Disaster! Denialism makes it to Brazil. (Skepticism spreads :-) )

Desmogblog mark yet another day in the Diary of  How the Skeptics Won. They thought they had Brazil sewn up, but now realize with dismay that skeptics are getting heard (funny how the truth spreads). Brazil with the 6th biggest economy in the world and 200 million people is “influential”.

Chris Mooney, of DeSmog, shows us his prowess in predictions. Did he see this wave of skepticism coming? Shock me, No!

Last year, I wrote about how journalists in developing nations were doing a better job of covering climate change, largely because denial hadn’t really taken root in many of these countries. In particular, I singled out Brazil for praise: According to a study by James Painter of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and his colleagues, Brazil’s major papers contained the least climate skepticism in all of the 6 major nations surveyed (U.S., UK, China, France, India, Brazil).

So it is with much dismay that I report to you that, in conjunction with the Rio+20 conference, climate denial is making a strong showing in Brazil.

Memo to Chris: See what happens when you rely on the mainstream media? (They are not the ones leading the trends.)

Chris has only just now noticed a geographer called Ricardo Augusto Felicio (who has been a smash hit on the big Brazilian talk show in May. Mooney describes it as the ” nearly half-hour denial fest that has gone pretty viral”.)  Ricardo, I’m happy to say, appeared on this blog more than two years ago. He helped to translate the Skeptics Handbook into Portuguese: Manual dos Céticos. (Thank you Ricardo!)

As always, like with the Australian Greens, when you can’t convince others that you are right, the answer is to shut down the debate:

… there is a clear issue of journalistic ethics that needs to be raised. Here in the U.S., I and many others have explained not only why one shouldn’t give science denialist claims such dramatic airings in the media…

 🙂

Click to download a copy in Portuguese.

H/t Marc Morano

Athelstan points to Ecotretas for people wanting more skeptical articles in Portuguese.

9.6 out of 10 based on 66 ratings

74 comments to Disaster! Denialism makes it to Brazil. (Skepticism spreads :-) )

  • #
    Bloke down the pub

    Manuel dos Ceticos? I think I worked with his brother.

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  • #
    DougS

    Heaven forbid that sceptical views about AGW might get an airing in the media!!!

    Shows the strength of the AGW alarmists’ arguments (still waiting for some actual evidence) when their response to sceptics is to attempt to shut down the debate. Actually, something they’ve been pretty successful at in the UK, with the help of the unspeakable BBC.

    And the thought that we might get a ‘Fox News’ TV channel turns eco loons into apoplectic ranters.

    11

  • #
    BobC

    Chris Mooney’s prowess in debate is the equal of his prowess in predictions.

    See here for a typical example. (Hint: Facts and data are completely irrelevant — fortunately for Mooney who has a hard time dealing with them rationally.)

    The only thing standing between him and a laughingstock is censorship of everyone who disagrees with him.

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      I found it interesting, and amusing, to read the following paragraph in his article:

      We’re not driven only by emotions, of course—we also reason, deliberate. But reasoning comes later, works slower—and even then, it doesn’t take place in an emotional vacuum. Rather, our quick-fire emotions can set us on a course of thinking that’s highly biased, especially on topics we care a great deal about.

      So, by his own writ, if he emotionally feels threatened by the prospect of extreme weather – thunder and lightning, say – then he will cognitively rationalise that emotive reaction into a conviction that any significant changes to the patterns of weather must pose a threat to society, whether the facts actually support that conviction or not.

      He also ignores the fact that a number of professions have traditionally trained people to think analytically. Modern journalism on the other hand, is all about creativity, and seeking empathy in the reader.

      Perhaps that is what defines this whole debate – the proportionality of analytical thinkers, to emotive thinkers, in any given population.

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    • #
      cohenite

      Mooney has a BA in English. He probably majored in Thoreau and Emerson and lives permanently in his mind at Walden Pond.

      10

  • #
    ThomasJ

    Txs for this, Jo. But, but, but… there is(are) still some problem(s) with the functions of the “Thumb Up / Down”.
    Pls fix. Thanks in advance!
    Brgds/TJ

    [The techno-elves are delving into the problem, we do assure you – Fly]

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  • #
    reformed warmist of logan

    Morning Jo,
    As usual, please keep up the good work.
    I can’t help but notice how Australians do truly love a healthy sense of irony.
    The three main labels or ‘tags’ that the Greens – both OZ. & OS. variants for that matter – love to throw at those of us who’ve woken up to their “Trojan Horse” AGW. “Madoff of the Century” are: deniers, sceptics & dinosaurs!!
    Well in the next one to two years when everyone else is on our side (even half a dozen of Angela Merkel’s Ministers have this week ‘seen the light’..see notrickszone.com) … Who’ll be more deserving of the ‘Dinosaur-detritus/derisiveness’ then??!!
    regards, reformed warmist of logan

    [fixed]ED

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  • #
    Ross

    It seems another important paper used by the IPCC as corner stone research on sensitivity has seriously been questioned ( and yes again the base data has been “lost”).

    http://judithcurry.com/

    The detail is above me –maybe Jo can get David to a brief “translation” for us all.

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    • #
      rukidding

      Yes Ross climate scientist seem to have a lot of problems with their dogs.They keep eating their homework.

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      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        Eating homework makes dogs flatulent – thereby producing greenhouse gasses. Ergo, climate change is caused by climate scientists.

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        • #
          Gnome

          Dog flatulence is one of those things that prove global warming (like hot weather, cold weather, wet weather, dry weather etc). Also, if you have a Jack Russell and (s)he sheds hair this proves global warming. Be afraid- be very afraid.

          These are universal truths attested by 97% of practicing climate scientists

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  • #
    Mark D.

    Brazil, the place that demonstrates (at the beach) daily just how well they can eliminate the fuzzy and get right down to the “naked truth”. No surprise to me that they can get to the skeptical truth about AGW: Just apply some warm sticky wax and Riiip!

    Room for a little humor here right? 🙂

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    • #

      It follows that beach going Brazilians cannot be Greenies because those sandal wearers do not do riiiip!!
      They allow all hair to grow under the arms… under the legs… and under the circumstances, (thnx Benny Hill) with a full compliment of wild life.

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      • #
        Mark D.

        Ha Ha! under the “circumstances” more Aussie slang for sure.

        There may be some logic behind that because all that non-riiiping is sure to help with birth rates (ie population control) among Greenies……..

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  • #
    Ian

    OH NO, the sky is falling on their falling sky!

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  • #

    I was looking into Australian economist John Quiggan after he showed up in a World Future Review story with some troubling people I was already familiar involved in education. Who actually seem to be pushing bad ed policies because they are really involved with Environmental Economics. Found his blog and got to read about his delusions of Red Plenty and socialism without doctrines. He mentioned all the languages his Zombie Economics was being translated into.

    One of them was Portuguese. I thought why? Silly me. Brazil is the intended market.

    Rereke-shutting down rational thought as much as possible and pushing the idea that there should be no distinction between reason and emotion, just a continuum of beliefs, is a VERY high UN priority.

    It is what the Quality Assurance process through accreditation globally is all about. And the schemers will get there if we don’t start talking about it.

    You don’t want to know how little knowledge is left in Australia’s Core Skills Framework.

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      Robin,

      Yes, I am well aware of the tinkering that these people want to do at the cognitive level. They actually believe that you can change the way that people think, and to a certain extent, they are right. I have worked with people who have been brainwashed, and witnessed the damage done.

      Unfortunately, the result is often a discordancy between what people have been forced to believe, and the way that reality actually presents itself. That discordancy makes the victim angry. One explained it as being like knowing that you have forgotten something important, but not being able to recall what it was, and the harder you try to remember, the harder it becomes.

      What a wonderful vision for society, they must have.

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      • #
        Winston

        Rereke,
        It is scarier than that. They think that by changing the way we think, they are actually altering the reality, since perception is all that matters after all, and reality itself is immaterial and unimportant.

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  • #

    I’m told Obama is personally taking the credit for your failure to do an Austrian translation of that manual.

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  • #
    mfo

    The irony of Rio+20 is that Rio is booming as a result of…..oil exports:
    “……..during the first five months of 2012, Rio’s trade increased from US$3.7 billion to US$5.1 billion as a consequence of its growing oil exports.”
    http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-daily/rios-oil-exports-soar-despite-slowdown/

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  • #
    Athelstan.

    This guy is Portuguese, he [I think] started the ball rolling, in so far as Portuguese [+ Brazilian] climate realism is concerned.

    A damn good blog too:http://ecotretas.blogspot.co.uk/

    Brazil, may be behind the curve in climate Armageddon advocacy – which, as we all are aware of: is a virulent disease of the Western world.
    Brazil, is still tagged: in the ‘developing nation’ status. It hitherto has been a net winner from the UN/WWF/EU slush fund merry-go-round.
    As more and more Brazilians have come to realise, the UN plays fast and loose with ‘developing’ nations too; that not all is well with the obligatory adherence – to the barmy ideas and exorbitantly expensive renewable schemes emanating from the UN sustainability psychosis.
    The upshot to all this, that, actually the growth of Brazil as an industrial power is not being aided but considerably stymied, if not completely halted, by the good old UN micro-managing eco-freaks.

    That’s why the Brazilians have taken off their ‘shades’ and have started to ‘smell the coffee’ re – the UN sustainability/AGW mania, long may it continue.

    Welcome to reality Brazil.

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  • #
    Robber

    From Chris Mooney: “climate denial is making a strong showing in Brazil”. What exactly is climate denial? Denial that climate exists? A definition of denial is “refusal of belief in”.
    Antonyms for denial include affirmation, agreement, corroboration.
    His approach seems to be: if you don’t agree with me then you must be wrong! No debate allowed.

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  • #
    pat

    mooney is dismayed that “climate denial is making a strong showing in Brazil”. obviously brazilians are total idiots if they deny there is a climate, mr.mooney, aren’t they?

    26 June: SMH: Adam Morton: Carbon pricing spurs business on
    The survey of 136 executives commissioned by multinational GE found nearly three-quarters believed the carbon price scheme would remain despite the Coalition’s pledge to repeal it if elected…
    GE’s director of ecomagination, Ben Waters, said evidence from New Zealand, where emissions trading started in 2008, suggested concern would wane after the scheme started…
    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/carbon-pricing-spurs-business-on-20120625-20ylb.html

    mr. morton, why not mention the CAGW-promoting Media Magnate GE’s taxpayer loot:

    11 Dec 2011: NYT: A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy
    The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google…
    G.E., for example, lobbied Congress in 2009 to help expand the subsidy programs, and it now profits from every aspect of the boom in renewable-power plant construction.
    It is also an investor in one solar and one wind project that have secured about $2 billion in federal loan guarantees and expects to collect nearly $1 billion in Treasury grants. The company has also won hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to sell its turbines to wind plants built with public subsidies…
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/business/energy-environment/a-cornucopia-of-help-for-renewable-energy.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      … evidence from New Zealand, where emissions trading started in 2008, suggested concern would wane after the scheme started…

      That’s true. The bottom fell out of the market, so nobody is really interested, so there is no concern, epic fail really.

      But Australia, learning from that, is introducing a tax – different animal all together. Perhaps Ben Waters has been given some bad advice … ?

      00

  • #
    pat

    what a novel idea!

    26 June: Australian: Andrew Burrell: Carbon tax putting brake on Roy Hill finance: Rinehart
    Mrs Rinehart suggests that the media should also permit to be published that climate change has been occurring naturally since the earth began, not just the views of climate extremists.
    “It is a fact that there have been ice ages, then periods of global warming to end the ice ages, for thousands of years, and these have occurred naturally, including due to the earth’s orbit, and not due to mankind at all.”
    Mrs Rinehart said some people had received notoriety claiming a few decades ago that the earth was about to enter an ice age.
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/carbon-tax-putting-brake-on-roy-hill-finance-rinehart/story-e6frg9df-1226408327186

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  • #
    pat

    ABC’s taxpayer-paid Tanya Ha (Ha):

    26 June: ABC: Tanya Ha: 30 simple ways to beat the carbon tax
    1. Turn off the beer fridge during the week or between parties…
    9. Cut your vegies into smaller pieces so that they cook faster…
    30. Fans work by moving air over your skin. If you’re not in the room, the fan is doing nothing. Switch it off.
    http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2012/06/26/3532627.htm

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  • #
    pat

    26 June: Australian: Michael Sainsbury: China vents its concerns over Australia’s carbon and mining taxes
    THE Chinese Ministry that approves all the country’s major offshore investments – public and private – has raised its concerns with senior government officials over the imposition of the carbon and mining taxes that have been flagged as issues for China’s appetite for Australian investment…
    Their comments stand in stark contrast with continued assertions by Julie Gillard and Wayne Swan that the two taxes will have no effect on mining investment.
    But China believes that despite constantly raising their concerns and explaining that major investment may go elsewhere – the Gillard government is not listening…
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/china-vents-its-concerns-over-taxes/story-e6frg8zx-1226408341739

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  • #
    pat

    26 June: Australian: Annabel Hepworth and Sid Maher: Carbon crunch hits coal power as banks baulk at funding
    A SECOND major coal-fired electricity generator has been forced to seek a multi-million-dollar bailout from its offshore shareholders, rather than bankers, ahead of the introduction of the carbon tax next week…
    Opposition energy spokesman Ian Macfarlane told The Australian: “This is a big vote of no-confidence by the finance sector into the carbon tax.”
    He said the massive injection of funds by two major power generators over two working days showed what the carbon tax was doing to the coal-fired electricity industry in this country. He described power generators as being in “survival mode”…
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/carbon-crunch-hits-coal-power-as-banks-baulk-at-funding/story-e6frg6xf-1226408428480

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    • #

      Pat says here:

      He said the massive injection of funds by two major power generators over two working days showed what the carbon tax was doing to the coal-fired electricity industry in this country. He described power generators as being in “survival mode”…

      Just wait till the first large scale plant shuts down because of the introduction of this CO2 Tax, and, after all, isn’t that in fact the desired result, to actually lower or stop those CO2 emissions.

      The end result of this first closure will not be the perceived joy on faces of those friends of the dirt greens.

      It will be sheer and utter anarchy in the streets. If you think I’m using hyperbowl, umm, hyperberly, emotive language, then wait and see. It will not be pretty.

      Tony.

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      • #
        rukidding

        So Tony for the power companies which rule applies.
        The rule that says they must fulfill their supply contracts.
        Or
        The rule that says a company can not trade while insolvent.

        While I to await the closing of the first fossil fueled power station I suspect it will never happen as it would rapidly bring home to the population at large just how stupid this whole scheme is.

        00

        • #

          rukidding,

          Classic Scylla and Charybdis.

          Tony.

          Post Script – While not on this topic, this link to a Post at my home site gives some insight into Scylla and Charybdis, a saying that some readers may not recognise.

          The Bell Rock Light

          00

      • #
        Brian of Moorabbin

        Just wait till the first large scale plant shuts down because of the introduction of this CO2 Tax, and, after all, isn’t that in fact the desired result, to actually lower or stop those CO2 emissions.

        May come sooner than any of us realise Tony, what with the news that the (largely French-owned) company that owns Hazelwood had to inject millions of dollars into keeping the plant operating recently after the banksrefused to refinance approx $1.1billion in loans due to the incoming Carbon (sic) Tax.

        Heaven help we Victorians if hazelwood closes, because God knows that the ‘renewable power sources’ that the Greens keep touting are decades away from being able to pick up the slack…

        (Source: Hazelwood cash injection is good news: MP)

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        • #
          Brian of Moorabbin

          Just realised (after re-reading pat’s original post that Tony replied to) that pat has already covered what I was raising…

          (*makes mental note to fully read all comments AND links supplied before posting*)

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          • #
            Rereke Whakaaro

            Don’t worry mate. I do that all the time – it’s part of the fun.

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          • #
            Brian of Moorabbin

            Very true Rereke.

            I guess part of my point is still valid though.. If Hazelwood does close, there’s no way that any of the Green’s pet “renewable energy sources” will be able to pick up the slack.

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          • #
            crakar24

            If Hazelwood closes there would be anarchy, no competent government would let it happen. Luckily we have a comp…..never mind as i said no competent government would let it happen.

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          • #

            And just realise how stupid this whole legislation is, and just how deceptive that this Labor Government has been.

            They tell you the legislation is specifically designed to lower emissions, and as I have explained, when you understand the operation of a large scale coal fired plant, this Tax cannot lower emissions.

            However, specifically designed into the legislation is something called ‘Energy Security’. The Government again was deceptive right from the start. They sent Ross Garnaut on a TV tour around the Country, and at every interview he specifically mentioned this ‘Energy Security’, and the talking head interviewers, especially at Auntie, had no idea what that meant, but after all the whole intent of these Garnaut interviews was just to spread the meme, not for interviewers to ask questions about it, and after all, they wouldn’t even have bothered to have their staff writing the text for the interview to find out, even if they had a clue in the first place.

            So now, when the matter comes up, the Government can very cleverly say that, “Hey, we told you all about this.”

            This energy security written into the Legislation specifically details that if a large scale power company falls into financial difficulty because of this Tax, then there are provisions for the Government to bail them out, and keep the plant running.

            So, as you can see from this, while they tell us that the intent of the Tax is to lower emissions, it most definitely does not.

            The actual intent is to keep the plant running, and by extrapolation, not to lower the emissions, but to ensure the ongoing income from the Tax.

            Tony.

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          • #

            Just wonderin’ here.

            What might happen if that large scale power plant that does fall into difficulty turns around and says no thank you to the bailout.

            It would only have to be for a couple of days. That’s all it would take. That State where the plant is situated would quite literally grind to a halt.

            Watch the finger pointing then.

            Tony.

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          • #
            Madjak

            Tony,

            One of the problems with having a government bailing out a power company is the ability for strings to be attached to the deal.

            I can just see wayne swann, JuLiar Guilleard and Lee Rhiannon dreaming up enough strings to cripple power companies across the country.

            If I was a bank, I sure wouldn’t be going anywhere near a power company.

            I have said this before. This is not about saving the environment. This is all about the installation of a command economy – you know, like the command economies that ALP MPs looked up to and subscribed to at university.

            He who controls energy has the economy by the scrotum

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  • #
    bcs

    And it looks like socialist Europe is in trouble over its tax grab from the travelling public: China and India boycott euro carbon tax

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  • #
    pat

    22 June: Triplepundit: RP Siegel: Texas Climate & Carbon Exchange Opens for Global Trading
    According to Nathan Rockliff, co-founder of Carbon Trade Exchange (CTX), parent company of the newly formed Texas Climate & Carbon Exchange (TCCX), “Carbon Trade Exchange is proud to establish its first USA trading relationship from a central and strategic market such as Texas. We see the U.S. market as one of the fastest growing for Carbon in the world over the next decade.”
    CTX, which is located in Sydney, Australia, has 150 members located in 22 different countries. You can think of it as a kind of stock exchange for the global electronic trading of emissions offsets, also known as carbon credits. TCCX, whose slogan is, “a new environmentality” is located in Austin and is the sole licensee for the Carbon Trade Exchange for the United States, Canada and Mexico…
    Critics of cap-and-trade systems include economist Thomas Crocker, who originally devised the scheme fifty years ago, to deal with local pollution that could be tied to specific sources. Crocker believes that an outright carbon tax would be preferable, “because it would be easier to enforce and provide needed flexibility to deal with the problem.”
    Especially, he told the WSJ, back in 2009, when it comes to carbon, a pollutant that is inherently global in nature, “It is not clear to me how you would enforce a permit system internationally. There are no institutions right now that have that power.”…
    The World Bank estimates the carbon trading industry will exceed a market value of $1 trillion by 2025, as more and more municipalities, states and countries begin to require cap and trade schemes…
    http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/06/texas-climate-carbon-exchange-opens-global-trading/

    check out nathan and some other carbon cowboys and girls:

    Nathan Rockliff
    COO & Legal Counsel – Carbon Trade Exchange
    http://au.linkedin.com/pub/nathan-rockliff/27/527/a6a

    btw try finding a single mention in any Australian MSM outlet on the jailing of the carbon credit fraudsters in the UK. u won’t find a single mention.

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  • #
    Roy Hogue

    So it is with much dismay that I report to you that, in conjunction with the Rio+20 conference, climate denial is making a strong showing in Brazil.

    Climate-speak for: The journalists are doing an honest job and I don’t like it.

    Atta-boy, Chris!

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  • #
    Bruce D Scott

    As a person who does not like verbosity, I would just like to say – sweet!

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  • #
    Angry

    IMPORTANT NEWS !!!

    Antarctic ice shelves NOT melting at all, new field data show:-

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/25/antarctic_ice_not_melting/

    GLOBAL WARMING IS THE GREATEST FRAUD IN HISTORY !

    ELECTION NOW !

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    • #

      That’s what the Warmists do not even realise.

      If the mean Antarctic temperature never even approaches zero (from the minus direction) then the huge ice masses there will never even get to the stage where they might change from the solid ice. The only ice that may (very questionable may at that) melt will be ice that has calved off the main sheets, and is already floating in the water.

      Antarctic Connection

      Look there at the mean temperatures, and note that even for Summer, they are Minus 5 to Minus 31.

      Even with a (theoretically claimed) couple of degrees of warming, all that ice will still never reach the melt point.

      This is a huge (and wonderful) resource, and has many great links to go to at that site. Scroll to the bottom of the Home Page there and read the entry under Solar Energy.

      Tony.

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      • #
        memoryvault

        .
        I note down in Antarctica they recorded their lowest minimum ever the other day.
        MINUS 73.8 deg C.
        So if we get 10 deg C global warming it will be only minus 63.8 deg C and nudging catastrophe.

        .
        It’s even worse than we first thought.

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      • #
        Brian of Moorabbin

        O Maxine, Maxine, Wherefore art thou Maxine (and Ross James, Brooksie, MattB, et al)?
        Deny thy Flannery and refuse thy scam
        Or if thou wilt not, but produce the data
        And I’ll no longer be a denier…

        (with apologies to Willie S.)

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      • #
        Kevin Moore

        I read a few years back that the Earths average temp was 15C.

        According to this world clock the Earths average temperature is 14.44C. CO2 390.96ppm.

        http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/

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        • #
          rukidding

          Thanks Kevin

          Finally the actual temperature that the whole world is craping its pants about is a whopping 14.44C and 100 years ago it was 13.4C.Now stick those two temperatures in a graph of temperatures between 0C and 100C and show me the hockey stick.

          So in 90 years time if the world heats the 6C they are forecasting the mean temperature will be a sizzling 20.4C and if it heats just the 1C that will be a cozy 15.4C 0.4C above what aviation has been using for mean atmospheric temperature for 50 years.

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      • #

        If the mean Antarctic temperature never even approaches zero (from the minus direction) then the huge ice masses there will never even get to the stage where they might change from the solid ice. The only ice that may (very questionable may at that) melt will be ice that has calved off the main sheets, and is already floating in the water.

        It follows that if the globe does warm (snigger snigger) and there is more moisture in the air, some of this moisture will make its way to Antarctica where it will be deposited as ice (effectively) forever.

        So long as moisture deposition is larger than the amount that calves off ice sheets, Antarcticas ice volume will increase.

        Therefore, global warming may in fact lead to LOWER SEA LEVELS.

        (Can I get this peer reviewed please peers?)

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        • #
          Kevin Moore

          If water vapour is a greenhouse gas, how comes its condensation falls down as snow and ice? Does this mean that the latent heat of water vapour when released has no positive feedback – that it continues upwards,skywardly,heavenly?

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  • #
    rukidding

    Yes the alarmist never seem to realize that you can only use the STFU form of debating for so long until people realize you are trying to hide something.

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  • #
    Capn Jack Walker

    Arrgh with this good news I’m off to get a Brazilian hair do to celebrate, mateys.

    That will shiver me rain forest timber.

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  • #
    pat

    sorry, but why is a Coaliion spokesman being headlined as not seeing this as a “waste”?
    why is a Greens spokesman being portrayed as someone completely against the desal plant?
    why isn’t the mothballing of the Melbourne and Tugun Gold Coast desal plants mentioned, AAP/News?
    am i missing something?

    26 June: News.com.au: AAP: Desal plant closure not waste: NSW govt
    Sydney’s desalination plant will be mothballed this weekend even though taxpayers will keep having to pay off its construction costs.
    BUT NSW Finance Minister Greg Pearce says the $2 billion development hasn’t been a waste of money.
    “The fact that the desal plant will be turned off from the first of July will save Sydney Water customers $50 million a year,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
    “But we’ll still have the security if we ever or when we eventually need to turn the desalination plant back on again.”…
    Mr Pearce confirmed the government was still paying $16 million a month for the cost of building the plant and pipeline.
    Greens MP John Kaye told ABC Radio the plant was expensive and completely unnecessary.
    “The problem we have now is that we’re paying tens of billions of dollars to keep this plant when we don’t even want to operate it,” he said…
    http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/desal-plant-closure-not-waste-nsw-govt/story-e6frfku9-1226408627988#ixzz1yr7T5aet

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  • #
    pat

    CAGW disaster, denial…

    25 June: Courier Mail: Tuck Thompson: Wivenhoe class-action lawsuit relies on dam experts
    FIRMS mounting a class-action lawsuit against the Queensland Government have spent $1 million on experts to prove Wivenhoe Dam operators were negligent in flooding thousands of homes and businesses last year…
    About 3400 people have already signed for the “no win, no pay” suit, which potentially could cost the state more than $1 billion…
    The class action will seek only actual damages not “pain and suffering” and compensation received from other sources might be deducted from the claims, Mr Scattini said. He confirmed the state was building a legal war chest and firming its legal position.
    “I’m sure they’ll find money to fight us,” he said…
    Only a handful of the 200-plus people at the meeting raised their hands when asked if they had been taken care of by their insurance companies.
    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/class-action-relying-on-dam-experts/story-e6freon6-1226407137230

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    pat

    TonyfromOz – did u see this?

    19 June: Courier Mail: Mark Solomons: Wivenhoe Dam staff forced to use ageing power unit in flood defence
    WIVENHOE Dam staff were forced to use an “unreliable” 25-year-old diesel generator to operate the gates at the dam wall when power was lost during the worst of the 2011 floods crisis.
    That was because Seqwater had failed to act on its engineers’ recommendation to junk it months earlier. The unit remains in service, 21 months after it was identified as requiring “immediate” replacement.
    Previously unseen incident logs from Wivenhoe, obtained by The Courier-Mail using Right To Information laws, captured the unfolding drama as a handful of junior staff battled crises on multiple fronts…
    It was during this period that the operators’ strategy changed from protecting downstream properties to saving the dam. It was also when the massive releases were made that flooded Brisbane and Ipswich.
    The logs showed staff made frequent calls to Energex asking how soon the power would be restored.
    One entry reads: “Energex waiting for break in weather, will heli deploy staff.” Another notes simply: “Energex doing something.”…
    There was no mention of back-up power at the dam in the findings of the $15 million flood inquiry. The logs from the wall, which Seqwater says it handed over to the inquiry, were never discussed in hearings.
    The documents showed there were also communications failures as fax lines, over which directives were received from the flood operations centre in Brisbane, were cut…
    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/ageing-power-unit-used-in-flood-defence/story-e6freon6-1226400589754

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    Sonny

    Gergis “hockey stick” update, coming to a cinema near you by the end of July..

    Print publication of scientific study put on hold.

    An issue has been identified in the processing of the data used in the study, “Evidence of unusual late 20th century warming from an Australasian temperature reconstruction spanning the last millennium” by Joelle Gergis, Raphael Neukom, Stephen Phipps, Ailie Gallant and David Karoly, accepted for publication in the Journal of Climate.

    The authors are currently reviewing the data and methods. The revised paper will be re-submitted to the Journal of Climate by the end of July and it will be sent out for peer review again.

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      Sonny

      This means they get TWO alarmist press releases showing the “unprecedented” warming in the last 100 years. Frauds all of them!

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        crakar24

        Obviously the first version was not scary enough.

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        Winston

        It will have to be “re-framed” for popular consumption, and smeared with another layer or two of Vaseline to make the data more “opaque”.

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    pat

    wow, just wow!

    26 June: SBS: AAP: Religious leaders attack Pell on climate
    A Sydney rabbi says it is unfortunate George Pell dominates the media when religious figures discuss climate change.
    Religious leaders have taken a swipe at Sydney’s Catholic archbishop George Pell for denying the science of climate change and drowning out other voices in the debate.
    Sydney rabbi Jeffrey Kamins and retiring Canberra bishop Pat Power were in Canberra on Tuesday to argue Australia needed to tackle dangerous climate change for future generations.
    Rabbi Kamins said too many people incorrectly believed religion had an antipathy towards science.
    “We believe for the most part as religious leaders that it’s all about the growth of consciousness and awareness,” he told AAP outside parliament house, adding global warming couldn’t be ignored.
    “It’s really unfortunate that Cardinal Pell has a such a great command of the press and it’s very difficult for other people to get their voice out, especially because of his very strong alliance with Tony Abbott.”…
    The rabbi and Bishop Power are part of the multi-faith Australian Religious Response to Climate Change which includes Buddhists, Catholics, other Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews…
    (Bishop Power):”I think it’s important that another bishop shows that mainstream Australian Catholicism, and in fact the Pope himself, has been very strong in speaking in support of measures to take into account issues affecting the environment.”
    Bishop Power said Cardinal Pell was “at variance” with mainstream religious opinion which recognised there were some “incontestable facts” when it came to global warming…
    http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1663232/Religious-leaders-attack-Pell-on-climate

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      Angry

      These so called christian organizations have obviously been infiltrated by communists with the express purpose of subverting them from within.

      This is a standard communist strategy.

      Truely sickening.

      I will make sure that in the future no donations of money from our family are ever given to any of these Anti Human Traitorous organizations !

      George Pell is 100% correct!!!

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        Kevin Moore

        “I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are of the Synagogue of Satan.” [congregation of the adversary]

        Revelation 2:9

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    pat

    should have added that SMH is already carrying the Rabbi and the Bishop CAGW show, and no doubt it will soon appear all over the MSM.

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    pat

    Memo to Bishop Power –
    i don’t think the Pope has much credibility these days, certainly not on CAGW, and, just as UEA hired a Murdoch guy, Neil Wallis, to do damage control for them over Climategate, the Pope has now hired his own Murdoch man to do damage control over Vatileaks, etc. funny business!

    25 June: PR Week: Brittaney Kiefer: Vatican hires Fox News journalist to reshape comms
    The Vatican has hired an American journalist as its senior communications adviser amidst the latest scandal to mar Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy.
    Greg Burke has worked as Fox News’ Rome correspondent since 2001. He previously was in the same role for Time magazine, and he has covered the death of Pope John Paul II, the election of Benedict, and the Vatican pedophilia scandal.
    Burke is a practicing Catholic and a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement…
    Burke’s hiring comes as the Vatican tries to contain the “Vatileaks” scandal, which has engulfed the Italian media and eroded trust in the church. The pope’s butler was arrested in May in connection with the leaking of private documents alleging corruption and conspiracy among cardinals.
    Lombardi has struggled to repair the church’s image following Vatileaks and other scandals during Benedict’s papacy…
    http://www.prweekus.com/vatican-hires-fox-news-journalist-to-reshape-comms/article/247194/

    24 June: NYT: Rachel Donadio: Fox News Reporter Hired as Vatican Media Adviser
    Affable and easygoing, with an all-American air in a baroque culture, Mr. Burke is a numerary in Opus Dei, which means, he said, that he is celibate and gives most of his income to the movement.
    He is the second Opus Dei member to take on a crucial role dealing with Vatican communications. The first was Joaquín Navarro-Valls, a psychologist and journalist who, as the Vatican spokesman under John Paul, was known for his skillful efforts to shape John Paul’s image in the media and the world…
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/world/europe/vatican-hires-fox-news-correspondent-as-media-adviser.html

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    Ally E.

    This story is music to my ears, Jo. It just gets better and better! 🙂

    Yah Brazil! 🙂 🙂 🙂

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    Joe's World

    Jo,

    Has the media reported the new record low in South Pole?
    Of course not.
    http://iceagenow.info/2012/06/south-pole-station-sets-record-low-100-8%c2%b0f/#comment-28996

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    pat

    be very careful if you want the public to know the carbon dioxide tax will add to the cost of EVERYTHING. of course, there is yet more taxpayer compensation…for some. funny no-one ever mentions all the compensation will be paid for by the taxpayer, hey?

    26 June: ABC PM: Carbon claims enter absurd territory
    The Opposition Leader was at the RSPCA’s animal shelter this morning to highlight the increase in electricity costs he says charities face once the price is introduced this Sunday.
    But the Government says Tony Abbott’s claims are more ridiculous by the day and it’s planning a counter campaign of its own…
    The charity estimates that, across the country, its electricity bill will increase by $180,000 once the carbon price is introduced from this Sunday…
    TONY ABBOTT: Why is the Prime Minister failing to compensate some of Australia’s household name charities and forcing them to cut their services as a result of the carbon tax?
    NAOMI WOODLEY: The Prime Minister says there’s a $300 million fund to assist community and not-for-profit groups and that, as yet, the RPSCA hasn’t applied for help…
    http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3533465.htm

    26 June: Age: Jessica Wright: Abbott’s carbon tax flyer exposes businesses to fines: Bradbury
    A flyer sent out by Tony Abbott has potentially exposed small businesses to fines of up to $1 million each.
    The Opposition Leader wrote to thousands of small business owners warning them of the impact of the carbon tax. The letter, from Mr Abbott and opposition small business spokesman Bruce Billson, is accompanied by a flyer that shop keepers – specifically butchers – have been encouraged to place in store windows…
    But the Assistant Treasurer, David Bradbury, has warned that the Liberal leader has potentially exposed shop owners to fines of up to $1 million each.
    Mr Bradbury hit out at Mr Abbott, saying he was improperly giving ”businesses the green light to jack up their prices” and warned that shop keepers who put up their prices without due justification were risking large fines from the ACCC of more than $1 million for each infraction…
    http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbotts-carbon-tax-flyer-exposes-businesses-to-fines-bradbury-20120626-20ztc.html#ixzz1ytEC6Zf1

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    Having been to Brasil a few times, I have seen the press out there. Even in the heavyweight newspapers – like Gazeta do Povo – there is very little serious critical analysis. Business pages are full of articles regurgitating government statistics. Television is even emptier, filled with soap operas that make “Neighbours” appear high brow. This is probably a legacy of decades of military dictatorship.
    What Chris Mooney finds it so shocking that a country of so uncritical of mainstream viewpoints should “allow” such criticism. Along with recent strong economic growth, it is another sign that Brasil is at last shedding its third world status.

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