How will that 1mm sea level rise affect your office?
Apparently, no one can escape the dangers of climate change. Even when you are indoors, safe from the “extreme weather events” and flooding that we are told are the result of increases in the Earth’s temperature.
The Obama Administration has awarded $8 Million in government grants to nine universities to study the impact that climate change has on indoor air quality. The EPA defends the move by claiming that climate change’s effects on indoor air pollutants that lead to asthma, as well as mold and mildew, aren’t well understood. However, as with everything negative that occurs in the world, the Obama Administration is assuming that global warming probably has something to do with it.
Not only is the climate impact on asthma not well understood, asthma isn’t understood either. So lets ask a climate model that doesn’t work to figure out future rates of a condition we don’t know the exact cause of during imaginary weather that probably won’t happen.
Really the main effect of anthropogenic climate change is not on our lungs, it’s on our wallets.
I predict man-made-climate-change means the weather will stay the same (especially indoors) but we’ll get poorer, which will mean more asthma unless it means less.
The warmists agree to presume,
That the climate-changed air in a room,
Will not be the same,
Needing millions they claim,
To fix or face absolute doom.
— Ruairi
I can’t wait until they discover that Hydrogen pollution (in the form of water vapor) has effects similar to Carbon pollution (in the form of carbon dioxide).
301
Well they are aren’t they. Put them together in a leaf with a bit of sunshine and they form that dangerous compound glucose. Perhaps the world will be swamped in it…
Cheers,
Dave B
30
http://www.accuweather.com/en/features/trend/record-north-pacific-toxic-algae-bloom-alaska-california-fisheries/51723812
10
My observations of indoor climate in America (made when I lived there) showed enormous change. In the winter it was very warm, and in summer freezing cold. American heating actually works, and American air conditioning is refrigeration.
Can I get a chunk of the $8m for my contribution to knowledge?
341
Here in Britain, the well-loved actor George Cole died on August 5th. He was best known for playing small-time cockney crook Arthur Daley in the series Minder. Arthur Daley would have called this $8m grant “a nice little earner“.
Theme tune to the series is here.
221
Was Arthur Daley just St . Trinian’s, Flash Harry updated?
20
I always thought so. Both parts being played by George Cole added to the impression.
30
In some ways it was. But Arthur Daley was a much more developed character and generated a craze for cockney rhyming slang.
Slang includes “pork pies”, “me china plate” and “tea leaf”. In the 1970s and 80s rhyming slang was an oblique way of the reserved British saying politically incorrect or embarrassing words.
00
Loved Minder and Arthur Daley would have LOVED AGW.
00
The key word being little. This wouldn’t go far, so who got it? Nine out of how many? Why?
That said, as an asthmatic farmer I pay attention to any research at all into asthma.
It is strange that Oz and NZ should be the worst places in the world for asthma, particularly when the climates are so different. So what do OZ and NZ have in common that other parts of the world do not?
One thing they probably have in common is the laboratories where our vaccines are manufactured, and the processes used there. Could it be that the process used for one of the vaccines produces in some people a response not found in processes used elsewhere?
00
Good morning Jo,
I can’t stress this enough! …
It takes a truly retarded &/or hubris person to fail to realise that …
“To stupidly ignore the mistakes of history, is to sooner rather than later …
REPEAT IT!!!”
I mean … O. M. G. …
Surely its only going to be a few short years and most of these g’warming/climate change spruikers (esp. Gore, Moon, Merkel and Obama) are going to look back and see how “comically similar” nearly everything that has come out of their mouth this century has sounded almost exactly like they were doing a great John Edwards-style channelling of King Canute!!
Hey, I’ve got news for not only the above four retro-grades, but every single Australian who still blindly follow de’Natalie and Shorten like modern-day lemmings over a very-rapidly approaching electoral precipice!! …
DIDN’T YOU GET THE EMAIL? … YOU CAN’T AFFECT NATURE!!
Keep up the good work.
Warm Regards, Reformed Warmist of Logan.
PS. Watch this space … there will be a new and improved anti-warming party ready in time to fight the next federal election!!
291
Yes, actually climate change rhetoric did change indoor air—locked the houses up so tight radon built up. Now, if you don’t want to breathe radon, you have to add an energy using pump to create air exchanges with the outside.
And of course this highly sealed area, with pollution levels often higher than outdoor air, could not in any way be related to childen and asthma. (/sarc)
251
I volunteer to stay indoors so the effect of climate change on me (and whether I develop asthma or not) can be studied. That will be $8 million, please.
161
Well they’ll need exhibits for this
“New York’s new Climate Change Museum”
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/08/15/new-yorks-new-climate-change-museum/
Wouldn’t want it to just be a storage for Al Gore movies
121
I have to admit, the warmongers are exceedingly adept at getting cash for little effort, no tangible outcomes or anyone to answer to with their spending; they put many capitalists to shame with their ingenuity and ability to rake in the loot.
131
Yes, it is funny how so little effort is required to get the cash. But follow the money.
The government (through one, or more, of several agencies) grants funding to one or more universities to research a perceived problem. As it so happens, the regular philanthropic donors to those universities have “decided” not made their normal contributions, at this time, but rather have made donations to the Presidential Candidate of their choice, who just happens to be a Democrat.
Nothing to see here folks, move along …
70
Thankfully it was only 8 million.
00
sorry, my bad- i read the original post as “warmongers” and my retired grunt reflex kicked in. change thumbs down to up.
10
I read it the same way! Perhaps an edit is in order?
10
Nice!
Now if they only had some climate change to display in that fancy new museum…
Naval gazing climbs to new even dizzier heights than ever before.
Doesn’t anyone have an actual job to do anymore?
00
I think we need to extend that research and examine how climate change will affect air quality in public and private transport. What about that welding workshop or panel beaters? What about that yurt in Nimbin? The list is endless!
121
Is this an attempt to conflate atmospheric CO2 concentration with air pollution?
“CO2 is a naturally occurring atmospheric gas that is considered safe at levels below 0.5% [5000 ppm]” (US Occupational Safety and Health Administration).
241
…best ask the EPA?
10
The warmists agree to presume,
That the climate-changed air in a room,
Will not be the same,
Needing millions they claim,
To fix or face absolute doom.
211
We definitely need a poetry thread on this site.
“What about the subsidies coal miners get?”
Cried al-Gore, from his corporate jet
“The wind blows for free”
As the price grows times three
And Chinese emissions will double, I’ll bet.
120
Well done Andrew, and Ruari.
Ruari now elevated to Head article status on many occasions.
10
And a frequently deserved status that is.
Jo still can’t spell Ruairi’s name correctly though.
If I kept mistyping “Rauiri” I’d fall back on copy’n’paste.
10
Jo
FYI
https://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2015/08/14/nsidc-polar-hole-correction/
and
https://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/dead-ice/
51
Would he be able to buy the “secret formula” for $8m?
http://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/topic/96195-experts-on-everything-fall-back-on-old-farmers-almanac/
51
$8 million eh?
I suppose it could have been wasted on helping the homeless, those without drinking water, or the medically uninsured and uninsurable, then there are all those who will not eat today, or any amount of worthy works to relieve the burden from the those less fortunate.
But no, Obama has a mate who needs to know what?
How bad the carbon dioxide pollution and methane levels are in Al Gore’s bathroom.
Or something like that.
Obama — waster of human potential!
181
Obama said he would “fundamentally change the country” and he has done it. Nothing for the better, all negative socialist politically correct nonsense.
90
The Age of Obama: Heat for me, but not for thee
“The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket.
There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.
“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm.
You could grow orchids in there.”
~ ~ ~
Obama: ‘Planet Will Boil Over’ If Young Africans Are Allowed Cars, Air-Conditioning, Big Houses
~ ~ ~
The real world:
Americans’ Air Conditioning Habit Is Eco-Friendly
You could argue that if Americans had not migrated en masse from the temperate north to the blistering sunbelt, we would need less energy for climate control.
You could argue that, but you’d be wrong.
Americans still expend much more energy heating their homes than cooling them.
On average, the move from cold areas to warm ones has actually saved energy, not caused us to use more.
Unlike a cold winter with no heat, a hot summer with no cooling won’t definitely kill you.
. . .
Indoor pollution?
110
Since they are studying the effects of climate, and climate being an average of 10 years of weather, we can expect the first datum point of their research to come out in 10 years time.
Unless they model the effects of course, which is not a study. Does this sort of thing have a name?
111
Supposedly, 30 years
But the nominated figure changes constantly, according to which pygmy point is attempting to be made. For example, Santer supposed 17 years (the “pause” had upset him) but other luminaries disagreed
For this “study” the period may have already elapsed 🙂
80
According to the WMO it’s 30 years officially, but as far as I’m concerned that’s only half the cycle and therein lies the problem.
50
The concept is what a normal individual will think normal weather will be based on the early normal part of her or his life. The span for normal in this formulation was selected, before computers, as 30 years beginning with a year ending in 1 and ending with a year ending with 0. For example: 1981-2010
For comparison such spans are now called “climate normals” and frequently referenced as climatology, as in “.. about 2 degrees warmer than climatology.”
This concept has nothing to do with “climate being an average”.
50
No. Climate data begins with one year’s weather data. More is better, but one is it.
00
Breathing air with increased CO2 levels is beneficial to those suffering asthma attacks. However highly sealed houses required by the energy saving mania cause high humidity levels and increased fungal growth and dust mite growth which is detrimental to those suffering asthma.
141
Just saw news coverage of Obama playing golf with Clinton, with two distinct styles showing,
Obama has an awkward style that finishes with type of knee jerk reaction swinging clumsily from the left.
Clinton is a bit smoother but is easily distracted by any birdlife, despite being right handed a left style still dominates his swing.
181
“Say, did that ball go into the water?”
“No Sir, Mister President Sir. There it is. Right in the middle of the fairway. Nice shot Sir.”
Tony.
140
Secret Service Agent driving the golf cart, in an aside to the caddy while the President is lining up his
seventhsecond shot. “Did you get enough golf balls?”“Yeah, the Pro gave me two dozen. But we should be right. The path to the Back Nine goes right by the Pro Shop.”
Tony.
120
I have climate control indoors and in my vehicles, I understand that climate control is created using electricity.
111
No that is just a myth. The cause and effect is back to front. Electricity us created by climate control. Especially solar, wind and hydro, the reliability of which, is utterly dependent on having a controlled climate.
60
Could I buy one of those from a battery bank?
20
A challenge!
Tweets Adam Spencer, ex-broadcaster, geek, dad – now ambassador for mathematics and science at the university of sydney:
“Love to know what messrs Bolt et al think of this steadily increasing ‘pause’ in temperatures #CueBanjos”
et al would be Ms Jonova, you, me …
This is the pause that Prof. Mathew England denied existed on ABC Q&A to Nick Minchin, only to write papers to explain it, that Karl et al denied existed with tortured sea surface data, that now exists again as it just ends with a Godzilla El Niño!
I would simply offer this video link and the comment” Except more pathetic.”
111
The pause is indeed “increasing” – in duration (now 18 1/2 years, many people in their first year at uni have only read about warming in history books) and in elevation (as the past is cooled and the present warmed – see WUWT for the 97% R-squared).
In fact, if you live in the CONUS the pause is 80yo – your hottest decade (unadjusted) is still the 1930s and the hottest year 1934.
100
The pause is indeed “increasing” – in duration (now 18 1/2 years, many people in their first year at uni have only read about warming in history books) and in elevation (as the past is cooled and the present warmed – see WUWT for the 97% R-squared).
In fact, if you live in the CONUS the pause is 80yo – your hottest decade (unadjusted) is still the 1930s and the hottest year 1934.
40
“Pause” confirmed by Joe Romm:
(thinkprogress) Hottest July On Record Keeps 2015 On Track To Crush 2014 For Hottest Year
“We appear to be in the midst of of the long-awaited jump in global temperatures.”
. . .
Of course 2015 IS NOT the hottest year ever.
Everyone knows next year is the Hottest Year Evah in this age of Doomsday Global Warming.
110
The recruitment of Public Health in general and epidemiology in particular into the ideological service of
climate changeworld economy transformation has become increasingly obvious of late, in fact predictably so, given the imminent escargot fest in Paris.Quoting the following from a recent Medscape article: Leaders Make Link Between Climate Change Effects,Health of Americans: New Initiatives by Kim Krisberg Nations Health. 2015;45(5):1,14
‘APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, said the new White House push not only builds cross-sector support for confronting climate-related health threats, it elevates a new, more personal climate change narrative’.
‘Ed Maibach, PhD, MPH, director of the George Mason center, praised Obama for sending a clear message that climate change is a threat to human health, but he said that message must be repeated often and by trusted voices to leave an impression.
“Public health voices are trusted, but they’re often not heard,” Maibach told The Nation’s Health. “We have to keep the focus on the health aspects of climate change.”
And Kim Knowlton, DrPH, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s health and environment program stated:
All this amounts to little more than making the propaganda personal. The rank green fingers have already found their way into the pockets of most, something that may (unsurprisingly) be a growing source of resentment. Now they’re bound to tell you its good for health. This is the vital piece in the eco-ideological mission of The Ministry of We Know Best For Your Own Good.
There’s going to be much more of this pseudo-scientific epidemiological based hyperbolic propaganda from all quarters and particularly the WHO before Paris in December. Remember, the government epidemiologists are to health as climate ‘science’ is to meteorology. Now try that on your average epidemiologist and watch for the reaction.
120
Obama is so far in front of Jimmy Carter as a complete dud it really is not at all funny. The nature and quantum of slaughter this prancing, pretty boy, dilettante President has seen unleashed on his watch is the true metric of his performance.
‘Performance’ is the correct word to use because to use ‘administration’ would be to craft a very sick joke. ‘Maladministration’ is perhaps too severe implying some sort of criminality. What we see is just air headed incompetence.
100
Carter didn’t do much, but it’s hardly his fault that Volcker landed him with the highest interest rates in a century. But yes, compared to Obama there’s really no contest. Carter was basically a decent guy who meant well but achieved little. The Kenyan has been on the wrong side of every issue.
Iran (give them a nucular program), Keystone (how many have to die carrying it in by train?), budget repair (“it will cause a recession” – no, unemployment halved), stimulus (wasted $2tr they couldn’t afford to carry as additional debt), energy production (cheap energy self-sufficiency that pulled millions of bbl a day of US demand out of the global market must be a bad thing, right?), State rights (nah, they don’t get to decide on their healthcare or energy policies), Gitmo (let them all go – and ideally, swap them for their own traitors back), Ukraine (I’m sure Putin won’t mind if we do our “regime change” thing on the Russian border, install an anti-Russia EU puppet, threaten to take away Sevastopol Port from him, and install Joe Biden’s son to run the state energy company), Syria (that Assad is a nasty guy – we should arm the opposition, whoever they are, Islamic-something sounds nice and peaceful), Egypt (regime change with no idea what was going to replace Mubarak), Libya (ditto), Morocco (ditto), Iraq (let’s just randomly pull out – I’m sure they will be fine), Bengazi (no, keep the troops out – these guys are still too pissed about something they saw on YouTube so we’ll protect the ambassador in a week or two when they’ve calmed down), IRS (you’re Republican, you say? We have an audit program for people like you), and no doubt dozens of others.
90
high(low)lights from ABC’s Simon Lauder interview with laugh-a-minute Bernie Fraser:
AUDIO/TRANSCRIPT: 15 Aug: ABC AM: Climate Change Authority says Australia not doing its fair share
SIMON LAUDER: The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, says that the target set this week will see Australia’s per capita emissions reduce by more than any other country?
BERNIE FRASER ***(laughs): blah blah…
SIMON LAUDER: The Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, insists that modelling clearly shows that the authority’s recommendation would cost at least $600 billion, and that’s a point he’s repeated today, since you’ve released your statement. Do you agree with that?
BERNIE FRASER: No. The kinds of modelling involved can generate or can allow people to infer almost anything they like to suit a particular argument…
SIMON LAUDER: The Government says that Australia’s target puts us roughly in the middle of the pack of comparable countries. Do you agree with that?
BERNIE FRASER: No. ***(Laughs) I think we’re pretty clearly at the bottom…
SIMON LAUDER: You’ve also said that Australia’s target shouldn’t be diluted by lobbying of sectoral interests or special pleading on dubious grounds. So which lobby groups are you particularly worried about?
BERNIE FRASER: Well, there is obvious lobbying from fossil fuel miners and users and so on…
BERNIE FRASER: If we are going to rely on Direct Action and the Emissions Reduction Fund, the costs of that on the budget are going to be enormous and they’re not going to be sustainable, in my view…
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4293954.htm
ABC elicits more “laughs” at the PM!
15 Aug: ABC: with AAP: Emissions reduction target: Julie Bishop disputes Climate Change Authority’s figures
(FOUR BERNIE FRASER PARAS NOT RELATED TO THE TOPIC OF CHINA’S EMISSIONS)
But Ms Bishop said figures released by the Authority were disputed by the Federal Government.
“Mr Bernie Fraser … [stated] China’s emissions would increase by 72 to 96 per cent above 2005 levels by 2030. The Australian Government disputes these figures,” she said in a statement.
“China’s 2030 target will allow emissions to increase by around 150 per cent from 2005 levels when calculated on China’s national currency.”…
Opposition ***laughs at Abbott’s recognition of climate change
The Federal Opposition says Mr Abbott should not be applauded for stating climate change is real, years after the rest of the world acknowledged the issue…
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said Mr Abbott’s comments were ***laughable.
“The Prime Minister once famously called climate change science complete crap, now he says he wants a pat on the back because he’s worked out that it’s real,” he said…
Labor frontbencher Matt Thistlethwaite said Labor believed the Government should accept the experts’ advice on measures needed to limit global warming to 2 degrees.
“They are advising at the moment that Australia is down the bottom of international best practice and we won’t meet that 2-degree scenario,” he told Sky News.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-15/climate-change-authoritys-estimations-wrong-julie-bishop/6700234
to date, i have not heard ABC report or ask Labor to comment on Innes Willox/Australian Industry Group statement – “If the 50% 2030 renewable energy goal recently floated by the Opposition were achieved, it would only deliver around a sixth of the emissions cuts sought.”
80
there are different ways to gouge the public when it comes to CAGW:
9 June: AFR: Rose Powell: Impact Investment Fund launches: a new $100 million socially-conscious Aussie start-up fund
The Impact Investment Fund is the brainchild of Sydney-based social investor Geoff Gourley, entrepreneur and multimillionaire financial planner Julio De Laffitte and Southbank Capital, a Melbourne-based investment advisory firm.
The fund intends to invest a minimum of $100,000 in fledgling companies, which are on track to return a financial investment, but which also work towards socially or environmentally-progressive aims. So-called impact investing may be a nascent concept in Australia, but a report by the World Economic Forum in 2014 estimated the market would be worth upwards of $US650 billion by 2017…
In the United States in May, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams announced the closure of a $US123 million fundraising round for a similarly motivated fund called Obvious Ventures, which has since backed 12 companies ranging from online activism site Change.org etc…
Whereas closer to home, the Lieberman family’s socially-focused Impact Investment Group has invested upwards of $100 million into nine companies since launching in 2013.
While the Impact Investment Group majors in commercial property, the new fund will focus on smaller social enterprises, in technology, renewable energy and ethical companies innovating in traditional financial markets…
Mr Gourley told The Australian Financial Review they were particularly interested in renewable resources, social housing and media startups but the size of the fund gave them scope to invest in wide range of areas.
He said the fund currently had pre-commitments for about 70 per cent of the $100 million target, ***mostly from hedge funds, and that it was in the process of raising the remainder from high net-worth individuals.”…
The fund’s partners also include three directors of Southbank Capital, Francis Galbally, ***Tim Langdon and Karl O’Shaughnessy…
http://www.afr.com/technology/impact-investment-fund-launches-a-new-100-million-sociallyconscious-aussie-startup-fund-20150604-ghgsip
***”mostly” from hedge funds – see AnthillOnline excerpt below, which lists pension and super funds among the other potential sources of funds.
***LinkedIn: Tim Langdon, Owner, Carbon Market Pty Ltd…
from EcoVoice website: Carbon Market Pty Ltd manages and operates five business units including: Carbon Market, Eco Voice, Eco News, Eco TV & Eco Daily.
2 June: NestEggFoundation: A game-changing new documentary about you, me and the future of our environment
A Drop In The Ocean is a groundbreaking documentary feature about the adverse impacts of human activity on the world’s oceans…
The first panel show will be filmed in St Kilda on an evening during late July…
Tim Langdon: Executive Producer
One of the Founders of Carbon Market Pty Ltd, Tim is a judge of The Banksia Awards (national environmental awards) and media supporter/partner of many not-for-profits and events in the environmental space. With a background in international finance, Tim has turned his attention to creating viable business opportunities for eco products and services as well as being a passionate advocate and partner in a variety of sustainable arenas. An enthusiastic and innovative leader, Tim inspires the Carbon Market team to communicate a positive message about climate change and environmental conservation…
Tim is passionate about sharing his extensive knowledge in global trading and in contributing to the population’s growing thirst for clever green solutions and environmental education…
Living ***beachside with his wife and two young sons, Tim is genuinely concerned about the future. This is a key motivation for his intense strategic actions towards resolution of our climate crisis…
http://nesteggfoundation.org.au/a-game-changing-new-documentary-about-you-me-and-the-future-of-our-environment/
30 June: AnthillOnline: Gerald Ainomugisha: A new impact investment fund is raising $100 million for socially and environmentally conscious Australian businesses
The opportunity to invest in the Impact Investment Fund is restricted to wholesale clients such as ***pension funds, ***super funds, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, corporations and high net worth individuals…
http://anthillonline.com/a-new-impact-investment-fund-is-raising-100-million-for-socially-and-environmentally-conscious-australian-businesses/
40
So let me see now.
We have a 20 year old, just starting out in the work force, and part of his pay goes into a Superannuation Fund for his retirement.
That Super Fund invests his contributions into a wind plant, which will have a working life of between 15 and 25 years at best.
So, at the end of this (now 20 year old) persons working life his superannuation will have been invested between two and three times ….. into the SAME wind farm and it’s one or two replacements.
Sounds to me like he has not increased his investment, but lost it, probably twice over.
Ah, but I guess that’s just a strawman eh!
Tony.
180
Tony don’t you get it? The solution is batteries to store the electricity while the new wind turbine is installed.
And as for finance and economics, don’t confuse the twenty year olds, even many of the older year olds who went to school after the Whitlam Labor years here.
30
Langdon’s SouthBank Trading…
pdf: 18 pages: SouthBankTrading: Southbank Absolute Return Fund
2014: An invitation to invest in a wholesale absolute return fund
This venture draws together the expertise of three people, Francis Galbally, Tim Langdon and Brandon Reid…
Timothy Joseph Langdon
Mr Langdon is an experienced financial markets professional who has held senior positions in both dealing and management roles in a number of major corporations and financial institutions including National Australia Bank Ltd, British Petroleum Finance Australia Ltd, Bank of America Corporation, Indosuez Australia Ltd and Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank Ltd…
http://www.southbanktrading.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Southbank_Absolute_Return_Fund_Information_Memorandum_140529f.pdf
behind the Impact Investment Group & other heart-warming CAGW tales about our young rich-listers:
May 2015: AFR: Tony Walker: Young rich-listers aim for philanthropic goals
Berry Liberman is talking about money. Not making money, not accumulating money, not spending money frivolously, but the uses to which money can be put that benefit others.
“I think money can be the great enabler,” Liberman says. “Money need not dictate to us the world we should live in. Rather, we can use money to create the world we want.”
This might seem all very well coming from a member of one of Australia’s wealthiest families; late grandfather Jack Liberman amassed a fortune in retail and property that has been built on by successive generations, such that BRW estimates the family’s wealth at $2.45 billion today…
“Money has played an incredibly destructive role in the creation of society; it doesn’t have to,” she says simply. “The question is how can we mobilise the great privilege we’ve been given to live meaningful lives.”…
We’re sitting in a period mansion in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, home to Liberman’s Dumbo Feather, a quarterly magazine that specialises in “conversations with extraordinary people”. It is also the headquarters of Small Giants, a company run by Liberman and her husband Danny Almagor which invests in businesses that aim to create a “more socially equitable and environmentally sustainable world”.
All this might be viewed as a bit of an indulgence for the children of the super-rich…
“Life is political. Everything we do is political,” Liberman says…
If there’s one cause that knits these idealistic rich-listers together it’s the environment, reflecting their generation’s preoccupation with climate change. “We all know the greatest challenge we face is global warming,” Liberman says.
***Impact Investment Group has bought into wind turbines near Ballarat, combining a sustainable energy project with a money-making objective…
Almagor’s Impact Investment Group has assets under management totalling $200 million. They are invested mostly in property at this stage but the group is looking for opportunities more broadly, including in the sustainable energy space…
None of those interviewed for this article is involved directly in politics, but this is not to say they do not have political viewpoints. Ostroburski, for example, describes himself as a “Malcolm Turnbull liberal” with a small “l”…
http://www.afr.com/brand/afr-magazine/young-richlisters-aim-for-philanthropic-goals-20150330-1mbe01
30
+ £1million:
“The project, by the University of Bath and Exeter University, aims to help scientists and engineers understand how building designs react to different weather conditions.
He said: “In western civilisations we know the greatest contributor to weather-related deaths are short term extreme temperature changes, including both increases and decreases.
“These temporary temperature variations account for more weather-related deaths than all other weather events combined including lighting strikes, rain, flooding, hurricanes and tornadoes.
“It is important that we recognise the role buildings play in responding to and dealing with extreme weather conditions – buildings can keep people alive during extreme weather events, but they can also kill.”
(express.co.uk) Ultimate long-range weather forecast: Team aim to predict conditions in 85 years’ time
80
This is as practical as looking for your lost keys under the lamp post. Obviously we should research climate from the comfort of our air conditioned homes. And in case they haven’t read the latest scientific studies – asthma is caused by the yeast in Vegemite not being alive.
50
OMG Zombie yeast!
50
I predict peak stupid may come in the form of a Zombie apocalypse tax….or not.
50
We knew it would get crazier … Desmond Tutu’s doing a Change Org petition to Tony Abbott calling for a 100% by 2050 renewable energy target.
80
Is that the whistle on the gravy train?
70
Anglican.
40
Isn’t is weird, that Australia, which has one of the more moderate levels of per capita emissions, in the world, gets singled out, just because it is a big chunk of dirt between the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific. And it gets singled out, by a cleric who comes from one of the more industrialised areas of Africa.
I will probably get moderated for pointing out that it is the pot, calling the kettle black.
140
Rereke,
May I point out that South Africa used to be a really industrialised country.
They now have an unemployment rate [officially +- 25%] approaching 45%.
it is estimated that +- 30% of the population is HIV positive.
They used to produce 70% of all the electricity generated on the African continent.
They now suffer blackouts on average 2 hours per day. {Blackouts are officially renamed as load shedding”}
As an investor would you consider investing in this country.
Services are fast diminishing.
Crime rate!! Statistics show +- 50 murders per day. The CIA estimates that number is about 50% above the official statistics.
This is the most successful country on the continent……….Africa as a whole is not a laughing matter… It’s a tragedy.
80
What part of a non-leaking roof is difficult to understand?
70
As Forrest Gump says: Stupid is as stupid does:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt9q-WChfeM
Speaks for the whole hippie crowd from the 60’s that is in charge now…
40
The EPA – Sunday help
This year it donated $84,000 to a university (Michigan) to study how churches could influence their congregations on climate change…
Amen
100
O/T
‘What’s rather striking, though, is that the flat-lining of stratospheric temperatures since roughly 1998 corresponds quite remarkably with the current “pause” in surface temperatures. This prompts a question: Could the stabilization of ozone levels in the stratosphere help to explain the subsequent ‘pause?’
‘If so, would the IPCC wish to promote this fact? Such a correlation would finally solve a vexing, recent climate mystery. But it would also establish a more concrete solar connection to temperature variability.
‘The evidence is compelling, and the subject deserves further scrutiny.’
Steven Capozzola (WUWT guest blogger)
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el gordo,
Erl Happ and Carl Wolk advanced such ideas, and much else that has come to pass, on their very enlightening blog http://climatechange1.wordpress.com/
40
“Not only is the climate impact on asthma not well understood, asthma isn’t understood either.”
You could have started with – ‘climate isn’t understood’ .
Anyway, there is interesting research on asthma and if less money went toward UN fêtes in exotic places and more to asthma research the world would soon be a better place. Most recently there is this article:
“Something in the Air” by Melissa Pandika
Much about the work of Kari Nadeau, pediatrician
Discover Mag: September 2015
Study area: Central CA valley towns
pollution is mostly from diesel exhaust from trucks, cars, tractors
Stuff about immune cells called regulatory T cells, or T-regs, and
T helper cells
Left unchecked, T helper cells will send the immune system into overdrive, triggering asthma symptoms.
60
all that taxpayer money given to ABC & SBS, yet i can never get their online videos to play straight through. same with this 2min 32sec one, which took forever to play.
video goes straight to Harry Osborne raving about the majesty & aesthetics of his money-making turbines.
critic Anne Gardner gets to say a bit, about 8 seconds worth, but none of the following from the text:
“but not only that: there’s actually ground born vibration too,” Mrs Gardner said.
Mrs Gardner said despite rebuilding a house at the back of her large property the problem remains, and she and her husband have to leave twice a week as a result.
“It’s a huge problem. It is massive, and it has just been swept under the carpet and totally denied,” she said.
“The Australian public has been grossly misled and still continue to because the buzzwords seem to be green and climate change.”
Labor/Greens get their say, Greg Hunt comes in with an irrelevant statement not even in the article; Senator David Leyonhjelm who is featured in the article, doesn’t rate a mention in the news video.
video ends with Harry looking majestic & windswept, with SBS’s David Sharaz saying Harry wants “certainty” & is hoping his turbines can continue to provide financial rewards for generations to come.
16 Aug: SBS: A wind storm is brewing
Wind turbines are back in the spotlight with some residents claiming their health is suffering as a result.
VIDEO: introduced by Lee Lin Chin; presented by David Sharaz
On Monday, federal politicians will return to Canberra and continue to debate the issue in the Senate, after an inquiry recommended restrictions be implemented.
While some agree, others are labelling it an attack on Australia’s renewable energy sector.
(LABOR & GREENS GET THE FIRST WORDS)
“The final report is a reckless science denying document that Labor thoroughly rejects,” Labor Senator and committee member Anne Urquhart said.
The Greens went further, as did others, by not even attending the committee which took place around the country.
“Scaring people into thinking there’s a problem with wind farms can lead to unwellness but it’s not the wind farms themselves that are causing that,” Greens environmental spokesperson Larissa Waters said.
RELATED STORY: SA wind farm to create 250 jobs
The South Australian government says the construction of a wind farm in the state’s mid-north will create 250 jobs, 10 of which are permanent
Treasurer Joe Hockey had some harsh words for wind power back in 2014, describing one farm near Lake George as “utterly offensive”.
Given that turbines are back in the spotlight, SBS decided to track down the farm’s owner.
“I find them quite majestic and aesthetic,” Harry Osborne, whose family has owned the land in Bungendore for 150 years, said.
Mr Osborne said the 10 turbines he agreed to have installed in 2009 had not only provided some assurance to his bank account, but given wind a purpose…
“There is a lot of money and money drives change and if we can drive change like this then I’ve got no problem with operators making money out of wind.”…
Annie Gardner, a Victorian resident living near the Macarthur Wind Farm, said her health has suffered as a result.
“We’ve just got a forest of turbines around us and I just feel sick and have shocking headaches, chest burning and heart pounding…(PLUS THE REST WHICH WAS LEFT OUT OF THE NEWS VIDEO)…
Senator David Leyonhjelm is one of the cross benchers who called for an inquiry into turbines, prompted he said by his electorate.
“I listened to their concerns with a growing sense of unease as they documented a litany of failures by government and the wind industry to address, or even acknowledge, what seemed like genuine issues,” Mr Leyonhjelm said in the Senate about the final report.
“The inquiry heard from turbine hosts who receive $200,000 a year in rent and regret they ever agreed to host turbines,” he said…
(FINAL WORDS IN ARTICLE GIVEN TO THE GREENS)
The Greens didn’t participate in the committee calling it a shame to reduce the Renewable Energy Target.
“We thought it was a complete waste of time,” Senator Waters said.
***“Credible medical bodies like the Australian Medical Association didn’t go along either.”…
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/08/15/wind-storm-brewing
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Should Larissa Waters be compelled to live next door to a windfarm for a year or two?
00
all those billions & trillions to save us from manmade global warming?
15 Aug: Radio Sweden: Summer cancelled in Tarfala
There was no Summer 2015 in Tarfala in the northern Swedish mountains. The Swedish weather service SMHI’s Sandra Andersson tells Swedish Radio News that meteorologically conditions have gone directly from Spring to Fall at the ski station, located near Kebnekaise, Sweden’s highest mountain…
In Stekenjokk in the southern Lappland mountains, it is also now officially Fall, as the average daily temperature there has not risen above 10 degrees Celsius for 5 days in a row, the definition of Fall in Sweden.
Summer, which Tarfala never experienced this year, is defined in Sweden as average temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius for 5 days in a row…
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6233020
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funniest piece of the day from Fairfax’s Brisbane Times:
15 Aug: Brisbane Times: Waterstreet life: a shark’s tale of woe on the Great Barrier Reef
by Charles Waterstreet
Further north, on the Great Barrier Reef, swims Shark Girl – aka Madison Stewart. A husky-voiced, short, dark-haired siren of the seas around the reef, Shark Girl fights to the death for the smaller sharks that live in the World Heritage-listed marine park surrounding the Great Barrier Grief, as it’s rapidly becoming. She comes to lunch with Dan Ackroyd and his family, who are in Australia promoting Crystal Head Vodka and visiting the GBR as part of their ecological journeying around the globe. My son has been with them on archeological digs for dinosaur bones in Canada and Alaska.
Dan Ackroyd’s appetite for life is only surpassed by his desire for knowledge. He’s a walkin’, talkin’ Google.
***At his request, I gather Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull (old friends from an earlier Reef trip) and Peter Woolcott, the ***ambassador for climate change and his wife Tanya…
When the Prime Minister said this week that his government will never make the mistake of Labor, he will never put ecology above economy, you can now kiss the reef goodbye..
It was a marvellous lunch, and I take a selfie with Shark Girl. Danny Ackroyd served his famous CHV in small skull glasses and I wander back to chambers to prepare for the next day…
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/waterstreet-life-a-sharks-tale-of-woe-on-the-great-barrier-reef-20150814-gizg30.html
such a bunch of jet-setters. how fitting to have Turnbull hanging out with the Govt-appointed Ambassador & a partisan like Waterstreet, who had a headline in SMH on 14 March “The rise and rise of Tony Abbott as an international laughing stock” which included:
“By Thursday, it was so bad that Malcolm Turnbull himself had to step through the ropes and into the ring to defend the boss. Turnbull claimed that “every time the embattled Prime Minister opens his mouth, he cops criticism.” In an impressive show of strength, Turnbull added the killer punch line “I mean he does spend a week a year in a remote Aboriginal community.” In other words, if there is no remote Aboriginal community he won’t have to go there next year”…
“Even in defending his number one, Malcolm Turnbull sounded like a number one himself. Unlike his leader, he is never lost for words, or thoughts, or ideas, or backhanded compliments.”…
“Abbott is painted as both Abbott and Costello clowns by Nilsson who quotes things Abbott actually said, “climate change is absolute crap” always gets a laugh”…
about the writer with not one, but two, memoirs to his name!
Wikipedia: Charles Waterstreet
Charles Waterstreet is an Australian barrister, author, theatre and film producer. He has written two memoirs, produced two films, and is now a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is best known as one of the co-creators of the ABC Television series Rake which is loosely based on his life…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Waterstreet
***memo to Waterstreet: Peter Woolcott is Ambassador for the Environment at the UN, not the Ambassador for Climate Change.
narcisssists to the core…like Obama!
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There are still some people getting a chance to speak up for good old common sense!
Found this on the news stream today.
Good for Bjorn Lomborg!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-that-matters/Pick-solutions-that-offer-highest-social-and-environmental-returns-Bjorn-Lomborg/articleshow/48497306.cms
What a pity he couldn’t whisper in the ear of Obama about the best places to spend that $8million… instead of frittering it away on nonsense with no measureable ROI.
Couldn’t agree more with Lomborg’s point about making contraception readily available.
” The benefits would not only be that 1,50,000 mothers would not die but also that 6,00,000 kids would not be left without a caregiver, which would mean that we estimate the total benefit to be in the region of $150 billion. This means that fewer people are dependent, there are more people in the working ages, so slightly higher growth. We estimate if you spend $3.6 billion a year, you get benefits of $430 billion a year.”
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I find it odd that the nations of the world spend countless billions if not trillions of dollars fighting global warming, yet a fraction of that would have been better spent on finding a cure for cancer. Goes to show governments of the world are such money wasters.
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I’d amend this line in the heading article from:
“Really the main effect of anthropogenic climate change is not on our lungs, it’s on our wallets.”
to:
“Really the main effect of the ALLEGED anthropogenic climate change is not on our lungs, it’s on our wallets.”
Changing my train of thought, I recently spoke to someone who lives near the Drax power station here in England – the one that burns all the wood imported from the USA.
The pellets required are also made from wood sourced over here in the UK.
Here’s the interesting bit. It seems that it takes more power to make these pellets than they produce on burning. If I recall correctly, about 5Kw to produce 3Kw from the pellets when burnt. I can’t find anything on the internet about this – perhaps not surprisingly!
Does anyone know more about this?
60
Carbon500
It’s 73% higher in GHG emissions compared to coal!
The economics are even worse
Why would the GREENIES, UN & CAGW lovers even consider this?
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Thanks for the link to this up-to-date article, Dave. I’m gradually working my way through it – very interesting and detailed indeed!
00
5Kw to produce 3Kw?
Tell ‘im e’s dreamin’.
20
People underestimate the importance of CO2 to life, and by life I don’t mean as in growing plants, I mean the next 15 minutes of your life.
In pure oxygen you would be dead at STP in about 15 minutes.
In pure CO2 you might also die in the same time: I’m not sure but in BOTH cases you would die.
What is very certain however that if I had to choose to be either in an atmosphere of 8,000 ppm CO2 for a few hours or pure oxygen I would take the CO2 rich atmosphere.
Absence of CO2 in the bloodstream is certain death!!
KK
80
Respiration and metabolism
example:
http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/301notes6.htm
40
Hi Ian
That was a big read, just scanned through it.
Here is a previous discussion with myself and Roy who has some experience flying I believe.
http://joannenova.com.au/2014/05/david-kear-former-director-general-nz-dsir-says-a-non-existent-threat/#comment-1446523
CO2 is an essential neuroregulator of our breathing but as Roy points out there is a very complex interplay between pressure and levels of CO2 and O2 in the air we breathe.
KK
40
more CO2 thread
http://joannenova.com.au/2014/11/fact-checking-the-abc-the-big-lie-about-the-worlds-scientists/#comment-1610191
40
Just got this from Change.Dot.Org
Desmond Tutu has just started this petition to Tony Abbott calling for a 100% by 2050 renewable energy target – will you sign it? HELL NO, I say!!!
Jo is there anyway you can organise a counter petition pointing out the futility of any attempt to reduce Co2 and the ultimate harm increasing so called clean energy will do to society.
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Bob,
Wouldn’t this be a bloody good example of the hard won experience of keeping state and church separate/
80
Alleluia, brother!!!
60
Dear Desmond Tutu,
Thank you for your concern but please understand this is not about the morals you seem to be concerned about.
This is about science being misused and abused to generate the political outcome of keeping the poor, poor and powerless, and protect the rich as rich elites, and very powerful. This is about very big money, big power — a new world order no less, and a very big supra-governmental agencies telling your people – all people – how to live their lives.
You survived Apartheid; the forced separation of people by the powerful local authority, and their determinations of ‘race’ and color of one’s skin. The UN by it’s action wishes to separate peoples by a simple method —
Elite and worth living well, or
Not elite and allowed to perish.
They are guided by the philosophy of Thomas R. Malthus and the writings of people like Paul Ehrlich, John Holdren, and those in the Club of Rome. These people do not wish to help you, or the majority of humanity. They will, with plausible deniability, let most people die, either through conflict or negligence; consider the slow and disorganized response of the UN to the Ebola outbreak. Why do you think that was?
I hope the Good Lord gives you eyes to see the remarkable disservice to humanity the UN has become, and the savage future it is trying to foist on all humanity.
90
Seems like one of those scam emails from Africa with all the Dear, love, Christain talk etc asking you to accept two million dollars as long as you send your bank account details plus password.
10
Many winters ago, my wife and I rented a rather nice house which had a large external gas cylinder which was checked and topped up every month over winter and every three months over summer. The house was equipped with a gas-hob, gas-oven, gas-hotwater heating and a gas heater for the lounge. We happily used all of it.
Just before our first winter in the house, the Dragon-In-Law, her mother, gave us a small pot plant. It was in a 3 inch (75mm) diameter pot about 4 inches (100mm) high, filled with a soil-compost mix, not potting mix. I have no idea what it was, It had woody stems, which curved up into the vertical small sparse leaves and a lot of small but cute pink blue and white flowers. It looked like a many branched three dimensional candelabra. It was placed on a table where it could catch some incoming sun through a window.
By the end of that winter, it was a bush about 400mm (1ft 4 inches) in diameter and about the same height. It had not been watered once. It was watered lightly over the summer but didn’t change much. By the end of the second winter, it was huge. I had to transplant it into a 20 litre (5 imp gallons) old paint pail and it was banished to an empty corner of the living room, in which it had an impressive presence. By the end of the third winter, it took up the whole corner and was touching the ceiling ( 8 foot or 2.4m stud.
Each winter, we were pleasantly and comfortably warm, the plant—named Larry the Large—was obviously delighted and the condensation ran down the inside of the windows onto towels disposed to catch it. I can only say the air in that house was badly polluted by high levels of oxygen dihydride and carbon dioxide. No one suffered an asthma attack at any stage, and corona viruses and influenza viruses were noticeable by their absences. Apart from mopping up window sills (aluminium joinery) I can’t say there was any extra housework or cleaning required. Moulds and fungi just weren’t apparent. Then we had to move. We left Larry behind.
How would the inside atmosphere be rated?
Healthy? or
Unhealthy?
110
Send money now, and I will research it.
40
Hold on Jo, this research is worth doing! New houses are designed more airtight as a result of the global warming claim, to reduce the need for energy for heating. That leads to a higher concentration of pathogens in the indoor atmosphere, as occurs in aircraft. In granite areas, houses made out of the local stone emit radon gas – which is radioactive – and is a known cause of danger.
30
The flow-on effects of this $8 million will be tremendous. Firstly, other warm-mongering countries will follow and start handing out money, and then in a huge positive feedback episode “indoor climate change science” will suddenly become legitimate and there will be a second and subsequent round of ever greater grants. We might even see a “scholarly” Journal of Indoor Climate Change Science.
30
I find my indoor climate changes when I turn on the heating or the air conditioning.
30
They’re no doubt worried about all the outgassing from modern construction materials when the temperature rises. Unfortunately the worrisome outgassing comes from the climate change pushers, not the construction materials. Oh well… 😉
10
Ask the wrong question and you always get the wrong answer.
00
Apologies if this has already been linked
“Asthma Justification for EPA Regulations Gutted by the Latest Science“
10