IF the case for global warming is so open and shut, why the need for a report as disingenuous as Mr Kofi Annan’s… warning that climate change-induced disasters, such as droughts and floods, kill 315,000 each year and cost $125 billion, numbers it says will rise to 500,000 dead and $340 billion by 2030. Read more here.
Opinion
Aerosols Mask Global Warming?
“MOST people are under the impression global warming has risen by about 0.8 degrees C since the dawn of the industrial age. Unfortunately, mean temperatures have risen much further when account is taken of the short-term masking effect of aerosols emitted from coal and oil, mainly sulphur dioxide and its oxidized products…
“Thus, according to the IPCC AR4-2007 report (figure SPM.2), the total anthropogenic greenhouse effect since 1750 AD, which is equivalent to about +2.3 degrees C, is masked by a compensating aerosol albedo effect equivalent to about -1.1 degrees C. However, given the short-lived residence time of sulphur aerosols in the atmosphere, this masking effect dissipates within periods up to a few years.
“Currently continuing emission of SO2 maintains the aerosol albedo effect, preventing further sharp temperature rises. But in a situation akin to methadone addiction, proposed reduction of sulphur emissions would lift this barrier, enhancing global warming.
Defining the Greens (Part 13)
THE Greens consider themselves morally and intellectually superior.
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Earlier posts in this series can be found here. The word ‘Greens’ refers to a group with unique characteristics as one might use the word ‘fishermen’ or ‘Moslem’.
Coral Calcification and Ocean Acidification Revisited
“RESEARCHERS in Australia say the growth of coral on the country’s iconic Great Barrier Reef has fallen since 1990 to its lowest rate in 400 years”, variations of this message have been repeated around the world with global warming, and the associated acidification of oceans, claimed to be the cause. [1]
That was at the beginning of this year, in January, and the media frenzy was based on a paper by Glenn De’ath, Janice Lough and Katrina Fabricius published in the peer-reviewed journal ‘Science’. [2]
Canadian statistician Steve McIntyre has recently had an opportunity to download all the data used to construct the key illustrations that suggested catastrophe.
Mr McIntyre concludes that looking at just yearly averages (above graph) there has been a general trend of increasing coral calcification rates at the Great Barrier Reef since the late 1500s.
In recent years there have been fewer measurements of coral at the Great Barrier Reef and the apparent downward spike in 2004-05 may be an artifact of the data – lack of data. [3]
[Read more…] about Coral Calcification and Ocean Acidification Revisited
Media Mention of Sceptics Conference in Washington
Wisconsin Republican congressman Jim Sensenbrenner told a climate change conference in Washington attended by [Australian] Senator Fielding that electricity bills would double or triple under US cap-and-trade legislation. And he denounced the climate change movement as simply transferring wealth to developing countries. Read more here.
Beyond Consumerism but with Capitalism
“CONSUMERISM, it must be noted, afflicts not merely the upper class in affluent societies but also the middle class and many in the working class. Large numbers of people across society believe that they work merely to make ends meet, but an examination of their shopping lists and closets reveals that they spend good parts of their income on status goods such as brand-name clothing, the “right” kind of car, and other assorted items that they don’t really need…
Limiting consumption is not a reflection of failure. Rather, it represents liberation from an obsession–a chance to abandon consumerism and focus on … well, what exactly? What should replace the worship of consumer goods?
The kind of culture that would best serve a Maslowian hierarchy of needs is hardly one that would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs–the economy that can provide the goods needed for basic creature comforts. Nor one that merely mocks the use of consumer goods to respond to higher needs. It must be a culture that extols sources of human flourishing besides acquisition. The two most obvious candidates to fill this role are communitarian pursuits and transcendental ones.
Read more here: http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=80661c9c-9c63-4c9e-a293-6888fc845351&p=1
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.
