Tears for the climate (or to boost their social status?)

 The Tear Stained Flogs of Climate Science

The unstoppable Tony Thomas has collected the tears of climate scientists the world over as they wallow in their self-inflicted heartache. For anyone who hasn’t come face to face with the raw emotional PR power of a crying scientist, check out Quadrant.

In particular, this new study:

The $2.5 million dollar study of The Emotional Labor of Climate Scientists

.. let’s get back to the psyches of Australia’s top warming spruikers. Geographers Professor Lesley Head (Melbourne University) and Dr Theresa Harada (Wollongong University) have published a breakthrough paper in the peer reviewed journal Emotion Space and Society.  It’s called  “Keeping the heart a long way from the brain: The emotional labour of climate scientists”.[4] This includes insights about climate-panic people’s “emotional labour” from “feminist perspectives” in which the scientists combat “a strong climate denialist influence”. The authors, straight-faced, found that our climate scientists use emotional denial to suppress the consequences of climate change. Guilt-free, they can then continue “extensive use of long-distance airplane trips throughout a scientific career”.

The authors accept, no questions asked, that 33-50 per cent of the world’s petroleum and over 80 per cent of coal should be left in the ground. Even so, they fret we’re set for maybe 6 degC warming and transformation of society. From this bland starting point, they sample four female and nine male Australian climate scientists — half of a group of 26 rated “the nation’s leaders in this field”. Tragically, the names of this band of bedwetters are withheld. The 13 interviews are wrapped with references to  nearly 70 prior academic papers.

The study took at least three years.  The scientists were surveyed from mid-2014 . The paper was submitted in May 2015 and re-submitted after revisions in July 2017. It was funded from part of an ARC research grant of $2,467,256 [you read that right: nearly $2.5m] for “cultural dimensions of environmental sustainability and human-environment interactions, including climate change.”

The interviewees’ particular terror was the “strong climate denialist movement [that] was a source of pressure and a cause of anxiety”. Into the bargain the  denialist discourses were “seen to undermine the legitimacy of science authority”. The authors seem unaware that Australia’s leading “denialist”  is Joanne Nova, one-time professional science educator and now a housewife in outer  suburban Perth with a global reputation. Her only resource is her intellect and her only income is from her blog’s tip jar. No $2.5m taxpayer grants for Joanne…

As Thomas says — “note the elistism”. I would add — “note the narcissism”. Could Dr Ailie Gallant be the only homo sapiens that cares?

# Dr Ailie Gallant, Monash: “I often feel like shouting… but would that really help? I feel like they don’t listen anyway. After all, we’ve been shouting for years. How can anyone not feel an overwhelming sense of care and responsibility when those so dear to us are so desperately ill? Perhaps I’m the odd one out, the anomaly of the human race. The one who cares enough, who has the compassion, to want to help make her better. Time is ticking, and we need to act now.”

Or could it be she cares so little about the rest of her species she can’t be bothered even listening to them? And she has so little interest in saving the world she won’t even seek to find out why skeptics are skeptical?

Imagine if she did? She might not be so afraid.

Read it all at The Tear Stained Flogs of Climate Science

 Tony Thomas’s new book, The West: An insider’s tale – A romping reporter in Perth’s innocent ’60s is available from Boffins Books, Perth, the Royal WA Historical Society (Nedlands) and on-line here

h/t Tony, Tom and Marvin

9.9 out of 10 based on 70 ratings

165 comments to Tears for the climate (or to boost their social status?)

  • #
    FijiDave

    I liked the final two paragraphs! Excellent! (I liked the rest, too, but the end was the best). 🙂

    180

    • #
      Yonniestone

      I saw the words stained and flog and knew straight away this was about pointless emissions.

      170

    • #
      Geoff

      $2,467,256 or about 10 houses for those living on the street. Why has government no moral compass? This is not the fault of politicians. It is the heads of departments that are “out to lunch”. Should Jo get a grant? Yes. On par with the opposing view. Let the argument be fought on equal financial terms

      However, NO-ONE should get a grant until EVERY homeless person has a home. Lets get back to the basics. A home and food on the table is MORE important than Climate Science Bull!

      231

      • #
        Lionell Griffith

        Correction: No one should get a (government) grant. (PERIOD)

        No one, no matter how lacking in the necessities of life has a right to live off another. Especially not by the power of the government gun (taxes et.al).

        You say, “don’t they have a right to life?” Yes! But they don’t have a right to a living at the point of a gun. If they do have that right, what happens to the rights of those from whom the wealth is earned by expending time, thought, and energy (ie. their life) by being productive. It vanishes simply because they produced the wealth and the “homeless” person did not produce it.

        This in the abomination that has and is destroying every thing worth having on the earth: freedom, liberty, keeping what you earn, trading what you produce for other – in other words living on this earth and in this reality and let to live.

        Now if you want to help them with your own productivity and give them what they need, you are free to do so. No one will or should stop you. However, that is NOT what you are saying. You are saying that it is just that you can be nothing but a common thug, take the wealth of others by force, and then become Oh-So-Nobel because you give that wealth to others who Need-it-so-much.

        But..but it was voted on and the majority voted for it. That does not change the fundamental principal that each should receive what he deserves. Those who do nothing, deserve NOTHING!

        But…but…we meant well. No you did not! Your intent was to take what wasn’t yours to take and to do with it what you had no right to do.

        152

        • #
          Annie

          I think we need to differentiate here between bludgers, those who can but won’t work, and the genuinely needy through no fault of their own. There is always a place for helping others who are really sick or disabled (which is why Christianity had so much to do with founding hospitals, schools and universities). This has been thoroughly distorted in recent times by the encouragement of the ‘entitled’ welfare state. It seems now to be the case that the genuinely needy lose out to the experienced bludgers much too frequently.

          210

          • #
            Lionell Griffith

            I also apply what I say to those who can’t fend for themselves for whatever reason. They MUST depend upon the voluntary charity (is there any other kind?) of others out of their abundant generosity and not at the point of the gun held by ANYONE, let alone the majority or something called “government”. Otherwise rights are not respected and that WILL lead to the ultimate downfall of the society and the end of the lives of those who make that theft possible.

            Remember, to consume whatever, that which is to be consumed must be produced. That takes someone or many someones to forgo consumption and to invent, build, and produce the values necessary to sustain their lives. Then to claim the right to take a “fair share” (always defined as more) to be transferred to others who did not create it, is nothing but having the morality of a common thug. It makes no difference how many want to take it or the reason they want to take it, it is still the expression of a common back ally thug using force to take what he wants simply because he can.

            As I said, if you want to help them out of your own productivity and generosity, go ahead. I won’t nor should anyone else attempt to stop you. If you try to help them directly or indirectly through the so called government, whether pretended to be legal or not, I will work to stop you and so should everyone else.

            Why is it that you are so willing to act as if you are oh so noble and take wealth that is not yours to take and do with it what is not your right to do? May your pretend good intentions be damned to hell forever!

            60

            • #
              Kinky Keith

              Lionel, I appreciate your basic thoughts but does Annie’s comment really differ from yours that much?

              Isn’t this in agreement with you?

              ” has been thoroughly distorted in recent times by the encouragement of the ‘entitled’ welfare state”.

              I remember post WW11 as a youngster answering a knock on the front door to find a bloke from my father’s pub with a cardboard box of groceries contributed by the patrons. Dad had been unable to do much for a couple of weeks after damage from New Guinea came back to immobilise him. My mother was pleased by the gesture from the community.

              But I think that you, me and Annie agree that those days are gone.

              Just differences of expression.

              KK

              20

              • #
                Lionell Griffith

                Her comment left unmentioned that the taking care of must be VOLUNTARY. THAT is a significant omission.

                Her comment implied that we MUST take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. Based upon our current culture, this further implies that the values necessary for that care should be taken by force and that some people must be forced to deliver that care.

                This includes so called and presumed Christian culture. We have a culture that if you don’t help, you are forced to help by so many laws, rules, a regulations that you are stripped of your individual rights at every turn. Many if not most so called Christians voted for the current situation.

                Yes, she stated that the idea had been distorted yet did NOT state the nature of that distortion. This leaves the issue totally up in the air and I suggest intentionally so.

                We do not know which side of the fence she stands. I presume worst case and you presume best case. Looking at today’s culture, worse case always wins.

                This issue is so vitally important that it must be made explicitly clear and not be left to mere guesswork.

                20

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Lionell, I can understand you anger over this. Once the “taking” starts it just seems to accelerate.
                Governments love it because they can buy votes with other people’s money and borrow more when needed.
                There’s something dramatically wrong with the way our society is operating and it is not sustainable.

                KK

                30

              • #
                GD

                a bloke from my father’s pub with a cardboard box of groceries contributed by the patrons. But I think that you, me and Annie agree that those days are gone.

                Today, more than ever, churches are supplying this very necessary and much-needed service.

                Here in Geelong, in the small CBD, St Mary’s Catholic church distributes groceries four days a week. A block away, the Anglican church provides a cooked breakfast 365 days a year* and a hot dinner two days a week. Also, nearby, the Salvos and St Vinnies are helping people in real need.

                *I applaud the people who get up at 5am in the middle of our freezing winter to voluntarily offer this service to the needy.

                30

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                True GD, there’s a lot of good work being done and I’m aware of it locally.
                I initially found Lionells comments confronting but from the bigger picture must agree with him that the status quo needs changing.

                Politicians have failed in their duty to manage things so that the average person can find work and with that some sense of worth.

                Instead they have bought off voters by continually increasing government benefits and handouts which loads up the taxpayers even more and effectively makes them slaves, and that isn’t the right way to go in a nominal democracy.
                Common sense got swept out the back door a long time ago . Here’s hoping that we can change things for the better.

                30

              • #
                GD

                Common sense got swept out the back door a long time ago. Here’s hoping that we can change things for the better.

                The first issue of importance in changing things for the better is electricity.

                Until the government gets electricity sorted we may as well give up.

                30

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                To Lionells point,
                sometimes assistance can be a damaging thing.

                I personally know of two cases where Australia’s very generous social security payments were misused.

                The first one involved gambling where little was left over for food each fortnight. The TAB and poker machine owners did very well out of it.

                The second case was a young bloke who lived for the Friday support payments that supported his “smoking” habit and then left him unable to work.

                GID.

                Government Induced Tragedies.

                Still governments fail to acknowledge that to give someone a job is the best thing you can do for them.

                20

      • #
        Terry

        “This is not the fault of politicians.”
        Is it not the role of politicians to ensure that these “heads of departments that are out to lunch” are not heads of departments at all?

        And in most cases, that there is no department for them to be “head of” in the first place?

        Australia has degenerated into a corrupt kleptocracy “administered” by a bloated, parasitic and destructive bureaucracy.

        I am not certain that the chemo needed to remedy this condition will not kill the patient in the process.

        110

  • #
    Yonniestone

    Firstly as a person with great experience in detecting personality disorders, these people are nuckin futs.

    I initially sensed this was a rather good parody but tragically realised its real, the emotive delusions of people will always exist as long as there’s a cause they can attach themselves to to compensate for their self perceived shortcomings that subliminally underlines their existence.

    While the ramblings of zealotry usually amounts to various degrees of annoyance for the majority this type however has the added strength of politics and free money that elevates it above the level of a well instituted bureaucracy.

    So while its ok to have a laugh at these climate tragics (and please do) remember the very real and measurable damage they do in assisting the systematic plan of technological and intellectual deconstruction of human progress that has enhanced lives in numbers never seen before.

    411

    • #
      David Wojick

      Indeed, I find it hard to feel sorry for these people, in fact I don’t. They are dangerous.

      300

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      but Yonnie,

      IF it gets warmer all those snowflakes would just melt.

      70

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      As long as the Klimatariat dont have access to firearms ( or torture chambers ) then all good…..

      The similarity to the building subtle case against “heretics” is noticable and deliberate.

      “we were just following orders…?”

      Yeah…right….

      70

    • #
      Chuck Simcik

      Gotta imagine what their mental state is now that Mann has been Balled
      I think he will also be a “Marked” Mann – as in Steyn

      120

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        The Elite dont like losing…they arent tolerant of their plebs not doing their jobs…..

        50

      • #
        sophocles

        Mann refused to turn over his data to the court so his case was dismissed.
        By refusing, he only inflates any speculation about him “having something to hide” which may be rife.

        It’s also known as “shooting oneself in the foot.”

        But then, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer chap.
        He did a nice job with that shot. Good steady aim, no quiver, clear identification of his target, yes, a competent destruction of his own case.

        100

        • #
          Serp

          He couldn’t hand over that which does not exist say I and was thus obliged either to pose as having “done his arithmetic in the dark” or face dismissal and its further consequences; experience has demonstrated that Mann’s antics are the norm in his chosen field of endeavour. Think Carter, Salby, Ridd…

          50

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      Yonie,

      Scuse my dumb question. But is “nuckin futs” an official diagnosis now? If so I know a lot of similar characters I could say were nuckin futs and be right on the money.

      60

  • #
    TdeF

    Whatever happened to Rational Science, the science which created our modern world from chemistry, physics, mathematics and all the great sciences which devolved from applying these to everything else. Fundamental in these is the idea that nothing is considered science until it is proven beyond any doubt. Even then a single experiment can prove science wrong.

    Then we have something called Climate ‘Science’ where nothing is proven, everything is emotion, consensus, peer group, groupthink.
    It’s not even meteorology and almost no one is a meteorologist, a real science qualification.
    So it’s hard to deny Climate Science as it is based on no science at all.

    Al Gore is not any sort of scientist. Professor Tim Flannery studied giant dead kangaroos and wombats.
    Others like the Science Guy worked as an engineer in Boeing. The appropriate qualification of many of the spruikers are almost zero.
    In fact they aggressively deny the opinions of the only relevant scientists, meteorologists.

    And it’s a huge confidence trick to argue that Meteorologists know nothing about the climate because it is so
    different to the weather. Or that very limited computer models are not only very accurate to an amazing degree but infallible.
    No one has explained how such tiny warming over a hundred years changes storms and makes them much worse or more frequent.

    Anyway, it is odd to be labelled a denier. There is nothing to deny. After three decades and the failure of every prediction, no real scientist would accept that man made Global Warming is proven. In fact nothing is proven.

    So ‘Climate Scientists’ are depressed? No wonder. They have realised their careers are based on fake science.
    Now that’s depressing.

    350

    • #
      David Wojick

      Predictive environmental impact assessment has always been iffy as science. It is always speculative. Scale it up to global over a hundred years and there is no science there.

      But I am sure these folks really believe what they say they believe.

      180

      • #
        TdeF

        Yes, but do the people who originated this nonsense? Of course not. They never did.

        After thirty years their wild speculation and opportunistic political manipulation (Would be President and then Vice President Al Gore) has been entrenched as absolute socialist dogma, at least in Western democracies. The Labor parties, the Democrats, the socialist parties. No one else in the world in any country believes it.

        The end of world scenario smacks of the inferno of the bible, the underworld of the Egyptians and Greeks. It was never part of Christianity but was added to control and terrify people. When it resulted in the payment of indulgences, the Christian world split in half. Carbon indulgences are an exact parallel, preying on people’s fears on the one hand and their feeling of guilt on the other.

        Now we have the creation of invasion guilt, reparations guilt and of course as Comedian Dave Chapelle calls it, guilt for our oppression of the “Alphabet people”. Thus the science of 11 genders for humans and no other species. All based on oppression guilt.

        I do not believe for a second that Al Gore believes in Man Made Global Warming. He cannot add and multiply, but he knew a great idea when he heard it and he has the ethics of a top politician.

        240

        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Yes, although those christians who would fall into the Protestant side of the fence ( non-indulgences, adherence to biblically-based teaching ) didnt fall for the money making indulgences/terror farce.

          The similarities are there, however this nonsense is purely man made, akin to the Aztec priests who used to cut out peoples hearts to keep the population in line with what was in effect a form of politically motivated terror that was manifested in a religious fashion….people stayed in line with the rulers of he day , if they feared being sacrificed to the Aztec gods….

          50

        • #
          sophocles

          Ethics, TdeF?
          Are you sure he’s heard of them?

          50

  • #

    Now that cold snaps are “sudden stratospheric warmings” and snow is “heightened threat of spring flooding”, it’s time to get serious about communicating the climate message. Can’t all be dry science moistened by the odd tear of emotional labour. Emotion Space and Society (whatever that means) and its contributors can be assured that their grief is shared by those who count most and who will do absolutely anything to raise consciousness…

    “The photo Ronaldo shared was taken in southern Brazil, far from the Amazon, in 2013. The photo that DiCaprio and Macron shared is over 20 years old. The photo Madonna and Smith shared is over 30. Some celebrities shared photos from Montana, India, and Sweden.” -Forbes

    The good news for celebs is that gerbils are safe from mass incineration, at least for now. That should ease some emotional labour.

    220

    • #
      el gordo

      ‘…. it’s time to get serious about communicating the climate message.’

      We appear to be at a disadvantage in that the Denialati lacks a catastrophic scenario, so I suggest a return to the early 1970s global cooling scare.

      There would be much amusement, the irony writ large. Still, if we line up all the negative feedbacks we should get some traction.

      110

      • #
        AndyG55

        “so I suggest a return to the early 1970s global cooling scare.”

        I suspect that Mother Nature will force them in that direction. 😉

        As the climate cools a bit, expect the “recycling” of the 1970s memes.

        100

      • #
        Terry

        “so I suggest a return to the early 1970s global cooling scare.”

        Nope. Won’t work, for their solution is the same.

        Carbon(sin) taxes, seizure of your freedom and wealth and their installation as compassionate caretakers of the “little people”, meaning they get to “live it up” while dishing out poverty, misery and despair in equal measure to everyone else.

        Which is fair. After all, they are just better than everyone else.

        This has little to do with a changing climate.

        90

        • #
          el gordo

          I disagree.

          The politics is only a manifestation of climate change delusion and can be easily rectified with global cooling.

          40

          • #
            sophocles

            But global cooling will still be laid at the feet of burning fossil fuels. It was in the 1970s …

            90

            • #
              el gordo

              In some circles particulate matter was blamed for the cooling planet during the 1950s and 60s, in fact it was just a preponderance of La Nina.

              This time around, blaming the invisible blanket for global cooling would be a no brainer.

              60

            • #
              Eugene S Conlin

              Surely, Sophocles, if the alarmist narrative is to be believed, Global Warming causes Global cooling and vice versa

              60

    • #
      Allen Ford

      Sorry chaps, but we are all tilting at the wrong windmill. This issue is not a scientific one and never was. It is a political stunt to gain power by a bunch of lefty no hopers.

      UN notable, Christiana Figueres, has let the cat out of the bag, but no one see,me to be listening:

      The alarmists keep telling us their concern about global warming is all about man’s stewardship of the environment. But we know that’s not true. A United Nations official has now confirmed this.

      At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.

      “This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution,” she said.

      Referring to a new international treaty environmentalists hope will be adopted at the Paris climate change conference later this year, she added: “This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history.”

      The only economic model in the last 150 years that has ever worked at all is capitalism. The evidence is prima facie: From a feudal order that lasted a thousand years, produced zero growth and kept workdays long and lifespans short, the countries that have embraced free-market capitalism have enjoyed a system in which output has increased 70-fold, work days have been halved and lifespans doubled.

      Figueres is perhaps the perfect person for the job of transforming “the economic development model” because she’s really never seen it work. “If you look at Ms. Figueres’ Wikipedia page,” notes Cato economist Dan Mitchell: Making the world look at their right hand while they choke developed economies with their left.

      110

      • #
        sophocles

        I completely agree with you Allen. You’re right and Figueres has said that regularly. It’s not to gain power but to take it.

        The climate is a goad to drive people to accept the unacceptable and I have said as much myself from time to time, over the last few years. The UN has been very dishonest about this even though they’ve also openly said what they are doing. I shudder to think what it’s going to be like if/when they do.

        Many of their primary postulates are wrong. Which means so-called “corrective action” will be correcting what is not wrong.

        Have you read their Agenda 2030 web site? It’s not nice …

        70

      • #

        Many failed papers and predictions and model projections but not to worry- it’s political and therefore addjustable.
        https://beththeserf.wordpress.com/2019/05/17/special-edition-global-warming/

        50

    • #
      Bobl

      Which is odd because the models say AGW should cause stratospheric COOLING.

      30

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    How deplorable must someone be not to shed tears for our elitist planet saviours …

    Obama Blows $15 Million on Mansion Doomed by Rising Tides He Failed to Slow

    https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/obama-blows-15-million-on-mansion-doomed-by-rising-tides-he-failed-to-slow/

    2013: “The president heartened environmentalists with the strongest presidential statement on warming in history.

    All that’s left to see is how he follows through.

    “The 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15,” Obama said.

    “Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods — all are now more frequent and intense,” he (Obama) said, echoing the data frequently cited by scientists and environmentalists.”

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/02/obama-cries-out-for-climate-change-solutions-but-what-happens-now/273112/

    >> Man fined for dud doomsday warning

    http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/man-fined-for-dud-doomsday-warning/story-fn6ck55c-1226080950490

    Cry me a river.

    60

  • #
    Another Ian

    Very O/T but

    “Boris heads off anti-Brexit forces at the pass – asks The Queen to prorogue the UK Parliament ”

    https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/08/boris-heads-off-anti-brexit-forces-at-the-pass-asks-the-queen-to-prorogue-the-uk-parliament–1.html

    100

  • #
    John F. Hultquist

    $2,467,256

    Holy carpolla!
    I can think of a few folks with internet skills that could have accomplished similar with a broadband connection and an under $1,000 computer.
    Likewise, I can think of a dozen medical issues that need that $2.5 million.

    140

  • #
    nb

    Tear up for the climate;
    or
    Tear up climate papers.

    80

  • #
    Another Ian

    More tears coming

    The age of the politician is over.

    We just need people who get things done.

    It’s why America has Trump

    It’s why we have Boris.

    Brexit is going to happen #prorogue #StopTheCoup #Brexit pic.twitter.com/pr7TLkIic9

    — Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) August 28, 2019 ”

    Via

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/08/28/brexit-maneuvering-boris-johnson-requests-queen-suspend-parliament-queen-elizabeth-agrees-brexit-opposition-plan-thwarted-for-now/#comment-7315158

    But will Canberra read?

    100

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Yes, Brexit will happen.
      If the Remainers in Parliament can get a vote of no confidence through, then Boris calls an election for Nov 1 (after no-deal Brexit).
      If they pass other legislation (e.g. No exit without a deal) the EU will stall on negotiating, then Boris calls an election for Nov 1 (after no-deal Brexit).
      If the EU don’t negotiate a better deal (their current position) then Boris calls an election for Nov (after no-deal Brexit).

      70

      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Well analysed Graeme !
        The Remoaners are screwed
        Which is why
        Their moans have
        Become Shrieks

        30

      • #
        beowulf

        Don’t get too euphoric just yet. After the request for prorogation was given royal assent, Boris sent all parliamentarians a letter outlining his program, a letter which set the alarm bells ringing amongst many Brexiteers.

        Nothing with Boris is straightforward. He has a string of sub-plots running parallel to his stated plan. It is hard to guess if he is shamming with a No Deal, or shamming with an EU deal. He is still having 2 bob each way. No one but Boris knows if he is fair dinkum or trying to hoodwink the Remainers, or the EU or his allies. The EU is unlikely to give ground, but who knows.

        One thing is evident: if he sticks to his script, after the up-coming EU commission meeting he will give parliament the opportunity to move new amendments, and it is hostile amendments which have made Brexit more difficult to achieve thus far. It was such an amendment that looked like it would scupper his ability to prorogue, but he beat the Remainers to the punch and got to the Queen before they could get their court challenge under way.

        Farage thinks that a no-confidence motion is inevitable when parliament resumes. If so it would play into Boris’ hands to call an election. Remember that the UK has fixed-term parliaments that require a trigger to allow a mid-term election, unlike Australia. A no-confidence move against the PM has no effect during a 14 day cooling off period unless the PM chooses to step down. Once an election is called, parliament dissolves and the anti-Brexit pollies are rendered impotent.

        The Remainers are disunited though. Some want an election, some want a second referendum and no election; the most hard-line want another Article 50 extension as a means to kill off Brexit altogether. An election would mean the rightful end to a ton of Remainer political careers when they get turfed out by their voters who voted to leave.

        Now the Soros-funded Best for Britain pro-EU group has suggested that the Queen should suffer the same fate as King Charles 1 for proroguing parliament. If Brexit does happen you can’t say Soros hasn’t tried his best to stop it.

        40

  • #
    sophocles

    The authors accept, no questions asked, that 33-50 per cent of the world’s petroleum and over 80 per cent of coal should be left in the ground. Even so, they fret we’re set for maybe 6 degC warming and transformation of society. From this bland starting point,

    [ my bold ]

    If this is their “starting point,” then there is no science in their paper. It’s all touchy feely fiction.

    They “fret we’re set for maybe 6 deg warming … ….
    Haven’t they heard of a literature search?.
    Until they mount a suitably wide and imaginative search, I have no sympathy for their incompetence at all.

    Let them fret!

    There are things other than bipedal animal life forms which affect climate far more strongly, far more powerfully, such as the nearest star and the nearest galaxy, the centre of which the nearest star orbits. Cosmic rays? Have they heard of those? Much stronger than any further amount of CO2.

    If they had done a suitably imaginative literature search, and cast a suitably wide net, they might, just might, have uncovered http://sciencebits.com/ice-ages the galactic effects and lectures from Shaviv, Svensmark and Kirkby, I give them more credence than such heartfelt Groupthink Cargo Cult crap.

    Scientists whose work is worth finding: Jasper Kirkby, Henrik Svensmark, Nir Shaviv, William Happer (he makes Lasers out of CO2! Yes! ), Ed Berry, Valentina Zharkova … to mention a mere half dozen. And they found papers from none of those?.

    130

    • #
      MudCrab

      If this is their “starting point,”

      If you are willing to torture yourself enough by actually reading ‘climate science’ studies you become rapidly aware that a lot of the research takes these sorts of “starting points” and runs from there.

      To their mind the Science Is Settled, the planet WILL warm, the seas WILL rise, Dogs and Cats WILL live together. What they are actually researching is projections on how the warmer cat and dog world with the decreased coast line will react to these changes.

      Now in broad principle there is nothing wrong with attempting to analysis possible futures in order to become better prepared to face it, but if your core starting point is flawed then anything you project is for all practical purposes utterly meaningless.

      It is like the metaphors the Warmists keep liking to use – “If a Doctor told you that you had a life threatening disease you would act on it, right?”

      Yes, acting against a life threatening disease would be sensible… IF you had the disease. If you are not sick then changing your entire lifestyle to combat the non illness is utter foolishness.

      While I am sure there are some researchers out there somewhere who actually study the science of warming – I would suggest that many of them are sceptics to be honest – it does seem to me that the great majority of research is actually just futurism based off unquestioned assumptions and as both as helpful to society as the constant promise of jet packs and hoverboards.

      Frankly if these ‘scientists’ are really that upset about their ‘research’ then they need to get out of their labs, do down their local supermarket and politely ask the nearest shelf stacker where they can find the tissues.

      20

  • #
    Ruairi

    Academics who blubber and bawl,
    And sob when they see a rainfall,
    Would howl at the hail,
    Whine, whimper and wail,
    If they ever encountered a squall.

    200

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Only reason they’re crying and emotionally distraught is because the majority of people have woken up to the CO2 scam .

    140

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    This post strikes at the heart of what has become of the home we used to call Australia.

    How can we feel good about a nation that has taken all of the past work, effort, thrift, self denial and sacrifice, and then turned it into what we are today.

    Are “leaders” like Trudeau, Macron and Merkel going to be the norm from now on when they’re elected on the basis of “scientific” articles like the one Jo refers to here;

    “# Dr Ailie Gallant, Monash: “I often feel like shouting… but would that really help? ”

    How much is this person being paid to pretend to be an “academic”: what is her salary, paid for by the plebs whose real effort, pain and suffering is ignored by her?

    The only hope we have is that the disconnect between the Academic/Political Elites and the general population can be shown up, and that’s not going to be easy at all.

    I want the real Australia back from the depths.

    Why do we have to suffer under a nominal leader who was elected simply because he was the “least worst” option?

    KK

    101

  • #
    AndyG55

    “Keeping the heart a long way from the brain”

    So that the brain gets no oxygen !

    Only the heart is functional.

    60

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    A great post at #9 by Sophocles.

    Our “betters” really do need to widen their field of view to encompass whats relevant to those not living, as they are, on the work and efforts of others.

    They could also make themselves aware of the science, where for example overheating of the Earth’s atmosphere is not the problem when Earth is surrounded by deep space at a very uninhabitable temperature of about 1.4°C or K above absolute zero.

    Every little bit of energy from the Sun and interior of the Earth is what keeps us alive.

    Be grateful, very grateful.

    KK

    50

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    Thank you fossil fuels!

    A fine example of the achievements of humanity within the age of fossil fuels …

    “In the early 19th century sailing ships took about six weeks to cross the Atlantic.

    With adverse winds or bad weather the journey could take as long as fourteen weeks.”

    https://spartacus-educational.com/USAEjourney.htm

    … Greta takes 15 days –

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2019/aug/28/greta-thunberg-sails-into-new-york-waters-after-crossing-atlantic-live-news

    60

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      TIME will tell [porkies] so I’ll paraphrase:

      https://time.com/5663534/climate-activist-greta-thunberg-16-arrives-in-new-york-after-sailing-across-the-atlantic/

      Teenage pop sensation and cult actress, Grater Turdberg, slunk into Gotham City, NY on Woden’s Day aboard a *Red-Shield millionaire’s carbon-fibre zero-carbon toilet-free racing yacht muttering inane, incoherent slogans about some make-believe planet, in an imaginary far-far-away universe, which needed ‘savings’ or money or sumpthink.

      Incredulously – on the very same day – an insipid, innocuous tropical storm (in the vicinity of a little island in the Caribbean rumoured to be once owned by a certain Jeff Freakepstein) ‘came alive’ to the portentous and obnoxious claims of being reborn as a super-duper monster-major hurakán called ‘Hurricane Dorian’:

      https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

      “To just sit, literally sit for hours, and just stare at the ocean not doing anything. That was great”, said the child actress of her 15 days all at sea. But wait a moment – isn’t that what she’s been doing for the past few years while skiving off school classes? Sitting… staring… doing nothing…

      50

  • #
    PeterS

    The way I see it is we are locked in a death spiral. The propaganda on climate change/global warming and the emotions arising from it are running so hard and so often it has become a foregone conclusion for most of the non-thinking people that it’s all real. This is especially so in our education systems. So much so it’s got the LNP running scared even to talk down the scam let alone to act on slowing down the propaganda (such as selling off the ABC). Some people of course are awake to the scam but not enough of them are in much pain. As long as they keep getting paid for their good jobs it’s not a serious issue, at least not yet. Hence the death spiral. Complacency is one of our worst enemies. When things do get scary I hope we have not gone too far down the abyss. Meanwhile we will have to put up with the crap and watch things fall apart slowly as the West keeps feeling guilty for supposedly perpetrating the biggest danger to mankind in history, which is in fact nothing but a scam on the part of governments and big business, while countries like China and Russia keep laughing at us and licking their chops hoping for the day they can walk in and pick up the pieces.

    80

    • #
      RickWill

      I sometimes feel the same way but then there are elections and pragmatism often prevails. The US 2020 presidential election will be another test. Is there anyone opposing Trump who could possibly offer a sensible alternative? They all appear to be trying to outdo each other on stupidity.

      Trump sent a powerful message by avoiding the G7 session on climate change. Clearly he does not consider an economic forum the place to be discussing religious faith.

      110

      • #
        PeterS

        No matter how much good Trump can achieve in his relatively short period or two in office, the trend for the West is still down. History keeps repeating. It will end in tears as always.

        10

    • #
      Vladimir

      I guess the Nature knows how to deal with over-population.

      40

  • #
    RickWill

    This may not be right on topic but it has the same sense of silliness.

    Could all Australians living to the east of SA blow as hard as they can toward SA from 1830 to 1930 to avoid the forecast power price spike in SA and VIC as wind departs SA and wind generation drops below 300MW.

    The negative prices of last week in SA have been replaced with solid prices this week as the burden of supply falls to gas.
    https://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2019/august/25
    https://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2019/august/26
    https://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2019/august/27
    https://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2019/august/28
    https://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2019/august/29

    30

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Bugger all Wind
      Or windy electrons
      This Week.
      Soon the Moaners & groaners
      In the Global warming scam
      Will be blaming Climate change
      For NO wind

      🙂

      50

  • #
    Bill in Oz

    Jo why should any of us pay any time or attention
    To these idiots who want to flog themselves ?
    Let them flog themselves [snip]
    Ignored and lonely in some forgotten corner.
    But absolutely no state subsides to do so.

    And Jo there are far more interesting and important
    Issues & ways of exposing the global warming lie.
    Ken’s project at Ken’s Kingdom
    Is a big one.
    Exposing the ‘BOM’
    The Bureau of Misinformation’s
    Multiple & persistent Incompetence.

    40

  • #
    Vladimir

    As a fanatic believer in human ingenuity, I know there is a technical solution for every technical problem. Today “technical” means naturally include software tools.
    Every believer has his moments of doubt, like – may be our country was not created to have a common power grid ?
    In past I recall Australia was loosing about 10% of produced total energy on transmission.
    I might be wrong but they were pre-grid days, ie – before serious MW numbers, so what are the physical losses now?
    Can they be translated in tons of “carbon” (I hate this expression even more than people who use it…)

    40

    • #
      Terry

      Our greatest challenges are presented by “non-problems” and all that goes with it 😉

      30

    • #

      Vladimir, (and anyone else who is interested)

      There are a couple of constants in electricity supply to a grid. You can only generate a little more power than is actually being consumed at that exact point in time, hence the grid is ‘adjusted’ on a five minute basis. You cannot generate say, 33000MW to cover a probable predicted high peak, when that peak is only 30000MW, again, hence the grid is adjusted on that same five minute basis, up and down, as actual Demand varies.

      The second point is that power recording is instantaneous. You cannot compare the peak in NSW at one time, and a peak in South Australia at another time, and then so on for the five States on the main grid, and add them together to give a total. You must take the one SINGLE point in time, and add together the totals ….. at that same time, for all five States. For that purpose, you then look at the time of maximum TOTAL power generation, and use that time as the reference point for all States.

      The same applies for the minimum power consumption each day, the 4AM Base Load, when overall power consumption is at its absolute lowest for the day. True, in South Australia, that minimum on some days, usually weekends when power consumption is at its lowest for the week, that low point in SouthAus, and sometimes also in Queensland may be in the mid afternoon. BUT but but, you CANNOT add a low point in the mid afternoon in one State to the low point in another State at 4AM, and say that is the lowest overall power consumption.

      It’s instantaneous, so you MUST select that one point in time when it is at its absolute lowest, and use that time point for all five States. (similar situation to the peak, this is the time of lowest power generation, always around that 4AM time point) (and here, note the differentiation between power GENERATION, and DEMAND, or consumption)

      Okay, then, having now explained why we select that one point in time for taking the Base Load figure, and then the Peak figure for the day, that’s why I always use those single points in time for the collection of data on the daily basis I do it. I have been doing it now for almost three years, firstly for the Base Load Series, detailing the 4AM minimum power, and now the daily data for all sources of generation, where at the top of each data set, I detail the minimum Base Load for generation and demand, and the time for the peak for generation and demand.

      Those figures show that Generation is ALWAYS higher than the Demand, and because power is instantaneous, then that difference can be put down to losses. What I have found is that the difference is between three and four percent, sometimes (a little) higher, and sometimes (a little) lower, but not by much.

      The same (those losses) applies for those interconnectors. You could get the impression from looking at them that one State, usually Queensland, is generating much more than it consumes, virtually all the time, and is feeding it into NSW, and NSW is feeding some power into Victoria, and Victoria might be feeding into Tasmania, and SouthAus. So, it ‘looks like’ Queensland is feeding SouthAus and Tasmania, but because losses are over distance only, then that Queensland feed is only into Northern NSW, and Southern NSW is feeding into Victoria, and Victoria is feeding into SouthAus and Tasmania.

      I hope I have explained it properly, because it is a concept that is not all that easy to explain, or to understand.

      So, from taking the data now for that continuous basis of those three years, then I would put those losses down to three to four percent.

      Tony.

      120

      • #
        Vladimir

        Tony,

        Thanks from a person who had to sit for Electr. Theory exam twice.

        Do I make a correct conclusion that in a long term it the Grid is a good idea ?

        Vladimir

        50

        • #
          TdeF

          I’m increasingly of the view that the grid needs to be HVDC, high voltage DC. Then there are no losses from Queensland to Tasmania or even to Perth. That alone would double the grid. More importantly, it would totally isolate the random and non commandable power sources of wind and solar. They could not bring the grid down. So Edison was right in the end, DC is better. China has done this. Why can’t we?

          20

          • #
            Graeme#4

            Please don’t include WA in your “National” grid!! We’re doing fine without it thanks…

            50

            • #
              TdeF

              Fully agree. There is absolutely no point. However if a grid was to work as far as Perth, it would have to be DC. Then there are lots of options and no downside, except Federal control. And that is perhaps the worst part of it. Public servants in make believe Canberra making decisions which affect lives on all other places.

              10

          • #
            Kinky Keith

            I wonder if Tony might be able to shed some light on the balance between conversion losses, at both ends?, and the reduction in line losses with dc.

            10

      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Thanks Tony
        Clear & easy to understand !

        Thus we must always remember :
        “One time to rule us all
        And in the darkness
        BRIGHTEN !”

        (Apologies to Tolkien )

        40

      • #
        Bobl

        This isn’t really correct. Tony implies, (didn’t really mean it but) that the grid is somehow manually balanced. It isn’t – each generator has a regulator like the cruise control in your car that adjusts the fuel intake in order to give the correct speed. The field magnetism on the generator is constantly adjusted to get the right voltage. It is on this basis that the grid power is regulated (Voltage and speed) . Current (AMPs) is a result of the load acting on the voltage source according to ohms law (V/R=I). In the case of coal it’s not the fuel that is adjusted but rather the intermediate working fluid ( the steam pressure.)

        So any mix of generation can work in a certain power range automatically, what AEMO does is add new sources to make sure the generation mix doesn’t exceed the top of it’s power range and start to trip circuit breakers. So the job is a lot simpler than it seems. Especially given that most fossil fuel engines can sustain up to a 30% overload for a few minutes.

        While Tony may be accurate at 4% loss there is a lot of unmetered load, as such it isn’t really possible to measure load exactly and therefore losses are not very accurately known. What Tony is probably estimating is transmission loss, but there are also transformer and distribution losses that occur after the final measurement point (your local substation). Losses are probably closer to 10% on average but can be well into the teens on long runs and SWER circuits. Indeed one of the hopes utilities have for digital metering is that they soon will have a much better picture of load and may be able to automatically manage adding additional generation for example as fronts move in and progressively shut down solar generation.

        Hope this suffices.

        50

        • #
          Roy Hogue

          Bob,

          From a guy who isn’t an engineer, never even wanted to be but was just curious about how it works, that’s the way I’ve understood it. Adjust your generators to keep phase correct and voltage within tolerance and you’ve done all the regulating that you can do. Try to generate more than the demand and the voltage will go up, which can get dangerous and things fail. Try to generate less than demand and voltage drops which is also dangerous and things fail. Losses will be what they are and the only way to control them is to keep the power factor near 1.

          Have I got that right?

          I used to have battery backup for the computers at my office and they displayed line input voltage constantly and throughout the day the variation was +- 1 volt most of the time. They were very good at constant voltage in the face of widely varying load throughout the day.

          50

          • #
            Bobl

            Yes, that’s right Roy, except that the field magnetism ( field current ) of the generator gets adjusted to regulate the voltage regardless of load up to the limits of the machine. So it’s not really true that a light load causes voltage to rise in a rotary engine generation setting. In the case of a distribution line though the voltage at the far end of the line depends on the transformer voltage less the line loss. I x R and the line is set up such that the consumers at the far end of the line have the minimum allowed voltage (Nominal – 6%) under full load. Those consumers will find their voltage rises as the load is lightened because IxR is smaller when I is small.

            Power factor is a different issue, in AC power systems there is storage, capacitance and inductance in the system, under certain circumstances large amounts of current can be effectively shuffled between these elements and is wastefully lost in the resistances (lines and transformers) between them keeping power factor near 1 reduces these cycling currents and reduces an easily controlled source of waste. If there was no resistance, power factor wouldn’t matter because the cycling currents are out of phase and not actually a loss. It gets complicated beyond that but that’s the simplest explanation I have.

            40

            • #
              Roy Hogue

              Thanks for getting back to me.

              Yes, that’s right Roy, except that the field magnetism ( field current ) of the generator gets adjusted to regulate the voltage regardless of load up to the limits of the machine. So it’s not really true that a light load causes voltage to rise in a rotary engine generation setting.

              I thought that’s implicit in what I said. Maybe I should have gone for the EE just so I’d know the terminology — or the process — better. 😉

              But one way or the other that pretty much exhausts my worthwhile understanding of power systems. I just couldn’t pass up the chance to have it verified that what I believe is correct.

              50

    • #
      RickWill

      The losses from intermittent generators are considerably higher than 4%; in some cases higher than 10%. The transmission networks to remote intermittent generators are long and skinny. Intermittent generators operate at low capacity factors but are highly variable. The losses in the transmission network are a function of the power flow squared.

      As an example, consider a generator producing at 100MW for 25% of the time compared with a generator producing at 25MW for 100% of the time. Over a period, they both provide the same energy. While producing, the transmission losses for the 100MW generator will be 16 times the transmission losses of the 25MW generator. However the 100MW generator is operating 1/4 of the time so the transmission losses over the period reduce to a factor of 4 times compared with the steady generator. Solar generators are worse than most wind generators due to their lower capacity factors.

      The actual loss factors are determined and applied to the generators and load nodes by AEMO:
      https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/Files/Electricity/NEM/Security_and_Reliability/Loss_Factors_and_Regional_Boundaries/2019/Marginal-Loss-Factors-for-the-2019-20-Financial-year.pdf
      I think the Broken Hill solar farm is the lowest. It is given in Table 5 on p22 at 0.7566. That means almost 25% of the power produced goes to supplying losses. That is a function of the distance to load nodes and capacity factor of the solar generation. There are line losses occurring just to energise the line even when there is no power flow. So the low loss factor is a function of many variables.

      30

      • #
        Graeme#4

        Thanks Rick. Never thought about Renewable transmission line losses that way. Currently working through a paper on transmission line losses – very interesting.

        20

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        RickWill:

        And the SA delusion that an interconnector to NSW is what they need? A few hundred km to the NSW border (via Vic) then onto ? The industrial suburbs of Hay or Balranald? Or hundreds of kM to the main users? A far bit further than Broken Hill from them.
        And as the aim is to export wind energy when there is excess (i.e. lower prices) and when the wind doesn’t blow, and the price is high, import coal-fired. Sounds like something that Giles would approve.

        30

  • #
    A Crooks

    I did my bedwetting for Paul Ehrlich in the early seventies with the Population Bomb that turned out to be a damp squib. Now I’m skeptical of scientists of all description. Climate “scientists”would be well advised to look at how many times “scientists” have cried wolf if they want to understand why so many are not listening. Maybe its time to rerun old articles on science predictions that have died before they got going to help these people put the current “crisis” in its true historical perspective.

    81

    • #
      RickWill

      That is why there is such a mammoth effort to engage the young in the new religion. They have little interest in history and history is anything before 2005.

      Ultimately it will backfire because at some point they will realise how effectively they have been manipulated. Hopefully they will learn an important lesson about scepticism.

      My kids are long past school but parents should be alert to their children being indoctrinated into the new religion by teachers too dim to realise they are being conned.

      70

  • #
    Terry

    # Dr Ailie Gallant, Monash: “How can anyone not feel an overwhelming sense of care and responsibility when those so dear to us are so desperately ill?”
    Notwithstanding her undoubted compassion for these climate “scientists”, is she advocating the construction of some kind of special institution for these climate-worriers, to treat their unfounded anxiety?

    If they are only a danger to themselves, then wouldn’t just treating them within the Medicare system be most appropriate?

    Should we not simply ignore their unqualified pontifications of ‘climate catastrophe™” so as not to encourage their neurosis?

    At the very least, we should eliminate any misuse of public funding that might be inappropriately diverted to encourage their addiction.

    It is the compassionate thing to do.

    60

  • #
    Chris

    Dear Jo, I want to thank you for your blog, its starts my day to know I am not alone in my thinking. To go completely off key, have you watched the video at http://www.plateclimatology.com? The hypothesis is that the 500,000 submarine volcanoes on the planet which can’t be monitored control the climate. eg The ENSO -El Nino is initiated by a submarine volcano off the coast of Papua. It pours out heat and fluid thus warming the surrounding ocean and sets off the warm current that brings rain or drought depending on where you are. I have not been able to find anything that adds or detracts from the thinking or NASA photographs in this video. Is it possible for you to find out more information and comment on this.?

    60

    • #

      Chris, thanks!
      Yes I have seen PlateClimatology and am planning posts. Also saw another theory about a volcano off Japan setting off an Elnino (the north pacific blob) which was intruiging. But I also tried to figure out how much heat was generated, and it appears to me that to heat the blob we needed a VEI 7, but only had a VEI 2. Keen to hear other thoughts.

      It makes sense to me and have said many times that we sit on a ball of lava 10,000km across, but I’d like to see some numbers, or even a heat track recorded by satellites. (I looked in Nullschool at the lat and long for the start month and for the next six months. Nothing…) I just wanted the basic ballpark calc: eg 1km3 of 1200 rock could heat XXXkm3 water by one degree type analysis.

      Keen to get more info.

      71

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Hi Jo,
        a very quick and rough calculation seems to indicate that the answer to your question might be 2.7 km3 of water.

        So 1 km3 of molten lava may raise the temperature of 2.7 km3 of water by one C°.

        KK

        20

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Water temperature doesn’t rise as much as you might think because it has a specific heat over four times that of lava.

        20

        • #
          Kinky Keith

          Also, because of the method I used, there’s another couple of stages of the calculation that may see possibly another 1 km3 added to that, say 3 to 3.5 total.

          20

      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Jo, here is a hypothesis
        1: Volcanic.tectonic heat heats the sea water column
        2 : The sea surface then ‘bubbles’ slightly with water flowing away from the heat source
        3: This slightly warmed water cannot travel West very easily because of the South East Asian lands
        4 : And it cannot travel South Because of the Australasian continent
        5: Thus it tends to travel Eastwards across the Pacific

        In this process is the genesis of the El NIno/La Nina oscillation

        30

      • #
        Greg in NZ

        Chris,
        The single largest oceanic plateau: Ontong Java–Manihiki–Hikurangi
        Brian Taylor (2006) Department of Geology and Geophysics
        School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii

        http://www.largeigneousprovinces.org/sites/default/files/06TaylorOJMHP.pdf

        Volcanoes (submarine & subglacial), fault lines, rising magma, heated saltwater plumes, oceanic ebb & flow – these are some of my favourite things (as a layman, not a texpert). Enjoyed James Kamis’ writing and images, all very plausible, plus some wonderful maps.

        You may enjoy Brian Taylor’s brief 9-page paper (link above, posted a few weeks back) regarding the three separate volcanic plateaux (OJP, MP, HP) which, c. 120 Mya, were one and the same. The Ontong Java Plateau is mentioned by Kamis, in his updated June 2019 pdf, as the El Niño / La Niña Seafloor Source Point (Figure 12). If only Greta was taught a little about geology and vulcanism and tectonics, she wouldn’t have to submit herself – and the rest of us – to her handlers’ illusory toxic tales.

        The answer, as they say, is directly beneath our feet.

        30

    • #
      AndyG55

      The correlation between seismic activity and the global temperature, with a two year lag, is quite interesting.

      https://i.postimg.cc/6QSwXMM2/Seismic_vs_temperature.jpg

      40

    • #
      el gordo

      The Indo-Pacific warm pool pulsates and NASA says its a mystery.

      https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/WarmPool

      Ian Wilson is hot on the trail of ENSO and its connection to the moon. Because of the regularity there appears to be no other candidates.

      30

  • #
    bobn

    They say

    The interviewees’ particular terror was the “strong climate denialist movement [that] was a source of pressure and a cause of anxiety”. Into the bargain the denialist discourses were “seen to undermine the legitimacy of science authority”.

    Spare a thought for me:

    The climate realists particular terror was the “strong climate fantasist movement [that] was a source of pressure and a cause of anxiety”. Into the bargain the alarmist discourses were “seen to undermine the legitimacy of science authority”.

    70

  • #
    Dennis

    Morning Mail reported;

    29.08.19. You’ve heard of ‘fake news’ now prepare for ‘comedy news’. South Australia, the electrical power generating hub of the South Pacific has had one of those, “light bulb” (LED presumably) moments. Yep, diesel generators to feed the grid—how novel? What happened to Elon’s battery farm? Swallowed up under the benign name of, “energy mix?” However, Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan [the bird whose beak can hold more than its belly can, said] the deals with Nexif and Infigen would recover $219 million for taxpayers — but would also make the generators available to contribute to the grid regularly. Told ya it was comedy!

    The South Australian Liberal Government will proceed with plans to privatise the operation of two emergency power stations built by its Labor predecessor.Source: ABC

    70

    • #
      sophocles

      but would also make the generators available to contribute to the grid regularly. Told ya it was comedy!

      … as long as it was only:
      – on fine sunny days
      – between the hours of 11am and 1pm standard time or midday and 2 pm Daylight Savings time.
      – three days per week max

      That would be comedy!

      50

    • #
      Travis T. Jones

      Back-up diesel power stations to prevent SA blackouts privatised but will contribute more to grid

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-28/back-up-power-generators-leased-to-private-companies/11457824?pfmredir=sm

      “The leasing arrangement will result in taxpayers largely recouping the $227 million cost of Labor’s foolish purchase of the generators & avoiding $267 million in future relocation, conversion & maintenance costs.”

      50

      • #
        Dennis

        Taxpayers will largely recoup the $277 million cost …

        Consumers will effectively pay taxpayers the $277 million paid for the assets over time, with interest, as electricity charges continue to rise.

        The private sector buyers’ shareholders will continue to grin from ear to ear.

        50

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      In a time of budgetary contraction due to declining GST revenue,
      The SA government has found companies who will give it $290 million
      To lease them for 20 years..

      It is taking the money & running hard !
      What will this do to power prices in SA ?
      I am not sure.
      But these two companies are in the business of making profits
      And the diesel generators need bulk revenue to make a profit
      So I suspect we here in SA
      Should get ready for further power price gouging
      Next Summer and lots of other Summers as well.

      30

  • #
    Gee aye

    Jo,

    you missed your chance to title this “Tears for fears”

    60

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    Did anyone miss this teary doomsday prediction from the Honourable Wayne Swan, the world’s best treasurer, who couldn’t’t predict a surplus budget …

    Labor’s climate policy ‘on the right side of history’: Wayne Swan on RN Breakfast
    with Hamish Macdonald on RN
    Thursday 29th August

    Summary
    As Labor reviews the climate change policies it took to the election, the Party’s national president Wayne Swan is issuing a chilling warning about the state of the planet.

    https://radio.abc.net.au/programitem/pgQ7eEqRQ7

    50

    • #
      pat

      Travis T. Jones – yes, “world’s best treasurer” Swan got a whopping near 11 minutes on ABC RN Breakfast today(your link).

      Sept 2011: ABC: Swan named world’s best treasurer
      by Jeremy Thompson
      Treasurer Wayne Swan has been awarded the prestigious finance minister of the year award for his handling of the Australian economy.
      The award is judged by leading European banking and finance magazine Euromoney on advice from global bankers and investors…
      The only other Australian treasurer to win the coveted award was Paul Keating in 1984…
      Mr Swan will be presented with the award in Washington next weekend.
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-21/swan-named-best-treasurer/2908654

      from the ABC Breakfast page summary:

      The former federal treasurer says a climate catastrophe is just around the corner that will “completely reshape” national and global politics.
      He likens the consequences to the impact of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

      also on ABC Breafast this morning:

      6min25sec to end: ABC’s Hamish Macdonald brings up passion, gender:

      AUDIO: 8min07sec: ABC Breakfast: Eureka Prize winner highlights wetlands in climate change fight
      Scientists researching how coastal wetlands can help in the fight against climate change have taken out one of our biggest science awards.
      They’ve been honoured at the 2019 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for science.
      Guest: Dr Kerrylee Rogers, associate professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, and leader, Blue Carbon Futures
      https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/eureka-prize-winner-highlights-wetlands-in-climate-change-fight/11459426

      10

      • #
        pat

        more re the Eureka Prize:

        29 Aug: ABC: Eureka prizes for Indigenous education programs and blue carbon research in Australia’s ‘science Oscars’
        ABC Science by Anna Salleh
        Trophies and $170,000 in prize money have been awarded to 17 winners for research and innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science (LINK) at the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes held at Sydney’s Town Hall.
        Here are some of the innovations that won…

        Unlocking the hidden the power of blue carbon…
        Kerrylee Rogers from the University of Wollongong said wetlands were often thought of as “smelly and mosquito-ridden” but their ecological role was often overlooked.
        “One of those really powerful hidden aspects is their capacity to sequester carbon from the atmosphere,” said Dr Rogers, who leads the Blue Carbon Horizons Team…READ ON
        https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-08-29/eureka-prizes-2019/11456358

        smelly again:

        18 May 2017: ABC: Mangroves better at storing carbon than rainforests; rehab could lead to carbon offsets, experts say
        By Stephanie Zillman
        Coastal wetlands suffer an image problem in the eyes of the public, says Dr Kerrylee Rogers, an ARC future fellow at the University of Wollongong’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
        “We often associate them with bad smells and mosquitos, but they’re a really important carbon source for coastal ecosystems,” Dr Rogers said…

        Opportunity to offset emissions for carbon credits
        Charles Darwin University PhD student Clint Cameron is specialising in building the business case for greater investment in mangrove rehabilitation…
        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-18/mangroves-could-provide-carbon-offset-credits-researchers-say/8539154

        Australian Museum: Eureka Prizes Judges
        The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes and sponsors are deeply grateful to the following individuals, who freely give their time and expertise as a judge of the 2019 Eureka Prizes
        https://australianmuseum.net.au/get-involved/eureka-prizes/eureka-prizes-judges/

        20

      • #
        Dennis

        The award was based on a submission from the Treasurer of Australia during a period in history when a global financial crisis was underway, a northern hemisphere financial crisis initially, during which time Australia was one of the few countries boasting major economic reform progressively implemented from 1985 to 2006 based on The Campbell Report by Professor of Economics Campbell endorsing major economic reforms put forward by Fraser Coalition Government Treasurer Howard and permanent head of Treasury Stone.

        The major economic reforms were completed from 1996 to 2007 by the Howard Coalition Government, including establishment in 1998 of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), the earlier deregulation of the banking and finance industry and floating of the Australian Dollar, etc., did not include a government watchdog organisation.

        From 1996 to 2006 the Howard Coalition Government repaid Labor’s $98 billion (1996 dollar value debt) debt plus interest in full. They also produced budgets in surplus in all but one of twelve years, after inheriting a $10 billion budget deficit from Keating Labor in 1996. They established the Future Fund now worth $120 billion which has paid for public service retirement funding relieving government financial year budgets of that essential provision for funding. And in November 2007 when Labor was voted into government there was zero debt and as well as investment funds a $22 billion budget surplus.

        The “world’s greatest treasurer” based his submission on the inheritance Labor received in November 2007, a reformed economy, zero debt and budget surpluses for years.

        20

        • #
          Dennis

          During the 2007 federal election campaign the Opposition Leader Rudd and Shadow Treasurer Swan (and colleagues) claimed that Treasurer Costello was trying to frighten voters when he warned that there were financial black clouds on the horizon overseas, and accordingly that it was not the time to change from a competent government.

          Apparently the world’s greatest treasurer in waiting was either unaware of the threat, or unwilling to admit it.

          20

    • #
      Dennis

      But when Treasurer he did identify the creation of a “patchwork economy” during the time he held that ministerial position.

      30

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    Academics not allowed to be passionate? What a strange concept

    311

    • #
      AndyG55

      They can be as passionate as they like, just keep their “feelings” out of science.

      “social science” and psychology are about “feelings”.. neither of which is real science.

      But you knew that didn’t you, PF.. and were just making an inane, mindless, empty comment.

      120

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        Science and passion go hand in hand. Why else would someone make a lifetime study of slime moulds for example. The word you are looking for is ‘objective’, science should be objective, falsifiable, but you can be as passionate as you like

        311

        • #
          AndyG55

          “Science and passion go hand in hand”

          You have to be joking! Doubling down on your foolish idiotic nonsense, yet again.

          Yes you can be passionate about the work, but keep you “feelings” out of the work.

          There is no room for “feelings” in any REAL science.

          But hey, “feelings” is all they have, isn’t it, PF !

          Certainly ZERO EVIDENCE

          120

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Both GA and I have presented the evidence, and you should take a lesson in comprehension. Objectivity does not negate passion

            312

            • #
              AndyG55

              NO, you have not presented and SCIENTIFIC evidence. .

              You have present propaganda BS rhetoric, and modelled garbage science.

              The fact that you don’t seem to know the difference, tells us everything we need to know about your total lack of comprehension of what SCIENCE is.

              You are the very last person anyone would go to for lessons in comprehension, except as an object lesson in the LACK of it.

              60

            • #
              AndyG55

              “Objectivity does not negate passion”

              Still the double-down on anti-science stupid by PF. So funny.

              Only in the PF fantasy world of propaganda pap and delusion. !

              30

            • #
              Bobl

              I don’t think so Peter, you haven’t even addressed the simple mathematical exercises I gave you that definitively falsify the cAGW narrative. I will give them to you again if you are prepared to objectively look at them.

              The problem with a lot of the AGW alarmist propaganda is that much of it violates the law of conservation of energy and is literally impossible. This happens because , like yourself many Environmental science workers don’t do math and don’t know the physics because they did their degrees to indulge their love of (for example) scuba diving on the reef. Physics is not required in the Environment degrees where “Climate Science” lives. Your trust in these Environment graduates is probably misplaced in that the name suggests that there might be some theoretical science / physics in it, there isn’t, it’s an observational science more akin to biology. Hence when they observe something they are happy to attribute anything as a cause event if a strict energy balance shows that attribution to be impossible. The energy balance to prove causality is never done because it’s observational science.

              When you parrot some study saying global warming caused X, ask yourself the question, how much energy is available from back radiation, how much does this effect use up, how much does all the other 60000 effects use up, and after all that energy is used up, what’s left over to actually warm the world. Remembering that in the base IPCC / Climate Scientist case AGW adds a tiny 0.17% more energy to the world.

              In short if X is more than 0.17% worse then it’s probably impossible and you should check with an energy balance.

              60

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                What rot you write. I see no reason to reject the strongest hypotheses presented in climate science. But I do like the entertainment offered here on this site

                17

              • #
                AndyG55

                ” I see no reason to reject the strongest hypotheses “

                Except for the TOTAL LACK OF EVIDENCE.

                It is actually an extremely WEAK hypothesis, because it is back only by non-science and baseless supposition.

                Let’s call it a “mindless conjecture” or a “brain-fart”

                Yes, your comments are grossly amusing. !

                Never seen such anti-science self-aggrandising mindless pap as you manage to come out with.

                Have you found that evidence for the very basis of this scam yet, PF.

                You know, empirical evidence of warming by increased atmospheric CO2.

                Seem your “science” is as empty as your comments.

                50

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Andy,
                proof of the continuity of the pressure/temperature/altitude mechanism as the only mechanism to the obvious exclusion of the CO2 greenhouse effect.

                http://joannenova.com.au/2019/08/midweek-unthreaded-81/#comment-2181369

                30

              • #
                el gordo

                ‘I see no reason to reject the strongest hypotheses presented in climate science.’

                Yeah sir, climate change is cyclic, something to do with the sun, moon and gas giants.

                10

            • #
            • #
              Kinky Keith

              I will be moderate in future and never again refer to King Arthur as a person of passion.

              30

            • #
              Bill in Oz

              Peter you have presented
              Naught but your own
              Emotional opinions
              Now that is NOT evidence.
              Just emoting..
              And so it does not get any recognition here.

              50

        • #
          AndyG55

          “science should be objective, falsifiable”

          So you are saying you now realise that “climate science™” is NOT SCIENCE.

          Well done for finally waking up to reality, even if you did it by accident.

          110

        • #
          el gordo

          ‘ … science should be objective, falsifiable, but you can be as passionate as you like.’

          The word we are looking for is ‘obsessive’ and can we all agree that AGW has been falsified?

          120

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            AGW falsified? Not yet. We do have competing hypotheses, and these are based on different models. With only the one earth to play with, only time, and this is measured in 100’s of years, will prove which hypothesis was the correct one.

            211

            • #
              AndyG55

              Yes, All predictions have FAILED.

              After 30+ years of nonsense science.. they STILL isn’t any actual real evidence.

              PLENTY of evidence that all of the slight and highly beneficial warming out of the coldest period in 10,000 years is TOTALLY NATURAL.

              ZERIO EVIDENCE that human released CO2 has any effect on the climate whatsoever.

              AGW is a FAILED HYPOTHESIS..

              And please, not the “precautionary principle” malarkey again… so funny !

              The fall-back crutch of a FAILED junk-science brain-fade !

              90

            • #
              el gordo

              We should know within a decade which hypothesis is closer to reality.

              I expect the 2020s to be dominated by La Nina, producing cooler temperatures. Natural variability rules.

              80

      • #
        Bobl

        In a way Fitz is right, you can be passionate about a science/ field of endeavour, what you can’t be is passionate about a particular outcome within that science.

        The problem with Environmental Science is that it is completely overrun by activists who are passionate about delivering particular outcomes which implicitly denies the objectiveness necessary to determine the truth of that outcome. Because activists have predetermined ideas the objectiveness necessary to do that science properly is beyond them. Scientists have to be open to being wrong, like Steven Hawking who openly accepted that his grand string theory was indeed wrong.

        100

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Peter
      Scientists mixing up their ‘passions’ and the ‘professions’
      Is called being biased.
      Not science.

      try again another time with your non science.

      80

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        Bill, how so? No one should expect objective scientific detachment outside the actual practicing of science. if you have evidence to the contrary in this case, please point me at it.

        112

        • #
          AndyG55

          You STILL haven’t got the vaguest clue about how REAL science should operate, have you PF.

          Quite hilarious that you are doubling down on it..

          “Never go FULL retard”, PF !!

          100

        • #
          AndyG55

          “No one should expect objective scientific detachment outside the actual practicing of science”

          But it should NEVER become 97% of the actual science!

          It should be ZERO percent of the actual science.

          Purely the objective, un-hyped, detached presentation of the actual science.

          Keep this idiotic anti-science histrionics out of it. !

          90

        • #
          Bill in Oz

          We re humna Fitz
          We all have emotions
          We can all be passionate.
          But Science is about evidence
          NOT emotions.
          Emotions are not evidence
          At least among real scientists.

          50

  • #
    John

    Wow. I’m used to hearing about how women cleaning the house carries an “emotional labour” that men cleaning the gutters and mowing the lawns doesn’t. But it never occurred to me that people would apply this silly concept to the climate debate.

    80

  • #
    Serp

    Tony Thomas is always worth reading, and not just on the climate racket.

    The trouble is that the only opposition Climate Big Money is encountering stems from a few near geriatric but still articulate roughnuts among which Thomas, and many contributors here, are numbered and over the next decade or two all dissent from the elitist cacodoxy will disappear as the brainwashed generations behind us involuntarily shackle themselves to the caravan.

    We’re being waited out and in today’s absence of independent thinking youth some ageing genius needs to come up with an effective counter to that strategy.

    50

  • #
    Zane

    Greta Thunberg headlining the Guardian again, calling for climate action. Weaponizing children is a despicable act of societal terrorism by the eco-fascists.

    70

    • #
      Dennis

      Has she explained how she and her father reduced emissions travelling on a carbon fibre hull yacht to the US and then the crew flying home to Germany replaced by a crew that arrived by air?

      70

  • #
    pat

    Leading scientist Tim Flannery addresses Sydney council as climate emergency is declared
    Daily Telegraph-28 Aug 2019
    …night as they voted to declare a climate emergency on the northern beaches. … Schoolgirl Stephanie Evans also spoke and pleaded with…

    28 Aug: Townhall: AOC Wakes Up Some Nights At 3:30 AM Scared About Global Warming
    by Timothy Meads
    AOC says she had a rather stressful vacation due to one major issue she is most concerned about — climate change (also known as global warming before predictions made by Al Gore didn’t exactly pan out).
    “Even when I was on vacation, I woke up in the middle of the night at 3:30 in the morning, um, just concerned about climate change …It really, like, freaks me out and it can be really, really scary,” AOC told a fan who asked “How can save the climate Im trying to have a nice life” sic…GETS SILLIER
    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2019/08/28/aoc-says-she-wakes-up-some-nights-at-330-am-scared-about-global-warming-n2552302

    28 Aug: Townhall: AOC Wakes Up Some Nights At 3:30 AM Scared About Global Warming
    by Timothy Meads
    AOC says she had a rather stressful vacation due to one major issue she is most concerned about — climate change (also known as global warming before predictions made by Al Gore didn’t exactly pan out).
    “Even when I was on vacation, I woke up in the middle of the night at 3:30 in the morning, um, just concerned about climate change …It really, like, freaks me out and it can be really, really scary,” AOC told a fan who asked “How can save the climate Im trying to have a nice life” sic…GETS SILLIER
    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2019/08/28/aoc-says-she-wakes-up-some-nights-at-330-am-scared-about-global-warming-n2552302

    10

    • #
      pat

      apologies for posting Townhall twice; meant to post this:

      28 Aug: RealClearPolitics: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Young People “Understand Our History,” Are “More Informed” Than Previous Generations
      by Ian Schwartz
      Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) praised Millennials and people in Generation Z for being brave and willing “to go to the streets” in her latest video stream on Instagram. Ocasio-Cortez said the “new generation” is not delicate at all and in fact “badass” and “more informed” than previous generations…
      “I think this new generation is very profound and very strong and very brave because they are actually willing to go to the streets,” she added. “How about that?”…
      https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/08/28/alexandria_ocasio-cortez_young_people_understand_our_history_are_more_informed_than_previous_generations.html

      10

    • #
      pat

      re Northern Beaches climate emergency.

      Call for Northern Beaches Council to declare ‘climate emergency’
      Daily Telegraph – 22 Aug 2019
      A notice of motion has been put forward by Greens councillor Natalie Warren and. independent Alex McTaggart which will be discussed…

      Tim Flannery at Northern Beaches Council for climate discussion
      Daily Telegraph – 13h ago
      Tuesday’s agenda had several climate change-related items including Cr Natalie Warren’s call for a climate emergency…

      PIC: Zunkle: Stop Adani Avalon
      (scroll down)
      So much support for the Climate Emergency declaration last night at Council Chambers !! Thankyou to Councillor Natalie Warren and Coucillor Alex McTaggart for putting the motion forth and f**kgiver and steph.a.e for their thoughtful, factual and emotive speeches. We can’t wait to see how beaches council puts the declaration into practice once an Environment and Climate action plan is put in place , with the help of the wonderful Environment Strategic Reference Group. We’re all feeling super positive and inspired today with the knowledge that we’re one step closer (on a local level) to ensuring there is action on climate change here on the Northern Beaches .
      https://zunkle.life/p/B1r2r93h3pA

      Greens on Council: Natalie Warren
      In my work as an actuary in the insurance industry I look at risk every day. I believe climate change is a huge risk we face, but I want us to invest in local solutions so we can turn the challenge into an opportunity for us all to enjoy living in a greener, cleaner and healthier Northern Beaches…
      https://greensoncouncil.org.au/natalie-warren/

      10

  • #
    Peter C

    Dr Ailie Galant is a worthy companion to Dr Sarah Perkins Fitzpatrick.

    Dr Gallant writes a weekly column in the Leader newspaper, explaining that global warming is happening now and it makes our environment Warmer and Drier.
    http://leader.smedia.com.au/heidelberg/

    Dr Gallant massages the data to make the narrative clearer to ordinary people. In a recent column titled “Heidelberg’s August rain days” she claims that the region is becoming drier. For some reason, which she does not explain, she does not graph August rainfall since 1978. Instead she compares the number of rain days. If that does not give the right result the definition of a rain day can be varied (eg more than 10mm required to be a rain day).

    All her writing is quite hopeless from a rational point of view, but now I can understand why!
    http://leader.smedia.com.au/heidelberg/

    40

  • #
    pat

    VIDEO:3HR25MIN50SEC: 28 Aug: PBS Newshour: WATCH: 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives in New York after cross-Atlantic sail
    Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report from Washington
    Thunberg, 16, and her crew were escorted into a lower Manhattan marina at about 4 p.m., concluding a two-week crossing from Plymouth, England. Hundreds of activists gathered on a Hudson River promenade to cheer her arrival.
    Thunberg waved, was lifted onto a dock, then took her first wobbly steps on dry land.
    “All of this is very overwhelming…

    FOLLOWED BY: As Brazilians struggle to breathe through Amazon’s smoke, Bolsonaro rejects foreign aid
    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/16-year-old-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-makes-it-to-new-york

    29 Aug: Guardian: ‘Let’s do it now’: Greta Thunberg crosses Atlantic and calls for urgent climate action
    Climate activist, 16, receives cheers as she steps off boat
    Thunberg says: ‘Let’s not wait any longer. Let’s do it now’
    by Oliver Milman in New York
    She also took a swipe at the US president, Donald Trump, a longstanding denier of the climate crisis. When asked if she had a message for Trump, she said: “I say, ‘Listen to the science’. And he obviously does not do that. If no one has been able to convince him about the climate crisis and the urgency, why would I be able to?”…
    Her vessel had been welcomed by a flotilla of 17 sailing boats, each with one of the 17 sustainable development goals written on their sails…
    Student Xiye Bastida, 17, said she was inspired by Thunberg’s activism to organize her own climate strike, involving 600 fellow students at her New York school…
    Bastida’s mobile phone carried a sticker saying “Greta has a posse”…
    Greta has said she does not yet know how she will return to Europe.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/28/greta-thunberg-arrival-in-new-york-delayed-by-rough-seas

    28 Aug: Time: Climate Activist Greta Thunberg, 16, Arrives in New York After Sailing Across the Atlantic
    By Tara Law
    After disembarking from the vessel at a Manhattan marina, Thunberg was greeted by a crowd of supporters, including a group of fellow high school students carrying homemade signs. The students broke into chants as the sailboat slowly pulled into the marina in Lower Manhattan, including “Sea levels are rising and so are we!” and “There is no Planet B!”…

    Olivia Wohlgemuth, a 16-year-old student at LaGuardia High School, tells TIME that while she’s worried about the future, protesting to raise awareness gives her hope…

    Several teenagers, including 15-year-old Dwight School student Alessandro Dal Bon, said that Thunberg had been the inspiration for them to get involved with climate activism.
    “She’s not afraid of anyone. She’s not afraid of the politicians, she’s not afraid of the businessmen. She just wants to get her message out there. And she’s willing to do anything for that. She’s willing to cross the Atlantic Ocean for 15 days on a small boat to do that. That just shows you how determined she is,” Dal Bon says…
    https://time.com/5663534/greta-thunberg-arrives-sail-atlantic/

    29 Aug: ABC: Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg makes trans-Atlantic boat trip to attend global warming conference
    by AP/Reuters
    (FINALE) Ms Thunberg was asked upon her arrival in New York whether she had a message for US President Donald Trump, a climate change sceptic etc…

    10

  • #
    Bill in Oz

    Meanwhile our ‘beloved’
    Australian Brainwashing Corporation
    Is spreading the news from the
    Misinforming BOM.
    (The Bureau of Misinformation
    To all those in the know )
    The Bureau of Misinformation
    Continues to tell us
    How warm Winter has been
    This year. And how
    We’ll all burn this coming Summer.
    But for those of us in SA
    This Winter has been a real deep freezer
    Eight days of continuous frosts in June
    And plenty since then.
    Hail by the sheet loads
    Drifts of hail on the Freeway at Crafers !
    Rain by the bucket load
    And even a bit of snow on Mt Lofty
    With three floods so far this Winter
    And during the last one the creek
    Down the bottom of my road
    Was over the bridge.
    Bugger !! What a ‘warm’ Winter
    We’ve had -NOT
    And I can’t wait for a warming Spring.

    But for those who want to
    Actually read the
    Australian Brainwashing Corporation’s
    Little BOMber based effort
    Look here :
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-29/bom-long-term-outlook-predicts-warm-dry-spring-on-the-way/11459312

    30

  • #
    robert rosicka

    OT , NSW is now only approving coal mines if the coal is only shipped to countries signed up to the Paris agreement.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-29/united-wambo-approved-with-paris-climate-agreement-conditions/11460970

    40

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    An interesting find by Brett is worth bringing here because it contrasts the work of basic science with the histrionic clamor of climate catastrophism very well.

    http://joannenova.com.au/2019/08/midweek-unthreaded-81/#comment-2181369

    Thousands of balloon readings tell the story of an atmosphere whose basic operational mechanism, PV= nRT, proves that conduction rules.

    KK

    30

  • #
    pat

    Tony Thomas drew attention to the work of Professor Lesley Head (Melbourne University) and Dr Theresa Harada (Wollongong University).
    Prof Head is also connected to Wollongong (as is Eureka Prize winner Kerrylee Rogers):

    TWEET: Professor Lesley Head, School of Geography @unimelb
    Congrats!
    retweets: Kerrylee Rogers
    @Matt_KeanMP and Blue Carbon Horizons. We won! Make sure you protect and restore #bluecarbon ecosystems for us @UOW @Macquarie_Uni @ANSTO
    28 Aug 2019
    https://twitter.com/ProfLesleyHead/status/1166662694214098944

    Uni of Melbourne: Find an expert: PROF Lesley Head
    Since 2015, I have been Head of the School of Geography at the University of Melbourne…
    I came to this position from many years at the University of Wollongong where, from 2009-2014, I was an Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Laureate Fellow and Director of the Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research (AUSCCER). Before that, from 2007-2009, I was Head of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. In 2005-06 I was King Carl XVI Gustaf Visiting Professor of Environmental Science, Kristianstad University, Sweden, and have been a Visiting Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2012-14)…
    My research – focused on long term changes in the Australian landscape and the interactions of both prehistoric and contemporary peoples with these environments – has positioned me as an international leader in geographical debates about the relationship between humans and nature…
    My latest ARC-funded research is investigating with colleagues the social and cultural benefits of market-based environmental policy instruments for carbon and water. Case study areas include the Murray-Darling Basin, Kakadu and Timor Leste.
    https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person70857

    Dr. Harada looks extremely busy:

    LinkedIn: Theresa Harada, Research Fellow at Macquarie University
    Experience
    Research Fellow
    Macquarie University
    2017 – Present

    Subject coordinator
    Federation University Australia
    2016 – Present

    Research Assistant
    Australian centre for environment,society and space
    Wollongong
    May 2014 – Present

    Tutor
    Western Sydney University
    2010 – Present

    Teacher
    Catholic Education Office, Sydney
    2009 – Present
    https://au.linkedin.com/in/theresa-harada-a9486953

    The Conversation: Profile: Theresa Harada, Research assistant in Human Geography, University of Wollongong
    I am interested in how different forms of mobility are experienced from a feminist post-structuralist position. How we physically and emotionally engage with different transport modes is significant to understanding how to promote the use of low-carbon sustainable mobilities like walking or taking the train. I am especially interested in car driving as a social practice-how it helps to create, reinforce or disrupt aspects of identity and thus produce certain classed, gendered or raced geographies of mobility.
    https://theconversation.com/profiles/theresa-harada-128927

    the Mother Jones article mentioned in Tony Thomas’s Quadrant piece also includes Prof Head & Dr. Jones. it is referenced at the top of Dr. Harada’s Twitter page on Jul 8, but with a partially-different headline.

    https://twitter.com/theresaharada

    finally, what’s amusing is the Mother Jones article is written by David Corn:

    Wikipedia: American political journalist, author, and the chief of the Washington bureau for Mother Jones. He has been Washington editor for The Nation and appeared regularly on FOX News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and BloggingHeads.tv opposite James Pinkerton or other media personalities…

    Wikipedia: Christopher Steele: In September 2016, Steele held a series of off the record meetings with journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Yahoo! News, The New Yorker and CNN. In October 2016, Steele spoke about his discoveries to ***David Corn of the progressive American political magazine Mother Jones…
    Corn’s resulting 31 October article in Mother Jones was the first to publicly mention the dossier, although the article did not disclose Steele’s identity. The magazine did not publish the dossier itself, however, or detail its allegations, since they could not be verified…

    24 Mar: Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone): It’s official: Russiagate is this generation’s WMD
    The Iraq war faceplant damaged the reputation of the press. Russiagate just destroyed it
    Note to readers: in light of news that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation is complete, I’m releasing this chapter of Hate Inc. early, with a few new details added up top.
    The first salvo was by David Corn of Mother Jones on October 31, 2016: “A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump.” …
    Early on, I was so amazed by the sheer quantity of Russia “bombshells” being walked back, I started to keep a list. It’s well above 50 stories now. As has been noted by Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept and others, if the mistakes were random, you’d expect them in both directions, but Russiagate errors uniformly go the same way…
    https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-million

    10

    • #
      pat

      probably should have said “Prof Head HAS HAD a long connection to Wollongong” – didn’t mean to suggest she is with UOW now.

      30

  • #
    pat

    29 Aug: BusinessGreen: Covering Climate Now: 170 media outlets pledge week of climate coverage
    by Michael Holder
    More than 170 news and media outlets from around the world – including BusinessGreen, Bloomberg, and the Guardian – have now committed to dedicate a week of their coverage to the climate crisis ahead of a crucial UN climate summit in New York next month.

    First announced in July with the backing of 60 participating publications, the global Covering Climate Now initiative has now secured support from 170 media outlets, which have all pledged to focus their coverage on climate change issues during the week beginning 16th September…

    The project is being led by the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), which yesterday revealed it now has the backing of media outlets ranging from the Times of India, Newslab Turkey, and the New Zealand Herald, to Teen Vogue, Rolling Stone, and CBS News, among many others.

    Kyle Pope, CJR’s editor and publisher, said “the need for solid climate coverage has never been greater”.
    “We’re proud that so many organisations from across the US and around the world have joined with Covering Climate Now to do our duty as journalists – to report this hugely important story,” he added.

    BusinessGreen has also confirmed it has signed up to the group and will aim to deliver a series of special climate-related features and interviews this September exploring how the media industry reports on climate issues and how green businesses can better promote the climate action they are taking.
    https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3080930/covering-climate-now-170-media-outlets-pledge-week-of-climate-coverage

    10

  • #
    pat

    Harrabin and Richard Black, plus an ***outgoing Boyd? such a Beeb set-up:

    29 Aug: BBC: Climate change: Big lifestyle changes ‘needed to cut emissions’
    By Roger Harrabin
    People must use less transport, eat less red meat and buy fewer clothes if the UK is to virtually halt greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the government’s chief environment scientist has warned.
    Prof Sir Ian Boyd said the public had little idea of the scale of the challenge from the so-called Net Zero emissions target…

    The conundrum facing the UK – and elsewhere – was how we shift ourselves away from consuming, he added.
    In an interview with BBC News, Sir Ian warned that persuasive political leadership was needed to carry the public through the challenge.

    Asked whether Boris Johnson would deliver that leadership, he declined to comment.
    Mr Johnson has already been accused by environmentalists of talking up electric cars whilst reputedly planning a cut in driving taxes that would increase emissions and undermine the electric car market…

    Sir Ian said polluting activities should incur more tax. He believes the Treasury should reform taxation policy to reward people with low-carbon lifestyles and nudge heavy consumers into more frugal patterns of behaviour…
    He also believes Net Zero won’t happen unless the government creates a Net Zero ministry to vet the policies of all government departments in the way the Brexit ministry vets Brexit-related decisions…

    Emissions won’t be reduced to Net Zero while ministers are fixed on economic growth measured by GDP, instead of other measures such as environmental security and a relatively stable climate, he argued.

    Asked why the UK should take the lead when China’s emissions are so high, he answered that the Chinese government ***was very worried about the climate and was taking it very seriously***.

    Sir Ian, a polar expert with a chair in biology at St Andrews University, suggested that the UK was in a good position to show the world how to achieve Net Zero…
    He confessed that he was not optimistic about the future of the planet because so many systems of government needed to change in a short time…

    ***Sir Ian, who leaves Defra on Thursday after six years in post, said: “The way we live our lives is generally not good for the environment…
    “It will very rarely come down to a direct message like ‘sorry, you can’t buy that but you can buy this’. But there will be stronger messages within the (tax) system that make one thing more attractive than the other.”…

    Richard Black, from the think tank Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said Sir Ian’s words were “somewhat surprising”.
    He added: “They appear to contradict the mass of evidence assembled on getting to Net Zero, including the major report from the government’s statutory adviser the Committee on Climate Change.”…
    https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49499521

    10

  • #

    I is of note that alarmist scientists and activists always claim to see what others cannot, yet never doubt their own vision.
    The fingerprints of global warming are now seen in every catastrophic event, replacing the face of God. Some like Greta even see the unseeable. Everyone strives to make the rest of us “see.” Does this not remind you of evangelists and missionaries everywhere, preaching to the unenlightened.
    Who to believe, priests and preachers, balmy scientists, or your own eyes. Are our eyes lying to us. Perhaps the doomsayers are lying or are they sadly misinterpreting their data and threatening their sanity.

    70

  • #
    el gordo

    Nice bit of satire from the Babylon Bee.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/30/nation-begs-jesus-to-return-before-democrats-7-hour-town-hall-on-climate-change-august-30th-2019/

    Anthony must have read my memo on Revelations, but I’m still locked out.

    00