Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for November 2008

European Union to Ban Lots of Pesticides

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The European Union (EU) is developing a new ‘Thematic Strategy for Pesticides’ including a proposed new ‘Sustainable Use Directive’.  According to the UK’s Pesticide Safety Directorate the new regulation could outlaw up to 85 percent of pesticides currently used by farmers and render conventional agriculture as it is currently practised unachievable.  Professor Sir Colin Berry, Emeritus Professor of Pathology at Queen Mary College, University of London,  has described the European Parliament’s document in support of the legislation as “simply an apologia for a position, not a scientific review.”

The proposal will see the EU go from a risk-based assessment of chemicals to a hazard-based one.

Carbon Dioxide as the Innocent Bystander

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“We need to consider the very real possibility that carbon dioxide – which is necessary for life on Earth and of which there is precious little in the atmosphere – might well be like the innocent bystander who has been unjustly accused of a crime based upon little more than circumstantial evidence.”   Read more here.

Cosmic Rays, Clouds and Climate (Part 2)

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THERE is a theory that the earth’s climate is influenced by cosmic rays that penetrate our atmosphere from outer space.  In particular it is thought cosmic rays influence the production of cloud condensation nuclei with periods of higher cosmic rays penetration associated with more cloudiness.   The power of what is known as the solar wind, the magnetic force associated with the sun, is thought to influence the extent to which these high-energy charged particles composed of protons, electrons, and ionized nuclei reach earth.   

The theory has been based to a large extent on correlations between climate and sunspot cycles.  There is now a research effort to establish a physically-plausible link between cosmic rays, clouds and climate including through laboratory experiments in clouding at the Cern Cloud Facility in, Geneva, Switzerland.    The theory and the experiments are explained in ‘Cosmic Rays and Climate’ by Jasper Kirkby, Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 28, pages 333-375. 

I know of no equivalent research effort looking at establishing a causal link between carbon dioxide and climate. 

This paper by Dr Kirby was first discussed here in a blog post by Paul Biggs on May 21 this year.  I’ve only just properly discovered it – and thought it so good you should read about it a second time.  I posted  ‘Cosmic Rays, Clouds and Climate (Part 1)’ on April 13, 2008.

Ten Worst Blog Posts: A Note from Cohenite

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EVER since public computer networks burst onto the scene in the 1980’s, the subject of online content has been a controversial one, explained Mark Newton at e-journal On Line Opinion last week.   A few months ago, 30 July 2008, John Stewart on Australian ABC television’s Lateline described online blogs as one of the few places where the science of climate change is still debated.  Now, occasional blogger, Cohenite, has come up with the 10 worst climate blog posts on the basis, “they all represent a denial of not only the intrinsic transparency of the web but also the openness necessary for scientific debate and to this extent they reveal that at least part of this debate about anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is not about science, but its suppression.” 

Here goes, the ten worst, according to Cohenite:

1. On April 16, 2008, at a blog called ‘Open Mind’, the prince of AGW, he who is known as Tamino, posted a piece entitled ‘Perjury’. Tamino’s basis for the charge of perjury was that someone had claimed there had been a temperature decline since 1998. [Read more…] about Ten Worst Blog Posts: A Note from Cohenite

Get a Globally Recognised Avator – A Gravator

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Hi Jen

Have you seen those little picture things in your blog (and at other sites)? Well… Inspired by none other than G Bird I have hacked through your page source and found the relevant link.

Neat little freeware service… Creates a gravatar for you to make your blog persona come alive.  And you can have a library and change them too.  If you register and do a gravatar “check” at the gravatar site  – you will get something like this.  Change the size to 48 (last two digits). Wack this in the URL spot for comments in your blog and your blog picture persona will appear !

Of course you need to do your own ….above just an example.

Send the inmates a message.

Only catch is the service takes about 10 minutes to register after you set it up.

Luke

[First posted on September 11, 2008 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/2008/09/2168/ ]