Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for October 2007

Al Gore and Sheila Watt-Cloutier to be Joint Nobel Peace Prize Winners?

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Al Gore, Ignoble Laureate

Political Correctness: The front-runners for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize are a couple of global warming alarmists. With dozens of wars raging, the committee couldn’t find a single person laboring honorably for peace?

Once a symbol of distinction, this honor has plumbed shameful depths in recent years. A county fair blue ribbon has more significance. Since 1990, winners include terrorist Yasser Arafat, fraud Rigoberto Menchu, foreign-policy incompetents Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan, unreconstructed communist Mikhail Gorbachev and the useless Mohamed ElBaradei.

Each year, the Peace Prize committee has a chance to redeem itself, yet it never seems up to the task. It looks like 2007 will be no exception. Later this week, say reports, it will name as this year’s co-winners Al Gore and Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Canadian who has drawn attention to what she believes are climate change’s effects on Arctic communities.

It will be interesting to see how those two will be linked to anything resembling the promotion of peace…….

Cycad Relations Run Hot and Cold

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B.spectabilis.jpg

Cycads have an evolutionary history dating back to the dry, cool age of the Triassic, when much of the world’s terrestrial landscape was inhospitable to spore-producing plants. They have carried the evolutionary breakthrough of the seed from an ancient group of now-extinct plants called Bennettitaleans, to the present.

Cycads are pollinated mainly by weevils and thrips, which carry out much of their life cycle within the tissues of the male and female cones. In what could be considered an insightful adaptation to global warming (albeit at a micro-level), an ABC Science Online article by Stephen Pincock reveals how another species of cycad Macrozamia lucida uses a stockpile of sugars, starch and fats to heat their cones to around 12 degrees Celsius above air temperature to encourage thrips to evacuate to the more appealing climes of the female cones.

Whilst cycads are pollinated by weevils and thrips, the distribution of their seeds is reliant upon another group of animal carriers.

Lepidozamia hopeii.jpg

The world’s tallest cycad Lepidozamia hopeii can reach twenty-metres. Every five-years-or-so, female plants produce large cones that mature over about ten months. They then collapse and bright-red seeds adorn the forest floor at the base of the plant. Mammals carry individual seeds away from the intensity of competition and remove the delectable red aril from the seed, leaving the camouflaged core to recruit away from the competitive disinterests of the parent plant.

Unidentified (Spider)?

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UnknownSpider.jpg

I was just out photographing cycad cones for a new entry, when I happened upon this bizarre creature. It would appear to have eight legs, with the forelegs raised completely over the animal, presumably in an expression of defense. The noodle-like embellishments on the ventral surface of these legs (at least) appear to add a degree of emphasis to the expression.

Tucked under the bulk of the animal, between the short leg in the foreground (pointing towards the bottom left corner of the image) and the bulbous mass aligned with the central vein of the leaf, is another appendage that looks suspiciously like a palp. This would imply that the head of the animal is most proximal to the top left corner of the image and that the rear legs have been hyper-extended up and over the animal’s back.

The total length of the animal, legs excluded, is less than 4 mm.

Any ideas?

More on Corals from This Week’s Science Magazine

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A World with Corals: What Will It Take?

………..The measures required to limit climate change can seem an eternity away to coastal communities left to deal with the consequences. Yet, since the 1997-98 mass bleaching–an unforgiving global event that destroyed 16% of the world’s coral reefs–practitioners and scientists have worked to identify meaningful actions that can promote reef survival in the face of climate change………

Although the current greenhouse trajectory is disastrous for coral reefs and the millions of people who depend on them for survival, we should not be lulled into accepting a world without corals. Only by imagining a world with corals will we build the resolve to solve the challenges ahead. We must avoid the “game over” syndrome and marshall the financial, political, and technical resources to stabilize the climate and implement effective reef management with unprecedented urgency.

Rethinking Coral Composition

Modern coral reefs are built primarily by scleractinian corals, which arose in the Triassic after the Permian extinction. Today, all of these corals form skeletons of aragonite, and this composition has been thought to be typical of fossil scleractinians as well. Stolarski et al. (p. 92) now have identified a Cretaceous scleractinian coral with a primary calcite skeleton. The fine preservation of internal structures and the Mg and Sr chemistry show that the calcite is primary, not diagenetic. This result tightens the evolutionary connection between these corals and rugose corals, which formed calcite skeletons but were eliminated in the Permian extinction. These results suggest that corals may be able to alter their biochemistry in response to changes in seawater chemistry.

A Cretaceous Scleractinian Coral with a Calcitic Skeleton

Jarosaw Stolarski,1* Anders Meibom,2 Radosaw Przenioso,3 Maciej Mazur4
It has been generally thought that scleractinian corals form purely aragonitic skeletons. We show that a well-preserved fossil coral, Coelosmilia sp. from the Upper Cretaceous (about 70 million years ago), has preserved skeletal structural features identical to those observed in present-day scleractinians. However, the skeleton of Coelosmilia sp. is entirely calcitic. Its fine-scale structure and chemistry indicate that the calcite is primary and did not form from the diagenetic alteration of aragonite. This result implies that corals, like other groups of marine, calcium carbonate–producing organisms, can form skeletons of different carbonate polymorphs.

Tourism Marketing in a Warming World

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People all over the world have become conscious of the need to preserve the resources of the planet and become more efficient in their use of energy to reduce the impacts of global warming.

So says the Planet Safe Partnership website, developed for the regional tourism office Tourism Tropical North Queensland.

Such is the economic importance of tourism to TNQ, that its regional tourism office has identified a need to adjust its marketing strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of the global warming phenomenon on travel patterns.

Key criteria for partnership within this initiative requires an energy audit to be undertaken through an Australian Government accreditation program; a commitment must be made to reduce the carbon footprint to Australian Government targets (as a minimum); and commitment to environmentally-friendly operational practices (as new technologies and equipment comes online).

The consequences of non-involvement are exclusion from a government-sponsored marketing partnership.

I wonder if Tourism Tropical North Queensland considered the failings of previous accreditation schemes before embarking this latest scheme? The National Ecotourism Accreditation Program was supposed to do what this lower-level initiative aims for. Likewise GreenGlobe21.

Tourism and Travel is apparently the world’s largest industry and on that basis it should be encouraged to optimise its benefits and minimise its adverse impacts. Should any community in the world be expected to suffer the intrusion of tourism if it is no better off?

Hackneyed overtures such as taking only photographs and leaving only footprints, need to be expunged for their failure to ensure that it is appropriate for photographs to be taken and that meaningful economic contributions are left to ensure the conservation of the environment and the improvement in the well-being of the local people.

At its most fundamental, it would be appropriate that any accreditation scheme that aims to encourage travel ethics is in itself incorruptible.

Marc Morano’s Round Up for 4th October

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Washington Post Reporter Admits number of Skeptics ‘Expanding’ – CNN Meteorologist Slams Gore! – Newsweek says Skeptics = Moon Landing Deniers? – More studies Debunk fears

Round Up – October 4, 2007

Washington Post Staff Writer Juliet Eilperin Admits Obvious: Climate Skeptics “appear to be expanding rather than shrinking” (Eilperin wrote her article for October issue of Outside Magazine)

Excerpt: In recent months, [MIT’s Richard] Lindzen’s circle of allies has appeared to be expanding rather than shrinking. In late May, Michael Griffin, administrator of NASA, which conducts considerable amounts of climate research, told National Public Radio that he was not sure climate change was “a problem we must wrestle with” and that it was “rather arrogant” to suggest that the climate we have now represents the best possible set of conditions. Alexander Cockburn, a maverick journalist who leans left on most topics, lambasted the global-warming consensus last spring on the political Web site CounterPunch.org, arguing that there’s no evidence yet that humans are causing the rise in global temperature. Other skeptics include Czech Republic president Václav Klaus; Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville; and Patrick J. Michaels, a senior fellow in environmental studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200710/richard-lindzen-1.html

[Note: There are oh so many more skeptics joining the ranks as new science continues to debunk fears. For sampling of former believers in man-made climate fears who converted to skeptics, see here: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=927B9303-802A-23AD-494B-DCCB00B51A12 — For latest studies that are dismantling climate fears see: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=84e9e44a-802a-23ad-493a-b35d0842fed8 ]

CNN Meteorologist: ‘Definitely Some Inaccuracies’ in Gore Film

Excerpt: CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano clapped his hands and exclaimed, “Finally,” in response to a report that a British judge might ban the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” from UK schools because, according to “American Morning,” “it is politically biased and contains scientific inaccuracies.” “There are definitely some inaccuracies,” Marciano added. “The biggest thing I have a problem with is this implication that Katrina was caused by global warming.” Marciano went on to explain that, “global warming does not conclusively cause stronger hurricanes like we’ve seen,” pointing out that “by the end of this century we might get about a 5 percent increase.”

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/paul-detrick/2007/10/04/cnn-meteorologist-definitely-some-inaccuracies-gore-film

MIT scientist predicts global warming skeptics will be vindicated in 20 years (Richard Lindzen)

Excerpt: “My best guess is, 20 years from now it will be accepted that global warming is not an issue, and everybody will claim they knew it all along,” he says, adding that he’s not holding out hope of being recognized for his work by future generations. “Chances are, 20 years from now I’ll be dead,” he jokes, “and someone else will want to take credit.”
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200710/richard-lindzen-1.html

Climatologist Timothy Ball: Gore wrong on warming

Excerpt: Re: “The planet has a fever,” Sept. 30. < > I’ve spent my career educating people that climate changes all the time and current changes are well within natural variability. The article correctly reports I “branded Gore’s 100-minute documentary an error-filled propaganda piece.” I’m not alone. James Hansen, Gore’s own science adviser and political supporter conceded, with huge understatement, the movie has imperfections and technical flaws. The flaws are large enough to fail a term paper from any student in attendance. There’s no evidence humans are affecting the global climate. Despite this, Gore’s ignorance pushes policies harmful to the planet and humanity. The world has cooled slightly since 1998 and experts expect continued cooling to 2030. Gore and others have stampeded world leaders into preparing for warming. Signed Dr. Tim Ball,

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/letters/story.html?id=568728ac-adb9-4703-9cd0-97d1bbd79345

Newsweek Reporter Begley compares climate skeptics to Moon-landing Deniers

Excerpt: Begley, a senior editor for the magazine, recently defended its August 13 issue that focused on the climate change “denial machine.” On the new The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media Web site, Begley compared global-warming skepticism to moon-landing denial. When asked if journalists should be more interpretive or analytical in their climate change reporting Begley said, “It depends …When you cover the history of the space program, you don’t quote the percentage of Americans who think the moon landings took place on a stage in Arizona.” < > Begley reiterated her blatant bias in an online chat hosted by Newsweek. She dismissed skepticism in a question that asked how “responsible media [can] best meet their ‘fairness/accuracy/’balance’ responsibilities in dealing with climate change deniers.” “[M]e, I don’t do he said/she said, but delve into the arguments and see which has empirical merit,” Begley wrote. “It’s not that hard.” The idea of using outlandish analogies to defend biased global-warming reporting is not an original concept. CBS’s Scott Pelley compared global-warming skepticism to Holocaust denial on March 23 when he posed the question: “If I do an interview with Elie Wiesel, am I required as a journalist to find a Holocaust denier?”

http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2007/20071003110932.aspx

[Note: Sharon Begley’s reporting on global warming is literally the model of how NOT to report on climate issues. Her Newsweek cover report was so bad, a Newsweek contributing editor debunked the article in the very next issue. See Newsweek Editor Calls Mag’s Global Warming ‘Deniers’ Article ‘Highly Contrived’ ] Also, Begley’s dismissal and name calling of skeptics (comparing them to those who question the moon landing) is perfectly in line with other proponents of climate fears. See: EPA to Probe E-mail Threatening to ‘Destroy’ Career of Climate Skeptic They have nothing left but name-calling and ignoring the latest peer-reviewed science which is destroying climate fears. Begley’s climate reporting would be fine if she were writing newsletters for NRDC, Greenpeace or Union of Concerned Scientists, but her reporting is currently not fit for a news organization.]

Yet Another New Study Finds Mankind’s emissions are not harming atmosphere

“Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide” by Dr. Art Robinson, Noah Robinson, & Dr. Willie Soon – Published in journal of American physicians and surgeons

Excerpt: A review of the re search literature concerning the environmental consequences of increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to the conclusion that in creases during the 20th and early 21st centuries have produced no deleterious effects upon Earth’s weather and climate. Increased carbon dioxide has, however, markedly in creased plant growth. < > There are no experimental data to sup port the hypothesis that increases in human hydrocarbon use or in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other green house gases are causing or can be expected to cause unfavorable changes in global temperatures, weather, or landscape.

http://www.jpands.org/vol12no3/robinson600.pdf

Study Finds some scientists who promote climate fears “Ignoring a Natural Event to Blame Humans’

Excerpt: By ignoring a natural event scientists blame climate changes on human activity – It is shown here that there is good evidence the Great Pacific Climate Shift in 1976 changed the upwelling of cold water and moved the Pacific Ocean into a warmer state, which means towards El Niño conditions. If we draw a trend line through the Southern Oscillation Index over a long term we find a trend towards El Niño conditions. It is a trend that’s largely due to the 1976 shift because since then the Southern Oscillation has continued to fluctuate as it has always done, but now it does so about a lower mid-point. < > All three papers suggest that either the authors have an appalling lack of knowledge about one of the most important climate shifts in the twentieth century or that this event was deliberately ignored in order to falsely support the claim of man-made warming. There are no other options. I’d like to think it was the former, but there’s plenty of reasons to consider it may have been the latter.

http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Walker_Circ_2.pdf

Celebrities Say They’re ‘Hotter than They Should Be’

Excerpt: What do Scarlett Johansson, Orlando Bloom and Rachael Ray have in common? They have joined together with 13 other hot celebrities to support an online auction for World Wildlife Fund. Each has signed a WWF “Hotter than I Should Be” t-shirt to be auctioned off on eBay starting today with funds going to support WWF’s global climate change and other conservation initiatives. T-shirts have been signed by Kevin Bacon, Candice Bergen, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Gisele Bündchen, Cindy Crawford, Harrison Ford, Scarlett Johansson, Tobey Maguire, Paul Newman, Rachael Ray, Susan Sarandon, Charlie Sheen, Martin Short, Oliver Stone and Betty White. These graphic t-shirts are creating a buzz, both in the media and in Hollywood, as a unique way to spread the message that the earth is warming and encourage individuals to take action.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,191411.shtml

EPA predicts global warming will raise sewer bills

Excerpt: Global warming, already on the hook for declining polar bear populations, disappearing glaciers and rising sea levels, may also increase your sewer bill. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency climate change expert says warming temperatures over the next several decades will be accompanied by an increase in the number and severity of storms. The combination will reduce the effectiveness of scores of federally mandated sewer improvements and water treatment upgrades designed to stop almost all of the sewage pollution flowing into rivers and creeks when it rains.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07276/822386-85.stm

Danish Study Finds: ‘Sun still appears to be the main forcing agent in global climate change’

Excerpt: Despite the claim of a heavily publicized recent study, the sun still appears to be the main agent in global climate change, according to new research by Danish scientists. The study by the Danish National Space Center rebuts a July study by UK scientists who allege there has not been a solar-climate link in the past 20 years. The Danish researchers, Henrik Svensmark and Eigil Friis-Christensen, contend the UK study erroneously relies on surface air temperature, which, they say, “does not respond to the solar cycle.” Over the past 20 years, however, the Danes argue, the solar cycle remains fully apparent in variations both of tropospheric air temperature and of ocean sub-surface water temperature. “When the response of the climate system to the solar cycle is apparent in the troposphere and ocean, but not in the global surface temperature, one can only wonder about the quality of the surface temperature record,” Svensmark and Friis-Christensen say. The surface air temperature, they argue, is “a poor guide to sun-driven physical processes that are still plainly persistent in the climate system.” The researchers explained it’s “customary to attribute to greenhouse gases any increase in global temperatures not due to solar changes.” “While that is reasonable,” they say, “one cannot distinguish between the effects of anthropogenic gases such as carbon dioxide and of natural greenhouse gases.”

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57949

UK SCHOOLS MUST WARN OF GORE CLIMATE FILM BIAS

Excerpt: Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth has been called unfit for schools because it is politically biased and contains serious scientific inaccuracies and ‘sentimental mush’.

Schools will have to issue a warning before they show pupils Al Gore’s controversial film about global warming, a judge indicated yesterday. The move follows a High Court action by a father who accused the Government of ‘brainwashing’ children with propaganda by showing it in the classroom. Stewart Dimmock said the former U.S. Vice-President’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, is unfit for schools because it is politically biased and contains serious scientific inaccuracies and ‘sentimental mush’.

He wants the video banned after it was distributed with four other short films to 3,500 schools in February. Mr Justice Burton is due to deliver a ruling on the case next week, but yesterday he said he would be saying that Gore’s Oscar-winning film does promote ‘partisan political views’. This means that teachers will have to warn pupils that there are other opinions on global warming and they should not necessarily accept the views of the film. He said: ‘The result is I will be declaring that, with the guidance as now amended, it will not be unlawful for the film to be shown.’

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7025376.stm

Al Gore Getting Rich Spreading Global Warming Hysteria With Media’s Help

Excerpt: ABC News.com estimated soon-to-be-Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s net worth at $100 million, which isn’t bad considering that he was supposedly worth about $1 million when he watched George W. Bush get sworn in as president in January 2001. Talk about your get-rich-quick schemes, how’d you like to increase your net worth 10,000 percent in less than seven years? < > Some environmentalist groups disparage Gore and his investment banker friends. They say the Gore group caters to others who share their financial interest in the carbon-exchange concept. The bulletin of the World Rainforest Movement says that members of a United Nations-sponsored group called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stand to gain by approving Gore’s carbon-trading enterprise. The IPCC has devised what it says is a scientific measure of the impact of greenhouse gases on global warming. In fact, the critics charge, the IPCC sanctions a mechanism that mainly promotes the sham concept of carbon exchange. The global non-profit organization Winrock International is an example of one IPCC panel member that seeks out groups and individuals with an interest in carbon trading. Arkansas-based Winrock provides worldwide “carbon-advisory services.”

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/10/03/al-gore-getting-rich-spreading-global-warming-hysteria-media-s-help

Catholic Cardinal Debunks Climate Fears: ‘Increases in carbon dioxide are following the changes in temperature rather than causing it’

Excerpt: Excerpt: Australia’s Cardinal GEORGE PELL: I notice this is their latest change, I’ve studied this a little bit, and there’s a whole history of differing estimates, 30 or 40 years ago, actually, some of the same scientists were warning us about the dangers of an ice age, so I take all these things with a grain of salt, they are matters for science and, as a layman, I study the scientific evidence rather than the press releases. < > GEORGE PELL: There are many latest pieces of research; I myself think talking to a scientist just the other night, he says that the increases in carbon dioxide are following the changes in temperature rather than causing it. SIMON SANTOW: And in the lead up to the Federal Election, he’s prepared to challenge the opinion polling which puts climate change and the environment right up the top of the list of voter concerns. GEORGE PELL: It’s much less important than the faith of the five or ten or fifteen per cent of the poorest Australians; it’s much less important than the problem of marriage breakdown, it’s much less important than the problem of abortion.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s2050357.htm

HURRICANE/GLOBAL WARMING LINK FURTHER WEAKENED

Excerpt: “Given this state of affairs, projections of changes in [tropical cyclone] intensity due to future global warming must be approached cautiously.” This is the concluding sentence of a just-published article by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Kyle Swanson in which he carefully examined the historical relationship between sea surface temperatures and tropical cyclone intensity in the Atlantic and western Pacific ocean. Swanson justified his research efforts, well summarizing the current state of things (including references):”Further, satellite reanalysis suggests no increase in the fraction of intense TCs outside the North Atlantic basin [Kossin et al., 2007]. Trends in TC intensity are difficult to discern, as statistics are inherently noisy due to fluctuating storm numbers and life spans. As the theory underlying TC intensities specifically predicts only the maximum potential intensity, it is necessary to control for these other factors if the response of the TC intensity to changes in SST is to be understood.” < > It certainly is beginning to seem that the more and more people look, the less and less they can find any clear relationship between rising SSTs and increased activity and intensity levels of tropical cyclones. Further, the lack of a clear understanding of the past and present relationships serves to cloud our ability to see into the future when many aspects of the tropical environment are projected to change, not simply sea surface temperatures (for more information about how these other projected changes may impede tropical cyclone development, see here).

http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2007/10/02/hurricaneglobal-warming-link-weakened/

UK climate skeptics warm to their theme

Excerpt: “You either believe it or you don’t,” Roger Helmer, the eurosceptic MEP, told them. “And in my case, I don’t!” Cheers. “This whole issue has got completely out of hand. It has become a new religion. You have to believe it. If you do not believe it, you are a heretic. They would like to burn us at the stake – using recycled faggots!” < > Helmer introduced Russell Lewis, the former director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs. That meant we could trust him, Mr Helmer explained. “My real reason for coming here tonight is to cheer you up,” Lewis told delegates. “I have two messages. First, I am sceptical about the whole official theory of global warming. Second, I think if it does happen it will do us a world of good.” One by one, he exposed the myths peddled by the environmental movement. The rise in temperature over recent years was “tiny – well within the range of natural variation”. Scientists were using thermometers on land rather than in the sea, and everyone knew that urban development raised temperatures. Antarctica and Greenland were only melting around the edges – in the middle, the ice was getting thicker. The population of polar bears was “exploding” and had risen by 25% in the past decade. As for penguins, they are “very adaptable creatures, and certain penguins are flourishing in the tropical Galapagos islands.” Global warming would not increase malaria: it used to be endemic in Westminster. “It is not the planet that is in danger. It is freedom… Don’t worry about global warming – it’s a myth,” he concluded. The audience roared.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tory2007/story/0,,2182100,00.html

Al Gore ‘Debates’ Global Warming for the First Time in YouTube Video

Excerpt: Since former Vice President and global warming activist Al Gore has so far refused to debate global warming skeptics, the debate has been brought to him. The public can now watch Al Gore make his case head-to-head against expert climatologists in the first episode of the new environmental education video series, “We Debate, You Decide,” launched by DemandDebate.com. The “Al Gore Debates Global Warming” video is posted on YouTube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=XDI2NVTYRXU).

“Al Gore has refused multiple invitations to debate in-person about global warming,” said Steve Milloy, executive director of DemandDebate.com. “So we’ve decided to let video of his previous remarks do the talking for him,” Milloy explained.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-04-2007/0004676061&EDATE=

PETA protests Gore’s speech with cartoon of ‘beer-bellied Gore waving a chicken leg’

Excerpt: Animal-activist organization PETA hired a truck to circle the convention center during Gore’s speech that depicted a cartoon, beer-bellied Gore waving a chicken leg.

“Too chicken to go vegetarian?” It read. “Meat is the number one cause of global warming.”

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7067710

Blind people say noiseless hybrid cars pose hazard

Excerpt: Gas-electric hybrid vehicles, the status symbol for the environmentally conscientious, are coming under attack from a constituency that doesn’t drive: the blind. Because hybrids make virtually no noise at slower speeds when they run solely on electric power, blind people say they pose a hazard to those who rely on their ears to determine whether it’s safe to cross the street or walk through a parking lot. “I’m used to being able to get sound cues from my environment and negotiate accordingly. I hadn’t imagined there was anything I really wouldn’t be able to hear,” said Deborah Kent Stein, chairwoman of the National Federation of the Blind’s Committee on Automotive and Pedestrian Safety. “We did a test, and I discovered, to my great dismay, that I couldn’t hear it.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-hybrids-blind,0,1346882.story

Quebec introduces carbon tax, Canada CEOs urge more

Excerpt: Quebec province slapped the country’s first carbon tax on energy firms on Monday, as Canadian business leaders urged “environmental taxation” to rein in greenhouse-gas emissions. The tax, proposed more than a year ago, is expected to raise C$200 million ($202

million) a year to fund the province’s plans to reduce emissions.

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=oilRpt&storyID=2007-10-01T173902Z_01_N01295303_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-QUEBEC-TAX.XML

Cap-and-trade fraud: Proponents misunderstand the dynamic marketplace

Excerpt: Due to these constraints, limiting GHGs emissions in the short term can only be achieved by limiting the supply of energy produced. Disrupting the country’s energy supplies, whether by domestic regulation or foreign oil embargo, is an energy supply shock. It is not necessary to forecast impacts on the U.S. economy from a significant energy supply shock. Starting with the 1973 OPEC oil crisis, the U.S. economy has endured several supply-induced energy crises over the last 40 years. These real-world examples clearly illustrate the adverse economic impacts in the short run from supply-induced energy shocks. < > The bottom line: Due to the reduction in economic growth, by 2020 every man, woman, and child would be about $2,700 poorer than the baseline scenario — or about $10,800 for a family of four.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/comment/story.html?id=96dc23c8-33e2-45c4-bf6a-14aba852d764

Student Debunks Climate Fears
Excerpt: The Russian Academy of Sciences showed in January that, as solar radiation warms Earth, CO2 is released into the atmosphere from the world’s oceans, not from SUVs and factories. Also, CO2 may not be as dangerous and threatening as we once thought. Surprisingly, in 2006, even the United Nations’ records show that cow emissions are more damaging to the planet than CO2 from cars. Greenhouse gases, the lovechildren of increased CO2 levels, do not consistently continue to have a warming effect on Earth, contrary to popular opinion. At some point “the heat-trapping capacity of the gas and its effect get saturated, and you don’t have increased heating,” according to a report by Boston College geology and geophysics professor Amy Frappier.
http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2007/10/03/Opinion/The-Sky.Is.Falling-3007739.shtml

Mr. Gore: Let my environment go

Excerpt: Mr. Gore’s global warming campaign has something of a religious feel to it. Don’t believe me? Mr. Gore said so himself in a New York Times op-ed earlier this year, calling the fight against global warming a chance “to embrace a genuine moral and spiritual challenge.” This could be a problem, because if there’s one thing religion doesn’t mix with, it’s science.

http://badgerherald.com/oped/2007/10/04/mr_gore_let_my_envir.php

Australians’ see global warming equal to Terrorism as threat, new survey finds

Excerpt: AUSTRALIANS consider global warming to be at least as big a threat as Islamic fundamentalism, a new survey has found. < > The survey also found that 76 per cent of respondents thought global warming was a more serious problem than, or equally serious as, Islamic fundamentalism.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22525925-952,00.html