Jennifer Marohasy

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Number of ‘Official Skeptics’ Increased in 2008

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“Over 650 dissenting scientists from around the globe challenged man-made global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President Al Gore” according to Marc Morano at the launch of a new report in Washington.  Mr Morano is  communications director for the Republicans on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

According to Mr Morano, “This new 231-page U.S. Senate Minority Report report — updated from 2007’s groundbreaking report of over 400 scientists who voiced skepticism about the so-called global warming “consensus” — features the skeptical voices of over 650 prominent international scientists, including many current and former UN IPCC scientists, who have now turned against the UN IPCC.

“This updated report includes an additional 250 (and growing) scientists and climate researchers since the initial release in December 2007.  The over 650 dissenting scientists are more than 12 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers.

The chorus of skeptical scientific voices grow louder in 2008 as a steady stream of peer-reviewed studies, analyses, real world data and inconvenient developments challenged the UN and former Vice President Al Gore’s claims that the “science is settled” and there is a “consensus.” On a range of issues, 2008 proved to be challenging for the promoters of man-made climate fears. 

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Best [Australian] Blogs of 2008

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Each year On Line Opinion and Club Troppo collaborate to publish a Best Blogs feature in January, which features the best blog pieces from the previous year selected from reader nominations.

This year we are doing it again.

What was the best blog piece that you read in 2008? It can even be one you have written yourself – so don’t be shy.

Let us know, by casting your votes here http://polling.nationalforum.com.au/index.php?sid=54429&lang=en

We will take look at your votes, weigh them up with our expert panel, and get the right to republish as many of them as we can in On Line Opinion over the January period. While you’re thinking, you might like to check out last year’s Best Blogs feature http://onlineopinion.com.au/feature.asp?year=2008&month=1

Some Nuts Can be hard to Crack

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Spare a thought for this scrub turkey unable to open that nut.  I watched the bird struggle with it for quite a while at Alexandra Bay, Noosa National Park, on November 24, 2008. 

If only I’d had a parang, I would have opened the nut for the turkey.

I try hard with this blog to open issues in a way accessible to everyone. 

I received the following comment from a reader not so long ago:

“I have seen on your blog site where a great deal of healthy debate has raged.  This has the benefit of  not only giving all a go, but also challenges those commenting to tidy up loose ends of their argument, or cuts off invalid arguments totally.  One point that I have noticed is that the comments also help us as readers, to see similar comparisons to our own situation.  While we may not agree with a particular persons view on most points even, we are stimulated by other points that draw out ’sleeper’ issues.”

Don’t forget that as well as the main page, this blog has a ‘Community Home’ and a Donation Button.

The IPA Review & Articles by Jennifer Marohasy

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I have been a senior fellow with the Melbourne-based Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) for more than five years now.   I have written a lot for the magazine,  which used to be published by the IPA quarterly, but now comes out every two months.   A year’s subscription is not that much – just $33 a year.

Anyway,  Nichole Hoskin has made a list of many of the articles I have had published in the ‘Review’ over the years, and here goes:

Jennifer Marohasy, ‘Deceit in the Name of Conservation?’, IPA Review, March 2003, http://www.ipa.org.au/library/Review55-1%20Deciet%20in%20the%20name%20of%20conservation.pdf

Jennifer Marohasy, ‘Where’s the Data?’, IPA Review, June 2003, http://www.ipa.org.au/library/Review55-2%20Wheres%20the%20data.pdf

Jennifer Marohasy, ‘GM Fish and Chips? Already and Australian Staple!’, IPA Review, September 2003, http://www.ipa.org.au/library/Review553%20GM%20Fish%20and%20ships.pdf

Jennifer Marohasy, ‘How Useful are Australia’s Official Environmental Statistics?’ IPA Review, December 2003, http://www.ipa.org.au/library/review554%20How%20useful%20are%20Australias.pdf

Jennifer Marohasy, ‘The Taboo Food- Genetically Modified Anything’, IPA Review, March 2004, http://www.ipa.org.au/library/review56-1%20The%20taboo%20food.pdf

Jennifer Marohasy, ‘There are Votes in the Murray’, IPA Review, September 2004, http://www.ipa.org.au/library/56-3-%20there%20are%20votes%20in%20the%20murray.pdf

Jennifer Marohasy, ‘Time to Redefine Environmentalism’, IPA Review, December 2004, http://www.ipa.org.au/library/56-4-Time%20to%20Redefine%20Environmentalism.pdf

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‘The Deniers’, Reviewed by Art Raiche

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DOES society benefit from a fear-driven science-funding policy that threatens the livelihood of scientists with the courage to argue against “orthodox” and established “beyond doubt” views on climate? 

The media drives this fear with increasingly hysterical messages that the earth is getting hotter, that this is being caused by human CO2 emissions and, that without radical social and economic surgery, we will face a myriad of global catastrophes, the like of which have not been seen since the dawn of our history.    We are told that all serious scientists agree with this and that those few who dissent are either charlatans or are funded by the fossil fuel companies.  Other dissenters are regarded on a par with creationists, Holocaust deniers or supporters of tobacco companies.  

But is this true?  Is the science really settled?

To answer this, Lawrence Solomon, the Canadian environmentalist and anti-nuclear campaigner, sought to find well-regarded scientists who disagreed with the AGW (anthropogenic global warming) hysteria promoted by Al Gore and the IPCC. 

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