Archives - February 2006

February 28, 2006

New Web Site! The ecoEnquirer - where Mankind meets Mother Nature! Click on in and see featured articles like: "EPA to Mandate Reductions in Emissions from Volcanoes" and latest offering "California Might Restrict Vandenberg Rocket Launches"

"Higher optimism levels associated with lower risk of cardiovascular death in elderly men" - "The most optimistic elderly men in a Dutch study had a lower risk of cardiovascular death over 15 years when compared with the least optimistic, according to an article in the February 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

So, less healthy, less energetic fogies are also likely to be less optimistic?

or maybe they're upset at not getting their cocoa: "Cocoa intake linked to lower blood pressure, reduced risk of death" - "A study of elderly Dutch men indicates that eating or drinking cocoa is associated with lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death, according to an article in the February 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

"Mailman school researchers studying link between obesity and the urban environment" - "Researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health are studying the link between the urban environment and how it might contribute to the cause or origins of obesity. In a study that will have wide-reaching applications, the Mailman School is one of 14 groups across the United States to receive funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to study the association between body size and the built environment." (Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health)

"Diabetes epidemic could erase reductions in deaths & hospitalizations due to heart disease" - "Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have documented a dramatic upsurge in diabetes-related deaths and illnesses in New York City--including a sharp increase in diabetic patients hospitalized with heart attacks. They warn that this upsurge in diabetic complications may end the long-term trend of progressively fewer heart attacks and heart-attack deaths in the U.S." (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)

"Shift in feeding behavior of mosquitoes sheds light on West Nile virus outbreaks" - "Since its introduction to the United States in 1999, West Nile virus has become the major vector-borne disease in the U.S., with 770 reported deaths, 20,000 reported illnesses, and perhaps around a million people infected. The virus is transmitted by Culex mosquitoes (the "vector") and cycles between birds that the mosquitoes feed on. Humans can also be infected with the virus when bitten by these mosquitoes." (Public Library of Science)

"Scientists see clean air decision as latest snub" - "For 35 years, the Environmental Protection Agency heeded the advice of a special panel of scientists set up by Congress to help shape government rules aimed at cutting air pollution. But for the first time, the EPA is rejecting recommendations from its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee as the agency moves forward this year with revised rules governing how much soot and dust can be permitted in the air." (Post-Dispatch)

Did it occur to anyone that diminishing returns may have something to do with the rejection of suggestions? Air quality has improved out of sight in recent decades, the low hanging fruit of readily addressed and relatively inexpensive problems that provided useful 'bang for the buck' results have already achieved much and now the cost is much higher to achieve much less.

"Forest restoration realities" - "When a bipartisan group of nearly 100 congressmen proposed accelerated restoration of forests after catastrophic wildfire, the idea drew widespread support from those interested in giving future generations forests to enjoy. The proposal would do two important things: quicken removal of dead trees that otherwise would provide fuel for future wildfires and accelerate the planting of new trees to restore forests that burned. Those supporting the proposal include Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth, Jim Brown, who served as the top forestry official to four Oregon governors, the Society of American Foresters, the National Association of State Foresters, and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. With 32 million acres of national forest burned between 2000 and 2004, the need for restoration is clear. However, what is happening -- or not happening -- in federal forests in California provides a glimpse of the challenge of forest restoration. There, the Forest Service has only replanted 3.8 percent of forests burned in 2001. Most remaining burned forest is converting to brush that will dominate the landscape for centuries. Unfortunately, excessive regulation, unnecessary appeals, and lawsuits prevent the Forest Service from keeping burned forests from becoming brush fields." (Thomas M. Bonnicksen, Washington Times)

"Predators keep the world green, ecologists find" - "DURHAM, N.C. -- Predators are, ironically, the key to keeping the world green, because they keep the numbers of plant-eating herbivores under control, reports a research team lead by John Terborgh, a professor of environmental science at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. Their findings confirm the answer to one of ecology's oldest and thorniest questions: why is the world green? It also seems to put to rest a competing theory that plants protect themselves from herbivores through physical and chemical defenses." (Duke University)

"20% forest cover promised" - "A fifth of China's land area will have forest cover by 2010, the State Forestry Administration vowed yesterday. Over the past five years, the percentage of China's land area covered by forests has risen from 16.6 per cent to 18.2 per cent, Jia Zhibang, chief of the forestry agency, told a press conference held by the State Council Information Office yesterday in Beijing. "By 2010, the country will strive to raise the rate to 20 per cent." Jia also revealed that for the first time since 1949, China is seeing a reversal of land area being degraded into deserts." (China Daily)

Say what? "Europe's chill linked to disease" - "Europe's "Little Ice Age" may have been triggered by the 14th Century Black Death plague, according to a new study. Pollen and leaf data support the idea that millions of trees sprang up on abandoned farmland, soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This would have had the effect of cooling the climate, a team from Utrecht University, Netherlands, says. The Little Ice Age was a period of some 300 years when Europe experienced a dip in average temperatures." (BBC)

After brewing in China from the 1330s, Black Plague arrived in Sicily in October 1347. Spreading rapidly across Europe from there it is estimated to have killed some 25 million people from 1347 to 1352 - thought to be about one in three of the European population of the era. Certainly it is credible that this decimated farming and led to some reforestation of previously farmed lands.

Under the mechanism postulated by van Hoof et al, deforestation should have caused an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the 13^th Century and this is where the first point of contention arises. Check out the historic CO₂ graphic linked from the thumbnail (or the unsmoothed version version here, graphics from CDIAC). At a time when van Hoof estimates rising CO₂ our ice core data says it was falling and recovered slightly before the outbreak of plague in Europe. Both would seem to agree a drop over most of the 14^th Century (from ~285ppmv to ~280ppmv, according to Law Dome data). The Law Dome ice cores suggest CO₂ levels rose slowly with the recovery of European population, peaking around 1550 AD, only to fall suddenly to ~275ppmv around the end of the 16^th Century, remaining 'low' throughout much of the period of European deforestation for farming, shipbuilding and construction lumber, trade, etc. that occurred through the 17^th and 18^th Centuries. This is counterintuitive and inimical to the hypothesis of van Hoof et al.

So, do trees and plants tell lies about historical atmospheric carbon dioxide? This would seem unlikely since we can experimentally cause the same effects by adjusting plants' ambient CO₂ in the lab and thus it would appear a sound mechanism for estimating past atmospheres. This leaves us raising a quizzical eyebrow regarding 'trapped air analysis' from ice cores - this has been challenged before and may indicate we know far less about historical atmospheric carbon levels than we think we do.

If atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were as presented from ice cores then we strike another major problem (and so do van Hoof et al with their hypothesis) because, for CO₂ to be a driver of climate, and specifically temperature, of sufficient sensitivity for ±5ppmv to drive at least the northern hemisphere from the extremes of the beneficent Medieval Warm Period to the misery of the Little Ice Age then the subsequent increase of ~90ppmv should have forced much more than the half-degree or thereabouts change measured over the last century.

To return to the original article, there seems some merit in the assumption that Black Plague influenced farming and that that, in turn, influenced reforestation and atmospheric carbon levels - this is entirely plausible. What is rather more dubious is the leap of faith involved in concluding this had enormous influence on climate, specifically temperature, and precipitated the Little Ice Age. It would appear more plausible that clearing dark forest and replacing it with cropping land increased planetary albedo and thus reduced planetary temperature, although whether this would be sufficient to precipitate such temperature change is somewhat contentious. Atmospheric carbon dioxide, however, does not appear a sufficient driver of atmospheric temperature to affect significant change with minor perturbation and yet negligible change (of inconsistent sign) with major perturbation. It would be equally valid to conclude from the cited study that forests compete with crops for available atmospheric CO₂ and we should therefore cut down trees to help feed third world populations (not a serious recommendation although fossil fuel use and the liberation of previously sequestered carbon is certainly helping crops and plant life generally).

On the whole we would suggest an interesting look at anthropogenic influence on atmospheric constituents has been unfortunately polluted by undue reliance on assertions regarding the climate forcing capabilities of carbon dioxide. We are aware such assertions are currently fashionable but this essential trace gas obviously is not that potent a driver of global climate. When we return to recognising the actual infrared absorptive capabilities of this innocuous little molecule, as eventually we must rather than assigning it somewhat miraculous powers as an accumulator of 'positive feedback' agents as climate modellers insist on doing in order to generate ever more scary scenarios, then and only then will we have some opportunity to create realistic models and try to work out what might really happen in the foreseeable future. Are we likely to return to reality any time soon? Going by the next item we'd reckon not...

Ever more ludicrous: "Climate scientists issue dire warning" - "The Earth's temperature could rise under the impact of global warming to levels far higher than previously predicted, according to the United Nations' team of climate experts. A draft of the next influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report will tell politicians that scientists are now unable to place a reliable upper limit on how quickly the atmosphere will warm as carbon dioxide levels increase. The report draws together research over the past five years and will be presented to national governments in April and made public next year. It raises the possibility of the Earth's temperature rising well above the ceiling quoted in earlier accounts." (The Guardian)

Let's see, over the past couple of weeks we've had speeding glaciers (give 'em a ticket, don't they know they're speed limited?), Greenland ice shield collapse (even though it's gaining mass), ice subliming off Kilimanjaro (can't be melting because the temperature hasn't risen out of negative territory, so the 'problem' is a lack of precipitation rather than an increase in temperature) African drought and looming water wars (see below), all blamed on 'global warming'. And still people are reluctant to commit economic suicide, much less stop using energy! So what next? Oh well, haven't recycled Antarctic meltdown recently - perhaps because most of the place is cooling but what the heck, details like that aren't really relevant, are they?

"Climate change may spark conflict between nations" - "John Reid warns climate change may spark conflict between nations - and says British armed forces must be ready to tackle the violence." | Armed forces are put on standby to tackle threat of wars over water | Michael McCarthy: World's most precious commodity is getting even scarcer (London Independent)

"The West takes lead on climate change" - "DENVER — Half a dozen Western governors impatient for more federal action on global warming are mounting state campaigns to deal with climate change on their own. Driving their efforts are signs that harmful effects may be occurring in the West: record dry spells, millions of acres of dead forests, warmer winters, dwindling water and catastrophic wildfires." (USA TODAY)

Uh-oh... better check with a few paleoclimatologists guys, seems the West has been prone to much more aggressive drought than witnessed since European settlement. It could even be that the period of 'global warming' has been protective to some extent with more benign rainfall and improved plant water efficiency with rising atmospheric carbon dioxide.

"PM pens letter to climate change coalition" - "Dealing with the challenges facing the environment should be at the top of the agenda for this generation of world leaders, Tony Blair has said. In an open letter to supporters of the Stop Climate Chaos campaign - made up of environment groups, humanitarian organisations and trade unions - he said everyone had to work together to make a difference." (10 Downing Street)

Not a recession then: "US greenhouse gas growth rate rose in 2004: EPA" - "NEW YORK - The growth rate of U.S. emissions of gases blamed for global warming rose in 2004, as the country burned more fossil fuel for transportation and electricity, according to federal environment regulators. The United States, the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases, released about 7.075 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent last year, according to a draft report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The growth rate was stronger than in each of the previous two years with emissions rising 0.6 percent in 2003 and 0.7 percent in 2002. In 2001, when the economy was sluggish, emissions fell 1.6 percent, EPA said." (Reuters)

"CO2? I care more about my gear knob" - "I CARE more about the colour of the gear knob on my Mercedes SLK than the amount of carbon dioxide it produces. I’m not going show any interest in what comes out the back until there is 100 per cent agreement among scientists that CO2 will cause catastrophic climate change. For every scientist who claims that sea levels are going to rise 28 metres, I will find you an equally well-qualified one who says this is rubbish. If someone brings me conclusive evidence that I will save the world by switching to an ox then I will go out and buy one. But until then it seems crazy to close down the Land Rover factory in Solihull and throw thousands of people out of work." (Jeremy Clarkson, London Times)

"Americans Are Cautiously Open to Gas Tax Rise, Poll Shows" - "Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to a higher federal gasoline tax, but a significant number would go along with an increase if it reduced global warming or made the United States less dependent on foreign oil, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll." (New York Times)

People are 'overwhelming opposed' unless you manage to terrorise or mislead them enough. Right...

Moonbat: "For the sake of the world's poor, we must keep the wealthy at home" - "We all know the damage aviation does, but the government and the airlines want to turn the country into Airstrip One." (George Monbiot, The Guardian)

"Baltic states agree nuclear plant" - "The three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have signed an agreement to build a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania." (BBC)

"Scotland: Planners blown away by storm of objections over wind farm" - "PLANNING officials are being swamped with around 50 objections a day to a proposed new wind farm on a Lothian estate. Campaigners have delivered 7500 postcards to homes in Penicuik and surrounding villages in the hope of creating a groundswell of opposition. Midlothian Council has confirmed 718 people had written to the local authority by the end of last week - just a fortnight after power giant E.ON UK submitted its planning application." (Evening News)

"Toshiba to scrap coal power plant project with Orix" - "Toshiba Corp. will scrap a joint project with Orix Corp. to build coal thermal power plants in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, because of concerns over global warming and profitability, officials said." (Asahi Shimbun)

"Programs Focus on Work Force for Nanotechnology" - "Who will operate the nanotechnology factories of the future? Will the public be able to make informed decisions about new nanometer-scale products and services? Will tomorrow’s nanotechnology industry face the same kind of backlash as today’s genetically-modified food industry? These are some of the questions that concern Nancy Healy. As education coordinator for the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), she’s helping develop educational outreach programs designed to ensure that tomorrow’s workers have the right skills for nanotechnology industries – and that the public will be able to separate nanotechnology fact from fiction." (Nanotech Wire)

"Public underestimates risks posed by common pathogens" - "The public’s understanding of food risk issues is skewed towards under estimating the danger from common pathogen contamination, according to a research survey." (Food Production Daily)

"Australia: New chief scientist cheers for GM foods" - "AUSTRALIA'S new chief scientist is an award-winning molecular plant science expert who preaches the benefits of genetically modified foods. After a nine-month search to fill the vacant post, CSIRO scientist Jim Peacock, 68, will take on the role of the nation's top adviser on science. Former chief scientist Robin Batterham resigned in May after a storm of controversy over his part-time role and claims of a conflict of interest with his private-sector employment as chief technologist at mining giant Rio Tinto." (The Australian)

"EU Farm Chief Lukewarm on Plan for GMO Crop Law" - "BRUSSELS - Europe's farm chief may have frozen her project for EU-wide rules to separate traditional, organic and genetically modified (GMO) crops, calling for more time for countries to develop their own national crop laws." (Reuters)

"GM potato no threat to health, says EFSA" - "A genetically modified potato product with altered starch composition poses no threat to human health, according to an EFSA panel ruling." (Food Navigator)

Fiends of the Earth misinformation campaign continues: "Ten Years of Genetically Modified Crops Fail to Deliver Benefits to Africa" - 'Ten years after the first significant planting of Genetically Modified (GM) crops there are no apparent benefits for consumers, farmers or the environment, and despite renewed promises by biotech corporations, there has been no impact on hunger and poverty, according to a report by the African Center for Biosafety and Friends of the Earth International.

The 100-page report "Who benefits from GM crops? Monsanto and its corporate driven genetically modified crop revolution" concludes that the increase in GM crops in a limited number of countries has largely been the result of the aggressive strategies of the biotech industry, rather than the consequence of benefits derived from using GM technology." (Public Agenda (Accra))

February 27, 2006

"AFM Media Release on USTR WTO Initiative to Remove Tariffs on Medicines & Medical Devices" - "AFM welcomes the USTR/Swiss & Signaporean WTO initiative to remove tariffs on medicines and medical devices. AFM and its allies from a broad range of organisations have been campaigning against these state imposed barriers to accessing medicines for some time and consider that this could be an important step to improving healthcare in poor countries." (AFM)

"Goldilocks Pricing" - "For years AIDS activists have claimed drug prices are too high. Would you believe now they think they're too low sometimes?" (Richard Tren and Roger Bate, TCS Daily)

"Disease hits 20% on French island" - "A crippling disease in the Indian Ocean island of Reunion has affected 157,000 people, one in five of the population, in the past year, health officials say." (BBC)

Try Indoor Residual Spraying with DDT (if in doubt get the South Africans to help you out).

"Surprising genetic differences ID-ed in southern house mosquito" - "PHILADELPHIA -- The southern house mosquito, found everywhere in the tropics and subtropics, is actually composed of genetically different strains, according to a team of researchers led by a scientist from The Academy of Natural Sciences. This research helps medical entomologists and doctors understand why certain infectious diseases occur in parts of the world but not in others depending on the presence of the disease-transmitting mosquito strains." (The Academy of Natural Sciences)

"New Study Finds 37% Higher Deaths on Low-salt Diets" - "Alexandria, VA (Feb 27)…. “Where’s the outrage?” responded the leader of the salt industry’s trade association upon publication of another study documenting either no health benefit of low-salt diets or actually higher risks for those who cut back on dietary salt. In this case, Americans who consumed the currently-recommended 2,300 mg/day of sodium had a 37% higher cardiovascular mortality rate." (Press Release)

"Lawsuits sickening us" - "Take two depositions and call me in the morning." If doctors could prescribe litigation to improve human health, every American would resemble an Olympian and reach age 110. Of course, the opposite is true. As the free-market Manhattan Institute discovered, the barrage of lawsuits battering the medical and pharmaceutical industries is incredibly expensive. Even worse, it shackles doctors, spooks researchers, and leaves patients sick or dead. Since 2003, the Manhattan Institute (which I am advising on a book project) has examined what it calls "Trial Lawyers Inc." (triallawyersinc.com). Twice the size of Coca-Cola, the $40 billion litigation industry is a hulking Goliath, not the plucky David it fancies itself." (Deroy Murdock, Washington Times)

"Animal lab supporters go on march" - "Hundreds of people marched in support of animal testing at Oxford University's new £18m biomedical research centre on Saturday. Students, academic staff and members of the public gathered near the lab site, being built under strict security. Anti-vivisection activists, who believe animal testing "belongs in the past", want to stop the centre opening. Supporters of the centre argue it is essential for research into treatments for human medical conditions." (BBC)

"Opposing sides in animal testing row pledge to step up action" - "Protesters for and against animal testing have predicted an escalating conflict after the two sides clashed during weekend demonstrations in Oxford. Both groups pledged to step up campaigns which have already resulted in death threats aimed at advocates of animal testing and panic buttons installed at the home of a leading provivisection protester." (The Guardian)

Oh for crying out... "Feds test alternative remedies and find them lacking" - "Should you care? The studies may not apply to all formulations and a placebo effect may be doing some good anyway." (Lindsey Tanner, The Associated Press)

They don't work but don't worry about it? People are sold useless and possibly dangerous crap by snake oil merchants and outright fruit loops while being bombarded with absurd claims against known content, known dose/strength compounds in medicines with tested effects and known risks - and that's OK? What kind of irresponsible rubbish is this? It's as bad as, actually part of, the 'organic', 'natural' insanity. If people gave some thought, applied even a modicum of intelligence, they'd realise the 'organic/natural' regime applied for millions of years, trapping people in short, miserable, disease-ridden lives, alleviated largely by the advent of the chemical industry and medicines. In short, the hysteria-inducing modern era, replete with so-called 'pollutants' and hazards, has seen human life spans double in the developed world in just over a century. Development, abundant cheap energy, chemistry, trade, [gasp!] multinational enterprise (a.k.a. the evil empire, big corporate...), industrial agriculture - the modern industrial world - has helped beat back 'nature', red in tooth and claw. One side-effect of development has been the freeing of time and effort that some misapply to pining for a mythical bygone Utopia of cute and cuddly harmony with a kind and benevolent 'natural' and 'balanced' world. What ignorant bullshit! </rant>

European duplicity: "Chirac urges calm over bird flu" - "The French president Jacques Chirac has told consumers not to panic over the discovery of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu on a turkey farm. Speaking at an agriculture fair in Paris, Mr Chirac said there was absolutely no risk in eating poultry." (BBC) | Bird flu: HK bans French poultry (Reuters)

Oh-ho! The infamous Precautionary Principle applies except to French produce? This from the people who run screaming from the very thought of biotech-enhanced food. Then again, France is one of the world's largest exporters of poultry with an industry worth 7bn euros ($8bn) so applying The Principle in this case would certainly hurt.

but wait - they actually cause it! "Factory farms behind bird flu spread" - "A new report released yesterday blamed the transnational poultry industry, and not small-scale poultry farming and wild birds, as the root cause of the global bird flu crisis. The spread of industrial poultry production and trade networks has actually created ideal conditions for the emergence and transmission of lethal viruses like the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, said Devlin Kuyek, of the Montreal-based international non-governmental organisation Grain." (Bangkok Post) | Report Blames Flu on Industrial Poultry Farms Not Backyard Birds (ENS)

Where do they find these headline writers? "Heavy ex-smokers remain at high risk for stroke" - this refers to the mass of former smokers, right? Nope, they meant people who formerly smoked heavily:

"KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA - People who smoked heavily in the past before quitting carry a long-term risk for stroke, warned doctors at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference. "How much you smoked matters more than how long ago you quit," Dr. Sachin Agarwal told Reuters Health. "Smokers should quit as soon as possible, and new smokers should be aware that there will be a lifelong risk. Cessation can reduce risk but it can't erase it," he said." (Reuters Health)

"Go-ahead for Europe ice mission" - "The Cryosat mission lost in the Arctic Ocean last year minutes after launch from northern Russia will fly again. The European Space Agency (Esa) has agreed to build a copy of the original £95m (140m-euro) craft. Early estimates suggest Cryosat-2 could be ready to launch in three years." (BBC)

"Winter drought fears for wildlife" - "Concern is growing for flora and fauna in some parts of the UK because rainfall levels are well below the average for winter months. Scientists say trees and fish could suffer in the summer because of the lack of rain to replenish water stocks.

They say the situation is not as bad as in 1976, when millions of trees in England and Wales did succumb to the driest 16 month period on record. "The 1976 drought is a benchmark drought, not only in the UK but across many parts of Europe," said Terry Marsh, a hydrology expert from the centre. "While flows in some chalk rivers are fairly similar to levels in 1976, it is only in some, not many." (BBC)

Interesting that the drought of note should have occurred at the end of the period of cooling that caused such global angst. Let's have a look at this before the, uh, deluge of claims of 'global warming'-induced drought.

The England and Wales Precipitation data is available online here. Those who like to check under the hood and kick the tires will find a tiny increase in precipitation over the 240-year record, with an interesting smoothing of precipitation through the year - that is, there's been a little more rain in the drier December through May half and a little less in the soggier June through November half of the year. Sounds like good news for water managers in England and Wales.

Meanwhile: "UK: Met Office warns of heavy snow on way" - "Hopes that the advent of March would at last mean a reprieve from the winter will be dashed this week as heavy snow blankets large areas of Britain and strong winds make temperatures feel as low as -10C (14F), the Met Office warned yesterday. Up to 10cm (4in) of snow will fall in many places and as much as 20cm could fall in northern Scotland. Forecasters said the cold snap over much of Britain would reinforce the Met Office's prediction last November that the winter would be colder than average. It also adds credence to suggestions that the seasons have shifted slightly, with winter starting later and ending well into what has previously been considered spring." (The Guardian)

"UK: Barn owls are flying high again" - "Barn owls, the birds most fretted over by the nation's conservationists, are at last responding to years of tender care and attention. Last year, a record number of chicks fledged, and the species, once in seemingly unstoppable decline, is now doing better than it has for decades." (London Independent)

So barn owls thrive in warmer years then - guess conservationists are planning their campaign to halt moves to address 'global warming' in order to save the owls eh?

Whoops! Undesired reintroduction of endemic critters: "UK: Boar hunts may return" - "The burgeoning wild boar population rooting around in Britain's woodlands needs to be culled to halt an impending environmental disaster, scientists have said." (London Telegraph)

"We can't turn back tide: National Trust plans retreat in face of climate change" - "The National Trust is having to rethink its strategy because climate change is affecting hundreds of properties and stretches of coastline, the Guardian has learned. A stocktake on the impact of global warming and other forces of nature has concluded that "we can't always conserve things exactly as we once have. This goes for species, habitats, coasts or buildings". One of the most dire predictions suggests 169 sites along nearly 380 miles of coast will be hit by erosion. The report says 126 National Trust coastal sites are already at risk of flooding, with another 33 facing inundation by tidal and river water in the next 100 years." (The Guardian)

"Alert needed to understand climate change, researchers" - "OTTAWA - Perched on a plateau overlooking the Lincoln Sea on the northeast tip of Ellesmere Island stands the wind-beaten Canadian Forces Station Alert, which has been on the leading edge of atmospheric research for the past 20 years to help answer how the world's climate is changing. Originally established as a military base in 1950 to monitor weather and collect intelligence signals, Alert has evolved as a centre international scientists rely on for climate-change data. "It's bit of a Cold-War legacy that has had a lasting impact," said Scott Mitchell, who studies climate change at Ottawa's Carleton University. "We have a sparse network of stations that do this kind of research. To better understand what is going on, we need more of it not less. It's been very distressing as some of theses stations have had to shut down." (CanWest News Service)

Further Comment on the Feddema et al. (2005) Science paper “The Importance of Land-Cover Change in Simulating Future Climates” (Climate Science)

The Week That Was Feb. 25, 2006 (SEPP)

"Why Is Mt. Kilimanjaro Melting?" - "The glaciers on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro are melting, but nobody really knows why. Researchers have turned the peak into an extreme laboratory to find the answer. But it's a race against time -- the information archived in the ice must be unlocked before it melts." (Der Speigel)

"Owning up to global warming: It's time for Americans to face reality about climate change" - "Monterrey, Calif. - How can anyone living through today's bizarre and mutable weather not be concerned about global warming? This winter, New York had its largest snowfall in history on a Sunday, followed by a 60-degree day Thursday. A week later, I sat in the audience at the TED conference in Monterrey hearing Al Gore enumerate fact after fact that underscored the gravity of the changes in global weather." (David Kirkpatrick, FORTUNE)

Um, David? The 'reality about climate change' is that anyone who tells you they know what's happening and why is full of it. The only 'fact' available to Al is that we're pretty sure the planet's warmer now than when it was cooler, although we aren't too sure on why that has occurred or just how it compares historically.

"Looking to Life After Kyoto" - "LONDON - Even before the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol's first period can begin, a dialogue has been launched on limiting climate change after the current agreement ends in six years." (IPS)

"Climate change forecast getting worse" - "The outlook on climate change is getting grimmer. Ruth Laugesen reports." (Sunday Star-Times)

Actually the banner on this one is quite correct - the more that climate is study the wider the range on possible/guesstimated outcomes has become, now treble what it was just a few years ago.

"Climate of Uncertainty: Why global warming is back in the headlines" - "CLIMATE CHANGE IS HEATING UP again in American politics, the result of an orchestrated campaign to push the issue to the forefront. Al Gore is hitting the road with his animated computer slide show and has a documentary movie coming out. Climate action advocates skillfully exploited the Bush administration's clumsy moves to limit the public statements of NASA's chief climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, and landed panicky stories about climate "tipping points" and scientific censorship on the front pages of the New York Times and Washington Post. The real head-turner, however, was the recent launch of the Evangelical Climate Initiative, in which nearly 100 evangelical leaders signed on to the environmentalist party line. Some are the same liberal evangelicals who tub-thumped for the nuclear freeze during the Reagan years, but some are conservative evangelicals important to Bush's red-state base, such as Rick (The Purpose Driven Life) Warren. When the eco-apocalypse meets the New Testament apocalypse, you know something is up. That something is a sense of political desperation among climate change alarmists, as the world slowly turns against them." (Steven F. Hayward, Weekly Standard)

"World lawmakers set up global warming monitor group" - "LONDON - Lawmakers and business leaders from around the world launched a campaign on Friday to push recalcitrant governments to take action on climate change. Accusing rich and poor alike of talking a good fight against but doing little, the parliamentarians from the Group of Eight rich nations and five major developing countries said their three-year goal was to force the pace." (Reuters)

"Once skeptics, Conservatives promise action on climate change" - "OTTAWA - Environment Minister Rona Ambrose is jetting to Bonn this weekend to prepare for talks on extending the Kyoto Protocol, and will soon unveil an ambitious new plan for cutting Canada's greenhouse emissions. Although the Conservatives opposed ratification of the climate treaty while in opposition, they appear to have undergone a conversion, promising to do a better job of cutting emissions than the Liberals ever did. "There's an action plan that we are going to move on very quickly," Ambrose said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Friday. "I'm very committed. The prime minister has given me a very strong mandate." (Canadian Press)

"German NGO Launches New Climate Protection Index" - "The German environmental NGO Germanwatch has launched a new international climate protection index, saying it offers a better basis for comparing countries' efforts to combat global warming. According to Germanwatch, the new Climate Change Performance Index will be an effective weapon in the struggle to reverse the dangerous effects of climate change, because, for the first time, it compares the effects of climate policy in the 53 countries that account for 90 percent of harmful emissions worldwide." (Deutsche Welle)

Hey lookit! There is a limit to what Flannery can shovel! "Watchdog bans solar ad featuring Flannery" - "A free-to-air television watchdog has prevented a commercial involving a prominent South Australian scientist from being screened, sparking claims of political interference. The advertisement for the Solar Shop in Adelaide featured Dr Tim Flannery. In the ad he described climate change as "the greatest threat facing humanity" - a statement which was rejected by the Commercials Advice regulatory body." | Free TV defends Flannery ad ban (Australian Broadcasting Corp.)

No, apparently he can keep on shovelling: Free TV reverses climate change ad ban (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) Disappointing, isn't it?

Figured Jonathan "the doomster" would have to run this again: "Acid seas kill off coral reefs" - "THE world’s coral reefs could disappear within a few decades along with hundreds of species of plankton and shellfish, according to new studies into man’s impact on the oceans. Researchers have found that carbon dioxide, the gas already blamed for causing global warming, is also raising the acid levels in the sea. The shells of coral and other marine life dissolve in acid. The process is happening so fast that many such species, including coral, crabs, oysters and mussels, may become unable to build and repair their shells and will die out, say the researchers." (Jonathan Leake, The Sunday Times)

Thing is, we study fossils of marine critters, mostly the shells and coral skeletons supposedly now being dissolved by ocean acidification, that grew when atmospheric carbon dioxide was an order of magnitude greater in concentration than it is currently. So neither current nor anticipated levels would seem likely to prevent formation of marine shells, would they?

"Soaring gas prices will lead to 7,000 layoffs in plastics sector" - "BRITAIN’s plastics manufacturers, which make goods as varied as toys, bottles, artificial hips and car bumpers, will this week warn energy minister Malcolm Wicks that 7,000 jobs are at risk in the industry because of crippling energy costs." (The Sunday Times)

"The Kyoto Bubble?" - "It is one of the hallmark features of a capitalist economy that investors will react to changes in policy and regulation in order to make money out of new opportunities. It is one the great risks of a capitalist economy that such speculation can be unfounded. With the current re-assessment of the west's energy policy in reaction to a number of fears -- global warming and energy security foremost among them -- it seems that both these phenomena are occurring. A lot of people are getting very rich as a result of policy changes, but there is substantial risk that we are seeing an energy frenzy develop. Economic historians might well look back on the first decade of this century as the days of the "Kyoto Bubble." (Iain Murray, TCS Daily)

"UK: Drive one of these? You're crass and irresponsible, says minister on warpath" - "DRIVERS of gas-guzzling cars are to be penalised under measures being developed to tackle climate change. Ministers are particularly keen to target the growing number of people who drive large 4X4s around cities and venture off tarmac only when parking on grass verges. In an interview with The Times, Malcolm Wicks, the Energy Minister, said: “There is crass irresponsibility in some of the larger monstrosities people drive around suburbia and in London. We have to move against this kind of thing.” (London Times)

"Can fungi trim the gasoline habit?" - "NEW YORK - Souped-up microscopic fungi could help cut the U.S. gasoline habit by converting a billion tons of agricultural waste into domestic fuel, while also slashing greenhouse gas emissions. As if that isn't enough, the concept has the blessing of the president -- an ex-oilman. On a tour of the Midwest this week, President George W. Bush reiterated that he wants to wean the United States off its "addiction" to imported oil, partly by funding research into new methods of producing ethanol -- a fuel currently made in North America mostly from corn kernels and in Brazil from sugar cane juice. Filamentous fungi and other microbes can be bred to break down an array of feedstocks, including wood chips, corn stalks and switch grass, that require no fertilizer and less input than traditional sources of the fuel." (Reuters)

"Oil Futures" - "Some experts believe the age of oil is near its end. Others insist that there are trillions of untapped barrels left -- and that the future of oil depends more on what happens above ground than below." (Drake Bennett, Boston Globe)

"With 6.5 billion, it’s hardly a lonely planet" - "Of course, it might have happened a week ago, a year ago. It might come next month. But by the reckoning of the U.S. Census Bureau’s World Population Clock, the planet will pass the population milestone of 6.5 billion people sometime this evening. Yet our world growth is leveling off — in some places, already dropping. And whether imploding or exploding, population changes are shaking societies." (Kansas City Star)

"MALAYSIA: Fighting the Flow of River Privatisation" - "PENANG - Plans to privatise three major rivers in densely populated Selangor state, in May, have sparked an outcry among concerned groups, alarmed at common natural resources falling into private hands." (IPS)

"Police arrest 2 additional suspects in sabotage and arson at tree farm" - "Two more people have been arrested in connection with a 2001 arson at a Clatskanie tree farm, bringing to 14 the number of people indicted in a broad-ranging investigation of politically motivated arsons in five Western states." (The Register-Guard)

"Largest study of human 'interactome' reveals a novel way" - "Discoveries made during the first large-scale analysis of interactions between proteins in our cells hold promise for identifying new genes involved in genetic diseases, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins and the Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB) in Bangalore. The findings, reported in the March issue of Nature Genetics, were made using a database of more than 25,000 protein-protein interactions compiled by the Hopkins-IOB team. The result is believed to be the most detailed human "interactome" yet describing the interplay of proteins that occur in cells during health and disease." (Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions)

"Biotechs say FDA ranges from good to 'horrifying'" - "BOSTON, Feb 24 - Biotechnology companies trying to get new drugs to the market have had experiences with U.S. regulators that range from productive to "horrifying" as they craft early development plans, senior executives told Reuters this week. Interactions can vary vastly between Food and Drug Administration divisions that review products and provide guidance to companies long before they seek approval to sell a drug, company officials said." (Reuters)

"Experts: Expanding biotechnology research in developing countries key to countering bioterrorism" - "Experts at the Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health warn that global efforts to combat bioterrorism are on a potential collision course with legitimate biotechnology pursuits that hold the promise of improving life for millions of the world's poorest people." (University of Toronto Joint Center for Bioethics)

"Questions and answers about biotech crops" - "SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Nineteen months ago Sean Darragh, a former U.S. defense, national security and trade official, became a leading promoter and new public face of the global agricultural biotechnology industry. Representing more than 1,100 biotech companies, academic institutions and state research centers, Darragh travels the planet as head of food and agriculture for the Biotechnology Industry Organization in Washington. As chief spokesman for a decade-old and still controversial technology used on 1 billion acres of farmland worldwide, Darragh tries to reassure a sometimes skeptical public that genetically modified food is both safe and good for the environment. U.S. farmers grow mostly herbicide-resistant corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, squash and papaya on 123 million acres. Darragh recently stopped by The Bee to talk about pressures to label biotech food for consumers, continuing safety concerns of public interest groups and his own faith in biotech science." (Sacramento Bee)

"WTO and Biotech Food: Who Really Won?" - "The long-awaited World Trade Organization decision on biotechnology applied to agricultural products, finally released earlier this month, elicited a great deal of buzz throughout the business, financial and biotech communities. Most analyses scored it a resounding victory for the United States and its co-complainants, and a stinging defeat for European protectionism." (Gregory Conko and Henry I. Miller, TCS Daily)

"McConnell’s U-turn signal on GM crops" - "THE first minister has signalled a U-turn on the Scottish executive’s ban on growing genetically modified (GM) crops in Scotland. Jack McConnell has launched a public consultation to identify ways of preventing GM organisms from contaminating conventional crops, paving the way for the commercial exploitation of the technology. A “voluntary” ban was agreed by ministers in 2004, after commercial trials in Fife and Inverness-shire. However, executive sources concede they they have little option but to allow commercial cultivation of the crops in the face of European rules that prevent governments imposing GM-free areas." (The Sunday Times)

"India: Sowing seeds for high yield, drug-resistant crops" - "In sharp contrast to European Union’s restrictive practices on GM crops, the area under biotech crops grew the fastest in India compared to rest of the world." (Financial Express)

"GM crops consultation planned" - "The Scottish Executive is to consult on ways in which genetically modified (GM) crops can be grown in Scotland. It comes after a series of trials in Aberdeenshire, Inverness-shire and Fife which ended in 2003 and resulted in an outbreak of direct action by environmentalists. At the moment no GM crops are grown in Scotland, although the Executive says it would consider any proposed scheme on an individual basis." (Press Association)

"EU Debates How Much GMO is Okay to End Seed Row" - "BRUSSELS - European Commission experts have analysed how much biotech material can be feasibly tolerated in seed batches, hoping to end an internal row over the EU's last major GMO law that has dragged on for three years." (Reuters)

February 24, 2006

"Weak Energy Week" - "This has been “Energy Week” for President Bush as he barnstormed around the country in follow-up to his State of the Union message that we need to break our so-called “addiction” to oil. But the habit that really needs breaking is his apparent addiction to the notion that government, rather than free markets, will solve our energy problems." (Steven Milloy, FoxNews.com)

"The Unhealthy World Bank" - "Paul Wolfowitz needs to get back to basics." (Roger Bate, TCS Daily)

"Scientists to speak out for animal tests - Oxford academics risk retaliation from extremists by going public" - "Two leading academics at Oxford University have decided to face down threats of violence from animal rights extremists and speak publicly in favour of the building of a controversial £18m research laboratory in the city. Although scientists are advised to remain silent for fear of attacks, Professor Tipu Aziz, a consultant neurosurgeon, and Professor John Stein, a neurophysiologist have told the Guardian they believe it is time to stand up to the radicals who have attempted to stop the project." (The Guardian)

"Canadian University Creates Hot Spot for Junk Science: Wi-Fi and Warnings" - "The British technology news site The Register reports that the president of Canada's Lakehead University has restricted the creation of Wi-Fi networks (which allow people to access the Internet through the air without wires) on campus, out of concern that the networks' radio transmissions might cause leukemia and brain tumors." (Todd Seavey, ACSH)

"Learning to love bacteria: Stanford scientist highlights bugs' benefits" - "Bacteria are bad. Mothers and doctors, not to mention the cleaning product industry, repeatedly warn of their dangers. But a Stanford University School of Medicine microbiologist is raising the intriguing idea that persistent bacterial and viral infections have benefits.

Stanley Falkow, PhD, the Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor in Cancer Research, is publishing his thoughts on this topic in an essay in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Cell, in which he asks, "Is persistent bacterial infection good for your health?" The essay is based on a talk he was invited to give at Cambridge University in November.

Falkow points out that the medical community and those who fund medical research focus on curing disease. He wonders if this single-mindedness might distract researchers from appreciating the beneficial contributions of micro-organisms to the body." (Stanford University Medical Center)

"Benefits of eating seafood outweigh risks" - "Though some species of fish around the world's are likely to be contaminated with mercury, PCBs and other toxins, the benefits of eating seafood continue to outweigh the risks, a panel of scientists recently said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "The best science coming out over the last two years has overwhelmingly been in favor of the benefits of seafood consumption," said Michael T. Morrissey, director of Oregon State University's Seafood Laboratory in Astoria, Ore., and moderator of the panel." (Oregon State University)

"Eating Some Crow on Fat" - "The last few weeks have been unkind to the hypotheses of the lifestyle medicine crowd." (John Luik, TCS Daily)

Amazing... "Neighborhood may help prevent childhood obesity" - "NEW YORK - The neighborhood an adolescent lives in may influence his or her development of obesity, new study findings suggest. Specifically, investigators found that adolescents from close-knit neighborhoods were less likely to be obese. Close-knit neighborhoods exhibited strong collective efficacy -- neighbors get along and are willing to help each other, and many adults are role models for adolescents. "There is an obesity epidemic in this country and treatment has focused on diet and exercise with relatively little success," study author Dr. Deborah A. Cohen, a senior natural scientist at the Santa Monica, California-based RAND Corporation, said in a company statement. The current findings imply that it may be necessary to "look at the neighborhood environment as potentially very important in controlling the obesity epidemic," she told Reuters Health. "The social environment that a child lives in is very strongly associated with how active they are, what they eat and how much they eat," she said." (Reuters Health)

Kids get out, run and play together and are less likely to be little butterballs? You wonder how they work this stuff out...

"Safety of Post-Hurricane Sludge Is Disputed" - "Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina deposited arsenic, lead and petrochemical compounds across greater New Orleans in amounts that are potentially dangerous to human health despite federal and state assurances that the sludge is safe, according to a new study based on Environmental Protection Agency data. The study, which was conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council and is being released today, urges the government to clean up the waste before permitting young children to return to the struggling city." (Washington Post)

By NRDC... who cares?

"'Jurassic Beaver' find stuns experts" - "The discovery of a new, remarkably preserved fossil of a beaver-like mammal that lived 164 million years ago is shaking palaeontologists’ understanding of early mammals." (NewScientist.com news service)

"New evidence that natural selection is a general driving force behind the origin of species" - "Charles Darwin would undoubtedly be both pleased and chagrined. The famous scientist would be pleased because a study published online this week provides the first clear evidence that natural selection, his favored mechanism of evolution, drives the process of species formation in a wide variety of plants and animals. But he would be chagrined because it has taken nearly 150 years to do so." (Vanderbilt University)

"Fossil wood gives vital clues to ancient climates" - "New research into a missing link in climatology shows that the Earth was not overcome by a greenhouse period when dinosaurs dominated, but experienced rapid fluctuations in temperature and sea level change that resulted in a balance of the global carbon cycle. The study is being published in the March issue of Geology. "Most people think the mid-Cretaceous period was a super-greenhouse," says Darren Gröcke, assistant professor and Director of the Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory at McMaster University. "But in fact it was not to dissimilar to the climates over the past 5 million years." (McMaster University)

"Europe ice mission decision due" - "The UK scientist behind the lost Cryosat probe is to learn on Friday whether his mission will be re-built. Prof Duncan Wingham proposed and masterminded the multi-million-pound satellite, which fell into the Arctic Ocean last year when its rocket failed. The European Space Agency (Esa) is expected to approve "Cryosat 2" at high level talks in Italy, amid calls from the worldwide scientific community. The craft was to study how polar ice is responding to climate change." (BBC)

Virtually: "Inside the ozone layer: Researchers quantify stratosphere damage with an eye toward ozone hole recovery" - "A new atmospheric model is able to quantify man-made versus naturally occurring damage to the stratosphere with an eye toward repairing the diminishing ozone layer that is located within the stratosphere. That's the premise of a paper published in this week's Science titled, "Anthropogenic and Natural Influences in the Evolution of Lower Stratospheric Cooling." (University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science)

New Paper on Why We Need to Adopt a Vulnerability Paradigm With Respect to Climate Variability and Change (Climate Science)

Not adhering to the Sierra Club's script: "Uncertainty expressed over global warming" - "Earth sciences professor Eric Posmentier explained the complexities and uncertainties surrounding global climate change on Wednesday in his lecture entitled "A Climatologist's View of Climate Change -- Facts and Fallacies." The speech was part of a series of lectures on climate change, and was co-sponsored by the Department of Earth Sciences and the Sierra Club, which supports the passage of legislation intended to slow climate change. Postmentier stressed that definitive answers on global warming and climate change in general, are "intrinsically impossible to generate." (The Dartmouth)

That model world again: "Anthropogenic and Natural Influences in the Evolution of Lower Stratospheric Cooling" - "Observations reveal that the substantial cooling of the global lower stratosphere over 1979–2003 occurred in two pronounced steplike transitions. These arose in the aftermath of two major volcanic eruptions, with each cooling transition being followed by a period of relatively steady temperatures. Climate model simulations indicate that the space-time structure of the observed cooling is largely attributable to the combined effect of changes in both anthropogenic factors (ozone depletion and increases in well-mixed greenhouse gases) and natural factors (solar irradiance variation and volcanic aerosols). The anthropogenic factors drove the overall cooling during the period, and the natural ones modulated the evolution of the cooling." | Full Text | PDF | Supporting Online Material (Science)

Hmm... the stratosphere cooled following explosive volcanic events and that's caused by people. Right... I just plotted the last decade's numbers from here (actually 1/96-12/05 - keeping clear of volcanic eruption effects) and found the trend weakly positive at a time when tropospheric warming from greenhouse gas emission should hypothetically induce discernable stratospheric cooling (the allegation being that increased infrared capture by tropospheric GHGs makes less energy available to warm the stratosphere).

If enhanced greenhouse causes tropospheric warming and stratospheric cooling as postulated then the trend sign of the inverted stratosphere temperature anomaly track must equal the sign of the tropospheric anomaly track - clearly this has not been true during the last decade of allegedly massive enhanced greenhouse warming. The question now is whether it is the world that is broken or the enhanced greenhouse hypothesis.

"Cleaning up the air one trade at a time" - "Futures exchanges are Wall Street darlings, but creating one requires "obsession" and "insanity," said Richard Sandor. He ought to know. Since the 1970s he has converted skeptics into believers as one of the inventors of what has become the multitrillion-dollar futures market. Today Sandor, 64, is wealthy, lauded as a financial genius and at work on what he predicts will be another crucial market. He's two years into running a Chicago-based exchange where members voluntarily trade air pollution reduction credits." (Chicago Tribune)

One itty-bitty problem - the "air pollution reduction credits" don't actually deal with a pollutant. Despite the ridiculous manner in which research is currently reported, witness increased plant water efficiency being treated as a "flood threat" rather than making more fresh water available, the simple fact remains that carbon dioxide is an essential trace gas, the current relative abundance of which is terrific news for the biosphere.

Uh-huh... "Get ready for worst drought in 75 years, water firms told" - "Water companies in south-east England have been told that if they delay introducing hosepipe bans and other water-saving measures households may get water for only a few hours a day and standpipes will have to be introduced as in the drought of 1976. In what is shaping up to be the worst drought in 75 years, scientists warn that despite two weeks of average rains, the environment will suffer seriously unless the next few months are exceptionally wet." (The Guardian)

February, 2001, wasn't it? The floods we were told would become the norm due to 'global warming' - if memory serves Cambridge got clobbered in both February and October of that year. Now the South-east expects its worst drought since 1930 eh? So, what does Hadley's Central England Temperature dataset tell us? 1930 (dry) was apparently 9.43 °C, last year (apparently dry) was 10.43 °C and 2001 (big "W" Wet) was... 9.93 °C - precisely dividing "dry temperatures" - which suggests South-eastern England's rainfall and temperatures may not be correlated either positively or negatively.

"UN warns world on Africa drought" - "The world is in danger of allowing a drought in East Africa to become a humanitarian catastrophe, the UN warns.

... Mr Bondevik said global climate change was the root cause for the failure of the past two rainy seasons, and it was incumbent on the global community to come to the aid of those at risk." (BBC)

"Japan: More coal-fired power plants threaten emissions targets" - "Japan's efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions may be compromised as more coal-fired thermal power stations, which emit large amounts of the greenhouse gas, are being built, prompting the Environment Ministry to dig in its heels over the need to introduce an environment tax." (Kyodo News)

"UK NAP rejection will cost £350 million – business leaders" - "London, 23 February: UK industry will face increased costs of around £350 million ($614 million) after the European Commission's decision to reject the UK's amended emissions plan, according to business leaders." (Environmental Finance Publications)

"INTERVIEW - British Nuclear Scientists Say Waste not a Problem" - "SELLAFIELD - Nuclear waste, the spectre haunting the industry, will not pose a problem if Britain decides later this year to build a new generation of nuclear power plants, scientists said on Thursday." (Reuters)

"US nuke industry wants no Yucca waste dump limit" - "WASHINGTON - The Bush administration should remove federal limits on the amount of nuclear waste that could be stored at a proposed waste dump in the Nevada desert, U.S. nuclear industry lobbyists said on Thursday. The government's plan to build an underground waste dump in the Nevada desert about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is more than 10 years behind schedule and continues to be plagued by scientific foul-ups and political stonewalling. In coming weeks, the Bush administration is expected to send its latest legislative proposal to Congress, with the aim of moving the stalled plan forward. Republican Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and a nuclear industry proponent, will lead that effort in Congress. Officials at the Nuclear Energy Institute, which lobbies for the utility owners of the 103 U.S. nuclear power plants, say the administration should remove the 77,000-ton limit (70,000 metric tons) on waste allowed at the site." (Reuters)

"Here Comes Lunar Power" - "It's not on Bush's alternative-energy agenda yet, but moon-driven tides, ocean currents, and waves generate more oomph than wind and are more consistent than solar." (Business Week)

"Shell linked to £2bn takeover of wind turbine firm" - "The oil major Shell was linked yesterday to a possible $3.5bn (£2bn) takeover of a leading wind turbine manufacturer, adding to the excitement around the alternative energy sector. The value of Vestas rose 6% on the Copenhagen stock market amid mounting expectation that a major oil group could make a symbolically important move into "green" technology. Shell declined to comment. There has been a massive surge of City interest in what has been seen until recently as a fringe part of global stock markets, helped by the high profile given to the government's energy review." (The Guardian)

"UK: High Ecohomes standard sends build costs soaring" - "The average cost of building a new home has hit nearly £130,000 because of the Housing Corporation's requirement that it meets the Ecohomes very good standard. From April all new grant funded homes must achieve a rating of at least very good. A cost analysis of the requirement, carried out by consultants Cyril Sweett for the corporation, has found for a three-storey steel frame home this would cost an average of £128,000. For a small two-storey home constructed from brick and block it would cost more than £80,000. The figures came as corporation chief executive Jon Rouse was due to address the Ecobuild conference, calling on both housing associations and the private sector to meet the very good standard." (Inside Housing)

"Political Boundaries Are Not -- and Ought Not Be -- Economic Boundaries" - "The practice of using political boundaries to define economic boundaries is troublesome. In fact, the term "American economy" is more misleading than useful." (Donald Boudreaux, TCS Daily)

"First drug from transgenic animal fails to get EU approval" - "PARIS - The European Union's medicines watchdog announced it had turned down a bid from a US firm hoping to be the first to market a drug derived from a genetically-modified animal. In a press release, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) in London said it had rejected the application for ATryn, a protein derived from the milk of genetically-engineered goats." (AFP)

"Genetically modified soy trade expected to continue" - "Ecologists and traders believe that Romania's decision to forbid genetically modified (GM) soy cultures beginning in 2007 will not impede its presence on the European market, according to Reuters. Romania is the only European producer of genetically modified soy; however, representatives of ecological groups say that these cultures should have been forbidden long before Romania was scheduled to enter the EU." (Bucharest Daily News)

February 23, 2006

Um... no. "Net gains for Africa" - "The United States all but eradicated malaria in the 1950s with drugs and the pesticide DDT. But in tropical Africa, where the parasite is widespread and mosquitoes can breed in a cow's footprint, malaria remains entrenched. The death rate has increased over the last few decades as the parasite became resistant to once highly effective drugs. DDT, banned in the U.S. for harming the environment, is still used in limited circumstances as a house spray, but it is not the miracle worker some suggest it could be if only Western aid groups would get behind it." (LA Times)

Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) with DDT has some significant advantages over Insecticide Treated Nets (not being remodelled into wedding dresses, for one) and provides protection for a household rather than just the number of people who can fit under a bed net. Additionally, mosquito resistance to DDT largely takes the form of avoidance so it remains equally effective keeping mosquitoes away from sleeping people, which is the object of the exercise. Moreover, IRS with DDT is a significantly cheaper option than distribution of bed nets and the frequent re-treatment these pyrethroid-soaked nets require - a critically important consideration for poor countries. DDT is not a magic wand but a major adjunct in the required broad assault on malaria. Failure to incorporate such a useful treatment demonstrates a cavalier disregard for the massive financial and human cost of this largely preventable disease.

"Frog 'key to mosquito repellents'" - "Some research is catchy and sounds interesting, but offers little in the way of practical applications - this seems to be the case with research from Australia which finds secretions from a frog may be an effective mosquito repellent. Interesting ... but of little use to malaria control." (AFM)

"Cancer Prognosis" - "It didn't attract a lot of media fanfare, but two weeks ago the National Center for Health Statistics announced some spectacular news. The number of Americans dying from cancer fell for the first time in decades. This achievement against one of mankind's most dreaded diseases is the medical equivalent of putting a man on the moon.

Just a few years ago health officials warned of an epidemic of U.S. cancer deaths. One and a half million Americans will be diagnosed with the disease this year. And with a toll of half a million deaths a year, cancer is still one of the leading killers in America -- partly because death rates from infectious diseases have fallen precipitously over the past century. But the National Cancer Institute rightly hails the new data as "powerful evidence" that "we are on the right track to eliminating the death and suffering due to cancer." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Study shows relationship between oral and cardiovascular health" - "New research is reinforcing the longstanding belief that a connection exists between periodontal disease, or severe gum inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. But according to Moise Desvarieux, MD, PhD, infectious disease epidemiologist in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the nature of the relationship is still unclear and patients cannot rely only on good oral hygiene as a way to reduce their risk for heart disease--they must manage other risk factors for the disease as well." (Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health)

"500,000 people, a span of decades - and a waste of time and money?" - "The world's biggest medical experiment - an attempt to understand the interaction between genes and the environment in affecting health - will begin next week amid mounting criticism from scientists that it is a badly designed project of questionable scientific value and likely to give misleading results." (The Guardian)

"Censorship blamed as Canada medical editors fired" - "OTTAWA - The top two editors of Canada's leading medical journal were fired this week, two months after they accused their publisher of ordering them to censor a critical article. Dr. John Hoey, who had edited the Canadian Medical Association Journal for 10 years, and his deputy Anne Marie Todkill lost their jobs on Monday. The Canadian Medical Association denied the move was linked to disagreements over an article last December that criticized pharmacists, saying instead it felt the time had come to change editors." (Reuters)

"Landmark US Lead Paint Suit Finds Companies Liable" - "PROVIDENCE - Three former lead paint makers were found liable Wednesday for poisoning thousands of children in Rhode Island in a landmark lawsuit that could trigger a wave of litigation against the industry." (Reuters)

"The Anti-Kelo Case: Oregon offers the nation a model for reform" - "On a list of states with the worst property-rights protections, Oregon has long held a top position. So hearty congratulations to that state's landowners, who this week won a long struggle for more control over their acreage, and in the process may become a model for land-use reform across the country." (Opinion Journal)

"Good for America" - "Isn't this precisely what the U.S. preaches? Don't we want places like Dubai to fight terror and to grow, to invest, to expose themselves to the rest of the world and thus become tolerant and moderate? But congressional leaders are trying to kill the deal." (James K. Glassman, TCS Daily)

"Big Problem, Dubai Deal or Not" - "WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 — In the political collision between the White House and Congress over the $6.8 billion deal that would give a Dubai company management of six American ports, most experts seem to agree on only one major point: The gaping holes in security at American ports have little to do with the nationality of who is running them." (David E Sanger, New York Times)

"Questions for the 'Portgater's" - "The will toward terrorism transcends neat geographical boundaries." (Gregory Scoblete, TCS Daily)

"Ports in a Storm" - "The current dust-up over the proposed purchase of the British port company Peninsular & Oriental Steam by Dubai World Ports is like a fun-house mirror -- distorting our national politics, and our understanding of and engagement with the global economy." (Zachary Karabell, The Wall Street Journal)

"If Cattle Flew" - "Look at the airports. Why would terrorists bother with seaports?" (Peggy Noonan, Opinion Journal)

"Sticks and Summers" - "All in all, not a bad start on the week for the pietistic right and left." (Robert McHenry, TCS Daily)

"Coup d'Ecole" - "Harvard professors oust Larry Summers. Now they must face their students." (Ruth Wisse, Opinion Journal)

"Hey, Harvard, Hire Me!" - "You have just effectively fired Harvard president Larry Summers. I request that you consider me as his replacement." (James D. Miller, TCS Daily)

In case you were wondering: "Smile if (and Only if) You're Conservative" - "To bemused conservatives, it looks like yet another example of analytic overkill by the intelligentsia -- a jobs program for the (mostly liberal) academic boys (and girls) in the social sciences, whose quantitative tools have been brought to bear to prove the obvious. A survey by the Pew Research Center shows that conservatives are happier than liberals -- in all income groups. While 34 percent of all Americans call themselves "very happy," only 28 percent of liberal Democrats (and 31 percent of moderate or conservative Democrats) do, compared with 47 percent of conservative Republicans. This finding is niftily self-reinforcing: It depresses liberals." (George F. Will, The Washington Post)

The Constant Groaniad: time for British films to grow up (EnviroSpin Watch)

"Science Journals Deliver 'Political Science'" - "Last May, a Korean report in Science magazine prompted headlines around the world by declaring it had made tremendous advances in the heretofore disappointing field of embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research. It has now prompted much soul-searching in media land. “How could we have been fooled?” reporters are asking themselves in print." (Michael Fumento, Human Events)

"Changes in reef latitude: Is pollution causing regional coral extinctions?" - "Since the 1980s, researchers have hypothesized that nutrient levels rather than temperature are the main factor controlling the latitudinal bounds of coral reefs, but the issue remains controversial. New results from an extensive survey of reefs in South Florida by a Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution research team strongly support this hypothesis. The research suggests that, by supporting blooms of harmful seaweed, increasing nutrient pollution levels are reducing the areas where reef-building coral can survive, a result the team believes it is directly observing in Florida waters." (Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution)

"Greenland Sets Hunting Limits for Polar Bears" - "COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Greenland's government on Wednesday introduced the ice-capped island's first hunting quota for polar bears, which scientists believe are threatened by the effects of global warming." (Associated Press)

Polar Bear Scare on Thin Ice

Why We Need to Focus on Regional Tropospheric Temperature Trends (Climate Science)

"Ban Bottled Water? Yes, Minister!" - "Sir Humphrey?" "Yes Minister?" "Have you seen this report in The Times today? They say that mineral water is contributing to climate change...here, have a read:" (Tim Worstall, TCS Daily)

"It's Getting Warmer" - "We've had "global warming" for more than a decade -- the hottest decade on record world-wide. Is this the "greenhouse effect" that scientists have been warning about, a response to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, or is it some natural, not man-made, climatic change?" (Thomas C Schelling, The Wall Street Journal)

Trying to talk up the next 'big thing': "Global warming breaches the dyke around corporate world's consciousness" - JUST five years ago the investment community treated the words "environment" and "socially responsible investing" pretty much in the same way that Superman reacted to kryptonite.

Global warming has changed that, particularly now with data showing that last year was the hottest year on record and warnings from scientists that climate change is already causing death and disease across the world through flooding, heatwaves and other extreme weather.

Peter Kinder, the president of Boston-based KLD Research and Analytics, an institutional investment social research firm, says consensus is growing among the big investors that global warming is now too big a risk to ignore.

The wilder weather combined with the potential impact on water availability and outbreak of pests and diseases has linked environmental impact with business risk. As a result, socially responsible investment is moving into the mainstream." (The Age)

Sorry Peter, people are beginning to check under the hood and kick the tires on the old global warming scare and are finding it lacks substance. The so-called hockey stick representation of recent past climate is being/has been falsified (the National Research Council of the National Academies has just empanelled a blue-chip committee to look into it). Analysis of 135 years instrument records indicate a global trend from a period of unfortunate cold of just +0.05 °C/decade (HadCRUT2v: one-half of one degree per century - GHCN-ERSST trend is 20% smaller over 125 years) and a similar look at three and one-half centuries of instrument measurements in central England indicate the trend to be a tiny +0.02 °C/decade (just seven tenths of one degree over 350 years). The more we look, the more we find this is just noise and nonsense. Serious investors will look at the numbers and those in the great 'global warming' prospectus just don't add up.

Will the EU survive Kyoto? "EU Rejects British Carbon Emissions Plan" - "BRUSSELS / LONDON - Britain cannot raise the amount of pollution industry can emit under the European Union's trading scheme, the EU executive said on Wednesday, despite a court ruling allowing Britain to alter its first emissions plan." (Reuters)

"UK: Introduction Of New Building Regulations Speeded Up To Maximise Impact On Climate Change" - "The Government has tightened the time for the building industry to comply with new climate change regulations, Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper announced today. Transitional arrangements have been cut from the usual maximum of three years to just 12 months to speed up take up of the regulations to maximise their impact on climate change." (Government News Network)

"Japan: Environment Ministry turns off heat to cut CO2" - "The Environment Ministry has turned off the heating in its buildings in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, for a week from Tuesday because the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, both nationally and from its own buildings, has not been progressing as the government expected." (Yomiuri Shimbun)

"US Fuel Supply Problems Seen as MTBE Dropped - EIA" - "WASHINGTON - The US East Coast and Texas regions that use reformulated gasoline may face local supply disruptions and price spikes as oil refineries switch to blending the motor fuel with ethanol, the government's top energy forecasting agency warned Wednesday." (Reuters)

"Clean Coal New Goal: Premier makes fresh push" - "EDMONTON -- Premier Ralph Klein touted Alberta's massive energy deposits as key the financial future of the province -- but he wasn't talking about oil and gas. In his annual TV address to Albertans last night, Klein spoke about the need to expand research to help "to unlock coal's massive potential." (Calgary Sun)

"Researchers develop alternate method to dispose nuclear liquid waste" - "An alternate method of processing certain liquid wastes into a solid form for safe disposal has been developed by researchers at Penn State University and the Savannah River National Laboratory. The solidified form has been called a hydroceramic and is an improved alternate to other forms and processes. This research is published in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society." (Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

"COMMODITIES - Bullish Palm Looks to Biofuel for Future" - "KUALA LUMPUR - Dreams of powering automobiles and energy plants have propelled palm oil prices to a near one year-high before a key industry conference this week in top producing country Malaysia. But intermittent pressure of late on prices of crude oil - the sole factor that decides the viability of green fuels other than the environment - makes some wonder if producing palm diesel will make economic sense in coming years." (Reuters)

"Shocking news for power users" - "If Google is worried that its giant servers will struggle to find the electricity they need, what hope is there for domestic PC owners?" (The Guardian)

"Wave goodbye to the daily grind" - "Microwaving rocks to release the minerals inside could save the mining industry millions and halve its use of electricity." (The Guardian)

Organic toxic waste: "Pig manure swamps German village" - "A village in the German state of Bavaria is recovering after being flooded with liquid pig manure." (BBC)

II: "Charles will have to avoid politics, say analysts" - "LONDON - Prince Charles may see himself as a political dissident out to sway public opinion but once he ascends the throne silence should reign supreme, royal watchers said on Wednesday. The Queen's eldest son was plunged into a constitutional row this week when legal action he took to defend his privacy spectacularly backfired." (Reuters)

"Revision of EU organic rules slammed" - "Revision of the EU Council regulation governing organic food would allow GM contamination and obscure the local origins of organic food, according to the Soil Associations Peter Melchett. Melchett, policy director at the UK-based pressure group, said that the proposed revision would risk nearly one in a hundred mouthfuls of organic food being GM and impose a generic 'EU-Organic' label on all organic food." (Food Navigator)

"Hens' teeth not so rare after all" - "Scientists have discovered that rarest of things: a chicken with teeth – crocodile teeth to be precise. Contrary to the well-known phrase, 'As rare as hens' teeth,' the researchers say they have found a naturally occurring mutant chicken called Talpid that has a complete set of ivories. The team, based at the Universities of Manchester and Wisconsin, have also managed to induce teeth growth in normal chickens – activating genes that have lain dormant for 80 million years. Professor Mark Ferguson, one of the scientific team at the University of Manchester, says the research – published in Current Biology this week – has major implications in understanding the processes of evolution. It could also have applications in tissue regeneration, including the replacement of lost teeth in humans." (University of Manchester)

"'Pharmed' goats seek drug licence" - "Imagine you could get life-saving medicines from milking a common farmyard animal. That idea moves a step closer to becoming a reality this week, as the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) considers the final stages of an application to licence a natural human protein extracted from the milk of goats." (BBC)

"China moves towards approval of GM rice" - "In spite of prevailing official caution, the prospect of reversing a steady decline in total rice production and reducing the use of pesticides which poison hundreds of farmers each year are likely to prove compelling factors as China weighs up the pros and cons of genetically modified rice." (Checkbiotech.org)

"Seeds of dispute" - "It's Argentina v Monsanto in the battle for control over GM soy technology, writes Oliver Balch." (The Guardian)

"Romania Dumping GMO Soy May Not Stop Spread – Greens" - "BUCHAREST - The decision by Romania, Europe's only producer of genetically modified soy, to stop growing it from next year may not prevent its spread into the biotech-wary European market, green groups and traders say. Representatives of green groups, in interviews this week, said a ban on GMO’s should have come into force well before Romania joins the European Union either next year or in 2008." (Reuters)

"India: Imported soya oil will now need genetic certification" - "KOLKATA: The sudden spurt in crude soya oil import into the country last month has alerted the agriculture ministry. Alarmed by a 136% spurt in the month-on-month import of 1.1 lakh tonne of the oil in January this year, the ministry is now backing the industry’s demand of making genetic certification mandatory for imported crude soya oil." (Times of India)

February 22, 2006

"PepsiCo Urged to Stop Opposing Shareholder Resolution Requesting Disclosure of Charitable Contributions; Mutual Fund Says Pepsi Should Join Boeing, Coca-Cola and Citigroup and Allow Shareholders to Vote on Corporate Giving Transparency" - "Washington DC February 20, 2006 – Action Fund Management LLC (AFM), investment adviser to the Free Enterprise Action Fund (www.FreeEnterpriseActionFund.com), called on PepsiCo Inc. to cease its opposition to a shareholder resolution requesting the company to disclose its business rationales for charitable contributions." (PR WEB)

"WHO/HQ renames and reorganizes malaria department" - "We think this could spell good news from WHO. The newly appointed head of malaria control, Dr Arata Kochi seems to be shaking things up at WHO's malaria control unit and Roll Back Malaria (RBM). RBM is widely seen as a failure, so Dr Kochi's efforts are more than welcome." (AFM)

"Food experts say public has inadequate understanding of food risk issues" - "A recent study shows that food safety experts have little confidence in the public's understanding of food risk issues. The study is published in the Journal of Food Safety.

Researchers surveyed 400 food safety experts in Ireland to determine what they think about the public's understanding and knowledge of food risk issues, including factors such as what they think contribute to this knowledge as well as the gaps in understanding, and how they feel this could be rectified.

The experts believe that the public under-assesses the risk associated with some bacteriological hazards that are prevalent and overestimate the risks posed by hazards with low prevalence such as mad cow disease. They noted that the level of education and age were important determinants for the level of understanding of risk issues and messages, but also were of the view that the media tend to communicate information that is misleading." (Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

"Those Dirty Rats" - "Worried about the Times' aspartame and cancer scare? Drink up, you'll live longer." (Duane D. Freese, TCS Daily)

"EU plans to ban new thermometers with mercury" - "BRUSSELS - The European Union may soon ban new thermometers that contain mercury, to minimise the risk the heavy metal poses to humans, ecosystems and wildlife, the EU executive said on Tuesday. The Commission, which administers and instigates laws for the 25-country EU, wants to ban the marketing of mercury in new fever and room thermometers, barometers and blood pressure gauges due to its serious threat to health." (Reuters)

"Turn Your Head and Cough" - "Are cough medicines useless at best and dangerous at worst?" (John Luik, TCS Daily)

Wonder how these poll questions were framed: "Most Britons willing to pay green taxes to save the environment" - "Most British people would accept new taxes on goods and services that damage the environment, according to a Guardian/ICM poll which reveals a widespread willingness to make personal sacrifices to tackle the threat of climate change. Some 63% said they approved of a green tax to discourage behaviour that harms the environment, while 34% said they would not accept such price rises." (The Guardian)

"Threat to reef not serious" - "THE Great Barrier Reef is as resilient to environmental change as a cockroach is to a nuclear war, a James Cook University scientist claims. Presenting a public lecture yesterday on whether or not the reef was facing a significant environmental threat, physicist Peter Ridd concluded the reef was in 'excellent shape' and threats such as coral bleaching and agricultural run-off were not as serious as commonly believed. Scientists have warned the reef could be Australia's canary in the coalmine, signifying climate change, but Dr Ridd suggested it was more like a cockroach, in a way that it is a lot hardier than we gave it credit for." (Townsville Bulletin) | Barrier Reef fears 'a beat-up' (AAP)

"Stop the Stalin comparisons" - "Some liberals just can't help themselves. Given the slightest hint that someone somewhere in the Bush administration has strayed from the straight and narrow on any issue and in any fashion, they will roll out the Hitler comparisons, or, depending on the mood, they will tell you that the truly apt analogy is to Stalin." (Jay Ambrose, Scripps Howard News Service)

"Science And Fiction" - "Climate Change: Environmentalists are ridiculing President Bush for meeting with novelist Michael Crichton and for being "in near-total agreement" with his skepticism of global warming. But Crichton isn't just spinning tales." (IBD)

Direct from the source: "Kioa relocation not priority: Tuvalu PM" - "Tuvalu’s Prime Minister, Maatia Toafa says his government does not regard rising sea levels as such a threat that the entire population would need to be evacuated. Radio New Zealand reports that this comes after a Melbourne-based campaigner, Don Kennedy, called for all the people on Tuvalu to be moved to the Fiji island of Kioa. Kennedy says this is needed because within 30 years Tuvalu may become uninhabitable due to climate change and rising sea levels." (Tuvalu Online)

Land Surface Change and Carbon Management - Implications for Climate-Change Mitigation Policy (Climate Science)

Consensus Statement on Hurricanes and Global Warming (Prometheus)

Eye roller: "NZ to capitalise on climate change, conference told" - "A climate change conference in Adelaide has been told Australia may have to buy most of its food from New Zealand in the future. Nick Marsh from Next Corporation, a consultancy firm in Auckland, says Australia is predicted to get drier and New Zealand wetter. He says Australia will find it difficult to produce food at current levels, which will put pressure on the country to source quality produce from across the Tasman." (Australian Broadcasting Corp.)

Looks like 'Next Corporation' should change their name to 'Wishful Thinking'. For the record, as the planet has apparently warmed through the Twentieth Century Australia experienced a statistically significant increase in rainfall. While it is true that much of Australia is poorly watered it retains vast untapped water resources in the tropical north that can and will be utilised when the need is sufficiently great - despite current natur über alles obstructionism.

Carbon crackpots' worldview: "UK carbon map reveals effect of energy policies" - "Aberystwyth has emerged as one of Britain's most fuel-efficient towns thanks, perhaps, to its population of student pedestrians and lack of through traffic. It produces considerably less than half the carbon emissions per head of cities such as London, Sheffield, Coventry and York, according to figures compiled by a Government-funded body." (London Telegraph)

"Brussels rejects Mandelson bid to lift UK emissions quotas" - "The European Commission is poised to reject the UK's attempt to increase its allocation of carbon dioxide emissions, despite the last-minute intervention of Peter Mandelson. The British Government has been fighting to add 20 million tonnes to the amount of carbon dioxide that UK industry is allowed to emit each year. It won a court case in November, which forced Brussels to look again at the issue. Last week Mr Mandelson, Europe's trade commissioner, intervened on Britain's side, but he has been seen off by his environment counterpart, Stavros Dimas. It is understood that Mr Mandelson found himself "completely isolated" on the issue among Europe's commissioners." (London Independent)

From CO₂ Science Magazine this week:
Editorial:
River Runoff: The Effect of Atmospheric CO 2 Enrichment: What does it tell us about the relative strengths of the biological and climatic impacts of the historical increase in the air's CO 2 content on earth's hydrologic balance? ... and what does it imply about the planet's climate sensitivity to radiative forcing?

Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week:
This issue's Level 3 Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week is from Piermont Marsh, Hudson River, New York, USA.  To access the entire Medieval Warm Period Project's database, click here.

Subject Index Summary:
Climate Model Inadequacies (Soil Moisture): Would you believe that model simulations of the effects of CO 2 -induced global warming on soil moisture contents are about as wrong as they could possibly be?

Plant Growth Data:
This week we add new results (blue background) of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO 2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature for: Loblolly Pine, Perennial Ryegrass, Subterranean Clover, and White Clover.

Journal Reviews:
Evidence of 20th-Century Declining Pan Evaporation in China: How substantial is the evidence, what is causing the decline, and what does the decline imply?

Reconstructing Summer Temperatures in Central Europe: A 1052-year tree ring proxy identifies the not-so-elusive Medieval and Little Medieval Warm Periods.

Effects of Temperature on Human Mortality in Scotland: From the highest temperatures experienced in all seasons of the year, cooling leads to ever more deaths from essentially all non-accident causes.

Spring Barley Production in a CO 2 -Enriched and Warmer Central Europe: A study from the Czech Republic makes one wonder why the idea of CO 2 -induced global warming is so feared by the leaders of many European countries.

Carbon Sequestration in a Tallgrass Prairie Soil: How is it affected by atmospheric CO 2 enrichment? (co2science.org)

"What's Wrong with Free Trade in Biofuels?" - "Politicians sure like to pile up the rural waste product when talking about ethanol and America's "energy security." President Bush joined the shovel brigade when he spoke of switch grass as a cure for America's "addiction to foreign oil." Is there a pony in there somewhere?" (Holman W Jenkins Jr., The Wall Street Journal)

"Exaggerated claims are now made for alternative heating systems, writes Jeff Howell" - "The current obsession with saving the planet is creating plenty of marketing opportunities for the unscrupulous. A growing number of firms seem to think they only have to describe a product as "sustainable" or "environmentally friendly" and people will buy it." (London Telegraph)

They're after your ventilation: "Home improvements may face energy efficiency test" - "Homeowners may be required by law to make their house substantially more energy efficient if they build an extension, including a conservatory, or undertake more general home improvements, under plans being advocated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The plans may extend to the renovation of commercial buildings." (The Guardian)

"Powered by pooches" - "Rather than let pet dung go to waste, experts explore its energy potential." (Carolyn Jones, SF Chronicle)

"£5m donor accuses Cameron of education U-turn" - "Right-wing discontent over David Cameron's efforts to ditch Thatcherism intensified yesterday when he was accused of committing a U-turn on education by one of the party's largest donors. Stuart Wheeler, who set a record for single gifts when he gave £5 million to the Conservatives in 2001, said he was "disappointed" that Mr Cameron now opposed increased selection in state schools. Mr Wheeler, who made a vast fortune from setting up a spread betting company, also dismissed the environmental commission set up by Mr Cameron, which includes the green campaigner Zac Goldsmith, as "pie in the sky". His comments followed recent speculation that an anonymous donor cancelled a £250,000 contribution because of concerns about the direction the party is taking under Mr Cameron." (London Telegraph)

"Member States stump up for plant genomics" - "“Plants are essential to human life,” says the team behind the ERA-NET Plant Genomics (ERA-PG) initiative which announced its first joint call for proposals to help structure this field of research in Europe. With a budget in the tens of millions, this is one of the largest joint calls in the ERA-NET scheme with 11 national funding organisations committing to it." (Europa)

"Wanted - Labels for Genetically Engineered Products" - "MEXICO CITY - Labels on foods sold in Latin American countries don't indicate whether they contain genetically engineered ingredients. There is legislation on the books in Brazil, but companies aren't complying with the requirement. In Mexico the laws on the matter are imprecise, and in Chile a new law is expected soon." (Tierramérica)

February 21, 2006

The Eco-Jackboot on Our Energy Throat - No. 5, (2/20/06) - New legislation to open the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas driling is being opposed by -- guess who? -- environmental activists, according to a report in today's Washington Post. The Post reports, "The Minerals Management Service has estimated that the entire Outer Continental Shelf -- including areas where drilling is allowed and banned -- holds 86 billion barrels of undiscovered and recoverable oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The Chamber of Commerce says the natural gas resources could satisfy all industrial and commercial needs for almost 30 years. By comparison, ANWR is estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey to hold 10.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 8.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas." The Sierra Club is whipping up local business groups against OCS drilling with fears of possible pollution. Florida is the main battleground where enviros have pressured Florida Senators Bill Nelson (D) and Mel Martinez (R), and Rep. Connie Mack (R) to oppose OCS drilling.

At least they include some caveats: "The Safety of Aspartame" - "Aspartame, an artificial sweetener used by more than 200 million people around the world, has passed numerous safety evaluations in the past quarter-century. It is used as a tabletop sweetener (Equal, NutraSweet) and as an ingredient in more than 6,000 processed foods, including diet sodas, desserts, candy and yogurt, among others. But now comes a provocative if inconclusive report that says aspartame may cause cancer, even at levels long considered safe. There is no reason for panic, but surely good reason for regulatory authorities to look again at this much-studied sweetener.

But the study could turn out to be a false alarm. There was an abnormally low incidence of cancers in a key control group, which could have made the cancer rate in rats fed aspartame look worse than it really was. And there was only a very weak relationship between the doses of aspartame administered and the cancer rate, which makes it hard to be sure that aspartame was causing the tumors. This study needs to be analyzed by other researchers and possibly followed up by additional animal studies." (New York Times)

"Encourage ethics in the laboratory" - "Hwang Woo-Suk has gone from bearing the lofty title "Supreme Scientist" of South Korea to facing possible criminal charges. His collaborator, American Gerald Schatten, has been charged with "research misbehavior" by a university review panel.

In what may be the biggest scientific fiasco since the supposed discovery of cold fusion in 1989, the two men headed a group of Korean scientists who published findings last year claiming they had produced 11 stemcell lines using cloned human embryos. In January, Korean investigators concluded the data in the study had been faked. The US-based journal Science retracted papers it had published describing the findings.

Unfortunately, the wayward scientists aren't alone. In December, editors at the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) said that a report it published in 2000 on the drug Vioxx contained inaccurate information about its potentially severe side effects. And a Norwegian cancer researcher, Dr. Jon Sudbo, admitted falsifying data and conclusions in studies published in the NEJM, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and the British medical journal The Lancet." (Christian Science Monitor)

Sadly, a large part of the problem is journals falling down on the job, worse, some formerly great journals have collapsed into open advocacy and publish only papers which appear to support their position, merrily abandoning all standards as they go.

"Firms funding Oxford will be attacked, say animal activists" - "Militant animal rights activists are threatening violent attacks on scores of companies which fund Oxford University unless they announce today they are to end their financial support. The Animal Liberation Front, through its mouthpiece Bite Back magazine, based in West Palm Beach, Florida, gave 100 firms, ranging from large companies such as IBM to charitable trusts such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and small groups such as the British Deer Society, a week to pull their funding as part of the campaign to stop the building of a medical research laboratory at the university." (The Guardian)

"Animal test marchers' showdown" - "A thousand Oxford University students are expected to take to the streets in protest against anti-vivisectionists who are threatening the university." (London Telegraph)

No? Duh! "Understanding the tsunami" - "The Indian Ocean tsunami, the Katrina hurricane catastrophe and the Pakistan earthquake in late 2005 bear disquieting similarities in their consequences on human populations and highlight the fact that people in the lower rungs of society around the world are at far greater mortality risk from natural disasters than those who are better off." (The Earth Institute at Columbia University)

Hello! Where were you? Why do you think we object so strenuously to misanthropic obstructionists interfering with development and wealth creation? Sheesh!

"States Curbing Right to Seize Private Homes" - "In direct response to the Supreme Court, states are advancing bills to limit the government's power of eminent domain." (New York Times)

"Reach of Clean Water Act Is at Issue in 2 Supreme Court Cases" - "WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 — More than half of the nation's streams and wetlands could be removed from the protections of the federal Clean Water Act if two legal challenges started more than a decade ago by two Michigan developers are supported by a majority of the newly remade Supreme Court." (New York Times)

"Europe Gets Poor Marks in Halting Species Loss" - "OSLO - Europe is doing poorly in safeguarding a range of wildlife from Iberian lynxes to Arctic lemmings and has to do more to reach a goal of halting a loss of species diversity by 2010, an international report said." (Reuters)

"UK moths 'in serious decline'" - "The British moth population is in rapid decline, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind." (BBC)

"'Faster emergence' for diseases" - "New infectious diseases are now emerging at an exceptional rate, scientists have told a leading conference in St Louis, US." (BBC)

"A flu pandemic is long overdue" - "Spanish flu is thought to have killed about 50 million people in 1918. Such an influenza pandemic is what scientists call a low-probability, high-impact risk. When a pandemic eventually strikes, the consequences could be devastating, warns Roger Highfield." (London Telegraph)

"Be Prepared, Not Scared" - "Amidst all the fears of an impending bird-flu Armageddon, it's easy to lose sight of the real risks to human health. It's time to take the panic out of the debate.

We must first draw a clear distinction between the present form of the H5NI avian flu virus that is killing birds worldwide, particularly in Asia, and the much-dreaded human-to-human strain that could wreak havoc in human populations. The H5N1 virus would have to mutate in order for a human flu pandemic to occur. A few people have been infected in Vietnam, Turkey, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and China, but that wasn't human- to-human transmission. Not only has the virus not mutated sufficiently, but we can reduce the chance that it will.

For a start, the avian flu virus must be prevented from being exposed to humans and other animals such as pigs. This can best be done by immediately killing, and burning or burying sick birds; and keeping domesticated birds away from wild birds and pigs, most easily by building cages or other enclosures for domesticated birds, rather than letting them roam freely. Confining and stopping avian flu in its tracks is the best way to reduce the probability of it mutating into a human influenza." (Murkesh Haikerwal, The Wall Street Journal)

"Bird Flu Mutating, Risk to Humans no Bigger - WHO" - "GENEVA - Mutations in the H5N1 bird flu virus are seemingly making it more deadly in chickens and more resistant in the environment but without yet increasing the threat to humans, the World Health Organisation said on Monday." (Reuters)

"'No panic' over bird flu threat" - "The public has been told not to panic over the threat of bird flu as the government has taken "all necessary measures", the defence secretary says." (BBC)

"UK sees no need to confine chickens over bird flu" - "LONDON, Feb 20 - Britain sees no need yet to lock up chickens despite news that deadly bird flu has moved closer to its shores. Neighbouring countries including France and Germany have imposed bans on farmers keeping poultry outdoors as an H5N1 strain of bird flu spreads across Europe. Last week the virus reached France, with an infected duck found dead near Lyon. "If there is another case in France on a migratory route then we would have another look (at keeping chickens indoors)," a spokesman for Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said on Monday." (Reuters)

"Stem Cells May Be Key to Cancer" - "One day, perhaps in the distant future, stem cells may help repair diseased tissues. But there is a far more pressing reason to study them: stem cells are the source of at least some, and perhaps all, cancers." (New York Times)

"AAAS denounces anti-evolution laws as hundreds of K-12 teachers convene for 'Front Line' event" - "ST. LOUIS, MO.--The Board of Directors of the world's largest general scientific organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), today strongly denounced legislation and policies that would undermine the teaching of evolution and "deprive students of the education they need to be informed and productive citizens in an increasingly technological, global community." (AAAS)

"Few Biologists but Many Evangelicals Sign Anti-Evolution Petition" - "In the recent skirmishes over evolution, advocates who have pushed to dilute its teaching have regularly pointed to a petition signed by 514 scientists and engineers. The petition, they say, is proof that scientific doubt over evolution persists. But random interviews with 20 people who signed the petition and a review of the public statements of more than a dozen others suggest that many are evangelical Christians, whose doubts about evolution grew out of their religious beliefs." (New York Times)

"Palm Trees and Lake Fish Dispel Doubts About a Theory of Evolution" - "The kentia palm is an ordinary houseplant with an extraordinary story to tell about evolution." (New York Times)

"Development Raises Flood Risk Across U.S." - "ST. LOUIS -- Concentrated development in flood-prone parts of Missouri, California and other states has significantly raised the risk of New Orleans-style flooding as people snap up new homes even in areas recently deluged, researchers said Saturday." (Associated Press)

"Early Americans faced rapid late Pleistocene climate change and chaotic environments" - "The environment encountered when the first people emigrated into the New World was variable and ever-changing, according to a Penn State geologist." (Penn State)

"Is Pollution Causing Regional Coral Extinctions?" - "Researchers have hypothesized that nutrient levels rather than temperature are the main factor controlling the latitudinal bounds of coral reefs, but the issue remains controversial. New results from a South Florida reef survey strongly support this hypothesis, suggesting human activities are reducing the areas where corals can survive." (Newswise)

More on the Surface Temperature Trends in Stable Boundary Layers (Climate Science)

"Can a Wall Street maverick tell us something about our ecological future?" - "Models that predict climate change or energy supplies far into the future are routinely trotted out to explain either that we need to act urgently or that there is nothing to worry about. Why should this be so? Aren't models supposed to tell us the odds of a particular outcome and aren't those odds calculable by any objective observer? The answer is that it depends on what you model and how complete your information is." (Energy Bulletin)

Engineering Alarmism: David King Reveals How Britain Got Its Unilateral Emissions Targets - "British Prime Minister Tony Blair has earned a rep as a global leader in the fight against climate change, and, at least in part, he has Sir David King to thank for it." (Amanda Griscom Little, Grist)

Spinning Temperature Out of Control: “The social construction of a quasi-reality” (.pdf)

"Tropical cyclones and climate change" - "Leading scientists provide an expert view of the current state of knowledge. They note that there has been a high level of interest in the topic and that substantial debate is still occurring within the scientific community. With regard to the recent tropical cyclone seasons they conclude: "No single high impact tropical cyclone event of 2004 and 2005 can be directly attributed to global warming, though there may be an impact on the group as a whole." (Bureau of Meteorology)

"El Nino May Affect Africa's Food Supply" - "WASHINGTON -- Climate change that strengthens the El Nino weather patterns could endanger food supplies for more than 20 million people in Africa, a new study warns. El Nino is a warming of the water in the tropical Pacific Ocean that is associated with changes in air pressure and the movement of high-level winds that can affect weather worldwide. In the past, El Ninos have occurred every four to seven years, but many climate experts worry that continuing global warming will lead to stronger and more frequent events." (Associated Press)

Better hope for global warming then, for there is strong evidence that a warmer world reduces both the severity and the frequency of El Niño events.

"Warming and winter sport on collision course" - "TURIN, Italy -- Forty-six years ago this month, the world's athletes frolicked in the snow at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif. Forty-six years from now, climate experts say, it's doubtful that Northern California's mountains will be able to stage another Winter Games. Global warming is reducing mountain snow pack and shifting the actual periods of winter and, so, adversely affecting winter sports, athletes, ski resorts and, even the future locations of Winter Olympics." (Scripps Howard News Service)

"'60 Minutes' Presents 'Waterworld': CBS Reporter Drowns Out Dissent on Climate Change" - "Who needs NBC’s coverage of Olympic ice dancing when CBS was thrilling viewers with visions of “Waterworld”? No, not the 1995 Kevin Costner clunker, but an apocalyptic “60 Minutes” report awash with flooded beaches and melted polar ice caps." (Human Events)

Oh boy... "Warming threat to 'lost world' in New Guinea" - "A "lost world" of unknown and rare species unafraid of humans that was discovered high in the misty jungles of western New Guinea is under threat from climate change, according to a new study. A recent expedition to the Foja mountains of Indonesia's Irian Jaya province found dozens of new species, including frogs, butterflies, plants, and an orange-faced honey-eater, the first new bird recorded in New Guinea for more than 60 years. The incredible biodiversity of the area "has likely arisen in significant part due to the climatic stability of the highlands", said Dr Michael Prentice, of Plymouth State University, New Hampshire. He has found evidence that this stability is under threat." (London Telegraph)

They managed to survive emergence from an ice age, the Holocene Maximum and recently (in geographic time), the Roman Warm, the cold of the Dark Ages, the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age - planetary temperature change would seem the least of these tropical denizens worries.

"Has the Meltdown Begun?" - "The discovery that Greenland's glaciers are melting faster than anyone expected has experts worried anew about how high the seas will rise." (Time)

Snowfall-Driven Growth in East Antarctic Ice Sheet Mitigates Recent Sea-Level Rise - "Satellite radar altimetry measurements indicate that the East Antarctic ice-sheet interior north of 81.6°S increased in mass by 45 ± 7 billion metric tons per year from 1992 to 2003. Comparisons with contemporaneous meteorological model snowfall estimates suggest that the gain in mass was associated with increased precipitation. A gain of this magnitude is enough to slow sea-level rise by 0.12 ± 0.02 millimeters per year." (Science)

Recent ice sheet growth in the interior of Greenland - Greenland's ice cap has thickened slightly in recent years despite wide predictions of a thaw triggered by global warming. Johannessen, Ola M., Khvorostovsky, K., Miles, M. W., Bobylev, L. P. (2005) Recent ice sheet growth in the interior of Greenland. Science 310: 1013-1016

ERS altimeter survey shows growth of Greenland Ice Sheet interior - Researchers have utilised more than a decade's worth of data from radar altimeters on ESA's ERS satellites to produce the most detailed picture yet of thickness changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet. (European Space Agency)

Global Warming and the Greenland Ice Sheet - Abstract: The Greenland coastal temperatures have followed the early 20th century global warming trend. Since 1940, however, the Greenland coastal stations data have undergone predominantly a cooling trend. At the summit of the Greenland ice sheet the summer average temperature has decreased at the rate of 2.2 °C per decade since the beginning of the measurements in 1987. This suggests that the Greenland ice sheet and coastal regions are not following the current global warming trend. A considerable and rapid warming over all of coastal Greenland occurred in the 1920s when the average annual surface air temperature rose between 2 and 4 °C in less than ten years (at some stations the increase in winter temperature was as high as 6 °C). This rapid warming, at a time when the change in anthropogenic production of greenhouse gases was well below the current level, suggests a high natural variability in the regional climate. High anticorrelations (r = -0.84 to -0.93) between the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) index and Greenland temperature time series suggest a physical connection between these processes. Therefore, the future changes in the NAO and Northern Annular Mode may be of critical consequence to the future temperature forcing of the Greenland ice sheet melt rates. (Chylek P.; Box J.E.; Lesins G., Climatic Change, Volume 63, Numbers 1-2, March 2004, pp. 201-221(21))

"The Anthropogenic Global Warming Doctrine" - "The major part of Phil Maxwell’s “Paleo Potpourri” in July’s Newsletter was a diatribe against Michael Crichton and Bjørn Lomborg, two people who dared to criticise certain beliefs of environmentalists, especially the doctrine of AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming). No scientific arguments mind you, just gratuitous name-calling and insults. This is not uncommon in the debate on global warming." (Dr Gerrit J. van der Lingen, NBR) [Published in Newsletter of the Geological Society of New Zealand, N0 138, November 2005: 60-64]

Back to this again: "Oceans may soon be more corrosive than when the dinosaurs died" - "Increased carbon dioxide emissions are rapidly making the world's oceans more acidic and, if unabated, could cause a mass extinction of marine life similar to one that occurred 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs disappeared. Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology will present this research at the AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences meeting in Honolulu, HI on Monday, Feb 20.

Caldeira's computer models have predicted that the oceans will become far more acidic within the next century. Now, he has compared this data with ocean chemistry evidence from the fossil record, and has found some startling similarities. The new finding offers a glimpse of what the future might hold for ocean life if society does not drastically curb carbon dioxide emissions." (Carnegie Institution)

From last time, July '05: Oceans turning to acid from rise in CO2 - "A report issued by the Royal Society in the UK sounds the alarm about the world's oceans. While marine organisms need CO2 to survive, work by Caldeira and colleagues shows that too much CO2 in the ocean could lead to ecological disruption and extinctions in the marine environment." (Carnegie Institution) | Cuts in carbon dioxide emissions vital to stem rising acidity of oceans (Press Release) | Ocean acidification due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide [.pdf 1069kb] (Royal Society) | CO2 emissions turn oceans to acid (The Guardian) | Marine crisis looms over acidifying oceans (NewScientist.com news service) | Oceans in trouble as acid levels rise (Nature)

And our response: Hmm... The Royal Society sure has a bee in its collective bonnet over anthropogenic greenhouse emissions lately.

Check out the Ordovician Mass Extinction. Note that fauna of the period included large diversity of corals, bryozoans, bivalves and gastropods (we know most about these because shells and skeletal remains fossilise best). In fact, reef builders took something of a hiding in Earth's second-most devastating mass extinction event.

Why is this significant? Well, all these shelled and reef building critters were apparently doing fine when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were an order of magnitude greater than current and anticipated levels. If these creatures, many of whose descendants are current denizens of the seas, managed to fashion calcium carbonate shells and skeletons then it would appear that atmospheric CO₂ levels are not a major determinant of the success of these marine creatures. Why would apparently insignificant levels be a problem now?

UPDATE: Readers have inquired about the headline on the feature piece: "Oceans turning to acid from rise in CO2" and wondered if seawater is literally becoming acidic. Yes and no, seawater is alkaline and expected to remain so. However, reducing pH is always termed acidification and so having a suspected change from ~8.25 to ~8.14 over some two and one-half centuries is acidification even though oceans are sliding slightly closer to neutrality (less alkaline) than they were before. It is simply the terminology and it is accurate.

"Paying to pollute: System would limit emission, allow trading of credits" - "It costs nothing to pump greenhouse gases into the air. No money, at least. For as long as human beings have used fire -- whether to make steel or cook mastodon meat -- they have poured carbon dioxide into the atmosphere without paying any financial price." (SF Chronicle)

Still charging forth in their campaign to convert an essential trace gas into a "pollutant" so they can restrict energy and consumption generally.

No limit to the ways scammers dream up to 'creatively acquire' your money: "Saving the Earth can also bring profit to startups" - "Russ George wants to turn a profit from global warming. And he thinks algae is the way to do it. Don't laugh. Now that Europe has opened a market based on carbon dioxide emissions, it could work, he insists. George and his Foster City startup, Planktos, plan to create huge algae blooms at sea that will suck some of the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere, then sell credits to European companies unable to meet their emissions targets." (SF Chronicle)

"Lower emissions' trade-off: Less safety" - "California, known for setting the cultural zeitgeist, deserves equal notoriety for exporting another dubious product: bad policy. A current example is a proposal to replicate California's vehicle emissions rules in Pennsylvania, which includes a provision aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Regardless of any merit in addressing the earth's climate - even Golden State regulators concede it will be scarcely marginal - the biggest effect by far will be an increase in activity for Pennsylvania's trauma doctors, grief counselors and grave diggers." (Ronald W. Kosh, Philadelphia Inquirer)

"EU and US to cooperate in curbing car air conditioning emissions" - "Europe and America are to harmonise testing and engineering standards to curb emissions of greenhouse gases from car mobile air conditioning (MAC) systems, the European Commission announced today." (Edie)

"'Open skies' air treaty threat" - "Britain could lose its ability to impose environmental taxes, restrictions and safeguards on airlines under a draft treaty between the EU and US which curtails the power of national governments. The draft treaty, meant to liberalise aviation, includes a little noticed clause requiring EU states to reach agreement with each other and with the US before taking measures to tackle noise or pollution from airlines." (The Guardian)

"Gaia Goes Nuclear" - "The British biologist James Lovelock is one the most revered gurus of the environmentalist movement. Nevertheless, he caused uproar when he spoke out last year to encourage greens to adopt nuclear energy as the most practical option for powering our societies without adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. In his new book, The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth Is Fighting Back - and How We Can Still Save Humanity, he lays out his argument for nuclear power in more detail, as well as providing a biting insider's critique of the Green movement he has done so much to inspire, arguing "they must drop their wrong-headed objection to nuclear energy." (Peter Nolan and Donal Fitzgibbon, TCS Daily)

"Bush: Technology can reduce nuclear energy risks" - "WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush said on Saturday he hoped to promote greater use of nuclear power both at home and abroad, and said he saw promise in new technology aimed at reducing nuclear waste. Bush has asked the U.S. Congress for $250 million to fund research to restart a controversial program that would reprocess spent nuclear fuel. The initiative would also involve working with other countries like Russia, France, Japan and Britain to establish an infrastructure to supply nuclear fuel to other nations." (Reuters)

"A dangerous solution" - "WASHINGTON // What do President Bush and the former director of Greenpeace International, Patrick Moore, have in common? They both back expansion of nuclear energy use. A growing number of prominent environmentalists are hopping on the nuclear bandwagon because of alarm about global warming. The process from uranium mining to nuclear power generation emits less greenhouse gases than conventional coal or oil-fired power generation." (Baltimore Sun)

Oh Polly... "Good news: gas prices up. Bad news: they'll fall again" - "It's not the fairest way to cut energy use, but a tax to keep costs high would also boost investment in green power generation." (Polly Toynbee, The Guardian)

For someone who genuinely seems to desire improvement in the lot of the impoverished Ms Toynbee is an unfortunately dangerous dill when it comes to economics and energy.

"British industry fears blackouts" - "THE British Government must act quickly and resolutely to plug the yawning energy gap or face blackouts within six years, industry leaders said today. The call followed a survey showing that three-quarters of business executives, academics and politicians believed the lights would start to go out by 2012 as the country's ageing nuclear power stations were progressively closed down. It also comes as the Government plunges into a study of how to feed the country's electricity needs while at the same time meeting its international obligations to cut emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels which create climate change." (Reuters)

"ANALYSIS - British Consumers Face More Energy Price Pain" - "LONDON - Gas and power bills in Britain could go up again later this year despite record increases that have squeezed consumers and turned energy prices into one of the country's most talked about issues." (Reuters)

"Brave new world for King Coal as it tries to clean up its act" - "The government yesterday gave its clearest signal yet that King Coal is ready for a comeback as it emphasised that clean technology could help the fuel play a new role in future energy needs." (The Guardian)

"EU Split over How Much Biofuel to Import in Future" - "BRUSSELS - EU agriculture ministers locked horns on Monday over how Europe should make greater use of environment-friendly biofuels made locally, while not opening itself up to a flood of imports from countries like Brazil. Biofuels, which are made from biomass - organic matter such as wood, waste material and agricultural crops like cereals and sugar beet - are used to power vehicles and are widely seen in the EU as a way to reduce emitted gases that heat the earth." (Reuters)

"Fund Return Fears Cloud Clean Energy Investment" - "LONDON - As the EU considers a united approach to boost domestic energy supply, investors are still shy of new clean energy technologies because of uncertainty over returns, funds and analysts say." (Reuters)

"Norway Firm Plans World's Biggest Wind Park" - "OSLO - A Norwegian firm has applied for a concession for the world's biggest wind power development off western Norway with total capacity of 1,500 megawatts produced by hundreds of turbines, it said on Monday. The world's biggest wind power parks are now off Denmark, the leading wind energy nation, which has two parks with capacity of around 160 MW each. Big wind projects are also on the drawing board elsewhere, such as off Britain." (Reuters)

"A comparative institutional analysis of intellectual property" - "Biotech innovations pop up every day. From medicines developed by large companies to ingenious solutions worked out by individuals in university labs, new technologies are poised to enter the marketplace. The question is, are patents helping or hurting this process? "Patents are essential to bringing biotechnology innovations from everyone -- not just well-funded corporations -- to the people," says F. Scott Kieff, J.D., associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis." (Washington University in St. Louis)

"Genetic engineering saved Hawaii's papaya industry -- so why aren't other countries following suit?" - "ST. LOUIS -- Genetically engineered papaya that resists the devastating papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) has saved Hawaii's papaya industry. But efforts to grow PRSV-resistant papaya in developing countries are stalled, and researchers aren't sure why, according to a retired Cornell University plant virologist." (Cornell News Service)

"Easing fears of biotech food" - "Why industry opposes labels for genetically modified crops" (Sacramento Bee)

"Fear of the unknown no longer justifies GM crop bans" - "Genetic engineering is one of the great scientific innovations, one that still seems new and mysterious for many people. GM foods are regarded with deep suspicion in Australia, as well as Europe and Japan. It may come as a surprise, then, that 18 years have passed since the world's first release of a GM organism - a bacterium released in Australia to control crown gall disease in stone fruit and other crops - and to realise how pervasive imported GM food is, particularly as public resistance has prevented further local releases since GM cotton was introduced 10 years ago. GM cotton comprises about 90 per cent of the national crop and is the source of about a third of the vegetable oil consumed in Australia." (The Age)

"Enhanced food is answer to food security" - "Saying 'no' to tech-enhanced food is tantamount to rejecting technology per se. Technology by itself cannot be good or bad; only its application can be subject to value judgment." (Times of India)

"American opinions are split on genetically engineered food" - "While more than two-thirds of the food in U.S. markets contains at least some amount of a genetically engineered (GE) crop, researchers want to know if Americans consider GE food a health risk or benefit. The result: Americans are split on the issue, but they have become slightly more skeptical over the past three years, according to a new study from Cornell University. "Depending on whom you ask, the technology is either beneficial or has negative effects on health and environment," said James Shanahan, associate professor of communication at Cornell and lead researcher of the study. Generally, women and non-Caucasians perceived higher risk in using biotechnology in food production than men and Caucasians. And politically, Republicans showed more overall support for GE foods than others, he said." (Cornell University News Service)

As an Australian far removed from American politics I find it interesting that the above survey results conflict with media stereotyping. Republicans' greater acceptance of, and support for 'lab-meddled' food rather clashes with the portrayed lowbrow, bible-thumping GOP voter, no? Why aren't allegedly more sophisticated Democrat-voting intellectuals hyper-represented among those showing support for reduced input, advanced foodstuffs? Surely society's shining lights have not succumbed to the superstition of wildlife habitat-decimating low-productivity unimproved agriculture - the same 'organic' methods that kept humanity underdeveloped and underachieving, rarely reaching half his potential lifespan over thousands of years until industrialisation and the first stumbling steps to modern farming came to his rescue so few decades since? How interesting that the self-crowned intelligentsia should be demonstrated so timid and superstitious that carefully prepared food inputs frighten them.

"EFSA opens up to discuss future of GM in Europe" - "2/20/2006 - Europe's food safety authority is holding a high level meeting with scientists this Wednesday to discuss the future development of Genetically Modified (GM) food within the bloc. Scientists from environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been invited to share views on scientific and procedural issues related to the authority's work and advice in this field." (Food Navigator)

February 20, 2006

60 Minutes' Fails to Disclose Background of Climate "Expert" - 60 Minutes failed to disclose the background of its featured global warming expert on last night's segment entitled, "Global Warning!"

60 Minutes billed Bob Corell as "among the world's top authorities on climate change" since he "led" 300 scientists from eight nations in the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment."

Before going into Corell's undisclosed background, readers ought to know that Corell's Arctic Climate Impact Assessment -- purporting to link melting Arctic ice with manmade global warming -- is self-debunking as we pointed out on FoxNews.com in November 2004. The real question to ask is "What Arctic Warming?"

Corell's alarmism is suspect -- but perhaps not the reason that 60 Minutes withheld full disclosure about him.

First, Corell has been a global warming alarmist since the 1980s when he was at the National Science Foundation. He appears to have made up his mind about global warming way before he led the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment to its junk science-based -- if not pre-determined -- conclusion.

Corell is an "affiliate" of The Washington Advisory Group, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that does not list it clients. Washington Advisory Group is owned by LECG Corporation -- a business that provides "objective expert testimony, independent and authoritative studies and strategic advice and consulting to assist complex negotiations, or help inform judges, juries, regulators and legislators." Corell's bio indicates that his work is sponsored, in part, by the Packard Foundation -- a left-leaning charitable foundation that believes manmade greenhouse gases are adversely impacting climate and should be reduced.

Contrary to the impression that 60 Minutes left with viewers, Corell may not be some unbiased "expert" -- he appears to be one of the leaders of the international movement that wants to cram so-called "sustainable development" and greenhouse gas regulation down our throats regardless of the facts.

"Zambia expands effort to control its biggest killer" - "The Chicago Tribune reports on Zambia's efforts to revitalise its malaria control program and reduce deaths from this preventable disease." (AFM)

"Culture of Fear: Dealing with cultural panic attacks" - "Earlier this week, the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, held a remarkably interesting conference titled "Panic Attack: The New Precautionary Culture, the Politics of Fear, and the Risks to Innovation." It was interesting not only because I was a participant, but because it looked at how many Western countries are losing their cultural nerve, as evidenced by the increasing cultural acceptance of the so-called precautionary principle." (Ronald Bailey, Reason)

"Lord Advocate fuels new McKie fingerprint row" - "The credibility of Scotland's criminal justice system was in tatters last night after the country's most senior law officer effectively dismissed fingerprint evidence as junk science." (The Observer)

"Too much sugar not good for coral reefs" - "The race is on to buy up inexpensive land along coastlines for vacation homes and tourist hotels. But increased development can mean more nutrient rich runoff that threatens the very coral reefs attracting tourists in the first place. David Kline at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and colleagues find that bacteria on coral reefs grow out of control as the level of simple sugars in seawater increases." (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

He's back! The real climate-change correlation (EnviroSpin Watch)

"Spinning Temperature Out of Control: “The social construction of a quasi-reality”" (.pdf) - "The following extracts from a Tyndall Centre working paper provide an interesting insight into the work carried out from the public purse, to promote global warming in the public perception. It is revealing that that the authors highlight the uncertainty and contention surrounding climate change and yet the public presentation is that there is scientific consensus and no longer any doubt. This approach, coupled with extensive “feeding” of the media, is obviously effective." (Dennis Ambler, JunkScience.com contributor)

[Dennis Ambler is a retired lecturer in agriculture and biological sciences and an independent researcher into Science, Politics and the Media]

"It's the wrong time to blow cold on global warming" - "The spectre of the Greenland ice shelf collapsing has once again focused the world's attention on the threat of global warming. Fresh evidence that this gargantuan ice cube is sliding into the Atlantic Ocean twice as fast as a decade ago was not the only bad news. Last week, we also heard the first-ever forecast of how rising global temperatures will change our weather to the end of the millennium. It warned that seas could rise by more than 11 metres, so changing the face of the planet." (The Observer)

"Ice Storm" - "The latest issue of Science contains a paper by Eric Rignot and Pannir Kanagaratnam claiming that glaciers along the periphery of Greenland are melting at a rapidly increasing rate. Another paper on this subject was published by Science just last year. Ola Johannessen did not consider direct ice lost by glaciers into the ocean but instead only focused on elevations changes. Johannssen showed that increasing snowfall in Greenland was leading to greater ice accumulations than had previously been measured and this was acting to slow Greenland's contribution to sea level rise. It was conspicuously ignored in this new report." (Dr. Patrick Michaels, TCS Daily)

"Focus: The climate of fear" - "Scientists used to think climate change took centuries. But evidence presented today at the world’s biggest science conference will indicate it can happen frighteningly fast. Jonathan Leake and Jonathan Milne report." (Sunday Times)

The Week That Was Feb. 18, 2006 (SEPP)

Still bouncing around the echo chamber: "They Blinded Us With Science" - "BROOKLIN, Canada, Feb 17 - Evidence is mounting that U.S. scientists have been prevented by the George W. Bush administration from telling the truth about global warming and other environmental and health issues." (IPS)

Some in the press think Calamity Jim has ever been reticent regarding 'global warming'?

About his comment on models: a number of people have written wondering why we apparently did not pick up on Hansen's statement "But we can now see that the models are almost worthless." Viewed out of context such a statement from a climate modeller is somewhat damning but it isn't exactly what he meant and, as a sweeping generality, is not true. General Circulation Models (GCMs) are process models that enable us to enhance our understanding of the atmosphere and climate in ways we can not do in the field. Although rudimentary compared with the complexity of that which we wish to study, used within the limitations of their ability they are invaluable tools. What they are not is predictive models and, when dragooned into such inappropriate roles we would concur with Calamity Jim's indictment - they are not the tools for the job and we have little prospect of developing such tools in the foreseeable future.

Idéfix? "Warmer than a hot tub: Atlantic Ocean temperatures much higher in the past - Study suggests climate models underestimate future warming" - "Scientists have found evidence that tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures may have once reached 107°F (42°C)--about 25°F (14°C) higher than ocean temperatures today and warmer than a hot tub. The surprisingly high ocean temperatures, the warmest estimates to date for any place on Earth, occurred millions of year ago when carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere were also high, but researchers say they may be an indication that greenhouse gases could heat the oceans in the future much more than currently anticipated. The study suggests that climate models underestimate future warming." (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

These guys remind me of the little dog Idéfix in the Astérix cartoons (Dogmatix, in the English translations) - seemingly nothing will divert them from their fixed idea. Current climate models, already ridiculously sensitive to perturbations in atmospheric carbon dioxide, are incapable of reproducing estimated tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures in conjunction with estimated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels of the period and so they assume models are insufficiently sensitive to carbon dioxide levels. Does it never occur to modellers that greenhouse gases might actually be the bit players unadjusted data suggest them to be, an effect as opposed a cause, and that other factors might be far more important drivers of climate - including global temperature?

"Bush's Chat With Novelist Alarms Environmentalists" - "Michael Crichton's best-selling novel, "State of Fear," suggests that global warming is an unproven theory and an overstated threat." (New York Times)

What's new here? "Environmentalists" specialise in being alarmed - it's their best (only?) thing. Anthropogenic "global warming" (AGW), as opposed "climate change", is unquantified and poorly understood. In fact, the only certainty where AGW is concerned is that it is vastly over-hyped.

Now it's your drinking water doing it: "Turn back to your taps - we all pay the price for bottled water" - "THE next time you reach for bottled water stacked on the supermarket shelf, spare a thought for the planet. You may think that it is better for you to buy such water, but better for the environment it certainly is not." (London Times)

"Climate change 'a serious threat' to heritage" - "Climate change is posing a serious threat to the country's heritage, the National Trust warned yesterday, with extremes of much wetter and drier weather than usual taking their toll on buildings and beauty spots." (Financial Times)

"No Kyoto fan, new Tory environment minister heads UN body overseeing treaty" - "VANCOUVER - Canada's new Conservative environment minister is taking over leadership of a key United Nations body overseeing the Kyoto Protocol but plans to use the post to push the party's differing vision on climate change." (CP)

"Unhappy Birthday" - "This week marks the first anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol's coming into force. It's an unhappy birthday. The one-year-old has been badly treated by its parents, its hopes for reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions seem unlikely to be fulfilled, and its prospects for survival beyond 2012 look bleak. On top of all that, it was emasculated at its very first meeting in Montreal. Jacques Chirac's "first component of an authentic global governance" has been all but abandoned by the global community." (Iain Murray, National Review Online)

Oops! "Government figures show Britain will fail to meet its Kyoto obligations" - "The Government admitted yesterday that Britain will miss its global warming targets by a huge margin because of rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industry. Figures published by the Department for Trade and Industry reveal carbon emissions from the power generation industry and heavy users of energy such as iron and steel, chemicals and glass manufacturers are likely to be far above the targets the UK has signed up to, both voluntarily and under the Kyoto Protocol." (London Independent)

"Rocks 'could store all Europe's CO2'" - "The entire carbon dioxide emissions created in Europe could be stored underneath the North Sea if the infrastructure were put in place, a Norwegian company has claimed." (BBC)

"Governor to push global warming fight: Bold policy gambits expected in bid to lower greenhouse gases" - "Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is expected this month to release a plan to combat global warming that recommends raising petroleum prices and requiring industries to report, for the first time, their greenhouse gas emissions. The increase in gas prices would fund research into alternative fuels." (SF Chronicle)

"California gov opposes gasoline tax hike -aide" - "SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 17 - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would not support an increase to the state's gasoline tax that environmental advisers studying global warming may urge, a spokeswoman said on Friday." (Reuters)

"On your own in the Ice Age" - "MOSCOW -- If scientists are bent on calling the overall weather mayhem of the past few years "global warming," more power to them, but this winter the term looked like a huge misnomer to the population of Eurasia -- from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Shivering in their homes with night temperatures outdoors hitting minus 40, Russians, Georgians and Poles cursed not only the cold spell but also the weatherman's vernacular, totally maddening in the freezing environment." (Constantine Pleshakov, Japan Times)

"Airlines flying into turbulence over climate change law" - "Potentially one of the biggest contributors to global warming, the aviation sector is facing an uncomfortable future, writes Neasa MacErlean" (The Observer)

"The rising tide of ocean plagues: How humans are changing the dynamics of disease" - "A leading group of epidemiologists, veterinarians and ecologists report that humans are affecting the oceans in ways that are changing the dynamics of disease. Previously harmless pathogens are becoming killers when combined with contaminants; "good" parasites that invisibly control the balance of species in an ecosystem are disappearing; and changes in sea surface temperature can trigger cholera outbreaks thousands of miles away." (SeaWeb)

"Retirement age 'should reach 85'" - "The age of retirement should be raised to 85 by 2050 because of trends in life expectancy, a US biologist has said. Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University says anti-ageing advances could raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades. That will put a strain on economies around the world if current retirement ages are maintained, he warned." (BBC)

"Michigan State research sheds new light on health dangers of nanoparticles" - "The nose, usually the first line of defense against inhaled airborne particles that could damage the lungs, may itself be susceptible to the dangers of extremely small particles, called nanoparticles, which are less than 100 nanometers in size. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter." (Michigan State University)

"Disturbing former farmlands can rouse old pesticides, says Dartmouth research" - "A group of Dartmouth researchers has evidence that disturbing the land where farms once thrived can mobilize both arsenic and lead that were applied as pesticides in the early 1900s. Once disturbed, these metals can then contaminate nearby surface waters. "We continue to learn more about how past agricultural practices are affecting our current environment," says Carl Renshaw, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth. "Unlike some of the pesticides used today, metals like arsenic and lead in old pesticides do not degrade over time. So the question becomes, where do they end up? As we learn more about what happens to these metals since they were applied, we can make better decisions about how to use our land." (Dartmouth College)

"Amazonian Terra Preta Can Transform Poor Soil Into Fertile" - "Some of the globe's richest soil can transform poor soil into highly fertile ground. Because terra preta is loaded with so-called bio-char -- similar to charcoal -- it also can pull substantial amounts of carbon out of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, helping to prevent global warming. (Newswise)

"Besides food, farming can provide wildlife habitat and reduce global warming" - "When people hear the word "agriculture," most think of food. But the benefits of agriculture are much more than farm fresh corn or dairy products. Now scientists are investigating how farmers can manage their land to offer everyone more environmental benefits, and whether farmers could be paid for providing these benefits." (Michigan State University)

"Pulling EU to the harvest" - "A commission of the World Trade Organization has held the European Union's 1998-2004 moratorium on planting and importing genetically-modified food and cotton was not based on science. Hooray. Or "duh," as my kids would say. The U.S. has utilized GM crops since 1996, with millions of acres planted and millions of tons of GM crops harvested and consumed since then -- with no adverse effect seen on health or the environment. But while that seems pretty powerful evidence of safety, it hasn't been enough for those intrepid devotees of the precautionary principle across the pond. This principle states that unless a product or chemical is shown "safe" (by often scientifically baseless definitions), it should be banned or restricted until such evidence of its safety has been obtained. The WTO panel found the EU ban was based on old-fashioned trade competition and politics, not science. Score one point for the forces of agro-science, and score several more points for the malnourished people of Asia and Africa." (Gilbert Ross, Washington Times)

"Zimbabwe importing GMO maize from Argentina - trade" - "JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe is importing unmilled, genetically-modified (GMO) yellow maize from Argentina, despite an official ban on such products, trading sources and other monitors told Reuters on Friday. But a senior Zimbabwean minister said his government remained opposed to unmilled maize and said he was unaware of such shipments." (Reuters)

February 17, 2006

"Kyoto's Quiet Anniversary" - "Global warming alarmists marked the Kyoto Protocol’s first anniversary in subdued fashion this week. The treaty so far has been a failure and its future doesn’t appear much brighter." (Steven Milloy, FoxNews.com)

Bans cause global warming, apparently... "Smoke ban 'threatens environment'" - "As campaigners cheer a total smoking ban, there are fears sending smokers outside will lead to a huge increase in greenhouse gas-emitting patio heaters." (BBC)

Pretty good demonstration of just how farcical 'global warming' hyperbole has become.

Since 1880 atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen from ~290ppmv to >375ppmv or approximately +30%. Over the same period, from a time when everyone including hockey stick promoters suggest was comparatively cool for the Holocene, global mean temperature has risen by a few hundredths of a degree per decade (HadCRUT2v +0.05 °C/decade; GHCN-ERSST +0.04 °C/decade; GHCN Land Surface +0.07 °C/decade). These trends yield a net global temperature increment over 125 years (12.5 decades) of between +0.5 °C and +0.875 °C depending on whether you go by the merged Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) data set of land temperatures and the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) of SST data or you use the GHCN land surface temperature data.*

Even discounting any natural fluctuation and making the ridiculous assumption that land use change has no effect on near-surface temperatures we are left with +30% atmospheric carbon dioxide inducing global temperature change at the very limit of our ability to detect it (global mean temperature estimate precision ±0.7 °C). This is one of the reasons Kyoto is pointless because it has exactly zero potential to make a perceptible difference in global temperature.

The questions to ask are: Do you really believe all natural climate forcing stopped in or before 1880? Do you really believe land use change has no effect on recorded near-surface temperature?

If you answered "Yes" to both of those questions then congratulations, you've just arrived at the conclusion that 125 years of industrialisation and fossil fuel use increased global mean temperature by about two-thirds of one degree (sort it out for yourselves if that seems particularly worrisome).

If, on the other hand, you answered "No" to either or both of the above then you arrived at the conclusion that +30% atmospheric carbon dioxide induced somewhat less than two-thirds of one degree temperature increment over more than a century, suggesting that such exclusive focus on greenhouse gases may not be the brightest idea in captivity, even if we are worried about 'global warming'.

Consider if we extrapolate from very short data series** - what do recent trends tell us? Assuming the most recent warming trend were to persist another 75 years, giving us a consistent trend of more than a century (no such thing, nor anything remotely similar exists in the instrument record but we are playing "what if" here), how warm would it get? Answer: about +1 °C. If we use trend values from longer datasets*** the trend must persist for about five hundred years to achieve the same result. These are real-world trends and they tell a very different story from the computer game-generated +5, +10 and +15 °C[!] with which the press seem so enamoured.

Fellas, empirical data - the world - is telling us that carbon dioxide is not the massive driver of global climate required to produce these fanciful outcomes. Don't you stop to think for even a moment before rushing to print this rubbish?

* Note that these are only some of the available datasets but ones that are frequently referenced in climate studies.

** Those interested in attempting to extrapolate from extremely short series could try using the UAH lower troposphere MSU data, which will give them a recent trend (1979-2005) of +0.13 °C/decade.

*** Alternatively, those looking for longer series could try the Central England Temperature series (1659-2005) which yields about +0.02 °C/decade or about +0.7 °C net warming over almost three and one-half centuries.

Eye roller: "Activists want Olympic flame turned down" - "TURIN, Italy - The Olympic flame continued burning at full force Thursday as organizers ignored a request from environmentalists that it be turned down in honor of the first anniversary of a key global warming treaty." (Associated Press)

"One Year Later, Kyoto-Enthusiasts Struggle to Meet Targets" - "Europe's top environment official marked the one-year anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol on Thursday by accusing the U.S. of not doing enough to combat climate change -- despite the fact that many of the treaty's most enthusiastic supporters have done significantly worse than America in dealing with "greenhouse gas" emissions." (CNSNews.com) | A year on, Kyoto climate backers urge US action (Reuters)

"US Senate likely to reject future UN climate deal - Interview" - "In Short: A possible UN climate deal, even watered down, will never make it past the US Congress, a senior advisor to the Chairman of the Senate's environment committee told EurActiv. He would rather see technology cooperation efforts instead." (EurActiv)

"Japan races to hit Kyoto targets" - "As the country which hosted the 1997 Kyoto conference on climate change, Japan has always been one of its strongest advocates, ratifying the treaty in June 2002. Like other industrialized countries, Japan has committed itself to reducing its carbon emissions substantially by the year 2010 - in Japan's case to 6% less than 1990 levels. But despite its good intentions, Japan's performance has been embarrassingly weak - carbon emissions have actually increased by nearly 8%. At this rate it has little chance of meeting the obligations it signed up to, sending a dispiriting signal to other Asian countries which are likely to become some of the biggest greenhouse gas producers over the next decade." (BBC)

Woohoo! A thousand-year weather forecast! "UK's 'sobering' climate forecast" - "The UK could face major flooding and tropical temperatures by the year 3000 if greenhouse gas emissions are not sharply reduced, a new study says. The report, from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, claims Britain could look radically different with sea levels rising as much as 11.4m." (BBC) [em added]

"Legal case against US on climate" - "US conservation groups have begun a new legal case aimed at forcing government action on climate change. They have filed a petition with the UN arguing that Waterton-Glacier Peace Park, a protected area, is being damaged by rising temperatures. Similar actions have been lodged over sites in the Himalayas and Andes. The case, filed on the first anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol's entry into force, could compel the US to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." (BBC)

NOAA and Hurricanes (Prometheus)

There is Confusion on What is Meant Regarding the Terms “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” (Climate Science)

Consensus Assessment of a Climate Extreme - the July 2005 Heat Wave in Colorado (Climate Science)

"Phytoplankton bounce back from abrupt climate change" - "The majority of tiny marine plants weathered the abrupt climate changes that occurred in Earth's past and bounced back, according to a Penn State geoscientist. "Populations of plankton are pretty resilient," says Dr. Timothy J. Bralower, head and professor of geoscience. Bralower looked at cores of marine sediments related to thousands of years of deposition, to locate populations of these plankton during three periods of abrupt climate change. These abrupt changes were caused either by Oceanic Anoxic Events during the middle Jurassic to late Cretaceous when the oceans became uniformly depleted of oxygen or by a warming event in the early Paleocene around 55 million years ago." (Penn State)

"Ancient greenhouse emissions—possible lessons for modern climate" - "Humans are performing a high-stakes climate experiment by burning fossil fuels that release heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The outcome of that experiment is uncertain and computer models can do only so much to predict the future." (AAAS)

Contention! Computer models have exactly zero demonstrated skill "predicting the future", which is fine because they are process models and prediction is not in their remit. Calibration remains somewhat problematic and their ability to "postdict the past" is none too flash either. What models do tell us is that we have a long way to go understanding and representing the global climate system.

"Studies of ancient climates suggest Earth is now on a fast track to global warming" - "Human activities are releasing greenhouse gases more than 30 times faster than the rate of emissions that triggered a period of extreme global warming in the Earth's past, according to an expert on ancient climates. "The emissions that caused this past episode of global warming probably lasted 10,000 years. By burning fossil fuels, we are likely to emit the same amount over the next three centuries," said James Zachos, professor of Earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz." (University of California - Santa Cruz)

But which came first, the warming or the carbon? And marine clathrates may not have been part of the equation either: "Late Quaternary Atmospheric CH4 Isotope Record Suggests Marine Clathrates Are Stable" - "One explanation for the abrupt increases in atmospheric CH₄, that occurred repeatedly during the last glacial cycle involves clathrate destabalization events. Because marine clathrates have a distinct deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) isotope ratio, any such destabilization event should cause the D/H ratio of atmospheric CH₄ (δD_CH4) to increase. Analyses of air trapped in the ice from the second Greenland ice sheet project show stable and/or decreasing δD_CH4 values during the end of the Younger and Older Dryas periods and one stadial period, suggesting that marine clathrates were stable during these abrupt warming episodes. Elevated glacial δD_CH4 values may be the result of a lower ratio of net to gross wetland CH₄ emissions and an increase in petroleum-based emissions." (Science) Full Text | PDF | Supporting Online Material | Frozen methane chunks not responsible for abrupt increases in atmospheric methane (Penn State)

Jim "They'll Never Shut Me Up" Hansen: "Climate change: On the edge" - "Greenland ice cap breaking up at twice the rate it was five years ago, says scientist Bush tried to gag." (Jim Hansen, London Independent)

We know all about 'publish or perish' Jim but The Indy? Now that's desperate!

Never mind - let's see what you've got... different look at Greenland ice egress gives different volume metrics, nothing unusual about that - you (correctly) declare this as the first time we've had such a view and consequently we have no comparator - this may be normal but we couldn't see it before; interannual variability, nothing unusual about that either; current egress possibly 200 Km³ (out of something well over 3,000,000 Km³ estimated ice cap volume - that'll take a while then - like about 15,000 years); and, well, nothing really.

On the other hand we have recent empirical measures showing Greenland has mostly been cooling over the last 5-6 decades and is actually cooler than it was in the 1950s (heck Jim, even the Beeb knows that or you can check out Hanna and Cappelen (2003) here (.pdf)) so sudden catastrophic meltdown due to cooling would be counterintuitive, to say the least. Or you could check out Johannessen et al (2005) Recent Ice-Sheet Growth in the Interior of Greenland, that might suggest an alternative causal mechanism for Changes in the Velocity Structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet as mass balance with a thickening interior requires an acceleration of egress. Of course, with the massive interior Greenland shield actually gaining mass then the allusion of increased sea levels from minor acceleration of egress in The Greenland Ice Sheet and Global Sea-Level Rise is invalidated.

Gosh Jim, there's a lot of noise here but seems precious little substance - maybe you should stick a sock in it. Uh-oh... now we've done it! Calamity Jim'll be saying we're trying to gag him now.

"NASA to Draft New Rules for Media Office" - "NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin said yesterday he has convened a team of scientists and public information officials to draft new guidelines to ensure that news of agency research or events will not be tailored or curtailed to reflect political or ideological bias.

In his clearest statement yet regarding accusations that NASA public relations officials had manipulated news releases or reports involving climate change and cosmology, Griffin told reporters that "it is not appropriate for scientists to be required to adjust, spin or alter their scientific work to fit any particular political agenda."

He acknowledged, however, that NASA's guidelines on releasing information to the public are "not as clear as they need to be," and that a cross-agency team of scientists and career and political public affairs personnel would reevaluate the policy and make changes "in the next few weeks." (Washington Post)

"Muzzling scientists on climate change?" - "A nasty little spat has arisen as a result of NASA's leading climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), speaking out on the Bush administration's reluctance to begin imposing carbon-dioxide restrictions to help slow global warming." (Roy Spencer, Orlando Sentinel)

Glasses - When I was a child, I spake as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child:
but when I became a man, I put away
childish things. For now we see through a
glass, darkly; but then face to face: now
I know in part; but then shall I know even
as also I am known. -- Corinthians 13 11 (Number Watch)

"Holy Flying Cow!" - "Nick Schulz: Dr. Randy Cerveny is editor of the popular national weather magazine, 'Weatherwise'. He teaches weather and climate at Arizona State University and he is the author of a new book, 'Freaks of the Storm: From Flying Cows to Stealing Thunder, the World's Strangest True Weather Events.' And he also recently authored a chapter on severe weather and disasters in a new book called 'Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming.' Randy, thanks for joining us today." (Nick Schulz, TCS Daily)

"California PUC Adopts Plan to Cap Power Plant Emissions" - "SAN FRANCISCO - The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved a plan to set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions produced by the state's power plants." (Reuters)

"Governor to push global warming fight: Bold policy gambits foreseen in bid to lower greenhouse gases" - "Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is expected this month to release a far-reaching proposal to combat global warming that calls for increasing the price of gasoline to fund research into alternative fuels and requiring industries for the first time to report the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions they produce." (SF Chronicle)

"A healthy debate over plan to limit power plant emissions" - "SALEM -- More than 40 business leaders and environmentalists made competing arguments last night at a public hearing here about the potential impact of the state's plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions at the six dirtiest power plants in Massachusetts, including the Salem Harbor Station. Business leaders contended that the plan would force energy prices to rise and be passed on to consumers, while environmentalists disputed those assertions." (Boston Globe)

"Generation gap" - "Tony Blair's plan for an EU-wide power grid has won the support of one of Europe's top power executives. It could lead to a single market for Europe's electricity, writes David Gow." (The Guardian)

"A Long Row To Hoe" - "Proposals for an alcohol-fueled end to dependence on foreign oil do not sit lightly on the American landscape. Can they fit within our borders at all? State Of The Union speeches tend to cross using figures with speaking figuratively, and this hybrid rhetoric can bear strange fruit, like the switchgrass mania spreading up K Street like kudzu. Math has never been the Beltway's strongest suit, and it will take a while for many in DC to realize that biofuel, like the solar and wind energy franchises already on offer, suffers from sheer lack of real estate." (Russell Seitz, TCS Daily)

"US Official Says Drilling off Florida has Little Risk" - "WASHINGTON - Energy companies can use new drilling technology to safely explore for oil and natural gas in a disputed area of Florida's coast with little risk of an accident or a spill, a top US Interior Department official told Congress Thursday." (Reuters)

"The OPEC Protection Act" - "Now that President Bush has declared a national commitment to end our alleged addiction to foreign oil, naturally the first energy bill that Congress wants to enact this year would make America more dependent on foreign energy companies.

That would surely be the result if Congress passes two provisions buried in the Senate version of a tax bill now in House-Senate conference: One is a tax on oil company inventories, which is a disguised windfall profits tax on five big oil companies; the second would repeal the foreign tax credit for the same companies.

Democrats -- and Maine Republican Olympia Snowe -- promoted the provisions late last year as a way to punish the companies whose CEOs had defended their pricing policies before Congress. But the more you understand the details, the nuttier this looks. For example, the $4 billion to $5 billion windfall tax on inventories applies only to the reserves of U.S.-based oil producers (such as Exxon and Chevron), while foreign producers pay nada.

This is an energy policy only Arab oil sheiks could love, because it drives their production and profits up, at the expense of home-grown producers. When Congress last passed a windfall tax on oil in 1980, America's domestic crude oil production plunged and demand for foreign oil increased by almost 15%. We imposed a tax on ourselves and OPEC nations got the windfall." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Second lease of life for Omani oil wells" - "Oil is almost never found in convenient places. The huge oilfield of Qarn Alam is no exception." (BBC)

"MIT powers up new battery for hybrid cars" - "Researchers at MIT have developed a new type of lithium battery that could become a cheaper alternative to the batteries that now power hybrid electric cars." (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

"Freddie Laker, airline pioneer" - "Any passenger who now jets to Italy or Greece for the price of a train fare to the suburbs is following the trail he blazed." (The Economist)

"Inside an Avalanche" - "The winter blanket of snow covering the Alps is stunningly beautiful– and incredibly dangerous. In 2004-2005, 26 people died in avalanches in Switzerland alone. The victims range from occasional snow-boarders catching some powder off-piste to backcountry ski guides with years of experience. In this mountainous country, avalanches also pose a serious public danger. They can bury people in their homes, cut off access roads or even flatten whole villages. Scientists have put great effort into trying to understand the physical mechanisms at work in avalanches, particularly in the domain of fluid mechanics, in an attempt to improve our ability to predict and manage avalanche danger. But progress is limited because the computer models that simulate complex fluid movement are still quite rudimentary." (EPFL)

"Study finds no safe level for ozone" - "Even at very low levels, ozone--the principal ingredient in smog--increases the risk of premature death, according to a nationwide study to be published in the April edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives." (Yale University)

"Overseas NOx could be boosting ozone levels in US" - "Large amounts of a chemical that boosts ozone production are being transported to North America from across the Pacific Ocean in May, according to a new report by researchers from Georgia Tech. These higher levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), arriving in late spring, could be contributing to significant increases in ozone levels over North America. The research appeared in volume 33 of the journal Geophysical Research Letters." (Georgia Institute of Technology)

"New influenza vaccine takes weeks to mass produce" - "Using cell-based methods researchers have developed a commercially viable method for mass producing effective vaccines against potential pandemic influenza strains in weeks instead of the months required for traditional egg-based vaccines. They report their results today at the 2006 ASM Biodefense Research." (American Society for Microbiology)

More virtual bodies: "Study Links Power Plants to Deaths, Asthma" - "Emissions from six Maryland power plants, three of them owned by an Atlanta-based company, are responsible each year for about 700 premature deaths nationwide, according to a report released Wednesday by the Maryland Nurses Association. The association, which is supporting one of two competing clean-air proposals pending before state lawmakers, announced the findings along with officials from several other health and environmental groups that are supporting the Healthy Air Act." (Associated Press)

"In the Interests of Stakeholders… and Steakholders" - "There was good news last month on both sides of our northern border: In response to confirmation of an isolated case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or "mad cow disease," in a Canadian cow, U.S. regulators declined to ban Canadian beef imports. This decision, which reflects sound science and wise trade policy, will prevent unnecessary disruptions of the supply and price of beef on both sides of the border." (Dr. Henry I. Miller, TCS Daily)

"EPA issues permit to sink Oriskany" - "PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday cleared the Navy to sink the retired aircraft carrier USS Oriskany off Pensacola Beach in May, jump starting long-delayed plans for a new program to turn old warships into artificial reefs." (Associated Press)

"Report from U of M Humphrey Institute urges coordinated and integrated oversight of nanotechnology" - "New technology can enhance our quality of life, but how can we ensure the health and environmental safety of its applications? The Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy (CSTPP) at the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs has released a new report that addresses this question as it relates to nanotechnology, a rapidly emerging area with hundreds of applications, many already in the marketplace. The report captures recommendations and information developed at a conference held at the Humphrey Institute last fall." (University of Minnesota)

"World's pledge to halve hunger by 2015 looks like empty promise" - "Almost 200 countries agreed in 1990 to cut worldwide hunger in half by 2015. That commitment is now looking like an empty promise -- all talk and no action -- according to a Cornell University expert on world hunger." (Cornell University News Service) | Employ more science and technology to reduce world hunger, expert says (Cornell University News Service)

"Farmers, Others Sue USDA Over Monsanto GMO Alfalfa" - "KANSAS CITY - A coalition of farmers, consumers and environmental activists on Thursday sued the US government over its approval of a biotech alfalfa that critics say will spell havoc for farmers and the environment." (Reuters)

"Campaigners slam proposed GM potato trial in Meath" - "Environmental campaigners have expressed concern about the possibility of genetically-modified potatoes being grown in Ireland. The German company BASF has applied for a licence to conduct field trials with a blight-resistant crop in Co Meath this April." (Irish Examiner)

February 16, 2006

Here we go again: "More Greenland Ice Flowing Into Sea, in Sign of Warming" - "The amount of ice flowing into the sea from large glaciers in southern Greenland has almost doubled in the last 10 years, possibly requiring scientists to increase estimates of how much seas could rise under the influence of global warming, according to a study to be published Friday in the journal Science. The authors said there is evidence that the rise in flows will soon spread to glaciers farther north on the vast island of Greenland, which is covered with an ancient ice sheet nearly two miles high in places that holds enough water to raise global sea levels 20 feet or more should it all flow into the ocean." (New York Times) | Summary | Full Text | PDF (Science)

Time to head for the hills? Might want to check some of these first (collation by Dr. Benny Peiser, CCNet, February 15, 2006)

Recent ice sheet growth in the interior of Greenland - Greenland's ice cap has thickened slightly in recent years despite wide predictions of a thaw triggered by global warming. Johannessen, Ola M., Khvorostovsky, K., Miles, M. W., Bobylev, L. P. (2005) Recent ice sheet growth in the interior of Greenland. Science 310: 1013-1016

ERS altimeter survey shows growth of Greenland Ice Sheet interior - Researchers have utilised more than a decade's worth of data from radar altimeters on ESA's ERS satellites to produce the most detailed picture yet of thickness changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet. (European Space Agency)

Global Warming and the Greenland Ice Sheet - Abstract: The Greenland coastal temperatures have followed the early 20th century global warming trend. Since 1940, however, the Greenland coastal stations data have undergone predominantly a cooling trend. At the summit of the Greenland ice sheet the summer average temperature has decreased at the rate of 2.2 °C per decade since the beginning of the measurements in 1987. This suggests that the Greenland ice sheet and coastal regions are not following the current global warming trend. A considerable and rapid warming over all of coastal Greenland occurred in the 1920s when the average annual surface air temperature rose between 2 and 4 °C in less than ten years (at some stations the increase in winter temperature was as high as 6 °C). This rapid warming, at a time when the change in anthropogenic production of greenhouse gases was well below the current level, suggests a high natural variability in the regional climate. High anticorrelations (r = -0.84 to -0.93) between the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) index and Greenland temperature time series suggest a physical connection between these processes. Therefore, the future changes in the NAO and Northern Annular Mode may be of critical consequence to the future temperature forcing of the Greenland ice sheet melt rates. (Chylek P.; Box J.E.; Lesins G., Climatic Change, Volume 63, Numbers 1-2, March 2004, pp. 201-221(21))

Greenland and Global Warming - Recent popular media coverage of climate change issues has presented a scary scenario in which human-induced global warming will give rise to a new ice age. Indeed, this is the scenario sketched out in the climate disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow. It sounds counterintuitive, so lets explain the science behind the scare scenario, such as it is. (Dr. Willie Soon, TCS Daily)

Increasingly bizarre: "Call for Openness at NASA Adds to Reports of Pressure" - "Top political appointees in the NASA press office exerted strong pressure during the 2004 presidential campaign to cut the flow of news releases on glaciers, climate, pollution and other earth sciences, public affairs officers at the agency say." (New York Times)

Try a little test - use your favourite news search engine and search on "global warming" - we ran it in Google news and came up with 7,890 current articles, 6,160 for "climate change". Now try something along the lines of "aids" "malaria" "tuberculosis" (749 in total) or "food shortage" (304), "famine relief" (156), "development aid" (451)... Do those numbers suggest to anyone that there is a shortage of "global warming" related news or perhaps that it is seriously over-represented and over-hyped in relation to serious and immediate concerns? Muzzled on warming? We could wish...

People making more water available by feeding plants - but don't worry, it's still B A D : "Increased CO₂ may cause plant life to raise rivers" - "Plants around the world are using water much more efficiently, thanks to increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The effect is so pronounced, says a new study, that it is massively increasing river flows and raising the risks of flooding." (NewScientist.com news service)

Extraordinary conclusions are being drawn from this modelling exercise - plants taking less water from the soil leaves soil saturated, increasing rainfall runoff which then makes less water available[!]. Presumably then having plants compete for water and drying out the soil makes more room for soil absorption making more water available? Under such a premise desiccated Western States should be planting saltcedar (tamarisk) to suck more water out of the soil and thus make more available? As it happens it's just 6 months since New Scientist ran "Planting trees may create deserts", also under Fred Pearce's byline. Talk about two-bob each way, Fred.

No word yet on reduced transpiration reducing atmospheric water vapour (the most significant greenhouse gas) thus acting as a negative feedback and cooling the planet though.

But wait, it's worse! "Worst case global warming scenario revealed" - "If we burn all the fossil fuels left underground, the globe will warm by up to 13°C, according to an assessment which looks beyond 2100." (New Scientist)

"UNM research studies changes in climate in the Chihuahuan Desert" - "A recent article published by the Geological Society of America featuring the research of UNM Professor Peter Fawcett and former graduate student Peter Castiglia, who is now a geologist with SWCA Environmental Consultants, presents evidence that El Niño-mediated winter storms are more important than previously suspected for controlling moisture availability in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands region. The research describes results or evidence of a mid-Holocene wet climate episode not recognized in any other record from southwestern North America. The Holocene is generally recognized as the last 10,000 years of Earth’s history. “Contrary to the current paradigm for climate in the region, our results establish that Holocene moisture availability is not solely controlled by summer monsoon precipitation. We’re helping to redefine a 50-year-old paradigm of climate conditions in this area over the last 10,000 years,” said Castaglia. “Our main finding is that millennially spaced wet periods have caused currently dry basins in the Chihuahuan Desert to fill with regionally unprecedented amounts of water several times over the last 10,000 years,” he said." (UNM Today)

"The oceans as carbon dioxide sinks: Increasing our understanding" - "German and British scientists have studied the ocean off south-western Africa and have discovered that particles are transported to the deep ocean over thousands of years before being deposited on the seabed. This discovery may increase our understanding of how the oceans act as carbon dioxide sinks and how oil deposits form." (University of Newcastle upon Tyne)

"Statement Acknowledges Some Government Scientists See Link to Global Warming" - "Amid a growing outcry from climate researchers in its own ranks, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration backed away from a statement it released after last year's powerful hurricane season that discounted any link to global warming. A corrected statement, which says some NOAA researchers disagree with that view, was posted to NOAA's Web site yesterday." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Bacteria aiding global warming" - "The level of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is likely to grow more than expected as soil bacteria, in response to rising temperatures, break down more organic material and produce more CO2, according to results by an international research team. The phenomenon will in turn accelerate global warming, and the team's findings serve as a renewed warning to the international community about the need to further reduce CO2 emissions. It is estimated by environmental scientists that the average global temperature in 2100 will be 1.4 C to 5.8 C higher than in 1990. According to the research team, however, the temperature in 2100 will be even higher, by up to 1.5 C more than current estimates." (Yomiuri Shimbun)

"Antarctic snow inaccurate temperature archive" - "According to Dutch researcher Michiel Helsen, annual and seasonal temperature fluctuations are not accurately recorded in the composition of the snow of Antarctica. His research into the isotopic composition of the Antarctic snow has exposed the complexity of climate reconstructions." (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research)

Typical of the misunderstanding of Kyoto: "Korea sees no free ride on Kyoto pact" - "A year after the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol there is some progress, but Korea has long way to go." (Korea Herald)

Green myths and EU nonsense proliferate faster than anthropogenic greenhouse emissions. For example "the walkout of the United States, China and India" never happened - the facts are that India and China were never committed to emission caps as developing countries and Ozone Al planted a worthless scrawl on a treaty appendage that Byrd-Hagel ensured could never be presented to the Senate for ratification expressly because no caps were proposed for emerging economies. The Protocol was known from day one to be completely useless for the purpose it was allegedly designed to serve - it encourages movement of energy intensive industries to unregulated regions where simple logistics of energy supply dictate that net global emissions will rise rather than fall and, even if by some serendipitous means emissions fell by the desired amount, could not restrain guesstimated global mean temperature increase by any magnitude that we can measure. It's a stillborn crock - get over it.

Kyoto chaos: "EU's Dimas to Propose Rejecting UK Emissions Plan" - "BRUSSELS - EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas confirmed on Wednesday he intended to reject Britain's revised emissions allocations plan, which would have eased pollution requirements for UK industry." (Reuters)

"EU's Dimas Says to Approve Italy CO2 Plan Shortly" - "BRUSSELS - Italy's allocation plan for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will receive final approval from the European Union's executive arm in a few days, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said on Wednesday." (Reuters)

"Canada's new environment minister says no to trading emissions credits" - "EDMONTON - Canada's new environment minister says she won't support trading emissions credits with other nations or any other international deal that does not have a "direct environmental benefit to Canadians." (CP)

"Canada is at crossroads over climate policy" - "Canada is at a crossroads in its climate-change policy. After 15 years of working to build a viable global climate change regime, while doing embarrassingly little to implement its domestic responsibilities, the current Conservative government faces a choice: take effective action to comply with Canada's international commitments, or abandon the collective efforts of the international community in favour of some alternative strategy." (Toronto Star)

Imagine that... "Black eye for a green city? Aspen's per-capita emissions high compared to national average" - "Aspen pumps out about twice as much greenhouse gas per capita as the national average, despite its reputation as a "green" resort town. Residents and visitors produce 50 tons of carbon dioxide per person each year here, according to a report the city released Tuesday. The U.S. average is 26.73 tons per person, according to the report, part of the city's program to fight global warming." (The Aspen Times)

Typical modellers' self-delusion: "IT struggles with climate change" - "Climatologists tracking global warming need all the computing horsepower they can get." (Computerworld)

Actually, we need to know a lot more about the system we are attempting to model before we can get any further than the (relatively) simple representations process models are now. To be able to increase the volume of garbage processed simply provides increased amounts of garbage faster (super GIGO).

"Japanese firms in carbon reduction rush" - "TOKYO - Japanese businesses are on an investment spree of greenhouse-gas reduction projects abroad, especially in Asia, as the nation is in hot water over its target for slashing emissions of such gases under the Kyoto Protocol on global warming." (Asia Times)

"Hearing told warming already threatens Canadian Arctic pipeline" - "INUVIK, Northwest Territories – Environmental hearings on Canada's proposed $6 billion Mackenzie Valley pipeline have opened with warnings that the safety of the pipeline and the natural gas fields that feed it is threatened by climate change that already is damaging northern roads and airstrips. Government scientists and environmental groups said pipeline builder Imperial Oil hasn't accounted for permafrost melting under the pipeline. Nor has it considered the effect of higher sea levels and longer storm seasons along the low-lying gas fields." (AP)

"EPA Lifts Gas Requirements for States" - "WASHINGTON -- States no longer will have to add corn-based ethanol or MTBE to gasoline to fight pollution -- a requirement that costs as much as 8 cents a gallon -- under rules announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency. They eliminate a mandate from the 1990 Clean Air Act that gasoline used in metropolitan areas with the worst smog contain 2 percent oxygen by weight. The law did not say which oxygenate must be used, but most refiners use either ethanol or methyl tertiary butyl ether, known as MTBE. California, New York and Connecticut unsuccessfully had asked the EPA for a waiver of the requirement because the states had banned MTBE after finding it polluted the groundwater. The states were forced to use ethanol, which they contend worsened pollution problems." (AP)

Uh-huh... "Curse ye motorheads" - "Scrappy protest delivers on the car-alarm symphony but not, alas, the auto show shutdown." (Chicago Journal)

"Indoor pollution from cooking on wood stoves affects women in developing countries" - "Women in developing countries who cook over a wood stove for years and inhale the smoke can develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and experience the same clinical characteristics, diminished quality of life and increased mortality rates as tobacco smokers." (American Thoracic Society)

"A sweet solution to fuel troubles" - "A revolution is taking place in garages across Britain. Increasingly, the fuel in your car will include eco-friendly bioethanol made from sugar, not oil, reports Ian Sample." (The Guardian)

Sigh... "Hole in ozone layer expected to increase" - "The hole in the ozone layer could grow significantly over the next few years, reigniting fears over skin cancer, cataracts and damage to vulnerable plant life." (The Guardian)

Stratospheric ozone levels are always volatile - see Seasonal Ozone.

Making themselves targets: "German court rejects hijack law" - "Germany's constitutional court has scrapped a law allowing the military to shoot down passenger planes suspected of being hijacked for terror attacks." (BBC)

How nice of German courts to tell terrorists to pick any target they like to hit with an airplane in Germany - they won't be shot down and so have pretty much a free shot. What about "the right to life and human dignity" of those on the receiving end of hijacked aircraft? Appeasement never works.

"New York turns up heat on gun dealers" - "The city launches a new strategy to stem the flow of guns and take some dealers to court." (The Christian Science Monitor)

"Asthmatics face inhaler shortage" - "The availability of the albuterol inhalers has become less certain as manufacturers make the transition from an old kind that hurts the ozone layer to a new, more expensive one that doesn't." (The Oregonian)

FDA May Make Breathing Difficult for Asthmatics

"FDA re-opens probe into benzene contamination of soft drinks" - "2/15/2006 - US food safety authorities have re-opened an investigation closed 15 years ago into soft drinks contaminated with cancer-causing chemical benzene, following evidence the industry has failed to sort out the problem. A chemist at the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) said testing in recent weeks had revealed some soft drinks contaminated with benzene at levels above the legal limit for water set by the US and Europe." (FoodNavigator-usa.com)

"Big Study Finds No Clear Benefit of Calcium Pills" - "The study, of healthy women over 50, found the only overall positive effect to be a one percent increase in bone density at the hip." (Gina Kolata, New York Times)

"Study overturns HRT risk" - "RESEARCHERS who warned women hormone replacement therapy was dangerous have now found it is safe for treating symptoms of menopause." (Daily Telegraph)

"For Their Own Good?" - "One of the hottest subject in state politics today is what's being served for lunch at school. Starting in July it will be illegal to sell pop, potato chips and other "junk" foods in elementary and middle schools in Arizona. Underway are plans to include high schools as well. Connecticut will soon vote on a bill that would ban all sodas, diet and regular plus sports drinks such as Gatorade and PowerAde from all schools." (Jon Robison, TCS Daily)

"Lifestyle Diseases Overtake Asia's Infectious Killers" - "BANGKOK , Feb 15 - Mounting evidence that more people in Asia and the Pacific will be dying of chronic diseases rather than infectious ones by 2015 will force the region's governments to redraw their public health budgets, say United Nations officials." (IPS)

Left-handed way of saying we are finally getting in front of poverty and infectious diseases to the extent that people live long enough to die of something else.

"URUGUAY: Pulp Mills Pit 'Greens' Against Labour" - "MONTEVIDEO - The frequent antagonism between protecting the environment and creating new jobs is clearly evident in the construction of two pulp mills on the Uruguayan side of the river that creates the border with Argentina. In addition to threatening bilateral relations between the two countries, the projects pit environmentalists against labour unions." (Tierramérica)

Are Greens ever anything but hazardous to labour opportunity, wealth creation, resource utilisation, people... ?

"Northern aboriginals, environmentalists split over proposed gas pipeline" - "INUVIK, N.W.T. - A split between some northern aboriginals and southern environmentalists over Arctic energy development burst open like a piece of corroded pipe Wednesday during hearings on a proposed natural gas pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley. Fred Carmichael, head of an aboriginal group that hopes to take a one-third share in the project, likened interveners such as the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund to those who impoverished his people through the anti-fur lobby." (CP)

"Technology cooks up a recipe to beat nasty kitchen bugs" - "Food poisoning may become a thing of the past, if commercial kitchens link their appliances to the Internet. Unique technology developed recently for this environment also promises to reduce the risk of fire and to slash maintenance costs." (IST Results)

"Closure plan for nature labs is attacked" - "A devastating indictment of the plans to scrap Britain's leading wildlife research centres has been delivered by English Nature, the Government's own wildlife conservation agency." (London Independent)

"NASA satellite technology helps fight invasive plant species" - "Products based on NASA Earth observations and a new Internet-based decision tool are providing information to help land and water managers combat tamarisk (saltcedar), an invasive plant species damaging precious water supplies in the western United States." (NASA/GSFC)

"New technology converts problematic polystyrene waste into useful material" - "New research shows that microbes can help transform discarded polystyrene—including the Styrofoam used extensively for convenience foods—into PHA, a useful thermoplastic." (ES&T)

"Americans: the new villains" - "WASHINGTON -- It's all our fault, yours and mine. It doesn't matter what for, specifically; we're to blame for everything. Our lax attitude toward greenhouse-gas emissions and global warming is why Northern Europe is having a colder-than-normal winter - or is it warmer than normal? The Americans and their crazy government, you know. And it's our fault that the polar bears are - or maybe are not - in danger. And don't even get them started on what U.S.-developed genetically modified foods are going to do to the planet. A little American carelessness, a few genes go haywire, and suddenly we're beset by a rampaging strain of carnivorous kumquats. Our bad." (Dale McFeaters, Scripps Howard News Service)

"Eco-farming 'helps world's poor'" - "Sustainable farming methods can help the poorest farmers in developing nations out of poverty, new research suggests. Scientists found that techniques such as crop rotation and organic farming increased crop yields by an average of 79%, without risking future harvests." (BBC)

Every little helps, we suppose. What about getting out of the way and allowing unobstructed use of biotech-enhanced crops, that'd help reduce pesticide use too. If we helped rather than hindered water storage and reticulation, that'd boost yields as well as addressing a lot of problems for the world's poor - and if we used the water to generate hydro electricity too, why that'd really boost their chances of employment or entrepreneurial wealth generation, not to mention improve their quality of life. Instead of enshrining subsistence farming, how about we encourage and facilitate development and actually do some good?

"Manila Says La Nina is Boon to Rice, Bane to Corn" - "MANILA - The Philippines could cut its rice import target of 1.2 million tonnes this year because the La Nina wet weather pattern might lift local production of its top crop, but corn output could be hit by the deluge." (Reuters)

"More market less poverty, but also more sustainable land use?" - "During empirical research in Benin, Dutch-sponsored researcher Esaïe Gandonou demonstrated that farmers in underdeveloped parts of developing countries make little extra effort to control soil erosion if the market to which they sell their products becomes more accessible. Although the incomes of the farmers improve, this does not lead to substantial increase in erosion control measures." (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research)

"Plant enzyme efficiency may hold key to global warming" - "Global warming just may have met its match. In research recently completed at Emory University School of Medicine, scientists have discovered a mutant enzyme that could enable plants to use and convert carbon dioxide more quickly, effectively taking more of that gas out of the atmosphere." (Emory University Health Sciences Center)

Well, it might offer a means of enhancing crops, sad that it has to be associated with the current "global warming" buzz to be noticed.

"Earth Rx: A microbial biotechnology prescription for global environmental health" - "Water. Waste. Energy. This trio of problems is among the greatest challenges to the environmental health of society. Water purification alone is becoming more problematic in the world due to our increasingly reliance on contaminated sources, such as polluted rivers, lakes and groundwater." (Arizona State University)

"EU Gets Fed Up With France, Germany on Biotech Law" - "BRUSSELS - France and Germany may win only a small amount of leeway if they fail to update national laws on genetically modified (GMO) foods and crops on time next month, or risk legal action and hefty fines at Europe's highest court. After years of warnings to both countries to comply with EU law and integrate an EU directive on the environmental release of GMO’s into their national statute books, Brussels has started to lose patience at the lack of action in Paris and Berlin." (Reuters)

"India set for new body to police use of GM crops" - "NEW DELHI - The government is planning to set up a regulatory body to oversee the use of controversial genetically modified crops and seeds, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said on Thursday. India opened its doors to the technology in 2002 after years of trials. As a result, the Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Co. -- in which U.S. Biotech giant Monsanto Co. has a 26 percent stake -- was allowed to sell genetically modified (GM) cotton for sowing in several states. Now four companies are selling GM cotton seeds in India, the seeds containing an implanted gene from a bacterium species, bacillus thuringiensis, which kills bollworm, a leading cotton pest. "My government is in the process of setting up of a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority which will be the nodal authority for release, import and post-release monitoring of GM crops and seeds," Kalam told a joint session of the parliament." (Reuters)

February 15, 2006

"Wasteful spending sickening?" - "OKLAHOMA CITY — Wasting billions of U.S tax dollars literally can be sickening, a lawmaker contends. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., recently said scrutinizing federal spending will not only help rein in the federal budget deficit, but also help funds go farther in serving people and areas as intended.

Oklahoma’s junior senator cited the fight against malaria as an example of wasteful spending. Coburn said USAID was given $104 million in a recent year for a program to fight malaria, but only $4 million went to actual treatment. But this year, about $100 million of the program’s $120 million will pay for medical treatment, DDT pesticides to malaria-carrying insects and other means to actually fight the disease." (CNHI News Service)

"KCM Steps Up Efforts to Fight Malaria in Communities" - "THE plotting and storyline for all the sketches and plays was the same. In everything, including the songs sang at the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM)'s anti-malaria prize-giving day held in Nampundwe recently, the message was apt and to the point. It all evolved around a community that did not take good care of its surroundings and environment. And when malaria started killing the people, suspicions of witchcraft became rampant until a medical doctor certified the deaths after postmortems, as having been caused by malaria. However comical such an illustration could have been, it represents the general situation on the ground with regard to most people's attitude towards maintaining clean surroundings as the frontline in malaria prevention." (Times of Zambia)

"Worse than a hypocrite" - "... A major tragedy - this one should make us all shudder - has been the way in which extreme environmental groups have been able to limit the use of DDT as one of the most powerful weapons for fighting malaria in Africa. This is despite the fact that the chemical is non-carcinogenic and that the indoor spraying would pose no threat to wildlife. It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of children have died as a consequence. So, if you like, call Bush a hypocrite as he embraces new initiatives aimed at keeping the country scientifically strong, but do you suppose some harsher words might be due certain of his critics?" (Jay Ambrose,  Scripps Howard News Service)

"Low Sierra" - "There are few things more distressing than aid intended to help the poorest actually causing them harm. For example, it is a sad irony that aid for HIV care is actually displacing far more valuable child immunization work in the wretched West African country of Sierra Leone. Rather than adding to capacity, the few competent staff are simply drawn away from these basic but vital services toward the high-profile, higher-paying HIV program. An integrated approach to aid giving must occur or more will die needlessly from good intentions." (Roger Bate, TCS Daily)

"Reclaiming Medicine for Patients and Physicians" - "The FDA has made two remarkable changes in its regulatory approach to drug evaluation and labeling, which will likely lead to more efficiently expedited drug approvals -- as well as to improved flow of important information for doctors to impart to their patients. But these changes have not come without controversy -- as expected with any move by the FDA." (Gilbert Ross, TCS Daily)

"Jury Says Dow, Rockwell Should Pay $553M" - "DENVER -- A federal jury recommended Tuesday that Dow Chemical Co. and the former Rockwell International Corp. pay $553.9 million to thousands of property owners who said their land was contaminated by plutonium from the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant." (Associated Press)

Because property values have risen and no one made ill? Right...

"State Sues E.P.A. for Files on Household Pollutants" - "ALBANY, Feb. 14 — As New York and other states grapple with the gradually tightening requirements of the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to turn over records detailing the levels of smog-causing compounds found in common household and industrial products like paints and varnishes." (New York Times)

"Are We Losing Our Edge?" - "The U.S. still leads the world in scientific innovation. But years of declining investment and fresh competition from abroad threaten to end our supremacy." (Time)

A column about... "The Silencing Of Science" - "... None of this means that there really was any government interference in the funding. Another eminent scientist who does related research, Mark Jacobson of Stanford University, told me that while he considered the Science paper "groundbreaking" and "pioneering," because it was "the first to actually go after this issue," he disagreed with the conclusions and methodology, and said that perhaps grant reviewers did too. The science and technology policy office says it is "preposterous" to think that the White House was involved in funding issues. Abraham remembers the trip to Europe but (very plausibly) doesn't recall anything about this contrarian paper at all.

I'm thus left with nothing to report -- except that a fuss over a press release and a rumor about who said what to whom at the National Science Foundation left some scientists feeling, rightly or wrongly, that they'd better stay away from "political" subjects if they want government grants. And, three years down the road, they have." (Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post)

"Liberating Science from Politics" - "The notion that science can be used to reconcile political disputes is fundamentally flawed." (Daniel Sarewitz, American Scientist)

"Speed Limit Lifted on the Pace of Evolution" - "Read literally, the history of life derived from the past half-billion years of marine fossils says it takes 5 million to 10 million years for new species to begin replacing those lost during extinctions. That's bad news for a modern biosphere battered by a human-induced mass extinction. But now researchers have taken a second look at the fossil record after trying to remove some of its imperfections and have concluded that there's no Darwinian traffic cop holding life back." (ScienceNOW Daily News)

"State board votes to eliminate disputed evolution lesson plan" - "COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio school board voted Tuesday to eliminate language in the state's science standards that critics had said opened the door to teaching intelligent design. The Ohio Board of Education decided 11-4 to delete a science standard and correlating lesson plan encouraging students to seek evidence for and against evolution. Members also directed a committee to study whether a replacement is needed.

The board vote represents the latest setback for the intelligent design movement, which holds that life is so complex it must have been created by a higher authority." (Associated Press)

"EU Assembly Seeks Higher Welfare Standards for Poultry" - "BRUSSELS - EU lawmakers called on Tuesday for tougher welfare standards for the billions of chickens that are eventually slaughtered each year to be put on dinner tables across Europe." (Reuters)

Can't wait to see if they set up Miranda-style rights for chickens: You have the right to be food. If you give up this right you may be turned into fertiliser...

An Example of Where the Vulnerability Paradigm Should be Applied (Climate Science)

Europe's Long Term Climate Target: A Critical Evaluation (Prometheus)

If anyone has the time here's an opportunity for some fun tweaking 'experts': "Ask the experts: Getting to grips with global warming" - "Amid an intensifying background of debate over the speed and effectiveness of attempts to cut carbon emissions to tackle climate change, Thursday February 16 sees the first anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol coming into force. To mark this anniversary Halldor Thorgeirsson, of the UN’s climate change body the UNFCCC, and Fiona Harvey, the FT’s environment correspondent, will take your questions in a live discussion on climate change from 3pm GMT on Thursday. Send your questions now to ask@ft.com" (Financial Times)

"Global Warming's Early Roots" - "Wolfgang H. Berger reviews Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate. William F. Ruddiman. xiv + 202 pp. Princeton University Press, 2005" (American Scientist)

"Kyoto 2012 Greenhouse Gas Goals Still in Reach - UN" - "OSLO - Industrialised nations can reach 2012 United Nations goals for reining in gases blamed for global warming but many will have to take tougher measures, the UN climate change bureau said on Tuesday." (Reuters) | UN official urges Kyoto signatories to maintain momentum in cutting emissions (UN News Centre)

"UN agency responsible for Kyoto Protocol doesn't expect Canada to pull out" - "OTTAWA - The United Nations agency responsible for the Kyoto Protocol is counting on Canada to respect its treaty obligations and meet its environmental targets, a spokesman said Tuesday." (CP)

"On First Anniversary, Kyoto's Future Looks Bleak" - "As the Kyoto Protocol reaches its first anniversary since going into force internationally on February 16, 2005, the Competitive Enterprise Institute's assessment is that the UN global warming treaty continues to slide quickly toward ignominious collapse." (CEI)

"Sen. Murkowski tackles global warming" - "WASHINGTON--Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Monday that she believes man-made gases are contributing to global warming and urged government action to combat the trend, but she stopped short of endorsing legislation to cap U.S. production of such gases." (News-Miner)

Hmm... "Australia: Fires up as world warms" - "GLOBAL warming will cause more bushfires by 2020, increasing destruction of the environment and causing more health problems and fire-related injury and death, a new report says." (The Age)

I haven't read the report in question so I don't know if they're talking about increased fuel load (Australia has been on a slightly rising rainfall trend since records have been kept) or whether they are simply blathering about model guesstimations of future global mean temperatures (worse than a table of random numbers for local effects at last assessment). Certainly it is to be hoped they did not simply extrapolate from a time series since there has been an increase in both malicious fires set by pyromaniacs and stupid fires following accidental ignitions by naive urbanites with too much leisure time and too little bushcraft.

"The Climate Forest for the Trees" - "A recent article appearing in the journal Nature discusses the finding of a new source of atmospheric methane from plant growth, in particular from forests. Methane is a greenhouse gas. Emissions of methane, like those of its more famous counterpart carbon dioxide, have been increasing during the last two centuries as the planet's population and economic activity have increased. Methane has also been linked to the recent increases in global temperatures, though the rate of increase for atmospheric methane has slowed in the last decade or so." (Dr. Anthony Lupo, TCS Daily)

"International study on Arctic climate change produces startling findings" - "WINNIPEG - An extensive international study on the effects of climate change in the Arctic has reached some startling conclusions on issues ranging from how fast polar ice is melting to the impact on Inuit communities.

One of the most surprising for David Barber, a sea ice specialist at the University of Manitoba, was the fact polar ice is melting at a rate of about 74,000 square kilometres each year - an area about the size of Lake Superior - and has been for the last 30 years. "This is a very significant result, and it's not some sort of trend that's going to shift back the other way," Barber said Tuesday. Barber added there is increasing concern in the scientific community that there are factors actually speeding up the melt, but he cautions it's too late to reverse the trend. "The time to act actually was a few decades ago," he said." (CP)

"Snow Job" - "The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has announced plans to offer futures contracts for seasonal snowfall in New York City and Boston. Investors, companies, and local governments will now bid on contracts predicting the snowfall in each city in an attempt to make money and manage risk. The announcement is exciting not only for economists, but for people who wish to have accurate estimates of snowfall." (Josh Hendrickson, TCS Daily)

Following on from yesterday's item about New York's warming, 1906-style, we've had some interesting little snippets supplied about New York a century ago. Apparently driving through "sun-flooded parks" (presumably by horse and carriage) revealed the mildness of winter and in the Bronx "birds were busy making their nests amid branches that were putting forth premature buds." Roadwork was "being pursued with vigor" and "building operations, for the first time in many years, have been carried on without interruption since early last Spring." Wildfowl which usually began their northerly migration had already arrived at Long Island and Great South Bay contained thousands of geese and ducks. In the woods the May pinks had begun to bloom. This according to the New York Times, Jan. 28, 1906, p7.

Not all was May pinks, however, as the above situation led to great hardship for men who would otherwise be employed clearing ice and snow. More trouble loomed for the entire populace - "Ice Famine Threatens Unless Cold Sets In" reads the page 8 column in NYT, Feb. 2, 1906, informing us "Twenty Days Hard Frost Needed To Make A Crop". The article continues with the news New York requires 4,000,000 tons of ice, mainly harvested from the Hudson as 'artificial' plants have only a capacity of 700,000 tons per year. By this date 'normally' Ice Houses along the Hudson would have harvested some 2,000,000 tons of ice but had not yet managed a pound, prices were rising and other potential suppliers, like Maine, were similarly in deficit. -- Hat tip Mike O' for the above.

We wonder if this is the sort of vulnerability to seasonal anomalies enviros whimsically imagine to be those Utopian "good old days"?

Anyway, whatever their problems in the past, New York has prevailed, despite being much warmer now, right? Well, not exactly, New York has certainly prevailed but this warming thing is dubious - as the linked GISS graphic indicates. Unfortunately, such graphics can no longer be generated 'on the fly' because data from earlier than 1880 has been removed from public access, we were simply lucky enough to capture New York before that occurred.

Parenthetically, The Common Sense Climate Index is a Hansen et al project. How ironic that Jim "I've been censored" Hansen's toy has become the common nonsense warming indicator due to the mysterious censorship of early warm data dramatically skewing temperature trends upwards, as the longer series above indicates. Funny he didn't seem to mention that to the press, or at least they didn't report it if he did. Given the vigour with which some elements of the press publicised his utterances that does seem strange.

"Climate change threatens safety of Mackenzie Valley pipeline, hearings told" - "INUVIK, N.W.T. - Environmental hearings for the $7-billion Mackenzie Valley pipeline began Tuesday with warnings that the safety of the pipeline and the natural gas fields that feed it is threatened by climate change, already damaging northern roads and airstrips." (CP)

Here we go again: "BBC links to huge climate project" - "The BBC is inviting viewers to join the world's biggest online climate prediction project. Climateprediction.net has already been running for two years and has generated forecasts on the likely extent of climate change." (BBC)

Why? What makes the Beeb think it's improved any from their last stupid season promo, which we wrote up like this Jan. 27, '05:

Hey lookit! "Alarm at new climate warning" - "Global temperatures could rise by as much as eleven degrees Celsius, according to one of the largest climate prediction projects ever run. This figure is twice the level that previous studies have suggested. The scientists behind the project, called climateprediction.net, say it shows there's no such thing as a safe level of carbon dioxide. The results of the study, which used PCs around the world to produce data, are published in the journal Nature." (Richard Black, BBC) | Soaring global warming 'can't be ruled out' (NewScientist.com news service) | Climate models: net gains (Nature)

Well blimey mate! Distributed computing project demonstrates that multiple machines running programs hard coded to guesstimate warming in response to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide do, in fact, guesstimate such warming! How do they do it?

But wait! There's more! So "alarming" is this discovery (according to Black) that they've decided there's "no such thing as a safe level of carbon dioxide" - the very stuff of life that feeds the plant life that supports our biosphere (stop exhaling, that man!). Well, now we know CO₂ to be so dangerous, so directly causal, we can solve a few other little mysteries like anomalous warming around the Antarctic Peninsula - it must be all those blasted minke whales exhaling around there and causing the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf! Perhaps we can trade greenhouse credits for whaling - that'll help save the planet.

To be serious, for a moment, just how good are these computer games we call "climate models?" With a timely review of Uncertainty requirements in radiative forcing of climate (Schwartz, S.E., Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 54: 1351-1359), co2science.org reminds us that modeled climate uncertainty has gone from a range of 1.5-4.5 °C, through the now more commonly cited 1.4-5.8 °C and here we have hysterical stories based on such definitive "prediction" as temperature increment from <2-11 °C. Twenty five years advance in modeling climate has "narrowed" our uncertainty range from 3 °C to a whopping >9 °C! A precision, incidentally, which is less than that exhibited by the number of candles on my wife's birthday cake.

On a positive note, the ridiculous emissions of our shrieking Jeremiads suggest that the great global warming scare has just about run its course. About time too!

From memory <0.1% of these model runs produced the +11 °C warming that made headlines - only a fraction of the number that produced ice ages (crashed model, according to the headline-hungry climateprediction.net group), which suggests their you-beaut computer game is far from stable, let alone capable of producing meaningful 'predictions'.

Is their virtual world toy far too sensitive to CO₂ forcing? Work it out for yourselves - the phase 2 runs were supposed to simulate climate between 1950 and 2000 and what did they do without an instantaneous doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Most declined slightly or crashed into ice ages.

Another year, same stupid alarmism.

From CO₂ Science Magazine this week:
Editorial:
Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability: 1956-2003: What was it like?  And what does the result imply about the roles of anthropogenic forcing and other sources of variability within earth's climate system?

Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week:
This issue's Level 3 Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week is from Yakushima Island, Southern Japan.  To access the entire Medieval Warm Period Project's database, click here.

Subject Index Summary:
Agriculture (Species - Sorghum: Biomass): Sorghum biomass production is modestly boosted by atmospheric CO 2 enrichment under normal growing conditions, but can be greatly stimulated when environmental conditions are stressful.

Plant Growth Data:
This week we add new results (blue background) of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO 2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature for: Deciduous Shrub of Semi-arid Northern China, Kidney Bean, Norway Spruce, and Sweetgum.

Journal Reviews:
Sea Level: Is It Rising as a Result of the Melting of Land-Based Glacial Ice?: Climate alarmists say yes.  Real-world data are not so convincing.

Atmospheric CO 2 Concentrations of Persistent Cold-Pool Air Over Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) in Winter: How high do they rise?

Another Little Ice Age Fingerprint From Chile: A new study once again signals the global nature of this multi-century cold-Earth episode.

Stomatal Responses of Sweetgum Trees to Elevated CO 2 : What are they, and how consistent are they?

Spring Barley Growth: Effects of Elevated CO 2 vs. Effects of Elevated O 3 : How do the positive effects of a 75% increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentration compare with the negative effects of a 100% increase in atmospheric O 3 concentration? (co2science.org)

"China plans to double air traffic with 100 new aircraft a year" - "China's aviation industry will buy 100 new jetliners and recruit 1,000 pilots every year for the next five years, regulators announced yesterday in a plan to more than double air traffic. The target will make China second only to the US in terms of flights and is likely to alarm environmentalists and air safety campaigners even as it delights Boeing and Airbus executives. It is estimated that air traffic is already responsible for 10% of global warming because jet emissions linger." (The Guardian)

"Investors Are Tilting Toward Windmills" - "Alternative energy financing is barely a footnote in General Electric's revenue stream, but the machine is gearing up for change." (New York Times)

"Britain urged to burn more rubbish to match EU" - "Three times as much household rubbish must be burned in incinerators and twice as much recycled within 15 years if local authorities in England are to match levels in other European countries, a review concluded yesterday." (The Guardian)

"Journalism's Sparse Harvest" - "Occasionally, I over-react to the inaccuracies and ideological bias peddled by the New York Times in what are supposedly "news" stories. Sometimes, I mutter an invective and aver that the Times is good for nothing. But that's an over-statement: it's still fine for wrapping fish." (Dr. Henry I. Miller, TCS Daily)

February 14, 2006

"Malaria vaccine 'close'" - "Researchers at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) today announced they would begin testing for a new vaccine within a year after preliminary animal studies revealed it was possible to become immune to more than one of the four strains of malaria. Malaria, a potentially deadly parasitic disease spread through the bite of particular types of mosquito, kills around two million people worldwide each year, or one person every 15 seconds. Forty per cent of the global population is at risk." (AFM)

"Low-carbohydrate diets appear effective, but may raise cholesterol levels" - "A synthesis of data from five previous clinical trials suggests that both low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets appear to be effective for weight loss up to one year, but low-carbohydrate diets may be linked to higher overall and LDL or "bad" cholesterol levels, according to a study in the February 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

"Maybe You're Not What You Eat" - "Yet another study upends what Americans thought they knew about diet and health. But will anyone listen?" (Gina Kolata, New York Times)

"Overwhelming Scientific Evidence Confirms Safety of Aspartame" - "ATLANTA (February 12, 2006) – The Calorie Control Council today stated that a rat study conducted by Italy’s Ramazzini Institute is totally contradictory to the extensive scientific research and regulatory reviews conducted on aspartame. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has said they are not recommending any changes in the use of aspartame. According to Dr. George Pauli of the FDA, “FDA requested the data from the Ramazzini study in July 2005 but we have as not yet received the data. The agency cannot, therefore, comment on the study until it has the opportunity to review the study data, in depth. Based on the large body of evidence we have reviewed, including several studies on carcinogenicity which showed no adverse effects and data on how aspartame is metabolized by humans, we have no reason to believe that aspartame would cause cancer. Thus, it remains FDA's position that use [of aspartame] is safe." (Calorie Control Council)

"Worldwide study looks to find causes of type 1 diabetes" - "Scientists are casting a wide, tightly woven net with the goal of catching the causes of type 1diabetes. Study sites around the world are screening 220,800 healthy babies for genes that put them at risk for type 1diabetes. They expect to identify the genes in about 13,000 babies in this four-year screening. About half those babies will embark with their families on a 15-year journey that may help cure the disease." (Medical College of Georgia)

"A Pill to Treat Your Addiction? Don't Bet the Rent" - "The very idea of a drug to treat addiction rankles some doctors, and medications are not going to displace therapists anytime soon." (Sally Satel, New York Times)

"Research links coverage by top current affairs programme to rise in adverse drug reports" - "The number of adverse reactions reported by UK doctors to the antidepressant paroxetine – often know by its brand name Seroxat - rose by 61 per cent after three editions of the BBC's award-winning current affairs programme Panorama explored increasing concerns about the drug." (Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

"If Robots Ever Get Too Smart, He'll Know How to Stop Them" - "Daniel H. Wilson wrote a book out of his annoyance with the way the popular media portrayed robots." (New York Times)

"‘Toxic soup’ concerns —all hype?" - "When Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, people predicted a life-threatening “toxic soup.” It never formed. They expected Lake Ponchartrain to suffer or even die as contaminated water from New Orleans was pumped into it. That didn’t occur. Then they waited for returning residents to pack emergency rooms with lung ailments from the toxic dust, contaminated soil and mold. That hasn’t happened yet. So far, state Epidemiologist Dr. Raoult Ratard said, nothing appears out of the ordinary with illness in the New Orleans area. While Hurricane Katrina caused massive destruction, many dire environmental predictions failed to materialize, state officials say." (The Advocate)

"Protecting New Orleans" - "Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast. The storm season starts again this June--and every June. Can coastal communities ever be safeguarded?" (sciam)

"Engineers Put Together a Model to Take Apart a Storm" - "VICKSBURG, Miss. — This is one enormous miniature. In a cavernous building here, workers are putting in 12-hour days to construct a scale model of a part of New Orleans at Lake Pontchartrain, at one-fiftieth of its actual size. The Army Corps of Engineers is building the 13,000-square-foot model to try to recreate the conditions that occurred in Hurricane Katrina and to help the agency figure out why things went so tragically wrong. The model is only one part of a $20 million effort to study the effects of the storm, along with computer simulations, intensive data gathering and analysis." (New York Times)

"Ozone 'Recovery' May be Solar Trick" - "Following a worldwide ban in 1987 on chemicals that destroy ozone gas in Earth's upper atmosphere, scientists have waited expectantly for ozone concentrations to rebound. And although this seems to have begun, a new study suggests the recovery so far may be largely illusory, representing a temporary response to a natural, 11-year variation in solar intensity called the solar cycle. But the study's authors do expect that the ban will have a positive effect within the decade." (ScienceNOW Daily News)

Recovery to what - from what?

"UP scientists dispute Gore's doomsday scenario" - "NOT everyone was pleased with the way former US Vice President Al Gore was given "celebrity" treatment when he spoke as a crusader against global warming in Manila.

Two scientists from the University of the Philippines yesterday lamented how Gore's "doomsday" pronouncements apparently received more attention than the more detailed analyses and solutions offered by Filipino environmental experts.

They also challenged and branded as "exaggerated" what the former US leader said about Manila Bay "overflowing" because of the greenhouse effect.

Too much use of ground water by typical households and establishments-not global warming-was the bigger reason the metropolis is sinking, said Dr. Carlo Arcilla and Dr. Fernando Siringan of the UP College of Science in Diliman, Quezon City.

"There we go again. A foreign celebrity coming over for a quick visit, giving a talk, and we are all in adulation, taking everything said as gospel truth," Arcilla said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquirer." (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Proof of warming? "Warm weather continues" - "Since the warm weather rolled into Central New York on January 20, temperatures have averaged 45 degrees - the high being 69 on February 4 and the low 34 on February 10. There is no snow in sight, crocuses are in blossom, willow buds are in fully developed catkin stages, pansy plants are in full bud, lilac bushes are tinged with green, soft maple buds are turning red, men and women walk about without overcoats, street sweepers are at work and windows of houses and offices are open all day." (Utica Observer Dispatch)

Well, it might have been warming proof - at the time - only trouble for current warming advocates is that the February in question was in 1906 but what's a century among friends?

Hat tip Bill S., who comments: All this warming out on the shaft of the famous "hockey stick" and nobody at the time as smart as Al Gore to call for immediate reduction of all that methane produced by all of those horses pulling wagons.

"Australia: Scientists bitter over interference" - "A FORMER CSIRO senior scientist and internationally recognised expert on climate change claims he was reprimanded and encouraged to resign after he spoke out on global warming." (The Age)

Actually Pearman's singing from WWF's songbook led to his being encouraged to talk about the science instead of preaching whacky green dogma is how we understand the situation but that is obviously not the story the press wishes to tell. Back in the days when Pearman actually did talk about reality he said things like "The reality of the [Kyoto] protocol as it is at the moment, is even if all of the nations were able to achieve those targets, it would hardly make any difference." (ABC '7.30 Report', Nov. 13, 2000) Now, we are not aware that that could be construed as controversial in climate circles, it's simply a fact that Kyoto cannot make a measurable difference in global mean temperature or climate (not the same thing) but we do wonder how that reconciles with his new buddies at the World's Woe Font.

"Snows of Kiliminjaro Disappearing, Glacial Ice Loss Increasing" - "Five years after warning that the famed ice fields on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro may melt, Ohio State University researchers have sadly found that their prediction is coming true." (Newswise)

"'Looking like a low-water day, eh?': Environment Canada to monitor water availability" - "Worried that Canadians' access to fresh water is under serious threat, the federal government is taking steps to gauge exactly how much of it is available across the country -- not unlike the way it measures temperature and precipitation. Environment Canada is commissioning a study on setting up water-availability "indicators," as global warming, diminishing aquifers and other factors put into question what once seemed to be a limitless resource." (Tom Blackwell, National Post)

"Hotter issue in red states: global warming" - "From evangelicals to students to business groups, climate change is a rising political concern." (The Christian Science Monitor)

"Noah's Bark" - "Some evangelical leaders proclaim that man is ruining God's creation and that Christians must fight global warming. Will the meek inherit a scorched earth?" (IBD)

The Week That Was Feb. 11, 2006 (SEPP)

"Britain set for spat with EC over carbon dioxide emissions" - "Britain, a self-styled global leader in combating climate change, is set for a new legal showdown with the European commission over government plans to allow businesses to pump out more greenhouse gases under the EU's carbon emissions trading scheme. The commission will later this week reject the government's plan to increase the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by factories and power stations by 20m tonnes - despite a ruling last November by the Court of First Instance, Europe's second-highest court, that Britain had the right to press for looser limits." (The Guardian)

"Push is on for LNG to boost supplies" - "HOUSTON - Since hurricanes Katrina and Rita slammed the Gulf Coast nearly five months ago, the region has lost more than 610 billion cubic feet of natural gas production." (AP)

"Climate, supply fears boost UK nuclear case: minister" - "LONDON - Growing concern about climate change and the security of international energy supplies are boosting the case for a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK, the energy minister said on Monday." (Reuters)

"Australia: Coal industry slams 'biased' TV report" - "The Australian Coal Association has labelled as shoddy and biased, a television program's allegations it has influenced government climate policy. ACA executive director Mark O'Neill also denies any untoward privileges have been granted to the association's lobbyists. The ABC's Four Corners program on Monday night aired allegations from a former Liberal Party insider that coal industry lobbyists had infiltrated the inner workings of the federal government and had even written cabinet briefing papers. The program asserted the government's climate change policy, which opposes ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and pours millions of dollars into cleaning up coal industries, had been heavily influenced by lobbyists." (AAP)

"BP plans $1bn hydrogen plant in California" - "BP has polished its green credentials - and pleased Arnold Schwarzenegger - by announcing plans for a revolutionary hydrogen-fuelled power plant in California costing $1bn (£570m). The facility will be able to generate electricity with almost no carbon emissions by converting the waste product of oil refineries into hydrogen and separating off carbon dioxide for capture and storage." (The Guardian)

Another green myth crashes: "Early California: A killing field" - "Research shatters utopian myth, finds Indians decimated birds." (University of Utah)

"Ministers to unveil waste plans" - "The government is to launch a review of how to tackle the growing problem of waste in England and Wales. Environmentalists fear plans to incinerate more waste will be among the possible measures, setting back efforts to increase recycling rates. In January, the BBC reported that ministers backed the idea of burning up to 25% of municipal waste in an attempt to ease pressure on landfill sites." (BBC)

"China intends to push for GM crop studies" - "China will work towards finding wider applications of agricultural biotechnology in the next five years because the sector's growth is important to the country's overall development." (People's Daily)

"Biotech's Sparse Harvest" - "At the dawn of the era of genetically engineered crops, scientists were envisioning all sorts of healthier and tastier foods, including cancer-fighting tomatoes, rot-resistant fruits, potatoes that would produce healthier French fries and even beans that would not cause flatulence. But so far, most of the genetically modified crops have provided benefits mainly to farmers, by making it easier for them to control weeds and insects. Now, millions of dollars later, the next generation of biotech crops — the first with direct benefits for consumers — is finally on the horizon. But the list does not include many of the products once envisioned. Developing such crops has proved to be far from easy. Resistance to genetically modified foods, technical difficulties, legal and business obstacles and the ability to develop improved foods without genetic engineering have winnowed the pipeline." (New York Times)

February 13, 2006

"CPAC: Liberals Keep People Poor, Diseased, Dying Early" - "Washington, D.C. - A free enterprise advocate on Friday said liberal activists and their promotion of "corporate social responsibility" keeps third world citizens "poor, diseased, and dying early."

Paul Driessen, senior policy advisor at the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, spoke on a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Addressing conservatives, he said there is "an opportunity for us to be on the side of good and morality and the poorest people on the planet."

Driessen said activists who pressure corporations to donate money to liberal causes and prevent them from developing in third world countries do more to hurt the world's poor than to help them." (CNSNews.com)

"Moderately heavy models may actually lower women's self-esteem" - "Waifish models have long been accused of setting unrealistic beauty standards and lowering self-esteem. Some companies, such as Dove, have switched to using more realistic-looking models in conjunction with empowering messages. However, an important new study in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research reveals that, contrary to many assumptions, looking at moderately heavy models actually lowers most women's self-esteem, while looking at moderately thin models raises it." (University of Chicago Press Journals)

"Thinning the Milk Does Not Mean Thinning the Child" - "Why expect that a small change, like replacing whole milk with skim, would affect children's weights?" (Gina Kolata, New York Times)

"You bet I want fries with that" - "I DON'T usually follow nutrition stories, but it was hard to miss last week's shocker about low-fat diets. The Globe put it on Page 1, high above the fold: ''Study finds no major benefits of low-fat diet." The study, a project of the National Institutes of Health, had taken eight years, cost $415 million, and involved nearly 49,000 older women, 40 percent of whom were assigned to a diet that kept their intake of calories from fat significantly below that of the other 60 percent. Researchers had expected to confirm what earlier studies and conventional medical wisdom had long suggested -- that consuming less fat is good for your health.

From cardiac health to climate change, it's worth keeping in mind that what the experts say today they may not be saying tomorrow. As that noted scientist Emily Litella used to put it in the old ''Saturday Night Live" skits: Never mind." (Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe)

"Reporters Find Science Journals Harder to Trust, but Not Easy to Verify" - "News organizations say they are starting to look at science journals a bit more skeptically after fabricated research was published." (New York Times)

Good! Now, if they'd just apply more scepticism and less credulity where absurd claims about climate change and the magical disappearance of natural forcings and effects are concerned then the whole world will be a great deal better off.

Sadly, what we anticipate is that the next fanciful twaddle generated at great expense by computers, preferably with "super" or better yet, "giant super" descriptive prefixes, will receive the same saturation treatment afforded Science's publication last week regarding "widespread northern hemisphere warmth." Was the work novel or uniquely applied? Not even close, it was simply a recycle of existing proxy sets. Worse, it didn't do as described but actually underlined that proxies suggest significantly less contemporary warming than do the UHI-contaminated near-surface temperature amalgams.

"Storm researchers don't see eye to eye" - "The scientists, meeting in Boulder, air their disputes on climate change and last year's hurricane season as possible input for policy." (Denver Post)

"Cut down a tree, discover the next big drought - Tree rings used to predict droughts" - "Engineers need to design and build dams big enough so that the reservoir will still have water during bad droughts. Otherwise, irrigation systems, municipal water supplies and even hydroelectric generation could all be in trouble. Yet, how can engineers determine whether a really bad drought is likely once every 50 years, every century or every 400 years? How do they avoid underbuilding or overbuilding the dams and reservoirs?" (Toronto Star)

"Floating lab tracks Sahara sandstorms' effect on ecosystem" - "UK oceanographers are trying to find out how dust and oceans interact" (The Guardian)

Climate Assessment Reports- Problems with the Process (Climate Science)

"Many questions need answers on climate change" - "The surprisingly strong El Niño of 1982-83 showed us what climate change could be like: global, devastating and stealthy. During 1982, oceanographers didn't recognize the developing El Niño, but since then an extensive observational and theoretical framework has been built, and it is now possible to predict El Niño events several months in advance. The success of that El Niño research suggests that we may also have the capabilities to predict climate change, or at least understand the risks associated with it. Of course, one lesson of 1982 is that we may think we understand climate change when, in fact, we are clueless. But, climate-change research is a priority in many countries, reason enough to be optimistic about our understanding." (Markus Jochum, Denver Post)

"Climate-change sceptic to visit MSPs" - "A CONTROVERSIAL author who claims climate change has been exaggerated has been invited to address MSPs. Bjorn Lomborg, who argues that the world should end its “obsession” with global warming, will make his case in the parliament later this year. The move has been welcomed by his critics, who say the Danish academic’s appearance will give them a chance to expose his views." (Sunday Herald)

Lomborg and Stott must have been very persuasive in the IQ² debate "Dealing with global warming should be one of the top priorities for humanity" with the pre-debate/post-debate vote result in the categories "For", "Against" and "Don't know" 58.1%/46.7%; 18.8%/42.7% and 23.1%/10.6% respectively. A very impressive result given the constant bombardment the public receives on allegedly catastrophic global warming and the imaginative array of supposedly associated ills. Small wonder the Chair (Anna Ford, Presenter of the BBC One O’Clock News) stated that they had clearly won the moral victory. A big JunkScience.com congratulations to them both.

"Censorship Is Alleged at NOAA - Scientists Afraid to Speak Out, NASA Climate Expert Reports" - "NEW YORK, Feb. 10 -- James E. Hansen, the NASA climate scientist who sparked an uproar last month by accusing the Bush administration of keeping scientific information from reaching the public, said Friday that officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are also muzzling researchers who study global warming." (Washington Post)

"A (Mis)informed Public" - "In the February 8 New York Times, NASA’s Jim Hansen again complained that his ideas on climate change are being suppressed by the Bush Administration, which is destroying our democracy by censoring climate science. According to the Times:

“On climate, the public has been misinformed and not informed,” he said. “The foundation of a democracy is an informed public, which obviously means an honestly informed public. That’s the big issue here.”

On the other hand, Hansen thinks that lying about climate change in order to get attention is just peachy." (World Climate Report)

"Global warming: passing the 'tipping point'" - "A crucial global warming "tipping point" for the Earth, highlighted only last week by the British Government, has already been passed, with devastating consequences. Research commissioned by The Independent reveals that the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has now crossed a threshold, set down by scientists from around the world at a conference in Britain last year, beyond which really dangerous climate change is likely to be unstoppable." (London Independent)

Wonder if it'd spoil The Indy tribe's collective day if we pointed out it has never been in humanity's ability to control and/or prevent climate change?

"Volcanic Signatures Persist In Oceans" - "Ocean temperatures might have risen even higher during the last century if it weren't for volcanoes that spewed ashes and aerosols into the upper atmosphere, researchers have found. The eruptions also offset a large percentage of sea level rise caused by human activity." (Science Daily)

On the other hand, prior lack of volcanic eruptions would have meant we were baselining global temperature measures from a higher mean and we wouldn't be hand wringing over global warming, would we.

Note how critical choice of baseline is - recent temperature trends extrapolated over a century suggest a warming of perhaps +1.28 °C (UAH MSU trend 0.128 °C/decade x 10) but this is from a very short record and is likely a minor aberration. Longer datasets, however, suggest much lesser change.

The following GCAG links open in a separate tab or page - expect delays of 20-40 seconds while the requested data is collated, graph generated and trends calculated. Alternatively, see the captured output (between the NCDC and GISTEMP sections) in our global temperatures page containing the latest available output from major climate centres.

The HadCRUT2v data set shows a decadal trend 1870-2005 of 0.05 °C (one-half of one degree per century), the GHCN-ERSST data series 1880-2005 trend is 0.04 °C/decade (four tenths of one degree per century) while the likely urban-corrupted GHCN Land Surface data set shows a staggering, wait for it, 0.07 °C/decade (seven tenths of one degree per century) for the 1880-2005 time series.

Short-term perspective says maybe a degree and a bit change over a century, long-term series suggest about one-third to one-half as much, which is probably why these numbers are poorly publicised because they're nothing to get excited about. Nonetheless, it is what it is - deal with it, you can't change it anyway.

"A Consensus About Consensus"

"The vast majority of the most respected environmental scientists from all over the world have sounded a clear and urgent alarm. …these scientists are telling the people of every nation that global warming caused by human activities is becoming a serious threat to our common future."
-- Al Gore, MoveOn.org, January 2004

"…the widely accepted notion among the vast majority of scientists [is] that human activity is contributing to a warming planet, and that business as usual -- doing nothing about rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere -- will make things worse."
-- Sandy Tolan and John Harte, San Francisco Chronicle, November, 2005

Statements such as these appear quite frequently, usually directed at those considered to be on the wrong side of "the widely accepted notion among the vast majority of scientists" that global warming is getting worse, and that it's caused by people -- notably, the people of the United States.

However, some scientists persist, "in the face of the overwhelming conclusions of scientists" in believing that natural variations are the primary cause of observed changes in climate. Without denying that human activities affect climate, these scientists believe that natural factors such as solar radiation, ocean temperatures, and other factors exert a much more significant influence." (George Taylor, TCS Daily)

"Methane burps disproved?" - "Gassy emissions no longer in suspect dock for melting the last ice age." (Nature)

"US: Major Firms Endorse Climate Plan" - "BROOKLIN, Canada - Several leading energy and manufacturing firms have joined with a prominent environmental think tank to develop the United States' first comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." (IPS)

"Pew's 'Agenda for Climate Action' Equals Higher Energy Prices for American Consumers" - "The latest report from the Pew Center on Global Climate is being touted as the ‘first comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States’, but is nothing more than an attempt to raise energy prices and take money out of Americans’ pocketbooks, says the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s global warming policy team." (CEI)

"As Evangelicals Warm to Climate, Bush Cool" - "A top environmental advocate called it "a historic tipping point" when the Rev. Rick Warren and other prominent evangelicals joined a new drive to get their community to fight global warming. But activists banking on a quick shift in President Bush's environmental policies will be disappointed -- support from just any evangelical figure won't do. The movement is a diverse one, and some of its most politically influential leaders still question the science behind climate change." (AP)

"Church of global warming" - "It’s dismaying to see another group of prominent religious figures trying to make a difficult policy issue into a religious crusade." (Boston Herald)

Eye roller: "Report: Climate change may scar Great Lakes area" - "More extreme heat events and heavier rain and snow will present even more challenges to cities and farms in the Great Lakes region than previously thought, according to an update on climate change by the Union of Concerned Scientists." (Bill McAuliffe, Star Tribune)

"Wind and Snow Strike 14 States; Record Accumulation in N.Y." - "The biggest winter storm in New York City history crippled transportation and commerce and knocked out power." (New York Times)

Wonder if this'll quieten those who so recently whinged they didn't get the snow they remembered from childhood. Nah! It'll be global warming's fault again, right?

"Starving polar bears shame Bush to act" - "Starving polar bears are presenting an unprecedented challenge to George Bush's refusal to take action over global warming - and may succeed where environmentalists and other governments have failed in getting him to curb pollution." (London Independent)

Uh... no. A loopy lawsuit has compelled Fish & Wildlife Service examination of the bears' situation with a view to possible addition to a candidate's list for possible endangered species listing - a very different thing and highly unlikely outcome with apparently increasing bear populations. See also: Polar Bear Scare on Thin Ice.

"NZ: Government still flexible on Kyoto penalty charges" - "Scrapping a controversial plank of the Government's Kyoto policy for forestry is still an option, ministers say, although something else will have to take its place. An NZPA report in yesterday's Herald quoted a spokesman for Climate Change Minister David Parker as saying that lifting the deforestation cap was not under consideration. But Kyoto Forestry Association spokesman Roger Dickie said yesterday that was at odds with private assurances given by ministers and officials." (New Zealand Herald)

"Nuclear reactor" - "James Lovelock was the darling of the greens, a pioneer who saw the Earth as a self-regulating entity under threat from global warming … then a wind farm was planned near his home." (Sunday Herald)

"Life on Earth, but for how much longer?" - "We ignore James Lovelock's apocalyptic vision of the future, The Revenge of Gaia, at our peril, says Robin McKie." (The Observer)

"Blair rules out green tax for flyers" - "Despite growing concerns about climate change, Tony Blair last week ruled out the introduction of an emissions tax on air passengers. To deter travellers, any tax “would have to be a fairly hefty whack”, the prime minister said, adding that it would be difficult to sell to voters, and that he preferred to wait for the development of new technologies to reduce aircraft emissions." (Sunday Times)

Tribute to waste: "Kyoto Protocol celebrates first anniversary" - "Gland, Switzerland – As the Kyoto Protocol celebrates its first anniversary, higher oil prices are a clear opportunity for governments to intensify moves towards cleaner energy alternatives, says WWF." (Press Release)

A few people here might like a word with 'em about their love affair with a stupid protocol.

"As the Arctic ice retreats, the old Great Game begins to boil over" - "Thawing ice has opened up the far North, prompting a new scramble for territory and resources." (London Times)

"Weather as big as politics in oil rally: IEA" - "LONDON - Extreme cold and violent storms have played as big a part in strong oil prices as political fear, the IEA said on Friday, though strife in Iran will stalk the markets for months to come. "While political developments make compelling reading, it is often easy to overstate their influence," the International Energy Agency said in its monthly report." (Reuters)

"G8 finance ministers fail to warm to task in icy Moscow" - "One of the few advantages of meeting in an ice-bound Moscow in February is the salutary reminder of the downsides of energy shortages. Russia, whose membership of the Group of Eight countries is somewhat controversial, has been gripped by a winter that was blisteringly cold even by its own impressive standards." (Financial Times)

"Natural gas shortage: crisis or hype?" - "In some parts of the world, natural gas is so plentiful that after it is extracted and separated from oil, it is pumped back into the Earth as if it were a waste product. That's not so in the United States, where Americans are so dependent on the colorless, odorless gas that they find themselves in the middle of what some experts say is a supply crisis." (Mobile Register)

"Power Plant Would Reuse Carbon Dioxide" - "Subsidiaries of BP and Edison International said yesterday that they were planning to build a power plant that would run on oil residues, and that 90 percent of the carbon dioxide would be captured and pumped into an oil field, where it would help push more oil to the surface." (New York Times)

"Nuclear moves to front burner: Bush push for energy reactors may not get much heat from former foes of atomic power" - "Nuclear power, long shunned by the public, stands poised for a comeback. Credit a strange mix of politics and environmental desperation. President Bush wants nuclear power to feed America's growing hunger for energy. He has promised tax incentives to companies that build atomic plants, promoted the technology abroad and pushed research into recycling nuclear fuel. His State of the Union address cited nuclear energy in the same breath as wind farms and solar arrays -- saying all three will change the way the country powers its homes and offices. At the same time, the nuclear industry has found allies among its most determined former foes -- environmentalists." (David R. Baker, SF Chronicle)

"Brown sees major energy efficiency initiative" - "MOSCOW - Chancellor Gordon Brown expects a major multi-lateral energy efficiency initiative to be launched over the course of this year, he said on Saturday after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin." (Reuters)

Uh-huh... "Eau, no: Clean, healthy and pure? Hardly. Bottled water is killing the planet" - "Bottled water, the designer-look drink that has become a near-universal accessory of modern life, may be refreshing but it certainly isn't clean. A major new study has concluded that its production is seriously damaging the environment. It costs 10,000 times more to create the bottled version than it does to produce tap water, say scientists. Huge resources are needed to draw it from the ground, add largely irrelevant minerals, and package and distribute it - sometimes half-way around the world." (London Independent)

"The eider duck: Fishermen's enemy number one" - "First, what seems like good news: the eider duck, Britain's largest wild species of duck and selfless provider of down for millions of bedcovers, is living on the waters of the Wash in spectacularly increased numbers. Where once there were a few hundred, there are now more than 4,000." (London Independent)

Perhaps moonbat bit him" "America's masterplan is to force GM food on the world" - "The reason the US took Europe to the WTO court was to prise open lucrative markets elsewhere." (John Vidal, The Guardian)

"Consumer choice and 'Frankenstein foods'" - "Europeans scornfully dub them "Frankenstein food." So it's not surprising some European environmentalists and leaders have reacted strongly to a recent trade ruling that favors these supposed monsters, or genetically modified foods. But their response, even for such a charged issue, is an overreaction." (Christian Science Monitor)

"Eat To Live: Europe, WTO in food fight" - "This week a preliminary ruling on biotech crops was issued by the World Trade Organization that could prevent national and local governments from setting their own environmental and human health regulations in cases where scientific uncertainty exists. It's a major blow for those who believe in what is called the Precautionary Principle -- the notion that innovation should be shelved unless all risks can be avoided." (UPI)

"Bill would require labeling of genetically modified seeds" - "ALBANY, N.Y. — Lawmakers in Albany want New Yorkers to know not just what they're eating, but what they're planting as well. A bill introduced in the Legislature would require the labeling of all seeds that include genetically modified organisms, or GMOs." (Associated Press)

February 10, 2006

"Low-Fat Diet Myth Busted" - "The widely-believed notion that low-fat diets are good for your health went “poof” this week – although the busting of that myth shouldn’t be news to regular readers of this column." (Steven Milloy, FoxNews.com)

"CO₂ off the hook?" - "Every now and then a study comes along that we just know the press will really make a hash of and in this week's edition of Science we find one with the fairly innocuous title of The Spatial Extent of 20th-Century Warmth in the Context of the Past 1200 Years by Tim Osborn and Keith Briffa." (JunkScience.com)

Predictably: Medieval diaries aid scientists ascertain increase in hot spots due to global warming (University of East Anglia) | Recent warmth 'most widespread' (BBC) | Study: Global warming worst in 1,200 years (UPI) | Northern Hemisphere getting warmer over a larger area due to global warming, report (PhysOrg.com) | New evidence of global warming (Radio New Zealand) | Global warming 'worst in 1200yrs' (AFP) | Current Warming Period Is Longest in 1,200 Years, Study Says (National Geographic News) | World is at its warmest for a millennium (London Independent) | The big heat: it's the hottest for 1,200 years (Irish Independent) | Forecast is: it's the warmest for 1200 years (New Zealand Herald) | Last 100 years warmest since 9th century, say British researchers (Monsters and Critics.com) | World is warmer than it has been for 1200 years (Sydney Morning Herald) | World at its warmest of past 1,200 years, researchers show (Globe and Mail) | World temperatures highest in 1200 years (Mongabay.com) | Northern Hemisphere getting warmer, study finds (999 Today) | Report: Warming Greater than Other Climate Shifts (All Headline News) | Current global warming is out of the ordinary, scientists report (DV Hardware, Belgium) | Global warming biggest since Viking era (Atlanta Journal Constitution) | Heat Age: Temperatures Reach 1,200-Year High, Says Study (Playfuls.com, Romania) | Climate change highest since 890bc (Virgin.net, UK) ...

"NASA Aide Who Resigned Over Warming Offers Defense" - "George C. Deutsch, the young NASA press aide who resigned on Tuesday in the center of a storm over claims that he had tried to keep keep the agency's top climate scientist from speaking publicly about global warming, defended himself today in his first public interviews." (New York Times)

Deutsch gilded the lily on his résumé and rightly paid the price. That said, the contention that he intimidated/censored an armour-plated politician like Hansen has always been ludicrous. Readers can judge for themselves whether various elements of the media have simply been naive and credulous in publishing Hansen's bizarre claims or whether they have simply been overtly partisan.

"Academy to Referee Climate-Change Fight" - "Seeking to resolve a scientific dispute that has taken on a rancorous political edge, the National Academy of Sciences said it had agreed to a request from Congress to assess how well researchers understand the history of temperatures on earth. The study by the academy, an independent advisory body based in Washington, will focus on the "hockey stick," a chart of past temperatures that critics say is inaccurate. The graph gets its name because of the sudden, blade-like rise of recent temperatures compared with past epochs." (The Wall Street Journal)

Another scare bites the dust? "Late Quaternary Atmospheric CH4 Isotope Record Suggests Marine Clathrates Are Stable" - "One explanation for the abrupt increases in atmospheric CH₄, that occurred repeatedly during the last glacial cycle involves clathrate destabalization events. Because marine clathrates have a distinct deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) isotope ratio, any such destabilization event should cause the D/H ratio of atmospheric CH₄ (δD_CH4) to increase. Analyses of air trapped in the ice from the second Greenland ice sheet project show stable and/or decreasing δD_CH4 values during the end of the Younger and Older Dryas periods and one stadial period, suggesting that marine clathrates were stable during these abrupt warming episodes. Elevated glacial δD_CH4 values may be the result of a lower ratio of net to gross wetland CH₄ emissions and an increase in petroleum-based emissions." (Science) Full Text | PDF | Supporting Online Material | Frozen methane chunks not responsible for abrupt increases in atmospheric methane (Penn State)

Wonder how this made it past the 'warming must be bad' publication police? "Study: Global warming may curb some ills" - "LONDON, Feb. 9 -- London scientists say rising global temperatures the past 20 years might be causing a shortened season of a serious respiratory illness in Britain." (UPI) | Climate change may affect length of respiratory infection season (Infectious Diseases Society of America)

The Need to Broaden the IPCC Perspective (Climate Science)

Virtually: "Volcanic signatures persist in oceans" - "Ocean temperatures may have risen even higher during the last century if it weren't for volcanoes that spewed ashes and aerosols into the upper atmosphere. Further, these eruptions offset a large percentage of sea level rise caused by humans. Using 12 new state-of-the-art climate models, researchers found that ocean warming and sea level rise in the 20th century were substantially reduced by the 1883 eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in Indonesia. Volcanic aerosols block sunlight and caused the ocean surface to cool. "That cooling penetrated into deeper layers of the ocean where it remained for decades after the event," said Peter Gleckler, an atmospheric scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "We found that volcanic effects on sea level can persist for many decades." (DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

"The atmosphere at last night's Intelligence Squared/Times debate was full of foreboding" apparently - here's the meach: "Ten years to prevent catastrophe" - "KATRINA MADE the Bush Administration take climate change seriously. Fortunately we have had no Katrina-like episode in this country, but the warnings are plain to see.

In recent months scientists across the world have reported compelling evidence that we face dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice, a shutdown of global ocean circulation systems in the North Atlantic, huge methane releases from melting permafrost in Siberia and Alaska, more violent hurricanes worldwide, and “mega-droughts” from northern China to the American West. Already the World Health Organisation estimates that 160,000 people die each year from the impacts of climate change, notably malaria, dysentery and malnutrition." (Michael Meacher, London Times)

We'll bring you further reports when we have them.

Good luck fellas: "Arctic military trips reinforce sovereignty" - "Canadian soldiers are planning an epic series of Arctic trips this spring to reinforce sovereignty and prepare for emergencies arising from increased use of northern skies and waters." (CP)

This over the fabled northwest passage - a lot of people are going to be sorely disappointed when the Arctic Oscillation flips back to a cool phase.

"Blessed Are the Greens?" - "This week some evangelical Christian groups issued "a call for their faithful to press the Bush administration into action on climate change," the Guardian newspaper reported. A union of evangelicals, who voted for George Bush by a four-to-one margin, and environmentalists, who voted for John Kerry by a four-to-one margin, is the perfect man-bites-dog story for the media." (Steven Hayward, TCS Daily)

"Beware False Profits" - "Evangelical leaders need to give more thought to the unintended consequences of their well-intentioned acts. By devoting spiritual and temporal energy to reducing carbon-dioxide emissions, the evangelical leaders will probably hurt the poor more than they help them. By adopting a green agenda, the evangelicals may have thrown the poor to the wolves." (Iain Muray, NRO)

"Global warming is the wrong mission for evangelicals" - "A group of evangelical leaders held a news conference this week in the nation's capital to endorse an "evangelical call to action" on climate change. The call is largely the work of the Evangelical Environmental Network, which previously brought us the "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign. The question is, "Does this group really speak for evangelicals?" (Kenneth W Chilton, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

"Groups of evangelical leaders face off over global warming" - "WASHINGTON -- A Feb. 8 news conference in Washington signaled the start of what could become a showdown over global warming between two groups of evangelical Christian leaders. At stake are the hearts and minds of evangelical Americans and the politicians who listen to them -- not to mention the future of the planet." (ABP)

"U.S. Committed to Asia-Pacific Climate Partnership, Rice Says" - "Initiative essential to balancing development, environmental preservation." (Washington File)

Still at it: "Gore: Earth is now at risk, let's save it" - "WARNING that the world will reach the "tipping point" toward an ecological catastrophe within the next 10 years, former US Vice President Al Gore urged international and local leaders to focus their efforts toward halting the phenomenon of global warming." (Asian Journal)

It's no good Al, they won't vote for you either.

"The End Is Not Nigh?" - "British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a parliamentary committee earlier this month that the "world has seven years to take vital decisions and implement measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions or it could be too late… If we don't get the right agreement internationally for the period after which the Kyoto protocol will expire – that's in 2012 -- I think we are in serious trouble." Asked if the world had seven years to implement measures on climate change before the problem reached a "tipping point," Blair answered: "Yes." (Hans H.J. Labohm, TCS Daily)

"UK seen split on key climate change proposal" - "LONDON - The British government is split over whether to adopt a key proposal to help it meet its domestic 2010 climate change targets, a senior economist said on Thursday. Michael Grubb, Chief Economist at the Carbon Trust which devised the proposal, said different parts of the government disagree on whether to adopt it, amid fears that industry would reject it as bureaucratic red tape." (Reuters)

"China's powerhouse vision for 2050" - "By 2050 China will have eradicated poverty, established itself as a world power in science and lifted the average lifespan of its billion-plus citizens to 80 years, according to two blueprints for the future published yesterday." (The Guardian)

And what does Watts make of this social agenda? "China is already the world's second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. If the predictions of a surge in car ownership and air travel are correct, it will far surpass the US as the major cause of global warming."

"Dust storms now hit Israel all year round" - "Dust storms carrying tiny particles of minerals from Africa, such as that which hit Israel on Wednesday night, are now arriving throughout the year, and not just during the spring and summer. While there is no solid evidence that their frequency has increased in the past 50 years, some experts predict there will be many more of them in the future due to desertification and global warming." (Jerusalem Post)

Interesting, especially since atmospheric CO₂-enhancement has been noted as greening the planet, particularly in arid regions like the Sahel.

"ASU professor details weather extremes in new book" - "Need a good book for a rainy day? Look no further than Arizona State University geography professor Randy Cerveny's recently published "Freaks of the Storm," a collection of true stories about weird weather phenomena recorded all over the world. The book, which debuted in January, is published by Thunder's Mouth Press and is available online and at many bookstores." (PressZoom)

"Bitter Cold Weather Front Grips Moscow" - "Moscow - The Russian winter tightened its grip on the capital this week sending temperatures down below minus 25 Celsius after weeks of relatively mild weather. Even before the long-expected Epiphany frosts finally set in officials began to panic, remembering the sinister warnings of Russia's notorious energy chief about possible power cuts if temperatures plummeted that low." (AXcess News)

"Climate 'makes oil profit vanish'" - "The huge profits reported by oil and gas companies would turn into losses if the social costs of their greenhouse gas emissions were taken into account. That is the conclusion of research by the New Economics Foundation (Nef)." (BBC) | Carbon addicts and climate debt (BBC)

Bet they didn't take into account aerial fertilisation boosting crops around the world, reduced cold-associated illness, etc. and included some imaginative 'costs'.

"Global good news" - "Humans as a species have just enjoyed their best year yet, 2005, on our little planet. By almost any measure, more people lived better lives last year than ever before. Global lifespans, literacy and real incomes all reached record highs, and more people lived in free or at least partially free countries than at anytime in human history." (Richard W. Rahn, Washington Times)

"US Power Providers Say They Expect Carbon Regime" - "HOUSTON - US power company executives said Thursday that they expect a series of rules and taxes will be imposed, possibly within five years, on carbon pollution, a contributor to greenhouse gas accumulation and climate change." (Reuters)

"Bootleggers, Baptists and Duke Energy" - "Just when you thought you shouldn't trust "evil corporations," turns out the creature was something far more insidious: business and government in collusion." (Max Borders, Washington Examiner)

"When the oil runs out" - "Are we heading for the end of civilization -- or are the warnings of a coming apocalypse just another case of Chicken Little?" (Jonathon Gatehouse, Macleans)

"Spain to Open World's First Cellulosic Ethanol Plant" - "SYNOPSIS: Small research facilities focused on cellulosic ethanol have intermittently been in operation or are in development in several U.S. states -- such as Louisiana, California, Idaho and Nebraska." (Dow Jones)

"Hunting of Conservative Thinkers No 'Phantom Persecution'" - "Last month I wrote of how I lost my column with Scripps Howard as part of a plan that began with an Enemies List given to sympathetic reporters. The list was intended to systematically eliminate conservative writers and even institutions, since they couldn't be beaten with facts. As might be expected, fact-less retorts to what I wrote appeared with titles like "Fumento battles phantom persecution." Well, start believing in spooks." (Michael Fumento, Townhall)

"New York Times Teflon Errors" - "For those keeping up with an endless saga of media inaccuracy." (Trevor Butterworth, STATS)

"Salvage Logging Research Continues to Generate Sparks" - "After Science published online a controversial paper about salvage logging in early January, another group of researchers asked that print publication be delayed until their criticisms were addressed. Now, a government agency that helped fund the study has put a hold on the grant, pending an investigation." (Science)

"The Difficult Rescue of La Macarena" - "BOGOTA - The manual eradication of coca leaf in an operation launched by the Colombian government on Jan. 19 is intended to save La Macarena National Park, one of the country's most important parks for its rich biodiversity, but environmental organisations say this effort isn't enough. (Tierramérica)

"Blair will not intervene to save wildlife centres" - "Tony Blair has formally washed his hands of the fate of Britain's three leading wildlife research centres, which face closure as a cost-cutting measure - despite growing public and political concern. He has made clear his refusal to get involved in the case in a letter to the Conservative leader David Cameron - who taunted the Prime Minister over the issue at question time in the House of Commons last week." (London Independent)

"ZIMBABWE: Elephants and Humans on a Collision Course" - "BULAWAYO - Sachikonye Lunga's face twists at the mere mention of the word "elephant", which doubtless evokes memories of his eldest son being trampled to death last year by one of the animals." (IPS)

"NJIT professor discovers better way to desalinate water" - "Chemical engineer Kamalesh Sirkar, PhD, a distinguished professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and an expert in membrane separation technology, is leading a team of researchers to develop a breakthrough method to desalinate water. Sirkar, who holds more than 20 patents in the field of membrane separation, said that using his technology, engineers will be able to recover water from brines with the highest salt concentrations. The Bureau of Reclamation in the Department of Interior is funding the project." (New Jersey Institute of Technology)

"ARGENTINA: Urban Gardens Provide More than Just Food" - "BUENOS AIRES - The community gardens initially created to help confront the effects of the late 2001 economic collapse in Argentina have now "grown" into a government-run urban agriculture programme, which provides unemployed workers with much more than just food for their families' tables." (IPS)

Quaint - 'organic' produce from urban lots in congested cities where leaded fuel was used into the 1990s... yum!

"Hard to Swallow" - "Environmentalists in Europe have reacted with predictable outrage to the news that the World Trade Organization this week ruled in favor of the US in the dispute over genetically modified (GM) crops, and despite losing the EU has steadfastly defended its protectionist practices. In the weeks leading up to the decision, green groups around Europe mobilized. Friends of the Earth reached out to its various national counterparts to prepare them to react quickly. Their press releases regurgitate translations of what Friends of the Earth in Washington, D.C. issued on the ruling." (Lene Johansen, TCS Daily)

"Let Them Eat Precaution: Beyond the WTO Decision on GMOs" - "The rebuke of the Europe-wide ban on bioengineered crops and food by the World Trade Organization has sent anti-biotech advocacy groups scrambling. The United States, Argentina, and Canada had argued that the moratorium had more to do with protectionism than precaution, and the WTO agreed." (Jon Entine, NRO)

"Frankensense" - "Frankenstein is finally dead, or at least his political imitators are. That good news comes from the World Trade Organization, which struck a blow for science over scare-mongers by ruling this week against Europe's attempt to ban genetically modified food.

The written decision in the case brought by Argentina, Canada and the U.S. against the European Union won't be released for months, but the press leaks give a good picture of the ruling. All one needs to know is that Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are howling that an "undemocratic" body is trying to "force-feed markets with GMOs." Expanding consumer choice and free trade equals force-feeding? Sounds like the good guys won." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Hungary to extend GMO ban" - "Budapest, February 9 - Hungary will extend its ban on growing genetically modified maize, gov't officials told the press on Thursday." (MTI)

"Question of life or death in Africa" - " The World Trade Organization was expected to rule Tuesday against European Union barriers to GM foods. But this will not help millions of starving Africans get cheap and reliable crops: EU regulation-creep will keep them firmly in their place." ( Temba Nolutshungu, Hong Kong Standard)

"Missing a Golden Rice opportunity" - "EVERY day, 24,000 people die from malnutrition. The major cause of these deaths is poverty. In a cruel paradox, the undefinable fears of western pressure groups are being used to justify regulations that perpetuate death and suffering by denying genetically-modified crops to poor people." (Ingo Potrykus, The Economic Times, India)

February 9, 2006

"Censoring Truth" - "The Bush administration long ago secured a special place in history for the audacity with which it manipulates science to suit its political ends. But it set a new standard of cynicism when it allowed NASA's leading authority on global warming to be mugged by a 24-year-old presidential appointee who, quite apart from having no training on that issue, had inflated his résumé." (New York Times)

George Deutsch apparently lied on his résumé and deserves a boot out the door, for being stupid as much as anything. That said it has been suggested that résumé-padding is hardly a Jayson Blair-scale scandal, a view that probably depends on readers' political leanings in this case. Claiming that Deutsch "mugged" a political warhorse like James Hansen or was even capable of so doing, however, suggests that the New York Times remains emotionally heavily invested in anthropogenic global warming and its prophets.

The big-T "Truth" referred to in the title above is dependent on our ability to determine past climate change (specifically temperature, although it remains unclear whether global mean temperature is a particularly useful or even valid metric). Temperature reconstructions, however, are entities of uncertain validity - a situation which may be clarified in the future according to a post at ClimateAudit.org:

National Academies Panel on Temperature Reconstruction

The National Research Council of the National Academies has empanelled a blue-chip committee to study "Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Past 1,000-2,000 Years". The chairman will be Gerald North. The request came from the House Science Committee - I presume that they are trying to assert possession over this piece of turf. 8-10 speakers are being requested to address the panel on March 2-3 with a reception on Thursday night. [McKitrick and McIntyre] have accepted an invitation to appear.

There's also a clear need to audit instrument temperature amalgams due to the mismatch between near-surface and atmospheric temperature variance which suggests a much larger urban heat component than currently adjusted for. Given the lack of certainty regarding the baseline we are measuring from - and the somewhat dubious nature of what we are measuring now - it just may be that the NYT's big-T "Truth" is less well founded than Deutsch's résumé.

"Impact of Krakatoa Eruptions Lasted Decades - Study" - "LONDON - Sea levels would have risen higher and ocean temperatures would have been warmer in the 20th century if the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia had not erupted in 1883, scientists said on Wednesday. The impact of the eruption that spewed molten rock and sulphate aerosols into the atmosphere was felt for decades - much longer than previously thought." (Reuters)

Today's eye-roller: "Global Warming a Major Health Risk – Scientists" - "LONDON - Global warming is already causing death and disease across the world through flooding, environmental destruction, heatwaves and other extreme weather events, scientists said on Thursday. And it is likely to get worse. In a review published in The Lancet medical journal, the scientists said there was now a near-unanimous scientific consensus that rising levels of greenhouse gases would cause global warming and other climate changes." (Reuters)

meanwhile: "Europe's Winter Death Toll Rises As Temperatures Dip Again"  -"Polish and Ukrainian authorities on Monday revised upwards the human toll from the freezing weather that has gripped eastern Europe since the beginning of the year as temperatures plummeted again." (Agence France-Presse)

"Less Snow in Rockies Slows Release of CO2 Emissions" - "LONDON - Rising temperatures and a decline in the amount of snow in the Rocky Mountains have slowed the release of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming, from forest soil, researchers said on Wednesday. Professor Russell Monson, who headed the research team, described it as a "serendipitous effect" which could have important ramifications on how much CO2 is emitted from forests." (Reuters) | Declining snowpack cools off CO2 emissions from winter soils, says U. of Colorado study (University of Colorado at Boulder)

"Alaska residents say climate isn't the only change" - "ANCHORAGE — Fire breaks protecting homes were never part of the traditional culture in Huslia, an Athabascan village on the Koyukuk River. But recent forest fires have burned hotter and more frequently, a change most people blame on global warming, and Huslia has had to adapt, said William Derendoff, 61, the traditional chief." (AP)

Have temperatures increased while we have been paying attention? Yup! Is this likely due to atmospheric CO₂? Apparently not.

"Swiss Glaciers Retreat Again in 2005, Study Shows" - "ZURICH - Glaciers in Switzerland again retreated last year, a study showed on Wednesday, in a sign global warming is taking its toll on one of the country's scenic features." (Reuters)

"Noxious undersea eruptions killing billions of fish" - "Undersea eruptions of noxious hydrogen sulphide are having a major impact on one of the world's richest fisheries. Satellite images show that toxic eruptions off the coast of Namibia are more frequent and widespread than anyone realised." (New Scientist)

Cross-scale Interactions, Nonlinearities, and Forecasting Catastrophic Events (Climate Science)

"Constructal theory predicts global climate patterns in simple way" - "DURHAM, N.C. -- A unifying physics principle that describes design in nature predicts, in surprisingly straightforward fashion, the basic features of global circulation and climate, according to researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and the University of Evora in Portugal. They said the new approach to climate may have important implications for forecasting environmental change." (Duke University)

"Religion, science and blarney" - "Evangelical Climate Initiative” does not represent vast majority of evangelicals. NAE and “Who’s Who” of evangelical leaders do not endorse ECI position" (Paul Driessen)

"Think Tank Urges US Action Now on Global Warming" - "WASHINGTON - The United States must take steps now to fight global warming, including working with other nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a major US think tank said on Wednesday. The Pew Center for Global Climate Change said in a report that America has waited too long to seriously tackle the climate change problem and spelled out 15 steps the United States could take to reduce emissions it spews as the world's biggest energy consumer and producer of greenhouse gases." (Reuters)

"NZ: Kyoto burden could double to $600m" - "Taxpayers face a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of the increasing practice of converting plantation forest land to pasture when the trees are felled. Officials have warned the Government that deforestation could double the extent to which New Zealand falls short of its target under the Kyoto Protocol, the international climate change treaty. Under Kyoto's rules, a country earns credits when land is switched from a low-carbon use such as grass to a high-carbon one such as forestry. But when a forest is felled and not replanted, it is liable for the emission of that stored carbon. That is happening more and more." (New Zealand Herald)

"UK 'should pursue' carbon capture" - "Capturing and storing carbon dioxide from power stations could help Britain meet its energy needs while curbing greenhouse gas emissions, MPs say." (BBC)

"Toyota's Press Says Automakers Must Lead on Clean Air" - "Feb. 8 -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. sales chief vowed to push automakers to take the lead this year in combating air pollution and global warming and developing alternatives to petroleum-based fuels. Jim Press, president of Toyota's most profitable sales operation and this year's chairman of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers trade group, said in a speech today in Chicago that he'll ask the organization's members to cooperate on issues ``that threaten our collective future.'' (Bloomberg)

"Nuclear power doesn't scare Americans" - "In his State of the Union Address, President Bush called for less dependence on foreign oil by increasing our reliance on a variety of energy alternatives including nuclear energy. A recently released survey confirms that Americans who live in close proximity to nuclear power plants overwhelmingly support nuclear energy and are willing to see a new reactor built near them.

This is probably a surprise to most people who have been bombarded with criticisms of nuclear power. But the survey conducted by Bisconti Research Inc. with the polling firm Quest Global Research Group confirms that the people and communities who have the most experience with nuclear power -- and presumably the most information about it -- are strong supporters." (Bruce Boller, Roanoke Times)

"World Ethanol Demand to Test Brazil Cane Industry" - "SAO PAULO - Brazilian sugar cane mills, the world's top producers, have visions of motorists from New York to Tokyo filling their tanks with ethanol, making the biofuel a full-fledged world commodity and making local producers as rich as Saudi sheiks. But many observers doubt Brazil's ability to become a reliable international ethanol supplier. A disappointing cane harvest and thin ethanol stocks have helped lift sugar prices to 25-year highs, and the government has demanded price caps on the fuel." (Reuters)

"EU to Discuss Mandatory Biofuel Targets this Year" - "BRUSSELS - The European Commission will discuss later this year the possibility of raising biofuels targets in the 25-nation bloc and making them mandatory, the EU's farm chief said on Wednesday." (Reuters)

"Hydrogen will be hard to start" - "For energy efficiency, integrated hybrid vehicles make more sense." (News & Observer)

"UK Lobby Group Proposes Green Taxes to Save Planet" - "LONDON - Britain must bring in a new tax structure penalising waste and rewarding efficiency to help combat global warming, a green lobby group said on Wednesday." (Reuters)

?!! "Leader: In praise of ... green taxes" - "Nobody actually enjoys paying taxes but environmental ones are at least more easy to justify and also give donors the chance of reducing the financial burden by changing their behaviour. Yesterday's report for the Green Alliance, based on research by the Policy Studies Institute, urges the chancellor to use taxes to encourage householders to conserve water and energy and sort their rubbish properly." (The Guardian)

Hmm... to The Guardian you are apparently not taxpayers but, um... 'donors.'

"Airline Tickets to Rise When Carbon Trading Starts, Lords Say" - "Feb. 9 -- Flight tickets will become more expensive when airlines join a European Union program that forces companies to pay for the air pollution they create, a U.K. parliamentary advisory committee said. Foreign airlines and plane routes that reach beyond the EU would need to be included in the plan to avoid competitive disadvantages for European carriers such as Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Ryanair Holdings Plc, the House of Lords' committee on EU affairs said in a report." (Bloomberg)

"Grasses helping wheat survive climate change" - "LONDON, Feb 8 - Wild grasses that survive well in hot, dry places are helping create new drought-resistant wheat varieties, a science magazine said on Wednesday. Scientists at the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico have cross-bred "synthetic wheats" created from emmer wheat and goat grass with conventional wheat to create varieties with up to 50 percent higher yields in drought conditions. The technique was originally developed 15 years ago and is now beginning to show its worth with climate change, disease and drought threatening a crop that provides the main source of food for two billion people, New Scientist magazine reported." (Reuters)

"Low-Fat Diets Flub a Test" - "The more we learn about nutrition, the less we seem to know. That is the clearest lesson to emerge from a large study of low-fat diets that has left diet aficionados thoroughly confused. For decades or more, medical lore has suggested that a low-fat diet can yield substantial health benefits. Millions of Americans have tried to reduce the fat in their diets, and the food industry has obligingly served up low-fat products. Yet now comes strong evidence that the war against all fats was mostly in vain. It's enough to make us drown our confusion in a big serving of extra-rich ice cream." (New York Times)

"Dip in Cancer Deaths Is Reported, First Decline in U.S. in 70 Years" - "Much of the decrease is because of a decline in smoking and improved detection and treatment of breast, colorectal and prostate cancers, the report said." (New York Times)

"Study: Bad Corn Caused Birth Defects" - "HARLINGEN, Texas -- Contaminated corn may have caused an increase in babies born with rare birth defects in the Rio Grande Valley in the early 1990s, according to a new study. Scientists have been searching more than a decade for the cause of a surge in babies in the region with neural tube defects, abnormalities of the brain and spinal cord that arise in the first weeks of pregnancy. In one south Texas county, there were six cases in six weeks of babies born with rudimentary or missing brains. Overall, a high rate of neural tube defects was found among almost all border counties.

Residents and lawyers had blamed pollution, and General Motors and other U.S.-owned factories paid $17 million without admitting wrongdoing to settle a lawsuit accusing their border factories of poisoning the air. But no chemical links to the disease were ever proven, and Texas health officials began suspecting fumonisin, a toxin in corn mold. Experts had noted a high concentration in the corn harvest just before the outbreak. Some Texas horses died from brain disease caused by the toxin." (AP)

If true it's one heck of an endorsement for Bt corn, which reduces both insect damage and, as a consequence, fumonisin.

"WTO Biotech Ruling Reveals Special Interests, Say Critics" - "WASHINGTON - A World Trade Organisation decision that called European safety bans on genetically modified food illegal under its global trade rules could usher in a new phase of potentially hazardous "Frankenfoods" worldwide and further erosion of local protections, say environmental and advocacy groups." (IPS)

"EU Denies had GMO Moratorium, no Appeal Decision" - "BRUSSELS - The European Union contests it had a moratorium on imports of genetically modified (GMO) crops and foods but it is too early to say whether it will appeal against a world trade ruling on its stance, an EU official said." (Reuters)

"EU fears huge payout for GM export 'ban'" - "The EU was yesterday fearing huge compensation claims from the American biotech industry after a ruling suggesting member states had illegally banned imports of genetically modified food." (The Guardian)

"A line in the sand over WTO's modified-food ruling" - "PARIS It was the longest and possibly the most complex ruling ever put out by the World Trade Organization, running to more than 1,000 pages. But after years of litigation, little is likely to change - at least for consumers here - as a result of the finding that the European Union breached trade rules by restricting imports of genetically modified crops and food. The problem lies largely in differing ways of looking at biotechnology and the products derived from it." (International Herald Tribune)

"Europe Bridles at WTO View on National Biotech Bans" - "BRUSSELS - European countries bristled on Wednesday at a world trade ruling that touches on national sovereignty over genetically modified (GMO) foods, with some saying they would do their level best to keep farming GMO-free." (Reuters)

"US may press Africa on GMOs" - "LUSAKA - The U.S. may push Africa to accept gene-altered (GMO) food now that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled the EU broke rules by barring GMO foods and seeds, but Africans vowed on Wednesday to resist. "We do not want GM (genetically modified) foods and our hope is that all of us can continue to produce non-GM foods," Zambian Agriculture Minister Mundia Sikatana told Reuters in Lusaka. "The decision by the WTO does nothing to change our stand in this matter." (Reuters)

"French activist Bove detained at JFK airport, returned to France" - "NEW YORK -- Jose Bove, the militant French farmer and anti-globalization activist best known for ransacking a McDonald's restaurant near his home in 1999, was stopped at an airport upon arrival, denied entry by customs officials and put on a plane back to France." (Associated Press)

February 8, 2006

"SOUTH AFRICA: Winning the war against malaria, so far" - "JOZINI, 7 February - Jonathon Gumede knows the symptoms of malaria well: headaches, persistent shivering, a high temperature and sore joints are the initial warning signs of infection, and if not treated quickly, a person can die within a matter of days. Gumede, a malaria programme district manager in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), has been fighting the spread of the disease in South Africa for 25 years." (IRIN)

"UN Global Environmental Chemical Deal Wins Approval" - "DUBAI - World environmental and health officials agreed on an initiative that aims to make chemicals safer for humans and the planet, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"Red Flag For CBS Teflon Story" - "New study important, but CBS coverage wrong on facts and scientifically irresponsible." (Trevor Butterworth)

"The perchlorate surprise" - "The 2005 ES&T environmental science paper of the year finds that perchlorate is everywhere." (ES&T)

“Being natural doesn’t make it good.” Imagine that...

"Fatty food-mood link researched" - "Scientists from Nottingham University are carrying out research into why many people find high-fat foods so tasty. The three-year study's results could help manufacturers create appetising dishes that are not as fattening. It focuses on the chemical signals sent to the brain and scans will be taken of volunteers' brains looking at which parts respond to food." (BBC)

"Studies of obese children reveal body-weight control hormone" - "A single change in a particular brain hormone can increase a person's risk of obesity, two new studies in the February 8, 2006, Cell Metabolism reveal. The researchers found that obese children are more likely to carry a rare variant of so-called ß-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (ß-MSH) than children of normal weight." (Cell Press)

"Large study shows low-fat diet has little effect on reducing risk of breast cancer" - "A major study that includes nearly 50,000 women followed over 8 years indicates that a diet low in fat, but high in fruit, vegetables and grains, does not significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to an article in the February 8 issue of JAMA." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

"Low-fat diet does not reduce risk of colorectal cancer" - "In an article in the February 8 JAMA, Shirley A. A. Beresford, Ph.D., of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues with the Women's Health Initiative (a study which included nearly 50,000 women) analyzed data from the WHI Dietary Modification Trial to determine the effect of a low-fat eating pattern on risk of colorectal cancer in postmenopausal women. Previous trials examining this association have been inconclusive." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

"Risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke not significantly decreased with low-fat diet" - "In an article in the February 8 JAMA, Barbara V. Howard, Ph.D., of Medstar Research Institute/Howard University, Washington, D.C., and colleagues with the Women's Health Initiative (WHI, a study which included nearly 50,000 women) analyzed data from the WHI Dietary Modification Trial to determine the effect of a diet low in fat intake and high in consumption of vegetables, fruits and grains on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

and just in case you haven't got it: "National study finds no effect from reducing total dietary fat" - "Despite findings being announced this week that a low-fat diet introduced in the middle-age years didn't reduce the risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke or colon cancer, one of the researchers says people still need to focus on the types of fat they eat. The national diet study of almost 50,000 healthy postmenopausal women was part of the massive Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study." (Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center)

Circling the wagons: "Diet doubts attacked by experts" - "Heart experts say a study which shows a lack of health benefits from a low-fat diet failed to take into account other risk factors." (BBC)

"1.2m people will reach 100th birthday by 2074, says study" - "It is a milestone that has typically been rewarded by a local newspaper front-page story and a birthday card signed by the Queen. But according to figures produced by the Government Actuary's Department, the novelty of living to 100 years may disappear. The current population of 10,000 centenarians could increase by more than 100-fold in the next 68 years, the government's population projection study says." (The Guardian)

Gosh, longevity is still increasing despite all those dreadful chemicals and pollutants we're assured are killing us, not to mention evil multinationals chasing us down in the street to force more 'empty calories' down our protesting throats... imaging how long we'd live if we could just get rid of industry, cheap energy and abundant, affordable food!

"The American Social Model" - "American capitalism really is a harsh taskmaster, isn't it? Those excessively long hours that everyone works, so different from the ease and leisure that applies in Europe. There's only one small problem with this idea. It turns out not to be true. Tim Worstall on some important new research." (Tim Worstall, TCS Daily)

"Scientists to hold cuts protest" - "Scientists will protest at the House of Commons on Wednesday over plans to shut four global warming research centres. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology laboratories have been earmarked for closure by parent company the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc)." (BBC)

Aha! "NASA to divert cash from science into shuttle" - "NASA wants to divert money from its science programme to help pay for billions of dollars of projected space shuttle cost overruns, says the agency's chief, Mike Griffin. The cuts mean several key science missions will be delayed indefinitely and have sparked criticism from space enthusiasts and law makers." (NewScientist.com news service)

The reason for Hansen's dummy spit last week is becoming clearer - throw a major tantrum, claim to be a victim of some imaginary agenda and guarantee a cut-proof departmental budget. Have to hand it to the guy, most modellers tend to be naïve denizens of their virtual worlds but Hansen seems very adept at hardball politics with his carefully timed claims and prognostications.

"World Has Seven Years for Key Climate Decisions –Blair" - "LONDON - The world has seven years to take vital decisions and implement measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions or it could be too late, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday. Blair said the battle against global warming would only be won if the United States, India and China were part of a framework that included targets and that succeeded the 1992 Kyoto Protocol climate pact. "If we don't get the right agreement internationally for the period after which the Kyoto protocol will expire - that's in 2012 - if we don't do that then I think we are in serious trouble," he told a parliamentary committee. Asked if the world had seven years to implement measures on climate change before the problem reached "tipping point", Blair answered: "Yes." (Reuters)

Why's that Tony? Afraid these guys might be right and the world will 'tip' into declining temperatures? What will wannabe social engineers use for an excuse then?

"Post-Kyoto deal 'must include CO2 targets'" - "A post-Kyoto deal on climate change will have to include targets for cutting carbon dioxide emissions, the prime minister has said. Speaking to a committee of senior MPs, Tony Blair said he was talking to President Bush about global warming "virtually the whole time". And he said that, despite American worries, there would have to be firmer action to cut greenhouse gas emissions." (ePolitix)

'Global warming crisis' as a matter of faith - literally: "86 Evangelical Leaders Join to Fight Global Warming" - "Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors." (New York Times)

In the virtual land of fruits and nuts: "New research has implications for California's future water supply and flood risk" - "If the world continues to burn greenhouse gases, California may have an increased risk of winter floods and summer water shortages, even within the same year. This scenario may be more severe in future El Nino years." (DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

Uncertainties in Modeling Cloud and Precipitation Processes Within Global Climate Models (Climate Science)

"Feds Move to Protect Polar Bears" - "Federal Government Takes First Step Toward Listing the Polar Bears As Threatened Species." (AP)

Polar Bear Scare on Thin Ice

From CO₂ Science Magazine this week:
Editorial:
Antioxidants, Disease and Longevity: How are they related?  How are they affected by elevated CO 2 ?  And what are the implications for humanity?

Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week:
This issue's Level 1 Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week is from a New Zealand Cave.  To access the entire Medieval Warm Period Project's database, click here.

Subject Index Summary:
Climate Models (Inadequacies - Precipitation): How are climate modelers doing with respect to their ability to simulate various aspects of real-world precipitation, particularly within the context of modern global warming?

Plant Growth Data:
This week we add new results (blue background) of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO 2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature for: Loblolly Pine, Myrtle Oak, Sand Live Oak, and a scrub oak palmetto ecosystem.

Journal Reviews:
More Evidence of a Solar-Climate Link: From the Arctic to the Antarctic, more and more studies reveal an undeniable link between the sun and global climate change.

Freshening of the Kara Sea: A Sign of CO 2 -Induced Global Warming?: Freshening of Arctic surface waters is supposed to be "an alarming signal for global change."  Eight scientists from the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia look for it in the Kara Sea.

Effects of an Urban-Rural CO 2 /Temperature Gradient on Plant Productivity: The overlapping of urban heat islands and urban CO 2 domes provides a natural laboratory for investigating the effects of concomitant increases in atmospheric CO 2 and temperature on plant growth and development.

Will Global Warming Make Plants More Susceptible to Episodic Low Temperature Extremes?: Many people thought that it would.  And they were ...

Solar Activity and the Abundance of Sardine Catches: Is there a connection between them?  If so, what?  And why? (co2science.org)

"No Nukes Is Good Nukes?" - "Oil is expensive, and some oil-states are causing more and more trouble. Regardless of whether you think the earth is warming -- or that, if it is, it's the result of burning fossil fuels -- lots of people do think that. And efforts at preventing nuclear proliferation are looking pretty pointless, these days. Meanwhile, the likelihood that Americans will quit using electricity, or driving around, in order to embrace an ascetic-green lifestyle seems even lower than in the 1970s." (Glenn Harlan Reynolds, TCS Daily)

"Blair Says Tax on Air Travel `Unrealistic' Way to Cut Emissions" - "Feb. 7 -- Taxes on air travel would be an ``unrealistic'' way of trying to cut greenhouse gas emissions, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said, signaling a climb-down from his previous hopes of reducing aircraft pollution." (Bloomberg)

"Power failure" - "A new survey reveals that the majority of councils feel they are making little progress on tackling climate change, blaming a lack of political will." (The Guardian)

They shouldn't worry - no matter how much human carbon emission they stop (even all of it), there will be no measurable difference in global climate.

"The enginasters" - "Some years ago your bending author coined in private conversation the term scientaster, which by analogy with poetaster represented a producer of trashy science. From the volume of correspondence about the airborne generator schemes, it would seem that there is also use for another neologism, enginaster." (Number Watch)

"The Diversity We Need" - "We need energy diversification, not the chimera of independence." (Max Borders, TCS Daily)

"Saudi Nervous US Doesn't Want Its Oil" - "HOUSTON - Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, will continue to bolster its output capacity to quell global shortages, but has "concerns" about the Bush administration's call to cut its addiction to Middle East oil, the kingdom's petroleum minister said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"Exxon: America Will Always Rely on Foreign Oil" - "HOUSTON - The United States will always rely on foreign imports of oil to feed its energy needs and should stop trying to become energy independent, a top Exxon Mobil Corp. executive said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"Saudi Minister Slams Costly Alternatives to Oil" - "HOUSTON - Mandating costly alternatives to oil in the name of a cleaner environment could impoverish people and lower living standards, the Saudi Arabian oil minister said Tuesday. "I believe that we should not impoverish people in the name of a cleaner environment," Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi told an energy conference. "Lowering living standards, or limiting peoples' ability to rise out of poverty, in order to improve the environment trades one potential health hazard for another." He said that would be the result of asking consumers to give up oil for a less efficient and more costly alternative fuel that would otherwise be uneconomical." (Reuters)

"Sweden plans to be world's first oil-free economy" - "Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years - without building a new generation of nuclear power stations. The attempt by the country of 9 million people to become the world's first practically oil-free economy is being planned by a committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others, who will report to parliament in several months." (The Guardian)

"Dutch Company to Make Diesel from Plastics Waste" - "AMSTERDAM - A Dutch environmental technology company plans to build 15 plants that will produce diesel fuel from plastics waste in 14 European Union countries, the firm said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"Europe 'stopped GM food imports'" - "The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has ruled that the European Union illegally stopped imports of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from the US." (BBC)

"GMO Ruling Delights US Farmers but Hurdles Remain" - "WASHINGTON - American farm groups roundly cheered a ruling on Tuesday which condemned Europe for holding out against genetically modified foods and crops, saying it would serve as warning to other nations and help US exports." (Reuters)

"Greenpeace dismisses WTO ruling on GMOs" - "Greenpeace tonight dismissed as irrelevant a WTO ruling that reportedly backs the US, Canada and Argentina in their efforts to force Europe to accept genetically modified organisms (GMOs); according to first press reports, the WTO decided that EU national bans contravened trade rules. The environmental organisation considers that just as the WTO case did not challenge EU laws designed to protect the environment, it could not be used to undermine existing international agreements on biosafety." (Press Release)

"Monsanto Stops More Argentine Soy in Europe, Sues" - "BUENOS AIRES - US biotech company Monsanto Co has escalated its battle to collect soybean royalties from Argentina, stopping more shipments to Europe from the South American country and suing for patent violations." (Reuters)

"Genetically Modified Mice Are Resistant to Obesity Despite a High Fat Diet" - "Ravenous mice that chomp down as if there were no tomorrow yet stay lean and mean? Shutting down two genes that modulate a body's energy balance transformed these animals into fidgeting, highly efficient fat burning machines, report scientists." (Newswise)

February 8, 2006

"SOUTH AFRICA: Winning the war against malaria, so far" - "JOZINI, 7 February - Jonathon Gumede knows the symptoms of malaria well: headaches, persistent shivering, a high temperature and sore joints are the initial warning signs of infection, and if not treated quickly, a person can die within a matter of days. Gumede, a malaria programme district manager in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), has been fighting the spread of the disease in South Africa for 25 years." (IRIN)

"UN Global Environmental Chemical Deal Wins Approval" - "DUBAI - World environmental and health officials agreed on an initiative that aims to make chemicals safer for humans and the planet, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"Red Flag For CBS Teflon Story" - "New study important, but CBS coverage wrong on facts and scientifically irresponsible." (Trevor Butterworth)

"The perchlorate surprise" - "The 2005 ES&T environmental science paper of the year finds that perchlorate is everywhere." (ES&T)

“Being natural doesn’t make it good.” Imagine that...

"Fatty food-mood link researched" - "Scientists from Nottingham University are carrying out research into why many people find high-fat foods so tasty. The three-year study's results could help manufacturers create appetising dishes that are not as fattening. It focuses on the chemical signals sent to the brain and scans will be taken of volunteers' brains looking at which parts respond to food." (BBC)

"Studies of obese children reveal body-weight control hormone" - "A single change in a particular brain hormone can increase a person's risk of obesity, two new studies in the February 8, 2006, Cell Metabolism reveal. The researchers found that obese children are more likely to carry a rare variant of so-called ß-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (ß-MSH) than children of normal weight." (Cell Press)

"Large study shows low-fat diet has little effect on reducing risk of breast cancer" - "A major study that includes nearly 50,000 women followed over 8 years indicates that a diet low in fat, but high in fruit, vegetables and grains, does not significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to an article in the February 8 issue of JAMA." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

"Low-fat diet does not reduce risk of colorectal cancer" - "In an article in the February 8 JAMA, Shirley A. A. Beresford, Ph.D., of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues with the Women's Health Initiative (a study which included nearly 50,000 women) analyzed data from the WHI Dietary Modification Trial to determine the effect of a low-fat eating pattern on risk of colorectal cancer in postmenopausal women. Previous trials examining this association have been inconclusive." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

"Risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke not significantly decreased with low-fat diet" - "In an article in the February 8 JAMA, Barbara V. Howard, Ph.D., of Medstar Research Institute/Howard University, Washington, D.C., and colleagues with the Women's Health Initiative (WHI, a study which included nearly 50,000 women) analyzed data from the WHI Dietary Modification Trial to determine the effect of a diet low in fat intake and high in consumption of vegetables, fruits and grains on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk." (JAMA and Archives Journals)

and just in case you haven't got it: "National study finds no effect from reducing total dietary fat" - "Despite findings being announced this week that a low-fat diet introduced in the middle-age years didn't reduce the risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke or colon cancer, one of the researchers says people still need to focus on the types of fat they eat. The national diet study of almost 50,000 healthy postmenopausal women was part of the massive Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study." (Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center)

Circling the wagons: "Diet doubts attacked by experts" - "Heart experts say a study which shows a lack of health benefits from a low-fat diet failed to take into account other risk factors." (BBC)

"1.2m people will reach 100th birthday by 2074, says study" - "It is a milestone that has typically been rewarded by a local newspaper front-page story and a birthday card signed by the Queen. But according to figures produced by the Government Actuary's Department, the novelty of living to 100 years may disappear. The current population of 10,000 centenarians could increase by more than 100-fold in the next 68 years, the government's population projection study says." (The Guardian)

Gosh, longevity is still increasing despite all those dreadful chemicals and pollutants we're assured are killing us, not to mention evil multinationals chasing us down in the street to force more 'empty calories' down our protesting throats... imaging how long we'd live if we could just get rid of industry, cheap energy and abundant, affordable food!

"The American Social Model" - "American capitalism really is a harsh taskmaster, isn't it? Those excessively long hours that everyone works, so different from the ease and leisure that applies in Europe. There's only one small problem with this idea. It turns out not to be true. Tim Worstall on some important new research." (Tim Worstall, TCS Daily)

"Scientists to hold cuts protest" - "Scientists will protest at the House of Commons on Wednesday over plans to shut four global warming research centres. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology laboratories have been earmarked for closure by parent company the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc)." (BBC)

Aha! "NASA to divert cash from science into shuttle" - "NASA wants to divert money from its science programme to help pay for billions of dollars of projected space shuttle cost overruns, says the agency's chief, Mike Griffin. The cuts mean several key science missions will be delayed indefinitely and have sparked criticism from space enthusiasts and law makers." (NewScientist.com news service)

The reason for Hansen's dummy spit last week is becoming clearer - throw a major tantrum, claim to be a victim of some imaginary agenda and guarantee a cut-proof departmental budget. Have to hand it to the guy, most modellers tend to be naïve denizens of their virtual worlds but Hansen seems very adept at hardball politics with his carefully timed claims and prognostications.

"World Has Seven Years for Key Climate Decisions –Blair" - "LONDON - The world has seven years to take vital decisions and implement measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions or it could be too late, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday. Blair said the battle against global warming would only be won if the United States, India and China were part of a framework that included targets and that succeeded the 1992 Kyoto Protocol climate pact. "If we don't get the right agreement internationally for the period after which the Kyoto protocol will expire - that's in 2012 - if we don't do that then I think we are in serious trouble," he told a parliamentary committee. Asked if the world had seven years to implement measures on climate change before the problem reached "tipping point", Blair answered: "Yes." (Reuters)

Why's that Tony? Afraid these guys might be right and the world will 'tip' into declining temperatures? What will wannabe social engineers use for an excuse then?

"Post-Kyoto deal 'must include CO2 targets'" - "A post-Kyoto deal on climate change will have to include targets for cutting carbon dioxide emissions, the prime minister has said. Speaking to a committee of senior MPs, Tony Blair said he was talking to President Bush about global warming "virtually the whole time". And he said that, despite American worries, there would have to be firmer action to cut greenhouse gas emissions." (ePolitix)

'Global warming crisis' as a matter of faith - literally: "86 Evangelical Leaders Join to Fight Global Warming" - "Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors." (New York Times)

In the virtual land of fruits and nuts: "New research has implications for California's future water supply and flood risk" - "If the world continues to burn greenhouse gases, California may have an increased risk of winter floods and summer water shortages, even within the same year. This scenario may be more severe in future El Nino years." (DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

Uncertainties in Modeling Cloud and Precipitation Processes Within Global Climate Models (Climate Science)

"Feds Move to Protect Polar Bears" - "Federal Government Takes First Step Toward Listing the Polar Bears As Threatened Species." (AP)

Polar Bear Scare on Thin Ice

From CO₂ Science Magazine this week:
Editorial:
Antioxidants, Disease and Longevity: How are they related?  How are they affected by elevated CO 2 ?  And what are the implications for humanity?

Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week:
This issue's Level 1 Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week is from a New Zealand Cave.  To access the entire Medieval Warm Period Project's database, click here.

Subject Index Summary:
Climate Models (Inadequacies - Precipitation): How are climate modelers doing with respect to their ability to simulate various aspects of real-world precipitation, particularly within the context of modern global warming?

Plant Growth Data:
This week we add new results (blue background) of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO 2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature for: Loblolly Pine, Myrtle Oak, Sand Live Oak, and a scrub oak palmetto ecosystem.

Journal Reviews:
More Evidence of a Solar-Climate Link: From the Arctic to the Antarctic, more and more studies reveal an undeniable link between the sun and global climate change.

Freshening of the Kara Sea: A Sign of CO 2 -Induced Global Warming?: Freshening of Arctic surface waters is supposed to be "an alarming signal for global change."  Eight scientists from the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia look for it in the Kara Sea.

Effects of an Urban-Rural CO 2 /Temperature Gradient on Plant Productivity: The overlapping of urban heat islands and urban CO 2 domes provides a natural laboratory for investigating the effects of concomitant increases in atmospheric CO 2 and temperature on plant growth and development.

Will Global Warming Make Plants More Susceptible to Episodic Low Temperature Extremes?: Many people thought that it would.  And they were ...

Solar Activity and the Abundance of Sardine Catches: Is there a connection between them?  If so, what?  And why? (co2science.org)

"No Nukes Is Good Nukes?" - "Oil is expensive, and some oil-states are causing more and more trouble. Regardless of whether you think the earth is warming -- or that, if it is, it's the result of burning fossil fuels -- lots of people do think that. And efforts at preventing nuclear proliferation are looking pretty pointless, these days. Meanwhile, the likelihood that Americans will quit using electricity, or driving around, in order to embrace an ascetic-green lifestyle seems even lower than in the 1970s." (Glenn Harlan Reynolds, TCS Daily)

"Blair Says Tax on Air Travel `Unrealistic' Way to Cut Emissions" - "Feb. 7 -- Taxes on air travel would be an ``unrealistic'' way of trying to cut greenhouse gas emissions, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said, signaling a climb-down from his previous hopes of reducing aircraft pollution." (Bloomberg)

"Power failure" - "A new survey reveals that the majority of councils feel they are making little progress on tackling climate change, blaming a lack of political will." (The Guardian)

They shouldn't worry - no matter how much human carbon emission they stop (even all of it), there will be no measurable difference in global climate.

"The enginasters" - "Some years ago your bending author coined in private conversation the term scientaster, which by analogy with poetaster represented a producer of trashy science. From the volume of correspondence about the airborne generator schemes, it would seem that there is also use for another neologism, enginaster." (Number Watch)

"The Diversity We Need" - "We need energy diversification, not the chimera of independence." (Max Borders, TCS Daily)

"Saudi Nervous US Doesn't Want Its Oil" - "HOUSTON - Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, will continue to bolster its output capacity to quell global shortages, but has "concerns" about the Bush administration's call to cut its addiction to Middle East oil, the kingdom's petroleum minister said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"Exxon: America Will Always Rely on Foreign Oil" - "HOUSTON - The United States will always rely on foreign imports of oil to feed its energy needs and should stop trying to become energy independent, a top Exxon Mobil Corp. executive said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"Saudi Minister Slams Costly Alternatives to Oil" - "HOUSTON - Mandating costly alternatives to oil in the name of a cleaner environment could impoverish people and lower living standards, the Saudi Arabian oil minister said Tuesday. "I believe that we should not impoverish people in the name of a cleaner environment," Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi told an energy conference. "Lowering living standards, or limiting peoples' ability to rise out of poverty, in order to improve the environment trades one potential health hazard for another." He said that would be the result of asking consumers to give up oil for a less efficient and more costly alternative fuel that would otherwise be uneconomical." (Reuters)

"Sweden plans to be world's first oil-free economy" - "Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years - without building a new generation of nuclear power stations. The attempt by the country of 9 million people to become the world's first practically oil-free economy is being planned by a committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others, who will report to parliament in several months." (The Guardian)

"Dutch Company to Make Diesel from Plastics Waste" - "AMSTERDAM - A Dutch environmental technology company plans to build 15 plants that will produce diesel fuel from plastics waste in 14 European Union countries, the firm said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"Europe 'stopped GM food imports'" - "The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has ruled that the European Union illegally stopped imports of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from the US." (BBC)

"GMO Ruling Delights US Farmers but Hurdles Remain" - "WASHINGTON - American farm groups roundly cheered a ruling on Tuesday which condemned Europe for holding out against genetically modified foods and crops, saying it would serve as warning to other nations and help US exports." (Reuters)

"Greenpeace dismisses WTO ruling on GMOs" - "Greenpeace tonight dismissed as irrelevant a WTO ruling that reportedly backs the US, Canada and Argentina in their efforts to force Europe to accept genetically modified organisms (GMOs); according to first press reports, the WTO decided that EU national bans contravened trade rules. The environmental organisation considers that just as the WTO case did not challenge EU laws designed to protect the environment, it could not be used to undermine existing international agreements on biosafety." (Press Release)

"Monsanto Stops More Argentine Soy in Europe, Sues" - "BUENOS AIRES - US biotech company Monsanto Co has escalated its battle to collect soybean royalties from Argentina, stopping more shipments to Europe from the South American country and suing for patent violations." (Reuters)

"Genetically Modified Mice Are Resistant to Obesity Despite a High Fat Diet" - "Ravenous mice that chomp down as if there were no tomorrow yet stay lean and mean? Shutting down two genes that modulate a body's energy balance transformed these animals into fidgeting, highly efficient fat burning machines, report scientists." (Newswise)

February 7, 2006

"Plans to reduce malaria deaths in Zambia by 75 percent" - "The Government, international donors and the nongovernmental organisations (NGO) have affiliated in hopes of dramatically bringing down the number of deaths caused by Malaria in Zambia. This is all part of a new initiative which hopes to see numbers drop with in three years." (AFM)

"It’s Not About Abramoff" - "The “scandal” involving conservative writers is about politics, not ethics." (Tom Giovanetti, NRO)

This will upset animal whackos and their anti-milk front organisations: "Many US children don't get adequate calcium -report" - "CHICAGO - Many American children do not consume enough milk or other calcium-rich foods like yogurt and cheese that build strong bones, a report said on Monday. A calcium deficiency -- whether blamed on children's finicky diets or teenagers choosing soft drinks instead of milk -- could pose risks later on of broken bones or osteoporosis, according to the report from the American Academy of Pediatrics." (Reuters)

"Huge Canadian Park Is Born of Compromise" - "OTTAWA, Feb. 6 -- Ending a decade-long environmental battle once dubbed the "War of the Woods," British Columbia is set to announce Tuesday the creation of a park twice the size of Yellowstone along a vast coastal swath where grizzly bears and wolves now prowl under thousand-year-old cedar trees. The park will cover 4.4 million acres, and strict new controls will protect against exploitation on an additional 10 million acres. The entire territory, being called the Great Bear Rainforest, is the result of an unusual alliance of loggers, environmentalists, native groups and the provincial government." (Washington Post)

Hmm... "Supplements not Sun Best for Boosting Vitamin D" - "NEW YORK - Sunbathing intentionally to get more vitamin D is like taking up smoking to lose weight, a Boston dermatologist warns." (Reuters)

While you do not need to toast yourself for the sake of vitamin D you don't need to live in fear of the sun either. Depending on latitude band you can get enough sun exposure for 'D production just walking 10 minutes to the bus stop while wearing short sleeves or longer exposure for higher latitude bands - where this is impractical (due to concerns about freezing to death, for example) you should make alternative arrangements, be that supplementation, sun beds or whatever. Just remember you don't need to nuke yourself crisp any more than you need to live in mortal fear. Moderation good, extremism bad is a pretty good guideline to follow in all things. Another is that hysteria is highly unlikely to improve either the quality or the length of your life so there is little point paying any attention to hysterics.

"Outbreak: Rapid appearance of fungus devastates frogs, salamanders in Panama" - "An outbreak of an infectious disease called chytridiomycosis, attributed to the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has infected and caused rapid die-offs in eight families of Panamanian amphibians, scientists report in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"Our findings definitively link the appearance of chytridiomycosis to amphibian population declines," said Lips. The area had no evidence of climate anomalies in 2004; its temperature and rainfall patterns were similar to those found in long-term records. "These results support a model of amphibian declines in which this fungus enters and quickly spreads through a community with no previously infected individuals," Lips said." (National Science Foundation)

Let's repeat that: "Our findings definitively link the appearance of chytridiomycosis to amphibian population declines", "The area had no evidence of climate anomalies in 2004; its temperature and rainfall patterns were similar to those found in long-term records."

What is the Current Understanding of Solar Forcing of Climate Change? (Climate Science)

Uh-oh... "Russian Expert Predicts Global Cooling from 2012" - "Starting from 20012, the process of global cooling will start on the Earth and by the middle of 21st century the whole planet will be captured by low temperatures, an expert from the Russian Sciences Academy Observatory was quoted by NewsRu.com as saying Monday. The cause of the expected global cooling is a decrease in the flow of the Sun’s radiation, Khabibulo Absudamatov says. “We have already witnessed a cooling of the kind in Europe, in North America and Greenland in 1645-1705, with canals freezing in Holland, and people abandoning settlements because of nearing glaciers in Greenland. This is what we are expecting again in some decades,” he said." (MosNews)

"Antarctic krill provide carbon sink in Southern Ocean" - "New research on Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a shrimp-like animal at the heart of the Southern Ocean food chain, reveals behaviour that shows that they absorb and transfer more carbon from the Earth's surface than was previously understood. The results are published this week in the journal Current Biology. Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Scarborough Centre of Coastal Studies at the University of Hull discovered that rather than doing so once per 24 hours, Antarctic krill 'parachute' from the ocean surface to deeper layers several times during the night. In the process they inject more carbon into the deep sea when they excrete their waste than had previously been understood." (British Antarctic Survey)

Nothing better to do? "Thousands of barges could save Europe from deep freeze" - "It is ironic that one consequence of global warming is that Europe might plunge into a deep freeze. This possibility stimulated an unusual research project at the University of Alberta." (University of Alberta)

Unless someone can figure out a way of turning off wind and tide there is no expectation 'global warming' will significantly alter North Atlantic meridional overturning, nor does the so-called conveyer actually make that much of a contribution to European climate. We've provided these before but there's obviously a need to do so again. The following items collated by Benny Peiser and distributed via the ever-excellent CCNet:

"A model intercomparison of changes in the Atlantic thermohaline circulation in response to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration" (.pdf) - "Abstract: In an experiment coordinated as part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, integrations with a common design have been undertaken with eleven different climate models to compare the response of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) to time-dependent climate change caused by increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration. Over 140 years, during which the CO2 concentration quadruples, the circulation strength declines gradually in all models, by between 10 and 50%. This weakening is consistent with the expected effect of reduced heat loss and increased net freshwater input in the north Atlantic. No model shows a rapid or complete collapse. The models having the strongest overturning in the control climate tend to show the largest THC reductions. Despite the reduced ocean heat transport, no model shows a cooling anywhere, because the greenhouse warming is dominant. In all the models, the THC weakening is caused more by changes in surface heat flux than by changes in surface water flux." (Geophysical Research Letters)

"Ice growth in the greenhouse: a seductive paradox but unrealistic scenario" - "ABSTRACT: The recent IPCC (2001) assessment stated that

"Most models show weakening of the Northern Hemisphere Thermohaline Circulation (THC), which contributes to a reduction of surface warming in the northern North Atlantic. Even in models where the THC weakens, there is still a warming over Europe due to increased greenhouse gases."

However, there is still a widespread misunderstanding of the possible consequence of climate change on the Atlantic Ocean Meridional Overturning. In particular, it is often touted, especially in the media, that a possible consequence of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is: "the onset of the next ice age". Here we document the history of this misconception and quantitatively show how it is impossible for an ice age to ensue as a consequence of global warming. Through analysis of the paleoclimate record as well as a number of climate model simulations, we also suggest that it is very unlikely that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning will cease to be active in the near future. We further suggest that a region where intermediate water formation may shut down is in the Labrador Sea, although this has more minor consequences for climate than if deep water formation in the Nordic Seas were to cease." (Geoscience Canada)

"Gulf Stream safe if wind blows and Earth turns" - "Sir - Your News story "Gulf Stream probed for early warnings of system failure" (Nature 427, 769 (2004)) discusses what the climate in the south of England would be like "without the Gulf Stream." Sadly, this phrase has been seen far too often, usually in newspapers concerned with the unlikely possibility of a new iceage in Britain triggered by the loss of the Gulf Stream.

European readers should be reassured that the Gulf Stream's existence is a consequence of the large-scale wind system over the North Atlantic Ocean, and of the nature of fluid motion on a rotating planet. The only way to produce an ocean circulation without a Gulf Stream is either to turn off the wind system, or to stop the Earth's rotation, or both.

Real questions exist about conceivable changes in the ocean circulation and its climate consequences. However, such discussions are not helped by hyperbole and alarmism. The occurrence of a climate state without the Gulf Stream anytime soon - within tens of millions of years - has a probability of little more than zero.

Carl Wunsch
Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (Nature 428, 601, April 8, 2004)

Will Freshening Of The North Atlantic Ocean Slow The Gulf Stream And Cool Europe? (CO2 Science Magazine)

See also: Seager, et al, "Is the Gulf Stream responsible for Europe's mild winters?" [.pdf] Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 128(586): 2563-2586).

The chances of actually shutting down the NH thermohaline circulation is roughly, well, nil, and the consequence for Europe should that vague possibility occur is about the same.

Trivial pursuit (Number Watch)

Overpeck... "Scientists Warn of Melting Ice in Arctic" - "ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Scientists on Monday painted a gloomy picture of the effects of global warming on the Arctic, warning of melting ocean ice, rising oceans, thawed permafrost and forests susceptible to bugs and fire. "A lot of the stories you read make it sound like there's uncertainty," said Jonathan Overpeck, a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona. "There's not uncertainty." (Associated Press)

"Annan urges action on climate change as he accepts environmental award in Dubai" - "6 February 2006 – As he accepted a top global award in Dubai for his work with the environment, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged world leaders to use the United Nations-backed Kyoto Protocol to move on climate change and called for governments, businesses and citizens to adopt a new mindset on energy resources." (UN News Centre)

"US congressmen push at UN for new climate talks" - "UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6 - A key U.S. senator called on the Bush administration on Monday to open global climate talks, warning that the dangers of global warming were not only a threat to the United States but India and China as well." (Reuters)

"Climate change: Green Week is first Commission event to go ‘climate neutral’" - "The European Commission has taken action to ensure that its major annual environmental conference, Green Week, does not contribute to climate change. According to estimates, Green Week 2005 generated emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases equivalent to 139 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). The main source of emissions was the travel activities of conference participants. The Commission has now offset these by buying emission allowances for the same amount of CO2 under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The allowances will be cancelled so they cannot be used in the future. This makes Green Week 2005, held in Brussels last June with climate change as its key theme, the first ‘climate neutral’ event organised by the Commission. The Commission intends to do the same for Green Week 2006, which will be held from 30 May-2 June and will focus on protecting biological diversity." (Press Release)

"INTERVIEW - UK Power Industry Seeks Clarity on Emissions" - "LONDON - Britain's power industry on Monday called for swift clarification of the government's plans to curb utilities' greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Tensions are running high among power generators as they wait to hear about the level of emissions caps to be imposed on utilities and other industrial firms in the period 2008-2012 - phase two of the European Union's emissions trading scheme." (Reuters)

"EU Commission to Rule Soon on UK Emissions Plan" - "BRUSSELS - The European Union executive will decide soon whether to approve Britain's revised emissions trading plan after an EU court ruled the UK had the right to make its plan easier for industry to swallow." (Reuters)

"'Oil Addiction' Talk Boosts Enviro Leftists" - "“America is addicted to oil.” With these five words in his State of the Union speech, President George W. Bush confounded steadfast allies on energy policy and emboldened his bitterest enemies. Political sages often counsel paying more attention to deeds than to words, but in this case, the President’s irresponsible rhetoric is likely to have far more damaging consequences than the minor policy changes he went on to recommend." (Myron Ebell, Human Events)

"German generators turn to coal as gas prices soar" - "FRANKFURT - Coal is enjoying a resurgence as the fuel of choice for German electricity generators, despite environmental costs, as gas prices soar to record highs. Last month's row between Russia and Ukraine over gas highlighted Europe's vulnerability in relying on imported energy and gave a further boost to home-produced coal." (Reuters)

"Russia and US as global nuclear waste collectors?" - "MOSCOW AND WASHINGTON – Against a backdrop of global efforts to address peacefully the concerns raised by Iran's nuclear power program, the US and Russia are proposing an international "partnership" for controlling the flow of weapons-grade uranium to those who might harbor military ambitions. The plan, announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week and included in President Bush's budget sent to Congress Monday, would provide energy-starved countries with the fuel they need for generating nuclear power, while taking back the dangerous waste created in its production." (Christian Science Monitor)

"Toshiba pays £3bn to win nuclear contest" - "Toshiba has won the $5.4bn (£3.1bn) auction for British Nuclear Fuels' Westinghouse Electric subsidiary, the US-based nuclear engineering group which controls Britain's only nuclear fuel manufacturing site, Springfield Fuels." (The Guardian)

"China's Three Gorges Dam Project to Finish By May" - "BEIJING - China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectricity project, is expected to be completed by May, nine months ahead of schedule, state media reported on Monday." (Reuters)

"Corn Power Put to the Test" - "AMES, Iowa — The endless fields of corn in the Midwest can be distilled into endless gallons of ethanol, a clean-burning, high-octane fuel that could end any worldwide oil shortage, reduce emissions that cause global warming, and free the United States from dependence on foreign energy. There is only one catch: Turning corn into ethanol takes energy. For every gallon that an ethanol manufacturing plant produces, it uses the equivalent of almost two-fifths of a gallon of fuel (usually natural gas), and that does not count the fuel needed to make fertilizer for the corn, run the farm machinery or truck the ethanol to market." (New York Times)

"Coal, Inexpensive Power Linked" - "American Electric Power officials plan to construct a major power line from West Virginia to New Jersey to, according to The Associated Press, “increase the availability of electricity at lower costs in the eastern United States.” That’s nice. We in the Ohio Valley are always eager to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters in other states. But may we suggest that a gigantic circuit breaker of sorts be constructed somewhere along the 550-mile line? That way, we could flip it the next time New Jersey and other East Coast states file a “global warming” or “acid rain” lawsuit against our power companies." (The Intelligencer)

From the Left Coast, of course: "Coming to Terms With Our Obsessions: Time to ban car commercials?" - "Social engineering is a concept many Americans naturally abhor, because it attacks our deeply held freedom, and we have always believed in doing virtually anything we want. Free-market capitalists feel this way, and most citizens usually go along for the ride.

But our country's obsessive consumption of oil to fill the tanks of our auto-centric culture may eventually kill off the world, and believe it or not, Mr. and Mrs. America, you and I will go down, too. Our love affair with cars has to change, sooner rather than later. The hubris of excess (see Hummer) has gotten our society into a pickle, and it's time to take a novel approach with this problem.

Let's tamp down the future demand side -- to put it another way, like a diet, we must somehow decrease our appetite. Cars are wonderful machines, I'll freely admit, and powerful tools that help us maintain our modern lives. But this obsession has gotten way out of control and threatens the very air we breathe, the earth beneath our feet, our overflowing landfills and even the worldwide political landscape. If every American drove less, kept the same car longer or thought about cars as a well-being issue, then perhaps we can yet avert catastrophe." (Bob Ecker, SF Chronicle)

"Rains No Longer a Blessing in Java" - "SURABAYA, Feb 6 - Indonesians, used to welcoming the rains as a sign of better and more fertile times, are increasingly dreading them for fear of the floods they bring." (IPS)

"Research into soy will continue but soy is not a solution for heart disease" - "Many soy food products carry health claims stating that they reduce the risk of heart disease. A review of the evidence, however, suggests that soy's cardiovascular benefits may have been overestimated by the early studies that formed the basis for its health claim." (Tufts University)

"U.S. wheat groups working to bring back GM wheat" - "SAN ANTONIO - U.S. wheat groups must actively support the commercialization of genetically modified wheat if the industry is to reverse a decline in wheat acreage and profitability, industry leaders said on Sunday. "We desperately need a solution," said Art Brandli, a member of the Minnesota Wheat Council, speaking to members of the National Association of Wheat Growers at a grain industry conference in San Antonio. "We need higher yields and lower costs." (Reuters)

February 6, 2006

"Malaria Infection Linked to Rampant Poverty" - "Which way does causation run, from malaria to poverty or poverty to malaria? The government can do something simple like spraying small amounts of DDT on the inside walls of dwellings to prevent large scale malaria outbreaks and increase the productive capacity of the workforce." (AFM)

Sounds like a case for real pesticides: "Bed-bug epidemic bites at Australian tourism" - "SYDNEY - Australia is suffering a bed-bug epidemic with the tourism industry losing an estimated A$100 million (US$75 million) a year because of the blood-sucking insects, according to a new entomology study. Some pest controllers have reported more than a 1,000 percent rise in bed-bug outbreaks, said the Institute for Clinical Pathology & Medical Research at Sydney's Westmead Hospital. The Australian outbreaks are part of a global epidemic, with the number of bed bugs worldwide doubling each year, Institute medical entomologist Stephen Doggett said on Friday. "Britain, Europe and a lot of America have reported a resurgence in bed bugs," said Doggett." (Reuters)

"UK Report Rejects No-Spray Pesticide Buffer Zone" - "LONDON - A call for no-spray buffer zones on farms to protect the public from potential health risks from pesticides has been rejected by a group of scientists in a report commissioned by Britain's farm ministry. "Inappropriate precaution distorts public perception of risk and leads people to restrict their activities unnecessarily," said David Coggon of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides in a report issued on Monday." (Reuters)

"Row over risks of farm chemicals" - "Scientists have criticised a report on crop spraying and its risks to health. Last year, a report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) recommended five-metre no-spray zones between fields and homes. But the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) says this measure is "arbitrary" and a "disproportionate" response to scientific uncertainty. The ACP is an independent scientific committee and advises government on the control of pests." (BBC)

"Summit focuses on chemical usage" - "Environment ministers from around the world are meeting in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to discuss the rising use of man-made chemicals. The United Nations-backed conference, the largest yet, is expected to issue a declaration on the way chemicals should be managed around the world." (BBC)

"Tragic Costs of Over-Regulation" - "There is a mind-numbing, ill-defined uneasiness when to comes to discussions of regulations. Too often we accept them as if there was rationality behind them or some Biblical truths requiring our acceptance of them. It‚s only a small demand, it's said, on the businessperson's time and money, and not something to worry about. Nothing could be farther from the truth." (Michael R. Fox, Hawaii Reporter)

Oh dear... "Chocolate bars to carry 'health warnings' on wrapping" - "Chocolate bars and other sweets are to have a "health warning" printed on the back of their packaging as part of a major drive to educate the public, particularly children, on their diet. Echoing the health warning on the back of cigarette packets, the new labelling will include a panel for "rotating messages" in support of the government call for balancing lifestyle with activity." (The Guardian)

"UK: Forced to own up to the killer fat in our food" - "FOOD manufacturers will be ordered to reveal the amount of "killer fats" lurking in their products as part of a plan to reduce the UK's shocking death toll from heart disease. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) wants all products to list the amount of trans fats, the man-made substance found in highly processed meals and snacks ranging from crisps to breakfast cereals." (Scotland on Sunday)

"Pity the Scientist Who Discovers the Discovered" - "It may seem odd that scientists in the Internet age spend years on a line of research without having first determined that their mountain had not already been climbed." (Gina Kolata, New York Times)

"Millions of trees to restore native woods" - "MORE than seven million trees could be planted during an initiative to regenerate Scotland's native woodland. With Scottish Environment Week about to start, the Scottish Forest Alliance - a collaboration between BP, Forestry Commission Scotland, Woodland Trust Scotland and RSPB Scotland - claim the initiative is the biggest corporate contribution to the environment in Scottish history." (The Scotsman)

Hmm... spent 500 years developing the place and now they want to undevelop it... people sure are a wondrous bunch.

"How one mine could save a Romanian town" - "SAN FRANCISCO – Can economic development enhance environmental quality? That's the big question being worked out in the tiny village of Rosia Montana in Romania - a place of enormous natural beauty and grinding poverty, atop one of the largest gold deposits in the world." (Christian Science Monitor)

"La Nina warms winter; bodes ill for hurricanes" - "A new La Nina, a cooling of the ocean surface that can have global consequences --- from the promise of a warmer, drier spring in Georgia to a new wild card in what forecasters already expect will be a hyperactive hurricane season --- has emerged in the Pacific, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday. Past cooling episodes in the same area of the central Pacific have been linked to increases in the number and intensity of hurricanes, but climate experts say it's too early to tell what role this La Nina will play in the 2006 hurricane season, already expected to be more active. "Historically, a La Nina typically makes for stronger and more frequent hurricanes, but this is a weak La Nina," NOAA climate analyst Ed O'Lenic said at the American Meteorology Society meeting in Atlanta." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

"Interview: Jasper Gerard meets James Lovelock: We’re all doomed, so to hell with wind farms" - "Off to a Greenpeace rally via the bottle bank in your eco-car, converted to run on organic carrot juice? Don’t bother. Instead, go for a burn-up in a Ferrari, crank up the heating and wait for the end of the world. This seems to be the message of James Lovelock, celebrated scientist and creator of the Gaia theory that taught us to think of the planet as a living organism. He declares it is too late to save civilisation as we know it, so save yourself. Find a mountain, perhaps on the island of Cornwall, before the floods arrive — London, he tells me, could be under the North Sea within 50 years." (The Sunday Times)

"James Lovelock: 'The lush, comfortable world we are used to is going rapidly'" - "In his latest book, the green scientist who dared to cross the Darwinists paints a bleak picture of Earth's future under the ravages of global warming. But, he insists, all is not lost for humanity." (London Independent)

"NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness" - "A week after NASA's top climate scientist complained that the space agency's public-affairs office was trying to silence his statements on global warming, the agency's administrator, Michael D. Griffin, issued a sharply worded statement yesterday calling for "scientific openness" throughout the agency." (New York Times)

"Scientist and legislator clash during first meeting of N.C. commission on global warming" - "A legislator and a scientist tangled Friday over whether the use of carbon-based fuels such as coal and gasoline contribute to global warming." (Associated Press)

100% wrong: "A cooperative climate" - "In a recent mailing to members of the North Carolina Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change, the John Locke Foundation quoted well-known climatologist Tom Wigley as saying that the Kyoto protocol would do little to stabilize the Earth's climate. Under the protocol, signed by 160 U.N. members (but not ratified by the United States), countries agree to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide by specified percentages by the end of this decade to help lessen global climate change.

The Locke mailing concludes that it is "unreasonable to expect that North Carolina, acting along or in consort with other states, could do anything to mitigate future global warming." In short, if Kyoto won't work, let's do nothing." (William H. Schlesinger, News & Observer)

For Schlesinger to be correct in his summation Kyoto would need to be a zero-cost activity, which is a total nonsense - even the IPCC optimistically guesstimates implementation will cost $trillions. Could we do so? Perhaps, it's just that squandering the funds for no measurable result means we are denying impoverished third world populations development assistance, trade opportunity and any hope of improved living standards and health. What Schlesinger should have written is "Kyoto won't work, let's do no harm."

Even worse, we don't know what the temperature of the planet really is or what it 'should' be. Look at NCDC's absolute mean temperature estimates since 1880 - hopefully some of you will even download the data from source or our local copy in csv format and check out the trend for yourselves - we think the world has warmed slightly over one and one-quarter centuries, although said warming is smaller than the error margin on the mean temperature estimates and is believed based in a time when the world was in a cool phase of normal climatic oscillations. At the same time as warming is assumed we have had significant change in the way this information is gathered with major increases in urban populations and the closure of large numbers of rural recording sites. It's claimed that Urban Heat Island (UHI) is corrected for in temperature datasets yet there is significant variation between sets supposedly drawing on the same raw meteorological station data, something which suggests claims of elimination of UHI are more wishful thinking than factual. We can't even guarantee the sign of any Earth mean temperature trend and yet we have a huge squawk about 'looming tipping points' and other nonsense. The theoretical absence of warming potential from complete implementation of Kyoto is far too small for us to measure - making its value nil - and to do so we must harm the global economy and prevent third world development. And this is an attractive proposition to some people? Go figure!

"We aren't changing climate" - "Let's avoid snap judgments and wishful thinking on warming trend." (Sen. Robert Pittenger, Charlotte Observer)

"Rip up Kyoto contract? Not so fast" - "During the election campaign, the Conservatives were coy about climate change. Their official platform spoke of developing a "made-in-Canada plan" to address greenhouse gas emissions, but didn't mention the Kyoto Protocol at all. Still, it's quite clear that Stephen Harper is no fan of the agreement. Now that he's in power, could he tear it up?" (Toronto Star)

While Canada would do the world a favour by leading the charge for the door in scrapping UNFCCC it's not very likely. What will happen will be one of two things: 1.) signatories will carry on as before, telling outrageous porkies about how well they're doing reducing emissions until the truth becomes obvious - then blame the US and Australia for having wrecked an otherwise nifty agreement which they'll now have to call off due to American intransigence or; 2.) blunder on until eventually even they realise they can't do what they demand of everyone else and then try to transfer the whole pointless agreement into AP6, hoping to steal control of a potentially useful mechanism as they do so.

"Poor nations need billions to fight climate change" - "NEW DELHI - A top British environmentalist said on Friday the developing world needed to spend at least $40 billion more every year to fight climate change." (Reuters)

Workshop Summary of the Indirect effects of Aerosol on Climate (Climate Science)

"Synchronized Flights Reveal Intriguing Information about Ice Particles" - "In the clouds above Darwin, Australia, pilots guided by a team of international climate scientists are now one week into a series of carefully orchestrated flights to obtain key in situ data about tropical clouds." (Newswise)

The Week That Was Feb. 4, 2006 (SEPP)

Australia's Public Broadcaster's idea of bringing 'science' to the masses? "Could skippy stop cows farting and end global warming?" - "The world is freaked out about climate change, global warming, and greenhouse gasses, and it could be up to skippy and his stomach juices to save the day. We all know kangaroos are pretty special, but it's their lack of flatulence, or more precisely the lack of methane emissions, that has researchers excited. While they eat pretty much the same thing, cows end up producing a lot of methane, and kangaroos don't. Researchers think a whopping 10 percent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions could be permanently eliminated if scientists can introduce microbes found in the stomach of kangaroos into livestock feed." (Australian Broadcasting Corp.)

"Global warming threatens Tibet rail link" - "BEIJING - Global warming could threaten the new Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest, within a decade, a Chinese researcher said in remarks published on Sunday." (Reuters)

"Reef 'gone in 20 years'" - "MARINE scientists say global warming could transform the Great Barrier Reef into a bleached maze of dead coral within 20 years." (The Australian)

Really? Oddly enough, the reef seems to have survived the Holocene Maximum...

"Warming streams endanger salmon" - "HOMER -- A long-term study of salmon streams on the lower Kenai Peninsula has found a steady six-year warming trend, with more days counted every year in which water temperatures exceed limits considered healthy for salmon." (Anchorage Daily News)

Virtual world: "Warming climate will slow ocean circulation" - "Later this century, rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere will slow the ocean currents that bring warm waters to the North Atlantic, thereby affecting that region's climate, computer simulations suggest." (Science News)

Real world: "Debunking The Ocean-Circulation-Collapse Scare" - "An oceanographer charts the ebb and flow of opinion on ocean currents. Many scientists believe that highlatitude cooling drives the ocean's currents as cold, dense water sinks then flows towards the Equator, creating a convective heat engine. Since I was a student in the 1960s, when a colleague at MIT, Thomas Rossby, had seemingly shown that such a flow could be set up in the lab, this view has been entrenched. But a flaw in the heat-engine model was pointed out as early as 1908 by the Swedish meteorologist Johan Sandström.

Heating a saucepan from below causes an instability: lower, warmer fluid rises and displaces the fluid above, leading to a vigorous convection current. In the ocean, heating and cooling both occur at the same level - the surface. Sandström argued that this situation should be stable. In my student days, Sandström's argument was simply dismissed because he had considered an ideal, non-turbulent fluid. Recently, however, some of us became interested again - in part because of public concern that the ocean circulation is 'shutting down', and more sensibly because of the need to understand the oceanic energy budget.

In one example, two experimentalists revisit the problem (W. Wang & R.- X. Huang J. Fluid Mech.540,49-73; 2005) and find that cooling salty water at or below the level of heating always produces some motion. So Sandström wasn't strictly correct. But the observed flow is so weak that the efficiency with which the ocean converts heat to motion must be vanishingly small. The circulation in the ocean - and in retrospect, in Rossby's original experiment - depends on details of how cold and warm waters mix. That means the winds and tides are the real drivers of the ocean currents. How long will it be until the literature catches up? -- Carl Wunsch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA" (Nature)

"Global warming boosting Greenland glacier flow" - "LONDON, England -- Two major glaciers in Greenland have recently begun to flow and break up more quickly under the onslaught of global warming, a new study said on Friday, raising the specter of millions drowning from rising sea levels. The report from the University of Swansea's School of the Environment and Society said the Kangerdlugssuaq and Helheim glaciers had doubled their rate of flow to the ocean over the past two years after steady movement during the 1990s. This spurt meant that current environmental models of the rate of retreat of Greenland's giant ice sheet -- which could add seven meters to the height of the world's oceans if it disappears -- had underestimated the problem." (Reuters)

"Could a sprinkling of dirt save the glaciers?" - "Knowing how spiky glaciers form could give clues about how to slow ice melt." (Nature)

"Winds of climate change are about to make their impact felt in many a boardroom" - "The old economics is dead. Its death knell was sounded last week, not by a practitioner of the dismal science but by Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser. Sir David King said concentrations of greenhouse gases were already at a level where the warning signs were flashing red: a comment that starkly illustrates the impending clash between economic orthodoxy and environmental sustainability." (The Guardian)

Only if you can convince someone to buy hot air... "A jackpot awaits India in carbon credits: experts" - "A multi-billion dollar jackpot is awaiting the Indian industry through carbon credits, if they are able to reduce their carbon dioxide and related emissions in an appropriate manner." (Business Standard)

"Algae farms make case for Kyoto" - "Algae. They're green. They're slimy. They could be Canada's best hope for complying with Kyoto. Seriously. Okay, maybe not the "best" hope, but these single-celled organisms have the potential to play an active role in managing climate change. Assuming, of course, government and industry are willing to be open-minded." (Toronto Star)

"Industry fears it will be hit by fresh drive to cut emissions" - "Electricity generators have warned that placing an even greater burden on the sector to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, under a forthcoming official plan, will threaten Britain's already struggling power network. Power stations and other heavy users of energy fear that they will again be seen as a "soft touch" for a government desperate to meet its ambitious target of a 20 per cent cut in UK carbon dioxide emissions by 2010." (London Independent)

"Nuclear industry sees growth under Bush" - "WASHINGTON -- The nation's nuclear power industry, buoyed by support from President Bush and the Republican-led Congress, says it is charging ahead with plans to build the largest number of new generating plants in 20 years." (Times Union)

"Wind farms face 10-year delay for grid connection" - "THE government’s renewable energy policy is in chaos after hundreds of wind farm companies were told that they face delays of more than 10 years before they can sell any of the electricity that they produce. Green energy targets are under threat because the national grid is unable to cope with the large numbers of wind farms applying for connection." (The Sunday Times)

"Planet savers: do they pass their practical?" - "No manufacturer accepts blame for global warming, but most accept they are going to be demonised if they don’t appear to do something about it." (The Sunday Times)

"Yes, we're addicted -- to economic growth" - "I admit it. I am addicted to oil. Parson Bush has found me out. But I have something else to confess. I'm addicted to food as well. I eat every day, often three times a day. I'm addicted to houses; my wife and I own two of them. I'm addicted to water; I drink it all the time, even swim in it. Of course, America is addicted to oil, in the sense that it uses a lot of the stuff. But as Bush also pointed out, the American economy is the envy of the world. There is a close connection between the two things. North Korea doesn't use much oil, but would you want to live there? What Americans are addicted to is economic growth.." (Thomas Bray, Detroit News)

"Alcohol Saves the Planet: The Future of Booze-Fueled Machines" - "Give your car a drink, save the planet, and end dependence on foreign oil. That's more or less the plan President George W. Bush unveiled during his State of the Union message earlier this week, in which he also declared his intention to "fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn, but from wood chips and stalks, or switch grass." By throwing tax dollars at research on how to turn vegetation into alcohol to burn in our cars and trucks, Bush hopes to move the country "beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past." (Ronald Bailey, Hawaii Reporter)

"Alternative-energy run-up out of gas" - "There was energy in President Bush's State of the Union Message about oil addiction this week. It powered alternative-energy stocks during the hours leading up to the speech, but was followed by a brownout for investors. So if you are thinking the president's speech has opened new vistas for investors, the excitement may already be subsiding." (Chicago Tribune)

"Ethanol's merits are debated" - "Outside New England, millions of drivers in 38 states have access to an alternative fuel that is billed as environmentally friendly and generally costs pennies to 40 cents per gallon less than gasoline. But scientists and green-policy advocates haven't come to a consensus on the merits or demerits of E85, a blend of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol, an alcohol derived from organic material, frequently corn." (Boston Globe)

"Ethanol plant counts on coal for power" - "The change will cost less than natural gas, but some complain that coal isn't renewable." (Des Moines Register)

"Oilsands crucial to U.S. plans" - "WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Energy is predicting crude oil from Alberta's oilsands -- not alternative energy sources such as biomass ethanol -- will help halve America's dependence on overseas oil within two decades. The assessment, in a report to be released later this month, follows President George W. Bush's challenge this week for the U.S. to sharply reduce its oil imports from unstable nations in the Middle East." (Edmonton Journal)

"Fighting for the prairie grassland" - "EnCana is embroiled in a battle with the military for the right to drill in the Suffield wildlife area." (Edmonton Journal)

"Fossilised myths: new thinking on 'dirty' coal and dwindling oil" - "As Finland embraces a nuclear future another unlikely conversion has taken place in the energy business - Mark Jaccard likes coal. For decades Jaccard was a leading expert in sustainable energy, darling of the environmental movement and bane of Big Oil. But now he proclaims that the world can continue to rely on fossil fuels. And his reasoning, while consistent with his beliefs, comes as a huge surprise. The professor says he has not stopped caring about the environment; it's just that he now believes fossil fuels offer the most sustainable future for the planet." (The Observer)

"Finland goes back to the future" - "As Britain seriously considers launching a new nuclear programme, Robin McKie visits Finland to see Europe's first reactor for more than a decade, built as the only answer to the country's energy needs." (The Observer)

"Sweden and U.S. Agree About the Oil Dependency Problem, but for Different Reasons" - "STOCKHOLM, Feb. 4 — After he heard President Bush tell Americans they were "addicted to oil," Prime Minister Goran Persson of Sweden said he was relieved that "at last there's one more who understands the problem." (New York Times)

"Plans outlined for allocation of petrol levy" - "Some SFr520 million ($401 million) raised from a 1.5-centime climate levy on petrol and diesel will be spent in Switzerland over the next six years. Four months after the introduction of the tax, the foundation set up to use the proceeds to reduce carbon dioxide emissions has presented its finance plan. In all, the tax should raise SFr740 million, around SFr200 million of which will be spent abroad on CO2 credits." (SwissInfo)

"UK: Knight Commends Indian Villagers Saving Tigers And Climate" - "Biodiversity Minister Jim Knight today congratulated villagers in northern India who are helping to save the world's climate as well as their own endangered tigers. Jim Knight visited Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, India, the home of the endangered Indian tiger. The tigers' habitat had been shrinking because the surrounding villagers had relied on the Park's trees for wood to cook with. Demand had exceeded sustainable supply and wood was being taken illegally." (noticias.info)

Well, the villagers got a useful source of more convenient energy, at least.

"Rising water threatens great temples of Egypt" - "Engineers are struggling to stop the damage caused by crop irrigation." (The Observer)

Another admission 'free range' does not equal 'healthier': "Germany Orders Poultry Indoors From March" - "BERLIN - The German government ordered on Friday that poultry be kept indoors from March 1 for at least two months to protect German flocks against the threat of avian flu from migrating birds." (Reuters)

"Don't swallow genetically modified statistics" - "I hold in my hand a document which if true likely spells economic decimation for the Monsanto Company - if not every other agribusiness who ever shuffled a gene around inside a plant. But before going on, let me underscore the qualifier again in italicized capital letters: IF TRUE." (Stephen Strauss, CBC News)

"South Africa: portal for GMOs slipping into Africa?" - "JOHANNESBURG, Feb 3 - Much of Africa has reservations about genetically modified foods and seeds (GMOs) and few countries allow them legally, but that may not prevent their spread. South Africa, which embraces GMOs and is the regional economic powerhouse, could be the portal for them entering the rest of the continent -- no matter what individual nations may do, industry watchers and activists say." (Reuters)

"Trade Ruling Is Expected to Favor Biotech Food" - "The W. T. O. is expected to render its verdict on charges by the U. S. that Europe is illegally restricting imports of genetically modified crops." (New York Times)

February 3, 2006

"Woodpecker Racket?" - "Last year’s reported sighting in eastern Arkansas of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, raised the hopes of bird-watchers everywhere. But now a prominent bird expert has cast serious doubt on the report, characterizing it as “faith-based” ornithology and “a disservice to science.”" (Steven Milloy, FoxNews.com)

Business Week writer can dish it out, but can he take it? BusinessWeek's 'Payola' Reporter Partied With Lobbyists - "... it’s outrageous that BusinessWeek doesn’t hold its writers to one-tenth of the 'journalistic integrity' it demands of conservative writers whose names it drags through the mud. Javers’ charges against Fumento and other conservative writers are completely bogus whereas the connection between Javers and Patton Boggs is a hole-in-one." (Lisa De Pasquale, Human Events)

"First smokes, now Cokes" - "GET READY for the next mass-tort crusade: protecting our kids from the ravages of Big Cola. According to news reports, a group of lawyers is gearing up to file lawsuits that will seek to blame Coke, Pepsi and others for obesity, tooth decay and other childhood health ailments. An article in the Boston Globe Magazine has called it part of a "national legal movement to make soft drinks the next tobacco." Instead of tar and nicotine, we'll be hearing about corn sweeteners and caffeine; maybe Dr. Pepper can stand in as the new Joe Camel.

Ridiculous? More like inevitable. For some time, a noisy campaign has been underway to portray the food and beverage industry as the villain in the nation's ongoing battle with the waistline. Without the snack hucksters' machinations, it seems, we'd all eat raw bell peppers and be reed thin." (LA Times)

"Too many drugs 'not child tested'" - "Too many children's drugs have not been properly tested, a report says." (BBC)

Not an easy task - think about the response from anti-everything groups when trying to use kids in trials, let alone the difficulties of actually conducting the trials themselves.

Tyrone's retread: "Pesticide combinations imperil frogs, probably contribute to amphibian decline" - "The pesticide brew in many ponds bordering Midwestern cornfields is not only affecting the sexual development of frogs, but is making them more prone to deadly bacterial meningitis, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, scientists." (University of California - Berkeley)

Freaky-Frog Fraud; Freaky Frogs Not Linked With Herbicide, Says EPA

Meanwhile: "FEATURE-Pregnancy test may lie behind deadly frog fungus" - "POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa, Feb 3 - What do an old pregnancy test for women and a mysterious fungus that is killing frogs have in common? Plenty, according to researchers at North-West University in South Africa, who believe they have traced the spread of the killer fungus to trade in the African clawed frog, used for decades in a bizarre but effective way of determining pregnancy. "We think we have traced the origin of the spread of the amphibian chytrid fungus to the 'frog' pregnancy test for women, which was widely used from the 1930s to the 1960s," said Che Weldon, a zoologist at North-West University who has been researching the phenomenon." (Reuters)

About pesticides and human health... "Island disease hits 50,000 people" - "A crippling mosquito-borne disease is spreading at an accelerating rate on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, health officials say. They say the number of cases of the viral illness, known as chikungunya, had risen to 50,000, an increase of 15,000 in the past week alone. The disease is not fatal, but those affected suffer high fever and severe pain. There is no cure or vaccine. Hundreds of troops have been deployed on the island to eradicate mosquitoes. Officials said the troops would be spraying the whole island against mosquitoes in the coming days." (BBC)

"Editorial: Milking a cause / Nature's first beverage needs no warning labels" - "Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck will continue a Super Bowl tradition by appearing with milk mustaches in those "Got Milk?" commercials during Sunday's game of games. Got Milk? is a highly successful advertising campaign. The ad has inspired hundreds of other Got (you name it)? slogans. If a group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine gets its way, the next iteration will be, "Got a Warning Label?" PCRM has gone to court in Washington, D.C., in a case that could sour milk's image as a healthy food. The lawsuit against milk suppliers and retailers seeks to put health-warning labels on milk cartons." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

"Toss Out the New Orleans 'Toxic Soup' Myth" - "Time was when the mention of Louisiana's culinary delights brought to mind such fare as the "jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo" that Hank Williams sang of. But if you believe the media and environmentalists, after Hurricane Katrina hit in August it seemed the only item on the menu was "toxic soup." (Michael Fumento, Townhall)

"Not flu but alcohol killed birds" - "At first glance it looked like ominous evidence that bird flu had struck at the heart of Europe: 40 songbirds were found dead in a residential district of Vienna with no obvious explanation for their sudden demise. But experts have since settled on a more bizarre cause for the phenomenon. The birds slammed gaily into windows of homes after becoming intoxicated from eating fermented berries." (Associated Press)

"Scientists to walk out in wildlife centre row" - "Environmental scientists have threatened to hold a virtually unheard-of mass demonstration over proposals to close Britain's three leading wildlife research centres." (London Independent)

"Green Leader Criticizes Negative Activist Rhetoric" - "Jonathon Porritt is a man whose "green" credentials are the envy of any activist. He has served in high-profile roles as head of the British Green Party and leader of the environmental activist group Friends of the Earth. Described by the London Observer as the "founding father of the British green movement," Porritt has been a stalwart role model for radical activists on both sides of the Atlantic. It is because of his success and influence that his new book, released November 7, 2005 by Stylus Publishing, is causing a stir in the environmental community." (James M. Taylor, The Heartland Institute)

"US: Green for Danger?" - "OAKLAND, California - As the George W. Bush administration ratchets up its domestic spying capabilities, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is collecting "research" reports on direct-action environmental groups produced by right-wing think tanks." (IPS)

If the "green" mantle had not attracted such a collection of misanthropic zealots this wouldn't be necessary but it has, so...

On fairy frightening, inter alia: A fable for our times (Number Watch)

"Groundhog Flops with Scientists as Weather Forecaster" - "TALLAHASSEE - Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow when he emerged from hibernation in Pennsylvania on Thursday to predict six more weeks of winter but his methods failed peer review by scientists at the world's largest weather convention." (Reuters)

"Winter takes extended vacation" - "Warm spell is growing on us." (Peter Van Harten, The Hamilton Spectator)

"Global temperatures hit record" - "THE world's average temperature rose in 2005 to its second-highest level in more than 100 years in a sign of global warming caused by greenhouse gases, the Japan Meteorological Agency said today. The temperature worldwide last year was 0.32 degrees Celsius higher than the average calculated figures between 1971 and 2000, the agency said in a statement." (AFP)

Conflicting Claims on Global Warming and Why It's All Moot (LiveScience)

Further Evidence of the Role of Nitrogen Deposition as a First-Order Climate Forcing (Climate Science)

"A new integrated approach to climate change research" - "The first scientific conference of the international iLEAPS-IGBP research programme (Integrated Land Ecosystem Atmosphere Processes Study) was recently held in Colorado, USA. At this multi- and cross-disciplinary conference, leading researchers in the field were discussing the interactivity between Earth and the atmosphere and climate change connected with it. The main aim was to clarify how vegetation, as well as aerosol particles and the composition of the atmosphere, relate to climate change.

The results presented in Colorado indicate that the interrelation between climate change and atmospheric chemistry and the ecosystem is very complex, not forgetting the direct and indirect impact of human activity. The future challenge in the field is to better understand the cause and effect relationship between normal natural phenomena and climate change to determine the role mankind plays in the scenario." (University of Helsinki)

"US Senators Plan Climate Change Bill this Spring" - "WASHINGTON - the Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee will introduce legislation this spring aimed at fighting global warming, but their staff see little chance of Congress passing the climate change bill this year." (Reuters)

"The Tip of the Hockey Stick" - "About one year ago, January 2005, an article of Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick was published in the Geophysical Research Letters with harsh criticism on the symbol of our changing climate: the Hockey Stick graph. It was a defining moment: after an uphill struggle their work had at last been accepted in a well respected science magazine for climate research. Although I've followed the ensuing debate with a half eye throughout the past year, I've been curious to where it was going and how well the Hockey Stick of Mann et al. would fare. The briefest synopsis: it's a trench-war out there." (European Tribune)

Doubtful: "Canada likely to withdraw from Kyoto Protocol" - "Canada’s new prime minister and leader of the Conservative party, Stephen Harper, indicated during his election campaign that he would pull Canada out of the Kyoto Protocol, a UN treaty on climate change. As chair of the UN climate negotiations until November 2006, Canada would be put in the curious position of heading a coalition of 156 nations it is utterly opposed to. Climate-change policy experts say the move would be disastrous for the environment and could very likely unravel the beleaguered Kyoto Protocol." (ES&T)

"Will it cost the earth? How economists are pricing the ravages of climate change" - "The price of the US's "addiction to oil" goes far beyond the dependence on politically volatile states cited by President George W. Bush this week. According to the world's leading climate scientists, reliance on fossil fuels is creating a global warming disaster that could end up costing the earth." (Financial Times)

"Huge row predicted on emission cuts" - "Ministers expect a "huge row" with businesses over plans to cut greenhouse gas output under the European Union's emissions trading scheme." (Financial Times)

"Whitehall in greenhouse gases row" - "UK government departments cannot agree on setting greenhouse gas limits for business, the BBC has learned. Ministers have pledged to reduce UK carbon dioxide emissions, blamed for global warming, by 20% by 2010. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs wants companies to cut emissions by eight million tonnes, BBC Radio 4's Today programme reported. But the Department for Trade and Industry wants a three-million-tonne cut, to protect firms' competitiveness." (BBC)

"Addicted to What?" - "The first part of Tuesday's State of the Union -- on national security -- was tough, clear, principled, well reasoned. The second part was a laundry list, reminiscent of the worst of Bill Clinton. I was nodding off when I heard the President Bush say, "America is addicted to oil." Addicted to oil! That woke me up. America is no more addicted to oil than it is addicted to bread, to milk, to paper, to water, to computers or, in the immortal words of the late Robert Palmer, to love." (James K. Glassman, TCS Daily)

"Crude Awakening" - "Most instant pundits missed the cagey phrasing of the two sound bites that made headlines the next morning. "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world," President Bush declared in his State of the Union message Tuesday night. But new technologies, he went on, will allow us to "replace more than 75% of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." The president did not say that oil supplies most of our energy, nor that most of our oil comes from bad places. Nor did he propose any gush of new federal spending on pie-in-the-sky "alternative" fuels.

The U.S. annually consumes about seven billion barrels of oil (BBO), and 11 BBO equivalents (BBOE) of coal, gas, uranium and hydroelectric power. Over 80% of the total comes from North America. The U.S., Canada and Mexico -- our three largest suppliers, in that order -- supply about 60% of our oil. Persian Gulf states send us less than one BBO. To reach the president's 75% target today, we would have to shift only about 5% of our consumption from the oil to the not-oil side of the 18 BBOE energy ledger. We could do that quite easily." (Peter Huber, The Wall Street Journal)

"Californians Set to Battle over Energy Tax Plan" - "LOS ANGELES - A California constitutional amendment taxing oil production to fund a range of alternative energy efforts may go to voters this November, setting up a nine-month battle between environmentalists and oil companies." (Reuters)

"Senators Seek to Ban Drilling Forever off Florida Coast" - "WASHINGTON - Florida's US Senators Wednesday introduced legislation that would permanently bar oil and gas drilling in a small area in the Gulf of Mexico off their state's western coastline. Republican Sen. Mel Martinez and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson said their bill would stop efforts by the Bush administration and other members of Congress to open an area near the Florida panhandle known as Lease Sale 181, which may hold as much as 7.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas." (Reuters)

"Security of Gas Supply Summary of the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Select Committee – December 05" - "A summary of the UK Select Committee’s findings on the Security of Gas Supply and the business impacts. The Committee is less than complimentary regarding the Government’s performance and it’s mixed messages for industry who could now experience shortages as a result." (PRWEB)

"German Government to Tax Biodiesel in 2006 - Report" - "HAMBURG - German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck plans to impose new taxes on biodiesel fuel from August 1, the newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported on Thursday." (Reuters)

"Beckett says nuclear power has role on climate change" - "Margaret Beckett has given her strongest endorsement yet of nuclear power, confirming that it would play a part in combating climate change. The environment secretary told the cross-party parliamentary climate change group: "Nuclear power is a low carbon energy source, no one can dispute that, and it has a contribution to make." Ms Beckett has previously said the economics of nuclear power were unlikely to be viable. But the government's energy review is likely to support at least maintaining the nuclear capacity, which provides 20 per cent of electricity." (Financial Times)

"New material brings hydrogen fuel, cheaper petrochemicals closer to reality" - "A rubbery material that can purify hydrogen efficiently in its most usable form for fuel cells and oil refining has been developed by a chemical engineering group at The University of Texas at Austin." (University of Texas at Austin)

Eco-scam of the moment: "Carbon emissions new guilt-edged business" - "A burgeoning set of for-profit companies is hoping to cash in on the eco-cachet of living as lightly on the Earth as possible. Cleanairpass is hoping that users of conventional energy sources will feel like assuaging their guilt by taking a look at their carbon footprints and voluntarily spending to offset those emissions." (Paul Henderson, Business Edge)

"New testing method developed to assess safety, health risks of nanomaterials" - "Shades of science fiction surround the potential of the booming nanotechnology industry - like Michael Crichton's novel "Prey", which features tiny nano-robots threatening to take over the world. Fiction of course, but nanotechnology is rapidly expanding and promises to exceed the impact of the Industrial Revolution, projecting to become a $1 trillion market by 2015." (University of California - Los Angeles)

"Frankenfoods or Life-Saving Staples? AEI Author Jon Entine to Discuss Upcoming WTO Biotech Verdict" - "WASHINGTON, DC -- 02/02/2006 -- Jon Entine (bio), adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute's National Research Initiative, scholar in residence at Miami University in Ohio, and a contributing author and editor of "Let Them Eat Precaution: How Politics Is Undermining the Genetic Revolution in Agriculture" (AEI Press, January 2006) will be hosting an event on the upcoming WTO Biotech verdict on Tuesday February 14, 2006 at the Wohlstetter Conference Center in Washington, D.C. (See event details below for more information)." (MARKET WIRE)

"Genetically modified plants used as pollution pumps" - "Modified plants are to be used as a new weapon to clean sites contaminated by spent explosives." (Edie.net)

February 2, 2006

GE Loses Bid to Block Global Warming Shareholder Resolution; Mutual Fund Calls On GE to Stop Advocating Global Warming Regulation - "In the wake of General Electric’s failure to block a shareholder resolution requesting that GE justify its support for global warming regulation, Action Fund Management LLC (AFM), investment adviser to the Free Enterprise Action Fund (www.FreeEnterpriseActionFund.com), called on the GE to stop advocating global warming regulation."

Join us and become part of what may be a historic showdown on global warming...

The Eco-Jackboot on Our Energy Throat - No. 4, (2/2/06) - The Wall Street Journal editorialized (Feb. 2) about President Bush's State of the Union address Tuesday night when he said that we are "addicted to oil":

President Bush has seen the energy future, and he has two words of advice: wood chips. Somewhere in his cardigan sweater next to a fireplace, Jimmy Carter is smiling.

That gets to the uncomfortable heart of Mr. Bush's startling turn on energy policy Tuesday night. An Administration that once promoted drilling in Alaska and other ways to expand domestic oil and gas supplies is now lecturing the nation that it's "addicted to oil" and extolling the merits of cellulosic biomass, a k a wood chips. This may not be as bad as 1970s-style price controls, but it's also a long way from a sensible energy policy.

If there is an unhealthy addiction right now, it may be the White House fixation on polls showing Americans are anxious about gas prices. This, and only this, could explain the decision to co-opt Democratic energy ideas in order to deflect their political attacks in the run-up to mid-term elections. Karl Rove may believe he needs to do this to save a Republican Congress in November, but nobody should think it's going to do much for energy supplies or prices...

The truth is that many green groups, and the political liberals who follow them, don't object to imported oil because it comes from the Middle East. They are opposed to fossil fuels, and nuclear energy for that matter, on principle. They want to live in a world that runs on wood chips, and it's hardly useful to have a conservative President telling the country he agrees with them.

"Evangelicals Will Not Take Stand on Global Warming" - "The National Association of Evangelicals said yesterday that it has been unable to reach a consensus on global climate change and will not take a stand on the issue, disappointing environmentalists who had hoped that evangelical Christians would prod the Bush administration to soften its position on global warming." (Washington Post)

Increasingly bizarre: "Top climatologist forecasts swift ice cap collapse" - "THE Greenland ice cap could collapse many times faster than forecast, the US government's top climate modeller has warned.

On Monday, the UK government released a report saying that climate change was close to a "tipping point" that could trigger the ice sheet's collapse over the next thousand years, causing sea level to rise by seven metres worldwide. It suggests that the melting would follow a wave of warmth pushing through the 3-kilometre thick ice.

In a recent interview with New Scientist, Jim Hansen, the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said the collapse of the ice sheet could be "explosively rapid", with sea levels rising "a couple of metres this century, and several more next century".

Hansen, who last week claimed that NASA was trying to gag him from making such predictions, says scientists have already spotted meltwater pouring down crevasses to the bottom of the ice sheet, where it could provide lubrication for huge swathes of ice to slip into the ocean." (New Scientist)

Curiously, we were told only in November, 2005, that Greenland's ice cap is growing rather than shrinking (due to global warming, probably, we add cynically). Data from the UK Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, prepared in collaboration with the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (HadCRUT2(v)) shows Greenland's peak temperature occurring in 1929, then cooling until 1993, something which does not suggest extreme sensitivity to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. In fact, if we have a look at ice core data, the last 7 centuries or so have been the coldest sustained period central Greenland has suffered during the Holocene (current interglacial period), also far from supportive of the hypothesis that humans have unnaturally heated the planet to never before experienced levels.

Just while we are mentioning Had/CRU, we managed to download data to November, 2005, on December 15^th but are informed that the latest file now available contains data only to August 2005. We do not know why the files have reverted but their graphic was updated January 18^th and appears to include December's data. Rest assured that we will update the Global Temperature page with the latest 'official numbers' just as soon as we gain access to the updated data.

"Debate Over Storms Heats Up" - "The 2,000-plus scientists at this week's annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society had plenty to talk about, from last year's droughts to flash floods and wildfires. But the biggest question at the meeting in Atlanta -- why last hurricane season was the worst since recordkeeping began 151 years ago -- was almost too hot to handle." (The Wall Street Journal)

For the access impaired we have this as a .pdf file here.

"SeaSAR 2006: Satellite radar reveals ever-changing face of the ocean" - "Radar satellites such as ESA's Envisat and ERS-2 maintain constant watch on the Earth's surface, their signals able to cut through clouds, rain or darkness. This surveillance extends beyond the land to the 71% of the planet covered by ocean – acquiring unique imagery of the ever-shifting face of the sea that is proving a boon to oceanographers." (European Space Agency)

"Early warning system predicts malaria epidemics" - "LONDON - An early warning system based on climate models, average rainfall and data on seasonal malaria can predict the risk of an epidemic of the killer disease five months in advance, scientists said on Wednesday. The system has been devised by researchers in the United States, Britain and Botswana. "We can give warnings of high risk of an epidemic to the health agency and officials in the country ahead of the rainy season. This is something they have not had before," said Tim Palmer, a climate modeller at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts in Reading, England." (Reuters) | Malaria early-warning system shows promise in tackling epidemics (The Earth Institute at Columbia University)

"Scientists marvel at 2005's wild weather" - "Record numbers of hurricanes and staggering tolls in lives and property damage along the U.S. Gulf Coast weren't the half of it. Even seasoned meteorologists were awed by nature's furies in 2005. "Last year was something to behold," outgoing American Meteorological Society President Walter Lyons said Tuesday as weather and climate experts met in Atlanta to review the year that was. "It wasn't so much that there was more weather, it was just that there seemed to be more extremes of everything," he said. "Or maybe it just seems that way because we're paying more attention to the weather these days." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

"Publicity-seekers try to link to Punxsutawney Phil, Groundhog Day" - "PITTSBURGH -- When throngs of people descend upon Punxsutawney to celebrate Groundhog Day on Thursday, businesses and other groups will try to ride the coattails of the cute and cuddly Punxsutawney Phil to gain publicity. The National Environmental Trust, for example, was planning to send someone in a groundhog suit to Gobbler's Knob, where Phil is roused from his burrow, who "will ignore his shadow and will instead rely on global warming evidence to forecast an early spring." (Associated Press)

"We've lost our fear of hellfire, but put climate change in its place" - "I used to have a mother-in-law called Gaia, so any book called The Revenge of Gaia is likely to cause a flutter of panic in my breast; and by the time I had finished the new best-seller by green prophet James Lovelock, I am afraid I was in a state of brow-drenched hysteria." (Boris Johnson, London Telegraph)

?!! "It's capitalism or a habitable planet - you can't have both" - "Our economic system is unsustainable by its very nature. The only response to climate chaos and peak oil is major social change." (The Guardian)

"Increasing Plant Enzyme Efficiency May Hold Key To Global Warming" - "Global warming just may have met its match. In research recently completed at Emory University School of Medicine, scientists have discovered a mutant enzyme that could enable plants to use and convert carbon dioxide more quickly, effectively removing more greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere." (Science Daily)

"EU agrees to cut greenhouse gases from shoes, cars" - "BRUSSELS - European Union lawmakers and governments have agreed on rules that would clamp down on environmentally harmful fluorinated gases that are found in a range of products including cars, appliances and shoes. Known as F-gases, they are used in refrigeration and air conditioning and are considered much more potent in warming the earth than the most common greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2). The rules, first proposed by the European Commission in 2003, would ban some products like sports shoes with F-gases in air pockets from the 25-nation bloc." (Reuters)

"Smaller firms could trade carbon" - "Small and medium-sized firms may face pollution limits in the UK's drive to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is considering a scheme for the companies to be allocated a ration of permits to emit CO2. If they overshoot their ration, the firms would have to buy extra permits. It follows a report by the Carbon Trust that showed many firms - particularly in retail and commerce - were guilty of squandering energy." (BBC)

"Presidential Energy" - "America is addicted to oil," President Bush warned during his State of the Union address, vowing "to replace more than 75% of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." And since our 230 million cars and trucks burn two-thirds of the 20 million barrels of oil we consume daily, Mr. Bush solemnly declared, "We must also change how we power our automobiles." The cure for our addiction? Why, a government program, of course: the Advanced Energy Initiative. This new scheme would throw more tax dollars at research aimed at creating clean power plants and also cars powered by hydrogen, electricity and ethanol. Unfortunately, the past 35 years of failed presidential energy initiatives doesn't bode well for these proposals." (Ronald Bailey, The Wall Street Journal)

America Addicted to Oil? - In his State of the Union address, President Bush took a big step toward returning the United States to the disastrous energy policies of the Nixon and Carter years, warns the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

"The Deadly Toll of Federal Fuel Regulations" - "A new study this week from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reinforces what researchers have long known: larger vehicles are safer than smaller ones in the same vehicle category. For passenger cars, SUVs and pickups, the occupant death rate generally was worse in the smaller vehicles within each category. This study, like others before it, indicates that the government’s fuel economy mandates reduce vehicle safety by restricting the production of larger vehicles. Environmentalist demands for more stringent standards would increase traffic deaths even more." (CEI)

"Green Rules Could Shut up to 500 US Coal Plants - Study" - "NEW YORK - New clean air rules could force up to 500 US coal plants to shut spurring billions of dollars in construction of cleaner plants to replace them, according to a study. Pollution laws including the Clean Air Interstate Rule that caps emissions of smog components sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (NOX and SOX) could shut the plants in 25 states, according to the study by Colorado-based E3 Consultants, which advises energy companies. The study, which was funded by E3, said that capital and construction costs to build cleaner new plants could reach well over $50 billion over the next five or 10 years." (Reuters)

"Biofuels can replace about 30 percent of fuel needs with significant research and policy effort" - "With world oil demand growing, supplies dwindling and the potential for weather- and conflict-related supply interruptions, other types of fuels and technologies are needed to help pick up the slack. A group of experts in science, engineering and public policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Imperial College London and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory recommend a comprehensive research and policy plan aimed at increasing the practicality of using biofuels and biomaterials as a supplement to petroleum. The review article, called "The Path Forward for Biofuels and Biomaterials," appears in the Jan. 27 issue of Science." (Georgia Institute of Technology)

"Reducing prices at gas pump goal of UH engineers" - "Developing radios no larger than a grain of sand to increase the drilling efficiency of oil wells, University of Houston engineers see promise for reducing prices at the gas pump. "Our research could have a great impact on oil prices," said Richard Liu, UH professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the university's Well Logging Laboratory. "Oil prices include everything, and drilling and exploration are pretty big portions of the cost. If the technology we're developing is viable, then costs would get tremendously reduced." (University of Houston)

"Expert: Reuse nuclear waste" - "When Oregon State University’s Qiao Wu visited France last summer, he was impressed by the nation’s nuclear energy recycling processes. The United States runs its nuclear reactors on a closed cycle, storing the nuclear waste in contained repositories. The French use an open cycle, processing and recycling the spent fuel. Wu, an associate professor in OSU’s department of nuclear engineering and radiation health physics, would like to see the United States adopt policies similar to the French." (Gazette-Times)

"What Are Op-Eds For?" - "No one is asking the question: What are opinion pieces for? The question has not arisen because some on the Right, by acquiescing to the Left's desire for blood, are building the pyres themselves. The question needs to be asked, and the Left will hate the answer." (Iain Murray, American Spectator)

"Experts clash over demise of the dinosaur" - "The giant impact that shook the Earth 65 million years ago is still sending out shock waves, triggering a scientific feud over whether the event really killed off the dinosaurs. Efforts to identify what wiped out the great creatures have been confused by evidence of massive volcanic activity in India at the same time, and a fossil record that suggests the dinosaurs disappeared gradually as the Earth's climate and geology changed over millions of years." (London Telegraph)

More possible harm from the sun hysteria campaign: "Lack of sun can cause schizophrenia" - "WOMEN thinking of becoming pregnant have been urged to ensure they are getting enough vitamin D, as findings suggest deficiency in pregnancy may cause the baby to develop schizophrenia in later life. The results, unveiled at a conference in Sydney yesterday, suggests vitamin D - previously associated mainly with building strong bones and preventing rickets - may have a far wider role than experts thought. Vitamin D is made in the skin when exposed to sunlight. Some foods - mainly oily fish and some fortified milk and dairy products - also contain the nutrient, which can also be taken in dietary supplements. Lead researcher Darryl Eyles, of the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, said that because the latest results were based on work on rats, a link between vitamin D deficiency and schizophrenia in humans remained to be proved." (The Australian)

"Calif., national groups split on secondhand smoke - Researchers don't endorse state EPA's claim of link to breast cancer" - "SACRAMENTO — California regulators, the first to brand secondhand smoke an air pollutant, are convinced it causes breast cancer in younger women. But they're butting heads — at least for now — with conventional wisdom in the cancer research establishment. Major national groups — the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — won't endorse the California Environmental Protection Agency's unprecedented finding, adopted last week by the state's Air Resources Board." (John Ritter, USA TODAY)

"Asthmatic children in multi-family housing hit by indoor nitrogen dioxide" - "Children with asthma living in multi-family housing who are exposed to certain levels of indoor nitrogen dioxide, a poisonous pollutant byproduct of gas stoves and unvented heaters, are more likely to experience wheeze, persistent cough, shortness of breath and chest tightness." (American Thoracic Society)

International Journal of Epidemiology – obesity special (University of Bristol)

"OHSU scientists dispel late-night eating/weight gain myth" - "Scientists at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University believe they have helped dispel the myth that late-night eating causes weight gain. The research is published in the current edition of the journal Obesity Research." (Oregon Health & Science University)

"Principals' and foodservice directors' perceptions differ on food policy" - "Penn State researchers have found differences between high school principals' and foodservice directors' perceptions of "competitive food" policies that highlight the need for communication among key stakeholders addressing new wellness policy development mandated by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.

Elaine McDonnell, project coordinator who led the study, says, "Competitive foods are those sold on K through 12 school campuses that compete with school meals. Currently, school meals must meet nutrient standards and the Dietary Guidelines but competitive foods are only minimally regulated and are often low in nutritional value."

The competitive food regulatory situation is, however, mandated for change. The new law requires sponsors of school meal programs to develop wellness polices by the 2006-2007 school year that address childhood obesity. Local communities must develop nutrition guidelines for all foods and beverages sold on their high school and elementary school campuses, including competitive foods offered as a la carte items, in vending machines, in school stores and through school fundraisers and parties." (Penn State)

"In New York Schools, Whole Milk Is Cast From the Menu" - "For generations of children, a serving of whole milk, customarily in a red and white carton, has been as synonymous with school as a yellow No. 2 pencil. When President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Program into law in 1946, a half pint of milk was one of five dietary staples required by the bill. But children today are fat, or at least too many of them are, and to cut the risks of obesity, diabetes and other health problems, New York City — the nation's largest school district — has decided to cut whole milk from the menu." (New York Times)

"Mineral levels in meat and milk plummet over 60 years" - "The mineral content of milk and popular meats has fallen significantly in the past 60 years, according to a new analysis of government records of the chemical composition of everyday food. The research looked at government tables published in 1940, and again in 2002, in the nutritional bible, The Composition of Foods, to establish levels of important minerals in dairy products and meat before the second world war and today. The research, which is contested by the food and farming industry, found a marked decline in nutritional value during the period. The analysis is published in this month's Food magazine by the consumer watchdog the Food Commission.

The research was conducted by David Thomas, a chiropractor and nutritionist who prescribes and sells mineral supplements. He published an earlier historical analysis of the nutrient content of fruit and vegetables in 2000 which showed a similar decline in those foods. He attributes the loss of nutrients to intensive farming and industrial production." (The Guardian)

"New Scuffles Over Water" - "MEXICO CITY - There are many who predict that future wars will be over water supplies, but the wait won't be long for witnessing some intense skirmishes, expected in March at the 4th World Water Forum between those who favour and those who oppose privatisation of this essential resource." (Tierramérica)

"Shine Little Glow ... Mouse - Fluorescent Animals Help Unlock Mysteries Of Science" - "Shine, a 1-year-old mouse, doesn't seem much different from other members of her species. That is, until she scampers under a special blue light in the basement of a Connecticut College science building, and her body emits a psychedelic green light. Now that scientists have the technology, incandescent critters don't turn many heads in laboratories anymore. Outside science environs, though, a glowing mouse still freaks people out. "It sure does," says Marc Zimmer, Shine's owner. "I think it scares people because it shows them what can be done." (Hartford Courant)

"GM aid for pandemic flu vaccine" - "Scientists have used genetic modification in an early step towards creating a pandemic flu vaccine. The US Centers for Disease Control created the vaccine by putting a gene from a strain of the deadly H5N1 type of bird flu into a cold virus. This was then developed in cell cultures, rather than hens' eggs used in conventional vaccine development. Experts said the Lancet paper was technically interesting, but not immediately useful." (BBC)

February 1, 2006

Uh-huh... "No gags on science" - "IF THE United States is ever going to get serious about climate change, it will be because scientists like NASA's James E. Hansen persuade the public that the Bush administration's policy of denial is a prescription for disaster. But the public won't get to hear the truth from Hansen if the administration has its way. Ever since Hansen said in December that unchecked greenhouse gas emissions could make the earth ''a different planet," NASA has tried to control the public appearances and interviews of its premier climate scientist. Instead of muzzling Hansen, President Bush should be listening very carefully." (Boston Globe)

Hansen has conducted this very well, the press are all on song. Just one little problem - far from being gagged Hansen appears to have orchestrated press coverage to bury a competing tune. Try your favourite news search and see how many promos there are for 'heroic' Hansen compared with items on NASA and urban heat island (all we've found so far are NASA's own press release, echoed on PhysOrg, Science Daily and Innovations Report) and who relying on press coverage would know about the American Meteorological Society's annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 29 through Feb. 2, where this is being discussed? Too late for this season's Oscars but quite a performance nonetheless.

"Global Warming Science, or Policy?" - "A nasty little spat has arisen as a result of NASA's leading climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), speaking out on the Bush Administration's reluctance to begin imposing carbon dioxide restrictions to help slow global warming." (Dr. Roy Spencer, TCS Daily)

"Hansen Revisited" - "We’ve been getting a bunch of hits from people searching on “James Hansen” since the New York Times and Washington Post have both run articles in which Hansen claimed he was being censored by the Administration." (World Climate Report)

More on Urban Temperatures (Climate Science)

"Hot Tip: Post Misses the Point!" - "Juliet Eilperin’s latest headline in the Washington Post (January 29, 2006) about how global warming is destroying the earth was “Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change.” The Post, which has been news-editorializing this story for a couple of years now, featured her article above the fold in the top-right corner of the Sunday paper. Obviously they are exercised. Our response: cool it." (World Climate Report)

More Evidence for the Diversity of Climate Forcings by Aerosols (Climate Science)

"A Political Icy-Hot Patch" - "Leadership: The annual gathering of world bigwigs at Davos's World Economic Forum is known for its trendy forecasting. So naturally you wouldn't expect Bill Clinton to warn them of the coming ice age. Ice age? Yup. Ice age." (Investor's Business Daily)

PDO phase shift brewing? "Frozen tsunami: Mountains of ice coming ashore called threat to property, lives" - "Huge ridges of sea ice brimmed over the Arctic Ocean and crashed onto a Barrow roadway earlier this week, threatening to cut off traffic and knock out power poles in the state's northernmost town. The two massive ice surges, known to Alaska Natives as ivus, were the city's largest in more than a quarter of a century and stunned residents who had never seen large blocks of ice rammed ashore." (Anchorage Daily News)

Apparently this is the most significant such event since the PDO phase shift of 1976, which is when virtually all of Alaska's contemporary warming occurred. Could be in for some interesting times and fancy enhanced greenhouse excuses if the sardines really are trying to tell us something.

From CO₂ Science Magazine this week:
Editorial:
Rising Atmospheric CO 2 Concentrations Increase Soil Carbon Contents: What we have long believed, but many have long doubted, is now being realized to be correct.

Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week:
This issue's Level 3 Medieval Warm Period Record of the Week is from Lake Baikal, Russia.  To access the entire Medieval Warm Period Project's database, click here.

Subject Index Summary:
Agriculture (Species - Sorghum: Photosynthesis): Would photosynthesis in sorghum be expected to increase much in response to rising atmospheric CO 2 concentrations?

Plant Growth Data:
This week we add new results (blue background) of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO 2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature for: California Grassland, Eastern Cottonwood, Mixed Stand of Quaking Aspen and Paper Birch, and Sweet Potato.

Journal Reviews:
Extratropical North Atlantic and North Pacific Sea Level Trends: 1993-2003: Are they nice steady functions of rising global temperatures?

CO 2 and Clouds: Their Relative Roles as Agents of Climate Change: Changes in total cloud cover and the fractions of clouds found at different elevations over the past two decades appear to totally swamp the impetus for global warming provided by concomitant increases in the air's CO 2 content.

Using Borehole Temperatures to Reconstruct Earth's Thermal History: Is the technique reliable?

Atmospheric CO 2 Enrichment and Plant Respiration: How does the former phenomenon affect the latter?

Rising Atmospheric CO 2 Concentrations Increase Soil Nitrogen Contents: What we have long believed, but many have long doubted, is now being realized to be correct. (co2science.org)

"A Global Warming Worksheet" - "As used by the media, "global warming" refers to the theory not only that the earth is warming, but doing so because of human industrial activity.

How can a reasonably diligent citizen assess this claim? Measuring average global temperature is not an easy matter. It's a big planet, with lots of ways and places to take its temperature. Scientists, naturally, have to rely on record keepers in decades past, using different instruments, to produce what has become the conventionally accepted estimate of a one-degree rise over the past century.

But even if a change is measured, how do we know it's manmade? Giant, mile-thick sheaths of ice have come and gone from North America in recent millennia. In our unstable and evolving planet, temperature is often either rising or falling. Who knows whether a trend is the product of human activity or natural?

The answer is nobody. All we have is hypothesis. Let's be honest: A diligent and engaged citizen judges these matters based on the perceived credibility of public figures who affiliate themselves with one view or another. Less engaged citizens, whose views are reflected in polls showing a growing public concern about global warming, are simply registering the prevalence of media mentions of global warming." (Holman W Jenkins Jr., The Wall Street Journal)

Mixed message? "Scientists: Great Barrier Reef in danger" - "CANBERRA, Australia, Jan. 31 -- Australia's ongoing hot summer season is reportedly inflicting great harm to the Great Barrier Reef. University of Queensland scientists say they are concerned the entire reef may be at risk of destruction from global warming. Coral reef expert Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. he is praying for two months of cyclonic stormy weather to stir up colder deeper water -- the only thing that will save the coral. Hoegh-Guldberg is convinced global warming is to blame for placing the reef in danger." (UPI)

Ove's "praying for two months of cyclonic stormy weather" to "save the reef" (true, as far as it goes, cyclones are wonderful mixers of the water column, leading to much lower surface water temperatures) but he appears somewhat off-message where global warming is concerned, no? The scare is supposed to be that AGW leads to more extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones rather than the lack thereof, which is allowing greater solar heating of surface waters than near-surface coral find comfortable with current symbiotic algal species.

Either way, it's only weather: "Global warming hasn't hit Fairbanks" - "Ask the citizens of Fairbanks, Alaska, if their earth is warming. January is expected to be the third coldest month in a century. The average high for the past week has been 40 degrees below, and the low, 48 below. Both are about 10 degrees below normal." (Tracy Press)

Just be patient - it'll change: Huge pattern change to unleash arctic air, slash February temperatures (Chicago Tribune)

"US Companies Look to Skies as Weather Costs Bucks" - "ATLANTA - "How's the weather?" That is no longer just a casual greeting for businesses leaders as they become more reliant on timely meteorological information for decisions ranging from restocking umbrellas to saving lives." (Reuters)

"UN Set To Kick-Start Kyoto Emissions Scheme" - "LONDON - A United Nations meeting in Germany this week is set to pave the way for hundreds of projects to curb greenhouse gas emissions in Russia and Eastern Europe, industry executives said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

"EU carbon reporting rule not ready for March" - "BRUSSELS - Changes to international accounting rules to account for a new EU carbon emissions trading scheme will not be ready for the financial year-end on March 31, a top accounting industry official said on Tuesday." (Herald News Daily)

At least it's not a total waste: "Pipeline recycles greenhouse gas: Carbon dioxide from Alberta petrochemical plants is being used to extend the life of old oil wells" - "PRENTISS - A budding carbon-dioxide pipeline network could be a candidate for funds from Ottawa's greenhouse gas reduction budget. Capturing industrial emissions and injecting them into aging oil wells would be a productive use of any federal money set aside to implement climate change policy, provincial Energy Minister Greg Melchin said. "This is a viable solution," said Melchin, who teamed up with Environment Minister Guy Boutilier and Government Services Minister Ty Lund for an official opening of Alberta's biggest commercial carbon-dioxide project to date." (The Edmonton Journal)

"UK: 'Clean' coal needed to light Olympics, say experts" - "Tony Blair's personal energy adviser has called for 'clean' coal to be given a strong place in the country's energy portfolio, as another expert warned that without coal and nuclear power the lights could go out by the time of the Olympics in 2012." (The Guardian)

"US Green Diesel Rules May Hit Supply, Raise Prices" - "NEW YORK - US consumers already rattled by high energy prices may shell out even more for diesel this year as stricter government environmental fuel regulations constrict supplies and choke off imports." (Reuters)

"Campaign to end speed bump 'pain'" - "MSPs have called for more research into the use of speed bumps after hearing complaints about the discomfort caused to chronic pain sufferers." (BBC)

"Hobby farmers pose bird flu risk" - "The government's chief vet has told BBC News she has no idea how many people keep chickens in the UK, which could cause problems in a bird flu outbreak." (BBC)

"We Have It Coming" - "Americans are about to learn the hard way about the unintended consequences of over-regulation and flawed policy initiatives. Vaccination to prevent viral and bacterial diseases is modern medicine's most cost-effective intervention. Were a vaccine to be available quickly after the onset of the widely predicted pandemic from an H5N1 strain of avian influenza, it might save scores of millions of lives worldwide -- but that's not now feasible. Why can't a country that developed the atomic bomb (60 years ago) and the polio vaccine (50 years ago) and put a man on the moon (almost 40 years ago) now produce an appropriate vaccine? The reason is that flawed public policy from the Congress and the government's Executive Branch has ensured low return on investment and high exposure to legal liability for vaccines. The predictable result: U.S. vaccine R&D and production have been decimated." (Dr. Henry I. Miller, TCS Daily)

"'Biobullets' fight harmful mussels" - "British researchers have developed a "biobullet" that could help control an invasive mollusk that has ravaged U.S. waterways for nearly two decades clogging water pipes, virtually wiping out some native mussels species and causing billions of dollars in industrial damage. The new microcapsules, which contain toxins that dissolve within a zebra mussel's digestive tract, offer a safe and cost-effective way of eliminating one of the world's "most important economic pests" without harming other aquatic life, according to scientists at the University of Cambridge." (American Chemical Society)

"Secrets of the sea yield stronger artificial bone" - "The next generation of artificial bone may rely on a few secrets from the sea. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have harnessed the way seawater freezes to develop a porous, scaffolding-like material that is four times stronger than material currently used in synthetic bone." (DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

"Salt campaign ad 'breached rules'" - "A Food Standards Agency advertorial misleadingly implied a whole family had cut their blood pressure by eating less salt, the ad industry watchdog says. The FSA agreed claims in the newspaper ad feature could not be backed up. The Advertising Standards Authority said the advertorial breached the code in relation to social responsibility, substantiation and truthfulness." (BBC)

"Dispelling the IOM's Ad Myth" - "According to the hype generated by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) surrounding the Institute of Medicine's report "Food Marketing To Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?," the report provides clear and compelling evidence that causally links food advertising with childhood obesity. CSPI has gone so far as to sue Viacom and Kellogg's based mostly on that report." (John Luik, TCS Daily)

"Omega-6 fats cause prostate tumors to grow twice as fast" - "Omega-6 fatty acids--such as those found in corn oil--caused human prostate tumors in cell culture to grow twice as quickly as tumors to which omega-6 fats had not been added, according to a study conducted at the San Francisco VA Medical Center." (University of California - San Francisco)

"Students fight back for animal research" - "STUDENTS at Oxford University angered by threats, disruption and demonstrations against the construction of a £20 million animal-testing facility are hitting back with pro- research protests. Assaults by animal rights extremists are soaring and high numbers of targeted organisations continue to capitulate to their demands, according to figures released yesterday by the pharmaceutical industry." (London Times)

"UK Drug Firms Say Animal Rights Attacks in Decline" - "LONDON - The number of attacks in Britain by activists campaigning against the use of animals in medical research fell sharply last year, as the UK government took a stronger line against often violent protests." (Reuters)

"Plundering Patents" - "Unleashing technology is the key to growth in the future. U.S. business showed in the 1990s how the smart use of information technology can deliver record gains in productivity, and biotechnology offers similar prospects. The key to capturing these drivers is good intellectual property law, including patents that reward and protect innovation.

But a coalition of countries led by India and Brazil and supported by NGOs like Oxfam and the World Wide Fund for Nature either don't get this or don't want to. They have embarked on a campaign to weaken the protection that patents provide inventors. They are making clear this week at a United Nations conference on biodiversity in Granada that they want an international convention for that purpose negotiated this year." (Alan Oxley, The Wall Street Journal)

"Anti-poverty campaign is made history" - "Grassroots supporters of Make Poverty History were yesterday defeated in their attempts to keep the campaign going when a conference in London formally wound up the organisation. The British coalition of aid agencies - which fought for debt relief and trade justice - had expected that the movement would have a limited lifespan because it was designed to coincide with the UK government's presidency of the EU and G8 last year. Forty UK groups had, however, opposed its dissolution." (The Guardian)

"Celebrities should stick to their day jobs" - "Last week was a champagne moment for celebrities with an interest in good causes and high politics. Bono, (pictured) front man of the rock band U2 – one of Time magazine’s “Persons of the Year” and a popular nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize – launched a suite of must-have consumer products and services intended to raise funds to fight HIV/Aids in Africa, including American Express credit cards, Gap T-shirts, Emporio Armani wraparound sunglasses and Converse sneakers.

And in a speech in Davos last week, Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, spoke of his organisation’s determination to engage with the “new actors on the international scene”, including not only the private sector, the media and non- governmental organisations but “celebrities from the worlds of sport and entertainment”.

Famous people have always dabbled in good deeds. But the trend seems to be accelerating in tandem with our galloping fetishisation of celebrity. First-class airport lounges are now crowded with rock-star diplomats, spokesmodels and “actors without borders." (Michael Fullilove, Financial Times)

"It's a wetland habitat by any other name" - "Reservoirs make good neighbours, says Peter Vaughan. But be careful how you describe them." (The Guardian)

"USDA Asked to Fund Genetically Engineered Crop Initiative" - "LAKE RIDGE, Va., Jan. 31 -- Scientists and other stakeholders have joined forces to promote a major research thrust in the controversial arena of genetically modified fruits, vegetables and other specialty crops. An ad hoc group of biotech, regulatory and crop protection specialists -- called the Specialty Crop Regulatory Initiative -- has asked USDA to provide $250,000 in funding for a scoping project on developing genetically modified specialty crops." (PRNewswire)

"Drought-resistant GM seeds won't benefit Kenyans for the next decade" - "US bio-engineers working to develop drought-resistant seeds say Kenyans should not expect to benefit from such "miracle crops" for at least eight to 10 years. Those currently starving in parts of the country and those likely to suffer hunger if drought conditions persist will have to look to emergency food aid rather than to agricultural self-sufficiency, the scientists say. Maize and other biotech crops able to thrive despite scant rainfall will not be planted in the United States until about 2010, says Christopher Horner, a spokesman for Monsanto, one of the world’s leading developers of genetically modified seeds." (East African)

"A home-grown solution to African hunger" - "DOWA, MALAWI – Imagine a modern-day Eden - tended by a cheerful garden gnome - sprouting in the Sahara Desert. That's the feeling you get, walking onto a 50-acre farm bursting with rows of healthy corn, thick sugar-cane stalks, and plump mangoes - all at the epicenter of Africa's growing food crisis, with its 18 million hungry people." (The Christian Science Monitor)

"US backs Dow’s plant cell vaccine" - "The world’s first vaccine made in plant cells has received regulatory approval in the US. The pioneering vaccine, developed by Dow Chemical with a consortium of US research institutions, works against Newcastle disease in poultry but the company says the technology could be applied quite quickly to other diseases – with avian flu a prime target." (Financial Times)

"Biotechnology from different perspectives" - "Things are changing in the ag biotech world and some things never change. Ag biotech continues to grow — maybe faster outside the U.S. — Iran and China are becoming the most advanced countries in the commercialization of biotech rice, the world’s most important food crop. The sad part of this is that the anti-biotech movement has stymied development of biotech rice in the U.S. China and Iran, where anti-biotech malcontents would find themselves in jail for doing what they do in the U.S. and other democracies, are leaving the U.S. behind the advancing biotechnology curve. What never seems to change is the distorted view the American public is getting about biotech from the so-called unbiased mass media." (Western Farm Press)

"GM crops a losing proposition" - "The prime minister has called for a second green revolution with a focus on dry land agriculture and needs of small and marginal farmers. He asked for technologies that use labour. However, in a recent issue of a popular biotechnology magazine, the agbiotechnology industry has published a wish-list on which it wants speedy action. Industry seeks approval for commercialisation of herbicide-tolerant crops. It says that the agbiotech task force's recommendation against introducing labour-displacing technologies like GM herbicide tolerance should be disregarded." (Times of India)

?!! "Activists outraged at Indian welcome to Monsanto chief" - "The visit of Hugh Grant, CEO of Monsanto, to India and his scheduled meeting with top government officials has raised concern and alarm among activists. Members of SAGE (South Against Genetic Engineering) dashed off a letter to the prime minister and president of India as well as chief minister and agriculture minister of Andhra Pradesh voicing their objections and requesting the prime minister to stand by the millions of Indian farmers who have been destroyed in the process of using genetically modified seeds." (InfoChange India)