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Weird? No...

   This is from Climate Skeptic Blog...
 
What an odd world we live in when environmental activists feel the need to write about how horrible grass and open parks can be for the environment.
 
   It is not odd, it is revealing.
 
   As with most enviro-nutters (especially those in California) they live to criticize anything that does not fit into their idea of how green things should be. It is easy to pick on parks in California because these nutters have a good chance of effecting change on them. Politicians and government officials are so scared of the enviromental movement in their state that they will make the necessary changes rather than make them angry. Besides, these officials certainly don't want to look like they don't care about the environment.
 
   But as we have found recently, even the green way is not always the right way. I am talking about the fight in California over the Solar farms they want to build in the Mojave Desert, but the other side of the environmental coin, the animal rights organizations have put up a fight against them.

Near Hollister CA the world's largest solar project is in a classic struggle between NIMBYs and green energy advocates.

A Silicon Valley company is proposing to build here what would be the world's largest solar farm — 1.2 million solar panels spread across an area roughly the size of 3,500 football fields.

But, in recent weeks, the Santa Clara Valley, Monterey Peninsula and Fresno chapters of the Audubon Society have opposed the project.

Birds, foxes, lizards and kangaroo rats live there. Somehow I don't believe that these concerns will kill this one, since major transmission lines run right through the area, and other conducive factors are present. And the clock is ticking:

Demand for solar is hot. Schwarzenegger this year signed an executive order requiring 33 percent of California's electricity to come from renewable sources such as solar and wind. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama's stimulus plan contains billions in grants and tax credits for green power. It would pay for 30 percent of Solargen's project in the Panoche Valley, for example, if ground can be broken by Dec. 1, 2010.

In the Mojave solar fight, it's about Federal power and conservation on a grand scale.
 
   Is California goes, so goes...
 
   
 
   
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Saving The World With A Carbon Tax

   Here is a funny headline for you:

A Simple Carbon Tax Would Cost Only $2.50 A Gallon And Could Save The World

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EPA Still Handing Out Study Money

   The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still handing out cash to universities for research into effects of global war..I mean climate change.
 
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding nearly $17 million in Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants to universities across the country to study the consequences of climate change on the air we breathe and the water we drink.

“EPA is engaging the academic research community, through these grants, to enable solutions that will both adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change,” said Dr. Paul T. Anastas, assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development.

   Must be part of the American Recovery Reinvestment Act.
 
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Where Is The Climate Scandal Coverage?

   Here is a good story from Charlie Martin at Pajamas Media. In it, he discusses the relative quiet in the American media's coverage of the climate scandal.

It’s been called the “biggest scientific scandal in history.” It has everything to earn Pulitzer consideration: lies and misconduct in high places, political implications, even massive financial transactions that may or may not be legitimate or even legal. It’s big news … as long as you read the Telegraph, the Guardian, the London Times, or even major Indian papers.

It’s no news at all if you read the U.S. mainstream media.
 
   And he is correct. Type in any search engine the climate email scandal or the IPCC's admittance to several climate errors over the past few weeks, and the majority of the links you will get are from bloggers and European news agancies. N.Y Times, Washington Post, San Franscisco Chronicle; all silent.
 
   Nothing to be surprised about, I guess. But this is part of the explanation behind the rapid fall of the main stream newspaper business. People have so many options for news now with the internet, including blog sites and international news, that when they see the big papers not reporting the news, it makes them look biased. And surprise...they are!
 
   Of course, you already knew that...
 
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When Losing - Move The Goal Post

   After all that has been revealed, and still being revealed, you would think they would take a step back and reassess the science regarding global climate change. With the whole thing in question now and most countries not wanting to participate in a agreement that is laden with errors in data and unproven and un-peer reviewed science, it is no wonder some are trying to save their beloved movement.
 
   This piece comes from the Washington Post opinion section in todays online edition:

First, climate science is complex, and there is much that we still do not understand. Politicians, advocates and scientists who have claimed a level of certainty unsupported by evidence -- about exactly how climate change will unfold or is unfolding -- have not helped the cause. Second, as in any research effort being conducted by thousands of scientists across many years and many countries, mistakes will be made in the research or in its collection and reporting. The mistakes that have been revealed recently -- about, most prominently, the likely melting rate of Himalayan glaciers -- need correcting. But in the overall picture, they are trivial.

Politicians nonetheless have seized on both the trivial mistakes and the complexity of the science to cast doubt on the underlying and unrefuted truth of human-caused greenhouse gas accumulation. In many cases, it is hard to know whether they are being obtuse or dishonest, and hard to know which would be worse.
 
   The funny thing is, the first statement the writer makes is the one thing that we kept trying to tell those that said the debate was over. Over and over the "skeptics" kept telling them that there was no accounting for the sun in there studies, and no accounting for the mideviel warming period, and no understanding of the ice ages. What has sceince made so clear that the small amount of warming we are having is do to us? Then, in 1998, a cooling trend started and they don't know why. But now they use the same arguement to explain their error away. 
 
   As for the second point, were does one begin? The mistakes are starting to look like the number of shoes once in Imelda Marco's closet, and they are still coming.
 
   Listed below are just a few of the stories in recent weeks highlighting errors in the IPCC's fourth assessement alone:
 
1. Amazon Rainforest data found to be unsubstantiated.
 
2. Himalayan glacier melt data not peer-reviewed.
 
3. Sea level rise data retracted after faults found in data.
 
 
5. African Agriculture scare stories.
 
 
Then you get to other areas like Chris Horner's two year fight to get data released thru the Freeedom of Information Act regarding temperature anaylsis from NASA and the GISS. Once he got it, it clearly shows the corruption that is on scale with those from the CRU.
 
   I do agree with those on the enviro-side that none of this conclusivly proves that global warming is not real. But it does conclusivly prove that some people within the IPCC and other organizations that are involved with making policy are corrupt. But it doesn't end there. It has has also revieled the ways in which data is gathered. Using studys from green organizations, and information from those that have no scientific background show the inconsistancy and the total break-down of the peer review process within the community itself.
 
   As I have said in the past, if it involves the U.N., it is probably suspect. This scandal proves it once again.
 
    
 
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Porsche's New Hybrid Race Car

   I'm digging it! Hopefully they can get back into the game!
 
The Porsche 911 GT3 Hybrid will soon be hitting the racetrack.
 
How the new hybrid system works.
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
   Anybody who is a fan of Top Gear on the BBC knows that Jeremy Clarkson is no lover of any Porsche. If you have never watched this show, I would HIGHLY recommend it. Especially if you are into to fast cars!
 
 
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Australia Trying To Keep Carbon

   It is hard to believe that the Australian government is having trouble getting a carbon program together with the poll numbers they have on climate change.

On the weekend after the Rudd government reintroduced its plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by putting a market price on carbon, public support for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme dropped to a new low after the fiasco of the UN's Copenhagen climate conference in December and Coalition opposition to an ETS.

In September last year, support for the CPRS was at 67 per cent but last weekend dropped to 57 per cent and those against the CPRS rose from 22 per cent in September 2009 to 34 per cent.
 
   This is odd since 73% of the people polled, at the bottom of this article, say that climate change is real and 96% of those who believe say it is partly or entirely due to humans.Geez, with those kind of numbers they shouldn't have any problem passing climate legislation of any kind!
 
  
 
 
 
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Time Magazine To The Rescue

   Just so you don't get confused about all the snow on the eastern sea board and global warming, Time Magazine releases an article on just why they are related. (Via StopGlobalWarming.Org)
 
 The 2009 U.S. Climate Impacts Report found that large-scale cold-weather storm systems have gradually tracked to the north in the U.S. over the past 50 years. While the frequency of storms in the middle latitudes has decreased as the climate has warmed, the intensity of those storms has increased. That's in part because of global warming - hotter air can hold more moisture, so when a storm gathers it can unleash massive amounts of snow. Colder air, by contrast, is drier; if we were in a truly vicious cold snap, like the one that occurred over much of the East Coast during parts of January, we would be unlikely to see heavy snowfall.
 
   See! There is no escape from global warming. Whatever weather pattern you are seeing, you guessed it, it has to do with man-made global warming. Apperantly,  the folks at Time Magazine didn't get the stolen emails - in their email?
 
But,  just like the good lefty magazine Time is, they did their part and stepped up to help salvage the flailing global warming debate. 
 
   For you viewing pleasure, I decided to post a few Time Magazine Covers highlighting global warming Enjoy!
 
 
   
 
 
 
   
   
 
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Building The Fence

   Here is a story today in the LA Times about the border fence near San Diego and some opposition about its location. As usual, it's Bush's fault...
 
"I think it's a Bush-era boondoggle that will have almost no consequence in terms of stemming the flow of immigration," said Char Miller, director of the environmental analysis program at Pomona College. "It was a political decision that took in no account of the environment itself, and in the process damages what was once a pretty remarkable landscape."

The $57.7-million project is one segment in the massive expansion of border infrastructure approved by Congress during George W. Bush's presidency. Homeland Security has erected fencing in small towns, remote valleys and high-desert mesas from the Pacific Ocean to Texas.
 
Here is what I say: BUILD IT BABY!
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First Nuclear Plant in Three Decades

    The Obama administration has approved the first loan gaurantees on two new nuclear power plants in nearly 30 years.
 
The two new Southern Co. reactors to be built in Burke, Ga., are part of a White House energy plan administration officials hope will draw Republican support. Obama's direct involvement in announcing the award underscores the political weight the White House is putting behind its effort to use nuclear power and alternative energy sources to lessen American dependence on foreign oil and reduce the use of other fossil fuels blamed for global warming.
 
Loan guarantees for other sites are expected to be announced in the coming months, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been made public. The federal guarantees are seen as essential for construction of any new reactor because of the huge expense involved.
 
   As expected, many are not happy with this development, which includes me. I have posted on this before and once again I will state my position. Until we decided where we are going to put the radioactive waste, we should shelve plans to build more nuclear power plants. What is more ridiculous, Obama and Ried are the ones who pulled the plug on the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage site. So what sense does it make that they would now approve loans for new nuclear power plants? But I guess that will be somebody elses problem since it will be years down the road before these new plants are in operation.
 
   As the story says, it sounds more like a way to get some republicans on board with his energy plan.
 
   
 
 
   
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What Will They Do Now?

   Over at Pajamas Media, they are wondering what will become of those that have been profiting off the global warming money train the last 20 years.

Now that Climategate ringleader Phil Jones has admitted that there has been no global warming (man-made or otherwise) since at least 1995, and that the world was warmer in medieval times than now, I only have one question. Where do the so-called global warming skeptics go to get their reputations back?

As head of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia — their data underpins most of the claims of man-made global warming — Jones’ admission should be the final nail in the coffin of the anti-carbon dioxide crusade of Al Gore, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), most green activist groups, industry lobbying groups like the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), and President Obama.
 
   My questions is: How do we go about getting Al Gore and the IPCC's Nobel Peace Prizes revoked? I guess it can't be done. Too bad.
   
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Honesty Is Always The Best Policy, Finally

   Some honest is starting to come out form the climategate folks, this time from Phil Jones himself. (Via Instapundit).
 
Dr. Phil Jones, the man at the center of the Climategate scandal, has for the first time admitted that the Medieval Warm Period could have been warmer than the present day, flying directly in the face of the stupid HockeyStick Graph that caused so much of the Climate panic in the first place. From the BBC report, titled “Climate data ‘not well organised“:

"Phil Jones, the professor behind the “Climategate” affair, has admitted some of his decades-old weather data was not well enough organised.

He said this contributed to his refusal to share raw data with critics – a decision he says he regretted."
 
   Oh my goodness! Did he actually say that? He didn't actually admit he did anything wrong, rather his data simply wasn't "well organised". But it is a start.
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Those Evil Oil Companies

   It is funny when an organizations whole purpose for exsistance is being undermined on a regular basis in the news, and yet they go on...ignoring it. They keep printing stories as if nothing has changed. Like this one for instance. It's a story about how Exxon oil company is making money in a global market economy selling something everybody wants and needs. How they are undermining the global warming industry, and how evil all that is.
 
Exxon is behind one of the most infamous environmental catastrophes of our time, it makes more gross income than most nation's entire GDPs, it does business with nations with unstable governments that are often hostile to the US, and, worst of all, it has done everything in its power to push the misinformation campaign designed to discredit both climate science and the efforts to keep the earth's temperatures from rising to dangerous levels. And according to recent reports, its still up to its old tricks.
 
   Let's just look at a couple of things here.
 
   Okay, the Exxon Valdez was a terrible event, nobody questions that. But that was a long time ago and they spend billions of dollars in cleanup and litigation because of a captain who was drunk. That doesn't excuse them, but it is far from the worst spill that has ever happened. Secondly, the amount of money they make is based on the price of a barrel of oil set by the markets. Supply and demand is setting the price. Yet, because of those large profits, anyone who owns stock in them is making money as well. It is the american way, of course, to own stock in Exxon and reap some of the benefit. As far as doing business with unstable governments, well, what choice have we given them? We won't let them drill here, either on or offshore.
 
   So, what has any of that got to do with the price of tea in China?
 
   Oh yeah, they have to demonize the oil industry along with telling the story about how they give money to evil conservative think tanks. And remember, these think tanks are working with them to disprove global warming.
 
A report in the Independent outlines how the oil giant is still funneling money through various conservative think tanks and organizations in order to propagate the myth that the science behind human-caused climate change is "unsettled."
 
   And right there is the kicker: climate change is "unsettled". In there mind the arguement over global warming is over. But have these folks been reading the news recently? The leaked emails from the CRU, or the massing of evidence against the IPCC's fourth assessment regarding the non-peer reviewed science and the phony data within it? Do they read any of this, or do they just dismiss it out of hand? I think the answer is obvious.
 
   Clearly it is the same-old-same-old over at Treehugger.
   
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Michael Mann's Review From Penn State

   Here is an update from Wattsupwiththat on the investigation into Michael Mann and the CRU email scandal.

Excerpts:

“It is clear to those who have followed the media and blogs over the last two months that there are two distinct and deeply polarized points of view that have emerged on this matter. One side views the emails as evidence of a clear cut violation of the public trust and seeks severe penalties for Dr. Mann and his colleagues. The other side sees these as nothing more than the private discussions of scientists engaged in a hotly debated topic of enormous social impact.

We are aware that some may seek to use the debate over Dr. Mann’s research conduct and that of his colleagues as a proxy for the larger and more substantive debate over the science of anthropogenic global warming and its societal (political and economic) ramifications. We have kept the two debates separate by only considering Dr. Mann’s conduct.”

“Decision 4. Given that information emerged in the form of the emails purloined from CRU in November 2009, which have raised questions in the public’s mind about Dr. Mann’s conduct of his research activity, given that this may be undermining confidence in his findings as a scientist, and given that it may be undermining public trust in science in general and climate science specifically, the inquiry committee believes an investigatory committee of faculty peers from diverse fields should be constituted under RA-10 to further consider this allegation.

    I will be expecting a "nothing to see here" moment from Penn State when they finish there review of this matter. Professors don't get into trouble: they get tenured.
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Minnesota Wind Turbines Frozen

   By the time they get to working for the three months out of the year it is not frozen there, these wind turbines might pay for themselves over a period of 285 years. They link to a Star Tribune article that is quite favorable to the wind turbines.

The Startribune has a good article today about the windmills that aren't working because of the cold weather but they put a very positive spin on the whole thing.

The article mentions the wind turbines should start to work in about 2 months, well duh!! It also mentions another solution could be to run electric heaters to warm up the fluid.

Am I the only one who sees the irony here?

First, in 2 months it will be warmer, hopefully.

Second, you would need another electrical source for the electric heaters. Once the windmill starts turning, then hopefully it would generate enough power to run the heaters to warm the fluid so it could turn if it was windy enough so it could produce...
 
   Brilliant...
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