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Fraser Institute Climate Report Leaked 2007-02-01 18:10:03 This Friday, the most comprehensive scientific examination of global warming every performed will be released to the public when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) unveils their 4th report - a project that took 6 years and includes the input of 2,500 of the world's leading scientists.But when you are an oil industry funded think tank you don't need to be that thorough. You can just write your criticism in advance.That is exactly what the FraserInstitute
has done. Desmogblog obtained a leaked copy of their "independent summary" of the upcoming IPCC report - a 53 page document critiquing the findings of the IPCC panel despite the fact that the final report has not been released. Organizations like the Fraser Instute would be in an uproar if the IPCC published a summary of document they hadn't read, but right wing wonk tanks care even less about being hypocrites than they do about sound science.In a more tempered statement Dr. Andrew Weaver, the lead author of the
Bush Administration Accused of Altering Scientists Reports 2007-02-01 00:55:46 As the momentum continues to swing towards stronger action on global warming, the sordid details of cover-ups and obfuscation by governments will continue to come to light.This week, the Bush Administration
was accused of widespread and systematic tampering with the works of government climate scientists.Details are coming to light in ongoing hearings by US House committee on oversight and government reform - now controlled by the Democrats - following years of complaints from the scientific community. The interference went so far as removing mere references to global warming. A survey of 1,600 government scientists completed by the Union of Concerned Scientists revealed that 46% had been warned against using terms like global warming both in speech and official reports. The resulting culture through the community was described as one of "anticipatory self-censorship."Additionally, 43% said that their reports had been revised dramatically enough to change the meaning of their scien Read more:Bush Administration
Harper Shoots Own Foot In the "Battle of Kyoto" 2007-01-31 20:30:11 This is trashy, but entertaining. The Liberals have dug up an old fundraising letter from Stephen Harper
that reveals him to be an anti-Kyoto
zealot in a pitch calling for money to fuel the "Battle
of Kyoto".Some of the more interesting claims made in the letter are that the Kyoto Accord is "based on tentative and contradictory scientific evidence", that it "focuses on carbon dioxide, which is essential to life", and that "Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations."In response, an unidentified spokesman for the Harper office demonstrated the party's general lack of reading comprehension by saying that the letter was "pointing out that the Liberals had no plan to meet the (Kyoto) targets." Neither the words "plan" nor "targets" appear anywhere in the letter.Times have changed a bit in the five years since the letter was written. The Tories have now been forced to recognizing global warming to a certain degree, but they still have a long w
Parties Make Their Point on the Environment 2007-01-31 00:16:32 Question period in Canada's Parliament resumed on Monday but quickly descended into an all out Point-a-thon as the parties engaged in a spirited debate over who was the most concerned about the environment.Environment
Minister John Baird made a strong case through sheer intensity, while Stephen Harper preferred to stickwith his bread and butter - pointing heavenward to his personal source of inspiration in all matters spiritual and political.Meanwhile, NDP leader Jack Layton took a more understated approach that left many MP's, including Stephane Dion, wondering if he was talking about his party's environmental platform or indicating where the NDP sat in the current polls.You can read the full run down of Monday's environmental action from Parliament Hill here.
Attack Ads Show Conservatives Weakness 2007-01-30 18:16:12 As most have now seen or heard, the Conservatives
launched a largely baseless and tasteless attack ad campaign in an effort to delay an election and retain control of their minority government.The first set of ads take aim squarely at Liberal leader Stephane Dion, while a second wave will hit the French language channels shortly. Money is no object for the Tory spin doctors on this one.Mr. Kenney (Secretary of State for Multiculturalism) refused to discuss the Tory budget for this negative-advertising campaign, saying only that his party will spend "as much as it takes to drive our message home"A more realistic assessment of the situation came from deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, "They're running scared".Scared and rudderless. The irony is that the Tories would have nothing to fear if they would just show some political skill. The environment is the number one issue with voters, and every other party in Parliament has recognized this and taken a strong stand on t
Media Manipulation and Global Warming 2007-01-29 17:22:36 This week's Georgia Straight published a punishingly accurate condemnation of the Canadian media's role in convincing the public that there is a scientific debate about global warming, when in reality there is none. Calling their actions "journalistic malpractice" columnist Mitchell Anderson deftly outlines the failure of our media system and the role of big oil in manufacturing that failure.the public is being misinformed on climate science by poor journalism that continues to tell both sides of the story even when there is no other side. The resultant political inaction might well kill the planet.The opinions of any so called global warming "skeptic" should be considered null and void until unless they can refute the contents of this article.The piece also offers some valuable reading for anyone who wants to be informed about the truth about global warming and are also listed under the new Must Reads header on the Conscious Earth's sidebar. They are required reading for anyone w Read more:Global
, Manipulation
Will Canada Join UK 's Anti-Whaling Drive? 2007-01-26 19:33:45 The UK is attempting to turn the tide against pro whaling nations with an all out recruitment drive to bring new countries into the International Whaling
Commission (IWC) and reaffirm the international ban on commercial whaling. Since 1946, the IWC has been charged with the conservation of the world's whale populations after rampant slaughter nearly annihilated many species. However, after implementing a complete ban on commercial fishing in 1986, there has been growing pressure from Japan, Iceland and Norway to resume the practice. To bolster their cause, Japan has been working behind the scenes to bring "sympathetic" countries into the IWC by exchanging foreign aid for pro-whaling votes.This past June they tipped the scales and two decades after the ban went into effect, the IWC voted 33-32 in favour of the eventual return to commercial whaling. Shortly after that, Iceland announced annual quotas of 30 minke whales and 9 endangered fin whales and harvested their first catch - Read more:Canada
School Board Bows to Fundamentalist, Restricts Gore's Film 2007-01-26 18:30:18 It turns out that the NSTA are not the only people who want to restrict student access to An Inconvenient Truth. The Federal Way SchoolBoard
has implemented new restrictive rules for teachers screening the film in response to a complaint from a single parent.The parent in question, Frosty Hardison, asserts:"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD." More disturbing is the response of the school board. New rules implemented this week state that any teacher showing the film, or who has shown the film, must present "a "credible, legitimate opposing view". School Board President Ed Barney was specifically quoted as saying,Students should hear the persp Read more:Fundamentalist
Canada Takes Heat from UK on Cllimate 2007-01-25 23:54:45 The British government is turning up the heat on Canada
and pushing the Harper government to join a UK lead effort to create a post-Kyoto climate change plan and avert catastrophic global warming.Canada and the other major sources of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions must lead the way toward a new, post-Kyoto climate-change deal or risk economic and environmental disaster, says British Prime Minister Tony Blair's special envoy on global warming.That man is Elliot Morley who met with Environment Minister John Baird in Ottawa Wednesday. His intention? To get Canada plus 12 other countries to join a group dubbed the "G8 plus 5" in order to craft a climate change plan that would be tabled at this year's G8 meeting in Germany and be finalized at the 2008 meeting in Japan.Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa would join the G8 nations in building the plan. Together, these countries represent 75 per cent of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions.During his Canadian visit, Mor
Tories Buck Up $30 Million for Great Bear Rainforest 2007-01-24 17:15:50 The Conservatives have vowed cough up $30 million for the protection of BC's Great
Bear Rainforest
. The announcement comes nearly 12 months after environmentalists, native leaders, and the BC provincial government reached a historic agreement for the preservation of the area.The federal dollars will join $60 million already contributed by private foundations, and an additional $30 million from the BC Liberals, to form a $120 million pool for the creation of a new protected area three times the size of Prince Edward Island.Moving forward, the future of the forest will largely depend on the enforcement of the ecosystem based management system that will govern logging in the area, as the strict protected area will only cover about 1/3 of the total forest area. This was a controversial part of the agreement, and as recently as 2005 the David Suzuki Foundation published findings that showed widespread clear cutting and negative impacts from logging in the region's most productive salmon Read more:Tories
An Inconvenient Truth Wins Oscar Nod 2007-01-23 22:23:23 This year's Academy Award nominations are out and An Inconvenient Truth
has been named as a finalist for Best Documentary.The movie has played an invaluable role in galvanizing global awareness about the threat of climate change, while setting an example for sustainable business. Both the film and the book of the same name were carbon neutral projects, while all profits are being devoted to initiatives that are fighting global warming. Although the nomination officially goes to director Davis Guggenheim, Al Gore is expected to attend the Oscar
event."The film ... has brought awareness of the climate crisis to people in the United States and all over the world,'' Gore said in an e-mail statement. ``I am so grateful to the entire team and pleased that the Academy has recognized their work. This film proves that movies really can make a difference."The film was also nominated in the category of Best Original Song for "I Need to Wake Up" by Melissa Ethridge.
Read more:Inconvenient Truth
Harper Sucks the Voters Green Thumb 2007-01-22 23:29:30 The Harper
government has announced a series of pro environment initiatives over the past number of days. Some are worth credit, and some are worth a closer look.First, credit where credit is due. BC protected areas got a good shot in the arm with $30 million for the Great Bear Rainforest and $2 million for Stanley Park. Granted, the money for the rainforest comes a year after the agreement was reached, and offering funding for Stanley Park is a political no-brainer, but both announcements are good ones and represent real progress for the areas affected. The Conservative's climate change initiatives are a quite a different story though. Harper's crew has been busy opening up the purse strings, offering $230 million to clean energy technology, $300 million for wind and renewable energy, and funding for a toned down version of the Liberals Energuide program. Unfortunately, this spending doesn't amount to any real progress and only serves to restore Liberal programs that the Tories Read more:Green
, Voters
, Thumb
, Green Thumb
US House Kills $14 Billion in Oil Subsidies 2007-01-22 22:55:06 The new Democrat controlled House
of Representatives has rolled back tax breaks to big oil and boosted boosted royalties to the tune of $14 billion dollars in their first 100 hours in office. The bill was passed 264-163, including 62 yes votes from Republicans, and applies over the next 10 years.Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has also created a new Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, much to the chagrin of some Republican legislators.Pelosi said the committee would be designed to "raise the visibility" of energy and climate change issues, and that it would not have legislative jurisdiction. Many lawmakers saw it as a way to diminish the influence of veteran lawmakers, such as Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), who in the past has guarded the interests of the big U.S. automakers from his state by opposing higher fuel efficiency standards.You go girl! Bring on the next 100 hours!
Read more:Kills
, Subsidies
4th IPCC Report To Show Catastrophic Weather and Drought 2007-01-22 18:20:51 In 2001 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a report that sent the political world reeling, and made any legitimate skeptic of global warming rethink their position.After the most comprehensive look at global warming science ever performed, the panel found a 100% agreement that global warming was a serious issue affecting our future and that it is unquestionably being caused by human generated greenhouse gases. Much of the political and media debate since then has been an effort for the world to come to grips with the end of global warming debate and start coming up with real solutions. Now the IPCC's 4th report is set for release, and a draft copy released yesterday offers a sneak preview of the scientific consensus surrounding the environmental destruction and unstable weather that will be caused by unchecked climate change.A draft copy of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, obtained by The Observer, shows the f Read more:Drought
, Catastrophic
Feds Give $2 Million to Stanley Park 2007-01-22 18:20:09 A quick update from late last week. The Federal Government has pledged $2 million dollars to help fund the restoration of Stanley
Park.The new money joins a raft of contributions including $1 million from the BC Provincial government (to be matched by the city of Vancouver), a $1 million pledge from local billionaire Jim Pattison to match public contributions, and a Global TV fundraiser that has pulled in $2.5 million. All totaled this could mean up to $8.5 million to help rebuild the damaged park where over a 1,000 trees came down in recent wind storms.Founded in 1888, Stanley Park is the third largest city owned park in North America and covers approximately 1,000 acres. More on the park here.
Weather Tops Iraq 2007-01-18 21:38:33 Seventeen people died in a suicide car bomb in Iraq
over the past day as a part of the continuing violence waged for the protection of American access to oil.Meanwhile, 65 have died in the US as winter storms continue to grip the so called Sun Belt states. To date, the cold snap has featured snows in the Malibu resort area of California and 33 deaths in the unlikely states of Texas and Oklahoma.In northern Europe, 10 people have died and hundreds of air flights have been cancelled due to violent storms and hurricane force winds slamming into Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and France. The storms have also forced the cancellation of hundreds of air flights, including 123 at London's Heathrow, in addition to shutting down ferries, closing schools and roads, and causing the abandonment of a container ship listing in the English Channel. Germany currently has 40,000 volunteers on standby in anticipation of damage and flood.So where is the greatest risk? In the savage unpredict
Tories Solve Global Warming,...Conservative Style 2007-01-18 18:32:52 Following through on their goal to paint their party in a greener light, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn and newly appointed Enviroment Minister John Baird have announced 58 million dollars per year for four years for the development of clean energy technologies. Meanwhile, in what I'm sure they would insist is an irrelevant side point, the Tories
continue to funnel 1.4 billion in tax subsidies to the booming oil and gas industry.
Read more:Style
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, Global
, Global Warming
Global Warming Shifts Doomsday Clock 2007-01-17 18:40:15 The famous "doomsday clock" is a concept timepiece that first appeared in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 60 years ago. Since then it has been an ongoing symbolic image that periodically changes to reflect new threats or treaties that influence the likelihood of nuclear holocaust.This week, the clock was moved forward two minutes to stand at 5 minutes to midnight (aka "doomsday"). The move comes not because of new nuclear threats, but rather to reflect the risk of catastrophic global warming now faced by humankind. The announcement came during an unprecedented joint news conference at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC, and the Royal Society in London.
Read more:Clock
, Global
, Global Warming
, Doomsday
Demand for Climate Action Mounts in BC 2007-01-16 17:54:15 A recent poll indicates that 82% of British Columbians think the province should pass mandatory emissions targets. Doubly thorny for the BC government is that the same poll found that 68% of citizens were opposed the government's plan to construct two new coal fired power plants.Adding to this pressure, a prominent Anglican leader has spoken out urging the BC Liberals to set binding provincial targets to reduce greenhouse gases. The call to action came from a letter addressed to Premier Gordon Campbell from Rev. Michael Ingham, Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster, which includes the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast and Fraser Valley."We believe the targets must be based on the best possible science in terms of what is required to stabilize the climate, and do not believe that so-called 'intensity' targets can replace the need for absolute reductions in B.C.'s emissions"Words of true wisdom....and it's not the first time Rev. Ingham has taken the lead on a progressive issue. Read more:Action
, Climate
Stockwell Day Teaches Incompetency 101 2007-01-15 06:22:43 The Conservatives have been hard at work furthering their reputation for accountability and transparency. In late December, they ordered Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to remove an embarrassing column from his personal website that mocked Al Gore and ridiculed the science of global warming.It turns out they couldn't get the job done. The article was pulled from the archive listing, but you can still read it directly on his site right here. Meanwhile, Day's communications office denies any knowledge of the article.''Were they (articles) there before?'' wrote Melisa Leclerc, Day's director of communications, in an e-mail. ''I hadn't noticed.''Really? Well, if its existence on his own site isn't enough for you, it was also reported online here, here and here.Mr. Day's incompetence obviously goes far beyond his lack of environmenal understanding and poor party leadership skills. It also finds a comfortable home in website management. I'm sure his PR team will sort
Harper Names New Environmental Salesman 2007-01-15 06:22:06 In the worst kept secret of the new year, Stephen Harper
has officially ousted Rona Ambrose from the Environment portfolio, replacing her with Treasury Board President John Baird.The reason widely given has nothing to do with the environment itself but rather Ambrose's failure to "sell" the Conservatives Clean Air plan. That statement demonstrates the Conservative's true approach to the environment better than any analysis could - that the role of the Environment Minister is to convince Canadians to accept a Conservative environmental approach that bows to industry while offering no results on air quality or global warming for decades and no plan on how to achieve any.Conservative sympathizers and right leaning commentators will be quick to all for "time" to allow Mr. Baird to introduce his "vision". They will applaud the latest regurgitation of the call for "results" and to "consult" with industry.No one else will buy it.Unless Mr. Baird quickly tables a plan that promises more th Read more:Names
Voters Won't Buy McHarpers Green Plan 2007-01-15 06:20:57 Yesterday, Stephen Harper stated that it is going to "take more than a slick job of political salesmanship to persuade Canadians his minority Conservative government is serious about environmental issues." It was in the same interview that he announced Canada would be 50% over its Kyoto targets come 2012.So if Harper needs more than a slick sales job, but also has no results to point to, what "more" does he intend to do? There are few options left unless you assume that in admitting he needs more than salesmanship, he is just continuing his sales job.On that note, the Globe and Mail recently got hold of materials from an abandoned Conservative AD CAMPAIGN that was meant to PROMOTE their so called Green
Plan II.According to the article, efforts to effectively MARKET the plan included running FOCUS GROUPS with select groups of Canadians to evaluate LOGOS, TAGLINES and other key BRANDING MESSAGES that could be used to SELL the plan to voters.Meanwhile, the new Environment Minister John Read more:Voters
El Nino Pushing Globe to Record Temps in 2007 2007-01-15 06:19:15 The British Meteorological Office is reporting that the current El Nino oceanic warming trend will make 2007 yet another record breaker for global average temperature. Historically, over the previous seven years, the Met Office forecast of annual global temperature has proved accurate within just just 0.06 °C.
Read more:Record
, Pushing
, Globe
State of the Union? A Climate in Crisis 2007-01-15 06:17:56 Senior members of the British government are saying that US President George Bush is ready to make a historic shift in his government's position on global warming. The announcement is expected during the President's upcoming State
of the Union
address where British officials anticipate the President to acknowledge the reality of global warming and move towards a cap on US greenhouse gas emissions.Bush and Blair held private talks on climate change before Christmas, and there is a feeling that the US President will now agree a cap on emissions in the US, meaning that, for the first time, American industry and consumers would be expected to start conserving energy and curbing pollution.This year's State of the Union address is scheduled for Tuesday, January 23rd.
Read more:Crisis
, Climate
$10,000 for Anti-Climate Change Articles 2007-02-05 09:03:44 As most now know, the world's foremost body addressing global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange
(IPCC), released their 4th report this past Friday. The document is the most comprehensive report on the impacts of climate change ever produced and included the input of 600 authors from 40 countries, over 620 expert reviewers, government reviewers, and representatives from 113 governments.Even more forcefully than in their 2001 report, the findings emphasize that human activity is to blame for massive increases in greenhouse gases and that the earth is facing catastrophic risks from global warming. Specific projections include:Probable temperature rise between 1.8C and 4C Possible temperature rise between 1.1C and 6.4C Sea level most likely to rise by 28-43cmArctic summer sea ice disappears in second half of centuryIncrease in heatwaves very likely Increase in tropical storm intensity likely But despite the overwhelming consensus on the threats we fa Read more:Articles
Fraser Institute Fires Off a Damp Squib 2007-02-06 18:57:05 Yesterday, the Exxon funded FraserInstitute
released a farcical rebuttal to the UN climate report. For anyone who is still following the issue, or for general fans of oil funded reports like this one, RealClimate has an excellent analysis of the document.An unofficial, "Independent Summary for Policymakers" of the IPCC Fourth Assessment report has been delivered by the Fraser Institute. It's a long, imposing-looking document, resembling, come to think of it, the formatting of the real Summary for Policymakers document that was released on Friday...The Fraser Institute has assembled an awesome team of 10 authors.According to the press release, the (Fraser Institute) London kickoff event will be graced by the presence of "noted environmentalist" David Bellamy. It's true he's "noted," but what he's noted for is his blatant fabrication of numbers purporting to show that the world's glaciers are advancing rather retreating, as reported here.By contrast the official IPCC report drew o
AEI Denies Bribing Scientists 2007-02-06 07:55:01 The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is denying that it was prepared to pay global warming skeptics to publish reports that case doubt on the UN climate change report released Friday.However, Greenpeace obtained a copy of a letter sent out by the AEI making the pitch to a climate scientist in Texas. In the July 5th letter, scholars for the organization wrote:"As with any large-scale `consensus' process, the IPCC is susceptible to self-selection bias in its personnel, resistant to reasonable criticism and dissent, and prone to summary conclusions that are poorly supported by the analytical work of the complete... reports."In addition to the perverse framing above, the letter offered $10,000 for an essay of 7,500 to 10,000 words, in addition to "honoraria" and travel expenses for participation in a series of conferences.The negative responses from the scientists contacted by the AEI ultimately led them to abandon the project.
Al Gore Speaks at University of Sheffield Today 2007-02-07 19:25:06 Al Gore will speak at the University
of Sheffield
today, as a part of his keynote address to the Cooling the Planet Conference. The event forms the centre point of a week long initiative at the University called Sheffield Is My Planet Week - launched to help bring together members of the general public and the voluntary, public and private sectors and provide information to make South Yorkshire green and encourage energy efficiency.Visit the Sheffield Is My Planet website for a complete list of events.
Read more:Today
A Quick & Dirty Summary of Dirty Bush's Budget 2007-02-07 18:31:21 President Bush has sent his latest budget package to Congress. It is a plan that continues to drastically cut funding for the environment while offering half a billion dollars for new nuclear research and development, another half billion for the massive proposed nuclear waste disposal site in Yucca, Nevada, the doubling of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the leasing of oil and gas rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.Environmental programs facing the funding axe include:- a 40 percent cut, a $98 million reduction, to the Weatherization Assistance Program, which conserves energy by helping low-wage workers and retirees on fixed incomes to insulate their homes.- $44 million cut from clean water funding.- a 60% cut to Land and Water Conservation Fund which offers matching grants to States and local governments for the acquisition and development of public outdoor recreation areas and facilities.- a reduction of the endangered species recovery program by 7.5 percent for Read more:Quick
, Summary
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