By Dr. Robert Brown,
Physics Dept. Duke University

One of many, many problems with modern climate research is that the researchers seem to take their thermal reconstructions far too seriously and assign completely absurd measures of accuracy and precision, with a very few exceptions. In my opinion it is categorically impossible to “correct” for things like the UHI (Urban Heat Island) effect — it presupposes a knowledge of the uncorrected temperature that one simply cannot have or reliably infer from the data. The problem becomes greater and greater the further back in time one proceeds, with big jumps (in uncertainty) 250, 200, 100 and 40 odd years ago. The proxy-derived record from more than 250 years ago is uncertain in the extreme, with the thermal record of well over 70% of the Earth’s surface completely inaccessible and with an enormously sparse sampling of highly noisy and confounded proxies elsewhere. To claim accuracy greater than 2-3 K is almost certainly sheer piffle, given that we probably don’t know current “true” global average temperatures within 1 K, and 5K is more likely.

See the full post on: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/04/global-annualized-temperature-full-of-snip-up-to-their-eyebrows/

At presentation to a seminar at the British House of Commons recently, Professor Lindzen clarified what the debate over climate change is really about.

“It most certainly is not about whether climate is changing: it always is.
“It is not about whether CO2 is increasing: it clearly is.
“It is not about whether the increase in CO2, by itself, will lead to some warming: it should.
“The debate is simply over the matter of how much warming the increase in CO2 can lead to, and the connection of such warming to the innumerable claimed catastrophes. The evidence is that the increase in CO2 will lead to very little warming, and that the connection of this minimal warming (or even significant warming) to the purported catastrophes is also minimal. The arguments on which the catastrophic claims are made are extremely weak – and commonly acknowledged as such. They are sometimes overtly dishonest.

For the whole presentation see: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/lindzen-reconsidering-the-climate-change-act.pdf [PDF, 1.7 MB]

For another summary see: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/22/is-catastrophic-global-warming-like-the-millenium-bug-a-mistake/

Prof Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT.

The Carbon Sense Coalition was formed in 2007 by a bunch of alarmed and annoyed senior citizens (mainly crusty old blokes and a few smart young things). Many had long experience in science, engineering, economics, industry and government.

We were alarmed at the stupidity of anyone classing carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and annoyed at the misuse of government funds to promote the foolish notion that man controls the climate, and all that is needed to improve it is a carbon tax.

The founders are more senior now and a bit more relaxed because we have been joined by many concerned youngsters, and the alarmist tide has definitely turned. Once we were ignored by most of the media – now some friends report our message and the others are sufficiently concerned by our message that they try to dig up dirt on us and our motivations.

Why was this battle against climate alarmism all over the world largely led by the oldies? Here are a few reasons:

Read on: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/future-carbon-sense.pdf [PDF, 114 KB]

“Australia, when Europeans arrived, consisted of a series of biota highly adapted to what we now call hazard reduction burning. The reason is that this is what the aborigines had been practicing for 50,000 years or so.

“They were greatly assisted in this by the existence in Australia of the “The Fire Tree”, the eucalypt. The eucalypt promotes fire and is resistant to fire, so that in a regime of constant burning, eucalypts have a higher survival rate and you tend to get the type of monoculture remarked on by many early scientists, including Charles Darwin.

“Early settlers repeatedly remarked on the constant burning carried out by the Aborigines and often described the Australian landscape as grasslands with widely spaced trees.”

Peter Stitt, Bushwaker and Environmentalist.

For a fascinating report on the condition of Australia when Europeans arrived see:
http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/fire-and-landscape.pdf [PDF, 1.8 MB]

We acknowledge that this report was prepared for the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Committee and was obtained from the library of the NSW Farmers Association.

Below are some comments received by “Carbon Sense” in 2011. Originals of all (with full names) are held in our files. Naturally we also get a few brickbats, some too abusive to reproduce, but they are vastly outnumbered by comments like those below. We appreciate all feedback, even critical ones. We learn most by being challenged by intelligent people.

Read here: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/testimonials.pdf [PDF, 183 KB]

The Climate Scare/Green Energy Bubble will be the defining feature of our age. Never before have so many people wasted so much money and time on climate fables, alarmist handouts and energy toys.

Already it has spread further, distracted more people and wasted more community resources than the South Sea Bubble, the Tulip Mania or Y2K. Future generations will read in wonder how sensible people like Germans, British, Spanish, Danes, Californians, Australians and Kiwis lost their ability for critical thinking.

The guilty parties will never admit their foolishness, and the vested interests will fight to keep their privileges, so we will have to fight every inch of the way. They will have to be removed.

But reality and public opinion are on our side. We just need to keep illustrating and lampooning the cost of this foolishness. And keep Tony Abbott to his promise to AXE THE CARBON TAX.

Please help us by passing this on.

More:

• Coal Powered Cars
• Solar Bubble Bursts
• Wasteful Wind Power
• Can Green Energy be Saved?
• The Real History of Global Warming
• Karma Neutral
• How to Vote
• The Last Word

See: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/green-toys.pdf [PDF, 163 KB]

Some at the big end of town are worried that Mr Abbott may keep his solemn promise to repeal the carbon tax. No doubt they and their smart lawyers fear losing the clever green schemes that rely on ripping off tax payers, consumers and other businesses.

Australia’s wealth and jobs have always rested on three legs – mining and farming, making and processing things, and rich foreigners; in short, resources, manufacturing, and money from tourists and investors.

The Gillard carbon tax will white-ant all three legs.

Mining and farming rely on draglines, dozers, scrapers, trains, trucks, bulk carriers, tractors, generators, pumps and machines of all kinds. All need cheap reliable energy. Their energy comes from diesel fuel or coal powered electricity. A tax on carbon will sap their energy and reduce their ability to generate jobs and national wealth.

Our processing and manufacturing industries rely on cheap electricity produced from our marvellous deposits of coal and natural gas. Greens have demonised these national assets and their carbon tax will undermine all Australian industries. Investors always look ahead. Already the threat of a carbon tax has reduced the asset value of every base load power station in Australia. Already one of the biggest, running on Victorian brown coal, is reporting financial stress and may close. We cannot run steel works, refineries or big cities on sunbeams and sea breezes.

See: http://www.theage.com.au/national/carbon-tax-puts-heat-on-loy-yang-20111219-1p2kf.html

Australia is remote from most of the world, and tourists must travel vast distances to get here. They need planes, trains, ships, buses and cars, all powered by carbon energy from petrol, diesel or gas. The carbon tax will strike at the heart of this industry. Harassed by the carbon footprint harpies, tourists may choose to stay home and go camping in their own backyards.

Finally, Australia is leading the world with the most onerous and widely applied carbon tax. This is already deterring the foreign investors who for generations have risked their savings to create businesses and jobs in Australia. Even now, the threat of a carbon tax is increasing capital shortage and debt stress in Australia.

There is no good news in the carbon tax story – no climate benefits, no real jobs and more costs for consumers. And it is white-anting the three legs supporting the Australian economy. Unlike the big end of town, thinking Australians are worried that Mr Abbott may renege on his solemn promise to repeal the carbon tax.

That would really leave Australia powerless and legless in the global storms.

More:

• Saving the Suckers of the South Pacific
• First Successful Low Emissions Economy
• Wind Energy Lights Up
• SWindle Power
• Climatism failed in 2011, but the big battles are ahead in 2012
• Europe’s Green Lobby Fighting For Survival
• White Christmas 2012
• Global Temperatures? – Flat for 13 Years
• Have you checked your Carbon Footprint?
• What Really Happened in Durban?
• The Last Word for 2011

See: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/legless-in-storms.pdf [PDF, 546 KB]

With thanks from Steve Hunter.

US Government has declared war on efficient energy. Just like an enemy in wartime the US capacity to produce cheap reliable energy is being destroyed while the nation is cluttered with expensive energy failures like wind and solar.

Mike Fox summarises the gathering disaster of wind energy. “Windmills are too intermittent, too undependable, too unreliable and far too costly. “ And most turbines probably “can never generate enough energy during its lifetime to manufacture the windmill”.

See: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/fox-economic-suicide-for-the-us-july-2010.pdf [PDF, 47 KB]

See also:

http://carbon-sense.com/2011/10/21/wind-power-fails-britain/

http://carbon-sense.com/2011/02/08/why-wind-wont-work/

http://carbon-sense.com/2011/12/01/miller-to-salmond-letter/

“I firmly believe that there are few if any scientists in southern Africa who have a wider, longer, and more scientific experience in the interfaces between the climatological, hydrological, environmental and sociological sciences than I have. Equally, I believe that this whole global warming/climate change issue is no more than a monumental scam perpetrated by the affluent nations to protect their economic supremacy, regardless of the effects on the many millions of poor and disadvantaged populations of Africa and elsewhere.

“I do not for one moment believe that the nations of the world will abide by the nebulous decisions reached by COP17 in Durban, with legal ratification by 2015, and implementation by 2020. It is not going to happen.”

Will Alexander

Professor Emeritus Department of Civil Engineering, University of Pretoria.

Prof Alexander has spent a lifetime in hydrological research and water supply management. He has studied flood frequency analyses, water resource development and climate change His research demonstrates that there are fundamental shortcomings in current climate change science. He shows strong evidence of a causal and predictable linkage between variations in solar activity and climatic responses, specifically rainfall and river flow.