But I have now changed my mind – there’s a new (old) kid on the block.
Oliver K Manuel, (Emeritus) Professor of Chemistry at the University of Missouri-Rolla, believes that the Sun (and the rest of the solar system) are comprised of the remnants of a supernova that exploded about 5 billion years ago. As a result of this, the Sun is mainly made of Iron – it just has a thin skin of Helium and Hydrogen at the surface.
This pretty much flies in the face of every astronomical paper on the Sun in the last Century or two.
What does this have to do with climate change?
Manuel reckons that the heavy, iron-rich core of the sun is “pulled about” by the gravitational effects of the planets, which causes changes to solar output and therefore drives climate change. This only works, though, because the sun is made of iron – if it really was a ball of Hydrogen and Helium then the climate would not be changing.
I can’t remember the last time I read anything this absurd.
Icing on the cake – he actually cites Alexander & Bailey.
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(Posted by S2)BPSDBInspired by a comment by guthrie, I thought I’d take a look at the seasons here in Scotland. Are they changing as guthrie claims, or is this just natural variability being taken out of context?
It would seem that he is correct, according to the Scotland & Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research (henceforth referred to as SNIFFER).
1000 people will join fasters who have reached the 42nd day of a hunger strike for climate justice, in a Candlelight Vigil for Survival.
We will gather in the Øksnehallen space for a solemn and powerful event recognising the urgency and gravity of the moment–and urging leaders to rise to the world’s call to action.
Appalled that anything so transparently stupid as the Daily Express article “Climate change is natural: 100 reasons why” would appear anywhere other than as a failed junior high school paper. Michael Le Page at New Scientist has kindly dealt with the first 50 in “50 reasons why global warming isn’t natural“, undoubtedly having gotten ill reading so many.
The manufactured controversy over emails stolen from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit has generated a lot more heat than light over the past two weeks. The email content being quoted does not indicate that climate data and research have been compromised. Most importantly, nothing in the content of these stolen emails has any impact on our overall understanding that human activities are driving dangerous levels of global warming. Media reports and contrarian claims that they do are inaccurate. Read the rest
Conclusion: There is no indication whatsoever of any problem with the CRU data. An independent study (by a molecular biologist it Italy, as it happens) came to the same conclusion using a somewhat different analysis. None of this should come as any surprise of course, since any serious errors would have been found and published already. Read the rest …
With 4 days to go and leaders arriving tomorrow, planet-saving negotiations are failing to deliver. Hopes now rest on a tidal wave of public pressure from ALL of us — as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said at our summit vigil, “We expect a Real Deal in Copenhagen!”
No-one can now ignore the need for all of us to act — every single name is actually being read out at the summit and we’ll deliver this message directly to leaders there — so let’s join together, sign below and spread the word — and together we can build an overwhelming mandate for change:
BPSDBThe Climate Justice Fast activists have been on hunger strike for 40 days in support of climate justice. Now in the closing days of the Copenhagen Conference they are calling on all of us to Fast for one day …
This week an unprecedented 115 world leaders will converge in Copenhagen to forge a global agreement on climate change. It is thanks to the efforts everyone concerned about climate change that these decision makers will all be in the same room. However we, together as a global community, need to ensure they make the right decisions.
The bad news is that with only one week left, the international climate negotiations are still deadlocked. The good news is that this is our opportunity to step things up.
The science is clear, and the technological and social tools to reduce carbon pollution are ready and waiting. Our movement has the moral high ground. Now, we must unite and make the moral declaration that nothing short of an equitable science-based treaty is acceptable. Humanity is hungry for survival.
We are therefore calling for all people across the world, to join a single global day of fasting - voluntarily going without food, drinking only water – on Thursday 17th December.
This is of course the CFACT sponsored, ICSC hosted Climate Science Challenge Conference meeting in Copenhagen, aka the “skeptics” conference. The Telegraph article goes on to say “But do not be fooled by the amateurish approach, these are serious people with a very important message: “Global warming is not man made and in fact may not be happening at all.” Really? So let’s have a look at these “serious people” with their amateurish approach and see who they are and what they are doing.
The collected videos of Peter Sinclair’s excellent series are archived at “Climate Denial Crock of the Week” . You can also subscribe to Peter’s Youtube Channel at YouTube – greenman3610 and get them hot off the editor.
Only Day 6 for me and I am shocked at how lethargic and dull I have become. Is this a passing phase in the bodies response? or does it reflect underlying health conditions? (there is some diabetes in the family history, so maybe?). Regardless, Anna and Sara seem a lot more energetic and sharp than I currently feel, which I am very glad to see (Sara struggles with her English a bit, but that was true a month ago).
Is it to be an era of unprecedented international cooperation to deal with a global threat? That seems unlikely at this point. The last decade can only be described as the Triumph of Ignorance.
So are we then to descend into the kind of world described in the video? Make no mistake, one thing that has already emerged from Copenhagen is The Copenhagen Diagnosis: Climate Science Report, and it’s bad. More on this later, but for those who want a quick run down here is a good one .
As Dr. Edward Miles of the University of Washington says in the film “A Sea Change“, “Are we screwed? Yeah, to a considerable extent. A world of 500 parts per million is a world of enormous environmental destruction. We ought to recognize that and say it.”
It has now reached the end of my 28th day of fasting. Four complete weeks without food.
It is perhaps the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life, but then, it has also been incredibly rewarding and eye-opening. A grand test of my self-discipline.
See also Potholes54’s excellent video “Those hacked emails.” The collected videos of Peter Sinclair’s excellent “Climate Denial Crock of the Week” series. You can subscribe to Peter’s Youtube Channel at YouTube – greenman3610 and get them hot off the editor.
BPSDB Potholer54 does a wonderful job of pointing out some of the most glaring contradictions and outright Denier stupidities in the claims being made about the CRU emails.
BPSDB That’s right, Faux News thought Stewart’s coverage was just great, no irony or sarcasm at all.
The sad news is, Fox is right. The Daily Show earned that praise and deserves it, unfortunately.
Once again Stewart acted largely as an echo chamber for a climate story rather than as the insightful wit that cuts to the truth with clever juxtapositioning. Completely absent was Stewart’s trademark of letting a talking head crawl out on a limb, and then presenting some visual or commentary that exposes the lie.
BPSDB “While the administrative effort imposed by these legal moves can be burdensome, there was a much more sinister tactic available to the tobacco industry – baseless accusations of scientific fraud made against individual researchers.“
Mark Lynas’ article “Leaked emails mark dangerous shift in climate denial strategy” noted: “Instead of targeting high-profile science communicators like Al Gore, climate deniers are now encouraging mistrust of those who collect and interpret global warming data.”
New to climate change Denial perhaps, but not to the anti-science Deniers, or many of the individual Deniers who are veteran tobacco lobbyists.
Potholer54 is back with a good one (he exposes Bob Carter for openers … what’s not to love?). Here he takes out several Denier Fables, including the “it’s not CO2″ and “it’s just the Sun.”
While Crock of the Week takes on the related issue of water vapour in:
It’s been a little while since I’ve written – been very busy preparing for COP, moving houses in Copenhagen, and so on. But with all this ‘not eating’, it’s encouraged me to reflect on diets and their contribution to the climate problem.
In truth, the indulgent eating habits of many in the over-developed, over-consuming world are amongst our most inequitable daily habits. They are probably also amongst the easiest of our habits to change.
Unlike those other low-carbon lifestyle changes, like ’stop driving your car and catch the bus instead’ – where the alternatives simply may not exist, or may be really really inconvenient, due to poor government services (get to work lobbying them, people!) – the alternatives to our high-impact western diet are very readily available: just choose the vegetarian option!
