To paraphrase: People who disagree with my economic predictions should not get funds.
UPDATE: What an extraordinary moment. UWA has announced that due to the unexpected “passion” of the staff and students they have to cancel the Lomborg Consensus Centre (May 8th 2015). Does UWA do science-by-passion?
The Australian Government is spending $2.5 billion on Direct Action to reduce atmospheric carbon. They offer to spend a tiny $4m extra setting up a centre for an economist who studies the effectiveness of action to change the climate.
Tim Flannery’s reaction to the Consensus Centre:
“…it’s an insult to Australia’s scientific community.”
It’s an insult I tell you! Imagine taking Australia’s climate scientists seriously, and setting up an economics centre to solve the crisis they say is occurring. How could any scientist stand that.
Lomborg-the-economist agrees completely with the IPCC and Flannery on the climate science. But he disagrees on the economic and policy positions. Obviously it’s a disaster if the Flannery-IPCC economic predictions are subject to analysis.
Flannery, self-satirical, on the appointment of Lomberg:
“Mr Lomborg’s views have no credibility in the scientific community. His message hasn’t varied at all in the last decade and he still believes we shouldn’t take any steps to mitigate climate change. When someone is unwilling to adapt their view on the basis of new science or information, it’s usually a sign those views are politically motivated.”
So here’s Tim Flannery ten years ago, predicting permanent rainfall drops, back-to-back El Ninos, dry dams by 2007. How much has he changed his position based on the evidence?
ABC’s Lateline, June 10, 2005:
I’m afraid that the science around climate change is firming up fairly quickly…
…. the most worrying [phenomenon] is this semi-permanent el Nino-like condition that’s occurring as the Pacific Ocean warms up, and we’re seeing much longer el Ninos than we’ve seen before and often now back-to-back el Ninos with very little of the la Nina cycle, the flood cycle, in between.
… we’ve seen some quite considerable and look to be permanent rainfall drops across much of southern and eastern Australia.
look at the Warragamba catchment figures, they’ve got about two years of supply left…
MAXINE McKEW: So does that mean, really, we’re faced with – if that’s right – back-to-back droughts and continuing thirsty cities?
TIM FLANNERY: That’s right. That looks to be the case.
Who is politically motivated Tim?
This is why the work of the Climate Council is so important – to counter this continuing ideological attempt at deceiving the Australian public.
Spot the ideology: Is it better for the environment if we spend every environmental dollar carefully? Do we want to get actual environmental outcomes and reduce CO2, or is it better to spend those dollars propping up a green industry that won’t change the weather, but does sponsor Flannery’s work sometimes? Is it better to lower emissions, or to get the sort of government that pays Flannery to advertise their policies?
Hat tip to Safetyguy66 who calls the Flannery quote “pure comedy gold”. Submitted on 2015/04/22 at 9:01 am
Edit12pm : The end of the headline changed from “shoots himself in the foot”. It just wasn’t very good. – Jo
I’ll get moderated out this time if I repeat my post #20 in full in Jo’s “Scientists reply to Hypocrites” post of a couple of days ago but Flannery “the Fool” was most certainly one of many I had in mind.
“Why is it that down through history so many of these predictions of catastrophes to come such as future catastrophic sea level rises, future searing temperatures from burning coal, future extinctions of everything except global warmers and greens are almost exclusively the prerogative of intelligent id__ts?
[Congratulations, you squeaked through and I won’t snip you. But remember, Jo wants such terms avoided unless they really contribute to the discussion or add some humor. So thanks in advance for following the rules in the future. :-)] AZ
251
Well done ROM,
Very exciting to get reply No1. The difficult thing is to say something interesting and relevant when then chance comes.
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With subject matter like Tim Flannery I can understand your dilemma.
151
He needs a polka dot shirt so that he can do a duo with the other clown.
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I happened to be passing by when Jo put the post up and it triggered my interest otherwise I would have just moved on and maybe as usual, came in later after I had thought about the subject.
30
Just in case anyone is interested there is currently an El Nino in progress. It is mild by comparison with the previous, although not mild if your a farmer under drought in western Queensland, which resulted in very dry conditions in eastern Australia and lead the likes of Flannery to make up fanciful predictions of never ending droughts.
It raises the question once again about the supposed increase in energy that the oceans are supposed to be absorbing. Are not the El Nino events supposed to be more frequent and more intense? Same with cyclones etc.. Why don’t Flannery and his friends answer real questions about climate change raised by observed phenomena and not just recycle the catastrophic chant of global warming doom? More fame and money in catastrophism I suppose.
By the way the current storms and flooding in New South Wales are a once in a century weather event and not evidence for climate change, one way or the other. How long will they resist the urge to claim it as such?
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Don S @ # 2 quoted;
“By the way the current storms and flooding in New South Wales are a once in a century weather event and not evidence for climate change, one way or the other”
“Once in a century weather event” .
Nope!
To put the following flood disaster into context, the population of Australia in 1955 was 9.2 million.
I can remember the gravity of the headlines and particularly the photos in the papers of this flood disaster even today.
And there have been other recorded floods of a similar magnitude right down the east coast. This is all recorded in the digitised copies of the media of the times in Trove.
From Wiki;
1955_Hunter_Valley_floods
The Hunter Valley Floods (also known as the Maitland Flood) of February 1955 was a major flood on the Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia. They were one of the most devastating natural disasters in Australia’s history.
The flood overwhelmed rivers on both sides of the Great Dividing Range, creating an inland sea the size of England and Wales. Worst hit was the inland city of Maitland, which is sited precariously on low-lying land on the Hunter, was completely inundated by floodwaters. A total of 25 lives were claimed during a week of flooding that washed away 58 homes and damaged 103 beyond repair. In Maitland alone, 2180 homes were invaded by water.
Background
Heavy rain owing to the influence of La Niña had been occurring over the catchment of the Hunter River since October 1954 when, on 23 February 1955, an extremely intense monsoonal depression developed over southern Queensland and moved southwards. The very strong and extremely moist northeasterly airflow meant that over the basin of the Hunter and parts of the Darling River, rainfall amounts for a 24‑hour period were the highest since instrumental records began around 1885. Around Coonabarabran, as much as 327 millimetres (over 13 inches) fell in a single day, whilst falls in the upper part of the Hunter Basin the following day were generally around 200 millimetres (8 inches).
Flooding
With such heavy rain on already very wet ground the Hunter, along with tributaries of the Darling (Castlereagh, Namoi and Macquarie especially) reached levels quite unprecedented since measurements were first taken about 100 years earlier. For instance, the Namoi’s discharge, normally only about 25 cubic metres (875 cubic feet) per second, reached a massive 9000 cubic metres (320,000 cubic feet) per second, whilst the Macquarie peaked at around 6100 cubic metres (215,000 cubic feet) per second.
In Maitland the Hunter exceeded its August 1952 record height by nearly a metre, flooding some homes with as much as five metres of muddy water. 15,000 people were evacuated, most by boat or helicopter, whilst 31 homes were never rebuilt. In Dubbo, four thousand residents were evacuated as the main street was under more than a metre of turgid, muddy water, and the same thing occurred all along the Macquarie River, and at Gilgandra, a third of the buildings were completely destroyed and a hole torn in the main street was later found to contain two large semi-trailers!
The floods took altogether the lives of 25 people. Some 2,000 cattle and many thousands of head of other livestock were drowned. The damage to bridges, roads, railways and telephone lines took months to repair. There also were millions of dollars of crops destroyed.
Timeline
Below in a timeline of the six days over which Maitland was ravaged by floodwaters:
24 February 1955 – Torrential rain covers the Hunter Valley. Flights are cancelled at Williamtown Airport. First lives are lost as floodwaters submerge Singleton, stranding 600 people at the railway station and convent. People living in low-lying areas of Maitland are warned of imminent evacuation as water rises across the valley and an emergency declared. During the night, Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter goes under water and a mail train crashes into floodwaters at Togar.
25 February 1955 – 1100 people stand stranded on the platform at Singleton Railway Station as the Hunter River begins to overflow in the Maitland suburb of Bolwarra. The main crossing over the river, the Belmore Bridge, is closed at 8:30am and evacuation of the city begins. The Mayor of Maitland warns of an approaching “wall of water” at 11am as the first major levee failures occur, first at Oakhampton where homes are instantly ripped from their foundations. Before nightfall, water is 2 m deep on the city’s main thoroughfare, High Street. Five men are swept to their deaths across the city, three at the railway station.[1] During the night, floodwaters thunder through the city. 21 homes are washed away on one residential street alone, many occupants still inside or clinging to rooftops. Only female victim of the flood, Elizabeth Dickson is swept to her death in pitch darkness.
26 February 1955 – Surfboats rescue hundreds across the city while a helicopter hits power lines in Maitland and electrocutes three who were being taken to safety while they dangled from a rope. The helicopter exploded. Nearby Raymond Terrace is hit hard while flooding extends across the valley. The entire township of Hexham, situated between Maitland and Newcastle on the Hunter River, is completely submerged and every resid
27 February 1955 – Thousands homeless, refugees taken to Greta migrant camp and homes all over the Hunter Valley as water levels remain at a historic high.
28 February 1955 – Water begins to subside, leaving thick layers of stinking silt and debris. Clean-up begins as areas begin to emerge from the floodwaters. Samuel Upton is found drowned in his Maitland home while refugees continue to be moved to Greta by the thousands.
29 February 1955 – Joseph Murray drowns; the last victim of the flood.
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Well the ABC devoted 20minutes of tonight’s bulletin on the ECL. Egregious!
30
Thanks ROM, of course I also remember flooding events in the Hunter Valley, Hawkesbury/Richmond and Georges river over the years. I was at the time of writing thinking of the last time a house in Manly had been washed of its foundations by flood water. Not in living memory?
I should have been more specific and not given in to Flannery style over-exaggeration. Sorry.
00
‘a once in a century weather event and not evidence for climate change’
East Coast Lows happen a few times each year, some more severe than others. The Klimatariat says they will decrease in a warmer AGW world, which is fair enough, so on that basis if ECL are increasing then its a good chance cooling is taking place.
Its more than just weather if we can find a definite trend.
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No trend, but BoM only started in 1973.
‘The Bureau has a detailed database of these lows beginning in 1973. Each year there are about ten “significant impact” maritime lows. Generally, only once per year do we see “explosive” development. Looking at all the lows between 1973 – 2004, there is no evidence of a trend.’
50
ECL were active during the global cooling of 1945-75.
http://hardenup.org/be-aware/weather-events/east-coast-lows.aspx
20
After a BoM 90% confidence El Niño prediction and another 100% BoM complete fail, they’re back …
… and they’re still practising post ad-hoc carbon(sic) haze induced 97% junk climate science:
15 Apr 2015
The Bureau of Meteorology says there is now a 70 per cent chance of an El Nino developing later this year.
Bureau climatologist Dr Andrew Watkins said El Ninos do not always mean drought.
However, the Bureau of Meteorology’s shorter term seasonal outlooks predict a wetter few months before an El Nino might take hold from around June.
Updated 26 Mar 2015
There has been a sudden turnaround in the weather bureau’s outlook for the next three months, with many parts of Australia now expecting a wetter than normal autumn.
> It was only 6 years ago the BoM never mentioned El Niño rain:
The Age, February 17, 2009:
Drought and fire here to stay with El Nino’s return
VICTORIA is likely to come under the influence of another El Nino within the next three years, exacerbating the drought and the likelihood of bushfires, a senior Bureau of Meteorology climate scientist says.
David Jones, the head of the bureau’s National Climate Centre, said there was some risk of a worsening El Nino event this year, but it was more likely to arrive in 2010 or 2011.
“We are in the build-up to the next El Nino and already the drought is as bad as it has ever been — in terms of the drought, this may be as good as things get,” Dr Jones said.
Dr Field, co-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the IPCC’s last report on climate change, in 2007, had substantially underestimated the severity of global warming.
. . .
Footnote – Unpredicted Brisbane 2011 floods- 38 dead.
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As we are also discussing flooding down the East coast, this bit of info from South Africa which I have just stumbled over via a commenter on WUWT is of considerable interest.
I seriously doubt that the local CSIRO and BOM climate and weather experts being too fixated on global warming will have had a look to see if this obviously natural shift ie; natural climate change is also under way in Australia’s longitudes.
The only major ocean that has a distinct warming SST trend is the Indian Ocean and that in ways yet to be figured out is, I suspect, already altering our inland climate right from the NW in WA across the inland to right down here in western Victoria where we get the moisture inflows from the NW / Indian ocean that gives us our winter rains.
The warming of the IO is most likely as a consequence of the series of strong El Ninos over the last three decades since the still not understood Great Pacific Climate Shift in 1977 / 78 where the very warm waters from the Western Pacific Warm Pool, the largest such warm pool on the planet and the source center for the warm El Nino waters, flows back through the Maritime Continent / Indonesian Through Flow system into the Indian Ocean.
So here is another probable outcome of that Indian ocean SST warming.
__________
Wits [ SA Uni ] scientists debunk climate change myths
[quoted ]
But looking at data for the south-west Indian Ocean over the past 161 years, Fitchett and co-author Professor Stefan Grab, also from GAES, confirmed the results of previous studies which have found that there has been no increase in the number of tropical cyclones and that much of the perceived change in numbers is a result of improved storm detection methods. “From 1940, there was a huge increase in observations because of aerial reconnaissance and satellite imagery,” she says.
The big surprise came when Fitchett and Grab looked at where storms have been happening. As the oceans have warmed and the minimum sea surface temperature necessary for a cyclone to occur (26.5 degrees Celsius) has been moving further south, storms in the south-west Indian Ocean have been moving further south too.
Most cyclones hit Madagascar and do not continue to Mozambique, and those which hit Mozambique develop to the North of Madagascar, but in the past 66 years there have been seven storms which have developed south of Madagascar and hit Mozambique head-on. More notable is that four of them occurred in the past 20 years. “This definitely looks like the start of a trend,” says Fitchett.
South Africa is already feeling the effects of this shift. The cyclones that hit southern Mozambique cause heavy rain and flooding in Limpopo. But according to Fitchett, the trend becomes even more concerning when one considers that the 26.5 degrees Celsius temperature line (isotherm) has been moving south at a rate of 0.6 degrees latitude per decade since 1850. “At current rates we could see frequent serious damage in South Africa by 2050,” she says.
[ / ]
__________
Comment; The 0.6 degrees per decade southward movement of the 26.5 C isotherm over the SW Indian Ocean is a distance of about 65 kilometres per decade.
Note also that they are going back to 1850 and finding that the cyclones have been moving slowly south which effectively negates any so called anthropogenic global warming and reinforces the fact that it is all natural climate change which someday will reverse or change yet again to a new trend that just cannot be predicted and maybe never will be.
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will Flannery say this religious intervention is an insult to the “scientific community”?
20 April: RTCC: Ed King: UN chief to address Vatican climate change summit
Ban Ki-moon is set to headline a one-day meeting on climate change and sustainable development hosted by the Vatican on April 28.
“There’s a strong moral dimension to this effort,” said Ban. “I think this should be first time for any secretary general to be invited by the pope.”
Speakers invited to address the Vatican summit include Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Vatican’s top environment official, US economist Jeffrey Sachs and Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences…
It also aims to lay the foundations for Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, due in June, by focussing on the “moral dimensions” of addressing problems like climate change…
***Father Sean McDonagh, an Irish Columban who follows environmental developments in the Vatican, told RTCC the new focus on the climate marked a “very big change” for the leader of the church.“I know people in the Vatican are not happy, I expect he is not getting an easy ride on it,” he said.
****Top officials talking about climate science and offering their backing the findings of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) could be critical he added, given continued levels of scepticism around the world…
President Obama has frequently invoked faith when talking about the need to address global warming, calling on citizens to protect “our God-given natural wonders” in his weekly address on Saturday.Recent Yale University research indicates 64% of US Catholics are worried about global warming, and are more likely to support renewable energy investments than other Christians.
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/04/20/un-chief-to-address-vatican-climate-change-summit/
21 April: RTCC: Yeb Sano: Why I’m leaving diplomacy to fight climate change
Former Philippines climate envoy announces he is stepping down to work on sustainable future with faith groups
To fellow pilgrims, movers, missionaries, activists, peace-lovers, and kindred spirits, allow me first of all to offer my sincerest Earth Day greetings to all…
As we celebrate Earth Day, I am filled with gladness and hope as I join ***OurVoices as Leader of The People’s Pilgrimage.OurVoices is the global, multi-faith climate campaign created in recognition of the moral urgency of the climate crisis and it is a direct response to the clamor for support for climate action from the world’s religions and faith communities…
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/04/21/yeb-sano/
CAGW is moving further & further into the religious realm.
110
I’d like to comment froma Christian perspective about the interplay between the climate change religion and the vatican etc.
Deep breath…..and this is not a criticism but an explanation….
Christainity is adherence the the Bible as *the* text that defines it and directs it. The reason the Protestant Church exists ( presbtyrian, Lutherans, Anglican etc ) is primarily *because* the Roman Catholic church decided to embrace un-biblical teachings ( in fact these make up a lot of the RCCs teachings and dogmas ) and so the natural respnse to that was to leave and form what is ollectively known as protestantism, but in fact just means those churches are bible following.
One other point, from observation, is that the Roman Catholic church has a lot of pagansim in its beliefs – relics, wiccan goddess worship etc etc
and as such, given that the Climate Change religion is heavily earth worshipping at its core ( i.e. paganism ), the vatican at its core should feel comfortable becoming the “stub” on which a world wide pagan earth religion may find friends and comraderie. Further still, we also find the RCC at the centre of the interfaith movement, which seeks to bring ALL religions together. The Bible however says for Christains not to become involved with non-Christains and their rleigions, so unelss you were non-christain or incredibly irnorant of your own religion, you wouldnt touch the interfaith movement.
More info here : http://www.unitedreligions.org
As such, I’d expect the Vatican to move comfortably into the CAGW meme and embrace the paganism of the CAGW religion.
“Can two walk together, lest they be ageed?” ( Amos 3:3 )
01
I note that your reference leads to the proposal to sell a site name. Does that mean you have a financial interest in this topic.
I am not a practising Catholic but certainly know enough about the religion to call your rant for what it is – absolute nonsense. How can it be an explanation rather than criticism when you display such a lack of knowledge.
Contrary to your assertion, Christianity is for all people as defined by Paul. In the early days Christianity was regarded as a Jewish movement for Jewish people.
As to your reference to worship of “relics, wiccan goddesses etc etc”… I make two observations viz the “etc etc” is a sure sign you have little to add for there is no etc given there is no deity worship of any object or being other than one God in the Catholic faith.
Your confusion with intercessory prayer and symbolism should not be thrust on to the followers in the guise of your ill informed “observation.” No doubt you would equally and stupidly suggest that Catholics worship statues of wood, gypsum, iron or other icons.
You also have a poor grasp of history. Ever heard of Henry VIII? The defender of “the Catholic faith” was hardly looking to address the issues you claim when he declared himself head of the Church in England. Luther was not looking to set up a new faith when he objected to some of the practices at the time.
Rather than posit absurdities in what motivates the Pope perhaps you could enhance your poor “observations” by reading what he had to say on the matter. He believes he is following the teachings of Christ. Perhaps, this is based on the suggestion of shifting wealth from the West to the poorer nations.
I may not agree with him, having written that someone ought advise him that the last time the Church got entangled with science it came out second best (Galileo Galilei). Nevertheless he has more integrity in any single gesture than you can have in all your lifetime judging by your post.
Yes, I certainly do admire him as a genuine, caring, sincere great leader. But, I would rather we increase our foreign aid than go through the nonsense of economic inefficiency to achieve any “noble cause.”
And no, I won’t be going to church next Sunday!
10
[OK, you get your rebuttal. But no more. Is that a deal?] AZ
Mods – this is a once off in depth response, so this thread isn’t sidetracked.
——————————————————————————————————————
No I have absolutely no interest in any site – it was provided to illustrate my point that a UN link united religious initiative was in play.
Its not a rant – its founded in simple truth. And the RCC literally cant handle the truth.
The RCC bases its religious instruction equally on both tradition and the bible ( see the CCC 82 )
“82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, “does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”
Christianity by comparison is 100% bible based.
Christianity is based on Faith Alone ( Sola Fide )
The “etc etc” is so people can do their own research. The wiccan goddess worship is a direct reference to the Marian worship practiced by the pope. We are to worship God alone , see The 10 Commandments. Relics adoration is a purely pagan practice – it has no place in Christianity. It make a relic an idol, again in contravention of the 10 Commandments.
“You also have a poor grasp of history. Ever heard of Henry VIII? The defender of “the Catholic faith” was hardly looking to address the issues you claim when he declared himself head of the Church in England. Luther was not looking to set up a new faith when he objected to some of the practices at the time.”
Nonsense . I fully understood Henry VIII was a selfish git, but he also decided Rome had too much power and rightly booted it out of England. Luther was a RCC Priest, fed up with the Roman practice of the fraudulent sale of Indulgences, so he nailed his thesies to the Cathederal door in Wittenburg, effectively sparking the Reformation.
Tell me – where is RC Purgatory in the Bible? Where are RC Indulgences in the Bible? Where is RC transubstantiation in the Bible?
Rather than posit absurdities in what motivates the Pope perhaps you could enhance your poor “observations” by reading what he had to say on the matter. He believes he is following the teachings of Christ. Perhaps, this is based on the suggestion of shifting wealth from the West to the poorer nations.
The Pope worships in name ONLY – at the heart of the RC is pagan relic worship, pagan idolatry ( worshipping a “biscuit” in the mass ), and worshipping Mary in place of God. Latria , Dulia – its all a fancy way of avoiding saying worship, which goes against the 10 Commandments. Pope John Paul II dedicated his papacy to Mary – why not God?
Lack of integrity – I’m the one pointing out the glaring biblical errors of the Roman Church because I care enough so that people don’t get mislead by it. If that means i have to endure lame attacks because I expose the un-Biblical teaching of the Roman Church, then so be it.
I could write an essay covering, in great depth, going down to as deep level as you like going down to Strongs numbers, Hebrew and Greek translations, Concordances, take your pick……
Anyway, I hope this answers your questions.
20
This should be on a huge bronze plaque outside the climate commission offices. It’s the funniest thing Flannery has ever said.
200
In psychological circles it’s known as projection.
150
I’ll try and put it another way. If someone feels they have to constantly re adjust the terms of reference for their central argument you get the feeling they were never really convinced themselves from the start. They probably based their position on some sort of prejudice which ‘felt’ right at the beginning. The more desperate they get the more whiney the tone. This man Flannery is now whining. To be wrong is not a crime and usually means you learn something. To be wilfully wrong in the defence of an increasingly untenable position despite conflicting evidence is [snip]. Especially from someone who considers themselves an academic. How can an academic teach if they consider themselves above learning?.
[Please avoid such terms.] AZ
100
Agreed, Ceetee. Although it might not be [snip]ulent, it’s certainly ‘not science’. Like many others, I sometimes mull over how, when the tide truly turns, the MSM and the advocacy science types will deal with it. Will there be a new generation of young earth-scientists who just talk about the bad old days? Or will it be a case of collective amnesia for the ABC? Or will the MSM somehow turn it around and blame the CO2 fallacy on the skeptics? I mean, there is enough to doubt the whole ‘CFC ban saved the Ozone Layer’, but that is still environmental and scientific gospel with a capital ‘G’. And the Ozone Hole which was used to push the scare to get the ban, is quietly back, big as ever. But you don’t hear about that.
Sometimes historical fallacies refuse to die. Often people who should, never have to face justice. Are man-made global warming and those that benefited from the offsets, research and renewables billions, going to linger forever in history’s shadowlands? (Note: I don’t see anybody prosecuting bankers after the GFC, only banks). Or will CAGW be deemed too sensitive, taught as doctrine for another generation or two, maybe even as we descend into global cooling? I tend towards the latter opinion, because socialist imperatives, the other half of CAGW, have proven so adaptable.
Like the skilled horsemen of the Steppes changing mounts mid-gallop, the spirit of a youthful Iosep Djugashvilli has leapfrogged the falling Berlin Wall, half-empty vodka bottle in one hand, plans for World Government in the other, before morphing into a post-modern climate activist, or UN policy official, or an Occupy protester at a WTO meet, smart-phone in hand, in the West. Environmentalism has given terminally ailing neo-Marxism, ridiculous anachronism that it was, a blood transfusion on its deathbed, refreshing its ranks with the young, supercharging its moral authority, filling its coffers with your money, and finally providing both green refuge and alias.
Lomborg’s Consensus Centre is an interlude, a moment of reason, in the drawn-out melodrama of climate doom.
And with the current crop of histrionic talking-head advocacy-science types on the national broadcaster, maybe we should just kick back and enjoy the show. After all, we’re paying for it.
61
I just love your analysis of the postmodern socialist,,,, so brilliantly put. Apologies to the mod (AZ). Sometimes grumpy old man syndrome bets the getter in me.
10
Looking on the Climate Council website, why is there a whole pull-down menu called ‘extreme weather’ that directly contradicts the IPCC AR5?
70
Methinks that Timmy is terrified of being exposed for being the [snip] that most of us believe he is.
70
“An insult to Australia’s scientific community”. This is the same scientific community that maintains that regional models, subsets of GCM’s, are more accurate than the GCMs themselves and a BOM that thinks it is OK to delete decades of temperature records and make undocumented adjustments to the remainder. Sorry, but Australia’s climate scientific community is an insult to Australia.
300
Big Business cares!
20 April: Financial Times: Businesses to unite on green agenda including carbon taxes
Michael Stothard in Paris and Pilita Clark in London
Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chief executive of Schneider Electric who is playing a leading role in the Business & Climate Summit in May, told the Financial Times that the meeting of business leaders will put pressure on world governments to act…
The summit of 1,200 senior figures, which is supported by both the UN and business networks such as the International Chamber of Commerce, comes ahead of the COP 21 meeting in Paris in December…
“The difference between now and three years ago is that nobody in business really dares to say climate change is not happening,” said Mr Tricoire. “Even the oil producers and the energy-intensive companies — everyone agrees there is a massive problem.”
Delegates for the business conference include Tony Hayward, chairman Glencore, and Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever.
They plan to produce a paper of recommendations after the conference.
Mr Tricoire said a key recommendation from business leaders to governments should be to put a meaningful price on carbon, such as a carbon tax or a cap and trade plan.
“The price needs to be high enough to make a difference and not volatile, so companies can factor the price into their long-term planning,” he said, adding the new markets will probably be regional rather than global…
The third goal will be to put pressure on governments to use more renewables in their energy mix…
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e8e95562-e4ff-11e4-8b61-00144feab7de.html
16 April: RenewableEnergyFocus: Schneider Electric Solar Business marks milestone in the UK
Schneider Electric™ Solar Business, specialists in solutions for the solar power conversion chain, announced it has connected more than 300 MW to the grid in end of March, on top of the 200 MW already in operation…
Related: Schneider Electric seals clean energy contract with Scottish Power Renewables…
oh & Glencore is expecting a boom year in energy trading, despite low prices, because they are focusing on Asia.
***you know who will be paying for this!
Business & Climate Summit: Working together ***to build a better economy
Paris May 20-21, 2015 | UNESCO Headquarters
200 days before the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, the May 20-21 Business & Climate Summit provides a unique forum for business and government leaders to demonstrate bold action, adopt forward-looking strategies and call for ambitious policies that will allow us to scale up solutions…
http://www.businessclimatesummit.com/
Speakers include reps from: AXA, EDF, Nestle, Veolia, BNP Paribas, GDF-Suez, Total, Statoil, Michelin, Enel, RWE, Areva, State Grid Corp of China…etc
21 April: ARN Net: Hafizah Osman: Australian team enters Schneider Electric’s Go Green in the City 2015 student competition finals
Becomes one of the top 12 teams globally to compete in the final phase
The finalists, Rowan Heinrich and Claire Quy from The University of Western Australia, will be the only team representing Australia in the final phase of the global challenge and will go against the 11 other teams from 11 different countries.
These teams will visit Schneider Electric’s headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, France, from June 22 to 25, where they will be taken on company facility tours and attend career-building workshops…
The finalists were selected from among the top 100 teams that qualified for the semi-finals, by a jury composed of Schneider Electric business leaders…
***The winning team will travel the world VIP-style with Schneider Electric, visiting facilities and networking with employees and senior management. The two laureates will also be offered a professional opportunity with Schneider Electric.
no problems with any of this, Tim?
40
it seemed like such a good idea:
19 April: Vice: Is It Finally Game Over for Ethanol?
Leandro Oliva, Motherboard
Now, the corn ethanol industry is back in the headlines over a growing movement to strip the ethanol industry of federal subsidies and blend quotas, which guarantees sales to corn growers, and is decried as an unnecessary handout by critics.
At the same time, the corn ethanol industry continues to respond to criticisms that biofuels present little environmental benefit, and that the growing of staple crops like corn for use as fuel represents a threat to global food production…
At the same time, the US shale gas boom has led to a slump in oil prices, and profit margins have been wiped out for many corn ethanol producers, some of which have already scaled back operations.
The next few months could well prove to be the moment of truth for the industry as a whole, as the one-two punch might bring the whole enterprise to a screeching halt. All of this is a far cry from what the situation was about a decade ago, so where did things go off the rails?…
“The corn ethanol industry has received more than its fair share of subsidies over the past 30 years,” says TCC(Taxpayers for Common Sense). “Through federal tax credits, loan guarantees, grants and other subsidies, billions of taxpayer dollars have been squandered on an industry that relentlessly seeks additional special interest carve-outs.”
Meanwhile, growing political clout to eliminate the federal mandates on ethanol could signal the long-term decline in an industry that had been the darling of energy independence advocates for the better part of a decade…
While the short-term outlook for the ethanol industry may be bumpy due to slumping fuel prices, it belies the fact that 2013 represented the largest corn crop produced by US farmers in history…
According to the WRI report, even sugar cane “converts only around 0.5 percent of solar radiation into sugar, and only around 0.2 percent ultimately into ethanol.”
“Such low conversion efficiencies explain why it takes a large amount of productive land to yield a small amount of bioenergy, and why bioenergy can so greatly increase global competition for land,” the WRI report concludes. If you want clean energy, it says, go solar, which it says “can outperform biofuels per hectare by a factor of more than 100,” states the WRI…
In a March editorial, the Boston Globe came down like a bag of bricks on the ethanol industry: “They don’t even reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, which was always ethanol’s main selling point. True, ethanol burns more cleanly than gasoline. But the growing, harvesting, and refining required for ethanol production causes large amounts of CO2 to be released, doubling greenhouse emissions over time.”
Another report, this one by the University of Michigan’s Energy Institute, determined that ethanol offers “no significant increase in the amount of carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere … therefore, there’s no climate benefit.” …
Without key subsidies in place, American ethanol producers may go the way of their fading Brazilian cousins…
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/is-it-finally-game-over-for-ethanol
80
Flannery is sounding more and more like an Aztec priest.
120
I rather think he’s recreated himself as a form of ‘Tetol’, this apparently can occur after many self sacrifices…..
70
Aztec priests [snip let’s not say something that could be misinterpreted] so you’re not wrong.
50
I purchased Bjorn Lomborg’s “The sceptical environmentalist” ten or more years ago and can see why Tim Flannery has worked himself in such a state. The book tells it as it is and, in conclusion, the best thing to do is continue as normal, spend the money on problems that can be solved and as nations get richer they will naturally clean their act up. Read his book, Bjorn is not the rabid greenie a lot of people think he is.
210
Bjorn Borg was an “ice cool” tennis player who was totally devoid of emotional outbursts on court unlike “JMac” and Bjorn Lomborg is an “ice cool” environmentalist who is totally devoid of emotional outbursts about Earth’s Climate like “Flim Flam”. Apologies “JMac” for comparing you to “Flim Flam” but I must admit I really like your cameo efforts in both the movie “Anger Management” and the latest “Bankwest TV ad”. Maybe “Flim Flam” you will be offered a cameo role in “An Inconvenient Truth 2”.
61
If Lomborg’s views are as straightforward as you say, from the perspective of skeptics, he is, as Douglas Adams would say, ‘mostly harmless’. But let’s not forget that this is just another cunning PR stunt by the Abbott government intended to deceive its constituency into believing it is tough on the dodgy science, while at the same time ensuring they have a spokesperson who does nothing ‘courageous’, as Sir Humphrey would say. We have to assume this is why Jensen was not appointed as science minister. Imagine having someone in the job who would call it like it is!
As to Flannery, he either made this statement seeing irony in it or not seeing irony in it. There is only one possible explanation in each instance, but I dare not mention either.
18
I was looking to link to Tim’s fascinating interview in the National Geographic where he expanded on his theory of our developing ‘super-organism’, it was there a few weeks ago.
50
I always laugh when warmists spout off about respecting science then shriek ‘denier’ when a counter view is presented, can they even hear themselves or is blind fury actually more than just metaphorical?
201
Re:
“…it’s an insult to Australia’s scientific community”
Whenever I hear somebody posturing as ‘speaking’ for ‘the scientific community’ I know what follows is ideology-motivated propaganda.
Flannery even claims to represent the feelings of said community, which of course is pure drivel.
It’s the same ploy used over and over again by left leaning activists: To pretend that what the say is not (only) their own position, but is hared and backed by far far more numbers and/or far pore important issues.
Almost always these attempts to bolster their number/size/importance of the proffered position rely on the idea that it is shared by all (or a large portion) of those who aren’t heard. Sometimes the argument even is that ‘those not speaking up’ are afraid to or cannot make do so, so that it is the self proclaimed ‘representative’s’ duty to speak for them.
Of course, all those pretending to speak for ‘the environment’, or the ‘endangered species’, ‘the planet’ etc use this ploy. And get very emotional when it is not accepted.
But Flannery pretending to be the voice for even the feelings of ‘the scientific community’ is just laughable.
BTW and of course, the whole consensus meme is exactly the same ploy. Just dressed upp a bit differently
191
Hear hear…
00
nothing is more scary than having the MSM report this type of drivel without question:
22 April: UK Independent: Steve Connor: Global warming: Scientists say temperatures could rise by 6C by 2100 and call for action ahead of UN meeting in Paris
There is a one-in-ten chance of the world being 6C warmer than it is today by 2100 which would lead to cataclysmic changes in the global climate with unimaginable consequences for human civilisation, leading climate researchers have warned in an “Earth Statement”.
The risk of hitting the highest upper estimate for global warming based on current levels of carbon dioxide emissions is now so high that it is equivalent to tolerating the risk of 10,000 fatal aircraft crashes a day, according to the 17 “Earth League” scientists and economists who have signed the joint statement…
The Earth League researchers, who include economists Jeffrey Sachs and Lord Stern as well as world renown climate scientists from Europe, Brazil and India, warn that time is running out for a climate deal that binds countries to a process of “deep decarbonisation” where fossil fuels are largely replaced with cleaner sources of sustainable energy by 2050…
“2015 is potentially one of the most decisive years in modern human history on earth when it comes to determining our future prospects for wellbeing and prosperity for 9 to 10 billion people over the next century,” said Johan Rockstrom of the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden who chaired the Earth League group…
Professor Sir Brian Hoskins of the Grantham Institute for climate change at Imperial College London, one of the 17 signatories, said that climate change has had too little recognition as an election issue in Britain despite its huge significance for future generations.
“It’s like the Titantic sailing into waters with icebergs and yet what we hear is a debate in the bar about who’s going to buy the drinks. Get real. We are all on this boat and there’s some pretty nasty stuff out there and yet the conversation is at a trivial level,” Sir Brian said…
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/global-warming-experts-say-temperatures-could-rise-by-6c-by-2100-with-cataclysmic-results-10193506.html
apologies for picking on April, but having someone called “Humble” mixed up with this anything-but-humble org is truly the CAGW joke of all time:
Earth League Secretariat
Secretarial Assistant: April Humble, Climate Service Center 2.0, Germany
http://www.the-earth-league.org/secretariat.html
check out the “Members” page.
30
In my opinion it is Tim Flannery who is “an insult to Australia’s scientific community”.
This is the bloke who, in spite of all the BOM data in the public domain at the time regarding Australian rainfall claimed that the East Coast dams would never fill etc etc only to have egg all over his face when they soon did and have remained at high levels since.
This is the same bloke who apparently thought that Lindy Chamberlain must be guilty of murdering her infant child Azaria because if it turned out to be a dingo well that would be really bad for dingoes.
The weird self referenced thinking of ‘dingoes are good cos I like dingoes so dingoes can’t have dunnit cos that would be bad for dingoes’ seems more in tune with a Monty Python skit than anywhere in the real world let alone that of science….. well anywhere except ‘climate science’.
You have to admit that now that the Pythons show is long since finished he does evoke some memories. No one does that sort of comedy these days, except the Bondi Hipsters. I can’t wait for this generation to turn on the alarmists like the punks turned on the hippies. Can’t wait until Tim Flam gets given the Johny Rotten treatment.
151
That particular treatment has already been administered, and can be seen on an ABC webpage, here.
00
Ever since The Australian reported on the brand promotion issue in the filming of the “Two on…” Series shown on ABC, it has been harder and harder to find a clip of Tim behind the driver’s wheel in a hybrid. It is as though the web has been scrubbed of all traces of the original clip.
However, after a thorough search, we have uncovered the relevant frames in all their glory, floating around in a green backwater, here.
There are moments of disarmingly unguarded sentiment expressed therein. Some of the highlights…
On giving back
“I think there’s a real obligation on people like me to give something back to the public…”
On tax dollars
“…Coz we make such wonderful discoveries that most people don’t know anything about, and it’s their tax dollars that fund them…”
On travelling
“I’m always in and out of airports and in and out of planes, but its just one of the things you have to do if you want to be effective in the environmental movement”.
00
How on earth did non physical scientist like Tim Flannery, someone who could not get into any science course at University in 1970 work himself into a position as Australia’s leading expert on science, climate, hot rocks, technology and economics? Like Al Gore, he was so bad at science, he only scraped into a BA in English at the new Latrobe University at a time when it was close to a farm in the country. Then a master of Earth Science at Monash and a PhD in ancient dead marsupials at the university of NSW? Then he told us the technology behind SA’s Hot Rocks was ‘relatively straightforward’ and the Rudd government donated and lost $90Million dollars.
So when did Tim do any mathematics, chemistry, physics, engineering, geology, computer modelling and meteorology? Where are his physical science qualifications to talk as a technology expert in any physical science or technology field? No, this is [snip].
Now he lectures the Australian government on economics. He has risen so far past his level of competence that the Peter principle is totally inadequate. Tell us about dead wombats, Tim. I suppose they were killed by Climate Change, a lesson to us all. Tell us about nuclear power, Tim. From the Maxine McKew interview, you are apparently an expert in that too. Is there no end to what marsupials can tell us?
[Please avoid such terms.] AZ
120
Sorry. Such terms will be avoided. You can use the word ‘wrong’.
[We don’t try to guess what a suitable term would be and substitute it for what you said. We may suggest alternatives, however. Thanks for your understanding.] AZ
30
Mendacious is a nice word- maybe too nice.I like F.A..D because it sounds just right.
20
Its much more fun imagining all the possibilities & his suitable they are, than having one stated anyway.
10
Why was not one of our Climate Commissioners an actual meteorologist or even close? Chemist, engineer, chemical engineer, industrial engineer, bureaucrat but no meteorologist? Or can you self define? If you consider yourself a climate scientist, you are one. No wonder 97% of such people agree with each other. You have to wonder what happened to the last 3%.
How did a paleoentologist get to be Chief Climate Commissioner on $180K for a 3 day week?
Why do we now have a Climate Change Authority setup by the Gillard Government in 2011 and chaired by economist Bernie Fraser and berating the government? When will Australia actually enlist the services of an adviser who has actual expertise in climate and meteorology? When will the Climate stop being simply a political football? Do these people really think mankind controls CO2 levels and CO2 controls global temperature? Or is it all just a job with a great salary and no one expects too much.
70
Seriously, is Professor Flannery any different from the hordes of government advisors who have little knowledge about a subject but a very large ego and some political skill to propel their well being at the expense of others?
The real problem is we, the voters, or perhaps the parties, select representatives who haven’t the calibre to appraise the merit of the snake oil being sold by these spruikers.
60
TdeF:
Latrobe University wasn’t close to a farm; you were probably fooled by the sheep let loose to keep down the grass, but they weren’t looked after by the University staff, they needed outside labour.
Unfortunately some of the outside staff were a bit careless and one or two sheep got into the Arts Faculty and graduated.
100
So.. smart sheep. Monty Python warned us about smart sheep. Could be New Zealanders though.
I remember it well. No lecture halls, just a few dormitory buildings and tutorials in the rooms. They took campus literally. It was in the fields. Entry requirement for a BA in English, TER of 1.
30
Leave the sheep out of it. There is no need to smear them by association with Tim Flam.
Speaking of Monty Python though I think Tim might have tried out for their scriptwriting team thinking they were a serious think tank type show but was rejected. Rejected but not dejected and, not one to wallow in self pity, he returned home and went to La Trobe U, the rest being a parody of history. Strange and not necessarily true, but makes more sense than anything else about him i.m.o, especially the bizarre Tim Flam logic of thinking Lindy Chamberlain must have murdered her infant Azaria cos otherwise it would be bad for dingoes…
10
I was just this week almost run down by a hybrid car silently reversing out of a car bay, since I posted the original (and, it seems, hastily disabled) link. One can still enjoy the extensive exploration and comedic exaggeration of the issue here.
10
Maybe I’m wrong, but I think The Gillard government legislated a fixes term for the climate commission and the associated trough snufflers
00
“…it’s an insult to Australia’s scientific community.” Nah! That’s not an insult. I could do a lot better than that.
71
His PR guys are probably on overtime working hard right now preparing and distributing press releases to discredit Lomborg. They have a history of playing the man, not the ball.
70
So, Tim, where is your evidence to support that statement? Why is it that you can badmouth someone with whom you disagree but get away without putting forth a single piece of evidence that you are right and Lomborg is wrong? Who is the more politically motivated, Lomborg or you?
The facts are simple and well documented by the lack of warming over the years since 2001, you are wrong. And I challenge you to provide actual empirical evidence that contradicts me. Your opinion that things are a certain way is just your opinion and carries no weight in a debate about climate science or anything else.
See if you can do it, Tim. Go for it. Put up or shut up. I’m sure Joanne Nova will welcome your rebuttal.
160
Tim, it is happening as we speak as Flanny was denigrating Lomborg by eluding to his first degree as just a political one when T Jones should have replied that his was just an English degree. Tony failed to ask Tim after he had given a glowing validation of his fellow Climate Commissioners as to why he thought they would be able to give unbiased opinions given there blatant and biased warmist ones.
30
Geophil
To be fair Tony Jones did say to Tim F “..you are not a climate scientist and neither is he…”
So there is a limit to ABC Tim worship.
12
What I find hilarious is that they refer to themselves as climate experts:
If the ABC Fact check was relevant… let’s use wiki (because if anything it will be CAGW biased):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Commission
Who are thse people?
Tim Flannery – “He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at La Trobe University[4] in 1977, and then took a change of direction to complete a Master of Science degree in Earth Science at Monash University in 1981.[citation needed] He then left Melbourne for Sydney, enjoying its subtropical climate and species diversity.[5] In 1984, Flannery earned a doctorate at the University of New South Wales in Palaeontology for his work on the evolution of macropods (kangaroos).”
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Flannery
He enjoy climate apparently… doesn’t say much about climate qualifications…
Veena Sahajwalla – “Veena Sahajwalla is an inventor and Scientia Professor of Materials Science in the Faculty of Science at UNSW Australia. She is the Director of the UNSW SM@RT Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow.”
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veena_Sahajwalla
Smart lady but more of amterials scientist if Wiki is to be believed.
Roger Beale – “Roger David Bernard Beale AO (born 18 December 1946) is a former senior Australian public servant and policymaker. Since retiring from the public service, Beale has continued to pursue work as an artist, having held exhibitions in galleries around Canberra since 1984.”
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Beale
Yeah, ummm… really failing to see teh climate expert connection…
If Australia thinks these are “Australia’s best climate scientists” is it any wonder we have to outsource for a better opinion?
40
I’d be happy to sell you my opinion.
00
Perhaps Mr. Lomborg has a more realistic view of how climate works.
The Oceans function as a Thermal Energy Flywheel
I’m speaking metaphorically, since flywheels like the one pictured above store rotational energy, and thereby maintain a steady rate, resisting episodic fluctuations. It seems that oceans have the same effect on the climate, by storing thermal energy from the sun. That’s where most of the 1.9 days of accumulated solar energy is circulating.
In the real world, radiative heat loss is determined by the temperature differential, fixed at the top of the atmosphere by the vacuum of space, and maintained at the bottom of the atmosphere by the oceans. The surface temperatures are noisy because the water is always in motion, made chaotic by flowing over and around irregular land masses. But the oceans’ bulk keeps the temperature within a remarkably tight range over the millennia.
https://rclutz.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/the-climate-water-wheel/
50
Is it just my imagination or is Flannery looking more and more like Pachauri as time goes on?
Vested interests in carbon pricing? [R,T] Check!
Patchy-grey full beard? [R,T] Check!
Says eating too much meat is environmentally unsound. [R,T] Check!
Paid to raise climate alarm? Cheque!
To achieve perfect mimicry there’s just one more [snip] Timmy would have to make.
Go on, Timmah. Give in to your anger. Strike down Lomborg with all your hatred and your journey to the carbon side will be complete!
Rajendrah: Tim, I am your father!
Tim: Noooooo! Ninety-seven percent of weird old hermits are 95% certain that’s not true!
[I’ll give you an A for creativity and persistence but a D for getting the point. Such comparisons aren’t worthwhile and Jo is clamping down on them. Thanks in advance for your cooperation in the future.] AZ
60
I like the Mods. on here. They know what’s right, but they’ll always indulge a little mischief. I wish they were my parents.
21
Now why would a warmist resent,
A Government’s honest intent,
To spend a few million,
To check the few billion,
Was to mitigate climate, well spent.
140
Best yet, Ruairi. And that is a tough competition.
10
OT: the biggest source of wind farm incidents is caused by blade failure, followed by fires.
Pieces of blade, burning material & ice from blades can be thrown hundreds of metres before hitting people & structures on the ground.
http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/accidents.pdf
40
Are you suggesting that Timmy stand near a wind turbine whenever he makes a public announcement?
O/T: the current record for a blade throw is 1300 metres, so stand close Tim.
50
Over a Thousand yards eh ? That’s some throw. Where’s it from Graeme ? I’d like to quote it.
10
Sorry, too cold to use my office, only my iPad.
I think it may have been in Caithness catalogue of wind turbine “safety”.
Mind you it was off a small turbine. Imagine the reaction if a 6 ton bit of blade crashed into a house in the early hours of the morning. It would be lead news in the MSM (except the ABC of course).
Any reference to the ice sheath cutting a technician almost in half would be in the archives of NoTricksZone.
Both of course were aerofoil shaped. The reason they fly so far.
00
Ref; http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/AccidentStatistics.htm
Blade failure
By far the biggest number of incidents found was due to blade failure. “Blade failure” can arise from a number of possible sources, and results in either whole blades or pieces of blade being thrown from the turbine. A total of 315 separate incidences were found:
[ Data >> ]
Pieces of blade are documented as travelling up to one mile. In Germany, blade pieces have gone through the roofs and walls of nearby buildings. This is why CWIF believe that there should be a minimum distance of at least 2km between turbines and occupied housing or work places,in order to adequately address public safety and other issues including noise and shadow flicker.
00
It’s great fun saving the planet.
Read about how this guy Al connects with the young & impressionable.
Love in the Time of Taksim
“They say love happens when you least expect it. Actually, I expected it, only with someone else. I had a plan. I was going to meet my lifelong crush, Al Gore, and make him fall in love with me. I would return to the U.S. from Turkey with an engagement ring and move onto his plantation in Tennessee. I even did a fundraiser.
It all started with an email. Al Gore sent me an email! The subject line read, “Work with me”. When I clicked on it, my heartthrob was inviting me to become a Climate Leader. Despite having been an environmentalist since I can remember, (I studied Environmental Studies in college and was forever pitching a show on sustainable living, called My EcoVillage), like everyone else, climate change seemed too huge a task for just one person, so I did what everyone else did; I recycled.”
00
2010 numbers for worldwide CO2 output show Autralia at 1.11% of the world total.
So for your $2.5 billion, if you managed to completely erase all CO2 production, Australia could not measureably affect the globe on CO2. Zilch. It is impossible for you Aussies to affect the world in this area, sorry.
Please have your PRO AGW folks expand on this point for us please.
What a waste of time and money.
70
I just assumed Tim was a bit upset at not getting his hands on that $4million. I imagine waterfront properties require a bit of maintenance.
60
Flannery sad face interview with Tony Jones ABC re Lomborg Funding and NSW storms:
In response to Jones’ question about continued rain fall Flannery now says the climate change dam filling rains that are falling in summer are out of season and bringing with them silt from the run off which does not happen when the normal climate dam filling rains fall in winter.
But on a brighter note his Climate Council now has $1.75 mill thanks to donations from concerned citizens to continue the climate fight against the Abbott government and compete with that Lomborg who is only qualified in political science.
It’s all too much.
40
Tim said:
“You know, if we took Lomborg’s advice, we’d be heading towards a world four degrees warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution, and that’s a catastrophe.”
Perhaps I am mistaken, but I thought ‘the consensus’ was that we were already on the way to being 4 degrees warmer, which is why we all need to hand over loads of cash to other countries and large banking firms…?
70
Flannery? My opinion of him? Snip, snip, snippity, snip, snip.
80
from the Lateline transcript.
thank you, thank you, thank you.
22 April: ABC Lateline: Interview: Tim Flannery
TONY JONES: Well it’s the biggest storm to hit Sydney and other parts of NSW in a decade. So are we likely to see more extreme weather events like this in the future, as many climate scientists have argued?
This week’s storms will certainly feed the debate over how much climate change is already affecting Australia.
Today the Government’s own Climate Change Authority weighed in with a report arguing that Australia is especially at risk and must ift its game by accelerating efforts to cut carbon emissions.
BERNIE FRASER, CLIMATE CHANGE AUTHORITY: And it matters because even at present levels, we’re having more heatwaves, more strokes from people suffering heatwaves, we’re having more bushfire weather conditions and all sorts of things of that kind…
TONY JONES: Well Tim Flannery is a scientist and environmentalist who was the chief commissioner of the Climate Commission, a body which provided information on climate change to the public, before it was disbanded by the Federal Government…
Thanks for being there.
TIM FLANNERY, THE CLIMATE COUNCIL: It’s a pleasure, Tony…
TONY JONES: Now, when we get weird weather like this once-in-a-decade storm, inevitably, there’s a question over whether climate change has played a part in it. What do you say?
TIM FLANNERY: I say as far as that storm goes, it’s too early to say. But it’s important to look beyond that storm. I mean, people tend to forget that parts of NSW are still in record drought at the moment as we speak. And the long-term drying trend is now well entrenched…
TONY JONES: Yes. I mean, you know your own critics essentially make the argument that these huge kind of storms, these huge dumps of rain put the lie to the idea that it’s going to get drier in Australia.
TIM FLANNERY: Well that’s right. Every time it rains I seem to cop it from someone about this sort of thing. But the fact is it’s going to rain in the future. We’ll have intense storms in the future. But what I was talking about a decade ago and what continues to be absolutely true today is that south-eastern Australia overall is losing rainfall, it’s starting to dry out, there’s a drying trend which is strongly tied to the influence of greenhouse gases…
TONY JONES: Well that is certainly what the latest report to the Government from the Climate Change Authority is saying…
TIM FLANNERY: It’s unlikely. You know, what used to give us – what used to fill our dams was good winter rains. Starting through the Autumn, preparing the soil, wetting the soil down, then you get stream flow and the dams’d fill with filtered water. These big dumps tend to run off very, very quickly, bringing a lot of soil and other things into the dams with them. And they’re not really a replacement for the old way that the climate system used to work. It’s – I think we’ll see as we go into the future what we need to do in terms of addressing this, but we need to be aware that over the longer term, we’re going to face a situation where there’s less and less available water and demand of course will continue to increase as our population grows…
(LOMBORG SECTION)
TONY JONES: OK, so that was Paul Johnson, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Western Australia there. Tim Flannery, your response.
TIM FLANNERY: Well I was surprised to hear about the $4 million given to this Lomborg centre. You know, the Climate Commission was abolished just a couple of years ago on the basis that the Government didn’t have enough money to support the Climate Commission. We were a group that consisted of some very eminent Australians. There was a ex-head of Prime Minister and cabinet, there was the ex-CEO of BP Australasia, some of Australia’s best climate scientists. And we think we were doing a good job. We produced 20-odd reports over the time of our existence and had quite a significant impact…
TONY JONES: Well what do you think of Bjorn Lomborg’s qualifications?…
***TIM FLANNERY: I’ve never been able to get a straight answer out of him. Every sentence that we engage with, the ground seems to shift. But, look, he’s – my understanding is he’s – his basic degree is in politics…
TONY JONES: Now, do you actually believe – I mean, it’s not just sour grapes, is it? I mean, you’re not a climate scientist, nor is he, it has to be said, but do you think the Government has actually set up this centre to push the sceptical barrow?…
TIM FLANNERY: …But could I say, there’s no sour grapes in it. We’re having a great time at the Climate Council. We’ve got funding of $1.75 million a year now through the Australian public and some foundations and so forth, so we’re doing quite well and very happy, actually, to be operating independently. But I do get concerned when I see government money going into a cause which is likely to misinform people rather than provide them with accurate, authoritative information…
TONY JONES: Tim Flannery, we’re out of time. We thank you very much for coming in to talk to us tonight.
TIM FLANNERY: Thank you very much.
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4221859.htm
30
From The Blaze:
20
“We’re having a great time at the Climate Council. We’ve got funding of $1.75 million a year now”
He’s very open about what matters to him and his mates: FUNDING.
30
Bernie Fraser has a phenomenal background in climatology.
Doesn’t he?
00
22 April 2015: Warragamba Dam Level : 86.5%.
http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/water/visit/warragamba-dam
and rising?
10
Yes – rising: http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/water/dam-levels
The “visit Warragamba” page shows Tuesday’s 85.6% level while the link I’ve posted is up to today and showing 87.8% (and you can click on the icons for other dams to see their levels too). Total Sydney catchment storage is at 88%, up 6.5% since last week.
00
Consider this journalistic blooper from The New Daily (today):
“Flannery has long been an outspoken campaigner against the human prevention of climate change.”
Funny, I thought that all this time Flannery had been a campaigner FOR the human prevention of climate change!
It’s a bit like the erstwhile giver of directions to place X when he tells you, “You can’t miss it!”, but then in an attempt to reinforce his point he tells you further, “You can’t help but miss it!”
00
Flannery is fast to question qualification legitimacy of a potential rebutter of the economics component of his message.
What is legitimacy of any part of Flannery’s message? (Reportedly there is at least one Nobel physics prize winner who pursued physics in preference to the more complex field of economics)
So let’s keep it simple for Flannery and just focus on the non-economics component.
Can he set out the appropriate physics/thermodynamics of atmospheric CO2 behaviour? Can Flannery give a more accurate account than Dr John Nicol’s 2007/2010 effort?
If he cannot then his Council is not entitled to the comfort afforded by the funding he mentioned to Tony Jones?
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A former MP once told me that when the late Al Grassby was speaking in parliament he sounded like an expert on the subject matter but if Hansard was later read and the claims checked they were almost always found to be badly flawed, deceptive. This reminds me of Tim.
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Jo, in response to Flannery’s statement that:
….’we’re seeing much longer el Ninos than we’ve seen before and often now back-to-back el Ninos…’
Not on this presentation we’re not. I counted six El Ninos from 1950 to 1988 of 12 months duration or more.
None since then! The present one is a very mild one so far.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ensoyears.shtml
How can these people get away with such utter nonsense? They should be called out for their blatant misrepresentations.
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UWA Guild of Undergraduates denies dissent.
Then they proceed to extrapolate the views of the Guild Executive to the whole student body.
UWA is past it’s use-by date.
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From a pure politics perspective if you look at the fact that basically no one thinks Lomberg was a good appointment, with sceptics widely regarding him as a luke warmist and alarmists regarding him as a denier. Id say the Gubmint must have got it about right. Remember the goal in government is to carve a path down the middle to slaty in power. Ok it doesn’t work so well if the middle is complete disagreement instead of reluctant agreement, but that’s a mere technicality lol.
Flannery is now all but irrelevant, if he was ever relevant in the fist place. I think what galls him most is hes been effectively sidelined, he even seems to find it hard to get the ABC to repeat his bleatings now.
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