Daily Archives: August 3, 2011

The big green indoctrination machine

U.S. Education Dep’t Pushes Man-Made Global Warming, Saving the Earth at Children’s Reading Event
By Penny Starr

During a July event at the U.S. Department of Education, children from D.C. schools and day care centers were treated to free books, including two featuring Nickelodeon characters as part of the media organization’s “The Big Green Help” Series. One of the books promotes the idea that global warming is man made and the second book talks about what kids can do to save the Earth. (CNSNews.com)

Oh noes! The southern seas are icing up!

Antarctica sea ice shows accelerating increase over past 30 years

A paper published last month in the journal Climate Dynamics finds that “The Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) shows an increased trend during 1979–2009, with a trend rate of 1.36 ± 0.43% per decade. Ensemble empirical mode decomposition analysis shows that the rate of the increased trend has been accelerating in the past decade.” (Hockey Schtick)

Maurizio Morabito being unperturbed

(Failure at the New York Times and ClimateWorks) Why So Many People Are So Unperturbed
Maurizio Morabito

It says a lot about contemporary “green” journalism when a report that links the Permian extinction to “methane burps” using a Baltimore Sun article of Dec 2004 is described as “the best job I [Justin Gillis of the NYT] have seen of explaining, in layman’s terms, why scientists keep pressing the issue“.

Perhaps we simply shouldn’t have anymore laymen writing about environmental stuff.

Anyway, here’s my comments to “The Costs of Delay” by Hal Harvey and Sonia Aggarwal for the ClimateWorks Foundation: (OmniClimate)

Climate Change In Black and White

Climate Change In Black and White

Although this isn’t a new story, this Guardian piece on ‘conservative white males’ being more likely to be climate change sceptics is worth discussing in a bit more detail. The conjunction of race and climate is an interesting one, combining two of the key planks of current liberal/left orthodoxy. (Progressive Contrarian)

Gosh, improvement through development. Who’da thunkit?

We can lower Australian CO2 emissions by… (wait for it) building new coal plants!

A joint writing project: Anton Lang (who writes as TonyfromOz at PAPundits), Tony Cox, and Jo Nova

It’s the paradox that will torture the Greens. What if the best way to achieve their environmental aims as well as providing jobs and power was to build more coal fired power stations? Imagine if we could reduce CO2 emissions by more than 5%, supply 24 hour baseload electricity, create jobs, and save thousands of square kilometres of Australian bush from industrial domination. Imagine if “New Coal” turned out to be the lowest cost alternative as well?

Anton Lang has researched it, and Tony Cox has confirmed that the big numbers make sense with an Australian electricity company (who shall not be named). Selling the Carbon Tax in Neverland is already a public debate that’s pretzel tied in impossible contradictions, so what’s one more unlikely twist? Possibly, just enough to get us out of a knot, or at least enough to expose the real aims of the carbon reduction plan.

Old existing large scale coal fired power plants in Australia are all twenty to forty years old. Major advances have been made in coal-powered technology, and new coal plants are, incredibly, much more efficient, so much more efficient that they produce up to 30% less CO2. Who would have thought there was such a bonanza-cherry there, ripe for the picking? (Jo Nova)

It’s alright, everyone knows green means natural, so we can list these as natural deaths

The dark side of solar and wind power projects

Building and maintaining solar and wind power projects can be hazardous, and industry watchdogs worry that the push for more green energy places more workers and bystanders in harm’s way. (LAT)

Green death
Richard North

Wind turbine accidents involving injuries and equipment damage have surged over the last decade, peaking in 2008 with 128 incidents worldwide, according to the Caithness Windfarm Information Forum, via the Los Angeles Times. Since the 1970s, there have been 78 fatalities, with about half in the U.S.

The number of solar incidents is harder to gauge, but most industry workers say it’s rising. Solar workers perform tasks similar to those in the most dangerous professions: roofing, electrical work and carpentry. (EU Referendum)

All they need is more corporate welfare…

Drax coal power station ‘could be transformed to produce biomass fuel’
UK’s largest coal power station could become top renewable energy source if subsidies are increased, Drax chief says
Fiona Harvey

The UK’s largest coal-fired power station could be turned into one of its biggest sources of renewable energy – if subsidies are increased. (Guardian)

Mandated magic wands and pixie dust

Green Group Confuses Government Fiat with Consumer Demand
by WILLIAM YEATMAN on AUGUST 2, 2011

Last week, President Barack Obama announced that his administration would again increase fuel efficiency standards for new cars and trucks. According to one knowledgeable source, these auto regulations are pie-in-the-sky. Nonetheless, environmentalists are dissatisfied. (Cooler Heads)

“Sustainability” Gaia crank codeword for “misanthropy”

Report offers framework to guide EPA on incorporating sustainability in its decision making

WASHINGTON – A new report from the National Research Council presents a framework for incorporating sustainability into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s principles and decision making. The framework, which was requested by EPA, is intended to help the agency better assess the social, environmental, and economic impacts of various options as it makes decisions. (EurekAlert)