After 30 years with no debate and one predictable, repeated lecture the audience is switching off
Scott Whitlock at Newsbusters reports that one climate-worrier journalist revealed in a tweet that climate change kills the ratings. Another tweeter had prodded Liberal MSNBC journalist Chris Hayes to cover more on climate change. “Acting like there is nothing to be done is not excusable.”
In reply Chris Hayes lamented:
“almost without exception. every single time we’ve covered it’s been a palpable ratings killer. so the incentives are not great.”
Those crashing ratings would change overnight if news networks threw open the doors and pitted skeptics against believers in a real televised form of debate. The spectators would suddenly be able to pick sides — may the best person win. There would be genuine controversy. Sacred cows would be slaughtered, and for a while at least, climate change would rate well.
What stops the media doing this? Most editors are too scared of being called climate deniers if they dare allow the other side to speak. Look at the pushback when the BBC allowed Professor Bob Carter to do one interview:
The BBC betrayed its values by giving Professor Carter this climate platform
— John Ashton, The Guardian
MPs accuse BBC of creating ‘false balance’ on climate change with unqualified sceptics
– Tom Bawden, Independent.
BBC staff told to stop inviting cranks on to science programmes
— Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph
Cowards.
h/t David E.
The UK left railing against ‘unqualified’ people raises an issue in Australia.
Consider Australia’s Climate Commission established in 2011.
“The chief commissioner was Professor Tim Flannery, and other commissioners included Professor Veena Sahajwalla, Professor Lesley Hughes, Professor Will Steffen, Roger Beale, and Gerry Hueston.
How many of these were ‘climate scietists’ or ‘meterologists’? None.
As for Chief Commissioner Flannery, it is hard to imagine how he had anything remotely resembling a science education as his primary degree was in English at La Trobe. Like Al Gore, Flannery had a real problem with mathematics and his life’s work was dedicated to being a science expert without having to use mathematics.
However he effectively claimed expertise in computer modelling, chemistry, atmospheric physics and many more disciplines at odds with his PhD in really dead giant kangaroos. I even listened to his opinions on hot rocks “the technology is straightforward” (we Australians lost $93Million with that opinion) and his oscillating views on Nuclear Power. So perhaps some quiet hours catching up on nuclear physics and engineering then?
So it appears the real and only test of a real Climate Scientist is someone who totally believes in IPPC announced, unquestioned man made Global Warming. Facts and expertise and physical sciences are simply an embarrassment.
As with Jo’s point that research into ageing might cure it, some of the $20Trillion dollars spent on windmills might have done some good elsewhere too. It’s almost tragic to see poor Al Gore with only a single $Billion to his name.
512
Tim Flannery Paleoentologist. Dead kangaroos.
Veena Sahajwalla Engineer
Lesley Hughes Ecologist
Will Steffen Industrial Chemist
Roger Beale public service administrator
Gerry Hueston. Businessman, head of BP
Spot the “Climate Scientist” here.
When you have 1,600 people, professional meteorologists and a $300Million budget in the Bureau of Meterology, so why did the government appoint such utterly inappropriate people to advise them on Climate?
The quick answer? In the wacky science of Climate Change, career meterologists know nothing about the climate, which it seems has nothing to do with the weather. You learn something new every day.
522
Would John Zillman have been any better?
I doubt it. He was part of the climate cabal.
20
Wikipedia – the reference that’s never wrong. 😉
And meteorological pigs fly, irrespective of a lack of airfoil.
Tin foil? Well that’s another matter entirely.
50
At the Madrid Conference of 1995 where Ben Santer under instructions from it is assumed probably Houghton and some months after the 1995 Madrid conference was over in the minutes of the Confernce that was distrubted to the various delegations shifted the basic and agreed definition of the science of the climate definition drawn up at from the Madrid conference from ;
(Nevertheless) the balance of evidence (now) suggests an appreciable human influence on global climate.
To;
‘Nevertheless the balance of evidence suggests that there is discernible human influence on global climate.’
From a maybe “global warming” now “climate change” when the warming failed to follow the dictates of the climate models and climate modellers , Santer’s alteration to the wording of that crucial Madrid agreed definition was a firm denouement that there was a definite and “discernable human influence on the global climate”.
We are of course today still awaiting the a provable unveiling of that firm and discernible human influence on the climate some 23 years after Santer changed the conclusion of the 1995 Madrid Conference.\
Santer as a young researchr had found the key to that proving that “discernible human influence on the climate” with his research saying that the finding of a [ the] “hot spot” above the equator in the lower strtosphere would be a definite sign that human influenced warming of the planet was taking place.
As we know , no such equatorial hot spot has ever been located or identified despite millions being spent to try nand identify and locate it in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
-=———-
John Zillman as the director of the BOM at the 1995 Madrid Conference tried his best to keep the newly formed IPCC’s research on the climate strictly following scientific protocols and methods.
It was not to be;
The following quote is taken from Berniels account of the 1995 Madrid conference in which with Santer’s alterations to the conclusions of the conference changing those conclusions from a maybe “appreciable human influence on the climate to a definite ” balance of evidence suggests that there is a human influence on the climate” , a change that lies at the heart of all of the troubles including the imposition of renewable energy, the deliberate destruction of operating coalfired generators and the consequent rapid increases in costs of power and loss of reliability plus the social consequences for those in the lowest income groups.
The totaly furtile expenditure of a probable trilliondollars plus over the last two decades on climate related and psuedo climate related research and politically and environmental NGO efforts to supposedly limit climate change effects on the planet.
All spent and done with Zero measureable effects, outcomes and influences on any scale for all the three decade long life of the supposed catastrophic global warming.
On Zillman at the 1995 Madrid Confeernce quoted from Berniels multi part ; Madrid 1995: The Last Day of Climate Science
\\
60
All good Rom.
However, he never stood up.
He never publicly spoke out. And, to my knowledge, since his retirement that statement holds.
He never advised the government of the day of that which you post. He never advised the Australian government to pull out. To make a stand. Never.
Where is John Zillman now?
Let him state where he stands now on the things that he never spoke out about.
No. John Zillman, for all the fine words that you reference, never once spoke out publicly about the the unscientific babble that Flannery and Co where uttering.
Fence sitter at best.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/one-of-australias-oldest-meteorologists-john-zillman-talks-on-climate-science-then-and-now-20151127-gl9g72.html
40
TdeF, even Climate Scientists are, in the main, little more than Environmental Awareness Commentators.
The ideal climate change scientist would need university level study in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Orbital Mechanics of the Solar system and an understanding of Mass, Heat and Momentum transfer.
Having said that, the very simple assessment of CO2 in the atmosphere says that the idea of it being something dangerous in terms of it’s heat retention properties is a complete nonsense and like something out of a scarey novel from the 1800s.
The whole thing is Farcical, but still we must give credit to those who invented the scam.
KK
352
Credit is not what they want. Cash is.
281
KK,
Talking about CO2, I had to have a bit of a chuckle (in a very serious situation),
when one of the people fleeing the fires in Greece said that he was fleeing to the sea
to escape from the CO2…
So, Tim has probably been doing a “good job”…..Not…
130
That’s a good one.
40
Flannery explains it all. What I have read of Tim Flannery is like looking into a bottomless well in the dark. Not only is there nothing down there, you can’t see it if it was there. The darkness prevails like the inside of a limestone cave where once there was something but now it’s all hollow and dripping wet to boot. Carrying in all the lights you can get won’t show you what should have been there but you know from objective knowledge of geology that it was just more limestone like the stalactites and their partner stalagmites, mute evidence of the only thing that goes on in the dark.
Drip, drip, drip…and drip.
40
Any bats are squatters in this nomansland of darkness.
And I suspect a few inhabit the choicest belfries around academia and scienceland in general. But they know nothing of the original content of either one.
Squat, squat, squat…and squat.
30
It may be a ratings turnoff for some areas of the media but when I’m driving and hit a tripple J type station, the bombardment about unreliable, dirty, expensive Coal can be extreme.
It is still an important rally point for politics so don’t expect it to go away in a hurry.
KK
241
Did a short interview with a lady from JJJ at a patriot gathering last year, she challenged me to prove my claim of their hard left bias so I started on about how nice Tony Abbott really is despite the poor character portrayed by the media, she became enraged visibly shaking then said she didn’t want me to talk to her again.
Yonnie tip to wannabe journalists: If YOU approach someone to interview YOU have invited the discussion not THEM, you must also act like a grown up and listen to THEIR opinions despite YOUR personal beliefs.
430
‘….became enraged visibly shaking…’
A clear sign of an AGW zealot, there is a lot of it about.
201
Your comments may have been edited anyhow but her very open reaction says it all.
Do not contradict the received word.
KK
160
I’ve seen some funny and somewhat frightening responses. Glaring hate-filled eyes;astonishment. What is it about saving this Planet that evokes such behavior? But I will say that not one of hundreds I havespoken to have any idea about the subject.Clueless,but obedient.
130
‘Glaring hate-filled eyes’, we have encountered that, also the others who just stare open-mouthed that someone might hold an opinion different from their ABC and Fauxfacts.
102
A couple of Christmasses ago I was helping my son-in-law (from an academic family) BBQ the lunch. I commented how sad it was that Greenpeace was promulgating the story that Santa would not be around that year as all the snow had melted at the North Pole. He glared at me and said “well, something has to be done about the polution!” Astonished I asked what pollution he was talking about and he threw down the BBQ tools and walked away saying “I don’t want to talk about it”. Typical of Group Think, I’m afraid.
120
so your food never got cooked?
50
Peter, being an adult, probably continued to cook the Christmas lunch. His extended family no doubt enjoyed their Christmas lunch.
As for the huffing and puffing climate alarmist, I don’t know.
50
I have a neighbour who recently moved here. Being of similar age, we began chatting and having the occasional drink on my veranda at the end of the day. It was all very pleasant and convivial at first.
She coped when it became obvious that I was right wing and she was a leftie. She choked somewhat when I said I was a Trump supporter.
However, the final straw came when I disagreed with the Coles/Woolies decision to ban those flimsy plastic bags.
She no longer talks to me. Apparently, I’m destroying the planet.
50
It seems to me that there is not only TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) but also quite a lot of ADS (Abbott Derangement Syndrome) about too. I’ve encountered it a few times.
141
Should have throw Trump in as well, she probabely would have had a stroke.
81
KK,
Climate change has taken on a life of it’s own and will haunt us for uncountable years. It’s even showing up in TV and I suppose movies too. Right now it may be just honorable mention, at least most of the time. But soon enough serious plots and characters will be dragging us through all the disasters imaginable all the time. Such goes the world of bad ideas.
Who knows how many people will take it as seriously as a school shooting threat or any natural disaster? Far too many I think.
Bored or not the subject is beginning to be shoved in my face and I don’t know what I can do about it.
40
Yesterday, I shared Jo’s post about electricity prices to my personal farce book page. I made no political comment, kept it totally neutral. It’s been seen by plenty, yet so far there’s not one like or any other response. It was an experiment to see what reaction it might elicit. Nobody, even among my close friends who agree that CAGW is a total scam and that government policies themselves are what’s driving prices through the roof, has been bold enough to respond in a public way. Sad.
10
maybe, like I’d expect most people, they found it a bit boring.
10
In a brick and mortar church, a boring preacher does not last long. They last much longer in Media – but not forever, let’s hope.
110
Politicians dare not mention it. It’s like gun control. The kiss of death. This does, however, create a problem for vetting politicians during elections. For example, in my state we have 16 Republicans running for governor. All but one quietly support renewables and climate action policies. I am seeing a lot of greenies pretending to be Republicans this election cycle.
280
The political left is deathly afraid that if word gets out about how absolutely and incontrovertibly wrong they are about climate science, many of their other emotionally supported positions are at risk as well.
291
But the subject lives on nevertheless.
40
Dave in the States, we have a similar problem. A Leftist Green PM who is a member of what used to be a conservative party (Liberals) which he totally stacked with other Green Leftists. Unlike you however, we don’t have a Donald Trump to “drain the swamp”.
220
So true. Here in Australia we not only have one Obama-like leader we have two. It’s hard to imagine how we will avoid the economic and social disasters that are heading our way.
210
We won’t avoid them.
I say bring them on. The sooner the better.
Then the useful idiots will finally get their comeuppance.
And, the sooner we can get back on track.
50
I’m afraid you are probably right on the first half. I’m not so sure about the last bit – once a nation crashes and burns it can take a very long time to recover if at all.
30
“… the audience is switching off …” – nobody told the BBC. There’s even going to be a news special on the heat wave/climate change this evening.
132
That’s the funny thing, in Moscow the heavy snows come, ice covered roads and nothing stops. In London everything stops with just a sprinkle. Then every summer the train lines buckle, the tar melts, the rain stops.
It’s almost like Australia, our land of “droughts and flooding rains”. We are now not allowed build dams or flood mitigation and our governments are perpetually surprised at the next drought, flood or bushfire. Obviously Climate Change.
A friend in the 1970s left London after three days of 98F. It would hardly be noticed in Paris, Rome or Madrid. I even remember days in Moscow at 37C at night. It was the weather. -40C in winter too.
Windless summer days and a continental climate can be hot. Just like Adelaide. No wind when they desperately need it. That’s the climate.
The fact that they are not yelling Climate Change yet means they all know it too.
It’s just the weather. All caused by motor cars apparently.
262
So the answer? Carbon tax or the new one, ’emissions intensity’ fines for ‘big polluters’. Nothing whatsoever to fix the problems created by the government and only by the government.
More cash from the people, cash to build a $12Billion battery which won’t work, hasn’t been costed and will prove a monument to the richest Prime Minister since Kevin Rudd. Rich and Thick, like the sauce.
211
Just like if grabbermint want more revenue from fines, either make existing legislation harder to comply with (ex-Melbourne mayor Robert Doyle lamented people not flouting parking rules so changed them to increase revenue) or place more legislation in the criminal jurisdiction, making for more “criminals” and therefore easier to say more crime is happening so invent even more legislation on that basis.
As we’ve seen, using the words “climate change” is almost a licence to do anything against us for zero benefit and without proof.
90
At least the sauce is not toxic …
10
On cue, the Telegraph. “If you live near an elderly person, don’t pop round or they will tell you all about 1976”. I already have.
171
At least there is nobody left who would bring up the hottest summer in England – 1846.
Let’s see now:
Hottest summer 1846…………….CO2 less than 285ppm.
Second hottest summer 1976….CO2 332ppm
third? hottest summer 2018…….CO2 410ppm – 2003 may have been slightly warmer.
THERE ‘proof’ that CO2 causes cooling!
Except in Trolls who will get very hot with red thumbs about this.
221
Brilliant Matt cartoon, as ever. I love Matt! Nail on head, often in multiple ways at in the same one, every day. 🙂
41
My parents would tell you how they came to Cyprus that summer, to cool off!
41
Extract from “Royal Charter for the Continuance of its British
Broadcasting Corporation.”
…”5. The BBC’s Mission:
The Mission of the BBC is to act in the public interest, serving
all audiences through the provision of impartial, high quality
and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and
entertain.
6.The Public Purposes:
The Public Purposes of the BBC are as follows.(1) To provide
impartial news and information to help people understand and
engage with the world around them:the BBC should provide duly
accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual
programming to build people’s understanding of all parts of
the United Kingdom and of the wider world. Its content should
be provided to the highest editorial standards.It should offer
a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available
from other United Kingdom news providers,using the highest calibre
presenters and journalists,and championing freedom of expression,
so that all audiences can engage fully with major local, regional,
national, United Kingdom and global issues and participate in the
democratic process, at all levels, as active and informed citizens.”
50
Well, that’s the theory anyway! The way things are, I season everything BBC with a ton of salt, on the very rare occasions I watch anything from it. The ABC I’ve given up as a lost cause. It’s a great pity as the BBC and ABC used to produce some very good programmes (yes, I’m irredeemably English on most spellings, sorry, my American friends!).
40
‘Impartial, that means postponing a conclusion prior to all sides
being heard, all data being considered.
‘Range and depth of analysis,’ditto. Hearing all sides of a discussion
or debate, not presenting only those sci papers, political analysis of
yer designated consensus.
‘Freedom of expression,’ that means eschewing academy-safe-places,
political-correctness,fi-fi! No constraints on free speech.
60
Ah, I thought you were talking about the Beeb but I see you aren’t 🙂
Have you noticed: Climate Change only occurs in Summer?
All winter weather is just seasonal variability despite loss of spring, and record lowest temperatures…
Some times the weather is nice and winter is almost tepid. But even that is not comment worthy. But every warm period is a “heatwave” even when temperatures are not extreme (as officially described). Come summer however and there are ambulance chasers everywhere!
40
Guess I needed to add, ‘Fail on 3 counts, BBC.’…
In olden days what would have been the consequences,
would heads have rolled? )
40
… I don’t know about summary `executions’ (dismissals) but horizontal “promotions” might have been plentiful.
30
Ratings failure?
I fully authorise my ABC to run back to back climate agitprop.
90
When you keep on crying wolf and nothing really changes what do you expect? Apart from the zealots, most of the populace just yawn.
60
We’ve had nearly thirty years of being told about tipping points and how we have only this year before the world goes to some hot bad place at once. In that nearly thirty years, nothing has happened!
-the sea hasn’t flooded the countryside
-the cities haven’t melted
-trees still flower
-birds still nest and raise their young
-all the beaches look just as they always have.
And, as you say, these dopey journos wonder why every time they do cry “Wolf!” nobody pays them attention.
Don’t Aesop’s Fables have any currency any more?
50
60% of television “news” is based on fear. When there’s no fear, there’s no “news”. The NGO’s are already moving on to their next quest: plastic straws and plastic waste. It looks like global warming is getting kicked to the curb. Here’s my prediction: By 2030, there’ll still be government departments in existence dedicated to Climate Change trying to stay relevant with environmental studies and umbrella working groups.
191
Relevance seems guaranteed in California when someone who is HIV+ve and does not inform a partner or transfusion venue of the fact has, as I understand it, been down graded to ‘misdemeanour’. On the other hand, the use of plastic straws is a felony that may be accompanied by 6 months jail per straw.
Background: Expert consensus statement on the science of HIV in the context of criminal law. Barre-Sinoussi F et al. Journal of the International AIDS Society 2018, 21:e25161 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jia2.25161/full | https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.25161
90
I’ve been told that San Francisco has laws against plastic straws, which is hard to understand because plastic straws can be used to solve a real San Francisco environmental problem by sucking up the human waste in its gutters.
30
What would happen if I supplied my own plastic straw?
40
…plastic straws and plastic waste…..umbrella working groups…
Can we assume that’s those little plastic umbrellas, then?
;¬)
30
If we aren’t afraid then we dont need anyone to save us. Then we might start noticing useless or self serving legislation being passed. That would never do.
40
I laughed or perhaps should have wept over the unintentional irony residing in the juxtaposition of headline and institutional eponym,
“The Guardian’, Independent’, The Telegraph’.
How quaint.
50
In the immortal words of Colonel Nathan R Jessup, which were clearly intended for the MSM and other proponents of AGW and not Lieutenant Daniel Caffey, “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”
70
TRUTH does not sell newspapers.
That means, if you read it in a newspaper, treat it with extreme caution. If you believe it, the risk is yours.
40
Breaking Nooze
‘Three directors of a Great Barrier Reef charity entrusted with almost half a billion dollars in public money have refused to give evidence to a Senate inquiry scrutinising the controversial deal, raising the prospect they will be forced to appear.
‘Confidential Senate committee documents seen by Fairfax Media show that despite being offered five dates at which to attend the inquiry, the directors of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation say they are unavailable for questioning, variously citing overseas travel commitments, medical appointments, board meetings and other unspecified engagements.’
SMH
100
“. . . details of the deal show the foundation will receive almost $45 million to cover administration costs incurred by disbursing the funds”.
Hmmm.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/leaked-documents-show-reef-charity-directors-unavailable-for-senate-scrutiny-20180726-p4ztr9.html
60
Good grief! We’ve definitely been in the wrong business all our lives.
41
Exactly. We should be charging administration fees for dealing with the cheques we receive from Big Oil. It’s such a hassle.
30
If you can spot the rush in time Annie … DUCK!
30
In the US, our current President has the leftists
so angry and confused and berserk
that climate change warnings
are boring in comparison.
The climate stories are just wild speculation
but they have not been scary enough !
A recent “climate” article claimed climate change
is causing more suicides — junk science, of course,
but that was attention grabbing.
I think the warmunists just need to ramp up
their “scary campfire stories”, and make them
more personal.
My sirst uggestion is a “study”
by a PhD, any PhD, claiming that
climate change is shrinking man’s
‘favorite organ’ — that should scare
at least half the population
about climate change.
I can only wonder why such a study
has not already been published.
Another scary “study” would be
claiming that climate change
is making women wider —
that should scare the other half
of the population.
Everybody is bored only because
most of the current climate fairy tales
are not scary enough
and are not really personal.
I hate to give advice to the
global warmunists but their
“science fiction” articles
and “studies”
need improvement.
My climate change blog
provides evidence to refute
the coming climate crisis
(that will never come):
http://www.elOnionBloggle.Blogspot.com
Sorry there are no articles there
to scare people about climate change
because real science tells us
CO2 is greening the Earth,
and that’s good news.
151
Richard, which half of the population is scared most by “climate change shrinking man’s favorite organ?”
40
There were 33 genders recognized in the 2016 Australian sex survey. It’s politically incorrect for you to split the population only in halves.
100
A whole 33 eh? It would have cost zero money if they just surveyed their birth certificates. This country is so seriously off the rails kowtowing to this LGB-alphabet nonsense. Maybe they’ll recognise my gender as Martian?
51
Done!
34.
50
In the last census i identified as a transexual aboriginal Jedi worshipper. I like to do my bit.
30
What by shrinking a Glatter-Götz/Rosales?
I’d be more worried about the flute.
10
That’d be the Big ender gender.
20
Nice blog, Richard. Thanks, I will use some of those charts.
Peter
30
Richard, you will just have to tell Gavin to change his diet.
Whatever he’s eating or not eating is not warming the world fast enough.
20
A chance to nag on my fave subject! I’m as passionate as Timmy about climate change, but my climate change is not Donkey Kong Climate Change, played with “forcing” buttons. It’s stuff that actually happens. Not according to me but to, er, science.
The most important things we can gather from science about climate are that it has always changed, fast and a lot, that periods of relatively even climate are rare, that truly even climate does not exist, that there is nothing remarkable about our present brief interglacial as compared to previous ones and that our present warm mode is not even remarkable compared to others in the last ten thousand years.
We are not as warm now as eight thousand years ago, sea levels are not as high. We were not as warm eight thousand years ago as in the Eeemian and Holsteinian peaks not long before in the Quaternary period. Once your interglacial is over expect to wait another hundred and twenty thousand years, more or less, if you want to grow grains in Canada or Europe. (Better bring a paperback or two while you wait.)
A mere twelve thousand years back we had a small-to-medium ice age and a mere twenty thousand years back we were full glaciation. We’ll go there again. There is no Gaia, the Earth is not your mummy. Don’t waste or wreck, but don’t fuss either. Ice will soon bury solar panel and coal pile alike.
If the jet stream is doing things to make England hot, weather is cold somewhere else (like the mid-coast of NSW). So just go down to the beach while you can, don’t watch beat-ups on the BBC (which means don’t watch anything on the BBC) and don’t fret if you get a UK winter like 2009-10. It too shall pass.
As for the Great Unspoken, the end of the Holocene…hope to get lucky.
122
Miri it is while sumer ilast… The Medieval experience.
v=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UvesKl8_W8
30
Try again so you can sing aling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UvesKl8_W8
20
Nice, my serf. Very miri. Get your sumer while you can.
Not like me to quote a modern, but…
October is marigold, and yet
A glass half full of wine left out
To the dark heaven all night, by dawn
Has dreamed a premonition
Of ice across its eye as if
The ice-age had begun its heave.
The lawn overtrodden and strewn
From the night before, and the whistling green
Shrubbery are doomed. Ice
Has got its spearhead into place.
First a skin, delicately here
Restraining a ripple from the air;
Soon plate and rivet on pond and brook;
Then tons of chain and massive lock
To hold rivers. Then, sound by sight
Will Mammoth and Sabre-tooth celebrate
Reunion while a fist of cold
Squeezes the fire at the core of the world,
Squeezes the fire at the core of the heart,
And now it is about to start.
Some versions of Ted Hughes’ October Dawn have “plate and river” not “plate and rivet”. I like rivet. It’s all just enjoyable nonsense anyway, even though there are probably shelves full of essays and theses about the nonsense. So rivet it is.
20
It’s a premonition alright. Lovely poetry.
‘First a skin, delicately here
Restraining a ripple from the air;
Soon plate and rivet on pond and brook;
Then tons of chain and massive lock
To hold rivers. ‘
The Iceman cometh. Be warned, ye Inter-Glacial de-nigh-ers.
20
It’s inevitable the people will turn off from the climate change mantra not only because it’s boring and slowly becoming evident to all it’s a scam but also because people are starting to become more worried about real issues, such as the cost of living, crime, and incompetence in business and government impacting people’s lives. We have a some way to go but a major man-made change is coming soon, and it ain’t the climate. I see a bloody battle between the group thinkers of the world who hate the West and want to destroy it (leftists) and critical thinkers who believe in the freedom of individuality and the pursuit of excellence in a responsible and noble way.
100
Most of the wealth is only in a few hands and the people want to see change.
‘A 2011 study found that US citizens across the political spectrum dramatically underestimate the current US wealth inequality and would prefer a far more egalitarian distribution of wealth.’ wiki
21
I have watched a few episodes of the TV show Madam Secretary. The episode last week was particularly cringe worthy. It continually references climate change and the dire consequences. There are some clips on this link:
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/lindsay-kornick/2018/04/30/madam-secretary-climate-change-existential-threat-our-time
I note the series has falling ratings and it is not difficult to see why.
40
Yes, there were some of the usual tropes about ‘climate change'(™) but there was also promotion of nuclear power.
10
President Trump hit a home run when he declared: “You are fake news.”
I believe that the public has switched off from most public and government analysis – which is why TV news lead stories are invariably about killings, riots, accidents, or lovely animal stories.
They are believed, whereas a story from a goverment body (the ESB to be precise) saying wholesale electricity prices will drop from $85/MWhr to $50/MWhr in 20/21, back to where they were before Hazelwood closed, and we will all save $300 per year off our electricity bills, is treated with disbelief. A 15 month study by the ACCC with recommendations to reduce our electricity bills is quickly disregarded without debate. And the fact that COAG will meet in August to see if they can agree on policies that will set the competitiveness of Australia’s energy markets for the next twenty years is ignored, without debate. All we get is quotes: “It’s not enough”. “It’s too much.” “I haven’t read it but I’m against it.”
Meanwhile on the global stage, the IPCC continues: Following the decision of the panel at its 43rd Session to accept the invitation from the UNFCCC, at its 44th Session, the Panel approved the outline of Global Warming of 1.5 °C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.
The report will be finalized in October 2018. The IPCC has recently circulated the Final Draft of the report to governments, with a request for comments on the Summary for Policymakers. You learn something new every day – I didn’t know that the IPCC was focused on efforts to eradicate poverty. I have a suggestion for them – reliable low cost electricity for all.
100
Pretty much the whole world excluding Australia has not only received that message about how to achieve low cost power they are acting on it by building hundreds and hundreds of coal fired power stations that will go a long way to keep reducing poverty. Meanwhile here in Australia we are going the opposite way. Poverty is on the increase, partly because of higher power prices to the consumer. Then again what else does one expect from left-leaning leaders like Turnbull and Shorten who continue to get the support of the vast majority of the people?
80
Super Saturday should give us a glimpse of what the vast majority think.
90
It ought to. Given both major parties are on the nose, a minor party if available should win the seat by a landslide. I doubt that will happen but it should if people really wanted to sent a message to both major parties. Otherwise, it’s more evidence that the people are still asleep, don’t give a damn, fools, etc., etc..
20
We have discussed this on numerous occasions, the people are not stupid.
What if the Fairfax/Channel 9 merger produced something unique. Fairfax is centre left and Nine is centre right, this could produce a debate.
10
I didn’t say people were stupid. Fools, etc. yes. In any case let’s wait and see if people are stupid as well.
20
They say Longman is a litmus test and ‘pollsters are expecting a strong vote for minor parties and independents.’ ABC
There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the majors, which should show up tomorrow.
60
I’ve been hearing the same thing for over a year now – that there’s a lot of dissatisfaction with the majors. The trouble so far it hasn’t really all translated to the ballot boxes – yet. Let’s wait and see if it finally happens, if not this weekend then at the next federal election. If not then we can kiss goodbye to the Australia we now know.
40
My intuition on Longman is that there will be a marked protest vote away from the majors, but this won’t necessarily be repeated at next year’s federal election.
If Labor doesn’t win a seat at these byelections then Bill’s days are numbered.
20
I think at least half the population is quite stupid. The other half have useful intelligence dont uniformly apply it well. The group of people who are not stupid and can think rationally are a minority.
20
IPCC is run by the UN as a purely political body. The UN itself is a consortium of powerless third world countries, mostly military dictatorships or greedy opportunists. Real power is only in the nuclear club, the Security Council.
Consider Christiana Figueres head of the IPCC from Costa Rica, run first by her Father, the first President and her President brother and friends. The UN is their family playground so when they talk poverty, whose poverty?
Really, who wants to be president of a third world country? As head of the IPCC at least she openly says the IPCC has nothing to do with Climate. It is about Wealth re distribution. The Figueres want more. This is nepotism dressed up as socialism dressed up as environmentalism.
It’s something like the Gaza strip, the country with the highest per capita aid in the world! A country where they declare they determined to spend every last dollar attacking their neighbour, not improving the lives of their people. Compare it with prosperous Jordan, another barren country with three times the population of refugees from the same places.
This is a choice people make. Demand handouts or get to work. Jordan has BMWs in the driveway of new homes. In Gaza they fire rockets from hospitals and schools.
Climate Change is not real, it is a fake excuse to demand money from others. None of it is even slightly true. Such climate changes as happen are purely natural, generally cyclical. Even our publicly funded CSIRO spent 3,500 man years at PhD level trying to prove man made Climate Change was real in Australia. They failed. What should that tell us?
Also in the Spectator this month, they bemoan the fact that engineers no longer make the engineering decisions in areas like electricity. Rich bankers and lawyers and unqualified bureaucrats do. You would not trust a lawyer to fix your car. No wonder electricity is a shocking mess. The only certainty is that our money is making others rich. That was always the idea.
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Don’t nod off just yet.
We snooze, we lose!
U.N. chief warns staff, member states: We’re running out of cash
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned staff that the world body is running out of cash and urged member states to pay what they owe as soon as possible, according to letters seen by Reuters on Thursday.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-budget/u-n-chief-warns-staff-member-states-were-running-out-of-cash-idUSKBN1KG2OR?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5b5a1c8c04d301102be58360&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
Pay what we “owe”.
Owe for what?
What has the UN done for Australia that we “owe” them money?
When saving the planet from bad weather, one doesn’t want to be seen scrimping …
Bonn, 2017: “The country is setting aside part of the 117 million euro ($136.3 million) budget for a fleet of bicycles and electric buses to ferry people between venues.”
The U.N. wants to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022 and says more than 60 countries have so far taken steps to ban or reduce plastic consumption.
> All rather pointless banning plastic by 2022 when the new UN doomsday goal post is 2020:
June 2017: We Only Have 3 Years Left to Prevent a Climate Disaster, Scientists Warn
http://time.com/4839039/climate-change-christiana-figueres-g20/
… or was that 5 years …
https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/27410-crying-wolf-again-un-chief-warns-global-warming-is-the-defining-threat-of-our-time
> Green Climate Fund has distributed only 4% of the $3.7 billion it claims to have collected.
Article fails to describe a single actual accomplishment.
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/03/29/climate-fund-trump-attacked-succeed-says-chief/
Did I mention assault?
Charity sex scandal: UN staff ‘responsible for 60,000 rapes in a decade’
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/un-staff-responsible-for-60-000-rapes-in-a-decade-c627rx239
Sexual harassment at UN talks weakens the fight against climate change
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/11/29/sexual-harassment-un-talks-weakens-fight-climate-change/
Australia shouldn’t give another cent to the UN.
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THE PRAYING MANTIS will acquiesce no doubt while sipping her Fume Blanc.
40
I don’t know how the ABC gets any ratings with some of the drivel they broadcast.
In the middle of their main nightly TV news they had a long story about
a 23 year old ecology graduate suing his super fund because
“They haven’t given any real information and they haven’t supplied any real strategy or plan that they have for climate change and the risks involved”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-25/super-fund-rest-sued-for-not-doing-enough-on-climate-change/10029744
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Their ABC don’t need ratings. It’s Australia’s Pravda. I hope the ecology graduate leans the hard and fast lesson that one should read the contract before signing. What a noob.
41
Heard about the UK heatwave? Me too. Heard lots? Me too. Even Stockholm is cooking.
Heard about this? https://www.ilmeteo.it/notizie/meteo-cronaca-diretta-video-eccezionale-neve-in-atto-sulla-marmolada-in-cuore-piena-estate/amp
Me neither.
You see, hot somewhere often means cold somewhere else. This weird phenomenon is called, by its technical name, “stuff that actually happens all the time unobserved by dills and unreported by shills”. For example…
https://www.ilmeteo.it/notizie/previsioni-meteo-scandinavia-anticiclone-non-lascia-raddoppia-follie-meteo-conseguenze-italia/amp
Abbasso la Goccia Verde! (Fight Green Blob.)
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sadly, draining the swamp is still just a work in progress (hopefully):
24 Jul: CFact: The U.S. government is still the UN’s top climate alarmist
by David Wojick, Ph.D
President Trump and Energy Secretary Perry are both vocal skeptics of climate change alarmism, but the US Energy Department is still running one of the top drivers of alarmist science for the United Nations. This engine of alarmism is obscurely named the Climate Model Intercomparison Project or CMIP. Climate change alarmism is based entirely on computer modeling and CMIP is where the core modeling comes from…
What the Energy Department does first is to coordinate and oversee all of this modeling activity. The CMIP office at DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the nerve center for all of UN CMIP. It is there that the modeling centers get their instructions and where they deliver their results for IPCC use.
This coordination work is paid for by the US, not the UN, as is the extensive modeling work done by the various US CMIP agencies and their laboratories. This US work involves numerous computer models, funded mostly by DOE, NSF, NOAA and NASA. No figures are available for the cost of all this work, but it must be many millions of dollars. Most of the climate models run on expensive supercomputers. So not only is the Trump Administration supporting climate alarmism via UN CMIP, they are paying heavily for the privilege…
In other words, the U.S. government and especially the Energy Department are responsible for a great deal of the IPCC alarmist climate modeling. We may have stopped funding the IPCC but we are still doing a lot of their work.
Even worse, this free work is the mainstay of climate change alarmism. Alarmism is based entirely on rigged computer modeling and the Trump Administration is doing a lot of that modeling, plus coordinating much of the rest.
We need to stop doing the UN’s climate change dirty work. We need to terminate our role in CMIP.
http://www.cfact.org/2018/07/24/the-u-s-government-is-still-the-uns-top-climate-alarmist/
20
behind paywall at The Australian:
27 Jul: Medium.com: We’re willing to sink energy deal, Hanson and Leyonhjelm warn PM
by Ben Packham, The Australian
Key Senate crossbenchers Pauline Hanson and David Leyonhjelm have warned Malcolm Turnbull they could sink his national energy guarantee if he is forced to rely on independent support to secure his signature energy reform.
The One Nation Leader said yesterday she was “strongly against” the NEG, and wanted to pull out of the Paris climate deal that required Australia to cut 2005-level emissions by 26 per cent.
“Why should we comply with the UN Paris agreement when major Paris signatories refuse to comply and we sell them our coal?” Senator Hanson told The Australian from a cruise ship off Ireland. “What we need is cheap, reliable electricity and to harness our natural supply of high-quality coal in new low-emissions, coal-fired power stations.”
Senator Hanson, who controls two Senate votes, said government policies favouring renewable energy had made it almost impossible to secure financing for new coal-fired power stations, which she said would deliver cheaper power.
Senator Leyonhjelm, the Liberal Democrat, said he wanted to see evidence the NEG would dramatically lower power prices before he would back the deal.
They need to fall by at least 50 per cent to restore competitiveness and take pressure off households,” he said.
“I’ll be looking for additional initiatives that achieve such a cut.”
Senator Leyonhjelm, who has also called for Australia to renege on its Paris commitment, said cutting assistance for rooftop solar, as recommended by the competition watchdog, would be “a good start”…
The NEG had united backing from the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Continuing to play politics is not an option,” said BCA president Grant King. Ai Group CEO Innes Willox said it was essential to “give industry the predictability and the framework it needs” to make long-term investment decisions…
https://medium.com/leyonhjelm/were-willing-to-sink-energy-deal-hanson-and-leyonhjelm-warn-pm-63d26e9742fa
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26 Jul: ClimateChangeNews: How the UK media changed its tune on climate change
After a month-long heatwave, British journalists are making the connection with global warming more confidently and clearly than in years past
By Soila Apparicio
BBC science editor David Shukman brought attention to the issue on Monday night’s news. “We can never say that a particular weather event like this heatwave is just because of global warming,” said Shukman in the news report (LINK). “What you can say, what the science allows you to say, is that the world is warming, that makes certain things more likely.”
As the national broadcaster, the BBC reaches a lot of people. “As far as the public is concerned the BBC is the number one source of information on climate change,” said Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and former BBC science and environment correspondent.
“With this heatwave the questioning has started a little bit earlier than it has done in previous years. One of the reasons is that this heatwave covers a pretty large area,” added Black…
Carbon Brief, which monitored the heatwave’s media reaction (LINK), noticed the abrupt surge in climate change coverage. “It’s noticeable that the UK media was being hesitant about mentioning climate change. There just didn’t seem to be any media coverage,” said editor Leo Hickman.
Once it arrived, though, he said the coverage reflected the scientific consensus better than it used to. “[It] has lacked that false balance we used to see five or ten years ago,” said Hickman, referring to the practice of giving equal airtime to scientists and sceptics. “All of the doubting is being left to the op-ed columns.”…
And yes, some columnists did lash out at the newfound climate confidence. Christopher Booker wrote in the Daily Mail (LINK) the UK will have “abnormally hot summers from time to time, just as we did in 1976 and 1846, way back before global warming was invented” and Rod Liddle dismissed the Met Office forecasters as “tiresome drongos” in the Sun (LINK)…
But on the news pages and in TV studios, there was greater readiness to make a connection between the sweltering weather and global warming trends.
Chris Hope, a climate change policy researcher at Cambridge University, who appeared on BBC Newsnight on Tuesday, has noticed a slight shift when being interviewed. The link between extreme weather events and climate change has become more accepted, he told Climate Home News. “You don’t have to start off by trying to prove that link.”…
***(NEWSNIGHT VIDEO DOESN’T WORK FOR ME)
Feeling the heat themselves can switch people on to a wider discussion about climate change, added Hope. “It’s always likely to be true that these kinds of stories come about when there is a link in the outside world, when audiences are more likely to be receptive to it.”
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/07/26/uk-media-changed-tune-climate-change/
***COMMENT #16 on Jo’s “Turn off all wind” thread has full working youtube of Newsnight segment, plus other info.
20
26 Jul: ClimateChangeNews: EU relaxes climate stance in trade sop to Trump
Tough words on the Paris Agreement took a back seat as Jean-Claude Juncker sought protection for Europe’s car industry
By Megan Darby
The European Commission abandoned its customary climate hard talk in a bid to defuse trade tensions with the US on Wednesday…
There was no mention of upholding the Paris climate deal or environmental protections. Instead, it called for more trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US to the EU.
That’s a break from recent EU rhetoric. Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström tweeted in February that reference to Paris was essential to any EU trade deal – and the pact finalised with Japan last week duly included a Paris clause…
“[Juncker’s] clear priority was to de-escalate the trade dispute with the US and to some extent that has been achieved for now,” said Jonathan Gaventa, director at European think-tank E3G.
“To do that the commission has diverged from its own line about the importance of the Paris Agreement and environmental standards in trade deals… That for us is a cause for concern.”…
Fabian Flues, trade campaigner at Friends of the Earth, which is anti-TTIP, said the decision to reopen talks on standards was “very worrying”. He said: “That is potentially opening up a Pandora’s box of industry lobbying, of getting rid of a whole load of European environmental regulations.”
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/07/26/eu-relaxes-climate-stance-trade-sop-trump/
00
25 Jul: ClimateChangeNews: Australia energy plan may breach Paris climate commitments
Government says it will lock in electricity emissions targets until 2024, undermining an international commitment to revisit its Paris target in 2023.
By Karl Mathiesen
Erwin Jackson, a senior climate and energy advisor at NGO Environment Victoria, said locking electricity emissions until 2024 would undermine Australia’s standing in climate talks.
“They can’t negotiate in good faith any more because they can’t change the target,” said Jackson. “That completely ignores the commitment to revisit the target in 2023”…
Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, said the 2024 review date “completely contradicts” Australia’s Paris undertaking…
But critics said that the electricity sector needs to make larger cuts than other sectors, such as agriculture, if Australia is to meet its Paris target.
Matt Grudnoff, senior economist at the Australia Institute, authored an analysis this week on the impact of a 26% cut in farming emissions. “This approach imposes significant costs on agriculture and other sectors that do not have the existing commercially available technologies for emissions reduction that the electricity sector currently enjoys,” he said.
“It is inconceivable that other sectors will reduce emissions along the same lines,” said Hare. “It’s actually a de facto undermining of its own NDC.”…
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/07/25/australia-energy-plan-may-breach-paris-climate-commitments/
20
novel length, zillions of links:
26 Jul: CarbonBrief: Media reaction: The 2018 summer heatwaves and climate change
by Daisy Dunne & Robert McSweeney
This year’s northern-hemisphere summer has seen a succession of heatwaves take hold in Europe, Asia, North America and northern Africa.
From heatwave deaths in Japan, Algeria and Canada, to wildfires in Sweden, Greece and California, the extended spells of hot, dry weather have become frontpage news around the world.
Carbon Brief looks back at how the media has reported the extreme weather and how the coverage has – or has not – referenced climate change.
The summary below is split into five sections…
FINAL SENTENCE: Reacting to the column, Dr Gareth Jones, an attribution scientist at the Met Office, criticised (Christopher) Booker’s referencing of just the Central England Temperature (CET) record instead of the nationwide UK record.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/media-reaction-2018-summer-heatwaves-and-climate-change
00
behind paywall:
Heat-related deaths projected to triple in the UK by 2050
Financial Times · 2 days ago
Carbon Brief on the above (mostly covered in the Dunne/McSweeney article already posted):
Heat-related deaths in the UK could triple by 2050, to reach as many as 7,000 per year, as hotter temperatures become the new norm, MPs have warned. The new report from the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) says the UK is “woefully unprepared” for deadly heatwaves, reports the Guardian, with the government ignoring warnings from its official climate change adviser. One in five homes dangerously overheats during heatwaves today, the MPs say, while on the hottest day of 2016 alone there were almost 400 heat-related deaths. Buildings, particularly hospitals and care homes, must be prepared for heatwaves, the report warns, with sick and elderly people especially vulnerable to heart and breathing problems. The committee also suggests that Public Health England should tell employers to relax dress codes and allow flexible working in heatwaves, says BBC News. “The government must stop playing pass the parcel with local councils and the NHS and develop a strategy to protect our ageing population from this increasing risk,” said Mary Creagh, chair of the committee, in the Independent. Reuters, the Express, Huffington Post and BusinessGreen all have the story, and it makes the frontpages of both the Mirror and the Daily Telegraph. Carbon Brief has all the details. Meanwhile, the Times reports that the UK could experience its hottest day on record in the next 48 hours, exceeding the 38.5C recorded at Faversham in Kent on 10 August 2003, and that the heatwave is putting swallows and house martins in danger.
10
I doubt they lament anything about the aged, swallows or house martins in winter.
So Mary herself is passing the parcel. How does this self-righteous snowflake think what precisely grabbermint’s “doing something” strategy could be – throwing cash at the sky?
The stupid burns furiously with this one.
30
Meanwhile over 35,000 cold related deaths this last winter in the UK, not maybe/possibly in 30 years time.
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/923627/UK-health-death-cold-flu-pneumonia-stroke-heart-attack-avoidable-deaths-met-office-weather
50
new, behind paywalls:
Climate change is supercharging a hot and dangerous summer
Washington Post-4 hours ago
28 Jul print edition, Science & Technology: The Economist: Heat is causing problems across the world
Worryingly, such weather events may not remain unusual
The long hot summerHeat is causing problems across the world …. lesson about the importance of stopping climate change in the first place…
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/07/28/heat-is-causing-problems-across-the-world?fsrc=rss%7Csct
25 Jul: Reuters: SoCalGas curtails natgas for power generators in California heat wave
by Scott DiSavino
Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) told its electric-generator customers to expect less natural gas supplies to fuel their plants on Wednesday as they consume more of the fuel than usual to keep air conditioners humming during a brutal heat wave.
But that curtailment notice does not mean the gas utility will actually cut supplies to gas-fired power plants, which are currently generating about half of the state’s electricity, according to the California Independent System Operator (ISO), which manages much of the state’s power grid.
“SoCalGas requested the California ISO voluntarily reduce generation levels,” said Steven Greenlee, a spokesman for the ISO. “The ISO is unable to reduce generation levels … without risking electric system reliability.” …
***Even though the ISO reduced its forecast for peak power demand on Wednesday due in part to customer conservation efforts and slightly cooler than expected weather, the grid operator urged customers to keep conserving energy to relieve stress on the grid.
The ISO reduced its peak demand forecast for Wednesday to 47,058 MW from 49,489 MW earlier in the day, falling well short of the grid’s all-time high of 50,270 MW in July 2006…
High temperatures in Los Angeles are only expected to reach 89 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) on Wednesday, ***down from an earlier forecast of 98 degrees, according to AccuWeather…
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-power-west-prices/u-s-west-power-prices-soar-to-all-time-highs-again-in-heat-wave-idUKKBN1KF1QA
00
pro-nuclear, CAGW-believer Shellenberger:
26 Jul: Forbes: As Heatwave Tests The Limits Of Renewables, Anti-Nuclear Governments Return To Nuclear
by Michael Shellenberger
Even anti-nuclear governments are turning to nuclear power to deal with a record-breaking heatwave, which has increased demand for electricity to power air conditioning around the world.
To meet rising electricity demand, South Korea’s anti-nuclear government announced last week that it would increase the number of operating nuclear reactors from 14 to 19, even re-starting two reactors that were scheduled to be closed this summer for maintenance.
Anti-nuclear Germany has had to rely heavily on its remaining nuclear plants and its coal plants even during daylight hours when Germany’s solar panels are at maximum production. The reason? Very little wind.
In June, Taiwan’s anti-nuclear government was forced to restart a closed nuclear reactor in order to meet demand. Last year, the island nation suffered its worst power outage ever when seven million homes were left without electricity.
In anticipation of high electricity demand during the summer, the Japanese government accelerated the restarting of nuclear reactors closed after Fukushima. Nuclear capacity has nearly doubled since March…
The reliance on nuclear power plants by anti-nuclear governments shows the limits of renewables and conservation…
California has spent billions on conservation and efficiency programs but found itself this week pleading with residents to reduce energy consumption during the heatwave…
California’s solar has been of limited use because as reported the San Diego Union-Tribune, “solar production falls off when the sun goes down and energy users come home from work, turn on their air conditioners and use appliances that suck up a lot of power, such as washer/dryers.”
And solar panels produce less electricity in heatwaves. “According to the manufacture standards, a 25 °C (77 °F) temperature indicates the peak of the optimum temperature range of solar panels,” solar experts say. “It is when solar cells are able to absorb sunlight with maximum efficiency.”
“Summer temperatures that can reach 50C, combined with the build-up of dust, can reduce the efficiency of a photovoltaic panel by more than half” in hot climates, reported The Times of London last year.
Wholesale electricity prices in California rose to $1000 per megawatt-hour — a whopping 30 times more expensive than last year’s average price.
South Korea’s news media have criticized the government for underestimating electricity demand in order to justify its anti-nuclear policies.
“Such failures in predicting power demand suggest the government arbitrarily lowered its estimated demand to back up its logic for phasing out nuclear plants,” editorialized a South Korean newspaper.
The irony is that many anti-nuclear governments justify their policies as addressing climate change, which may be contributing to the heatwave…
California’s anti-nuclear government is moving ahead with plans to close Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which provides nine percent of the state’s electricity, by 2025.
In California, electricity prices have risen five times faster than in rest of the U.S. since 2011, when the state began expanding the deployment of renewables and closed a nuclear plant…
The heatwave forced even anti-nuclear groups like Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), which supports closing Diablo Canyon, to acknowledge that “Demand for power [is] only going up.”
“Besides the fact that utilities must serve 50 million more Americans than they did just 20 years ago,” editorialized EDF, “each of us relies more on electricity. Whether it’s our iPhones and laptops or the cloud services we connect them to, our personal and business lives are completely dependent on power and a reliable grid.”…
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/07/26/as-heatwave-tests-the-limits-of-renewables-anti-nuclear-governments-return-to-nuclear/#75dd41d0132b
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lengthy, multiple links:
25 Jul: LSE/Grantham Institute: Bob Ward: Hundreds are dying from ignorance of rising heatwave risks
Hundreds of people are likely to die over the next few days as heatwave conditions worsen across much of the UK.
Many of these deaths could have been prevented if Government Departments and agencies had listened to the advice of experts and improved the shockingly poor flow of information to the public about the rising risk of heatwaves due to climate change.
There is evidence that many people perish each summer in the UK because they do not understand that the frequency of heatwave conditions are increasing…
Figures published by the Office for National Statistics indicate that there were hundreds of additional deaths associated with brief periods of heatwave conditions in July 2016 and June 2017.
No analysis has been published of how these people died. However, a comprehensive review published last year concluded that many people who are killed by heatwaves suffer from other serious illnesses, such as lung or heart disease…
When will the Government realise that public ignorance about heatwaves is deadly?
http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/news/hundreds-are-dying-from-ignorance-of-rising-heatwave-risks/
Reuters goes straight from death report to ice-cream shares:
25 Jul: Reuters: Japan’s heat wave drives up food prices, prison inmate dies
by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo and Jeongmin Kim in SEOUL; Additional reporting by Ritsuko Ando and Aaron Sheldrick in TOKYO
In Miyoshi, where the prisoner died after a heat stroke, the temperature on the floor of his cell was 34 degrees C (93 F) shortly before 7 a.m. on Tuesday. The room had no air-conditioning, like most in the prison.
Authorities who found him unresponsive in his cell sent him to a hospital outside the prison, but he was soon pronounced dead, a prison official said.
“It is truly regrettable that an inmate lost his life,” Kiyoshi Kageyama, head of the prison, said in a statement. “We will do our utmost in maintaining (prisoners’) health, including taking anti-heat stroke steps.”
On the Tokyo stock market, shares in companies expected to benefit from a hot summer, such as ice-cream makers, have risen in recent trade…
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-weather-japan-heatwave/japans-heat-wave-drives-up-food-prices-prison-inmate-dies-idUKKBN1KF1R1
10
Bob Ward, the great, concerned humanitarian of the Grantham Institute, is worried that:
for a supposed heatwave which has not yet—and may not—reach the temperatures deserving of the title heatwave.
Such concern.
Not.
Bob Ward of The Grantham Institute, can only be described a one eyed misanthropist. With such a humanitarian at the helm, who cannot, will not see nor worry about the the over 40,000 expected deaths from the 2017-2018 winter, the worst death toll for fifteen years, of those over 65 years old, many of whom cannot afford to heat their homes to avoid winter respiratory illnesses and keep warm.
Where is his outrage at such a death toll?
Only silence.
Yep, He’s a man with a mission: to extol the “dangers of heat waves” which may create less than one twentieth of the winter’s excess deaths. Such a compassionate, kind, caring, benevolent, charitable, sympathetic human.
Don’t panic: if you’re one of the aged and poor, Bob Ward will speak up for you, Bob Ward will support your cause, Bob Ward will rush to assist you. In summer.
30
26 Jul: Daily Mail: NOAA’s $350 million weather satellite is STILL malfunctioning, as experts fear the craft could be permanently broken just months into its 20-year mission
•The GOES-17 satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 1
•The GOES-17 satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 1
•It is one of a constellation of craft that provide advanced weather forecasting
•The loss of functionality is related to a pipe that carries coolant
•This is designed to ensure the instrument stays at its optimum
•Officials expect it will take at least a few months to figure out what went wrong
By Phoebe Weston
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next-generation weather satellite is malfunctioning and may be permanently broken, according to experts…READ ALL
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5994373/NOAAs-350-million-weather-satellite-malfunctioning.html
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I believe the pipe was manufactured by a very expensive military company. Volkswagen would have made it way cheaper and reliable.
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But were they asked to tender for its supply?
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Jo’s idea of pitting ‘skeptics against believers in a real televised form of debate’ is something to aim for, but I’m not sure it would improve ratings.
A couple of brilliant stand up comics arguing the toss would be more effective.
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I reckon the answers the warmist side try to sputter would be comical enough.
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I think the sceptics would be hard put to seriously debate the warmists. Not many people can speak coherently while laughing hard …
Just a thought.
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Good idea, noce topic for the Melbourne Vomedy Festival debate if there are realists in the comedian ranks
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25 Jul: Breitbart: Xi Jinping at BRICS Summit: ‘Reject Unilateralism,’ Embrace ‘Global Governance’
by Frances Martel
Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping offered a rousing defense of globalism and suggested “the evolution of global governance system will have a profound impact on the development of all countries” during Wednesday’s opening of the BRICS summit in South Africa…
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/07/25/xi-jinping-brics-summit-reject-unilateralism/
27 Jul: Xinhua: Full text of BRICS Summit Johannesburg Declaration
Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution
SANDTON CONVENTION CENTRE JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA 25 TO 27 JULY 2018
6. We recommit ourselves to a world of peace and stability, and support the central role of the United Nations, the purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter and respect for international law, promoting democracy and the rule of law. We reinforce our commitment to upholding multilateralism and to working together on the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as we foster a more representative, democratic, equitable, fair and just international political and economic order…
20. We reaffirm our commitment to fully implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to provide equitable, inclusive, open, all-round innovation-driven and sustainable development, in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner, towards the ultimate goal of eradicating poverty by 2030. We pledge our support for the important role of the United Nations, including the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), in coordinating and reviewing global implementation of the 2030 Agenda, to reform the UN Development System with a view to enhancing its capability in supporting member States in implementing the 2030 Agenda. We urge developed countries to honour their Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments fully in time and to provide additional development resources to developing countries.
21. Regarding Climate Change, we welcome the progress towards finalizing the Work Programme under the Paris Agreement and express our willingness to continue working constructively with other Parties to conclude its related negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) towards the 24th Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP24) to be held in Katowice, Poland in December 2018. We call upon all countries to fully implement the Paris Agreement adopted under the principles of the UNFCCC including the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and urge developed countries to provide financial, technological and capacity-building support to developing countries to enhance their capability in mitigation and adaptation.
22. We undertake to strengthen BRICS cooperation in energy, especially in transitioning to more environmentally sustainable energy systems supportive of the global sustainable development agenda, balanced economic growth and the collective socio-economic wellbeing of our citizens. We continue to strive toward universal energy access, energy security, energy affordability, reduced pollution and environmental conservation. We reaffirm that the diversification of energy supply sources, including renewable and low carbon energy sources, investments in energy and energy infrastructure, energy industry and market development and intra-BRICS collaboration for access to primary energy sources will continue to underpin our energy security. We recognise the need to accelerate energy transition including in transportation, heating and industry uses.
23. We acknowledge the importance of energy efficiency and the popularisation of an energy efficient life style in virtue of its potential contributions to energy security, industrial competitiveness, emissions reduction, economic growth, job creation and other areas when introduced.
24. We acknowledge that the BRICS Ministers of Energy agreed to establish the BRICS Energy Research Cooperation Platform and to develop its Terms of Reference, and note the ongoing discussions for that purpose…
IV. BRICS PARTNERSHIP FOR GLOBAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY, REFORM OF FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC GLOBAL GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS, AND THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ETC
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/27/c_129921358.htm
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In summary, along the Belt and Road they will first improve energy, depending on the requirement of individual countries. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has begun and Donald has no answer to this new form of capitalism.
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El Gordo @ # 32
We [ I ] have seen in my lifetime the equivalent of the Chinese Belt and Road
It was also the dream of and created and run by Asians supposedly for Asians and as a way of breaking the western nation’s monoply on power and trade.
It was called the “Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere”
As the Asian nations very soon discovered the Great East Asian co-Prosperity sphere was designed to place Japan in a position of complete dominance over of the rest of East Asia with other asian nations as vassal states and providers of resources and oil and their populations to be exploited to Japanese ends and as low status labourers for the Japanese empire.
The Japanese Manchukuo army also wanted to expand into what is now the Russian far East territories [ which now include a considerable amount of territory taken over by the Russian empire in the late 1800’s from a very weak Chinese Quin government. And my bet is that the chinese will sooner or later want that “historical chinese territory” returned or else .
The Japanese Manchukuo Army was decisively beaten and defeated at the major battle of Khalkin Gol on the border of Manchuria and Mongolia by Zhukov’s siberian troops in August 1939.
So the Japanese went south as their Navy wanted to and the Army went into China proper.
The Great East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere in the few short years it existed costed an minimum estimated 20 million lives, the very large percentage of which were Asians, mostly chinese where an estimated 17 milion chinese were eliminated by the Japanese army from 1935 to 1945.
[ Which is the main reason I have never had any qualms about the use of the atomic bomb on the japanese to end WW2 ]
I see too many parallels today with the Chinese dominated Belt and Road to what the Japanese tried to do those near on 80 years ago with their “Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere”.,
Only this time it is the Chinese are extending their reach and power and influence over the smaller and weaker states who will soon realise that with a dictatorial political structure now in place in China with Xi as the head of the government, those other nations both East Asian and Central Asia will soon realise they are little more than vassal states to be mined and their populations exploited by the Chinese dragon who once it has total control over the politics and economies of those new vassal states, will have no remorse if it has to cut down any opposition arising in those same vassal states.
That is the way of all dictators and the States they control.
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Nothing is more boring than a program that is completely predictable, and you have heard many times before.
The attempt to demonize scientists who dissent from the only true beliefs will backfire when the media (most of which have to make profit, and even the nationally funded ones have to attract viewers) simply drop the subject.
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I look and see the amount of politicians that are believers and are destroying our industries and infrastructure, one can only conclude that they are as thick as two planks.
Fool me twice, fool me. Fool me thrice fool thee. These idiots have been fooled for decades.
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