Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Blog

Earth’s Atmosphere to Cool and Contract: NASA

By

THERE is a new forecast from a panel of international scientists who study the sun.  In a media release from Science@NASA, Tony Phillips explains they predict that the sun will remain generally calm for at least another year and this means low solar activity which can have “a profound effect on Earth’s atmosphere, allowing it to cool and contract”. 

Summarizing comment from the expert panel, Dr Phillips explains that “cosmic rays that are normally pushed back by solar wind instead intrude on the near-Earth environment.

The graph shows yearly-averaged sunspot numbers from 1610 to 2008. Researchers believe upcoming Solar Cycle 24 will be similar to the cycle that peaked in 1928, marked by a red arrow.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/29may_noaaprediction.htm

Enron’s Other Secret

By

Every penny that leaves the hands of consumers does so by design, the final step in elaborate and often brilliant orchestrations of public policy, all the more brilliant because the public, for the most part, does not know who is profiteering on climate change, or who is aiding and abetting the profiteers.  Read more here.

Defining the Greens (Part 12)

By

THE clothes we wear tell something about us including our likely prejudices.  Clothes no doubt also enable others with similar likes and dislikes to find us. 

A regular visitor to this blog sent in this cartoon of Keith in costume for the ‘Defining the Greens’ series.  The cartoon is titled ‘pigeonholed’ which is apparently a transitive verb that can mean to assign to an often restrictive category.

I am not sure whether Keith is a Green or better defined as a Neopagan.

[Read more…] about Defining the Greens (Part 12)

American Activists Target Australian Fishers

By

A VERY large American philanthropic organisation based in Philadelphia, PEW, has a few projects on at the moment.  In Washington DC it’s renovating and refurbishing a building in what it describes as “the heart of the nation’s capital”.  According to its website seven floors will be for its staff and three floors for other NGOs (non-government, non-business organisations).  That’s a lot of lobbying.  Meanwhile in Australia its employed well known activist Imogen Zethoven to  manage its “Coral Sea Campaign” which aims to close down fishing along the north eastern coast of Australia.  

The previous Australian government [the Howard government] handed out hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate commercial fishing interests following the last campaign Ms Zethoven ran.   That was when she worked for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).    

The fishing industry of north Queensland has been gutted over the last decade, but still environment groups come back for more – this time with money from Philadelphia in the US.

[Read more…] about American Activists Target Australian Fishers

Climate Sceptic to Run Climate Research?

By

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s desire to appoint an outspoken climate-change sceptic to a new French super-ministry of industry and innovation has drawn strong protests from party colleagues and environmentalists… Putting him in charge of scientific research would be tantamount to “giving the finger to scientists”, said Nicolas Hulot, France’s best-known environmental activist.  Read more here.

Relative Humidity has been Falling

By

Correlation is not causation.    But it is always exciting to see a good correlation between two variables that one assumes will correlate because of some theory or other.   

According to the ‘Saturated Greenhouse Effect’, a controversial theory developed by Hungarian physicist Ferenc M. Miskolczi, adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere will result in a reduction in relative specific humidity.  

According to data from the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, relative humidity has been generally trending down, especially at higher elevations, since 1948.   [Read more…] about Relative Humidity has been Falling