"George Monbiot: zero emissions by 2030" - "Many people in the global warming movement have lost their minds. For example, we have seen that Al Gore and James Hansen predict 82-feet rise in the sea level. There's a huge competition between these folks.

George Monbiot wants to promote his new book so he doesn't want to stay behind. Instead, he wants to remain the number 1 "moonbat" as people outside his movement call him. What can he do to achieve this non-trivial goal and beat his tough competition?" (The Reference Frame)

"Deferred Forecasts Of Global Warming - An Example Of The Misuse of Science" - "A blatant example of masking an untested hypothesis as a scientific paper has been published in Science. The paper is “Improved Surface Temperature Prediction for the Coming Decade from a Global Climate Model” Doug M. Smith, Stephen Cusack, Andrew W. Colman, Chris K. Folland, Glen R. Harris, and James M. Murphy (10 August 2007) Science 317 (5839), 796. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1139540]." (Climate Science)

That poor virtual world, again: "NASA study predicts more severe storms with global warming" - "NASA scientists have developed a new climate model that indicates that the most violent severe storms and tornadoes may become more common as Earth’s climate warms. 

Previous climate model studies have shown that heavy rainstorms will be more common in a warmer climate, but few global models have attempted to simulate the strength of updrafts in these storms. The model developed at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies by researchers Tony Del Genio, Mao-Sung Yao, and Jeff Jonas is the first to successfully simulate the observed difference in strength between land and ocean storms and is the first to estimate how the strength will change in a warming climate, including “severe thunderstorms” that also occur with significant wind shear and produce damaging winds at the ground. This information can be derived from the temperatures and humidities predicted by a climate computer model, according to the new study published on August 17 in the American Geophysical Union’s Geophysical Research Letters. It predicts that in a warmer climate, stronger and more severe storms can be expected, but with fewer storms overall." (NASA/GSFC)

"When climate patterns line up and 'beat' in sync, it can change everything" - "Most climatologists believe a rise in global temperatures has been going on for more than a century. But the warming trend has occurred against a backdrop of other fluctuations. Every few decades, the Earth's climate appears to undergo a major shift. 

Temperature trends reverse, from warmer periods with frequent and strong El Niños, to relatively cooler, stable eras and vice versa. It's as if someone flips a switch. 

The shifts have profound impacts on regional climates. Storm patterns are altered, long stretches of relatively wet or dry years end, and new periods with opposite conditions dawn." (Union-Tribune)

"Soggy summer set to enter the record books" - "You probably thought so, and now it's official – the summer which finishes today has been the wettest since British records began, the Met Office has said.

Provisional rainfall figures up to Tuesday show that the UK as a whole had 358.5mm of rain, just beating the previous record of 358.4mm set in 1956.

Since it is such a narrow margin between the figures, and further rainfall data has to be gathered, summer 2007 – defined as June, July and August – might yet end up being the second wettest since the UK rainfall series began in 1914. But the previous second-wettest summer, 1985, when 342.7mm of rain fell, has already been surpassed by a considerable margin.

"These figures confirm what most people have already been thinking – this summer has been very disappointing for most," said Keith Groves, the Met Office's head of forecasting." (London Independent)

"Scientists find elusive waves in sun's corona" - "Scientists for the first time have observed elusive oscillations in the Sun's corona, known as Alfvén waves, that transport energy outward from the surface of the Sun. The discovery is expected to give researchers more insight into the fundamental behavior of solar magnetic fields, eventually leading to a fuller understanding of how the Sun affects Earth and the solar system." (NCAR)

"Major implications from our analysis of 20 yrs of global warming perceptions" - "Here are the major implications from our study analyzing twenty years of American public opinion data on global warming:
...
3. Global warming remains very much a public communication problem. 

Scientists, environmental groups, and some Democratic leaders have been very good at mobilizing a certain baseline level of urgency, but if the rest of the public is going to be activated, new media platforms, opinion leaders, and frames will have to be employed. For more, see the recent articles published at Science and at the Washington Post." ( Matthew C. Nisbet, Framing Science)

Actually gorebull warming is strictly a public miscommunication problem! The public have been mislead to believe climate stasis is possible, even 'normal' and that whatever the temperature was before industrialisation was optimal.

"Scientists warm up to Watts' work" - "For a weatherman who has spent most of his career in front of a TV camera or radio microphone, Anthony Watts was a little concerned about speaking in front of dozens of scientists. 

"Although I'm great at giving a weather forecast, I'm a little rusty giving a scientific presentation," Watts said Friday. 

During a scientific workshop this week in Boulder, Colo., Watts presented his research on hundreds of weather stations used to help monitor the nation's climate. 

The preliminary results show Watts and his volunteers have surveyed about a quarter of the 1,221 stations making up the U.S. Historical Climatology Network. Of those, more than half appear to fall short of federal guidelines for optimum placement." (Enterprise Record)

Demonstrating there's pretty much nothing people can't or won't attribute to 'climate change': "Climate change could be causing cougar attacks: expert" - "CANMORE, Alta. -- A combination of warm winters and Alberta's population boom is causing a recent jump in cougar attacks, says a spokesman for the government agency that collects cougar-related data." (CanWest News Service)

"Sea to "Engulf" Tract of China's Pearl River Delta" - "BEIJING - A huge swathe of China's booming Pearl River Delta will be "engulfed" by rising sea water by the middle of the century because of global warming, state media said on Thursday, quoting weather officials." (Reuters)

"Chinese industrial expansion threatened by global warming" - "The huge industrial zone at the heart of the "Made in China" economic miracle is directly threatened by global warming, which could lead to it being inundated by sea water, scientists have warned." (London Telegraph)

Playing to misanthropist greenies: "China Says One-Child Policy Helps Protect Climate" - "VIENNA - China says its one-child policy has helped the fight against global warming by avoiding 300 million births, the equivalent of the population of the United States." (Reuters)

"Global food crisis looms as climate change and population growth strip fertile land" - "Climate change and an increasing population could trigger a global food crisis in the next half century as countries struggle for fertile land to grow crops and rear animals, scientists warned yesterday." (The Guardian)

Better crank up biotechnology then, eh?

"Rich Countries Deadlocked Over 2020 Climate Goals" - "VIENNA - Industrial nations were deadlocked on Thursday about whether to set stringent 2020 goals for cutting greenhouse gases at a first UN session about long-term climate targets, delegates said." (Reuters)

"Malaysia criticises APEC climate change agenda" - "RAWANG, Malaysia - Malaysia said on Thursday Australia and the United States should not hijack next week's summit of Asia-Pacific leaders to discuss climate change, saying it was not the right forum." (Reuters)

"EU and UN Agree Long-Awaited Carbon Market Link" - "LONDON/BRUSSELS - A long-awaited trading link between carbon markets in the European Union and under the UN-sponsored Kyoto Protocol on global warming should be completed in November, EU and UN officials said on Thursday." (Reuters)

D'oh! "Wind farm cash-in for renewable energy companies" - "Energy companies are cashing in on Government subsidies by building wind farms that will never make any money because they are being constructed on sites with not enough wind, it has been claimed. 

Despite Britain being the windiest nation in Europe, some farms are proposed for sites where companies have exaggerated their potential, a BBC investigation alleged.

To meet EU targets for renewable energy, the Government has subsidised the wind turbine industry by half a billion pounds. Yet companies have not managed to deliver even 0.5 per cent of Britain's electricity needs. (London Telegraph)

"The OPA's nuclear vision" - "Proposal to energy regulator would end coal-fired power generation by 2015." (Toronto Star)

"Green Groups Seek Freeze on Canada Arctic Pipelines" - "CALGARY, Alberta - Regulators should slap a moratorium on pipelines in Canada's North because governments and oil companies have not planned for long-term environmental impacts, a green-group representative said Thursday." (Reuters)

"The great submarine burp: Methane from the oceans could power the world" - "MUCH effort is quietly going into the pursuit of what is probably the world’s greatest store of fossil fuel—caches of methane, the primary component of natural gas, stored in structures called methane hydrates, or clathrates (a general term for gas molecules trapped by water molecules). Looking just like ice, they are methane molecules trapped within tiny cages of water molecules. They form where temperatures are low and pressures are high, which is to say, on the sea-floor at the continental shelves, and within the permafrost at the Earth’s poles.

As with all fossil-fuel resources, it is hard to estimate just how much methane is trapped in clathrates worldwide. But there is a lot. One litre of clathrates can hold more than 150 litres of methane. Numerous deposits have been identified off the coasts of all of the continents. Even a few of the lakes in Central Asia are just frosty enough to support clathrate formation. Some guess that clathrate methane reserves could equal twice the rest of the world’s fossil fuel supplies combined." (Economist.com)

"Iowa State researcher studies the sustainability of the bioeconomy" - "This spring farmers responded to the ethanol industry's demand for grain by increasing their corn acreage by 19 percent over last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. 

What if that happens again next year?" (Iowa State University)

Hmm... "Bigfoot May Gain Protection by Canadian Parliament" - "A member of the Canadian Mounted Police by the name of Mike Lake has officially notified the Canadian Parliament that he believes that Bigfoot should be added to the Nation's, Species at Risk Act. This is similar to the Endangered Species List in the United States." (Associated Content)

The last time this surfaced we seem to recall it was a public petition presented to a sitting member that required this be presented to parliament, now it's allegedly a Mounty (Mounties always get their Sasquatch?)...

"Breeders fortifying wheat with consumers in mind" - "AMARILLO -- Wheat breeders are working to put a "little muscle" into bread, in addition to helping producers get better yields, said a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researcher. 

Bread producers need stronger gluten flours, said Dr. Jackie Rudd, Experiment Station state wheat breeder in Amarillo. Gluten is the protein in wheat that allows bread to expand and hold the shape. 

At a meeting of the Wheat Quality Council, Hayden Wands, director of procurement for Sara Lee Corp. said flours with a stronger gluten are needed for breads to ensure they will not squash during stacking on the grocery shelves, Rudd said." (Texas A&M University - Agricultural Communications)

August 30, 2007

"The Australian Warming Swindle debate" - "Martin Durkin is not necessarily 100% saint, his documentary wasn't 100% free of errors, and his answers are not quite 100% perfect. But look how he was treated in Australia after his The Great Global Warming Swindle was aired by ABC, the Australian TV station, on July 12th:" (The Reference Frame)

Oh boy... "Mankind to Blame for Warming but Can Slow Damage - UN" - "VIENNA - Mankind is to blame for climate change but governments still have time to slow accelerating damage at moderate cost if they act quickly, a draft UN report shows. (Reuters)

... those marvelous magical multiplier effects again -- what a pity they haven't been found to exist in the real world.

Bottom line: we don't really know what the current temperature is, we don't know what it was and we don't know what it "should be". We most assuredly can not knowingly and predictably change it and we have no real idea whether avoiding some amount of warming would be better than encouraging it.

"Survey: Less Than Half of all Published Scientists Endorse Global Warming Theory" - "Comprehensive survey of published climate research reveals changing viewpoints

In 2004, history professor Naomi Oreskes performed a survey of research papers on climate change. Examining peer-reviewed papers published on the ISI Web of Science database from 1993 to 2003, she found a majority supported the "consensus view," defined as humans were having at least some effect on global climate change. Oreskes' work has been repeatedly cited, but as some of its data is now nearly 15 years old, its conclusions are becoming somewhat dated.

Medical researcher Dr. Klaus-Martin Schulte recently updated this research. Using the same database and search terms as Oreskes, he examined all papers published from 2004 to February 2007. The results have been submitted to the journal Energy and Environment, of which DailyTech has obtained a pre-publication copy. The figures are surprising. (Daily Tech)

The Hansen phenomenon (Number Watch)

Whassa matter, Albert? "India tribe to honor Al Gore on global warming" - "GUWAHATI, India - Tribal people in India's remote northeast plan to honor former U.S. Vice President Al Gore with an award for promoting awareness on climate change that they say will have a devastating impact on their homeland." (Reuters)

Not enough cash in it for you?

The chieftains have invited Gore to their remote village for the award ceremony on Oct 6 where they expect 300,000 local people to attend. The award will consist of some traditional gifts and a "small amount of money".

A spokeswoman for Gore said he was "very humbled" to hear of the award but did not know whether he would be able to attend the ceremony.

We hear Al won't front for anything under US$100,000 these days and that only gets you an hour of the big fellow's time.

Oh boy... "Climate Change: Get Over Objectivity, Newspapers" - "The industry still has a lot of power to influence people. How about if newspapers abandon their old way of doing things when it comes to the issue of global warming, and turn their influence to good?" (Steve Outing, Editor & Publisher)

We generally find media coverage of gorebull warming more objectionable than objective. If it were objective it would point out that total net estimated change in global mean temperature since the Industrial Revolution is in the order of 0.2% (0.7/288 K) and that global mean temperature varies almost 1.5% through the normal course of the year (from NCDC monthly averages that is 287 ± 2 K). Those are just the averages although year to year variation can be much, much larger.

Objective coverage would be that we think there has been a minor change in the global mean temperature but, unless you live at that hypothetical location "globally averaged," this has no relevance to you.

Anyone expect to see such objective coverage any time soon? Us neither.

More: "Minister: Forecasts should highlight climate change" - "Environment Minister John Gormley today urged weather forecasters to flag up the impact of climate change during their reports on television and radio.

The Green Party leader also launched a broadside at sections of the media for being ignorant about global warming or allowing "flat earther" sceptics to air their views." (Online Ireland)

"Climate change impact worsening, Ireland getting wetter: report" - "DUBLIN - Climate change is affecting Ireland at an increasingly rapid pace, the country's Environment Minister John Gormley said Wednesday, as he launched a major report on the issue.

Gormley, one of two Green Party ministers in Prime Minister Bertie Ahern's coalition government, was unveiling a study from the country's Environmental Protection Agency on key meteorological indicators of climate change.

The report says that Ireland's average annual temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees centigrade between 1890 and 2004." (AFP)

That's funny, scatter plotting data from Armagh Observatory fails to reveal any precipitation temperature correlation.

From Precipitation at Armagh Observatory 1838-1997: "We note a roughly constant upward trend, with a slope of +0.0039 ±0.001mm/day/yr, in annual precipitation from the beginning of the series until approximately 1960. The only really significant departure from this trend is the dip in rainfall around 1890 close to, but possibly a little later than, a dip in mean air temperature. The generally upward trend in both mean air temperature and rainfall over the period 1890–1950 could be explained by the increased evaporation rate over the Atlantic as air temperature rises. A similar explanation would presumably be viable for the dip in temperature and precipitation around 1890. Between 1850 and 1880 the approximate correspondence between precipitation and temperature breaks down, with temperature around 1850 higher and rainfall lower than average. After 1970 the precipitation drops significantly and thereafter remains roughly at the level recorded at the beginning of the series." [em added]

"More On Another Climate Forcing Effect - Ozone" - "There is a paper in Nature which discusses an effect of increased ozone on the carbon assimilation and release into the atmosphere. The paper is S. Sitch, P. M. Cox, W. J. Collins and C. Huntingford, 2007: Indirect radiative forcing of climate change through ozone effects on the land-carbon sink, Nature 448, 791-794 (16 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/nature06059; Received 9 September 2006; Accepted 3 July 2007; Published online 25 July 2007" (Climate Science)

"Hurricanes Down Under" - "For a variety of reasons, most of the research we have reviewed has been conducted in the Northern Hemisphere on tropical cyclone trends that have occurred in the Northern Hemisphere. However, the Southern Hemisphere gets its fair share of tropical cyclones, and the global warming supporters do not differentiate hemispherically in their never-ending claims that elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases will cause an increase in tropical cyclone frequency and/or intensity. 

An interesting article has appeared in Earth and Planetary Science Letters regarding tropical cyclone activity in northeastern Australia over the past eight centuries. Eight centuries? A researcher would need to be very clever to figure out the number of large tropical cyclones that occurred every year from AD 1226 to AD 2003 in northeastern Australia." (WCR)

"Predictions Off for Global Warming Flood Risk - Study" - "LONDON - Current predictions for global warming underestimate the risk of floods and overestimate the impact of droughts by not taking into account the role plants play in absorbing carbon dioxide, researchers said on Wednesday." (Reuters)

"Climate change on APEC agenda: Hu" - "CLIMATE change is a priority for Beijing and should be on the agenda at the Asia-Pacific leaders summit next week, China's President Hu Jintao said during a phone conversation with Australian Prime Minister John Howard." (The Australian)

"Harper to seek breakthrough on climate change when APEC leaders meet" - "OTTAWA — Canadian officials are hoping that Prime Minister Stephen Harper can help broker a breakthrough in global negotiations on climate change at next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Sydney, Australia." (CanWest News Service)

"No Sign of US Carbon Trading Consensus - Watson" - "VIENNA - It will be very difficult to reach agreement on a carbon market for the United States as there is no sign of consensus between regional schemes, the US chief climate negotiator said on Wednesday." (Reuters)

"US Praises Developing Nations' Climate Curbs" - "VIENNA - The United States praised developing nations' efforts to curb greenhouse gases on Wednesday, a marked shift from its usual call for big emitters such as China and India to do more to fight global warming." (Reuters)

"U.S. Plays Down Split With EU on Climate" - " The United States and Europe are working together to tackle global warming, the chief U.S. climate negotiator said Wednesday, deflecting growing criticism within the EU and the developing world over Washington's perceived go-it-alone stance." (AP)

We could wish... "Global warming could delay next ice age: study" - "Burning fossil fuels could postpone the next ice age by up to half a million years, researchers at a British university said Wednesday." (AFP)

"Climate change causing Arctic ice meltdown" - "BOULDER, Colo. -- This summer's record melt of Arctic sea ice has unlocked the fabled Northwest Passage shipping route more completely than ever before, says the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.

"It's open," said Mark Serreze, of the research institute in Boulder, Colo. "It's unprecedented. You could take a ship from Tokyo through the Northwest Passage to Boston. Not a Sunday cruise, but it has started to happen." (CanWest News Service)

"Is a zero-carbon Britain possible?" - "This week the Liberal Democrats unveiled plans to eliminate our greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. Leo Hickman considers the implications." (The Guardian)

Imagine that... "More people, more concrete, and lots more heat in Phoenix" - "An 'urban heat island' effect, fed by the city's growth, is trapping heat and making temperatures soar." (The Christian Science Monitor)

"Fighting climate change like crime" - "Should the California attorney general be a crusader on climate change? If not, what should be a bigger priority for him? All this week, Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, and Ventura City Manager Rick Cole debate the state's role in pushing local government to do better in planning for global warming." (LA Times)

Eye-roller: "Climate Report May Have Cut Katrina Impact - Analyst" - "WASHINGTON - Hurricane Katrina might have caused less damage if the Bush administration had completed a required report of US vulnerability to global warming before the storm hit, an environmental policy analyst said on Wednesday." (Reuters)

Sigh... "The great global coal rush puts us on the fast track to irreversible disaster" - "The dirtiest fossil fuel of all is on the resurgent, dressed in climate-friendly garb. We'd be wise not to flirt with it." (John Harris, The Guardian)

"Low-emission coal test success" - "AUSTRALIA will have a blueprint for a near-zero-emission coal-fired power plant by the end of next year after drill tests proved the central Queensland coal and gas fields could safely store greenhouse gas underground." (The Australian)

"Japan tries to bury CO2 emission problem" - "Japan is digging in deep to curb its carbon dioxide emissions--a kilometer into the ground to be more precise. 

The Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) based in Kizugawa, Kyoto Prefecture, is developing technology to store carbon dioxide underground before the greenhouse gas is emitted into the atmosphere. 

The plan is for the geological sequestration technology to be adopted at power plants, steel works, cement factories and other facilities that emit large amounts of CO2. 

The biggest hurdle is the cost." (Asahi Shimbun)

"Volcanic Activity Key to Oxygen-rich Atmosphere" - "Next time you catch a breath, be thankful, for a change, that the Earth's surface is dotted with volcanoes." (NSF)

"Arsenic in Water a Risk to 140 Million People" - "LONDON - Naturally-occurring arsenic in drinking water poses a growing global health risk as large numbers of people unknowingly consume unsafe levels of the chemical element, researchers said on Wednesday." (Reuters)

"Discovery could help stop malaria at its source -- the mosquito" - "As summer temperatures cool in the United States, fewer mosquitoes whir around our tiki torches. But mosquitoes swarming around nearly 40 percent of the world’s population will continue to spread a deadly parasitic disease — malaria. Now an interdisciplinary team led by researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has found a key link that causes malarial infection in both humans and mosquitoes." (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

"Keeping Romania impoverished" - "For decades, Nazi and Communist regimes ruled Romania, kept her people impoverished and exploited her resources – tearing vast mineral wealth from her mountains, with little regard for worker safety, people’s health or the environment. When the Soviet Empire collapsed, Romania eagerly embraced a more hopeful future and embarked on a course to join the European Union. 

Life has improved for many, especially in cities like Bucharest. But Romania remains one of the EU’s poorest nations, and valleys that once echoed with the shouts of workers and roar of heavy equipment are now silent. Over 300,000 miners are jobless. Their villages have descended into squalor, misery and despondency that have no historic parallel. (Paul Driessen, Townhall)

Get the Mine Your Own Business DVD at the DemandDebate.com Store

"The Green Regulatory State" - "Over the years, the environmental lobby has advanced a considerable number of laws—leading to the passage of hundreds of environmental statutes. But the legacy does not end there; a great many of these laws require federal agencies to issue regulations on an ongoing basis. The following analysis employs several tools to assess the scope and growth of the environmental regulatory state. It shows that environmental regulations comprise a considerable size of the total federal regulatory agenda, and the impact expands annually in the absence of congressional activity." (Angela Logomasini, CEI)

"You're likely to order more calories at a 'healthy' restaurant" - "An important new study from the Journal of Consumer Research explains the “American obesity paradox”: the parallel rise in obesity rates and the popularity of healthier food. In a series of four studies, the researchers reveal that we over-generalize “healthy” claims. In fact, consumers chose beverages, side dishes, and desserts containing up to 131% more calories when the main dish was positioned as “healthy”." (University of Chicago)

"For the Overweight, Bad Advice by the Spoonful" - "Americans have been getting fatter for years, and with the increase in waistlines has come a surplus of conventional wisdom. If we could just return to traditional diets, if we just walk for 20 minutes a day, exercise gurus and government officials maintain, America’s excess pounds would slowly but surely melt away.

Scientists are less sanguine. Many of the so-called facts about obesity, they say, amount to speculation or oversimplification of the medical evidence. Diet and exercise do matter, they now know, but these environmental influences alone do not determine an individual’s weight. Body composition also is dictated by DNA and monitored by the brain. Bypassing these physical systems is not just a matter of willpower." (Gina Kolata, New York Times)

"The War on (Expensive) Drugs" - "On the surface, it makes perfect sense. Prescriptions for hormone-replacement therapy to treat the symptoms of menopause plummeted after interim results from a big government study of the drugs showed they were causing heart attacks. But beneath the surface is another, lesser known story. In the five years since federal researchers first unveiled their results, a series of follow-up studies calculated off the same government data found that many of the initial conclusions were premature, indefinite or just plain wrong.

The $725 million Women's Health Initiative was rooted in some good intentions, but was set against a backdrop of fiscal and political bickering over the efficacy of the costly drugs. Unfortunately, this influenced not only how the findings were computed but also how they were received. As this newspaper's Tara Parker-Pope first reported in July, when initial results confirmed populist refrains that the drugs were being overused, the data were rushed to print with a carefully orchestrated PR blitz, while subsequent efforts to test the initial conclusions were sluggish.

Federal researchers refused to share bottom-line results, even with outside academics or the companies that manufactured the drugs. This allowed them to closely guard their monopoly over the original data and therefore the prerogative to publish follow-up findings. It's a sure bet if the data had been more widely shared, important analyses that debunked some of the initial conclusions would have come to light much sooner.

And unless something is done to make sure that data is shared, there will be many similarly flawed government studies to test the efficacy of drug treatments, especially the politically popular "comparative" studies that pit expensive new medicines against older, cheaper alternatives with the aim of cutting health-care spending." (Scott Gottlieb, Wall Street Journal)

"Ingsoc" - "The latest issue of Health Freedom Watch, published by the Institute for Health Freedom, has a “this couldn’t happen in America” story. 

The IHF reported that “the Minnesota Department of Health has been collecting and storing blood and DNA material on newborn babies without their parents’ consent.” The Citizens’ Council on Health Care (CCHC), a health-policy organization based in Minnesota, discovered that the health department has been illegally collecting DNA material for ten years and has DNA on at least 670,000 babies which it is giving away for genetic research." (Junkfood Science)

Be aware this is based on a Nude Socialist item... "New doubts raised over mobile phone safety" - "Just five minutes of exposure to mobile phone emissions can trigger changes that occur during cancer development, according to new research. 

Scientists found mobile signals can activate cell division – central to the growth of tumours - even at very low power levels. 

Government guidance that mobile phone use is safe is based on the mainstream scientific assumption that electromagnetic radiation from devices such as mobiles could only cause health hazards as a result of heating. 

The new research, highlighted in this week’s New Scientist, supports the position of some researchers who argue handsets can trigger potentially harmful changes to cells irrespective of temperature changes. 

However other scientists said cell division is a natural process that occurs constantly in the body and does not usually signify health hazards." (London Telegraph)

... thus raising significant credibility concerns.

"Monsanto Stays Course Despite French GMO Attacks" - "PARIS - Fresh attacks on Monsanto's French test sites for genetically modified (GMO) maize have not put it off research in France, the US biotech giant said on Wednesday." (Reuters)

August 29, 2007

"Global Warming: Man-Made or Natural?" - "The following is adapted from a lecture delivered on the Hillsdale College campus on June 30, 2007, during a seminar entitled “Economics and the Environment,” sponsored by the Charles R. and Kathleen K. Hoogland Center for Teacher Excellence." (Imprimis)

"Not So Hot" - "The latest twist in the global warming saga is the revision in data at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, indicating that the warmest year on record for the U.S. was not 1998, but rather 1934 (by 0.02 of a degree Celsius).

Canadian and amateur climate researcher Stephen McIntyre discovered that NASA made a technical error in standardizing the weather air temperature data post-2000. These temperature mistakes were only for the U.S.; their net effect was to lower the average temperature reading from 2000-2006 by 0.15C.

The new data undermine another frightful talking point from environmentalists, which is that six of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1990. Wrong. NASA now says six of the 10 warmest years were in the 1930s and 1940s, and that was before the bulk of industrial CO2 emissions were released into the atmosphere." (Wall Street Journal) | .pdf version for the access-impaired.

"How not to measure temperature - part 30" - "Russ Steele is out on vacation and doing several surveys while traveling. This one below is from St. George, UT. Here we see an MMTS measuring the temperature near the surface of an elevated parking lot. The effect of the asphalt and vehicles that park near it, engine forward, probably dwarfs the effect of the nearby a/c unit. The shading may help daytime temps some, but the asphalt likely biases Tmin the most." (Watts Up With That?)

Uh-huh... "Greenhouse Gases Fueled 2006 US Warmth - Report" - "WASHINGTON - Greenhouse gas emissions -- not El Nino or other natural phenomena -- pushed US temperatures for 2006 close to a record high, government climate scientists reported on Tuesday." (Reuters)

We wonder how they'd know. The mid-troposphere track over the 48 states is, uh, volatile, to be sure (influence of a meandering jet stream? Hard to say). Additionally, the surveys done by volunteers for surfacestations.org, coordinated by Anthony Watts (Watts Up With That?), do not inspire great confidence in our ability to track trivial trends in surface measures. Particularly since Captain Jimmy Hansen of The Space Cadets points out there is no standard definition of what we are trying to measure or how to go about doing so (Captain Jimmy! Captain Jimmy! What should we do?).

"Regional climate forecasts" - "Rasmus Benestad wrote a long article about the predicted impact of a hypothetical climate change on individual regions. In the context of the IPCC, this question is discussed in chapter 11 of the report of the first working group. Rasmus argues that it is very hard for the existing models to predict regional changes but he overwhelms us with a lot of unreliable information collected from random modelers at random places anyway." (The Reference Frame)

"Are Media Reporting Global Warming Too Objectively or Inhibiting Free Speech?" - "In the past couple of days, there have been two articles written about how the media are covering global warming.

In one, the author contended that the press are acting to inhibit free speech by exclusively reporting one side of the climate change issue as they castigate skeptics as deniers and operatives of the oil industry.

By contrast, another article suggested that the press in their attempts to appear objective are not doing a good enough job stressing the dire nature of global warming, and should be taking a much stronger position as advocate for the supposed consensus." (News Busters)

"Global Warming at Church: Religious Leaders Spread Word of the Gore" - "There are many climate change skeptics around the world who have suggested that global warming is a new religion being spread by hysterical zealots like soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore." (News Busters)

"The Sad Legacy Of David Suzuki" - "A religious fervor for protecting nature has transformed Canada’s leading environmentalist into an emotional bully intolerant of scientists who don’t see things his way. Over the years I’ve heard and read statements by David Suzuki that are too often misleading or incorrect, especially about climate. He, and many like him, claim natural events are unnatural thus guaranteeing that they appear right. What he conveniently overlooks, and may have learned had he remained a scientist rather than becoming an activist, is that nature and climate frequently change dramatically and in very short time periods." (Timothy Ball, Orato)

"John Blakeley: Kyoto faces major world opposition" - "The outcomes of two international meetings next month may determine whether the Kyoto Protocol lasts even one full year into its five-year commitment period that starts in January." (New Zealand Herald)

"Climate change can't bog down APEC" - "NEXT week's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum meeting in Sydney won't be its last, but if we accept Kevin Rudd's view of the world then, like John Howard, its days may be numbered." (The Australian)

"Crisis After Kyoto Confronted" - "VIENNA - Human-made emissions of greenhouse gases believed to provoke damaging climate change must peak in the next 10 to 15 years, and be reduced afterwards by well over 50 percent from current levels until 2050, a top UN climate official said here Tuesday." (IPS)

<chuckle> "U.N Says Climate Deal in 2009 Ideal, But Complex" - "VIENNA - The UN's top climate official said on Tuesday that agreeing a global deal by the end of 2009 to combat climate change would be ideal but noted much needs to be done." (Reuters)

"China, Japan have more than climate in mind for Merkel trip - Feature" - "Beijing/Tokyo - The battle against global warming is the focal point of German chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to China and Japan. But her hosts in Beijing and Tokyo appear to have a different agenda on their minds." (DPA)

"Wen to Merkel: Mind Your Own Business" - "Today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel encouraged China’s Premier Wen Jiabao to do more to stop climate change. “The Chinese wish, like all people, for blue skies, green hills and clear water,” Wen said at a joint news conference in Beijing. Then, the “People’s Premier” told the Germans—and by implication, everyone else—to mind their own business. He essentially said that China must finish its industrialization before it can consider minimizing its impact on world climate. “China has taken part of the responsibility for climate change for only 30 years while industrial countries have grown fast for the last 200 years,” he said.

China does not have a severely degraded environment—the world’s worst—because it is industrializing. And it’s not because of a shortage of money—China possesses the world’s largest pile of foreign currency reserves, now in excess of $1.3 trillion. Nor is it due to a lack of technology: China already possesses much of the know-how, and foreign governments and companies are tripping over themselves to supply what it does not now have.

The country has polluted its land, water, and air because its political system has prevented its disgusted and frustrated citizenry from stopping the damage. The Communist Party’s bottom-up patronage system rewards economic growth at any price, providing an incentive to dump raw sewage, scatter industrial waste, and release toxic smoke. Beijing’s leaders are afraid that an economic slowdown will lead to the collapse of the one-party state." (Commentary Magazine)

"Energy Efficiency Seen Easiest Path to Aid Climate" - "VIENNA - Energy efficiency for power plants, cars or homes is the easiest way to slow global warming in a long-term investment shift that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, the United Nations said on Tuesday. 

A UN report about climate investments, outlined to a meeting in Vienna of 1,000 delegates from 158 nations, also said emissions of greenhouse gases could be curbed more cheaply in developing nations than in rich states in coming decades." (Reuters)

This should help demonstrate the stupidity of gorebull warming hysteria: "Trying to Connect the Dinner Plate to Climate Change" - "EVER since “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore has been the darling of environmentalists, but that movie hardly endeared him to the animal rights folks. According to them, the most inconvenient truth of all is that raising animals for meat contributes more to global warming than all the sport utility vehicles combined. 

The biggest animal rights groups do not always overlap in their missions, but now they have coalesced around a message that eating meat is worse for the environment than driving. They and smaller groups have started advertising campaigns that try to equate vegetarianism with curbing greenhouse gases.

More gibbering nitwittery: "Lib Dems see zero-carbon Britain setting the global green agenda" - "The Liberal Democrat leadership yesterday outlined a vision of a zero-carbon Britain by 2050 when it published the most ambitious blueprint for climate change reform ever produced by a mainstream political party. Citing extreme weather events such as the Australian drought, the destruction of New Orleans by a hurricane, warm winters in Canada, and Britain's summer floods, Sir Menzies Campbell insisted that climate change was finally moving up the political agenda worldwide. "This time it's different," he told a press conference in London." (The Guardian)

"The looming food crisis" - "Aug 29 2007: Land that was once used to grow food is increasingly being turned over to biofuels. This may help us to fight global warming - but it is driving up food prices throughout the world and making life increasingly hard in developing countries. Add in water shortages, natural disasters and an ever-rising population, and what you have is a recipe for disaster. John Vidal reports." (The Guardian)

"Wind farm debate split environmentalists" - "Long Island's half-decade tango with offshore wind power tested the definition of the term environmentalist, pitting fervent advocates for green power against potential supporters who wanted stronger assurances about the project's potential impact on birds, bats and fish.

After the controversial project was terminated last week, the wind farm's strongest advocates seemed divided on whether the $800 million price tag should have been the deciding factor given the global warming crisis. Meanwhile, those who always questioned whether the proper studies would ever be done to know the project's environmental impacts pointed to divisions in the community that question the claim the wind-farm was done in by a horde of NIMBYs." (Newsday)

D'oh! "Antarctic Ozone Hole Appears Early in 2007 - UN" - "GENEVA - A hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has appeared earlier than usual in 2007, the United Nations weather agency said on Tuesday. 

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said it would not be clear for several weeks whether the ozone hole, which is expected to continue growing until early October, would be larger than its record size in 2006. 

"It is still too early to give a definitive statement about the development of this year's ozone hole and the degree of ozone loss that will occur. This will, to a large extent, depend on the meteorological conditions," the Geneva-based agency said." (Reuters)

It's true that conditions have been cold in the southern hemisphere winter and that the so-called 'ozone whole' is strongly cold associated. The environmental lore about it being significant to life on Earth is another matter, however, as is human culpability.

Misguidance from 'experts'... marvelous! "Warming-Fueled Hurricanes Need New Tactics - Experts" - "WASHINGTON - Global warming is expected to cause more severe hurricanes, and that means US communities will need new tactics to minimize storm damage, emergency preparedness experts said on Monday." (Reuters)

Yelling 'Fire!' again: "Forecast: Storm Warning" - "Their names are seared into the minds of those who lived through them. Andrew. Charley. Hugo. Ivan. Rita. And, of course, Katrina." (Center for American Progress)

"GMA Gets Its Fill of Food Police" - "Much like tasty snacks, the networks can never stop their addiction to “food police” groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest.Yesterday morning it was Good Morning America that was shilling for them, saying, “Did you realize you were paying more for less food?” 

What was the target this time? The 100 calorie “snack packs,” that CSPI themselves have fought for. CSPI is upset about the cost, even though companies have gone out of their way to create less fattening snacks, (in smaller portions, and with some new recipes)." (News Busters)

August 28, 2007

The further adventures of Captain Hansen of The Space Cadets: "NASA's Hansen Reaches Escape Velocity" - "James Hansen, NASA's True Believer in the global warming credo, has just been quoted by the Globe & Mail of Canada as follows: 

"Prof. Hansen and his colleagues argue that rapidly melting ice caps in Antarctica and Greenland could cause oceans to swell several metres by 2100 - or maybe even as much as 25 metres, which is how much higher the oceans sat about three million years ago." 

In an email to the Globe and Mail, Hansen writes

"If we follow 'business-as-usual' growth of greenhouse gas emissions... I think that we will lock in a guaranteed sea-level rise of several meters, which, frankly, means that all hell is going to break loose."

For all you non-metric folks, 25 meters equals 82 feet, or about as high as an eight-story building. "Several meters" is only about 9-15 feet. That's the wall of water that is going to drown all the coastal plains of the world if Hansen's predictions come to pass." (James Lewis, American Thinker)

Hmm... we're starting to wonder whether the most significant climate feedback loop might not be Hansen beginning to believe his own press and using his press releases as input into his computer games, which then produce even more, uh... interesting results and more press releases.

"IPCC Member: NASA’s Hansen Moving 'Dangerously Away From Scientific Discourse to Advocacy'" - "NASA's James Hansen, whose work is continually exposed as shoddy while he refuses to share data gathering techniques and computer codes used for such things with others, has been criticized by a contributing scientist to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as moving "dangerously away from scientific discourse to advocacy." (News Busters)

"Hansen: all hell is going to break loose" - "Will oceans surge 82 feet or 97 miles?" (The Reference Frame)

"We Have Never Been at War with Eastasia" - "In this commendably balanced story by New York Times journalist Andy Revkin about the recent NASA temperature data fiasco, a certain someone at NASA plays a Jedi mind trick:" (Iain Murray, Planet Gore)

"A Denier's Confession: Global warming is more alarmist than alarming" - "The recent discovery by a retired businessman and climate kibitzer named Stephen McIntyre that 1934--and not 1998 or 2006--was the hottest year on record in the U.S. could not have been better timed. August is the month when temperatures are high and the news cycle is slow, leading, inevitably, to profound meditations on global warming. Newsweek performed its journalistic duty two weeks ago with an exposé on what it calls the global warming "denial machine." I hereby perform mine with a denier's confession

I confess: I am prepared to acknowledge that Mr. McIntyre's discovery amounts to what a New York Times reporter calls a "statistically meaningless" rearrangement of data.

But just how "meaningless" would this have seemed had it yielded the opposite result? Had Mr. McIntyre found that a collation error understated recent temperatures by 0.15 degrees Celsius (instead of overstating it by that amount, as he discovered), would the news coverage have differed in tone and approach? When it was reported in January that 2006 was one of the hottest years on record, NASA's James Hansen used the occasion to warn grimly that "2007 is likely to be warmer than 2006." Yet now he says, in connection to the data revision, that "in general I think we want to avoid going into more and more detail about ranking of individual years." (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal)

Has anyone seen any sign of the MSM picking up on a major incongruity in all this? Note that we agree a change in the assessed temperature of -0.15 kelvins for a chunk of the planet is statistically meaningless (its expected temperature being about 288 K). The difficulty we have is finding anything to get excited about a temperature change from 1938 to 1998 of a mere few thousandths of a kelvin either way. This is "catastrophic warming"? Oh puh-lease!

"Forensic Climatology and the Central England Temperature (CET) record" - "A very welcome guest post by Willis Eschenbach which raises questions over the UK's long running temperature record." (An Englishman's Castle)

"$500 million worth of eco-hypocrisy" - "Like Hillary Clinton, Al Gore's paranoid tendencies are rarely far below the surface. Where Hillary likes to invoke the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy as her personal bogeyman, Al Gore likes to invoke the 'well-funded climate denial industry' as his arch-enemy. 

"There has been an organized campaign," Gore told a forum in Singapore, "financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community."

Having worked for three different think tanks over the years, I can personally attest that most are incapable of allying in any kind of ongoing organized campaign, so the predicate of Al Gore's comments are clearly wrong. But the more interesting question is who, exactly, is the real "well-funded climate industry?" An article today in Ad Age tells the tale:" (Ken Green, Planet Gore)

"Scientists See First Signs of Long-Term Changes in Tropical Rainfall" - "NASA scientists have detected the first signs that tropical rainfall is on the rise, using the longest and most complete data record available.

The international scientific community assembled a 27-year global record of rainfall from satellite and ground-based instruments. The researchers found the rainiest years between 1979 and 2005 occurred primarily after 2001. The wettest year was 2005, followed by 2004, 2003, 2002 and 1998. The study appeared in the August 1 issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. The rainfall increase was concentrated over tropical oceans, with a slight decline over land.

"When we look at the whole planet over almost three decades, the total amount of rain falling has changed very little. But in the tropics, where nearly two-thirds of all rain falls, there has been an increase of 5 percent," said lead author Guojun Gu, a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md." (NASA)

Really? Sounds like support for precipitation efficiency and "iris effect" then, doesn't it?

"India's Monsoon to Revive, Crops Looking Good" - "NEW DELHI - India's monsoon, vital for farmers and the larger economy, will revive in central states by Friday, and crops are growing well following good rains in key agricultural states, officials and traders said.

There has been devastating flooding in the last month in some eastern states, but overall this year's rains have been a boon at 103 percent of the long-term average up to Aug. 22, a weather department official, who did not wish to be named, told Reuters. 

"We are happy that monsoon rains have neither been extreme nor deficient barring some extra rains in isolated areas, causing floods," the official said." (Reuters)

"US farmers at odds with government over weather" - "An annual US publication with a track record for accurately predicting the weather found itself at odds Monday with the government weather service over what winter is going to be like in the United States." (AFP)

"Strong Evidence Points to Earth's Proximity to Sun as Ice [age trigger]" - "The Dome Fuji deep ice core, Antarctica, with drill. This ice was retrieved from a depth of 1,332 meters (4,370 feet), which was deposited about 89,000 years ago. Photo: Dr. Hideaki Motoyama, National Institute of Polar Research, Japan

A question unresolved for more than a century may have an answer Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UC San Diego 

When do ice ages begin? In June, of course.

Analysis of Antarctic ice cores led by Kenji Kawamura, a visiting scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, shows that the last four great ice age cycles began when Earth's distance from the sun during its annual orbit became great enough to prevent summertime melts of glacial ice. The absence of those melts allowed buildups of the ice over periods of time that would become characterized as glacial periods.

Results of the study appear in the Aug. 23 edition of the journal Nature.

Jeff Severinghaus, a Scripps geoscientist and co-author of the paper, said the finding validates a theory formalized in the 1940s but first postulated in the 19th Century. The work also helps clarify the role of carbon dioxide in global warming and cooling episodes past and present, he said.

"This is a significant finding because people have been asking for 100 years the question of why are there ice ages," Severinghaus said." (YubaNet)

Still seems to ignore GCRs and cloud feedback but at least it's a sensible step away from the absurd "carbon dioxide is everything" groupthink.

"New Paper On The Role Of Landscape Degradation And Resultant Dust On The Climate System" - "There is an interesting paper on the role of dust within the climate system that may also be relevant for the record loss of Arctic sea ice in recent years. It is Painter T. H., A. P. Barrett, C. C. Landry, J. C. Neff, M. P. Cassidy, C. R. Lawrence, K. E. McBride, G. L. Farmer (2007), Impact of disturbed desert soils on duration of mountain snow cover, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L12502, doi:10.1029/2007GL030284." (Climate Science)

"The New Math on Global Warming UN climate change panel, natural climate cycle" - "The UN climate change panel told us in 2001 that human-emitted CO2 might drive the planet's average temperature upward by 5.8 degrees C—a bigger average warming than the world has had in the past 100,000 years. The UN's 2007 report scales the possible overheating back a bit, to a maximum of 4.5 degrees—still a very large warming. 

But wait! The environmental movement is now conceding that the earth has a natural, moderate climate cycle. Jon Coifman of the Natural Resources Defense Council said recently on the Hannity and Colmes TV show, "The earth has natural temperature and climate cycles. Nobody has disputed that." 

We're glad that the NRDC finally accepts the natural warming cycle as fact. Until Coifman's admission, I don't think the words "natural climate cycle" had ever escaped the lips of a climate alarmist." (Dennis T. Avery, SPPI)

"Study links greenhouse gas to changing ecology of global rangelands" - "Rising carbon dioxide levels are almost certainly fueling the encroachment of shrubs on global grasslands, a trend that could eventually jeopardize the use of these lands for cattle grazing, according to a study released Monday." (AFP)

Today's obligatory... "Extreme conditions: What's happening to our weather?" - "This summer is set to be the wettest ever. It's the latest in a series of broken records which suggest climate change is here already." (London Independent)

From CO₂ Science this week:
Editorial:
The Plasticity of Plant Strategies for Acquiring Nitrogen: How well equipped are diverse types of plants to tapping into sources of different forms of nitrogen in response to environmental changes that might require their doing so in order to survive?

Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week:
This issue's Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week comes from Hudson River Estuary, USA. To access the entire Medieval Warm Period Project's database, click here.

Subject Index Summary:
Tannins (Oak Trees): Elevated CO2 concentrations and air temperatures tend to increase tannin concentrations in oak tree leaves, leading to positive consequences for man and nature alike.

Plant Growth Data:
This week we add new results (blue background) of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature for: Corncockle, European Yellow Lupine, Narrowleaf Lupine, and Perennial Ryegrass.

Journal Reviews:
Mid-Holocene Surface Temperatures of the South China Sea: How do they compare with those of the present?

Two Thousand Years of East African Droughts: What do the data reveal about the Roman and Medieval Warm Periods?

The Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age in Western Equatorial Africa: What were the two climatic periods' most defining characteristics?

Global Warming, Atmospheric CO2 Increase, and Northeast China's Forest Carbon Stocks: How have northeast China's forests responded to the supposedly unprecedented increases in air temperature and CO2 concentration of the past several years?

Leaf Photosynthetic Rates of Mature Holm Oak Trees Growing in Close Proximity to a Natural CO2 Spring: How do they compare with photosynthetic rates of similar-aged trees growing further away in ambient-CO2 air?

Temperature Record of the Week:
This issue's Temperature Record of the Week is from New Castle, PA. During the period of most significant greenhouse gas buildup over the past century, i.e., 1930 and onward, New Castle's mean annual temperature has cooled by 1.08 degrees Fahrenheit. Not much global warming here! (co2science.org)

"Climate Talks Start With Calls for New Global Deal" - "VIENNA - Climate negotiators from more than 150 nations assembled in Vienna on Monday with calls for a global deal beyond 2012 to replace the UN's Kyoto Protocol and include outsiders such as the United States and China." (Reuters)

"US Says Steep Climate Curbs May Not be Needed" - "VIENNA - Curbs needed to fight global warming could be less drastic than a 50-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 favoured by the European Union, the United States' chief climate negotiator said on Monday." (Reuters)

"Indonesia Hopes to Include Peat in New Climate Deal" - "YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia wants emission cuts from preserving its vast carbon-rich peatlands to be eligible for trade in a new deal on combating global warming at upcoming climate talks, a forestry official said on Monday." (Reuters)

"India and China urged to cut emissions" - "A UN climate change conference began yesterday with a call from the most vulnerable developing nations for large and rapidly developing countries such as China and India to do more to tackle global warming." (The Guardian)

"Intolerance mars climate change debate" - "NEW DELHI — What's up with journalists in the mainstream media? In most cases, they tend to be unconditional supporters of free expression and strive to report on controversial views.

However, reporting on issues relating to global warming has become strikingly one-sided. With no need to persuade using rational argument, a new conventional wisdom is being formulated that is beyond challenge by "sensible" people.

Creating group-think and mass behavior should be anathema to honest journalists. Otherwise, reporters become opinion makers rather than neutral observers.

Along these lines, there are signs of a growing intolerance in the debate on global climate change. Climate-change denial has become a taboo that invites a sense of moral repugnance toward deniers." (Japan Times)

"It's Really Not Easy Being Green" - "August 27, 2007 -- Mayor Bloomberg may need to tinker with his plan to save the planet from global warming, according to a provocative news report from London. 

To combat climate change, Mayor Mike's PlaNYC calls for a million new trees, curbing traffic through congestion pricing, opening waterways, etc. 

Yet such ideas could actually worsen greenhouse gases, according to findings from several studies compiled by The Times of London's Dominic Kennedy:" (NY Post)

"New Climate Change-Friendly Dish Introduced Called ‘The Al Gore’" - "Better get all fluids away from your computer, because a pair of caterers in Australia have created a new climate change-friendly dish they call "The Al Gore" which is "an organic mix of chunked mutton and aromatic root vegetables." (News Busters)

Freco film fad short lived? "Starbucks movie promotions disappoint bean counters" - "Starbucks' efforts to market movies have had tepid results. Only $600,000 has poured into the box office for the current documentary 'Arctic Tale.'" (LA Times)

"Climate-proofing economic growth" - "Latest round of UN talks that start in Vienna today will focus on business end of global-warming battle." (Toronto Star)

"German Energy Plan Faces Reality Check" - "FRANKFURT - A government plan to make Germany a global leader in fighting climate change must win the support of a reluctant finance minister to succeed." (Reuters)

"Charged up and ready for the road" - "Toyota's popular Prius first hit the North American market in 2000, and in another year or two the owners of those first hybrid cars, including environmentalist David Suzuki, will have to face the reality of replacing their vehicle's battery system." (Toronto Star)

"Sun set to shine on solar" - "Prominent venture capitalist is betting big on solar-thermal tech" (Toronto Star)

"Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. :)" - "One reader wrote in with a terrific comment, explaining why he doesn’t use his real name on those grocery store discount cards. He said he's just waiting for the insurance folks to figure out a way to access our food purchase records to make sure we’re “eating healthy.” (Junkfood Science)

"Useful Mutants, Bred With Radiation" - "VIENNA — Pierre Lagoda pulled a small container from his pocket and spilled the contents onto his desk. Four tiny dice rolled to a stop.

“That’s what nature does,” Dr. Lagoda said. The random results of the dice, he explained, illustrate how spontaneous mutations create the genetic diversity that drives evolution and selective breeding.

He rolled the dice again. This time, he was mimicking what he and his colleagues have been doing quietly around the globe for more than a half-century — using radiation to scramble the genetic material in crops, a process that has produced valuable mutants like red grapefruit, disease-resistant cocoa and premium barley for Scotch whiskey.

“I’m doing the same thing,” he said, still toying with the dice. “I’m not doing anything different from what nature does. I’m not using anything that was not in the genetic material itself.”

Dr. Lagoda, the head of plant breeding and genetics at the International Atomic Energy Agency, prides himself on being a good salesman. It can be a tough act, however, given wide public fears about the dangers of radiation and the risks of genetically manipulated food. His work combines both fields but has nonetheless managed to thrive.

The process leaves no residual radiation or other obvious marks of human intervention. It simply creates offspring that exhibit new characteristics.

Though poorly known, radiation breeding has produced thousands of useful mutants and a sizable fraction of the world’s crops, Dr. Lagoda said, including varieties of rice, wheat, barley, pears, peas, cotton, peppermint, sunflowers, peanuts, grapefruit, sesame, bananas, cassava and sorghum. The mutant wheat is used for bread and pasta and the mutant barley for beer and fine whiskey." (New York Times)

Best thing Greenpeace has done for anyone in decades: "GM protest goes awry as passers-by grab fruit, run" - "Eleven tonnes of papayas were dumped outside the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry yesterday by Greenpeace in protest at the agency's move to lift a ban on open-field trials of genetically-modified crops.

Greenpeace's protest against the lifting of a ban on open-field trials of genetically-modified (GM) papaya yesterday was met with an unexpected reaction from a crowd of onlookers. 

Passers-by took matters, and tonnes of papayas dumped by Greenpeace, into their own hands, and ran off. 

The environmental group dumped the papayas in front of the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry yesterday to make its objection to the lifting of the ban loud and clear to the government." (Bangkok Post)

August 27, 2007

"Was this really proof that bariatric surgeries save lives?" - "Not a single medical professional, scientist or journalist has dared take a critical eye to this study. That fact alone is the best evidence yet of the power of financial interests and bias. What is most disturbing, and should be for everyone who cares about research being used to learn the truth rather than sell us on something, is that this is about life and death." (Junkfood Science)

"How real is the crisis of undiagnosed high blood pressure in children?" - "Worrisome news hit parents this week that more than a million children have high blood pressure that’s not being diagnosed by their pediatricians. Childhood obesity was blamed for growing numbers of children with elevated blood pressures. Before parents become alarmed that their pediatricians aren’t caring for their children properly, or that they need to put their kids on weight loss plans to prevent them from having organ damage, strokes and heart attacks, they’ll want to learn a few things about this study that the news hasn’t reported." (Junkfood Science)

"An advertising opportunity" - "Do you fill out those product registration cards? You know, the ones that ask all about your lifestyle, hobbies, the car you drive, products you shop for, favorite brands, age, marital status, salary, if you own or rent, etc. Many of us think we have to fill them out to validate a warranty and receive important product updates. Or, perhaps, we’re lured by the promise of special promotions, free products and discount coupons. 

The same precautions about sharing our personal information on product registration and warranty cards apply to our health information." (Junkfood Science)

Must be August... "TAU researchers discover correlation between birth month and short-sightedness" - "Planning for a summer delivery for your child? You might want to choose an ophthalmologist along with an obstetrician.

If your child is born in the winter or fall, it will have better long-range eyesight throughout its lifetime and less chance of requiring thick corrective glasses, predicts a Tel Aviv University investigation led by Dr. Yossi Mandel, a senior ophthalmologist in the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps.' (American Friends of Tel Aviv University)

"Gray Shades of Green" - "Before you embrace new ways to save the environment, think about whether you're doing more harm than good." (Tom Keane, Boston Globe)

"Live Green or Simply Live?" - "In a rich nation such as the United States, it can be easy to be green. 

Americans can often afford heeding the advice of Al Gore and reducing their "carbon footprint" with 40-watt fluorescent light bulbs that are almost 15 times more expensive than traditional bulbs. They can choose to feed their kids Annie's "Peace, Pasta and Parmesan" organic macaroni and cheese at double the price of the traditional Kraft mac and cheese. 

It's not the same in developing nations - such as those found in Africa - where finding food, water and shelter of any kind is often an achievement in itself. Where so many live a day-to-day existence, the luxury of "living green" takes a backseat to simply living." (Stella Dulanya, National Center)

"I praise the poor" - "Where would most politicians be today without the ubiquitous poor? "Oh Madame Poor, how so many craven pols, shyster lawyers, activist judges, cloistered, out of touch academics, Hollywood hacks, union thugs, bumbling bureaucrats have gotten rich in thy name?" "Oh Madame Poor, how many government programs have been created in thy name?" – A Square Deal (Theodore Roosevelt), A New Deal (FDR), War on Poverty (LBJ), New Markets Initiative (Bill Clinton), Compassionate Conservatism and No Child Left Behind (George W. Bush), yet the poor are still in thy midst, ... I praise the poor. 

Despite the ineffectiveness of poverty programs to eradicate poverty, poverty and despair has only increased exponentially as more and more poverty programs are added somewhere throughout the world almost daily, costing taxpayers trillions of dollars in direct and ancillary costs." (Ellis Washington, WND)

"Do thorough inspection of hotel room to avoid bringing home unwanted critters" - "How many of you were sent to bed or send your kids to bed with the little ditty, "Good night, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite"? I heard that all my life and have said the same to my kids never giving a second thought to the possibility that a bed bug may indeed be lurking in their bed. 

I grew up and have lived my entire life during a time when this pest was all but totally absent from the United States. Unfortunately, once again we may need to remember the advice of our grandparents to "sleep tight" to avoid being bitten by bed bugs. Our parents and grandparents likely remember the days prior to World War II and the scourge of bed bugs. 

Why prior to World War II? Well, after the war the miracle chemical known as DDT was widely used for the control of bed bugs and dozens of other pests of man and plants. Bed bugs were almost totally eradicated in the United States during the years prior to the elimination of this and other widely used chemicals. Although DDT has been and continues to be much maligned, it has without a doubt saved millions of lives from malaria and other maladies." (Birmingham News)

Lester's still after your flush toilet: "Farewell to 'Flush and Forget'" - "WASHINGTON - In urban settings, the one-time use of water to disperse human and industrial wastes is becoming an outmoded practice, made obsolete by new technologies and water shortages." (IPS)

"The Return of the Old Gods: A Challenge to Green Evangelicals" - "Their names are Legion, for they are many; the Romans knew them as Juno, or Diana, or Ops. Freyr, Gerd, Idun, and Jord ruled the Norse, Dziewona and Mokosh were their names to the Slavs. The Hawaiians had Papa, the Aztecs Coatlicue, the Egyptians had Geb and Nut. The Celts had many: Cerunno, Cyhiraet, Druantia, Maeva. The ancient Canaanites had their Baal, who would cause so much trouble for the Israelites. 

They are all gods and goddesses of the earth, of nature, the old rulers of the ancient world. Far older than Christianity, older even than Hinduism, worship of nature gods is a cultural element shared by every race and tribe of Man since before recorded history. They are the gods of the worldly, the gods of the Fall.

Their demands have differed, their gifts have traditionally been good fortune, magic and fertility. Often earth gods have doubled as fertility gods, and sex has often been an integral part of Gaia worship. Their rule over the world of Man lasted a long, long time, stretching back into the mists of prehistory." ( Timothy Birdnow, American Thinker)

"The liberals’ war against liberalism: What is so scary about free thought?" - "Whatever happened to liberals?

One thing I have learned by writing columns on global warming the past two weeks is that liberals are less interested in free expression of ideas than in total compliance with their ideas, less interested in critical thinking than in being critical, and less interested in the truth than in their truth." (Frank Miele, Daily Interlake)

Want to talk about climate change? These guys are hosting a Red Team / Green Team forum. We've only had the briefest of perusals and found a brand new site that might develop into something. Appears to be something of a belief-driven site at this stage with "Your climate change questions answered" containing links to the Hockey Team's reiteration of excessive CO₂ sensitivity statements as opposed anything useful but -- you never know -- the "Green Team" just might be amenable to some genuine information and the "Red Team" could use some help. Why not drop by and help them liven things up a little?

Right idea, if many years too late: "BBC news chiefs attack plans for climate change campaign" - "Two of the BBC's most senior news and current affairs executives attacked the corporation's plans yesterday for a Comic Relief-style day of programming on environmental issues, saying it was not the broadcaster's job to preach to viewers.

The event, understood to have been 18 months in development, would see stars such as Ricky Gervais and Jonathan Ross take part in a "consciousness raising" event, provisionally titled Planet Relief, early next year.

But, speaking at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival yesterday, Newsnight's editor, Peter Barron, and the BBC's head of television news, Peter Horrocks, attacked the plan, which also seems to contradict the corporation's guidelines. Asked whether the BBC should campaign on issues such as climate change, Mr Horrocks said: "I absolutely don't think we should do that because it's not impartial. It's not our job to lead people and proselytise about it." Mr Barron said: "It is absolutely not the BBC's job to save the planet. I think there are a lot of people who think that, but it must be stopped." (The Guardian)

"Porto Velho and Londrina" - "Porto Velho and Londrina are two somewhat similar sized Brazilian cities (populations 335,000 and 500,000 respectively) which have remarkably different Hansen adjustments. One is adjusted up by 2 deg C and one is adjusted down by 2 deg C. It’s pretty strange to see." ( Steve McIntyre, Climate Audit)

"Revkin on the Hansen Fiasco" - "Andrew Revkin of the New York Times writes here in a compacted story. Me versus Jor-El. I spent quite a bit of time saying that the errors mattered a lot at the individual station level and were “significant” for U.S. temperature. For example, consider this page at NASA which shows a comparison between temperatures by individual stations for 2000 and after. The majority of values on this graphic are wrong and the entire graphic will have to be replaced." (Steve McIntyre, Climate Audit)

"Highly sensitive weather radar a gain for climate research" - "The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has taken a new weather radar system into use, the 'Drizzle Radar', which can observe even the lightest of drizzles. This is an enormous gain for climate researchers and is attracting international attention. The radar was successfully installed on the 213 metre-high Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) measurement tower on the 23rd of August. From this spot the highly sensitive radar, together with the other advanced instruments of the CESAR observatory (Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research), is to provide a complete picture of the interaction between dust, clouds, rain and radiation. The latter is still one of the least understood factors in climate models." (Delft University of Technology)

Climate Lesson of the Moment: Excerpted from 'The Fed's Subprime Solution' - "... Late in the 1880s, long before the institution of the Federal Reserve, Eastern savers and Western borrowers teamed up to inflate the value of cropland in America's Great Plains. Gimmicky mortgages and loose talk of a new era in rainfall beguiled the borrowers. High yields on Western mortgages enticed the lenders. But the climate of Kansas and Nebraska reverted to parched, and the drought-stricken debtors trudged back East or to the West Coast in wagons emblazoned, "In God we trusted, in Kansas we busted." To the creditors went the farms..." [Emhasis added] (International Herald Tribune)

Be afraid! Be very afraid! "Global Warming Ads From Al Gore Coming Soon" - "I guess we should have expected this: Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Change is about to spend $100 million a year advertising global warming alarmism." (News Busters)

"Global Warming rivals Sponsorship Scandal" - "Many years ago, I warned Henry Hengeveld of Environment Canada (EC) that, if he thought it was difficult to convince ministers and MPs that global warming was due to human carbon dioxide (CO2) production, it would be twice as difficult to change their minds once they were convinced. The theory was, and still is, unproven of course, but by adopting it so completely so early on, Hengeveld would find himself on a treadmill virtually impossible to get off. After all, it would be very dangerous for a bureaucrat to go back to those same politicians with the message that their political positions were wrong because they were based on wrong information.

Yet Hengeveld made a career out of CO2 by producing a monthly magazine on the topic. Instead of following the scientific method of trying to disprove the hypothesis that human CO2 was causing climate change, Hengeveld and other EC employees were essentially directed to find evidence that it was correct--despite increasing indications it wasn't." (Tim Ball, CFP)

Oh boy, the nude socialist rides again... "Saltier North Atlantic should give currents a boost" - "The surface waters of the North Atlantic are getting saltier, suggests a new study of records spanning over 50 years. And this might actually be good news for the effects of climate change on global ocean currents in the short-term, say the study's researchers.

This is because saltier waters in the upper levels of the North Atlantic ocean may mean that the global ocean conveyor belt – the vital piece of planetary plumbing which some scientists fear may slow down because of global warming – will remain stable." (NewScientist.com news service)

... remember this from a few months ago?

"Global Warming Makes Sea Less Salty" - "You won't want to drink water straight from the ocean anytime soon. But the salt content is on the decline, a sign of potentially worrisome consequences that scientists can't accurately predict. 

Since the late 1960s, much of the North Atlantic Ocean has become less salty, in part due to increases in fresh water runoff induced by global warming, scientists say. Now for the first time researchers have quantified this fresh water influx, allowing them to predict the long-term effects on a "conveyor belt" of ocean currents.

Climate changes in the Northern Hemisphere have melted glaciers and brought more rain, dumping more fresh water into the oceans, according to the analysis." (Michael Schirber, LiveScience)

That marvelous, magical gorebull warming, eh? Capable of two mutually exclusive results simultaneously.

Parenthetically, the real case is that we have insufficient baseline data to determine any real change, what we observe now might be part of various as yet undetermined natural cycles -- we simply do not know and won't be able to determine potentially for centuries.

It's high time people settled down and realized what is, is -- deal with it.

"Cooler ocean temp has scientist puzzled, looking for answers" - "Despite fears of global warming, the north Pacific has suddenly turned a lot colder. 

But don’t expect it to be a cold winter here. 

The ocean cooling in this part of the world isn’t the result of an El Nino, said ocean scientist Howard Freeland, who added he is “baffled” by what’s happening. 

He and fellow scientists don’t know what’s caused a huge chunk of the Gulf of Alaska to drop three degrees Centigrade colder than average for this time of year -- a huge change of six degrees Celcius just two years after a lengthy period of warmer than usual waters. 

“This is quite striking,” he said. It might just be a natural “transitory event,” said Freeland who warned the sudden cooling should not be used by global warming sceptics who reject scientific evidence that clearly shows the planet is heating up." (Goldstream News Gazette)

Actually these obligatory "evidence clearly shows planet heating up" statements are quite frustrating. James "Father of Global Warming" Hansen explicitly (and correctly) states in The Elusive Absolute Surface Air Temperature (SAT):

Q. What exactly do we mean by SAT ?
A. I doubt that there is a general agreement how to answer this question. Even at the same location, the temperature near the ground may be very different from the temperature 5 ft above the ground and different again from 10 ft or 50 ft above the ground. Particularly in the presence of vegetation (say in a rain forest), the temperature above the vegetation may be very different from the temperature below the top of the vegetation. A reasonable suggestion might be to use the average temperature of the first 50 ft of air either above ground or above the top of the vegetation. To measure SAT we have to agree on what it is and, as far as I know, no such standard has been suggested or generally adopted. Even if the 50 ft standard were adopted, I cannot imagine that a weather station would build a 50 ft stack of thermometers to be able to find the true SAT at its location.

... For the global mean, the most trusted models produce a value of roughly 14 Celsius, i.e. 57.2 F, but it may easily be anywhere between 56 and 58 F and regionally, let alone locally, the situation is even worse.

In short, we don't really know what the global mean surface temperature is, how to measure it or what it "should be". We don't know for certain that the trend is as advertised (it's entirely possible we are measuring urbanization rather than general trends) and the expected "signature" of enhanced greenhouse warming, namely accelerated warming in the mid-troposphere compared with the near surface, has failed to materialize. Has the mid-troposphere warmed over the last quarter century while we've really been trying to measure it? Maybe, a little, but it sure hasn't delivered the multiples of surface warming expected.

If the world is warming as believed then it surely isn't as hypothesized from enhanced greenhouse and we can not be certain that it is warmer than it "should be" or simply not cooler than average due to other factors.

"Further Analysis Of Radiative Forcing By Norm Woods" - "In the book Cotton, W.R. and R.A. Pielke, 2007: Human impacts on weather and climate, Cambridge University Press, 330 pp, we presented results by Norm Woods (who works with Graeme Stephens) on the magnitude of radiative forcing for three types of vertical temperature and moisture soundings (tropical; winter subarctic and summer subarctic). Climate Science has summarized this study in the past (e.g., see the May 5th blog entitled Relative Roles of CO2 and Water Vapor in Radiative Forcing). This weblog presents further analyses of these soundings by Norm Woods." (Climate Science)

Greenhouse warming: wrong altitude and latitude dependence

Figure 1: Predicted greenhouse warming (left) versus reality (right) as a function of latitude (x) and altitude (y)

Lord Monckton has written down a convincing paper showing that the greenhouse effect predicts a "hot spot" at certain rather high altitudes above the equatorial zones, something that isn't really observed:

Monckton's fingerprints HTML, PDF

"'Momentum Building' for New Climate Deal-UN" - "VIENNA - The United Nations says momentum is building for broader long-term action to fight global warming beyond the UN's Kyoto Protocol and a climate meeting starting in Vienna on Monday will be a crucial test." (Reuters)

Public mostly against global warming ideology (The Reference Frame)

Partly right... "Who Will Pay for the Next Hurricane?" - "Because of increasing development in hazard-prone areas and the effects of climate change, we are in a new era of catastrophic losses from natural disasters." (Howard Kunreuther, New York Times)

... at least about people building in disaster-prone areas. The 'effects of climate change' are largely imaginary, immeasurably small and of unknown sign.

"AccuWeather's Bastardi Argues Against Blaming Global Warming for Hurricanes" - "On the Tuesday August 21 The O'Reilly Factor on FNC, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Joe Bastardi poured water on claims that a global warming trend has been the cause of hurricanes of increased intensity as he contended that the Northern Hemisphere similarly saw periods of increased hurricane activity in past decades, going back to the 1890s. Bastardi: "We're back in the '30's, '40's and 50's. This back and forth cycle that occurs, we saw it in the 1890s to 1910. ... And people are just getting carried away and fascinated when, if they go back and look at what happened before, you can see the similarities." (News Busters)

"Climate Science Is Retiring - Thank You To Everyone For Your Participation!" - "I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the diverse subjects on Climate Science! The site has been active since July 2005. However, the maintenance and preparation for the weblog requires quite a bit of time, and I have decided to move onto other activities. I have also extensively presented my perspective on climate science. The weblog will remain available as an archive on our research website. 

After the remaining weblogs have posted (on September 2), the last weblog will identify where the archive can be found. Comments, of course, will not be accepted after that time, but the entire history of the weblog will be available for those who are interested." (Climate Science)

"Climate, Biofuel New Challenge to Poverty Alleviation" - "HONG KONG - Climate change and biofuels pose fresh challenges in the fight against poverty, which requires more than ever cooperation among scientists, the new head of an international body for agricultural research said." (Reuters)

"Canadian Opposition Party Threatens Fall Election Over Global Warming Policies" - "If you had any question as to how hot the climate change debate is getting in governments around the world, all you need do is look at our neighbor to the north for answers. 

On Thursday, members of Canada's Liberal Party threatened Prime Minister Stephen Harper with a fall election if he didn't change course on his global warming policies." (Noel Sheppard, News Busters)

"Cool summits" - "In Central Canada, a cool summer filled with clean air is winding down. No mention hereabouts of Environment Canada's seasonal prediction, back in June, of a summer filled with "more of those torrid days" and dreaded smog events. We got neither. Instead, temperatures have been normal, even below normal. Smog-wise, data show Toronto with only 10 days so far with air that was poor for an hour or more, a low number and a sign that the city's air quality remains very good and is now at its cleanest in decades, if not in a century.

Which means nobody is talking climate change or Kyoto. Attempts to generate public support for dramatic policy to curb global warming tend to run cold when there's no sign of global warming. In Ottawa, the government again announced that, for Canada, Kyoto was dead and it would not be making any attempt to meet its targets. The report barely made the media." (Terence Corcoran, Financial Post)

Eye-roller: "Warming for a fight" - "DOES climate change threaten international peace and security? The British Government seems to think it does. (Courier-Mail)

Sigh... "Ministers plan new Thames barrier as flood risk rise" - "Plans for a new Thames barrier are being considered by ministers, amid fears that global warming will increase the threat of London succumbing to floods.

Proposals for a £20bn system of flood defences to the east of the current Thames barrier at Woolwich are being drawn up as part of a series of measures to protect the capital from rising sea waters." (London Independent)

?!! "Goodbye beautiful Britain" - "Enjoy the countryside while you can. In the near future there will be no place for sentiment, no eye for beauty and no room for cows and sheep. Don't blame the farmers: the culprits are population growth, global warming and the energy gap." (Sunday Times)

"Climate Fight Brings Mega Profits to EU Power Firms" - "LONDON - European power companies are making billions of euros in excess profits in the European Union's battle to beat global warming by cutting emissions of carbon gases, and consumers are paying for it, economists say." (Reuters)

Ah, socialists... "$6.5bn hot water bill" - "HOUSEHOLDS will have to pay up to $6.5 billion extra from 2012 to replace their electric hot water systems under a Labor plan to impose an effective ban on the appliances as part of its strategy to cut greenhouse emissions.

Under the ban, up to half of all Australian households will have to switch to expensive solar hot water systems when their old electric tanks fail. 

Each solar hot water system will cost about $2800 more than a standard electric system replacement. 

Labor will offset this higher cost by extending the $1000 solar rebate already promised by the Howard Government. It will also offer low-interest loans in the hope that projected energy savings of up to $300 a year will help households pay for the transition. 

But the Master Plumbers Association has warned that the scheme will need to be backed by a rigorous assessment process before each system is changed to ensure households do not simply install the cheapest possible system, which may deliver almost no greenhouse and cost benefit." (The Australian)

"The Dangers of Wind Power" - "Wind turbines continue to multiply the world over. But as they grow bigger and bigger, the number of dangerous accidents is climbing. How safe is wind energy?" (Der Spiegel)

"To eat . . . . or to drive?" - "Farmers all over the world are finding a sudden boom in demand for their crops – but as fuel for cars rather than as food." (London Times)

"The agonies of agflation: Fuel for the body and the car" - "SHARING pain is usually deemed a good thing. So advocates of dishing out agony will be gladdened that the wallet-crunching pangs of car drivers filling up with petrol are now equalled by the wince-inducing stabs felt by shoppers piling up their supermarket trolleys. As oil prices stay high, wheat prices hit an all-time peak of over $7.50 a bushel for December delivery at the end of trading in Chicago on Thursday August 23rd.

The soaring prices of bushels and barrels are not unconnected. The cost of agricultural commodities, just like oil and metals, has gone up sharply over the past couple of years. Aside from wheat, the prices of corn, rice and barley have all risen by over a third since 2005. Food prices around the world are rising so quickly that a new term has been coined to describe the ballooning price of breakfast staples and dinner-time favourites: agflation." (Economist.com)

"Police tear-gas farmers in clash over French GM crops" - "Growing tensions in France between opponents and supporters of genetically modified crops have led to violent confrontations. 

Gendarmes used tear gas and batons to prevent pro-GM farmers from invading a picnic for militant opponents of genetically modified maize at the town of Verdun-sur-Garonne in south-west France over the weekend. 

Hardly a day has gone by this summer without opponents of GM maize - both environmental campaigners and small farmers - invading fields and trampling or cutting down crops. The protesters, led by the small- farmers' leader, José Bové, claim a citizens' right to destroy crops which, they say, threaten ecological calamity and the subjection of farmers to the whims of agro-industrial, multinational companies." (Belfast Telegraph)

August 24, 2007

"Baby Video a No-No?" - "Is Baby Einstein doing your child more harm than good?" The answer to that question, posed by the cover story of Time magazine (Aug. 27), may depend on how you feel about drive-by product disparagement committed by anti-TV fanatics." (Steven Milloy, FoxNews.com)

Over the past 20 yrs, the proportion of the public paying 'very close attention' to news coverage about science and technology has dropped 50% (Framing Science)

Hmm... maybe, maybe not. In the first period cited there was no data for "health and safety" while one in three expressed interest in "Science and technology" (was this where health items where classified?). Summing data for health and science would suggest increasing interest with results of 33, 40 and 45%, respectively, so up 36 as opposed down 50% and a very different picture.

Of potentially greater significance is the fall since the '80s of interest in man-made and natural disasters -- possible scare overload, perhaps?

Hmm... "Soda warning? New study supports link between diabetes, high-fructose corn syrup" - "Researchers have found new evidence that soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may contribute to the development of diabetes, particularly in children. In a laboratory study of commonly consumed carbonated beverages, the scientists found that drinks containing the syrup had high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown by others to have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause the disease, which is at epidemic levels. They reported results at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society." (American Chemical Society)

"Infectious diseases spreading faster than ever: U.N." - "GENEVA - Infectious diseases are emerging more quickly around the globe, spreading faster and becoming increasingly difficult to treat, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.

In its annual World Health Report, the United Nations agency warned there was a good possibility that another major scourge like AIDS, SARS or Ebola fever with the potential of killing millions would appear in the coming years.

"Infectious diseases are now spreading geographically much faster than at any time in history," the WHO said." (Reuters)

Why? Gosh, maybe it's got something to do with the speed at which people can now travel the globe?

"Frogs get help from global awareness" - "A worldwide effort to save frog populations from a mysterious killer fungus calls for 500 frogs of 500 species to be held in biosecure facilities.

Next week, members of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums will meet in Hungary to discuss the effort, called Amphibian Ark, and the initial $US50 million ($A61.92 million) needed to avert the crisis.

"Protective custody has got to happen now, or within a year or two. Otherwise, it'll be too late. Extinction is forever," said Jeffrey Bonner, chairman of the Amphibian Ark initiative, who also heads the Saint Louis Zoo." (AP)

"Wish You Weren't Here" - "Having determined that nearly every feature of modern human existence is bad for the environment -- driving, eating meat, turning on the lights, having children, exhaling -- the greens have followed the argument to its logical limit. The problem is human existence.

That, at least, is the message of this summer's surprise eco-hit, "The World Without Us." Science writer Alan Weisman explores how nature would respond if Homo sapiens abruptly went extinct. Though the book continues to climb the bestseller lists, it isn't exactly beach reading.

Cities and towns in a few decades would be reclaimed by wilderness. Our dogs will be killed off quickly by natural predators, but without pesticides the new world will be good for mosquitoes. For the most part, Mr. Weisman intends to show the enduring harm of, well, us." (Wall Street Journal)

"Green with shame" - "It is a familiar sensation to feel guilty about things that do not matter a jot: leaving the lawn uncut, having a coffee stain on one's blouse or a shaving nick on one's cheek. Far worse is the moral embarrassment engendered by the hijacking of the word "ethical".

Ethical now means green or environmental. As we report today, more than half the population thinks unethical living is as much of a social taboo as drink driving. Since, at the same time, we forget to reduce carbon consumption, we are becoming a nation of hypocrites.

It has sharply been observed that if Pol Pot had made his killing fields organic, then the new morality would call him ethical. Ethics must be about right and wrong, for heaven's sake, about love and hate - not about turning off the television from standby." (London Telegraph)

"Vibrations on the Sun may 'shake' the Earth" - "What do dropped mobile phone calls, mysterious signals in undersea communications cables, and tiny tremors on the Earth have in common? They are all caused by vibrations on the Sun, according to one team of scientists. But other researchers question the claim, arguing that the pulsations may never escape the Sun's surface in the first place." (NewScientist.com news service)

"Taming the Hurricane&q