Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for June 2009

Fielding the Hard Questions on Climate Change (Part 4)

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STEVE Fielding recently attended a climate change conference in Washington, DC. Listening to the papers presented, the Family First senator became puzzled that the scientific analyses they provided directly contradicted the reasons the Australian government had been giving as the justification for its emissions trading legislation.

Fielding heard leading atmospheric physicist Dick Lindzen, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, describe evidence that the warming effect of carbon dioxide was much overestimated by computer climate models and remark: “What we see, then, is that the very foundation of the issue of global warming is wrong.

[Read more…] about Fielding the Hard Questions on Climate Change (Part 4)

Fielding the Hard Questions on Climate Change (Part 3)

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IN the Australian Senate the vote of one senator, Steve Fielding, may be important for the passage of the government’s cap and trade legislation, also known as the emission trading scheme.  

On Monday Senator Fielding had a meeting with the Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, and asked  the following questions so he can make an informed decision on whether or not an emissions trading scheme is the best course of action for Australia to take to deal with climate change and global warming.

QUESTION 1.

Is it the case that CO2 increased by 5% since 1998 whilst global temperature cooled over the same period (see Fig. 1)?

If so, why did the temperature not increase; and how can human emissions be to blame for dangerous levels of warming?

QUESTION 2.

Is it the case that the rate and magnitude of warming between 1979 and 1998 (the late 20th century phase of global warming) was not unusual in either rate or magnitude as compared with warmings that have occurred earlier in the Earth’s history (Fig. 2a, 2b)? [Read more…] about Fielding the Hard Questions on Climate Change (Part 3)

Fat Report of Fear

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The Obama administration unveiled the most authoritative report to date on the effects of global warming in America today in an effort to persuade the public of the need to act now to prevent the sweeping and life-altering consequences of global warming.   Read more here.