Tuesday Open Thread

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96 comments to Tuesday Open Thread

  • #
    Lionell Griffith

    Looking on the bright side

    Spring is actually coming to the Midwest US. The first tentative sign is that the snow and ice has all melted. Just after dawn this morning, I heard a flock of geese flying overhead. This is the second sign of spring is on its way. The third sign is the first sighting of a North American Robin. Not yet but maybe by mid April spring will have arrived.

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    • #
      GD

      Spring is actually coming to the Midwest US.

      Here in Victoria, Australia, February weather was more like Autumn instead of the last month of Summer.

      Will Winter be similarly colder than normal?

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      • #
        farmerbraun

        NZ similarly. Still dry in many areas; cool change on the way this morning.
        Of course , if it was anything to do with the sun, and mid-winter was the solstice , then autumn begins the first week of Feb.

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        Lionell Griffith

        Autumn is my second favorite season. With Summer the third and Winter about seven levels below Summer. I am NOT a Winter type person at all.

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      • #
        toorightmate

        GD,
        Unfortunately the September headlines are already written – “Hottest Winter Evvaaahhhh”.

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        Environment Skeptic

        Thank goodness someone is talking about the weather. Very hard to get a weather report these days and i am stocking up….rain data, polar bear numbers, anything i can get my hands on.

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    farmerbraun

    Interesting question , courtesy of ZH this morning :-

    “What level of interest rates is required to incentivize you to risk the death of yourself and your family?”
    I see that the Wiz of Oz has “moved”.
    I hear that Oz will be one of the world’s economies that will be most affected.

    “It’s the economy , stupid!”

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    • #
      farmerbraun

      Michael Every on a roll:-

      “the not-so-magnificent G-7, and G-7 central banks, have pledged that they will meet today to act jointly on the virus, and the IMF and World Bank are also prepared to help if needed; Covid-19, it seems, is a threat that requires immediate action in a way that the potential risk of the end of life on earth (if you are Green), or increasingly Victorian/Gilded Age levels of wealth inequality (if you are Piketty) are not. Then again we have to recall that stocks had just fallen by over 10% in a week, and that house prices risk following: Come on you cynical people, priorities, please!”

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      • #
        Roger Knights

        A commenter here a few threads back posted a link to this financial aspect of this:

        Is Wall Street Behind the Delay in Declaring the Coronavirus Outbreak a “Pandemic”?
        A little known financial mechanism set up by the World Bank could be behind the decision not to declare the coronavirus a pandemic reports Whitney Webb.
        by Whitney Webb

        Pandemic Bonds: a “scheme like no other”
        In June 2017, the World Bank announced the creation of “specialized bonds” that would be used to fund the previously created Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) in the event of an officially-recognized (i.e. WHO-recognized) pandemic.

        pandemic:https://www.mintpressnews.com/wall-street-behind-delay-declaring-coronavirus-outbreak-pandemic-bonds/265264/

        BTW, this site seems to be quite sluggish in recent days. Is anyone else seeing this?

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        • #
          farmerbraun

          “Sluggish”?

          Barely describes it.

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        • #
          RicDre

          “BTW, this site seems to be quite sluggish in recent days. Is anyone else seeing this?”

          It has been slow at times for me as well. On the other hand, since I live here in Northeastern Ohio, US, the poor little electrons may just be getting tired having to trek half way around the world to get here.

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          • #

            Yes, it is So slow to load here in the UK.

            Jo’s site is normally very quick to load as there are few graphics but I would say its at least ten times slower than normal the last few days.

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            • #
              Kalm Keith

              I think a lot of the problem is from photons emitted by CO2 up in the atmosphere, coming down to reheat the earth.

              The interaction of this hyper_IR from the clouds doesn’t distort the internet transmission, just slows it down.

              KK

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              • #
                RicDre

                “I think a lot of the problem is from photons emitted by CO2 up in the atmosphere…”

                Hmm, I wonder if those magical CO2 molecules are being absorbed by the copper and fiber-optics cables where they absorb then randomly emit the electrons thereby slowing their progress. If so, CO2 is a truly evil molecule.

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              • #
                Kalm Keith

                RIC,

                I was thinking mostly in terms of atmospherics but you’ve opened up a whole new area for analysis.

                🙂 KK

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              • #
                toorightmate

                The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is now so high it is preventing normal wave transfer from occurring. This phenomena is unprecedented and catastrophic – or even worse. I suspect that 4 Corners will run a special programme on it in the near future. This will be followed up by The Project which is a programme where the IQs just jump through the roof.
                New Zealand will be prepared for it as Ms Adern will get her teeth into the problem.

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              • #
                sophocles

                Good point KK,

                Don’t forget that photons are the main trans-oceanic data carriers over the fibre-optical Internet cables, so there may not be much room left.

                Maybe somebody is also sending the virus genetic structure in digital format, too …

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            • #
              el gordo

              I thought my provider was at fault for the slowness, it appears to be a technical problem at headquarters.

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          I have been having problems with wifi for the last few days, so this site didn’t seem that much slower than usual.

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    Peter Fitzroy

    Interestingly, the story of how summers are getting longer, using Port MAcquarie, as the poster child, is guilty of incomplete fact checking.

    The problem is that there were 2 weather stations in Port MAcquarie, one near the sea, which stoped recording in the 1990’s and the another inland, at the airport, which started recording in the 1990’s. both have completely different microclimates, with the old coastal one being significantly cooler than the inland one.

    Any comparison using 1949-1969, and 1999-2019 is bound to find a warming trend.

    I’m sure this could be written up better than I have but still, please be sceptical of all such stories.

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    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      I give you evidence of misapplication of weather data, and I get (after 6 hours) a red thumb? SO much for scepticism and its application

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      Peter what you have written there is what we have been arguing about for ages , yours is just one site out of many .

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    • #

      Did you check the data used in the analysis?

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      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        Well – checked the two sites, and in this case it is plain that the data had to come from one or the other, but not both, since there is only a 7 years of overlap, between 1995 and 2003. And that overlap could not be used in the calculation. I looked at the average max temp for the overlap period, and applied which supported the supposition that the Airport temps were higher. As to what constitutes ‘summer’ in this sense is a question for better minds than mine.

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        • #
          Ian George

          Interestingly, when comparing the Hill St site and the airport AWS, max temps are higher by around 0.6C at the airport but the min temps are lower by quite a bit at the airport. The mean temp difference would be about 0.4 higher at the Hill St site. So if the BoM did the adjustments/homogenisation correctly, the claims would not be true mean temp-wise but may be true max temp-wise.
          I wonder when the ethermometers were introduced as some of the warmer years have been recorded recently.

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      This must the BOM’s latest meme Peter. Was watching Ch9 in Perth recently when the weather person started rattling on about how summers had lengthened and winters had shortened. No idea how they came to that conclusion in Perth, since they have moved the recording site twice in modern times, each time not recording site matching data long enough to determine the result of the site moved. And each time to a warmer location. So any attempt at Any long-term temperature analysis Perth is useless.

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      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        Exactly – it cheapens the analysis if you do not correct for such changes.

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      • #
        el gordo

        What they are saying is that the summer growing season has lengthened, in the same way that it shortened during the Little Ice Age.

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  • #
    RicDre

    An interesting proposal:

    Exclusive–Mike Braun Proposes to Rein in Electric Vehicle Tax Credit for Wealthy Elites

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/02/exclusive-mike-braun-proposes-to-rein-in-electric-vehicle-tax-credit-for-wealthy-elites/

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  • #
    It's the End of the World... Again

    What has the corona-virus taught us? That people are willing to believe in and panic over any old Armageddon story that comes along. First we’re going to be annihilated by the climate, now it’s the common cold. This is a culture that has lost its mind and has descended into utter irrationality. Maybe not the common people so much, but in the end we are at the mercy of our leaders.

    Note how it is big, scary Nature that is going to kill us, and that we as humans must do everything possible to assuage the beast. All these bad things happen because we poked the beast in the first place. This is superstition on an industrial scale. Welcome to the Dark Ages.

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    • #

      Maybe the Chinese accidentally shut down 4/5th of their economy for the common cold? Made 30,000 new hospital beds for nothing. Despite young healthy doctors dying, the fall in container ships, coal use, traffic, flights, the people being dragged away screaming in China, the men in the streets with guns, it could be just a nasty cold.

      And what’s most important is the incantation: All disasters are fake. Lots of other bad scares turned out to be nothing, therefore this is too. Good luck.

      We all have our own way of dealing with the news. 3.4% mortality estimates today. Bum.

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  • #
    pat

    2 Mar: BBC: Onshore wind ‘to make comeback in UK’
    by Roger Harrabin
    The cheapest form of new power in the UK – onshore wind – is set to make a comeback, according to a government decision today.
    Ministers previously blocked projects after complaints from local campaigners that they were a blot on the landscape…

    In the ***long term, it should lead to cheaper electricity for consumers. Solar farms will be able to bid for price guarantees too.
    But the government still wants local people to have a strong say in the decision where they are built. That means relatively few are expected in congested England.
    In Scotland, though, Scottish Power is delighted. It has 1,000MW in the pipeline for wind and solar…

    In sections of the media, the word “hated” became attached to the term wind farm – and most MPs believed they were deeply unpopular with the public.
    In fact, the government’s own surveys show over-whelming public support for onshore wind – albeit not always in the areas where it’s been built…
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51708817

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    • #
      RicDre

      “The cheapest form of new power in the UK – onshore wind…”

      Hmm, I wonder upon what basis they determined that “onshore wind” is the cheapest form of new power in the UK.

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      • #
        sophocles

        Hey: Ric, it’s the Beeb, so of course it’s “cheapest” (along with all the other fake faecal material.) Whatever you do, don’t believe any of it.

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  • #
    pat

    multiple links:

    26 Feb: EurActiv: Sweden’s forest crimes
    by various authors
    Sweden presents itself as a global torchbearer on the environment, but its forest policy is wreaking havoc. The EU must act to stop it, say five European NGOs.
    Julian Klein, Spokesperson, Protect the Forest Sweden; Isadora Wronski, Interim Head, Greenpeace Sweden; Kelsey Perlman, Forest and Climate Campaigner, Fern, EU; Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, United Kingdom/USA; Jana Ballenthien, Forest campaigner, ROBIN WOOD, Germany.
    Sweden is consistently ranked near or at the top of the world’s most environmentally-friendly industrial nations. The International Energy Agency (IEA) calls the country a “global leader in building a low-carbon economy”.

    However, when it comes to Swedish forests – which cover almost 70% of the country – it is a very different story.
    Sweden is the world’s third largest exporter of paper, pulp and sawn wood products. The country promotes itself as a paragon of sustainable forestry practices. But this is an illusion on a grand scale
    In truth, old, natural forests are more scarce in Sweden than ever before…

    Over 90% of all forests in Sweden have already been affected by forestry in some way. According to official reporting under the EU Habitats Directive, 14 of 15 forest biotopes in Sweden do not have a favorable conservation status…

    In order to stop the on-going degradation of the forest landscape in Sweden, 70 NGOs and 30 scientists have recently sent an open letter to the Swedish Parliament, Government and the Swedish Forest Agency, demanding that forestry is stopped in all high conservation value forests and that the national budget allocated to forest protection is increased…READ ON
    https://www.euractiv.com/section/biomass/opinion/swedens-forest-crimes/

    2 Mar: GreenpeaceUK: SHUTDOWN: Nearly 100 Barclays branches out of action after Greenpeace climate protest
    Nearly 100 Barclays high street branches have been shut down by Greenpeace activists this morning in protest against the bank’s continued multi-billion dollar support for fossil fuels.
    Greenpeace are demanding that Barclays, the biggest funder of fossil fuels among European banks, stop propping up oil, gas and coal companies and channel funding into renewable energy.

    In the early hours of the morning, Barclays branches in every UK region and cities from Portsmouth to Dundee were rendered out of action by Greenpeace activists who disabled the doors preventing staff from entering…READ ON
    https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/shutdown-nearly-100-barclays-branches-out-of-action-after-greenpeace-climate-protest/

    3 Mar: National Scotland: Extinction Rebellion shames Glasgow City Council’s investments
    By Tom Jarvis
    ACTIVISTS staged a protest inside Glasgow City Chambers today to highlight the council pension fund’s investment of hundreds of millions in climate polluters such as BP and Shell.
    The protest, carried out by Extinction Rebellion Glasgow, follows an investigation into the fund by environmental groups Divest Strathclyde, Fossil Free Glasgow and Friends of the Earth Scotland.
    The investigation revealed that the Strathclyde Pension Fund, managed by Glasgow City Council, has an estimated £709 million invested in fossil fuel companies…

    The figures will be embarrassing for Glasgow City Council, who are due to host the United Nations COP26 climate talks in November. Glasgow councillors declared a climate emergency in May 2019 and set a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, which they described as “an opportunity to show leadership globally”. A council committee will debate the issue on Wednesday, March 4. Activists have vowed to picket the meeting…

    Geraldine Clayton, Strathclyde Pension Fund member and campaigner with Divest Strathclyde: “We need to take our money out of fossil fuel and invest it instead in renewable energy.”
    https://www.thenational.scot/news/18275721.extinction-rebellion-shames-glasgow-city-councils-investments/

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  • #
    Chad

    Each wind turbine in australia, is given $525,000 in subsidies every year.
    For generating less than 8000 MWh of power. ( worth <$400k ?)
    Overall, each turbine will recieve over $5 million during its service life ..!
    Nice business model .

    On the basis of there being 2 077 wind turbines in Australia, the RET provides $1.09 billion per annum to the wind industry. On this basis, and assuming the RET operates for another 15 years, the RET cross-subsidy for existing turbines from now until 2030 will be in the vicinity of $9.3 billion.

    https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Wind_Turbines/Wind_Turbines/Final%20Report/c07

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      I notice the claim of over 40% efficiency yeah right .

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    • #
      Dennis

      The politics aside, consider the wind turbine businesses and effective operating life of the equipment of around 20 years minus or maybe plus. So when the time for replacement arrives will the cost of dismantling and replacing exceed the total Return On Investment?

      How many in the know shareholders are planning their exit strategy and how many not well informed shareholders will lose their money?

      https://stopthesethings.com/2017/03/13/born-lucky-stars-align-perfectly-for-pms-son-with-mammoth-bet-on-wind-power-outfit-infigen/

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      • #
        Furiously curious

        I saw somewhere the Chinese are replacing after 15 yrs, and not building new sites, just re-erecting on the old concrete bases, as those were already on the best sites, for wind velocity.

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        • #

          sort of obvious. Why would you build a new one somewhere else and leave the obsolete one standing?

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        • #
          Chad

          Unlikely they reuse the original bases !
          15 yr old turbines were much smaller capacity, lighter, and on shorter towers and smaller bases.
          Unless they replace with similar small turbines , which is uneconomical, they would have to seriously increase the base size and weight to suit the newer turbines with longer blades on taller towers.

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      Graeme#4

      The turbine subsidy figure regularly quoted in The Australian by commenters is A$780,000 a turbine. Thought I saw the same figure on this site.

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      • #
        Chad

        G4,
        Im sure many are recieving much more than the average i estimated from the figures given in the article
        The RET is paid on output generated so those modern, bigger, turbines, located in better places will benefit more than those smaller old turbines that were poorly sited
        Undoubtedly some will be recieving over $1 m !..
        …and , of course, they also get the revenue from the power generated.

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  • #
    Dennis

    How long does canned food last and be safe to eat?

    One comment indicated that during the Cuban Missile Crisis the USN ship he was on ran out of food and the ship’s lifeboats rations were eaten, dating back to 1941, with no problems.

    https://www.skilledsurvival.com/canned-food-expiration-date-myth/

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      robert rosicka

      Some lasts longer than others maybe a lottery though , if things get too bad which I’m hopeful they won’t and my stocks run low I’m better placed than city slickers .
      Not far from a river and not far from a hunting area .

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    • #
      Sputnik

      I grabbed a can of chopped tomatoes from the cupboard last week that had been in there about 3 months. It was bulged at top and bottom. Needless to say, it made a mess when I opened it and this has been a one off.

      That’s my anecdote.

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      • #
        Graeme#4

        Had one case of a can of tomatoes exploding in my pantry. By the time I saw the result it had well and truly made a mess that was difficult to clean up. Don’t keep those cans for very long now.

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  • #
    pat

    28 Feb: Nature: Climate lawsuits are breaking new legal ground to protect the planet
    Despite recent defeats, activists are optimistic that courts will provide relief from climate change.
    by Giuliana Viglione
    This week, the UK Court of Appeal blocked plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport, saying that allowing the expansion would violate the country’s obligations to the Paris climate agreement.
    Such decisions are inspiring and instructing activists and municipalities around the world as they attempt to force action against climate change. As litigants fight scores of such cases, recent rulings such as these make one thing clear. “There is no silver litigation bullet for climate change,” says Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University in New York.

    On 18 February, the International Bar Association released a model for how to litigate climate change (LINK), laying out legal arguments and precedents that might help future plaintiffs…
    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00175-5

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    Furiously curious

    It is one week away from the 89th birthday of the single person on the planet, standing between a visible alternative view of the science, and a future of muttering in the dark, while being steadily picked off by the Stazi. It ain’t the darkest hour yet, but it can’t be too far off. Does anyone see another torch out there, being held on high?
    In some ways I’m thinking bring it on, the sooner everything collapses in the West, the sooner it’s over, and hopefully something is learned, and the building starts again. It could take a fair while though, as everything is so ‘white anted’. Is anything save-able even at this stage, or is there just too much rot, and really who is going to turn the ship of the education system around?? Let it burn? As the Aboriginals say, ‘you gotta burn it, to get it back to sweet country’. Hopefully the fuel load isn’t too high, but I think it might be?!
    And if you’re not bringing lots of admirable qualities and tools, it might be good to avoid coming back for about 500 yrs. If we’re into that sort of thing.
    It’s Rupert’s 89th next week. His mum cracked the hundred, and he loves the fight, but it’s not going to go on forever, and there’s no other platform, out in the public view, that I can see.

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    Maptram

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-03-04/renewable-profits-slashed-amid-national-transmission-failure/12021082

    Like most things based on renewable energy, everyone and everything else but the energy source and the management of the businesses are to blame.

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    pat

    behind paywall – demands from the tax-exempt:

    2 Mar: UK Times: Ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, charities urge
    Sales of new petrol and diesel cars should be banned by 2030 and frequent flyers should pay extra tax to help the UK to meet its climate targets, according to a coalition of 60 charities. They also want hundreds of wind and solar farms built in the countryside and all airport expansion to be scrapped.

    The charities, which include the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Women’s Institute, the World Wide Fund for Nature, Christian Aid and the Woodland Trust, have written to Boris Johnson urging him to introduce tough measures this year before a climate change summit hosted by the UK in Glasgow in November.
    They say that Britain needs to set an example if other countries are to be persuaded to make serious commitments on emissions at the summit. The charities want the UK to set a stricter short-term emissions target for 2030 to drive action towards the government’s long-term, legally binding target of making the UK carbon neutral by 2050…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ban-new-petrol-and-diesel-cars-by-2030-charities-urge-z62l8h9qh

    2 Mar: Reuters: Campaigners urge PM Johnson to ‘turbocharge’ climate plans ahead of U.N. summit
    by Matthew Green
    LONDON – Prime Minister Boris Johnson should “turbocharge” policies to cut Britain’s carbon emissions so the country can lead by example when it hosts a major U.N. climate summit in Glasgow in November, campaign groups said on Monday…
    “The UK must also get its own house in order,” said a letter to Johnson backed by 60 groups working on the environment and international development, including Oxfam, Greenpeace, ShareAction and the World Wildlife Fund.

    “The coming months must see a green turbocharging of our decarbonisation policies and investment to maximize our emissions reductions, so that we reach net-zero as soon as possible,” said the letter, signed by representatives of the Climate Coalition and Bond, two umbrella groups…

    The campaigners set out their priorities in a “Glasgow Action Plan here” (LINK) that included Britain unveiling more ambitious and detailed decarbonization plans ahead of the summit, stopping financing fossil fuel projects abroad, and leading international efforts to boost aid for countries hit by climate disasters…
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-summit/campaigners-urge-pm-johnson-to-turbocharge-climate-plans-ahead-of-u-n-summit-idUSKBN20P003

    following re Reuters might explain why they are as CAGW-infested as Bloomberg (and most other FakeNewsMSM):

    11 Feb: Investopedia: Bloomberg vs. Reuters: What’s the Difference?
    by Mark Kolakowski
    Bloomberg vs. Reuters: An Overview
    The onset of the digital revolution cultivated new ways to access information, leading to cutting edge information platforms in Bloomberg and Reuters. Both Bloomberg L.P. and Reuters are now seen by many as the fastest and most credible digital information sources in the financial industry, providing data and financial news to hundreds of thousands of investors and traders globally.

    These two companies are best known as rivaling the traditional outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Financial Times for financial news. But their core services offer users much more than news. Core users of these two companies look to their offerings to find the most up-to-the-minute information available on trading metrics throughout the trading day…

    Both companies are known for their robust multimedia platforms, with key offerings being the Bloomberg Terminal and the Refinitiv Eikon, formerly known as the Thomson Reuters Eikon, as explained below…

    (Reuters) Eikon and Bloomberg Terminal are the two most used business information platforms in the world. The Bloomberg Terminal has a 33.4% market share, while Eikon has a 23.1%, according to the latest available data…

    For individuals who work at large financial institutions, the cost of either program is high, but necessary to compete. However, the costs can be staggering for non-profit higher education institutions and government agencies, and also for small businesses. Bloomberg Terminal is the most expensive among financial data providers, at $24,000 per year, according to the latest detailed analysis of Bloomberg and its rivals by Wall Street Prep. For customers with two or more subscriptions, Bloomberg charges $20,000 per year. By comparison, a fully loaded version of Eikon costs $22,000, and a discounted version costs $3,600, according to Wall Street Prep.
    Bloomberg Professional Services does not publish a price for a Bloomberg Terminal subscription, and Refinitiv does not publish a price for Eikon…READ ALL
    https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/052815/financial-news-comparison-bloomberg-vs-reuters.asp

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    Rocket Rod

    First case of nCov in Tassie reported yesterday.
    Interesting going to Woolies & Coles yesterday, doing a quick reccy.
    Toilet rolls all gone, rice cleared out, mince 90% sold, chocolate (comfort food) depleted more than usual, painkillers selling fast, Dettol & sanitisers heavily hit & and no change to bottled water.
    Just a thought today too – wonder what will happen in the case of all the multi storey student accommodation buildings for universities. Effectively land based cruise ships with predominantly asian population.
    Mass outbreaks looming?

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    kevin a

    Senator Tom Cotton Thinks Coronavirus is a Bioweapon; China Mounts Feeble Response
    https://www.ccn.com/tom-cotton-thinks-coronavirus-bioweapon-china-mounts-feeble-response/
    “Researchers have found shocking similarities between the Wuhan coronavirus and HIV and Ebola. These mutations suggest the virus is manmade.”
    Any thoughts?

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    kevin a

    https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871v1.full.pdf
    Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120
    and Gag

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    kevin a

    Officials punished for SARS virus leak
    Five top officials of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Thursday were punished to take blame for this year’s outbreak of SARS.
    https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/02/content_344755.htm

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    pat

    4 Mar: ABC: After more than a year, Kennedy renewable energy farm still not fully connected to grid
    QLD Country Hour By Tom Major
    A renewable energy park developer will write down up to $20 million from its half-share of a major investment following months of problems connecting the facility to the power grid.
    Canberra-based company Windlab told the ASX it was planning to downgrade the value of its stake in north Queensland’s Kennedy Energy Park.
    The Australia-first facility combines 12 wind turbines, 55,000 solar panels, and four megawatt hours of battery storage, all designed to power 35,000 homes.
    Located east of the town of Hughenden the project was completed in early 2019, but problems receiving Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) standards mean it has generated a fraction of its capacity.

    Trading in Windlab shares are currently suspended as investor Federation Asset Management is negotiating to buy the company’s outstanding stock.
    A legal dispute with contractors Vestas Wind Systems and Quanta Services over the connectivity delays has been paused until mid-March, with parties agreeing to try to resolve the claims…

    The professor (Researcher Andrew Blakers) of engineering at the Australian National University said governments had known about the problem for at least two years…
    “Blind Freddy can see that there’s a lot of solar and wind coming in and it’s not being built on the top of coal power stations.
    “Therefore you’ll need extra transmission. It’s like building new suburbs but not bothering to put any new roads in.”…
    “Northwest Victoria, there’s huge curtailment of solar farms because of lack of transmission,” he said…
    The ANU academic said a reduction of investment in new solar and wind farms would take place without swift government action…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-03-04/renewable-profits-slashed-amid-national-transmission-failure/12021082

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      Robber

      Surely if you build an “energy park”, it’s your cost to get the electricity to the market.

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        robert rosicka

        Cry me a river ! and they actually find a way to blame coal for the lack of forethought to put in a transmission line before they built the subsidy farm .

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      Graeme No.3

      pat:
      Developers have been putting in roads for years. I suggest that these renewables projects do the same. And Hughenden is only 380 km. from Townsville.

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    pat

    2 Mar: US Dept of Justice: Colorado Man Sentenced to 83 Months in Prison for Role in $7.2 Million Biodiesel Tax Credit Scheme
    According to court documents and statements made in court, Matthew Taylor and his coconspirators defrauded the United States by filing false claims for tax credits under a federal program that encourages production and use of renewable fuels. They created a fake company, Shintan Inc. (Shintan), that purported to be in the business of creating renewable fuels. From 2010 to 2013, the coconspirators then sought and obtained from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over $7.2 million in tax credits for renewable fuel produced, of which Taylor personally received $4.5 million. In fact, Shintan produced no qualifying renewable fuel. To avoid detection, Taylor and coconspirators transferred the fraudulently obtained funds through a series of bank accounts belonging to Shintan and other shell companies…

    In addition to the term of imprisonment imposed, U.S. District Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer ordered Taylor to serve four years of supervised release and to pay approximately $7.2 million in restitution to the United States…
    https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/colorado-man-sentenced-83-months-prison-role-72-million-biodiesel-tax-credit-scheme

    behind paywall:

    2 Mar: UK Times Scotland: SNP must learn from collapse of energy firm Our Power, says (Lib Dem leader)
    Calls have been made for an inquiry into the collapse of an energy company backed by the Scottish government.
    Our Power Energy Supply, which was based in Edinburgh and had 31,000 customers, had £9.8 million in loans from the government and went into administration last January. Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said that without an inquiry a public energy company planned by the SNP could repeat its mistakes…
    Nicola Sturgeon unveiled plans for a publicly owned power company in her at to the SNP conference in October 2017, saying then that the venture would sell energy to customers at “as close to cost price as possible”. She said it would be up and running by 2021…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/snp-must-learn-from-collapse-of-energy-firm-our-power-says-willie-rennie-wzd7mtpsh

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    pat

    3 Mar: Australian: David Littleproud foreshadows push to end carbon farming ‘rorts’
    By Ean Higgins
    Agriculture Minister David Littleproud wants an overhaul of the carbon farming market by the end of the year, saying some companies are rorting the system for “passive income” rather than agricultural production…
    He said in his home state of Queensland big corporates buy out productive agricultural land from farming families and then simply lock it up to get a passive income through carbon credits paid for by the government.

    Mr Littleproud said he wants a more sophisticated system in which farmers get biodiversity stewardship credits for genuinely improving farm practices.
    He has directed his department to work with the Australian National University to get such a scheme in operation by the end of this year…

    Mr Littleproud said another campaign the government would pursue was “digging some holes and plumbing this nation” in the form of building new dams ahead of the next drought…READ ON
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/david-littleproud-foreshadows-push-to-end-carbon-farming-rorts/news-story/13fdcba70a320b6945af35902a0b843c

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    pat

    who cares about democracy? not the CAGW mob:

    3 Mar: Forbes: EU To Unveil Binding Climate Law – As Greta Watches
    by Dave Keating
    Tomorrow, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg will sit and watch the 27 commissioners who run the European Union’s executive branch as they adopt the most expansive binding emissions reduction legislation the world has ever seen.
    Thunberg has been invited by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to express her concerns to the commissioners ahead of their vote, which will codify the EU’s target to completely decarbonize the bloc by 2050 – endorsed by national leaders in December – into binding law.

    But the proposed legislation will still need to be approved by the elected representatives in the two bodies of the EU’s legislature, the EU Parliament and national ministers in the EU Council. And provisions in a leaked draft finalised by the Commission’s civil service yesterday are likely to be resisted by the co-legislators.
    At issue will be the Commission’s idea to have reviews of the law every five years, and for it to give the EU executive the ability to make the law more ambitious without needing approval from the Parliament and Council. Both institutions are likely to balk at the prospect of being cut out of future climate decisions, pointing to an apparent lack of democratic checks in such a process.

    Environmental campaigners have in the past been sceptical of such “delegated acts”, which consult panels of national experts rather than going through the EU’s normal democratic process. This procedure is used for such things as approval of GMOs. But in this case, the campaigners see bypassing the legislature – and in particular the Council where climate-sceptic countries in Eastern Europe sometimes veto ambition, as a good thing…READ ON
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/davekeating/2020/03/03/eu-to-unveil-first-binding-climate-lawas-greta-watches/

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      pat

      who cares about freedom of thought, or freedom of speech? not the CAGW mob:

      4 Mar: Guardian: Boris Johnson urged to speak out against climate deniers
      As EU sets out its first ever climate law, critics fear UK may delay or water down green measures
      by Fiona Harvey
      Climate denial is taking new forms, some experts say, moving from an outright rejection of science to covert attacks on green policies and spending on efforts to cut carbon…
      “The GWPF have shown themselves to be tremendous opportunists,” said Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on climate change at the London School of Economics. Ward claims the thinktank has been fundraising heavily in the US – as well as spreading its views to ministers and across Whitehall – to raise money for a major campaign to influence the Johnson government.
      “I expect that as the economy continues to take a hit from Brexit that the GWPF will attempt to mislead policymakers into believing the cause is climate policy.”

      Sir Michael Hintze, a hedge fund billionaire who is a long-time major donor to the Tory party, is understood to be a funder of the GWPF, which is not required to disclose its funding, and is also understood to have provided support to Priti Patel, Dominic Raab and Andrea Leadsom, among other Tory MPs. Matt Hancock has accepted donations from Ian Taylor, the chairman of oil trader Vitol, while Michael Gove and Liz Truss have been linked to the the American Enterprise Institute, which lobbies political, business and public opinion against action on the climate crisis.

      There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of the Tory MPs. However, in the current climate crisis, experts have raised questions about the Tories accepting funds from individuals with fossil fuel interests or linked to climate denial organisations…
      “Well-connected climate sceptics must be called out by ministers, from the prime minister down,” said Shaun Spiers, the executive director of the Green Alliance thinktank. “We have seen the damage that well-funded rightwing campaigns against climate action have done in the US, Australia and Brazil. Conservative environmentalism is stronger than ever, with the party officially recognising the seriousness of the climate emergency. It should disassociate itself from the deniers.”…READ ON
      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/03/boris-johnson-urged-to-speak-out-against-climate-deniers

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    robert rosicka

    Just picked up a package from the local post office which is only a very small shop and the guy that runs it says he had a bus load of Chinese tourists come through on Saturday.
    Said he was amazed no face masks and also said he wasn’t all that worried by any of it .

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    pat

    3 Mar: UK Independent: One in three Tory members believe human activity not responsible for climate change, survey finds
    Boris Johnson to chair first meeting of ministerial committee ahead of global warming summit in Glasgow
    by Andrew Woodcock
    Fewer than half of Conservative party members believe that human activity is responsible for climate change, according to a new survey.
    The poll of more than 1,100 Tories found that almost one in three (32.9 per cent) think that “global warming is happening but human activity isn’t driving it”, while nearly a tenth (9.7 per cent) said they did not believe that climate change was happening at all.

    Just 48.5 per cent of those taking part in the survey for the ConservativeHome website agreed with the consensus among climate scientists that the planet is getting warmer and that human activities are driving the change. Some 8.9 per cent said they did not know…READ ON
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-members-climate-change-human-man-made-survey-boris-johnson-a9373221.html

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    pat

    3 Mar: TheVerge: Birth control and books can slow down climate change
    They’re near the top of the list in a ranking of climate solutions
    By Justine Calma
    Improving girls’ access to education and reproductive health care is one of the most promising ways to stop human-caused global warming, according to a report published today that ranks solutions to addressing the threat.
    Addressing health and education ranks second among 76 solutions, sandwiched between reducing food waste and eating more plant-rich diets, that, together, can limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. The report, “The Drawdown Review,” is a follow-up to the 2017 New York Times bestselling book Drawdown.
    Promoting girls’ education contributed about as much to a sustainable future as the gains from rooftop solar and solar farms combined, that book found. So did family planning…

    To be clear, “in no way are we talking about population control,” Crystal Chissell, a vice president at Project Drawdown, says. Trying to control who gets to have children and who doesn’t is part of a violent racist and xenophobic history, including the forced sterilization of Latinas in the US.
    https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/3/21163135/education-reproductive-healthcare-climate-change-solution-drawdown

    download not recommended:

    Drawdown Review 2020
    Download your free copy of The Drawdown Review.
    https://www.drawdown.org/drawdown-framework/drawdown-review-2020

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    pat

    novel length:

    3 Mar: NY Mag: Shell Is Looking Forward The fossil-fuel companies expect to profit from climate change.
    I went to a private planning meeting and took notes.
    By Malcolm Harris
    “We think democracy is better,” said the jet-fuel salesperson. “But is it? In terms of outcomes?”
    In a conference room overlooking the gray Thames, a group of young corporate types tried to imagine how the world could save itself, how the international community could balance the need for growth with our precarious ecological situation…

    A graph from Chinese social media showing how many trees the country is planting — a patriotic retort to the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg — had a real effect on the room. Combine that with the Chinese state-led investment in clean-energy technology and infrastructure and everyone admired how the world’s largest source of fossil-fuel emissions was going about transition. That’s what the salesperson meant by “outcomes”: decarbonization…

    Regional experts from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East–North Africa also entertained the democracy question, pointing to Iraqi disillusionment with voting and economic growth in Rwanda under Paul Kagame (“He’s technically a dictator, but it’s working”). The China expert said the average regional Communist Party official is probably more accountable for his or her performance than the average U.K. member of Parliament, a claim no one in the room full of Brits seemed to find objectionable…
    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/shell-climate-change.html

    the writer:

    Twitter: Malcolm Harris
    https://twitter.com/BigMeanInternet

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    pat

    shock, horror, sceptic group gets an extra few quid:

    3 Mar: UK climate science denial group sees membership income triple over past year
    Global Warming Policy Foundation says Bolsonaro’s anti-environment policies and France’s yellow vest protest are part of ‘nascent backlash against regressive climate policies’
    by Harry Cockburn
    The GWPF accounts, published on public database Companies House, and highlighted by DeSmog UK (LINK), reveal a rise in the organisation’s total income from £351,642 in 2018 to £426,244 in 2019 – an increase of £74,602…

    More than 97 per cent of peer-reviewed studies by scientists agree climate-warming trends over the past century are due to human activities, according to Nasa…

    But when The Independent contacted the foundation, a spokesperson declined to comment on any matter…READ ON
    https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-science-denial-global-warming-policy-foundation-membership-nigel-lawson-a9372791.html

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    robert rosicka

    Don’t know if anyone just watched Matt Canavan on Paul Murray’s Sky News program , Canavan was questioning a CSIRO boffin about a report into the bushfires and questioned why they left out their latest findings .
    Which were there is no link they can find between climate change and bushfires , absolutely hilarious the silence in the room at the senate estimates after Canavan fired his question off about why they left it out .

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      pat

      robert rosicka –

      here it is:

      VIDEO: 7m24s: 4 Mar: Sky News: CSIRO omits a key finding which doesn’t link bushfires to climate change
      Senator Matt Canavan reveals during Senate Estimates that the CSIRO failed to include a finding that “there are no studies linking climate change to fire weather” in a bushfire ‘explainer document’.

      During Senate estimates a CSIRO official failed to explain why a previous CSIRO finding which said there was no evidence to suggest a link between climate change and bushsfires was not found in the recent document explaining the “climate change and science about bushfires”.
      Mr Canavan told Sky News host Paul Murray omitting such a finding is like “writing a report for a newspaper about a football match and not including the final score”.
      Speaking about Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s net-zero emissions target by 2050, Mr Canavan said Mr Albanese “doesn’t understand what he’s signed up to will devastate Australian farming”.
      “This is unbelievable that a government or any opposition that’s going for election every three years would get away with making a promise that’s going to be at least ten elections away,” he said.
      https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6138277802001

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        pat

        Paul Murray asks Canavan to ask Dr. Peter Mayfield (CSIRO) about the following ONE TRILLION DOLLAR COST the next time he is questioned in Senate Estimates in May.

        DOWNLOAD 109-page PDF: Dec 2016: CSIRO: Electricity Network Transformation Roadmap KEY CONCEPTS REPORT 2017-27
        Author: Jing Qui
        p4: Executive Summary…
        Navigating to a customer oriented future
        A future where up to 45% of all electricity is generated by customers in 2050 – at the opposite end of the system from its original design – presents a very significant range of technical, economic and regulatory challenges.

        ***CSIRO modelling indicates that almost $1,000 billion could be spent by all parties in Australia’s electricity system by 2050, however, the benefits achieved will depend greatly on decisions made early in our energy transition.

        Without a well planned approach to navigate this transformation, Australia’s energy system will be unable to efficiently and securely integrate the diverse technologies, large scale variable renewable energy sources and customer owned distributed energy resources. This will potentially result in the costly duplication of energy investments…
        https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313907421_ELECTRICITY_NETWORK_TRANSFORMATION_ROADMAP_KEY_CONCEPTS_REPORT

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          pat

          Jing Qui, University of Sydney is listed as author at top of the report and named as Jeremy Qui in “Acknowledgements”:

          Acknowledgments: Energy Networks Australia – Garth Crawford, Brendon Crown, Dr Stuart Johnston, Dr Dennis Van Puyvelde, Emma Watts;
          CSIRO – Thomas Brinsmead, Paul Graham, Mark Paterson, John Phillpotts, ***Jeremy Qui.
          The Roadmap Program would also like to acknowledge the significant contribution of Charles Popple in developing the Key Concepts Report.

          Dr Jeremy (Jing) Qiu – The University of Sydney.

          LinkedIn: Jing Qui, Lecturer in Electrical Engieering at The University of Sydney
          Energy Economics Scientist
          Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
          May 2016 – Mar 2018
          (CHECK EDUCATION & GROUPS SECTIONS)
          https://au.linkedin.com/in/jing-qiu-5b336418

          CSIRO: Staff profile: Dr. Peter Mayfield, Executive Director – Environment, Energy & Resources
          He has qualifications in Chemical Engineering, graduating from the University of Queensland, where he also undertook his PhD studies into Gas Separations using Adsorption Technology.
          Peter was with BHP (later BHP Billiton) for 20 years where he was responsible for delivering research solutions across the company’s global businesses, firstly as a Research Engineer supporting the ironmaking Blast Furnace operations of the three BHP Steel works, and subsequently undertaking and leading laboratory, pilot scale and plant based research into new pyrometallurgical processing options for materials such as manganese, magnesium and ilmenite.
          In 2001, Peter took on responsibility for the management of the BHP Billiton Newcastle Technology Centre and this continued until June 2010 when BHP Billiton moved to a decentralised Technology model…ETC
          https://people.csiro.au/M/P/Peter-Mayfield

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        all estimates transcripts and videos are available from APH

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    pat

    5 Mar: SBS: Study shows ‘climate-change fingerprint’ in Australian bushfires
    by ***AAP – SBS
    A study suggests Australian bushfires were 30 per cent more likely as a result of climate change but there was no clear climate-change driver for local drought.
    Devastating bushfires that swept Australia in recent months were at least 30 per cent more likely as a result of climate change, scientists say, warning such fires may create unmanageable risks as emissions and temperatures rise further.

    An eight-week study into how heat and drought contributed to the fires concluded that hotter-than-normal conditions in Australia, in particular, showed a strong link to climate change.
    It also suggested scientific models may be vastly underestimating coming impacts from rising heat…

    As climate-heating emissions continue to increase, “we will be facing these extreme conditions more often than in the past,” said Maarten van Aalst, a climate scientist and director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.
    “Should we be worried about this? Yes, very,” he told journalists.
    He and other researchers from Australia, Europe and the United States carried out the analysis under the World Weather Attribution project, which provides rapid scientific evidence on how much climate change is fuelling extreme weather events.

    The group has so far conducted more than 230 such studies, linking last year’s record-breaking heatwave in France and extreme rainfall during Tropical Storm Imelda in Texas, for instance, to climate change…
    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/study-shows-climate-change-fingerprint-in-australian-bushfires

    18m54s to 30m17s: AAP/Simons segment. 28m30s: Adams: is there any chance some other form of AAP being created; one wonders if it’s something the ABC could look at? Simons: certainly, if ABC was funded to hire another 180 journalists…but we’re a long way from that. Adams: will it affect The Guardian? Simons: yes…etc

    4 Mar: ABC Late Night Live: Phillip Adams
    Margaret Simons considers the impact of yet another contraction in the Australian media industry as wire service AAP calls it a day…
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/4th-march-2020/12024636

    Margaret Simons
    Simons produced a radio documentary for the ABC, also titled Fallen Angels, with journalist Heather Jarvis. For this work she was a finalist for a 2017 Amnesty International Media Award. Simons, Jarvis and Tacon are finalists for a United Nations Association of Australia Media Award for their work promoting the rights of children…
    Her long-form journalism has been published in The Monthly, Inside Story and The Age…

    Until the end of 2019, Simons was an Associate Professor in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University. From 2012-2017 she was director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism and the coordinator of the innovative Master of Journalism degree at the University of Melbourne. Before joining the University of Melbourne, Simons was convenor of Journalism at Swinburne University of Technology…
    Simons holds a Doctorate in Creative Arts from the University of Technology Sydney…
    https://www.margaretsimons.com.au/

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      pat

      3h09m40s to 3h36m45s: Issue of the Day: AAP closure. maybe ABC should buy it. Guardian is Great. etc.

      AUDIO: 3h54m: 4 Mar: ABC Nightlife
      Presenter: Mark (?) (not Philip Clark)
      https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/nightlife/nightlife/12004794

      3 Mar: The Conversation: The closure of AAP is yet another blow to public interest journalism in Australia
      by Alexandra Wake, Program Manager, Journalism, RMIT University
      Although AAP reporters and editors are generally not household names, the wire service has provided the backbone of news content for the country since 1935, ensuring every paper (and therefore every citizen) has had access to solid reliable reports on matters of national significance…

      Despite a shrinking number of journalists in recent years and a rapid decrease in funding subscriptions, AAP continued to stand by its mission to provide news without political partisanship or bias. Speed was essential for the agency, but accuracy was even more important…READ ON
      http://theconversation.com/the-closure-of-aap-is-yet-another-blow-to-public-interest-journalism-in-australia-132856

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    pat

    Paterson spruiks for SMRs:

    4 Mar: UK Telegraph: Forget wind turbines. Here’s how we can meet Net Zero without derailing the economy
    by Owen Paterson
    To meet the Conservatives’ net-zero emissions target, the UK will need around 40GW of new, low-carbon baseload generation by 2050. Technology undoubtedly holds the answer to achieving that. But it is no use setting our hopes on fashionable technologies simply for their superficial appeal.
    Sadly, however, the Government’s latest decision to revive onshore wind seems to fall into this trap. It is welcome that the plans will still give local people a strong say in new development decisions. Indeed, they should have the final say. But the problems of wind turbines go far beyond their being mere eyesores.

    Wind turbines are already close to their maximum theoretical efficiency – the Betz limit – and their effectiveness will always be determined by the wind available. Given that, for wind turbines to supply only the annual global growth in demand, nearly 350,000 would need to be built each year. This is 1.5 times as many as have been built since the early 2000s, and would require more land than the area of the British Isles every year….

    Nuclear power is an obvious candidate, but there is a problem in achieving that capacity from large fission plants: there are neither enough suitable sites nor enough time to build them. Reaching the net-zero target would require opening a new Hinkley Point-sized station every four months until 2050. That could cost anything from £6 trillion if we could find enough civil engineers, even without the spiralling costs which similar projects have faced at the Olkiluoto nuclear project in Finland and at Flamanville in France.

    Both are struggling even to make the technology work. With modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), however, we see a proven technology which can provide power much more reliably than intermittent renewable sources. Rolls Royce estimates that each reactor – small enough to be transported by lorry – could provide the power equivalent of 150 onshore wind turbines. Lower construction costs through economies of series production, short construction time and the potential to use small reactors in Combined Heat and Power systems, make SMRs a technology with enormous potential to provide clean, sustainable and reliable energy…
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/04/forget-wind-turbines-can-meet-net-zero-without-derailing-economy/

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    pat

    Chris Kenny/Sky with Matt Canavan re CSIRO/Senate Estimates, etc.
    as usual, Kenny is very good, but he insists on repeating how he’s not a climate denier, he believes the science.

    meanwhile, Canavan keeps providing him with evidence the scientific predictions have not panned out, etc.

    so frustrating.

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    pat

    stupidity:

    4 Mar: TheHill: European Commission unveils first climate law; Thunberg slams it as ‘surrender’
    by Justin Wise
    The proposal looks to make the European Union’s (EU) goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 legally binding for all of the bloc’s 27 member states. To successfully hit that target, the law proposes a mechanism to raise the EU’s emissions reduction target over the next three decades, the commission said in a news release (LINK)…

    Thunberg, 17, and other environmental groups have already criticized the proposal, saying it does not go far enough. Thunberg specifically voiced concerns over the law’s failure to address emissions targets for 2030…

    “Delaying discussions until September would crush the EU’s ability to play a leading role in global climate talks,” Greenpeace climate policy adviser Sebastian Mang told Reuters (LINK)…
    https://thehill.com/policy/international/485883-european-commission-unveils-first-climate-law-thunberg-slams-it-as

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    pat

    4 Mar: RenewEconomy: Tasmania sets world-leading target of 200 per cent renewables by 2040
    by Sophie Vorrath
    While Australia’s federal Coalition refuses to accept the notion that Australia can reach 50 per cent renewables without sorcery and/or total economic destruction, Tasmania’s Liberal government has just announced a possible world-first: A renewable energy target of 200 per cent by 2040, powered by a doubling of the tiny island state’s hydro, wind and solar energy production…

    Chief among these is the development of the Marinus Link – a proposed second interconnector linking Tasmania to the mainland that is said to have the potential to unlock up to $5 billion in new Tassie renewables investments, including huge wind farms and pumped hydro…

    But (Premier Peter Gutwein) is not under the illusion any of this will be easy. “Any new target needs to be evidence-based and informed by both science and economics,” he said…READ THE COMMENTS
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/tasmania-sets-world-leading-target-of-200-per-cent-renewables-by-2040/

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    pat

    will ABC ban Griff?

    behind paywall:

    4 Mar: UK Times: Griff Rhys Jones joins celebrity campaign against offshore wind turbines onshore blight.
    The comedian and actor Griff Rhys Jones has joined a campaign to stop more than 100 villages being blighted by pylons, substations and cables connected to offshore wind farms. In a letter to The Times, he and other actors and artists with homes in Suffolk say that the “piecemeal approach” to green energy infrastructure would result in the “destruction of ancient woodland [and] rare heathland habitats” in Suffolk and Norfolk. They say the government is ignoring ideas such as offshore hubs…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/griff-rhys-jones-joins-celebrity-campaign-against-offshore-turbines-qp3nkd0nl

    NOT NIMBYs:

    9 Dec 2019: Offshore wind farm decision delayed amid concerns – Good news for the Norfolk Campaigners
    from Eastern Daily Press by Stuart Anderson
    Chris Monk, from Cawston, said: “We’re very pro-wind farms, so it’s not a Nimby argument, but we’re opposed to having 239 additional HGVs going through the village every day.”

    With the project comes millions of pounds of investment, the creation of hundreds of skilled jobs and, supporters argue, a significant contribution to the fight against climate change.

    A Vattenfall spokesperson said: “Projects like Norfolk Vanguard will play a significant role in meeting our low carbon electricity needs to reach net zero and tackle climate change. We’ve worked closely with stakeholders to make sure that we develop the best possible project. That will continue in the coming weeks as we provide the requested information and clarifications.”
    The parties have been given a deadline of February 28, 2020 to respond…
    https://www.suffolkenergyactionsolutions.co.uk/news/offshore-wind-farm-decision-delayed-amid-concerns-good-news-for-the-norfolk-campaigners

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    pat

    3 Mar: SolarPowerPortalUK: Planning inspectorate submits recommendation for controversial Cleve Hill Solar Park
    by Molly Lempriere
    Cleve Hill Solar Park is the first in the UK to be classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, due to its capacity, which will exceed 50MW…

    The 450m Pound project is due to be constructed on a site one mile northeast of Faversham, in Kent, situated close to the village of Graveney. The farm will include 880,000 panels along with battery storage, and the site has already been granted a grid connection capacity of 350MW for both import and export.

    However, the site has faced opposition, with a sustained campaign against the development of the site spearheaded by the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, Helen Whately…READ ALL
    https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/uks_biggest_solar_farm_cleve_hill_solar_farm_submits_planning_inspectorate

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    el gordo

    Canavan steps up to the plate.

    ‘Senator Canavan had to wait nearly a minute in Senate estimates on Wednesday afternoon when he asked CSIRO officials if they still backed the lack of a link between fires and climate change, when they failed to include the same evidence in a more recent explainer document.

    ‘After several long seconds of silence, the CSIRO said it still backed the previous findings.

    ‘The Nationals senator told Sky News on Thursday that scientists and officials are feeling pressured to follow the “orthodoxy” on climate action.’

    Oz

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