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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Saturday, June 14, 2014

From Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Foundation

Antarctic Sea Ice Grows To New Record Extent
 
Earth Scientists Split On Climate Change Statement
 
Australia’s peak body of earth scientists has declared itself unable to publish a position statement on climate change due to the deep divisions within its membership on the issue. After more than five years of debate and two false starts, Geological Society of Australia president Laurie Hutton said a statement on climate change was too difficult to achieve. Mr Hutton said the issue “had the potential to be too divisive and would not serve the best interests of the society as a whole.” It undermines the often cited stance that there is near unanimity among climate scientists on the issue. --Graham Lloyd, The Australian, 4 June 2014

The Center for Biological Diversity has failed in its bid to use the North American Free Trade Agreement to pressure Canada to list polar bears as a species ‘threatened’ with extinction. Since the argument that polar bears may be threatened with extinction sometime in the future is based not on their current status but on perceived future threats that may occur if future predictions of global warming also occur, I see this as good news indeed. --Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, 7 June 2014

This may come as a shocker to some, but scientists are not always right — especially when under intense public pressure for answers. Researchers with the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) recently admitted to experienced zoologist and polar bear specialist Susan Crockford that the estimate given for the total number of polar bars in the Arctic was “simply a qualified guess given to satisfy public demand.” “So, the global estimates were… ‘simply a qualified guess given to satisfy public demand’ and according to this statement, were never meant to be considered scientific estimates, despite what they were called, the scientific group that issued them, and how they were used,” Crockford said. --Michael Bastasch, The Daily Caller, 30 May 2014

The Global Warming Policy Foundation is pleased to announce that Professor Christopher Essex has joined the GWPF’s Academic Advisory Council. Christopher Essex is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Applied Mathematics at The University of Western Ontario. He co-discovered the entropy production paradox, computed the first accurate entropy production rate for the Earth, the first accurate temperature for laser radiation, and pioneered the concept of computational over-stabilization, which has implications for climate models. --The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 9 June 2014

Dame Julia Slingo [the Met Office’s chief scientist] has, like so many of her colleagues, been turning her mind to climate change communication, and reckons that talking about the science in dull technical reports may not be the way forward. Getting the message of impending disaster out requires a dose of funky, a dash of sexy, and a whole lot of poetry. I can see it now - Andrew Motion doing atmospheric circulation, JK Rowling doing the temperature trends, and of course flood warnings from Peter Gabriel. --Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, 9 June 2014

 
Australia And Canada Form Climate Realist Alliance
Obama Isolated As Western Allies Oppose Unilateral Climate Policies

The political leaders of Canada and Australia declared on Monday they won’t take any action to battle climate change that harms their national economies and threatens jobs. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that no country is going to undertake actions on climate change — “no matter what they say” — that will “deliberately destroy jobs and growth in their country." --Mark Kennedy, Ottawa Citizen, 9 June 2014

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is seeking an alliance among "like-minded" nations to thwart efforts to introduce carbon pricing and American President Barack Obama's move to push climate change through global forums like G20. Abbott, who is visiting Canada for talks with the country's prime minister and his close friend Stephen Harper, said efforts are underway to form a new "center-right" alliance under the leadership of Canada, UK, Australia, India and New Zealand. Reports said the alliance is a "calculated attempt" to push back on what both Mr Abbott and Mr Harper sees as a "left-liberal agenda" to raise taxes and "unwise" plans to address the issue of global warming. --Reissa Su, International Business Times, 10 June 2014

The political leaders of Canada and Australia declared on Monday they won’t take any action to battle climate change that harms their national economies and threatens jobs. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, made the statements following a meeting on Parliament Hill. Both leaders stressed that they won’t be pushed into taking steps on climate change they deem unwise. Harper said that no country is going to undertake actions on climate change — “no matter what they say” — that will “deliberately destroy jobs and growth in their country. “We are just a little more frank about that.” --Mark Kennedy, Ottawa Citizen, 9 June 2014

“Like-minded” countries such as Britain, Canada and India should form a conservative alliance with Australia to limit action on climate change and to prevent the introduction of carbon pricing, the country’s prime minister Tony Abbott has said. Seeking to counter Barack Obama’s efforts for international action to reduce carbon emissions, Mr Abbott has reportedly sought to create a “combined front” with fellow Commonwealth nations that have conservative governments. During a visit to Canada, Mr Abbott called for limited action on climate change that would not “clobber the economy”. --Jonathan Pearlman, The Daily Telegraph, 10 June 2014

Europe’s climate strategy was founded on two fears: first, that global warming was an urgent threat that needed to be prevented imminently and at all costs; and second, that the world was running out of fossil fuels, which meant oil and gas would become ever more expensive. Both conjectures, however, turned out to be wrong. The result of a fear-driven gamble with the Continent’s industrial future is a costly shambles that threatens to undercut Europe’s economic and political position in a world that is sensibly refusing to follow its lead. Australians would be well advised to watch this green train wreck very closely if they wish to avoid a repeat of the fiasco that is unfolding in Europe. --Benny Peiser, The Australian, 10 August 2013

A key concession touted by vulnerable Democrats in the administration’s new carbon pollution standards may provide the greatest legal threat to the controversial new rules, the cornerstone of President Obama’s climate change agenda. Red-state Democrats have generally been critical of the overall climate rule, but see the flexibility option as a benefit for energy industries, allowing each state to choose a method that reflects its priorities. Legal observers, though, aren’t sure the EPA’s maneuver will pass muster in the courts. Many legal experts, and even Obama’s top climate adviser, John Podesta, expect challenges, putting the future of the rules in the hands of the courts once it’s finalized. --Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill, 8 June 2014

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