ON Monday, the first day of summer here in Australia, residents of the little town of Barmah in northwestern Victoria, drove cattle into their forest in defiance of a government ban. The Department of Sustainability and Environment has threatened legal action, but so far the cattle are still there.
The forest has historically been grazed and the Barmah locals believe this is important to reduce the fire risk.
YESTERDAY atmospheric scientist, Professor Marvin Geller, explained to Leigh Dayton, science writer at The Australian newspaper, that the sun could not be driving “recent global warming as climate change sceptics claim” because solar radiation has not changed very much since 1978.
But climate change sceptics do not claim there has been recent global warming. They claim there has been a levelling off, or fall in temperatures, over the last 10 years since the 1998 El Nino-driven peak. [Click on the chart for a larger view of global temperature trends.]
As regards the El Nino event of 1998, according to Professor Geller, El Ninos cause a temporary increase in global temperatures, not the steady and consistent upward trend typical of warming from greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
But there has been no “consistent upward trend”.
Indeed, Professor Geller misrepresents the position of global warming sceptics and the available global temperature data.
[Read more…] about Clarifying the Role of the Sun and Global Temperatures
A cold weather emergency response plan to tackle disasters after record cold and snow brought down power lines and paralyzed much of the usually mild south earlier this year… was activated in China on Wednesday. Read more here.
ABARE released today, Thursday 4 December 2008, Australian Commodity Statistics 2008.
This report is an invaluable reference book with Australia’s agricultural and resources industries. It is a comprehensive publication, containing overview and macroeconomic information as well as key statistics on the supply of and demand for more than forty commodities.
It covers current and historical data on price, production and export information, with some historical series extending over forty years.
Download your free electronic copy or purchase a hardcopy from www.abare.gov.au
Around 70 per cent of Swedish reindeer slaughtered are calves, which means they die without seeing snow, claims the animal welfare group Viva!. Read more here.
A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually. Abba Eban via Joe D’Aleo
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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