/semi-arid regions. The problem will arise from now to 2020, when the entire country comes under the influence of the current Solar Induced ‘Dry Cycle’ hierarchy.
Recall the good Burghers of Toowoomba refusing to drink recycled water in the previous ‘Dry’. South East Queensland without water is a more urgent proposition.
Fire up the desalination plants and see who refuses to drink!
130
Sometimes all you can say is, what’s new?
80
Weather Bureau says predicted dry El Nino conditions failed to eventuate (ABC)
“There’s been widespread rain across various parts of the country in January, and the Bureau of Meteorology says the immediate threat of an El Nino has passed.”
. . .
2014 Hottest Year Ever?
You can bet the BoM will claim 2015 hottest year ever.
The BoM raised the El Niño Doomsday Global Warming alarms to 90% under 1 year ago.
The BoM was warned by many whom they refuse to listen to, that this would not eventuate.
Scientists unveil new and improved El Niño forecasts
ANU launches Australia’s largest supercomputer
Half of its processing power to be dedicated to Earth system science
“When the Bureau of Meteorology ramps up to full steam, the use in this area will go to around 50 per cent, which is what it was always intended to do,” Professor Lindsay Botten, director of the NCU told, CIO Australia on Wednesday morning. July, 2013
Like Teacher Wang, the BoM MUST be held to account for ” spreading socially disruptive rumours.”
Let alone the litany of failures noted on this web/blog page. Again.
110
Handjive
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/1/17/look-back-in-wonder-josh-309.html
And for interest
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/1/19/the-unintended-consequences-of-climate-change-policy.html
80
We had drought in parts of Qld that normally is drought affected duh and yet they still manage to make a song and dance out of it,then they pull a rabbit out of the hat that says hottest year since dot but now we have floods in central Oz and boy have they gone quiet on that,I think the bludgers are just trying to wear us down with constant bull-dust until in the end we stop taking notice.(btw handi enjoy ya posts)
100
“we ought send as many letters as we can bear to editors and journalists”
Actually, we ought to send as many letters as we can bear to responsible government officials. concerning our $1B/year public mis-informer.. err.. broadcaster. Now, if we could only find some responsible government officials.
110
“to responsible government officials”
.. very funny !! 🙂
150
Thanks Jo.
A small correction- The Queensland Country Life is nothing to do with the ABC, it’s a Fairfax paper, “the bible of the bush”, and the editor promised to print a correction within 6 minutes of getting my email.
We all need to keep the b…s honest.
150
Not ONLY did the BoM fail the El Niño prediction …
Why did the BoM FAIL to predict this?
South Australia’s outback comes to life as water floods into Lake Eyre (ABC)
~ ~ ~
The last time the BoM FAILED this prediction (2011), world sea levels dropped.
Australian floods of 2010 and 2011 caused global sea level to drop (the guardian)
Lake Eyre filling up fast, thanks to Queensland floods (adelaideadvertiser, 2011)
Again, a failed prediction:
The Age, Feb 2009: Drought and fire here to stay with El Nino’s return
“David Jones, the head of the bureau’s National Climate Centre, said there was some risk of a worsening El Nino event this year, but it was more likely to arrive in 2010 or 2011.
– in terms of the drought, this may be as good as things get,” Dr Jones said.”
. . .
Lives destroyed. Dreams broken.
Yet the BoM continues it’s carbon(sic) quackery in goose-step with the UN-IPCC:
UN panel warns opportunity to stop climate change fading fast (SMH)
“Dr Scott Power, a researcher at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said the world would use up its “carbon budget” in the next two decades, and if it overspent that budget, then the world would warm more than 2 degrees, leading to more severe impacts from climate change on people and ecosystems.
“Limiting climate change requires substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
Emissions, now at an all-time high, would have to drop by 20 per cent to 40 per cent in the next 30 years, he said, replaced by wind and solar energy.
At an IPCC meeting in Berlin this year, there was heated argument over the economics of climate change, and the relative obligations of different countries in the developed and developing world.”
. . .
Quote: “The U.N. is a place where governments opposed to free speech demand to be heard!”
Alfred E Newman
161
Re; Handjives post @ 21
These are the very same “experts” from the BOM and elsewhere who publicly claim to be able to predict the catastrophic effects of increasing CO2 on the global climate for up to at least a century ahead.
As they are SCIENTISTS their predictions on climate change are of course quite settled and are quite unchallengeable by anybody whom they regard as being of a lesser status which is pretty well everybody.
Unlike Sliggy @ 5.1.1, I can’t say;
90
As a layman as soon as I heard the claims of the hottest year on record etc etcetera etc I just rolled my eyes.
I am sure that anyone else in Victoria will concur that this summer has been the mildest and wettest summer I have ever seen here. At this time of year I expect to see brown grass, not the deep lush green that seems to be everywhere in Victoria right now. Likewise we would normally have had full weeks of high temperatures by now, but no, only a couple days.
I am just waiting for the whole “the colder weather is because of the warming arguments” to come up again.
I absolutely dispose how political agendas are being funded and supported by my tax dollars to distort the truth to the point of making outright lies.
So how is it that the boms internal systems allow one individual to represent the entire bom based on their own amateur analysis.
Maybe the bom should be cutback to a staff of only one person as that appears to be all their systems think is needed.
140
What has happened to the BOM review panel?
The Australian reported five days ago on Jan 17 that “an independent panel of experts has been appointed to review the Bureau of Meteorology’s official national temperature records to improve transparency and boost public confidence in the wake of concerns about the bureau’s treatment of historic data”.
“Bob Baldwin, who was appointed parliamentary secretary to federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt last month, will announce the make up of the panel today. The forum of leading scientists and statisticians will hold its first meeting in March and be headed by Ron Sandland, who was appointed the deputy chief executive for CSIRO in 1999”.
But so far, no announcement of panel members?
160
A damn good question.
I’ll see what I can find out and get back to you.
100
I wouldn’t hold your breath scaper. A review panel appointed by the coalition’s chief climate botherers Hunt and Baldwin, and vetted by the BOM? You don’t really expect any outcome other than yes sir, yes sir three bags full do you?
51
I suspect that the BOM may be clearing the desk because of the impending inquiry set up by Previous Minister Simon Birmingham…………does anyone know who will be on the panel of inquiry?
I suppose its wishful thinking that anyone with an inquiring mind will be appointed.
90
ABC, 27 Nov 2014
BOM predicts long, hot Summer for NSW north east
“Senior climatologist Catherine Ganter said the two months to the end of January are expected to be affected by El Niño like conditions.
We’re sort of somewhere between neutral conditions and El Niño, but regardless it’s biasing us towards a warmer and drier period
Christine Ganter, BOM
“Our outlook for Summer shows a drier than normal season is more likely,” he said.”
~ ~ ~
ABC, 20 January 2015:
Flash flooding along NSW North Coast
. . .
Yet another FAILURE.
If this was a private company registered on the ASX, directors would be arrested for misleading.
Yet, the BoM contribute and advocate legal decisions pertaining to Australia like carbon(sic) taxes.
130
Seems to be some gender confusion there handjive,
First it is Catherine Ganter, then Christine Ganter, the “he said”.
30
At the end of November the BoM said (via the ABC);
Well here we are towards the end of January, what does the BoM say now;
In November the BoM indicated there was at least a 70% chance of El Niño occurring.
10
Media release 17 January from The Hon. Bob Baldwin MP
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment
The members of the Technical Advisory Forum are:
Dr Ron Sandland AM FTSE
Forum Chair
Emeritus Professor Bob Vincent FAA
Forum Vice Chair
Dr Phillip Gould
Forum Member
Dr John Henstridge
Forum Member
Ms Susan Linacre
Forum Member
Professor Michael Martin PFHEA
Forum Member
Professor Patty Solomon
Forum Member
Professor Terry Speed FAA
Forum Member
A panel very strong in statistics.
130
This was in reply to Robber and Redress re the audit panel
100
Thanks Ken
interesting that the MSM have not seen fit to report……..or I missed it.
70
This is a few days old.
http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/baldwin/2015/mr20150119.html
00
Previous BoM/Senate performances:
SMH, October 21, 2014:
“Bureau of Meteorology officials, meanwhile, told Senate estimates on Monday that Australia was on a clear warming path, with temperatures rising between 0.71 and 0.76 degrees since 1960, depending on the methods used.”
50
Thanks Ken. I was searching the media without success. No headlines about a sceptic or a warmista being included on the panel to report.
Let’s hope they are a fearlessly independent bunch. With their statistical backgrounds they will certainly understand error bars.
As recommended by an independent peer review, we are establishing a Technical Advisory Forum comprised of leading scientists and statisticians to review and provide advice on Australia’s official temperature data set. The Technical Advisory Forum will meet in March.
I wonder whether they will seek public comments, or simply listen to BOM’s presentation?
80
From Quadrant………..Jennifer Marohasy with her advice to the new Minister for the environment.
http://jennifermarohasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Let-Bob-Baldwin-Re-New-Panel-18-January-1015-F.pdf
Hope the members of the Technical Advisory Forum are also advised.
50
“did not accurately reflect the relative severity of the current Queensland rainfall deficiencies”. Deliberately phrased y the spin doctors so they don’t admit that it wasn’t the worst drought ever. Weasel words down to a tee. The propaganda machine of the ABC continues.
110
The next question then is whether the ABC takes the quietest road possible or issues a new story of equal prominence —<
They have obviously found that story of equal prominence……..this morning a story of a " dirty old man" asking Genie Bouchard to "twirl" & show off her pretty tennis dress at some tournament or other.
Can't say we're not getting our $1 billion worth can we.
80
O/T Jo you’re mentioned in an Andy Revkin piece at the NYT. He writes:
He says he called NOAA on 20 Jan about this and they told him:
What the rankings are based on? Temp measurement averages surely, but Revkin doesn’t explore this. He doesn’t address the word ‘hottest’ means 2 hundredths of a degree or 4 hundredths, with error ranges of at least 9 hundredths.
This is without doubt the most critical piece he has ever written about Climate Scientists – needless to say, it’s hardly critical at all.
90
The problem is the politicians.
Subject: Change the Entitlements
If a pension isn’t an entitlement, neither is theirs. They (politicians) keep telling us that paying us an aged pension isn’t sustainable.
Paying politicians all the perks they get is even less sustainable!
Proposals to make politicians shoulder their share of the weight now that the Age of Entitlement is over:
1. Scrap political pensions.
Politicians can purchase their own retirement plan, just as most other working Australians are expected to do.
2. Retired politicians (past, present & future) participate in Centrelink.
A Politician collects a substantial salary while in office but should receive no salary when they’re out of office.
Terminated politicians under 70 can go get a job or apply for Centrelink unemployment benefits like ordinary Australians.
Terminated politicians under 70 can negotiate with Centrelink like the rest of the Australian people.
3. Funds already allocated to the Politicians’ retirement fund be returned immediately to Consolidated Revenue.
This money is to be used to pay down debt they created which they expect us and our grandchildren to repay for them.
4. Politicians will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Politicians pay will rise by the lower of, either the CPI or 3%.
5. Politicians lose their privileged health care system and participate in the same health care system as ordinary Australian people.
i.e. Politicians either pay for private cover from their own funds or accept ordinary Medicare.
6. Politicians must equally abide by all laws they impose on the Australian people.
7. All contracts with past and present Politicians men/women are void effective 31/12/14.
The Australian people did not agree to provide perks to Politicians, that burden was thrust upon them.
Politicians devised all these contracts to benefit themselves.
Serving in Parliament is an honour not a career.
The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so our politicians should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
The politicians themselves, in Canberra, brought it up, that the Age of Entitlements is over.
This is one idea that really should be passed around because the rot has to stop somewhere.
. . .
This is an email I just received from a sworn greenLaboUr voter.
The author is identified.
Author : Dr. xxxxx
School of Education
xxxxxxx Campus, Grifffith University
130
congrats Ken.
in the comments, Rich says –
“And now they are also forced to withdraw the claim of record high temperature at Alice Spring, those darn faulty thermometers”
yet in Google News u still get this ABC link at the top –
ABC Online-22 hours ago
Alice Springs records its hottest day ever, mercury smashes 55-year record … Alice Springs recorded its highest temperature ever on Tuesday, …
the only other Google News link re the reversal is:
BoM withdraws advice Alice Springs recorded its hottest day ever …
Yahoo!7 News-20 hours ago
90
CAGW party begins in Davos:
21 Jan: VIDEO: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2015: What’s Next? A Climate for Action
Through a powerful visual narrative, Nobel Laureate Al Gore reveals what’s next for climate in 2015.
Speakers: Al Gore,Pharrell Williams,Kevin Wall
The Issue
After describing some of the deadly, destabilizing and destructive “costs of carbon” that occurred over the last year – the hottest in recorded history, and the latest in a 14 out of the last 15 years’ warming trend – Al Gore focused on clean solutions, arguing that the danger of our current trajectory is offset only by the enormous opportunity, led by the business community, to change the course of history…
Synopsis
… Warmer air now lifts and holds 4% more humidity, often released in outbursts thousands of miles away.
The result? Extreme typhoons flood cities, creating 4 million homeless refugees in the Philippines, and leading Pope Francis to prepare an encyclical on the climate crisis. Floods and mudslides have killed almost as many Afghan families as have died in wars. Conversely, drought exacerbates economic strife from California to Ukraine, riots driven by food price highs, and instability in Syria. High tides hit coastal cities. Our institutions, insurance and infrastructure were not built for extremes…
Other Insights
“The Vatican wants to be first country on Earth to be carbon neutral. It has two advantages: they’re very small and God is on their side,” said Gore.
http://www.weforum.org/sessions/summary/whats-next-climate-action
WEF “Strategic Partners
http://www.weforum.org/strategic-partners
40
Pat….how about this pearler from the Daily mail………
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2916539/World-Economic-Forum-Skies-Switzerland-double-number-private-jets.html#ixzz3PPFNUlJJ
Around 1,700 private jets flying in to Davos… for World Economic Forum meeting to discuss climate change and global warming
Around 1,700 private flights are predicted over the course of the week
Zurich airport will handle most of the incoming private jets, 60 in total
New landing zone has been opened up via the Duebendorf military base
One 14-seater flight from Paris to Zurich will cost £18,500 return
A private jet burns as much fuel in an hour as a car does in a year
60
Pharrell Williams – isn’t he all hat and no cattle?
10
Oh, so it is not Tony Abbott’s fault after all.
But for a self-promoting organisation claiming to act “without bias or agenda” it reached a new low with the second item on its national news broadcast today at 8am WST.
It went to air with the – yes, Abbott-bashing views – of an anonymous caller who claimed ‘to be a member of the Liberal Party.”
70
Neil Mitchell is just another lefty, warmist, muck raking little grub that passes for a credible journalist nowadays.
I place the vast majority of journalists in this country below travelling conmen on a social acceptance scale, at least sometimes the conmen attempt to do the work….
40
Ken received his email on the morning of 21 January; presumably ABC received theirs at the same time.
yet there is no ABC link online correcting this error to date.
meanwhile, there are at least 2 dozen ABC articles published or updated online in the past HOUR alone on their ABC “Just In” page!
when it suits ABC, articles are online within minutes & linked on a variety of their websites, all paid for by the taxpayers.
like Sky Weather Channel, no ABC celebration of the rains hitting Queensland right now.
surely stories such as the following should be about drought-hit Queenslanders welcome heavy rains, but not when u are promoting CAGW extreme weather memes all day. (Sky Channel has been forecasting disaster before a drop of rain even fell.)
22 Jan: ABC: Paul Robinson: Drivers rescued as torrential rain floods highways across central Queensland
Torrential rain flooded several major roads overnight and is set to continue over the next 24 hours.
Around Emerald, west of Rockhampton, rescue crews were called to retrieve drivers from stranded cars on the Capricorn Highway near The Willows and the Gregory Highway north of Springsure…
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said rain would continue across central Queensland today and some areas could have falls of more than 250 millimetres…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-22/drivers-rescued-torrential-downpours-floods-highways-central-qld/6032986
below ABC writes of “unprecedented challenges” of drought, which is a clever way of inferring “unprecedented drought” surely!
ABC Rural: Charlie McKillop: Labor and LNP lock horns on agriculture in Queensland’s state election
Updated Wed 21 Jan at 9:38am
But after a term in which Queensland farmers have been confronted with unprecedented challenges of drought, electricity prices, biosecurity outbreaks and water policy, how does the man responsible for the agriculture portfolio benchmark his success? …
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-20/queensland-decides-who-has-the-plan-to-boost-agriculture/6028328
in other words jo & ken, don’t hold your CO2 breaths waiting for ABC to correct the drought story.
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21 Jan: Irish Times: Reuters: Davos 2015: Pharrell Williams and Al Gore announce global Live Earth
Music event to demand action on climate change will be held across seven continents
A Live Earth music event to demand action on climate change will be held on June 18 across seven continents, including Antarctica, former US vice-president Al Gore and pop star Pharrell Williams announced on Wednesday.
Seven concerts will be held in cities across the world, including Paris and New York in what will be the largest event of its type ever staged, Mr Gore said.
“The purpose is to have a billion voices with one message, to demand climate action now,” Mr Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his campaigning on climate change, told the World Economic Forum in Davos…
Mr Gore said the urgent case for action was highlighted by studies last week from two US government agencies showing 2014 was Earth’s hottest on record, fuelling a devastating series of extreme storms.
The 10 warmest years since records began in the 19th century have all been since 1997, the US data showed.
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/energy-and-resources/davos-2015-pharrell-williams-and-al-gore-announce-global-live-earth-1.2073817
Davos caring about the poor!
22 Jan: Guardian: Davos 2015: World Bank chief makes climate action plea
by Larry Elliott and Jill Treanor Davos
Jim Kim called for rich and poor countries to put aside their differences over tackling climate change as he warned that the hottest year on record in 2014 was evidence of accelerating global warming.
“We are seeing the accelerated impact of climate change. Last year was the hottest on record. That matters. Extreme weather is real. It’s a complete no brainer to move towards cleaner more liveable cities,” said Kim…
A 24-hour-long live music extravaganza is to be held in June – with concerts involving more than 100 as yet unannounced acts on seven continents – and it will be the second time the former US vice president has teamed up with the singer to raise awareness of climate change..
The hopes for progress in Paris combined with the collapse in the oil price – at its lowest level since 2009 – were also seized upon by Lord Stern, a former advisor to previous UK governments on climate change. “This year will shape the next 20 … it is the poor who are hit hardest by climate change,” Stern said.
He called on policymarkers to take enlightened action. “If you want to put a carbon tax on, now is absolutely the right moment,” said Stern…
Speaking against a backdrop of images intended to show the impact of climate change, Gore launched his plans amid criticism at the WEF of delegates arriving in private jets to attend the conference in 5,000 feet up in the Swiss Alps. The organisers of WEF urge delegates not to fly by private jet and use the train instead. Some attendees are transported in electric buggies.
Gore, who has been leading calls for action on climate change, said: “We need to put a price on carbon and we need to put a price on denial in politics.”…
The issue of climate change is also being addressed by the Lloyd’s of London insurance market. John Nelson, chairman of the Lloyd’s of London, said: “We take in to all our underwriting and modelling climate change. We expect to see our syndicates modelling climate change when they are looking at this sort of property risk.”
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/21/davos-world-bank-chief-climate-change-al-gore-pharrell-williams
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These people are stark raving mad. Pharrell Williams! Singing his mindless ditty about the globe going to hell in a handbasket.
We are truly ruled by IDIOTS.
http://qz.com/330559/pharrell-williams-wants-everyone-to-pay-attention-to-climate-change/
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The problem is the IPCC, the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change. It gives courage and motivation to vast numbers of opportunists and spokespeople for otherwise boring data collection organizations like the BOM who cannot get tomorrow’s weather right but insist they know how the weather works over a century. The IPCC is a fantasy creation which needs to be shut down.
Think about the IPCC title. Governments cooperating to control the weather? That is what has to happen for it to be part of the UN, but who really believes governments control the weather? India and China refuse to join the flagellation and self harm, so what is point anyway? For them it is a great opportunity to make and sell windmills to idiotic capitalists.
So 200,000 windmills later the IPCC stooges around the world are riding a tidal wave of cash, the greatest waste in human history. Yes they own multiple mansions, fly private jets, use limousines and have high profile careers of prodigious waste and conspicuous consumption, leaving their own massive carbon footprints because they know it is all a fantasy. The IPCC coordination meetings are legend in some of the world’s most desirable locations, 30,000 people at a time. A greater scourge the world has not known. No internet for them, as what they have to say privately cannot be written down.
It is still important to ask who is going from Australia to Paris, especially from the Australian public service? Who from the BOM, the ABC, Local councils, Environmental departments, Universities with Climate Change departments? Who? Are these the same ‘angry summer’ people making these howlers, deleting data, homogenizing simple thermometer readings?
We need to name and shame these users of public money who should be as welcome as a bush ticks in the lawn.
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In fact you would have to ask yourself, if the IPCC had not immediately discovered of CO2 driven man made runaway global warming, the greatest moral challenge in a generation, what would they do? What else does the IPCC do?
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20 Jan: Reuters: Geert de Clercq: Badly located renewable power plants cost Europe $100 billion: Davos report
Europe could have saved itself $100 billion by installing solar power panels in sunnier countries and wind turbines in windier places, the World Economic Forum’s “Future of Electricity” platform said in a report released on Tuesday.
The report, written with consultancy Bain, added that another $40 billion could have been saved by better cross-border coordination and bigger power cables between countries…
It also said that overinvestment in renewables has created huge overcapacity in Europe, weighing on utilities’ profits…
The report supported industry calls for a system that would pay utilities for keeping generating capacity on standby but acknowledged that “a strong consensus has yet to emerge on the optimum mechanisms for ensuring reliability and flexibility”.
Utilities such as Germany’s RWE and E.ON desperately want government help through the creation of a “capacity market” to fund the continued operation of their otherwise unprofitable gas and coal-fired plants, saying such a mechanism would boost security of supply, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier this month she does not support this idea.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/20/us-utilities-europe-davos-idUSKBN0KT2BC20150120
21 Jan: CarbonBrief: Simon Evans: How the Met Office forecast a hot 2014 and why it thinks 2015 may be even hotter
Just over a year ago in December 2013 the Met Office forecast that 2014’s temperature would be 0.57 degrees Celsius above the long-term average, a statistical tie for the warmest year on record. Its forecast looks set to be right on the money, agreeing with actual temperatures to within a few hundredths of a degree.
The Met Office has been predicting global temperatures one year in advance since 1999, and it turns out its scientists are rather good at this.
Carbon Brief spoke to the Met Office’s Professor Chris Folland to find out how his team forecast the hot year for 2014 and why they are forecasting that 2015 could be even hotter…READ ALL
http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/01/how-the-met-office-forecast-a-hot-2014-and-why-it-thinks-2015-may-be-even-hotter/
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21 Jan: Financial Times: Pilita Clark: Environment Agency pension fund tells oil groups to go green
The Environment Agency’s pension fund has urged BP and Royal Dutch Shell to invest in renewable energy and do more to tackle climate change.
The government-backed agency’s £2.5bn fund has teamed up with more than 150 other investors, including the Church of England and several large local authority pension funds. They have filed shareholder resolutions urging both oil companies to take more action on global warming…
The pension fund said it has stakes of about £11m in Shell and another £8m in BP, amounting to well below 1 per cent of each company. But its push, with the other 150-odd groups, is the latest sign of investor pressure on big oil and gas companies as diplomats work to seal a global agreement to combat climate change in Paris at the end of this year…
Ed Davey, the UK energy secretary, has also weighed into the debate by calling for tougher rules to be applied to companies holding “risky” fossil fuel assets that could fall in value as a result of global action to tackle climate change…
The eight largest pension funds co-filing the resolutions, which includes some European groups, together hold about $245bn of assets, according to Elspeth Owens, a lawyer with the Client Earth environmental legal group, which is helping to organise the move…
The government funds the Environment Agency and appoints its chairman but a spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said the agency’s pension fund move was “a matter for investors and the companies”…
It has £600m invested in clean tech and sustainable companies and is on track to have 25 per cent of the fund in such companies.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e4fa3cee-a0c8-11e4-8ad8-00144feab7de.html#axzz3PVpvCh7I
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20 Jan: Guardian: Arthur Neslen, Brussels: EU to launch diplomatic offensive ahead of Paris climate talks
Celebrities to front ambitious climate campaign, as army of diplomats is mobilised for an emissions-cutting push ahead of a crunch UN summit in Paris in December
The EU plan, endorsed by ministers on Monday in Brussels, will see 90,000 diplomats in over 3,000 missions lobbying to win new pledges on carbon cuts from countries ahead of a crunch UN climate summit in Paris this December.
European stars, of a calibre of US public figures such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore, will front a push to make climate action a “strategic priority” at G7, G20 and Major Economies Forum summits.
The action plan, seen by the Guardian, calls for a ‘Climate Action Day’ in June and a ‘100 days to Paris countdown’ event later in the year…
However, the plan’s recommendation that “climate financing expectations need to be managed,” may disappoint emerging economies. Rich countries last year raised slightly less than 10% of the first tranche of a Green Climate Fund, which is supposed to provide $100bn-a-year of climate aid to poorer countries by 2020.
The action plan does note the value of multilateral action but also says that “particular focus should be put on mobilising the private sector as a major source of financing and of innovation to tackle climate change.”
Many developed countries are wary of profit-taking by multinationals with limited interest in helping them to adapt to droughts, floods or extreme weather events.
“Shifting the EU’s legal and moral responsibility on climate finance to the private sector will not wash with poorer countries,” said Asad Rehman, a senior international climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth…
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/20/eu-to-launch-diplomatic-offensive-ahead-paris-climate-talks
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If it was not the worst Qld drought in 80 years it soon will be, once the data gets homogenised.
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Thank you Jo, in the immortal words of “Effie”, “How embarrassment”.
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Is it just me or have other people noticed that “Our ABC” will give us innumerable stories about regions or farmers suffering from drought but NOTHING when there are drought-breaking rains in those areas a few weeks later. Aren’t we entitled to know the full story when it comes to our weather systems?
I’m fed up to the teeth with this consistent pattern of bad news stories when it concerns weather events. It would be refreshing to see BALANCED reporting for once.
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Just read Pat’s comments in post #34 above. Proves my point nicely, thanks Pat.
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‘Angry summer’ alarmists all choked up without reading fine print
Michael Asten is a professor of geophysics at Monash University, Melbourne. (theAustralian, 22/1/15)
“LAST week delivered for the global warming debate, the most anticipated data point of the decade.
The year 2014 was declared the hottest of the past century, by a margin of 0.04 degC.
The news has been greeted with enthusiasm by those who attribute all warming to man-made influences, (notably in the Fairfax press in Australia), but few commentators have qualified their comment with the observation that NASA put an error margin of +-0.05 C on their result.”
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How they can claim ±0.05℃ error margin when the measurements are supposedly measured to only 0.1℃ is ludicrous.
And we know from the BoM that those ±0.10℃ measurements can be OUT BY 1.0-1.5℃, and have to be adjusted!
False precision deliberately intended to influence people.
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I thought the figure was ± 0.09°C
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In the news lying Obama has been conveniently providing our self serving greens with more blatant lies for them to repeat as though they actually believe him. It’s so much easier to tell people the sky is falling than to assist with the erradication of ebola & those lefty encouraged self entitled medieval mutant inbred dune rats.
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That’s a bit rude. They are not Lefties.
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Sorry,left encouraged. Then they are not as advanced as Medieval. 600AD onwards were the Dark Ages where intellectual development and economic progress were none existent. So perhaps you are right about the Lefties.
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Here is how it works for Canberra —from Steve Goddard
https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/hiding-the-decline-at-canberra/
Is this the sort of thing this new committee will look into ??
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According to SBS, we now have the ‘hottest town in the world’ – GO AUSTRALIA!!!!
What is a ‘neutral El Nino’? Presumably one that is no longer oscillating, (ie, DEAD.)
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Having run national and international marketing programs I’d say this has all the hallmarks of a format press release that has been issued from the head office,in this case the UN/IPCC. Most of the words appear the same in each country with a comment from a national spokesperson inserted to give legitimacy and local flavour and make the relevant country’s problems seem the worst in the world. The journalists are either painting by numbers or more likely, are part of the trained international global warming marketing team and comply with Head Office requests. I don’t have the facility to do so but believe one could match all the press releases to confirm my thoughts.
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