The cold snap across central Canada has many of us wishing we could be anywhere but here. Those shivering folks in Brandon, Man. (-40 C), in Rouyn-Noranda, Que. (-34) and even Toronto (-30, with the windchill) may not want to hear this, but it could be a lot worse. At least we can be reasonably sure this winter will end.I believe this was before the birth of Al Gore and the church of global warming.
That wasn’t true 200 years ago, when the country that would become Canada was about to be plunged into the cold snap to end all cold snaps. A series of volcanic eruptions around the world tossed ash into the air, blocking the sun and cooling the Earth’s surface temperature by an average of 1 degree Fahrenheit, though some places were more affected than others.~snip~
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) blocked Senate Democrats on Monday from passing a resolution that would have acknowledged the reality of climate change.Inhofe has got it right, the whole "climate change/global warming" thing is just another attempt at income redistribution with the UN trying to make it world wide.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked unanimous consent to pass S.Res. 524, which is a measure that expresses the sense of the Senate that climate change is occurring and poses a risk to the United States. But Inhofe objected.
“All we wanted to say in this resolution is climate change is happening,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said on the Senate floor. “We can’t afford to sit around here debating whether climate change is real.”
Inhofe has been an ardent climate change denier, saying it is the “biggest hoax” perpetrated against mankind.~snip~
The EPA will launch the most dramatic anti-pollution regulation in a generation early next month, a sweeping crackdown on carbon that offers President Barack Obama his last real shot at a legacy on climate change — while causing significant political peril for red-state Democrats.Leave it to democrats and Obama to try and solve a problem that doesn't exist. So much easier to solve those than trying to stimulate the economy so the middle class won't cease to exist as we know it.
The move could produce a dramatic makeover of the power industry, shifting it away from coal-burning plants toward natural gas, solar and wind. While this is the big move environmentalists have been yearning for, it also has major political implications in November for a president already under fire for what the GOP is branding a job-killing “War on Coal,” and promises to be an election issue in energy-producing states such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Louisiana.
The EPA’s proposed rule is aimed at scaling back carbon emissions from existing power plants, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases. It’s scheduled for a public rollout June 2, after months of efforts by the administration to publicize the mounting scientific evidence that rising seas, melting glaciers and worsening storms pose a danger to human society.
“This rule is the most significant climate action this administration will take,” said Kyle Aarons at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, one of a host of groups awaiting the rule’s release. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has urged the EPA to “go ahead boldly” with the rule, saying the agency must step in where Congress has refused to act.
But for coal country, the rule is yet another indignity for an industry already facing a wave of power plant shutdowns amid hostile market forces and a series of separate EPA air regulations. Coal-state Democrats like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin have joined the criticism, echoing industry warnings that the fossil fuel was crucial to keeping the lights on in much of the U.S. during this past brutal winter.~snip~
~snip~But Cook’s 97 percent consensus claim was rebutted in subsequent analyses of his study. A paper by five leading climatologists published in the journal Science and Education last year found that Cook’s study misrepresented the views of most consensus scientists.
The definition Cook used to get his consensus was weak, the climatologists said. Only 41 out of the 11,944 published climate studies examined by Cook explicitly stated that mankind caused most of the warming since 1950 — meaning the actual consensus is 0.3 percent.
“It is astonishing that any journal could have published a paper claiming a 97% climate consensus when on the authors’ own analysis the true consensus was well below 1%,” said Dr. David Legates, a geology professor at the University of Delaware and the study’s lead author.~snip~Workers and consumers are going to both take a hit from Obama's EPA one will lose jobs and income the other will see rates rise.
People should eat fewer baked beans as the flatulence they produce contributes to global warming, a minister has suggested.I know there are a lot of people out there who don't want to hear this but in the 60 years I've been alive weather has continuously changed. Some years were cooler and some were warmer. As a matter of fact I remember a time when books were published warning everyone of a new ice age.
A Labour peer raised the issue during questions in the House of Lords earlier today, saying that Britons eat more baked beans than any other country and raising concerns over "smelly emissions".
Climate change minister Baroness Verma responded by urging the public to 'moderate' their behaviour on this 'important' issue.
Labour's Viscount Simon asked: "In a programme some months ago on the BBC, it was stated that this country has the largest production and consumption of baked beans in the world.
"Can the noble Baroness say whether this affects the calculation of global warming by the Government as a result of the smelly emission resulting therefrom?"
Baroness Verma described the Viscount's question as "so different", but said that he raised "an important point" and appeared to suggest that people should moderate their consumption of the product.
Baked beans are especially popular in the UK and Ireland, where they are a staple part of the traditional full English breakfast. In Britain, they are commonly made by stewing beans in a tomato and sugar sauce, and are notorious for their ability to induce flatulence.~snip~
“Our study revealed that the response of healthy skin cells to UV emitted from CFL bulbs is consistent with damage from ultraviolet radiation,” said Professor Rafailovich. “Skin cell damage was further enhanced when low dosages of TiO2 nanoparticles were introduced to the skin cells prior to exposure.” Rafailovich added that incandescent light of the same intensity had no effect on healthy skin cells, with or without the presence of TiO2.
“Despite their large energy savings, consumers should be careful when using compact fluorescent light bulbs,” said Professor Rafailovich. “Our research shows that it is best to avoid using them at close distances and that they are safest when placed behind an additional glass cover.”
Barack Obama may consider introducing a tax on carbon emissions to help cut the U.S. budget deficit after winning a second term as president, according to HSBC Holdings Plc.My personal opinion is that this may not be a bad thing, one of the reasons that the Obamessiah got another term is because there is a large percentage of people who don't pay any taxes.
A tax starting at $20 a metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent and rising at about 6 percent a year could raise $154 billion by 2021, Nick Robins, an analyst at the bank in London, said today in an e-mailed research note, citing Congressional Research Service estimates. “Applied to the Congressional Budget Office’s 2012 baseline, this would halve the fiscal deficit by 2022,” Robins said.
Hurricane Sandy sparked discussion on climate protection in the election after presidential candidates focused on other debates, HSBC said. A continued Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives means Obama’s scope for action will be limited, Robins said. Cap-and-trade legislation stalled in the U.S. Senate after narrowly passing the house in 2009.
