...and friends are found all over Europe. Einar Du Rietz gives an up-date.
CFACT Europe President Holger Thuss
CFACT Europe’s President and co-founder Dr. Holger Thuss recently gave a lengthy interview in German Ökowatch; “Prosperity is the basis for higher environmental standards”. The full text will soon be available in English translation. Dr Thuss explains in particular the environmental work of CFACT and launches an attack on the Global Warming profiteers.
Meanwhile, we notice that a very impressive web site has been launched, and impressively developed, in Sweden (translation service available on line). The site Climatescam is a non profit platform for sound environmental debate among experienced scholars from various fields, and – naturally – any interested part.
Says the introduction: “The Climate Scam The blog was started just over two and a half years ago by Maggie Thauersköld Crusell. Today it is still run by Maggie, but has also been expanded to include four guest author: Lars Bern, Jonny Fagerström, Ingemar Nordin and Peter Stilbs.” Presentations are available at the site.
by Edgar L. Gärtner
Political correctness undermines credibility
Following the suggestions of her strong emergency committee, WHO General-Director Margaret Chan now officially declares the swine flu epidemic to be over. This official statement was made 15 months after an allegedly new flu virus H1N1 was notified in Mexico and after having alerted a pandemic in June 2009. According to official data, 18,400 humans have fallen victim to the flu since spring 2009 in about 200 countries. That appears impressing at first sight , but is however little in comparison to the number of humans, who suffer with the cold season influenza-like infections year-in, year-out. To say nothing about the million-number of victims of a “real” influenza epidemic. The official statistics of the WHO thus confirms the view that H1N1 is a rather harmless variant of the summer flu. READ MORE…
Lord Monckton is under attack — a sure sign that he’s winning on warming. Monckton fights back and refutes Prof. Abraham.
Have you noticed the kicking around that CFACT Advisor Lord Christopher Monckton’s been getting lately?
Add to the title “Viscount of Brenchley,” “whipping boy du jour.” Seldom a recent day goes by without some new name calling or conspiracy theory attacking Lord Monckton echoing through the left-wing blogosphere.
Why is Chris Monckton the victim of a global warming attack campaign? Effectiveness. Few have been so brilliantly effective at debunking the global warming scare as this compellingly articulate British Lord. READ MORE…
by Einar Du Rietz
Maybe we should just skip this project
The preparatory climate talks of BASIC, the coalition of Brazil, South Africa, India and China, just ended in Rio. The UNFCCC has the courtesy to link to some of the reports of the apparent fiasco. Reuters here and Xinhua.
As was apparent at the latest Bonn meeting, developing countries are getting more and more anxious to get those hand outs, promised in the non binding babble in Copenhagen. Further, the BASIC countries are far from anxious to commence any drastic emission cutting programs before other countries do.
Of course, you could – and should – argue that the four countries are not really representative of the third world. Developing, yes, but economically powerful and not possible to compare to the real developing world in desperate need of energy, development and industrialisation. READ MORE…
by Einar Du Rietz
In Europe, the record breaking cold winter (irritatingly, or amusingly coinciding with the Copenhagen meeting) has now been followed by a heat wave. As the alarmists love to point out, climate is not the same thing as weather. How true. Apart from causing dizziness however, real life – away from the AC at the UNFCCC conferences – can lead to some reflection.
During the recent top in the summer warming, even the refrigeration department of my local store broke down. The costs must have been enormous, but luckily they had stocked up on at least bottled water. Non chilled. And should we really dare to drink bottled water?
Refrigeration has been under attack by environmentalists for the past decades. First, it was the ozone layer, then the scrapping, currently the so called GWP (Global Warming Potential) as defined by UNEP. Industry meanwhile, has developed the technology, which is not that old to start with, partly by adapting to the new trends, partly by substantially increasing efficiency. The latter probably being one of the best deeds in development work in the third world imaginable, as electricity tends to be scarce and the need for food preservation can be desperate. READ MORE…
Many readers of this site have been following the controversy caused when Prof. John Abraham
of the University of St. Thomas posted a lengthy video critique of a speech delivered by CFACT Advisor, Lord Christopher Monckton last October in St. Paul Minnesota.
Here is Lord Monckton’s freshly issued, detailed written response to Prof. Abraham in PDF form.
When we watched Prof. Abraham’s video we were mainly struck by Prof. Abraham’s making much of Lord Monckton not always labeling his graphs with their source. This was not a valid critique. Lord Monckton was doing a power point presentation in which time or type size would not have made source labels legible to his audience. Lord Monckton has always been completely willing, indeed eager to provide background information to his viewers and readers. The graphs in question were mainly those most commonly used in the warming debate and were largely taken from the IPCC fourth assessment report. They were familiar to those who follow the debate closely and we were surprised that they were not equally familiar to Prof. Abraham. Former Vice President Al Gore often did not include source information when showing graphs during An Inconvenient Truth (not even when on a scissor lift) and unlike Lord Monckton hides from critics, avoids interviews and will not participate in open discussion.
Abraham’s other tactic is to go back to the IPCC’s sources and obtain emails from them stating their disagreement with Lord Monckton’s conclusions. Lord Monckton faithfully presented the most commonlhy used graphs and makes his own interpretations relying on his discussions with climate scientists. This data must be free for all to assess if sound science is to take place. What did Abraham expect to get when he asked the warming folks for their interpretation and did not bother to contact anyone critical of their assessments including Lord Monckton? Simply stating the conclusions of warming proponents as received wisdom no longer cuts it. Too much propaganda has been exposed, too many scandals have rocked their foundations for anyone to take the warming argument on faith or authority again.
Lord Monckton raises essential questions that need to be raised. His points should be fully debated. Doubling down on the warming argument without substantive thought will not suffice. Sorry Professor, time to move past worshiping your warming heroes and give your analytical training a go. Do you really think the warming computer models will hold up?
by Einar Du Rietz
…and the famous/infamous hockey stick got stowed away long before the latest world championship even started. Then occasionally picked out again.
The IPCC took out the hockey stick graph from two of their last reports. Somehow, it managed to creep back into the report submitted before Copenhagen, apparently picked up by one of the assistants, from Wikipedia.
Now, even the inventor of this symbol, Michael Mann, concedes that it was, if not altogether wrong, at least “misplaced”. In an BBC interview summarized in the British Daily Telegraph by reporter Louise Gray, he concludes that “I always thought it was somewhat misplaced to make it a central icon of the climate change debate.” READ MORE…
by Einar Du Rietz
…or maybe don’t.
As fun as you can have, in the company of all sorts of people, there is something depressing over these climate conferences. Delegates looking serious while spending other people’s money on down-right dangerous schemes, young people, who ought to be either in school, or out partying, or protesting the real injustices in this world, standing outside telling the lunch-eaters to spend more. Often financed by government. The police working overtime, and those fringe groups who travel around the world just in order to pick a fight with the former. A sort of holiday, I presume, like inter-railing or camping. Most of these elements, both in Copenhagen and at the recent G8/G20 summit, would probably go to the international congress of scrapbookers, if it meant they could get into trouble – and media – along the way.
READ MORE…
We live in a world where the leaders of African nations prefer to let their citizens starve to death rather than import genetically-modified food grains
DENNIS AVERY
I can’t help but praise Michael Specter’s new book: Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives. Specter warns that we live in a world where the leaders of African nations prefer to let their citizens starve to death rather than import genetically-modified food grains. Childhood vaccines have proven to be the most effective public health measure in history, yet people march on Washington to protest their use. Fifty years ago pharmaceutical companies were regarded as vital supports for our good health and lengthening life spans; now they are seen as callous corporate enemies of health and the environment. READ MORE
Wind corporations paid not to generate electricity when a strong wind blows
The Daily Telegraph reports that thousands of pounds per day will be paid to compensate the wind industry when the British national grid can not use the power. The intermittent nature of wind power requires traditional efficient power generation to remain the mainstay of British power generation when the wind is light or not blowing at all resulting in too much power when the wind decides to blow. Simply not accepting the unneeded power would cost wind investors to lose their subsidies. We can’t imagine them welcoming that.
A recent report from the Danish Center for Political Studies shows a similar problem for Denmark. The Danes however have the good fortune of being able to dump their surplus wind energy into the power grids of their neighbors effectively using their neighboring countries as a storage battery for Danish wind. This is greater fortune yet for Denmark’s neighboring countries as they receive the power inexpensively with Danish taxpayers and ratepayers footing the bill.
In the United States Cape Cod homeowners still reeling from the prospect of the controversial Cape Wind project placing turbines in beautiful Nantucket sound were shocked to learn that Cape Wind’s electricity will cost more than twice what they are paying now. They’ll certainly be shocked if the British idea of paying wind farms to sit idle catches on across the pond.
Alternative energy only makes sense if it produces reliable affordable power. Wind profits should flow from power generation rather than grants and subsidies. Until they do they will remain the totems of our times.
Spanish solar subsidies cut 30 percent
Spain’s government will cut the revenue of most existing solar-power plants by 30 percent, a move that may bankrupt hundreds of companies that produce electricity using photovoltaic panels, a local trade group said.
More at Business Week
Perhaps the most pernicious and pervasive gimmick of recent years is that of “green growth.” “We need not renounce our worldly goods,” we are told, “green is also good for business and millions of jobs will be created by putting technology at the service of a better environment.”
Tremendous news: but where are the jobs and how much do they cost ?
READ MORE…
by Einar Du Rietz, Bonn
CFACT display, Bonn climate conference
The game is not over yet, but the climate talks in Bonn are. For the time being. Another session is already scheduled for August, and it might very well be that the free-lunchers will squeeze yet another in, during the buildup of expectations before Cancun. After the enormous debacle before, during and after Copenhagen, it seems unlikely that the general public hysteria could be regenerated. You can’t fool all the people all the time, but remember that you can still fool some. READ MORE…
by Einar Du Rietz, Bonn
I feel old sometimes. I’m not, according to my doctor, but I’m at least not “Youth”, as defined by the United Nations to be between the age of 15 and 24 (for the first three years in there, you also have the privilege of being “child” at the same time).
Couldn’t care less.
The UNFCCC however, cares a lot, and that’s where I start to care. READ MORE…
CFACT EU Associate Editor Einar Du Rietz at the CFACT display in Bonn. One of our Moai fell casualty to a group of global warmist youth.
Discord, blame and profiteering at UN Bonn climate conference as UN scrambles to get climate treaty back on track; calls for developed nations to repay ‘climate debt’ and an ‘international court of climate and environmental justice’ to prosecute developed world. Full Update at CFACT.org.
Press briefing tomorrow June 10, 10:30, room Haydn at Hotel Maritim Bonn. Read our press release at CFACT.tv.
The good folks at Popular Technology are now up to 700 scholarly papers challenging the theory of man-made global warming. Here they are. Here is CFACT’s coverage of the original 450.
There were no significant steps taken toward a new global waming treaty at the April meeting in the Bonn Maritim Hotel of two ad hoc working groups of the UNFCCC parties. The official purpose of the conference was for the industrialized nations to negotiate additional obligations on the carbon dioxide reductions and their long-term co-operation with poorer countries. Two thousand delegates met in the conference centre’s elegant halls. NGOs demonstrated on a pile of broken glass
The recent decision by the French government to scrap the CO2 tax was welcome news: it was from the outset mostly a complicated design to satisfy two major interests, quite removed from any environmental concern.
