Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wanted all the Canadian provinces to do their own carbon tax, and threatened to do a weapons-grade national tax if they didn’t and they aren’t. Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland all said No. Now the Premier of Manitoba has done some spectacular backflipping to join them.
A mere few weeks ago he was Trudeau’s best friend promising to start collecting a $25-a-ton tax on December 1. Brian Pallister was hoping that his smaller tax would stop Trudeau from hitting them with the big one — a tax that started at $10 and added $10 each year until it reached $50 in 2022. But Trudeau said he’d make them pay twice, and now Pallister has said “No thanks” too. Not only has he pulled the pin on his own tax, but he’s going to fight Trudeau next year to stop The Big One as well.
To appreciate how big a flip this was, ponder that Pallister had been planning to bring in his carbon tax for a year, and even had a special scheme for the big six corporates there to dodge his tax with their own private cap-N-trade scheme. Only small companies needed to save the world. Big ones needed a discount, and possibly grants of saleable carbon credits too. As the Axe The Tax Team in Canada said “In Manitoba, two Carbon Taxes, One Giant Racket. Things have shifted so far, Pallister is going “to look at” the Saskatchewan and Ontario plan to use legal action to stop the Big Bad National Carbon Tax.
Trudeaux’s carbon tax was already looking “pretty much dead”. Now it must be more so. There’s a message for conservatives around the world…
Congrats to the Axe the Tax team. They must be happy today. Good luck to our Canadian friends.
Manitoba backs out of planned carbon tax, says Ottawa not respecting provinces
Steve Lambert, Globe and Mail, October 3
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister did an about-face on carbon taxes Wednesday, abandoning plans to start charging a levy in December and joining other conservative leaders in flat-out opposition to federal plans.
“We’re forced to either fight (the federal government) in a year, when they invoke a higher tax …. or to stand up to them now. We’re choosing to do it now, not then, because we hope that this will give clarity sooner than if we wait.”
Trudeau’s reply:
“I continue to find it puzzling as to why Conservatives insist on making pollution free,” Trudeau said. “We believe that polluters should pay and that’s why we are putting a price on pollution.”
Conservatives think polluters should pay too, we just think Prime Ministers should know what pollution is.
It was a tax too far
Flashback to when Trudeau and Pallister were Best Friends Forever on September 13, 2018
Three weeks is a long time in politics:
The prime minister, who made a stop in Winnipeg Tuesday, is positively elated.
Especially since Pallister is — as Trudeau described him — a “conservative” leader. Trudeau doesn’t have many conservative leaders, if any, supporting his carbon tax scheme. So when he finds one in the middle of the prairies, naturally he’s very excited about it.
“We are very pleased that Manitoba is moving forward with a strong plan to put a cost on pollution and we will have conversations in the coming years as I know we will have conversations with different provinces across the country,” Trudeau said.
This is great news for the prime minister. Because he’s having a devil of a time convincing other provinces, some of whom are led by conservative premiers, to buy into his carbon tax scheme.
Click to enlarge
hat tip to Pat. :- )
There is a drop in the fanatical quest to save the environment here in Canada. Most of the greenies have been noticeably quiet this last while. It seemed to start when Trump got elected. Coincidence? Don’t know. But glad they are fading. Still got some that want wind turbines though.
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Don’t worry, Australia will take up the reins and pick up Canada’s load as well. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Woe, Woe, Woe!
280
Australia is a very small dog but with a loud bark, but that’s about it when it comes to standing up to the globalist eco-nazis.
We just tug our collective forlock and do as were told.
People are frustrated, they realise they are being white-anted and want electoral “blood”, however the current “fix” of the 2 party system here guarantees the Elite have continued power since they control both sides of the political spectrum.
I think should any Conservative party ever get his act together, they could likely head the next govt after a few goes. Peopel want to get rid of the parasites in Labor, Liberals and Greens, but have no alternative, so guess what?
Mind you, we couldnt have gone this far if govt, business, NGOs and the UN hadnt been collaborating…..think about what that means….
http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
250
The UN is a cancer that’s been spreading for far too long.
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OriginalSteve:
If that is the exact wording of Article 29, then the feminists should be pointed at it PDQ!
(and their trigger pulled)
I protest its sexism!
40
Good point, although such is the lunacy of the whole current PC gender nonsense, that they would argue “him” could mean your pet dog…..
20
It does, he’s male.
00
And then President Trump might send an Ambassador to Canberra?
30
U.S ambassadors are sent to bully independent countries. Australia is an obedient lackey of the US. Our “government” willingly takes its orders direct from Washington. No need for an ambassador.
38
We are a vassal state.
‘… a state with varying degrees of independence in its internal affairs but dominated by another state in its foreign affairs and potentially wholly subject to the dominating state.’
I just wish we could follow Donald’s lead and pull out of Paris.
20
And the unintended consequences:
With an immediate disclaimer so as not to cause too much fury:
http://dailycaller.com/2018/10/04/harvard-study-wind-power-temperature/
But how can they be certain of their disclaimer?
100
” the average surface temperature of the continental U.S. would rise 0.24 degrees Celsius”
I dont know whether to laugh or cry, please explain how wind turbines can change the temperatures? O I know the generators will over heat and heat the atmosphere.
Absurdity in motion, wonder what funding they got for that.
60
I believe that there is validity in this statement. Wind turbines can affect local climatic conditions by altering wind patterns leeward of the turbines, much like growing or removing trees along pathways where prevailing winds tend to flow can do the same. Why do you think trubine are placed in certain locations? Place wind turbines in sufficient quantities across these pathways and add large solar panel farms into the mix, and the effects would certainly happen. The only thing that could be legitimately questioned is the extent of these effects, as we can’t fully calculate until it’s too late.
40
That may be their argument but that is effectively impossible, wind patterns may change locally over a few km. Wind passing over a blade (wing) lowers pressure, how planes fly, this cant alter the local temperature. Also that they cant take into account any thermal mixing that occurs before the wind passes over the turbine or after. Its absurd.
10
I gather that you’ve heard of micro-climates? Have you ever seen wind rows of trees planted along the boundaries of fields? Have you ever studied how wind patterns flow over trees and hills?
I’ve studied all of this over the years and often seemingly innocuous barriers to windflow can have dramatic effects downwind. It might only be localised initially, but grows over time as the wind patterns over the area change to accommodate the new barriers or removal of old barriers.
As an example, we live in a shallow valley. Our neighbour who has lived here for over 20 years, has noted how the wind patterns have changed and strengthened as trees have been removed to allow houses to be built. Once his and the other properties upwind (the wind tends to blow from the west) would be very still in the strongest of winds as trees in the wind front would abate the flow downwind.
30
True, That would affect moisture as well.
10
All you need to do is stand in the canyon called St George’s Terrace, Perth, and feel the gush. Or similar “canyons” in any other major city.
00
Now there’s a thought.
Perhaps the Commissar of Victoriastan should built turbines in Spring Street, at the end of Collins, Bourke and Lonsdale Streets. Whoosh. No need for more gas.
20
There’s just the small matter of trees and trams to consider!
00
This is based on actual observations rather than models. The study concluded that over 10 years wind turbines caused significantly greater climatic impacts than Coal or Gas …….
There’s an article reporting the study over at WUWT. (Wattsupwiththat.com )
10
Read the study over at wattsupwiththat and you will understand why this is so.
Btw the study is based on actual observations as opposed to modelling.
20
“with long-term implementation of wind energy still proving more beneficial than coal and gas.”
Proof? where’s the proof?
70
What does windchill factor being reduced do to temperature? Do solar farms reduce the cooling of the breeze on the ground they cover? I suspect these ugly landscapes cause more warming per kilowatt than coal. Manydeaths too, birds and bats directtly and indtiretly as insects die and avoid hence birds and bats starve
10
What does windchill factor being reduced do to temperature? Do solar farms reduce the cooling of the breeze on the ground they cover? I suspect these ugly landscapes cause more warming per kilowatt than coal. Manydeaths too, birds and bats directtly and indtiretly as insects die and avoid hence birds and bats starve
10
“putting a price on pollution” – right, keep insisting that carbon dioxide is pollution and the masses will happily suffer. What an embarrassment this ignorant twit is to my country.
340
During the 1970s developed countries introduced Environmental Protection Agencies and laws against polluting.
One result was the closure of dirty coal fired power stations, usually located within city suburbs, and construction of superior technology coal fired power stations or nuclear outside of the cities. And since then the level of pollution has fallen considerably. In the 1970s Canadian Dr David Suzuki warned that the planet would be almost uninhabitable by 2000 if the polluting continued but when he visited Australia in the 1990s he admitted that improvements were impressive.
The question is to “carbon pollution” and “dirty coal” complainants, if they are right why have they not reported specific examples to the EPA?
100
Of course industries played a part, but…
….Much of the pollution reduction in the ’70s was actually due to the increased supply and availability of coal fired electricity !
The expanding electricity supply and low cost of electric appliances , combined with local regulation of coal for domestic heating and cooking…particularly in urban areas…. Led to a huge reduction in domestic coal consumption in its most polluting for form…open fires..!
In many towns and cities, every house used to have its own “coal bunker” with weekly deliveries.
Several hundred kg per week was not unusual for a family household.
Even in sunny Sydney open coal fires and coal fueled cooking stoves were the norm through to the ’60s/’70s.
80
I had relatives who lived in an art deco architecture style block of flats in Sydney that had a coal bunker and used a combination of coal and garbage to provide communal hot water throughout the building.
Obviously cans and bottles not permitted to be sent down the chute located on each floor.
40
“Even in sunny Sydney open coal fires and coal fueled cooking stoves were the norm through to the ’60s/’70s.”
where do you get this from? I was born in 1951 in Sydney, lived there till 1981. Never seen a coal fired stove in my whole life. The “norm”? no I dont think so.
20
then we should be pointing out to those spokespeople, in front of their audiences, that they are labelling themselves as “pollution.””
I would be happy to see us rid of certain forms of that pollution 🙂
Plants are made from CO2.
We eat mostly plants as our food (and so do our meat animals. Soy-based meat substitutes are even more so.)
Therefore we are made from CO2.
If it is pollution then so are those who call it so.
For me, Life is a gas: CO2, the gas of Life.
110
Primo Levi ‘The Periodic Table,’ Story of a carbon atom. )
30
Judith on Eggheads says that the Periodic Table is unknowable, meanwhile Kevin can tell you everything you want to know about it. Horses for courses I guess.
00
G’day,
This morning I sent an email to both my Federal and State representatives, basing it on the presentation Professor Weiss gave back in 2015 (link below). My apologies to the person who posted it last week as I can’t remember who it was, but thank you. And I strongly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it before. It sounds irrefutable to me. Is that a fair assessment?
Cheers
Dave B
90
Good stuff.
20
H/T Dave B
And here is the link to his published paper:-
H.-J. Lüdecke, A. Hempelmann, and C. O. Weiss, (2013) Multi-periodic climate dynamics: spectral analysis of long-term instrumental and proxy temperature records
Climate of the Past 9(1) DOI: 10.5194/cp-9-447-2013
10
If/when Alberta dumps the NDP, we will scrap the tax too….HOWEVER, do not underestimate Shiny Pony to implement NEP-Part 2….to complete what his Dad failed to finish.
140
Well yes…a bit like Bush 1 then Bush 2, then clinton, then Obama…same agenda, no matter who is in power…..
But the Left will always accuse others of what its doing to silence them…standard tactic…
100
Now to spread the news.
A couple of times I have seen the call, “the science has won!” My response was “never drop your guard”.
The science appeared to have won when the Abbott government was elected with a landslide result in 2013. But the AGW propagandists around the world then doubled their effort and that effort paid off for them. Also, in our own misguided “Trump Moment”, we had given Clive Palmer the balance of power in our senate. Al Gore spotted this opportunity from afar, and somehow persuaded Clive Palmer’s party to act as his proxy in the Australian parliament. This stymied Abbott’s landslide mandate.
Now, just as I was fearing that the propagandists had carried the day with their lies, we see real world economics rising to the battle. Can this be turned into the tipping point where the lies come crashing down?
The US is fronting its “mid term” elections. Here in Australia we are facing two state elections and a federal election in the coming months. For us these elections are critical. If the Marxists in the ALP gain power, they have their tools in place to complete their abolistion of private management and ownership of industry within the coming term. They will do this by raising public debt to a level which causes the capitalist system to collapse.
These developments in Canada might chaise them to have second thoughts.
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Flipping predictive text! Must be the French connection. I didn’t proof read the last line!
120
pas de probleme Ted
10
Don’t panic, Ted. I think we all have “fun” with proofing our comments, more at some times and less at others. Rereke Whakaaro located and published the cause of that some time ago:
In Comment #14.2.1.1, Rereke said:
In my experience, all of the typos are put in by the Post Comment button. They certainly aren’t there when I type the text.
[February 18, 2012 at 11:30 am
http://joannenova.com.au/2012/02/update-heartland-documents-stolen-and-key-one-is-fake-no-insider-leak/ ]
I bow to a man of superior wisdom…
10
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance…..
120
Can help but ask: “Why isn’t Nunavut having None of it?”
{Bad pun, I know.} As I believe 100% of their electric comes from small diesel generation. So they would get hammered with a tax.
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Timo Soren:
They’re planning to pay the Federal levy with live polar bears. Nothing like a live polar bear or two wandering around the bureaucrats offices in Ottawa to make them realise you aren’t on their side.
180
“They’re planning to pay the Federal levy with live polar bears. Nothing like a live polar bear or two wandering around the bureaucrats offices in Ottawa to make them realise you aren’t on their side.”
subtle, but effective
20
Diesel powered generators are acceptable in Australia, it’s that “dirty coal” that is a problem.
100
More than acceptable , they are a State funded “solution” (generally to a problem they created themselves)
30
As we watch the price of our road fuels in competition rising to new levels.
How much distillate is being used by those big generators? Certainly enough to elevate the price.
20
After a slight improvement in the condition which has been keeping me from exercise for some years, I was dusting off my newish Asolo boots (three pairs) from a decade ago. All had developed defects without use and one pair, the least used, has had to be chucked. To my surprise, I learned by the internet that this has been a common problem with Asolo shoes for some time: the glues and soles just disintegrate.
Where am I going with this?
Well, the North of Italy used to be full of little family factories which were known for craftsmanship though surprisingly progressive in their use of mechanisation and new techniques. The prestigious names and some of the craftsmanship persist, but the labour for most of it is now in Eastern Europe or Asia. Asolo has its factory in Romania, where wages are low and taxation/regulation are light. (I even read a quote from the Asolo boss that for 1200 euros spent on employing a worker in the Asolo region 2000 euros must be paid in payroll tax, though this seems exaggerated.) Do any of us believe the yarn about off-shoring the high standards along with the labour, as if a northern Italian shoemaker can just be 3D-printed in Romania or Vietnam?
Now, consider the carbon, all you who are worried about carbon. Someone went to the trouble of chewing up Romanian and other resources to make my defective boots. Now I will need new boots. So twice the number of boots will have been manufactured while half are wasted in landfill. Neo-liberalism, the last of the isms we are allowed to like, teaches us that this is “good for business”. But neo-liberalism often forgets values which existed before any isms: values like quality and thrift. My old boots are broken windows. Yes, the smashing of windows and wasting of boot production is good for someone’s business somewhere, but if the theory was a good one we could spend our days smashing windows and burying new boots in landfill.
Trudeau’s carbon tax and “clean economy” are all about waste in the service of globalism. Canadian fuels will continue to be consumed to make lots of stuff while Canada will become that mythical inhabitant of faery land: a service economy. That’s why Justin was put in power, while he could be running a thriving party costume hire. It’s why Gillard and Turnbull were put there.
Waste is nothing to Big Green, neither is conservation, neither is “carbon”. Big Green is an arm of the monster due in 1984 but slightly delayed.
190
By the way, I don’t object to the drift of production. I object to the deliberate pushing. Australia can’t become a global centre for consumer electronics, but shouldn’t we lead in the processing of minerals when both metals and coal are right under our feet? South Korea can make my rice cooker. But shouldn’t the world be knocking on our door for items like high-grade stainless steel?
C’mon greenoids. You like stuff. We all like stuff. At least let us run a smelter. Someone somewhere will.
210
South Korea is one of the world’s largest ship building industry locations.
They buy Australian iron ore and coal to produce the steel for their shipyards, and the cost of manufacturing there is not much lower than the average here in Australia.
80
Great comments.
You have given direction to the confusion that besets us but we shouldn’t assume that the green left troops in the trenches understand all of it.
Most are so unaware that to control them you only need to give them a line like “save the planet” and they can then be easily led to the next stage of the war.
Sadly this war is against themselves.
KK
170
We blame the Greens for too many things and give them credit for power they do not deserve.
Of course they are a lobby group in the Senate and close to Union Labor, the unions donate to the Greens, but we now can see that they also have like minded politicians who make up around 45 of 80 Liberal MPs and some National MPs. In other words the Greens are just one segment of the communist/socialist globalism machine here
And the latest news link posted here a few days ago is that the politicians are working to quarantine themselves from possible prosecution for ignoring the Australian Constitutional Law and implementing UN Treaties agenda.
130
10% of the vote gives them 50% of the policy as both of the major parties chase that 10%
Democracy 2018.
20
That was close. Too much tax and it could be apocalyptic!
Climate change could mean nicer, milder weather in Canada: study
“We looked at the actual days that feel mild,” she said.
“These are the days that people can relate to – the day you had a really nice walk in the park or went to a baseball game and it was really nice.”
It turns out Canada is one of the places to be.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/3188392/climate-change-could-mean-nicer-milder-weather-in-canada-study/
60
The global food crisis of the 1970s came at a time people were worried about global cooling. In fact, Arctic temps had taken a dive in the 1960s and polar ice advanced in the 70s. The vague coupling of drought and warmth is something which has to be spun.
Of course, you don’t need drought to lose crops to the cold. The now-forgotten food crisis of the 1970s can’t be put down to climate alone but the whole world is dependent on good production in Canada. When things got seriously cold around 1700 Canadian farming was just a bunch of small holdings along the St Lawrence. Remains to be seen what a repeat of those conditions would cause now.
I tellya, things had better stay warm in Canada, and not just for walks in the park.
130
In the 70s I was a totally self centred 20 something pursuing my life passion at the expense of everything else money, career and marriage number 1. There were so many crises, I am glad I was oblivious to them all. Looking back it was great to be me, no stress at all 🙂
10
“The temperature in the Northern Hemisphere decreased by about 0.5°C between 1940 and 1970, a time of rapid CO2 buildup. Northern latitudes warmed ~ 0.8°C between the 1880’s and 1940, then cooled – 0.5°C between 1940 and 1970.”
These outrageous claims were made by some skeptic type called…er…James Hansen, I believe was his name.
Maybe he was influenced by the extremist National Academy of Sciences in 1974…“Starr and Oort (1973) have reported that, during the period 1958-1963, the hemisphere’s (mass-weighted) mean temperature decreased by about 0.6 °C.” Quite a drop in five years!
In 1975 those wild fanatics at NOAA reported: “Many climatologists have associated this drought and other recent weather anomalies with a global cooling trend and changes in atmospheric circulation which, if prolonged, pose serious threats to major food-producing regions of the world…Annual average temperatures over the Northern Hemisphere increased rather dramatically from about 1890 through 1940, but have been falling ever since. The total change has averaged about one-half degree Centigrade, with the greatest cooling in higher latitudes.”
These radical types at NOAA even associated the projected cooling with possible monsoon failure and crop disasters for India. Imagine that! Drought through cooling!
For some reason NASA now publishes a very different graph of observed temps 1880 to 1980. Hansen’s original 1981 graph has to be circulated like a dirty postcard now. For some reason.
30
‘For some reason NASA now publishes a very different graph
of observed temps 1880 to 1980. Hansen’s original 1981 graph
has to be circulated like a dirty postcard now. For some reason.’
See-saw-climate, 20th Century, (like before) up-then-down-then-
up,whereas CO2 consistently, 20th century wise, goes up-up-up!
Not to worry, politics trumps data (for raison d’etat.)’Twas nevah
about the science.
70
You know I don’t remember a global food crisis in the 1970s. I do remember a couple of political actions that could have contributed to such an event.
In the period post WWII, there were only three internationally significant wheat exporting nations. The US, who produce incomprehensible quantities of grain, Canada and Australia. So Australia, although a comparatively small producer, was one of the major international traders of wheat. In Australia we had a socialised marketing system for wheat, which worked marvellously well. All wheat produced was vested in a federal QUANGO, the Australian Wheat Board, which then marketed the wheat on behalf of the growers, paid an upfront payment of up to 80% of the anticipated return, and the balance paid as the wheat was marketed. This was funded by a government guaranteed loan.
This gave the AWB about the same market clout as the major world trading corporations in the US and Europe, and eliminated “middle men” from the Australian market. it even supplied Australian consumers at a price lower than the world price. This was not by purposed design, but we growers saw it as a fair deal for getting the benefits that we had from that system. Note that The Australian Wheat Board was not a subsidised system. It was built on prudent prediction of future market conditions.
The significance of that here is that we already had an organised market which facilitated a political action. It must have been 1968 was a good year for wheat production around the world. As we were harvesting, the prediction was that there was more wheat coming in than the AWB could possibly sell in the next twelve months.
So for 1969 and 1970 the government imposed production quotas for wheat. These were allocated on the basis of a producer’s production in previous years. We had just purchased a second farm, and for it got no quota. However, sceptical of the wisdom of the quotas, we ignored them and set about cropping both farms, worry about any surplus when we had it.
In both quota years the quota fell badly short, due to firstly the quotas themselves, and secondly poor seasons. Our excess wheat was welcomed into the system without even a hiccup. Australia, normally one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat, came within three weeks’ supply of being forced to import wheat.
the second event. In these blogs I rail against Marxist policy, which is to abolish private management of industry. That has been going on for a long time. In the early years of the Menzies government they tried to ban the Communist party, after which the taunt went out that Menzies was looking for Reds under the Bed. Twenty years later the Whitlam government was elected to power, and they gave us at least one communist Deputy Prime Minister and lots of Marxist policy. and Whitlam was looking for the CIA under the bed. But the CIA didn’t have to be under the bed. They could cut Whitlam down from their head office in Virginia. The US stopped importation of Australian beef.
In the US they eat lots of hamburgers. Hamburgers use lower quality beef. The Australian beef industry was underpinned by US purchases of our surplus beef. Loss of that market caused the whole trade to collapse. I still remember selling magnificent steers for 17 cents a kilo, and thanking God they were so good, else we would have got less. Female cattle were unmarketable. There were terrible times for my family. We only survived by living on as near as possible to nothing, with a fixed interest loan which my father had backed after condemning bank terms. When we took out that loan we thought it ws high interest, but it kept us in business through Whitlam’s ravages.
The end result was that the CIA got their man as Whitlam lost every rural sear in the following election. Bit as far as I have seen, in all the world I was the only one who noticed.
10
Can’t blame the computer this time. Just clicked the wrong button before editing typos. And there’s another thing to add to the wheat quota story. There was an iniquitous inequity in those quotas. They were attached to the land, not to the farmers. This broke a lot of good share farmers, as landowners stopped growing wheat. Had the quotas been attached to the farmers, they could have then sought another landowner who wanted to grow wheat. A lot of landowners only wanted to grow wheat for a short period as a step towards pasture improvement.
10
When you have turned it up to eleven, where else can you go?
When you have cried wolf so many times …
Climate scientists are struggling to find the right words for very bad news
“A much-awaited report from the U.N.’s top climate science panel will show an enormous gap between where we are and where we need to be to prevent dangerous levels of warming.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/10/03/climate-scientists-are-struggling-find-right-words-very-bad-news/?utm_term=.ab0c769a9ded
… and that is why it is the worst apocalypse. Ever.
170
Peter Hannam in the SMH thinks increasing human induced CO2 kills coral reefs, the man is obsessed and deluded.
‘The world’s coral reefs will feature in the report; scientists are expected to forecast 70-90 per cent of them will perish at 1.5 degrees. We already know they are struggling, with warm summers such as 2015-16 and 2016-17 enough to bake half the corals on the not-so Great Barrier Reef.’
111
A Grade alarmist twerp. Some of the stuff he spews out is mind boggling. Is he married to the Renew bloke?
20
He is a disgrace to journalism, Fairfax have only themselves to blame.
00
I heard it read out on the radio.
Full on bizarre.
This is supposed to be a Reporter.
More like a shrieking alarm.
KK
20
Stupid. That’s all. Stupid. If he thought for barely a moment he would have realised that the CO2 in seawater is in far far greater quantities than it is in the atmosphere with the sea holding c. 98.8% of the world’s free (uncombined) CO2.
Coral reefs form the environment for lots of animals and (wait for it) Seaweeds. Seaweeds are multi-celled algae which grow and thrive in areas where there is sufficient light to drive photosynthesis and for some, a firm attachment point. Yep, seaweeds occupy similar niches to land-based plants. I haven’t mentioned marine plants: there are marine grasses, and, of course, the planktons in their trillions … don’t forget the planktons.
The corals also use algae as symbionts so they need CO2 and sunlight as well for their symbionts to thrive, even though the corals themselves are filter feeders. Why else build where the sun shines?
Shallow coral reefs are therefore a perfect environment and the necessary CO2 is available in large quantities directly from the seawater. Like all land plants, the more CO2 there is available, the more they thrive. The more they thrive, the more seaweed consuming critters, including the corals. thrive. (I shouldn’t need to say the planktons too, this is about coral reefs.)
His thesis is sheer and utter nonsense.
Life is a gas: CO2, the gas of life.
00
If it’s that bad, what’s the use of worrying?
80
Also, if it’s that bad how come countries all over the world are allowed to build a total of 1600+ coal fired power stations over the feasible future? Are those who are proclaiming if we don’t do something to avoid a climate change catastrophe stupid enough to say those extra 1600+ coal fired power stations will have no impact? They need to get their story consistent. Either coal is the cause of the so called catastrophe and hence the UN has to declare war on those countries to stop them from building their power stations to save the planet even from a greater catastrophe than what they are now proclaiming, or they have to just have to stop proclaiming their nonsense and allow us here in Australia to join them and keep ours open longer than planned and where necessary build more of them. Calling those who proclaim we are heading for a catastrophe hypocrites is too polite a word.
120
youve got to keep worrying, thats the whole point
they always move the tipping point, globe melting apocalypse out a few years so it just out of sight and something to be feared. Of course more money is always needed to avoid the predicted disaster which never eventuates and will be moved out another few years. Rinse and repeat.
30
Maybe make it simple?
Boo!
10
Very Bad News ….the money is drying up !
Terrible drought !!
100
“the worst apocalypse. Ever.”
This could be a gold mine for comedy and ridicule. Since everybody knows how well all the other apocalypses turned out, and this one is gonna be WAY worse. Just wait, you’ll see. LOL.
50
Hi Greg.
It’s a meme from the Simpsons:
https://makeameme.org/character/worst-apocalypse-ever
A popular meme by the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons also known as Jeff Albertson.
Usually associated with the words “Worst Apocalypse Ever”
40
Most excellent. We need to use it a lot more. It goes right to the heart of the stupidity.
Of course, I haven’t watched TV in over 10 years now. And I’m sure I’m a lot happier for it.
30
Please, we all know its EVAH!!
20
Perhaps they can create a new level of apocalyptic language, similar to colours on maps …
Australia adds new colour to temperature maps as heat soars
” Forecast temperatures are so extreme that the Bureau of Meteorology has had to add a new colour to its scale. It is a sign of things to come …”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2013/jan/08/australia-bush-fires-heatwave-temperature-scale
00
What they need is a dictionary.
We here at Jonova can help the UN scientists!
I’m working on it.
Snorglefarb: Hottest hour of the day. Evah!
Verb: It was snorglefarb when the goldfish died.
Now that is scary.
40
Yes…with a new heat map colour, it means a new crayon for everyone at the BOM….
30
What’s with the hour? It’s now the hottest second in the day !
31
sounds like that dill in NZ that wanted another cyclone category. Seems like turn it up to 11 wasnt comedy after all.
20
“That dill” is James Shaw, the leader of the NZ Green Party and Minister of Climate Change in the present government. “Dill” is an understatement and doesn’t adequately describe his ideas. He earned a Masters Degree [MSc] in sustainability and Business leadership from the University of Bath School of Management, so you might be able to imagine what we have to deal with.
He’s Not a Physicist, as evidenced by not knowing that Cat 5 for South Pacific Tropical Cyclones is open ended, ie, there is no upper limit. Storm winds are unlikely to become supersonic.
00
In Canada, the province of Québec, which has had a carbon tax for a few years, just elected a new government (Monday this week). It will be a first time in power for a recently established party (CAQ – Coalition Avenir Québec). The previous Liberal government was generally leftist and greener-than-thou. The new party is supposed to have more centrist views, and has kept a low profile on environment during the campaign. It will be difficult for Québec to keep the carbon tax in the competitive North American business environment… As for leftist Mr. Trudeau and his federal Liberals, with an election scheduled for Fall 2019, it would not be a winning formula to try to force a carbon tax now.
130
Countries, states and provinces all around the world are ditching the Paris discords and associated commitments. Australia and its UN sycophant politicians is the only country that has swallowed the economy-destroying Anthropogenic Global Warming Fr@ud hook, line and sinker.
211
The fr@ud will come to an end when El Nino disappears.
‘According to the latest UAH satellite measurements, global average lower tropospheric temperature has dropped to levels that has made September the coolest in 10 years.
‘In fact, global temperatures are now below what they were three years ago, i.e. before a very strong El Nino temporarily drove up global temperatures by 0.6 deg C at their peak in February 2016. Since then, they have dropped by even more (0.7 deg C) and nobody knows whether they may decline any further.’
GWPF
130
Thanks David.
You’ve given us something to aim for:
a country which operates wholly and solely on the basis of following the laws of the land, and no other.
Under the banner of AUXIT, we need to secede from now redundant organisations whose only function is to bleed us and destroy our capacity for self determination.
Auxit: the U.N., the Paris “agreement”, the IPCCCCC and trade arrangements contrary to our best interests.
In recent decades we have lost most of our heavy industry outside of mining: we have little remaining metallurgical processing, no motor vehicle production and what’s left of industry is being priced out of existence by absurd Electricity costs.
The last straw is the farming industry which seems to be at a critical crisis point and is suffering from the stranglehold of Absurd Electricity Costs.
The big problem is that politicians either can’t or won’t fix power prices because to do so might mean that they become “unelected”.
Once a nation of decent people led to a bright future, now headed to the Green Nightmare just a few months down the track when all remaining business activity finally ceases under the idiotic burden of the Rigged Electricity Market.
KK
110
David,
Whilst Britain outdoes Australia on climate stupidity. Take the Climate Change Act 2008.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/27/contents
Key target is
No political flannel is allowed. And all but 6 MPs voted in favor.
By 2030 the direct costs are estimated to be £319bn, with virtually zero benefit to the people of Britain even if CAGW were true.
140
A similar clause was contained in the National Energy Guarantee proposed for Australia by the former PM led government, and I am not aware of what the government intends to do now.
They signed the Paris Agreement in New York in April 2016 and when news arrived that President Trump intended to dump the Paris Agreement Minister Hunt was sent back to New York to ratify the Paris Agreement, even though there are no penalties for failing to meet emission (carbon dioxide) targets.
80
No benefit to any human being!! but, and it’s a big but.
Where Does That Money Go???
All 319 billion Pounds of it.
Someone will get it.
KK
60
Some…one, is the likely outcome.
30
KK
I should have phrased it better. Climate mitigation policies will have net negative impacts to any country that imposes them. Of course there will be some gainers, in the financial opportunities, in status and in imposing some people’s ideological preferences.
30
KK asked:
Maurice Strong might know. Unfortunately, he died a few years ago … after embezzling some millions of the UN’s money and retiring to China leaving a fine example for all other UN “Consultants” to follow …
00
The clean carbon tide is turning against Trudeau.
We hope that it swamps him !!
GeoffW
150
I was reading a blog entry by a Canadian at another site. They refered to their “Prime Minister Zoolander” and I couldnt help but burst out laughing. The empty headed vacuousness seemed a perfect fit.
110
Like an Australian Carbon Tax, it is all show, no substance.
There are two major reasons.
First is that to cut global emissions you need a global carbon tax.
Second is that the carbon tax needs to start high and escalate until fossil fuels are no longer affordable. Richard Tol in a 2013 paper estimated to meet a 2C warming target it would need to start at $210 t/CO2 in 2020 and escalate at 5-6% a year forever.
The proposed Manitoban Carbon Tax was too local (the State has around 0.016% of the global population) too low a starting point and finishes escalating in 2022.
Tol summarizes the case for a carbon tax here. Further discussion here.
60
Assuming global emissions was always the target. If, as some surmise, capitalism was the target, then the same applies. Some may argue that communism/socialism failed in the USSR because it wasn’t implemented on a large enough scale. Capitalism beat it down. The same proponents are back again. Like communism, a carbon tax is only effective on a global scale when it can be administered from a central government to control global economic output. If Trump gets a second term, the world owes him and the American electorate that voted for him a huge measure of gratitude. Clinton would have ushalfway down that rabbit hole by now.
61
“Second is that the carbon tax needs to start high and escalate until fossil fuels are no longer affordable.”
Thats speak for, we must end use of hydrocarbon fuel forever. Or in other words lets drive the ‘other’ world into the stone age.
30
When the promoters of climate mitigation speak of “we” they are implying that they are speaking for the whole world. To achieve their aims they need to incorporate the whole world. But two-thirds of global emissions come from “developing” countries who the Paris Agreement does not oblige to cut emissions. Further, reaching the 2C target means leaving >75% of known global fossil fuel (oil, coal & gas) reserves in the ground. That is not likely to happen when you consider the wide dispersal of the fossil fuel reserves, including a few nations with less than average levels of International Co-operation. I did an analysis last year.
https://manicbeancounter.com/2017/11/22/the-supply-side-of-climate-mitigation-is-toothless/
30
It’s time the whole community of scientists admitted the CAGW story is wrong. They don’t have to go as far as to announce it’s a scam (which it is) but they should at least say those who promote the man-made global warming/climate change story have got it so wrong they should pull their heads in and if they don’t they should quit their jobs before they bring the profession down any further into the gutter thus hurting all good scientists. Silence is no longer an option. I said before those good scientists who remain silence are just a guilty as those who openly support the CAGW story. The good well meaning scientists can apologise by denouncing the others by reading and understanding Armstrong’s article below.
To Live a Creative Life We Cannot Fear Being Wrong
110
A cooling world is the only thing that will work, a sobering experience watching the climate science turned upside down.
All we have to do is come up with an academic reason for a cooling world, how hard could it be?
40
Do you think hunger might be sufficiently academic? When food shortages hit, it tends to sharpen minds marvellously.
00
‘Silence is no longer an option…’
Unless we can come up with a counter point of view the paradigm will remain in place. The jet stream is meandering and upsetting the subtropical ridge in the SH.
“This media release serves to alert the public at large regarding the possibility of some extreme weather conditions expected to affect the southern, central and eastern portions of the country from Tuesday 2 October onwards. This extreme, wintery weather will include snowfalls mainly over the southern and central parts of the Drakensberg (and could become disruptive in places), accompanied by cold conditions over many parts of South Africa.’
10
Keep this in mind the next time you are riding your bicycle to improve the planet, or contemplating another tax to ‘save the planet’ …
CORONAL CANYON FACES EARTH: A large canyon-shaped hole has opened in the sun’s atmosphere, and it is turning to face Earth.
“This is a coronal hole–a place in the sun’s atmosphere when magnetic fields open up and allow solar wind to escape.
Coronal holes are common, but this one is unusually large.
It stretches more than 900,000 km from the sun’s north polar crown across the equator into the sun’s southern hemisphere.
Now that’s a grand canyon.”
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory took this false-color UV picture of the structure on Oct. 4th-
http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=04&month=10&year=2018
10
What gets me about a ‘Carbon (sic) Tax’ is the utter hypocrisy of it all.
The Government imposes a levy cost per Tonne on the emissions of CO2, (and note how they always call it pollution) and then say that they are coming down hard on the ‘big polluters‘, making THEM pay.
Those entities (the proverbial big polluters) see the provisions being imposed on them, and read the fine print, how the Governments, while speaking with a big stick, always include the feather duster that those entities can pass the cost on to consumers.
So, those entities know that they’re not the ones being forced to pay, because they just pass the cost on.
No, it’s the average ‘punter’ being forced to pay, the man in the street, me and you.
The large scale coal fired power plant, emitting its typical EIGHTEEN MILLION TONNES of CO2 each and every year still goes on emitting that same amount of CO2 each and every year. The steel mill keeps making the same amount of steel. The same number of SUV’s and all other cars still get sold each and every year. The same amount of oil and petrol, and other oil based products still get used, the same natural gas gets used all over the Country. Nothing much changes at all. Only now, we all pay for it. The Government rakes it all in, and keeps spouting the line that they are doing something about it.
The hypocrisy comes in when those government people say with that serious look on their faces that they ARE doing something about it, by imposing this whopping great big new tax, and that somehow mythically changes the Climate ….. WITH A TAX no less.
No, Mister Government man, bl00dy well do something if you actually have the conviction. Close down that power plant. Actually stop those emissions if you think they are so damaging.
Just don’t force ME to pay for it, and then falsely claim it’s the EMITTING entity paying for it.
Tony.
110
Agreeing with you, isn’t also quite clear that if the planet was heading for the disaster the hoaxers claim it is all fossil fuels would be banned from use worldwide.
50
Of course the reality is if there was any serious attempt to ban fossil fuels world wide it would lead directly to a world war.
50
They should tax countries with those CO2 emitting volcanoes!! why arent they doing something about it? dammit!
30
It does look like the tide is turning against the CAGW story. If it continues Morrison could have a cake walk at winning the next election simply based on the renewables versus coal saga if he plays his cards right. Given no one else in the world is taking the CAGW story seriously any longer now that 1600+ coal fired power stations are being built over the forseable future there is no longer any point pretending that Paris is relevant. Morrison can inform the voters the full story using that fact and many others to shoot Shorten’s plan on renewables down in flames and bury it forever. If Morrison does it properly it could even embarrass Shorten and the rest on the left to such an extent some will jump ship and join the LNP to scrap the renewables subsidies and RETs. It might sound too far fetched for now and it is but given a few months of clear and unambiguous advertising by the government the message would eventually get through. I have little doubt about that. All that’s required is the courage on the part of Morrison to do it.
120
I believe he will shock everyone by doing exactly as you suggest and get a landslide victory.
80
Yes it would be a shock to many. It’s our last opportunity to save Australia from the destructive left of the ALP+Greens. I’m not sure if Morrison realises how serious it is. It’s no longer a simple matter of waiting for the usual election cycles to pass and not be too concerned about Shorten becoming PM for even just one term, and then wait for the LNP to be returned to “save the nation” yet again. It’s a make or break situation now. If Shorten becomes PM we will suffer a crash and burn scenario.
100
Shorten is walking around acting like a PM, setting policy for the election and ultimate victory.
Morrison needs to have a mini budget before Xmas to tell the electorate we are back in the black and the government is seeking tenders for coal fired power stations.
The green/left media would go ballistic and I wonder if Morrison has the courage to take them on.
60
Clearly if Morrison doesn’t realise how serious it is and instead chickens out on any serious attack on Shorten regarding his policies on energy, too many voters will remain clueless thus letting Shorten become PM. In that case I sincerely hope the LNP crashes and burns because they would deserve it for being so aloof and blind. The nation can also crash and burn for all I care if the voters can’t see through the CAGW scam the left are pushing. There is sufficient evidence around to show even to a blind person the truth about the CAGW scam.
30
My sentiments exactly.
20
It will certainly be a major shock to me if Morrison does anything useful about the RET and Paris.
I’ll give him until the Wentworth by-election is over, then we will see his true colours. From what we’ve seen of him thus far though he is a grovelling lap-dog; a nothing-man. That’s why Turnbull favoured him for the job. You’re ascribing to him strengths of character and intellect he doesn’t possess.
00
There are around 45 Black Hands against 40 of their political enemies who would not allow it.
20
Trudeau gave the Provinces no choice. It was either a Federal mandate or a local solution. Pallister’s heart was never in the scheme. I taught him meteorology and climatology in university circa 1980, so he has some background knowledge. Canada is slowly going back to the right – none too soon for most Western Canadians.
90
Profound message, but I am not sure of our politicians’ reading skills.
80
Sorry for headline only, the story is behind a paywall at The Australian today
“Petrol cars ‘here a long time’
PHILIP KING
BMW says electric vehicles will never compete on price with combustion engine cars even if battery costs are halved.
90
The new Nissan Leaf EV will soon be released for sale in Australia, a Toyota Corolla dimension small car the Leaf will cost Australians more than twice the price of ICEV Corolla, about $55K for Leaf EV.
The range of Leaf EV will be 270 kilometres, theoretically in perfect driving conditions I suspect. It can be recharged to 80 per cent battery capacity using a rapid charger however every second charge requires a full charge mode and 24-hours.
Nissan claim that’s ok, most drivers do not exceed just under 40 kilometres a day.
30
The woes of Nissan Leaf ownership . . . or as we like to say — haha told ya so.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/next-time-buy-a-proper-car-isabel/
40
Thanks b,
A fascinating article. And Australia leads the way in take up. A 98% increase!! I guess we went from 100 to 198?
In the mean time I’ll stick with my Holden ute and its V6.
Cheers,
Dave B
51
Personally I find the idea of electric transport very attractive , and started looking at Nissan Leaf,
until I realised that I would be spending £21000 for a car only suitable for local trips to the supermarket
and garden centres and which could not, with any degree of confidence, be used to journey 200 miles to visit
family down in Kent.
Until batteries are improved the replacement of the family sized car, with decent boot, suitable for holiday
touring, maybe towing a caravan, is only for the very rich (Tesla type car) or the very committed.
50
yep much the same
when I was a city worker drone , I fitted the 40km a day trip profile but we might end up anywhere in the State on the weekend, so not a fit especially 10 years ago
now I am a regional citizen a 400km round trip capability is the minimum
we are getting there , but not in an affordable config yet , unless you are a fanboy with $ and no sense
30
Good to hear.
GeoffW
00
this story has been unreported for days, it seems. can’t find anything other than this:
5 Oct: ABC 4 hours ago: Solar farm workers walk off site amid dispute
By Gary-Jon Lysaght and Eugene Boisvert
Most construction at Australia’s largest photovoltaic (PV) solar farm near Port Augusta has stopped following a disagreement between unions and a subcontractor.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) organiser Ryan Ernesti told the ABC it had pulled almost every worker off of the 275-megawatt Bungala Solar Power Project farm site near Port Augusta on ***Tuesday morning…
He said the union made the call because Adelaide-based electrical subcontractor Keightley Electrical Services did not have a labour-hire provider when the workers arrived…
A former employee at the Bungala site — who did not want to be named — said conditions on the site were difficult, particularly during dust storms — which are common in the South Australian desert.
“The winds and the sand at ground level was just phenomenal.
“And the guys that worked in the trenches, these trenches are waist deep, so they would have been right in the blasting line of ground dust.
“That would have been tremendously uncomfortable.”…READ ALL
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-05/solar-farm-workers-walk-off-site-in-cfmeu-labour-hire-dispute/10328976
theirABC were still boasting about Bungala/SA/RE as late as the following, which doesn’t mention the walk-off.
read all:
5 Oct: ABC 6 hours ago; Updated about 4 hours ago: ‘Renewables capital of Australia’? Port Augusta shows off its green energy credentials
By Stephen Long
Nearby, a chimney is visible in the distance across the salt pans.
It’s a remnant of the Northern Power Station, one of two defunct coal-fired plants here that used to supply more than a third of South Australia’s electricity. Its boilers were detonated last December.
“In 2015 when they announced the closure of the [Northern] coal-fired power station, I said that Port Augusta would become the renewables capital of Australia,” Sam Johnson, the mayor of Port Augusta, said.
“Three years on, I think we have.”
Or soon will be…
Framed by the Flinders Ranges, stage one of the Bungala solar farm stretches over 300 hectares of land owned by the Bungala Aboriginal Corporation about 10 kilometres north-east of town.
Bungala uses a solar photovoltaic technology, with panels mounted on a tilting axis that can follow the sun’s path from east to west, maximising output and efficiency.
“It’s not only the largest solar project in Australia,” Mr Johnson said. “It’s also the largest in the southern hemisphere. And it’s only half complete.”
When stage two is complete, the entire project will cover more than 800 hectares — an expanse nearly as big as the Melbourne CBD — and generate up to 570 gigawatt hours of electricity a year, enough to power about 82,000 households, according to its owners, Italian multinational Enel Green Power and the Dutch Infrastructure Fund.
“Note that the Northern Power Station, when it was operating, was only producing between 500 and 540 megawatts,” Mr Johnson said.
“Obviously, it was operating 24-7, while the solar plant will only operate when the sun is shining, but when you start to incorporate battery storage and solar thermal, you then build in the energy security.”…READ ALL
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-05/port-augusta-becomes-australian-renewable-energy-hub/10338812
10
comment in moderation re: 5 Oct: ABC: Solar farm workers walk off site amid dispute
5 Oct: ABC: Wind farms attract new rules governing noise in Victoria to ‘give community confidence’
ABC Rural By Sinéad Mangan and Bridget Fitzgerald
The Victorian Government has changed the rules around the testing of wind turbine noise at all new wind farm developments.
The new regulations follow an unsatisfactory independent audit of wind turbines at the Lal Lal Wind Farm, which is under construction near Ballarat.
Now, all new wind farm developments must have noise levels checked by an independent auditor approved by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
Noise levels will be audited twice — before and after construction of the turbines.
The new guidelines follow a commitment by the Andrews Government to develop three new wind farms in Geelong, Warrnambool and Mortlake…READ ALL FOR FURTHER DETAILS
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-05/wind-farm-noise-rules-to-be-reviewed-by-victorian-government/10334752
4 Oct: MIT Technology Review: James Temple: Wide-scale US wind power could cause significant warming
A Harvard study raises questions about just how much wind should be part of a climate solution.
It’s expanded 35-fold since 2000 and now provides 8% of the nation’s electricity. The US Department of Energy expects wind turbine capacity to more than quadruple again by 2050.
But a new study by a pair of Harvard researchers finds that a high amount of wind power could mean more climate warming, at least regionally and in the immediate decades ahead. The paper raises serious questions about just how much the United States or other nations should look to wind power to clean up electricity systems.
The study, published in the journal Joule, found that if wind power supplied all US electricity demands, it would warm the surface of the continental United States by 0.24 ˚C. That could significantly exceed the reduction in US warming achieved by decarbonizing the nation’s electricity sector this century, which would be around 0.1 ˚C.
“If your perspective is the next 10 years, wind power actually has—in some respects—more climate impact than coal or gas,” coauthor David Keith, a professor of applied physics and public policy at Harvard, said in a statement. “If your perspective is the next thousand years, then wind power is enormously cleaner than coal or gas.”…
“Our analysis suggests that—where feasible—it may make sense to push a bit harder on developing solar power and a bit less hard on wind,” Keith said in an e-mail.
Notably, the warming effect from wind in the studied scenario was 10 times greater than the climate effect from solar farms, which can also have a tiny warming effect…
Previous studies also pointed out the effect, but they generally looked at either small-scale or global impacts. The new study sought to explore a “plausible scale” of wind power in a single large country. It compared model results against direct observations at wind farms, finding that they matched.
There are some important limitations to the study. It notes that the warming effect depends strongly on local weather conditions, as well as the type and placement of turbines. It didn’t analyze impacts outside the continental United States or time periods beyond a year. And it’s difficult to imagine anything approaching this level of wind power actually being built in the nation.
Stanford professor John Dabiri criticized the study, saying the simulations relied on a proxy for wind turbines that increases aerodynamic drag at the earth’s surface.
“It is well known that this type of modeling assumption does a poor job of predicting the flow in real wind farms,” he said.
Dabiri, an expert on wind turbine designs, says a “more realistic” earlier simulation found “little temperature change near the surface.”
The American Wind Energy Association swiftly challenged the framing of the conclusions as well…
The Harvard researchers said their findings closely matched directly observed effects from hundreds of US wind farms.
Keith, an outspoken proponent of clean energy to combat global warming, says he’s sure the paper will be misinterpreted or misrepresented by some to argue against the rollout of wind power.
“But it would be unethical for the research community to hide impacts from renewables because we think they should be promoted,” he said.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612238/wide-scale-us-wind-power-could-cause-significant-warming/
20
5 Oct: BBC: Caution urged over use of ‘carbon unicorns’ to limit warming
By Matt McGrath
Climate scientists meeting in Korea are being urged to avoid relying on untested technologies as a way of keeping global temperature rise under 1.5C…
Early drafts said it would require machines to suck carbon out of the air.
The ideas are unrealistic, said one expert, calling them “carbon unicorns”…
But some environmentalists see great danger in all these ideas of negative emissions. They believe they are mythical solutions that allow people to keep on using coal, oil and gas.
“There are some countries whose economies are based on fossil fuels who are not ready to face the reality yet, and they will want to continue digging and selling those fossil fuels for quite some time,” one seasoned climate expert told BBC News.
“I suppose they’re presuming that in the future some unicorns will pop up and suck the extra carbon from the atmosphere!”
Another factor that is likely to complicate the rapid reduction in fossil fuel usage is the continuing growth of coal as a power source…
***A new analysis (LINK) by a group of environmental organisations says that 1,380 new coal plants or units are planned, or under development, in 59 countries. If built, these plants would add 672,124 megawatts of energy capacity to the global coal plant fleet – an increase of 33%.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45742191
links to:
***CoalExit.org: Database: Companies on Coal Expansion Course
Our Sources: The main source for this data was CoalSwarm’s “Global Coal Plant Tracker”, which we complemented with company-related research…
https://coalexit.org/database
10
CEI has the CoalExit story:
4 Oct: CompetitiveEnterpriseInstitute: Coal Plant Developers Still Building, Investing Despite Paris Agreement
by Marlo Lewis, Jr
“Since the Paris Climate Agreement was negotiated in December 2015, the world’s installed coal-fired capacity grew by 92,000 MW—an increase equal to the combined operating coal fleets of Russia and Japan,” according to a report released Thursday by a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called CoalExit.Org (LINK)…
The coalition, led by German environmental group Urgewald, condemns the building of new coal power plants “as an assault on the Paris climate goals.” The report provides an update on the construction activities and plans of the world’s top 120 coal power plant developers. Among the report’s key findings…ETC
Interestingly, no American companies are listed among those undertaking or planning construction of new coal power plants (h/t Dylan Brown, E&E News).
https://cei.org/blog/coal-plant-developers-still-building-investing-despite-paris-agreement
20
But unicorn-ism is what they do. Its always the next generation , imminent, under development stuff the refer to so they can just wave their hands and say all this current real world stuff is just a glitch. Its far far easier than facing reality.
10
You have to laugh.
It is comical …
You’ve closed down and blown up your coal-fired power stations.
You’ve closed your car manufacturing industry.
You’ve turned off your smelter.
You’ve built the world’s biggest battery and are building another.
You are building more wind power.
You are subsidising solar panels for every home.
And now, South Australians are being payed to turn off their pool pumps to make electricity cheaper and more plentiful …
Better to turn off pool pumps than build power stations: AEMO
“The chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator says paying householders to turn swimming pool pumps off and for extra electricity collected from their rooftop solar panels is a smarter way of ensuring no power blackouts happen than building new power stations.
“Heatwaves are longer in duration,” she said.
Ms Zibelman said solar panels were less efficient on days of extreme heat however.”
https://www.afr.com/business/energy/better-to-turn-off-pool-pumps-then-build-power-stations-aemo-20181002-h164s0
110
Mark
I wish I could laugh, unfortunately it’s now beyond a joke.
KK
120
Look out, here comes Ms Zibelman
https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/lturnbull-scomo-and-coal-lovers-look-out-here-comes-audrey-zibelman,10194
40
You will end up with nasty infested water which is a danger to health. What is more…when the pump failed on a little pool here, I tried using the water from the pool and killed plants…be warned and benefit from my experience. 🙁
40
“Heatwaves are longer and people should turn off their pool pumps”
Audrey Zibelman is a ’21st century horrer person’.
Scott Morrison get rid of her!!
GeoffW
70
Isnt she there to manage the grid? not tell customers what to do with it?
I spent a lifetime in computer networking. We used to say that we would have great network if it “wasnt for all those bloody users”
but, we were only joking
Imagine if the NBN promoted turning of computers or not downloading cat videos or porn as a “solution” instead of just making the bloody network work.
70
What proportion of households across Australia have pools needing pumps? (Bird baths need not be counted.)
10%
1%
0.1%
0.01%
We know there’s at least one pool pump: Zibelman’s … Where else could she get the idea from?
10
Off topic, but latest initiative from Powercor, network provider in Vic, to reduce peak summer demand.
Energy Partner is an innovative new program by Powercor together with RACV which enables you to help share electricity demand in your community on a few really hot days over summer. Each time you participate for an entire Event, we’ll set your air con to a maximum of 26 degrees for around 3 hours, we’ll pay you $20, plus you’ll go in to the draw to win a $1,000 RACV Resorts Voucher.
It all happens via Sensibo Sky – the ultimate smart device designed to automate the control of your air conditioner and save energy. We will provide and install the Sensibo unit, with a RRP of $159, in your home for free.
40
no probs, as long as you do it before lunchtime
20
Grinding of teeth…
10
26 deg is OK for an aircon if you also run a ceiling fan.
20
This summer I will be doing my bit by running every electrical device I can .
20
4 Oct: VallartaDaily: Mexico falls 92% short on commitments under Climate Accord
According to the INECC (Natl Inst of Ecology & Climate Change, the capital required to implement mitigation and adaptation initiatives from 2014-2030 is $126 billion – nearly $8 billion per year – thoug only $10.15 billion has been invested so far.
In 2017, Mexico invested $2.4 billion, less than a third of what is required…READ ON, CAN’T COPY…
https://www.vallartadaily.com/mexico-falls-92-short-on-commitments-under-climate-accord/
3 Oct: UK Telegraph: Slowing population growth is key to saving the planet, says David Attenborough
by Telegraph reporters
In an interview with BBC Newsnight, the veteran broadcaster discussed the state and future prospects of the world’s environment.
The 92-year-old told the programme: “In the long run, population growth has to come to an end. There are some reasons for thinking that will happen almost inevitably.
“One of the reasons that the population has increased as fast as it has is that people like me are living longer than we did. And so there are more and more people just because the expectancy of life has increased.”…
US President Donald Trump has pledged to withdraw from the agreement, but Sir David was doubtful whether the country would do so.
He said: “And we have got that agreement; it is true that President Trump doesn’t go along with it. To what extent the United States is going to withdraw from it, we’ll see.”
Sir David added: “My suspicion is that people will realise that actually the United States’ attitude is outdated, it doesn’t apply any more, and I think that will be overcome.
“There’s a groundswell internationally of recognising what we are doing to the planet and the disaster that awaits unless we do something.
“But this is the only world we’ve got.”…
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/03/slowing-population-growth-key-saving-planet-says-david-attenborough/
10
5 Sept: Reuters: Mexico’s president-elect sets out plan for new $8 billion oil refinery
Mexico’s next government plans to build what could be the country’s largest oil refinery, with construction set to begin as soon as next year, President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday.
The winner of July’s presidential election is seeking to end Mexico’s massive fuel imports, nearly all of which come from the United States, while boosting domestic refining during the first half of his six-year term.
“It will be a refinery that will produce 400,000 barrels per day of gasoline with an approximate cost of $8 billion that we want to build in three years,” Lopez Obrador told a group of business leaders in the northern city of Monterrey, in broadcast comments…
Mexico’s largest refinery at present is the 330,000-barrel-per-day Salina Cruz, owned and operated by state-run oil company Pemex…
Mexico’s refining network can process up to 1.6 million bpd of crude. It has been working this year at around 40 percent.
Rocio Nahle, Lopez Obrador’s pick to be the next energy minister, told Reuters in February that the next government wanted to add crude processing capacity of between 300,000 and 600,000 bpd.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-refinery/mexicos-president-elect-sets-out-plan-for-new-8-billion-oil-refinery-idUSKCN1LK2V0?rpc=401&
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5 Oct: Daily Mail: Sir David Attenborough warns of ‘disaster’ for planet Earth if humans keep eating an ‘impractical’ amount of meat
•He cited humans’ omnivorous nature and said we evolved to eat anything
•Attenborough has reduced his meat-eating and thinks humans should eat less
By Alisha Rouse Showbusiness Correspondent
He insisted: ‘We are omnivores so biologically, if you could have a biological morality, you can say “Yes, we evolved to eat pretty well everything”.
‘But now we’ve got to a stage in our own social evolution in which that is no longer practical. I think actually that as you get older, you eat less meat, I certainly do. And it’s not for ideological reasons, I just don’t eat as much meat as I did.
‘And I’m bolstered in making that move by the knowledge that actually that is helpful.’…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6241825/Sir-David-Attenborough-warns-disaster-Earth-humans-eating-impractical-meat.html
4 Oct: UK Telegraph: David Attenborough says the BBC still needs ‘white men explaining things’ to audiences
By Helena Horton
Sir David Attenborough has said the BBC still needs “white men explaining things” in television programmes, after the editor of BBC Four said “the era of that has passed.”
The Blue Planet presenter gently contradicted Cassian Harrison, who told the Edinburgh International Television Festival in August: “There’s a mode of programming that involves a presenter, usually white, middle-aged and male, standing on a hill and ‘telling you like it is.’
“We all recognise the era of that has passed.”
Newsnight’s Evan Davis asked: “I don’t know if you heard in August, Cassian Harrison, the editor of BBC Four, said the BBC no longer wants TV shows in which white, middle aged men stand up and explain things. I’m sure he didn’t have you in mind.”
Chuckling, Sir David replied: “I’m sure he did, because that’s what I do.
“I don’t think [those days have] passed, I personally think there’s a place for that sort of thing, Blue Planet got one of the biggest audiences of documentaries in a long time. On the other hand I suppose he might say there wasn’t a lot seen of you. Which is absolutely true and a very good thing.”…
Britain’s most-watched television show last year was Sir David’s Blue Planet II, with 14 million viewers.
The BBC has pledged to make its programmes less male-heavy after being widely criticised for its pay report, in which most of the highest-earning stars were men.
In April, the broadcaster promised to insist half of the expert voices heard on news and current affairs programmes are women by next year.
By early 2019, the corporation aims to have an equal number of male and female expert contributors to topical shows, as it increases the number of women on air.
This change is not limited to news programmes; yesterday the BBC announced that Zoe Ball would be the first female host of Radio 2’s breakfast show…
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/04/david-attenborough-says-bbc-still-needs-white-men-explaining/
10
4 Oct: NationalPost: Saskatchewan, Ontario premiers say fight against ‘nasty, nasty’ carbon tax growing across Canada
‘Saskatchewan and Ontario will continue to be strong allies in the fight against a destructive, made-in-Ottawa carbon tax that does nothing for our environment’
by Sylvia Strojek, The Canadian Press; With files from Mia Rabson
Ontario’s Doug Ford and Scott Moe from Saskatchewan said they were pleased at Manitoba’s about-face on its intention to bring in a carbon levy…
“We have common ground in our opposition to the federal government’s attempted imposition of a carbon tax,” Moe said after a meeting with Ford in Saskatoon.
“It’s clear that opposition to this ill-advised, destructive policy is growing across the nation.”
The federal Conservatives couldn’t contain their delight either at Pallister’s move.
MP James Bezan tweeted congratulations for joining “the anti-carbon tax team!”
His fellow Manitoba MP, Candice Bergen, said her party had not pressured the province’s Progressive Conservative premier to change his mind but was “pleasantly surprised” when he did so.
Moe and Ford met Thursday to talk about their economic ties as well as what Ford called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s job-killing and “nasty, nasty tax.”
The two conservative leaders said they will continue to fight the tax together and, to that end, Moe announced Saskatchewan will file for intervener status in Ontario’s court challenge of the federal government’s carbon-pricing plan…
Ford also spoke in glowing terms of Jason Kenney, “our friend in Alberta,” who he said has been fighting carbon pricing since his days as a federal Conservative cabinet minister. Ford is to speak Friday at a “Scrap The Carbon Tax Rally” in Calgary at the invitation of Kenney, who is leader of Alberta’s Opposition United Conservatives.
Kenney has promised to repeal Alberta’s carbon tax if his party wins next spring’s provincial election.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/saskatchewan-files-for-intervener-status-in-ontario-carbon-tax-court-challenge
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5 Oct: Reuters: Poland to ban bad coal to fight smog, but delay disappoints environmentalists
by Agnieszka Barteczko
The Polish government said on Thursday that a new decree will banish the worst-quality coal from the market, improving air quality, but environmentalists said a two-year delay means the government is favoring the mining industry over public health…
However, the ban on the poorest quality coal will only take effect from June 30, 2020, drawing criticism from environmentalists…
Poland is heavily dependent on coal, with around 80 percent of its power production provided by coal-fired plant generation…
Poland and Germany are jointly responsible for over half of the European Union’s carbon dioxide emissions from coal…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-coal/poland-to-ban-bad-coal-to-fight-smog-but-delay-disappoints-environmentalists-idUSKCN1ME1VH
4 Oct: Bloomberg: No Turning Back for Utility Building Poland’s Last Coal Plant
By Maciej Martewicz
Poland’s Energa SA will not abandon a contested 6 billion zloty ($1.6 billion) Ostroleka power plant project as the country needs to replace its aging facilities to meet rising demand for electricity, according to its chief financial officer.
The 1-gigawatt project is slated to be the nation’s last coal-fired unit when it starts operating in 2023…
“There’s no turning back from the investment, especially when you take into account the huge determination from all the involved parties and the estimate of higher demand for electricity,” Koscielniak said in an interview last week…
Despite some adjustments to its energy policy, Poland is still set to start so-called power capacity payments this year aimed at keeping coal-fired plants running. Ostroleka may also benefit from capacity auctions scheduled for December…
The utility also plans to build a gas-fired plant in Grudziadz, which it wants to auction in the next year’s capacity market, he said…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-04/no-turning-back-for-utility-building-poland-s-last-coal-plant?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google
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behind paywall:
China is the fly in the climate-change ointment
The Australian-13 hours ago
It happens that under the Paris accord, China is exempt from any emissions reduction targets until 2030. China may continue to ramp up…
4 Oct: VietnamNet: Vietnam asked to accelerate commitment against climate change
Vietnam should be an ambitious and demanding participant in international climate negotiations, recommended experts at Wednesday’s pre-COP24 Workshop hosted by the NGO Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung Vietnam and the World Wildlife Fund.
PHOTO: Wind power plants in the Southern Central of Ninh Thuan. Raising the number of renewable power projects can reduce greenhouse emissions.
Despite being among the most vulnerable countries to climate change, Vietnam has done little to reduce greenhouse emissions by 2030. Therefore, the upcoming COP24 in Poland, the Climate Vulnerable Forum and the ongoing NDC revision process until the first quarter of 2019 are important opportunities to change the country’s position…
Yvonne Blos, director of the Climate Change project from Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung Vietnam, stressed the common commitment of all countries including Vietnam to enhance resilience against climate change and efficiently keep temperature rise “well below two degrees Celsius”…
https://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/environment/209602/vietnam-asked-to-accelerate-commitment-against-climate-change.html
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4 Oct: Bloomberg: China’s Funding for Coal Draws Scrutiny as Climate Concern Grows
Asian nations are biggest backers of new fossil fuel plants as scientists weigh call for much stricter limits
By Jeremy Hodges; With assistance by Chisaki Watanabe
China, India, Japan and the Philippines rank among the biggest investors in the 1,380 coal plants under construction or development worldwide, according to a study by the German pressure group Urgewald released Thursday.
The findings add to evidence that Asian companies, often backed by taxpayer money, are stepping up funding for the technology blamed for global warming. A panel of researchers convened by the United Nations next week will release its recommendations for how to limit temperature increases, detailing how to meet a commitment in the 2015 Paris Agreement where almost 200 countries agreed to slash use of fossil fuel.
“Every coal plant that goes online puts a new stumbling block between us and the Paris goals,” said Heffa Schuecking, director of Urgewald…
Utilities by 2030 would have to consume just a third of the coal they burn now to hold global warming since the start of the industrial era to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), according to a draft of a report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That group of hundreds of top researchers is due to release a report on Oct. 8 in South Korea calling for a massive reduction in burning coal…
Yet taxpayer funding for new coal plants is growing, according to a report earlier this year by Natural Resources Defense Council, which is based in New York. It found governments in the Group of 20 nations extended a record $13 billion for loans, credits and guarantees backing coal plants last year.
“There’s a huge amount of coal being built with foreign support, and unfortunately the global coal build-out has been largely overlooked as a major climate risk,’’ Han Chen, climate advocate at NRDC…
Export credit agencies such as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, China Development Bank Corp. and Korea Trade Insurance Corp. were among the biggest supporters. The three biggest destinations for those funds were Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam…
The World Coal Association has criticized CoalSwarm’s data in the past, saying the actual number of plants being built is much more limited than the group’s data suggests. It cited the Platts World Electric Power Plant Database showing 74 gigawatts of coal plants underway in China, short of the 259 gigawatts that CoalSwarm counted.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-04/china-s-funding-for-coal-draws-scrutiny-as-climate-concern-grows
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-05/chart-of-the-day-plants-rule-carbon-weight-of-life-on-earth/10069684
“There are almost 8 billion people alive today. This sounds like a lot, but how do we really weigh up in comparison to other living things?
The carbon weight of all life on Earth is estimated at 550 gigatonnes, according to a recent study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Human beings make up only around 0.01 per cent of this biomass.
The vast majority is made up of plants and single-celled organisms such as bacteria. Even viruses outweigh us by more than three to one.
By visualising this data we can see life on Earth in a whole new light.”
50
Surely all those other organisms must be contributing more than us mere mortals to global warming?
40
These numbers in Gigatonnes are made to seem enormous. Remember the planet’s mass is around 10^26 kg.
10
I think its more about what we do, than what we are.
Other species dont manipulate the world the way we do.
Agent Smith was right.
10
5 Oct: Bloomberg: Revealing the Dark Side of Wind Power
Surprising new research suggests harvesting cleaner energy may have serious consequences for the environment.
By Mark Buchanan
Research published today may help clarify the situation — and it’s not encouraging for wind-power enthusiasts. It suggests that the power available from wind is much more limited than many experts thought, and that deployment on a larger scale could significantly raise temperatures over the Earth’s surface, as turbines alter atmospheric flows. The research highlights a painful but not altogether surprising reality: Even the cleanest renewable technologies come with environmental costs…
As human energy demand keeps rising, especially in India and China, carbon dioxide emissions will soar unless we shift to zero-carbon energy sources…
For wind power, researchers have debated how much energy might ultimately be harvested, with estimates of the available energy density — how much we might gather per unit of surface area — ranging all the way from 0.5 to 200 watts per square meter. The higher figures tend to come from studies of single turbines in isolation, and lower numbers when considering how, in larger wind farms, one turbine can disrupt wind flows and reduce the energy-gathering efficiency of other turbines nearby. The lowest estimates come from theoretical studies of the physics of atmospheric flows. The new study comes down firmly on the lower end of the range.
Lee Miller and David Keith of Harvard University looked at historical data on U.S. wind farms. In 2016, they found that the mean power density for 411 onshore wind-power plants was 0.50 watts per square meter. Figures were similar in the 26 years prior. Moreover, they found that wind plants encompassing the largest areas had the lowest power densities, as expected.
***This figure implies that meeting current U.S. electricity needs alone would require wind farms to cover fully 12 percent of the U.S. land area…
Miller and Keith also looked at U.S. solar farms, finding an achieved energy density about 10 times higher than for wind farms. Solar arrays in their study also led to much less local warming. There may be a good reason to shift future investments toward solar energy, as some big investors are doing already…
Miller and Keith emphasize that using either wind or solar is far preferable to sticking with fossil fuels…
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-10-04/wind-power-isn-t-as-clean-as-we-thought-it-was
10
I could post these pieces all day long. Seth throws wind under the ?
4 Oct: AP: Seth Borenstein: No free lunch for renewables: More wind power would warm US
While wind energy is widely celebrated as environmentally friendly, the researchers concluded that a dramatic, all-out expansion in the number of turbines could warm the country even more than climate change from burning coal and other fossil fuels, because of the way the spinning blades disturb the layers of warm and cold air in the atmosphere.
Some parts of the central United States are already seeing nights that are up to 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) warmer because of nearby wind farms, said study lead author Lee Miller, an environmental scientist at Harvard…
Still, the effect from turbines is different from human-caused climate change. It mostly consists of warming, it’s local, and it’s temporary.
***When the turbines are still because the air is calm, there’s no warming…
Climate change, in contrast, is a global effect that involves many more elements than temperature, such as sea level rise, extreme weather, melting glaciers and shifts in the jet stream. Even if a country stopped emitting greenhouse gases, it would still experience climate change if the rest of the world kept on polluting…
Wind advocates emphasized that the Harvard study doesn’t show turbines causing global warming, just local heating…
Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science who wasn’t part of the research, said the study is sound…
https://www.apnews.com/82f436aa913a4ddf87e3cee8d3915924/No-free-lunch-for-renewables:-More-wind-power-would-warm-US
******When the turbines are still because the air is calm, there’s no warming…
LOL:
7 June 2018: Daily Mail: Britain Becalmed: Turbines across the UK are at a STANDSTILL after wind ‘disappears’ for a week causing a two-year low in electricity production
•Since the start of June, wind farms have been producing barely any electricity
•The ‘wind drought’ has meant turbines have generated less than two per cent of the country’s power this month
By Joe Pinkstone
Forecasts show the calm conditions will continue until the middle of the month…
The Met Office told MailOnline that this period of tranquillity and little power is the result of a series of high-pressure areas over the UK…
A drop-off like this in winter could be catastrophic should the UK become reliant upon renewable energy sources…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5812811/Wind-turbines-standstill-wind-disappears-thew-UK.html
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You are an inspiration Jo, the Denialati will not forget your effort.
70
on the eve of the poll, the FakeNewsMSM – which has done everything possible to demonise Bolsonaro & claimed the polls were tight – has to admit Bolsonaro is way ahead in the polls:
‘Just like Trump’: Bolsonaro leads Brazil’s presidential race with right-wing populist pitch
Washington Post · 9 hours ago
TWEET: John Paul Rathbone, Financial Times: Brazilian stocks jump most in 7 months as far-right candidate extends lead LINK FT
https://twitter.com/JP_Rathbone/status/1047497390285094913?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Enews%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
5 Oct: TheCourierAustralia: AAP: Bolsonaro leads Brazil presidential poll
Brazilian far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has a commanding first-round lead, according to a new poll, but he is still short of votes to win the election outright this weekend and avoid a run-off vote.
The Datafolha poll found Bolsonaro had 35 per cent support, a three percentage point jump since Tuesday.
His nearest rival, Fernando Haddad of the leftist Workers Party, stood at 22 per cent. The pair remain deadlocked in a possible run-off vote.
The poll showed Bolsonaro has 39 per cent of the valid votes, 11 points short of a majority needed for a first-round victory. Failing that, the two top vote-getters will face off on October 28…
Bolsonaro has been unable to campaign, aside from postings on social media, since suffering a brutal stabbing during a rally a month ago. On medical advice, he said he would not take part in Thursday night’s debate.
Nonetheless, support for Bolsonaro has surged in recent days and some observers say he could even win the presidency in the first-round ballot, with the left-leaning vote split between Haddad and a clutch of other candidates…
https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/5686094/bolsonaro-leads-brazil-presidential-poll/
20
I love the term ‘commitment against climate change’. You must commit to our (IPCC) scam , regardless of how it wrecks your (country’s) economy in the long term.
40
This is OT.
Chinese have allegedly placed, presumably programmable,chips in hardware sold to BOM which can be remotely activated.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-10-05/supermicro-malicious-chips-china-australian-government/10342006
BOM does not comment.
This could explain the ease with which the BOM was hacked by China.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-12/bureau-of-meteorology-bom-cyber-hacked-by-foreign-spies/7923770
This malaware attack could have been cover for downloading data.
30
The US had backdoors in every bit of comms hardware (voice and data) that ever left their country.
Canada’s Mitel was a favoured vendor for secure phone systems as they would open their code for review, for a price of course.
30
It’s really worse than that. Every embassy and consulate in the world is a hot bed of spies bristling with antennas, local and country wide TV broadcast monitors and people mixing with the population on the street with their ears wide open.
And you would be surprised at how much information can be obtained from publicly available sources like news reports if someone can put it all together. Then there is the snooping on encrypted radio and microwave, satellite down links and anything else they can get their hands on. Not to mention hacking national defense systems if they can.
Why would everyone want to do this? Because no national leader wants to be surprised by what even a friendly nation is doing that may put his country at a disadvantage or risk, much less by what a not so friendly nation might be doing. Spying is probably the world’s next oldest profession right after the unmentionable one. Come to think about it, some in that oldest profession have been spies too. The Old Testament talks about spying. If I remember right, so does Homer. Or maybe that was someone else but you get the picture.
So if you have a secret, keeping your mouth shut is the only failsafe defense you have. Shhh, they’re listening to you right now.
20
Why on earth would the Chinese want to spy on the Bureau of Meteorology? Ahh now I get it , to work out how to fool the masses .
http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-10-05/supermicro-malicious-chips-china-australian-government/10342006
30
depends who the BOM is linked to
sometimes it just a point of entry, not a target
40
BoM was the soft underbelly.
10
To make educated decisions about what to buy and when.
When we were being told about the dams never filling and the ground being so hot that water would not run off they went the different way.
After the BOM hack and presumably sorting out the most reliable data, not Goulburn, not the Snowys, not the infilling in central Australia
not conflating Rutherglen with Hillston.
They bid on the Kidman Estate.
Looking out my window in Sydney, I think they got it right.
30
The Libs keep going from one stuff up to the next , $2000 for Internet per month charged to taxpayers for home internet per month just doesnt wash with this voter .
30
self indulgent twat even came from the IT world, hard to believe it was all an unfortunate misunderstanding or he was having “connectivity issues”
20
Has to be be the back door entry to something else the Chinese can fudge their own data .
10
Somewhat off topic but does anyone have a rigorous assessment of climate model “GFDLa1b”? This is the data source that the Science Centre at Queensland Museum is using for a display on climate issues. Potentially an instance of a publically funded organisation misleading the public?
21
You know when I see the words ” Climate” and “Science ” in a sentence nowadays I just switch off
21
Its NOAA, extremely dodgy, they believe carbon dioxide causes global warming.
https://sos.noaa.gov/datasets/climate-model-sea-ice-change-gfdl-a1b-1861-2100/
30
Should have used OT in unrelated posts sorry .
OT but just how many chances do we need to give a company bleeding tax dollars before pulling the pin .
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-05/carnegie-energy-albany-wave-farm-/10342270
10
this is all over the MSM. note Kat Kramer uses the Pentagon’s “threat multiplier” meme:
5 Oct: UK Independent: London under threat of ‘sinking’ as global warming makes sea levels rise, new report finds
Analysis comes ahead of major international report on climate change
by Josh Gabbatiss
An analysis released by Christian Aid as nations meet in Korea to finalise a major UN climate change report concerning the 1.5C target looks at some of the coastal cities most at risk.
Climate change could act as a “threat multiplier” to existing problems such as sinking ground and subsidence, water extraction and bad planning…
(others: Houston, Bangkok, Shanghai, Manila, Jakarta, Lagos, Dhaka)
Report author Dr Kat Kramer, Christian Aid’s global climate lead, said: “We’re starting to see what happens when climate change acts as a threat multiplier, compounding poor development decisions…
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/london-sea-level-rise-sink-global-warming-climate-change-houston-bangkok-a8569276.html
very little Kramer online, but there’s this:
26 Sept: IndependentCatholicNews: Christian Aid welcomes Labour commitment on greenhouse gas emissions
Source: Christian Aid
Dr Kat Kramer, Christian Aid’s Global Lead on Climate Change said: “We welcome Labour’s announcement that it supports enhancing the target enshrined in the Climate Change Act to reflect the latest climate science.
“A target of net zero before 2050 – where emissions are countered by the absorption of greenhouse gases, such as through planting trees and reducing deforestation – is an important recognition of the need for ambitious and urgent action on climate change.
“To help achieve the net zero target, we would need any UK Government to invest in renewables and energy efficiency measures as a priority. This is so that we use as little of the atmosphere’s remaining carbon budget as possible, and to minimise the impacts of climate change, such as drought and floods, experienced by the poorest and most vulnerable.”…
28 Aug: BrettonWoodsProjectUK: UK civil society meeting with UK World Bank Executive Director Melanie Robinson 6 July 2018
Agenda items included update on General Capital Increase, 2019 WDR on Changing Nature of Work, and climate & energy discussion…
Participants list:
UK delegation:
Melanie Robinson, UK executive director to the World Bank
David Kinder, UK alternate executive director to the World Bank
Jennifer Stockill, advisor to UK executive director to the World Bank…
***Kat Kramer, Christian Aid
Agenda
4. Climate and environment: financial intermediaries and energy access
https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2018/08/uk-civil-society-meeting-uk-world-bank-executive-director-melanie-robinson-4/
About The Bretton Woods Project
The Project is funded by the NGOs in the UK BWI network, the CS Mott Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the European Commission DEAR “Citizens for Financial Justice” project. For an overview of BWP’s finances and funders see our latest annual report (LINK)…
https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2018/01/art-537713/
10
shameless.
4 Oct: BBC: Vietnam’s children and the fear of climate change
By David Shukman
One little girl draws a nightmarish picture of people calling for rescue as they drown in rising water.
Another sketches a huge snake with sharp teeth to show the power and danger of flooding.
These disturbing images are the work of children at a primary school in Can Tho province, a region of Vietnam that is regularly swamped.
They live in the Mekong Delta, a huge plain of rivers and rice-fields that’s popular with tourists but lies only just above the surface of the ocean…
The land itself is sinking and, at the same time, the level of the sea is rising, as global warming causes the water to expand and the ice caps to melt.
That’s why the delta, one of the world’s greatest centres for rice production and home to 18 million people, is recognised as especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change…
This is why Vietnam, along with several dozen other developing countries, argues that the main target of the Paris Agreement on climate change – to limit the rise in global average temperature to 2C above the pre-industrial level – does not go far enough. It is pressing for a lower target of 1.5C…
VIDEO: David Shukman looks into how worried we should be about melting polar caps…
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45738136
still no sign of Harvard + wind power stories at BBC, ABC, Guardian, Fairfax.
10
behind paywall:
Secret tax’ on NQ energy bills
Townsville Bulletin – 5 Oct 2018
MILLIONS of dollars in profits from North Queensland’s only energy provider are being used to prop up the State Government’s budget instead of reducing the cost of electricity
Annual reports released by the Government show Ergon Energy Queensland made a $375 million profit before income tax in the 2017/18…
LNP say North Queenslanders are being overcharged for electricity due to a “secret tax”
Townsville Bulletin · 23 hours ago
30
o/t but can’t believe Bloomberg has published this, so posting in case it gets pulled. lengthy, read all:
4 Oct: Bloomberg: A Former Obama Operative Built a New Anti-Republican Attack Machine
John Burton hopes an army of dirt diggers can deliver an October surprise for Democrats.
By Joshua Green
Tanya, Genevieve, and Vadim have never met and probably never will. But they have two things in common: They’re members of the so-called Resistance, working to oust Republicans. And they’re being directed by a former J.P. Morgan banker named John Burton, who’s become a field general of sorts in the liberal opposition—and soon, he hopes, the cause of consternation and, ultimately, unemployment for dozens of Republican lawmakers in races from Maine to California…
PHOTO CAPTION: Shortly after the inauguration, Burton unleashed 78,000 callers on the Senate Judiciary Committee to demand that a special counsel be appointed to investigate Russian election meddling.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/a-former-obama-operative-built-a-new-anti-republican-attack-machine
not difficult to see why the protests are never-ending:
4 Oct: Breitbart: Soros-Funded MoveOn.org Threatens ‘Direct Action’ in D.C., Preps ‘Emergency Campaign’ to Stop Brett Kavanaugh
by Aaron Klein
Activist Robert Reich, who served as Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, sent out a blast email on behalf of MoveOn.org on Thursday asking for donations to fund “MoveOn’s emergency campaign to stop Brett Kavanaugh.”
In the email, MoveOn.org, which has been massively backed by billionaire George Soros, warned the group’s anti-Kavanaugh plot is set to include “direct actions in Washington, D.C., at Senate office buildings, including busing in constituents from key states.”
The radical organization also wrote in the email it was planning to…ETC
On Saturday, Politico reported (LINK) on progressive groups, including MoveOn.org, making a “last-minute push to stop Kavanaugh.”…
Besides funding from Soros, MoveOn.org has also been financed by the Tides Foundation, a leftwing sponsorship organization that has itself received donations from Soros and has partnered with Soros’s Open Society Foundations.
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/10/04/soros-funded-moveon-org-threatens-direct-action-in-d-c-announces-emergency-campaign-to-stop-brett-kavanaugh/
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should have included this:
LinkedIn: John Burton, Co-Founder and Political Director at Daily Action
San Francisco, California, Political Organization
Previous J.P. Morgan, US Treasury, Obama-Biden Transition
Education: Stanford University Graduate School of Business
READ ALL
https://www.linkedin.com/in/burtonjohn
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final word…simply because it’s such an odd story:
5 Oct: South China Morning Post: ‘Missing’ head of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, under investigation in China, source says
Vice-minister of public security ‘taken away’ after arriving in China by plane from France last week
by Laurie Chen, Catherine Wong
Meng Hongwei, the Chinese president of international law enforcement agency Interpol who was reported missing to French police by his wife, is under investigation in China, a source told the South China Morning Post.
The 64-year-old official, who is also a vice-minister at China’s Ministry of Public Security, was “taken away” for questioning by discipline authorities “as soon as he landed in China” last week, the person said.
It is not yet clear why Meng is being investigated or exactly where he is being held…
Interpol said on Friday it was aware of reports of Meng’s “alleged disappearance” and that the issue was a matter for the relevant authorities in France and China.
The organisation’s secretary general, not Meng, was responsible for the day-to-day running of Interpol, it said.
“Interpol’s General Secretariat headquarters will not comment further,” it said…
The official was last seen in France on September 29, police sources said…
While Meng is listed on the website of China’s Ministry of Public Security as a vice-minister, he lost his seat on its Communist Party Committee, its real decision-making body, in April.
According to his own page on the site, Meng’s last official engagement was on August 23, when he met Lai Chung Han, a second permanent secretary of Singapore.
Meng was appointed head of Interpol in 2016. He was due to serve until 2020.
His appointment was met with concern by academics and human rights advocates, who feared he would abuse Interpol’s powers to forcibly repatriate Chinese dissidents and fugitives…
In 2014, it issued red notices for 100 Chinese fugitive officials living overseas.
During a speech at the 86th Interpol General Assembly in Beijing in September 2017, Meng talked about the importance of international cooperation and combating cybercrime.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2167213/french-police-launch-hunt-missing-chinese-head-interpol-meng
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It seems to be some kind of natural law, maybe or just luck but the closer the government is to the people the more accountable it is to the people and the better things work.
Of course, that doesn’t always hold — California for one example. But think about it, Trudeau gets it wrong and not only Manitoba but other provinces get it right. Why?
And I can only think of the reason I just stated.
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