Where Are the Greenies?

Hopefully the image has made you chuckle but this is serious.

Is it a sake of 'out of sight out of mind' with the planet savers?  Reading the response of the academics makes a mockery of the whole subject.  No doubt these same academics are happy to fly anywhere in the world to preach their sermons about how the world is set to explode due to global warming. I very much doubt if they'll be paying for their carbon footprints - who with any sense would part with money for such an obvious scam?

I've tried to find if there is a similar account of the North Sea or other European seas, but found nothing.

Where are the protests from the Greenies?  

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When Will This Stupidity End?

I'm dreading meeting my farmer friends because I know they will be incandescent with rage at this. My butcher will be too I expect because people are reducing the amount of meat they buy, not for environmental reasons, but because they're having to cut back on the overall cost of food. His beef can be traced right back to the farm and herd, but no doubt the EU will require more evidence.

Here is some more detail about this latest ludicrous suggestion.

Swedish agricultural authorities are recommending a tax to reduce meat (mainly beef) consumption and say such a levy should be adopted across the European Union.

Voluntary actions by consumers and firms are probably not enough to reach existing environmental and climate goals, the Swedish Board of Agriculture said.  Therefore, a meat tax not only in Sweden but at EU level, could be the solution.

I understand the Swedish government's concern for attempting to reduce the production of meat from unsustainable sources, but such proposals will surely increase the price of all meat, regardless of its sustainability.

As for the argument that this would reduce emissions therefore reduce global warming, well what can I say?

The Swedish government suggested this earlier this year and now we learn the EU has ordered a study.  As many of you will be aware, once the EU direct a study then the subject is more or less signed and sealed. It may take a few years - others called for this a few years ago - but it will be contained in some EU directive in the future.

When will this stupidity end? 

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A Sign Of The Times Down Under

It's only four years since the Australian government passed its Expanded Renewable Energy Target policy to ensure that renewable energy obtains a 20% share of electricity by 2020. Other renewable energy programmes preceded this one and Australia and it was highly praised, by the highly vocal eco-loons, for passing legislation to tax carbon.

Australia announced it was going to lead the stop-the-world-warming battle. Its politicians found the easy way to gain massive income for their adoption of the new religion by placing a tax on the energy people use and low and behold it worked.  As it has done here.  I've yet to hear of anyone deducting the 'green' tax from a utility bill and although I thought about it last year, the premium I would have been forced to pay if I wanted to pay by cheque or card, instead of direct debit, was too much.  Perhaps that's why so many of us haven't protested by withholding these taxes.

However, after last week's leadership farce in Australia, PM Gillard has reshuffled again and the Department of Climate Change is disappearing into a 'super ministry'. This is the classic way politicians kick issues too contentious to drop altogether, into the long grass.

The greens aren't happy because they consider the Gillard government has moved closer to abolishing a stand-alone climate department.

The usual bureaucratic process is to merge two departments into one and change the name of the new department into something non-specific.  This is what has happened in Australia.

Is there any chance it may happen here soon?  Please?

Note:  Earlier this morning another inch or two of global warming adorned the view from my window. Of course the world is warming.

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The Prediction Of A New Ice Age

click to enlarge

Credit for this post must be given to Edward Spalton because he has supplied me with the information.

Says Edward: '1972 was the year when severe frost destroyed all the Soviet Autumn-sown wheat crop. We had a great shortage in 1973.'

In case anyone has a problem reading the image, it is a clip from the Ontario, Canada's Windsor Star dated 9 September, 1972.  It quotes Professor Hubert Lamb, the then director of climate research at the University of East Anglia:

"The full impact of the new Ice Age will not be upon us for another 10,000 years and even then it will not be as severe as the last great glacial period.

"We are past the best of the inter-glacial period which happened between 7,000 and 3,000 years ago.

"Ever since then we have been on a downhill float regarding temperature.  There may be a few upward fluctuation from time to time but these are more than offset by the general downward trend."

He continues by saying, "We are on a definite downhill course for the next two centuries. The last 20 years of this century will be progressively colder.  After that the climate may warm up again but only for a short period of decades."

Professor Lamb didn't use modern 'modelling' computer technology for his prediction, but he studied the science. He developed early theories about the medieval warm period and little ice age and became known as the 'ice man'.

However, according to Edward's friend Philip Foster, these theories were to be Lamb's downfall:

Interesting, however very important to point out that Prof. Hubert  Lamb never changed his view on this and, consequently, was ousted from UEA in a politico-academic coup d'etat by Tom Wigley, Phil Jones et  al. He was disgracefully treated. It was his Medieval Warm Period that the warmistas tried to 'get rid of' as an infamous leaked email shows.

The whole science has been corrupted by greed and a strong desire for power and fame.  

Is it any wonder so many people have disputed the recent claims by Phil Jones and his ilk, whose predictions have been proved to be tainted (to put it kindly)? 

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Flawed Science Costs Us Dearly

The average annual household energy bill is £1,330 - twice what it was five years ago.

The 'big six' energy companies are claiming that aside from the wholesale gas price, the biggest factor in rising tariffs is the raft of subsidies for wind farms and other low-carbon technologies.

British Gas, the country's biggest utility, said green charges account for £150 of the overall bill - a 50% increase from 2007, when they accounted for £94.

Energy UK, the industry body, will publish a report within the next few days, which is expected to say that a new scheme designed to slash household energy use will add as much as another £50.

Politicians blame the huge increases on the greed of the 'big six' but never mention the increasing 'green' tax on bills.  They substantiate imposing these green taxes on every household and business because they want us to believe that without them these islands will shortly lose all power and we will be back to living as they did in the 1800s.

But I suspect few noticed the Met Office report (graphic above) which was released recently. According to the Mail on Sunday it states the world stopped getting warmer almost 16 years ago and that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012 there was no discernible rise in aggregate global temperature.  I never heard that on the main BBC or Sky news - mainly because it the report was issued quietly on the internet.

This means that the 'plateau' in global warming has now lasted for about the same time as the previous period when temperatures rose, 1980 to 1996.  Before that temperatures had been stable or declining for about 40 years.

Naturally there's disagreement with the pro and anti groups, with Phil Jones, of the University of East Anglia saying 16 years is too short a period from which to draw conclusions.  Others disagree. Judith Curry, who is the head of the climate science department at America's George Tech university, said it was clear that the computer models used to predict future warming were 'deeply flawed'.

The Guardian rubbishes the Mail article and insists the journalist has misinterpreted the report. (Unfortunately I can't find it on their site now).  The Guardian's summary is dependent on 'global surface temperatures have most likely increased since 1997'.  Don't they know?  How can they insist others are wrong when they themselves have no proof they are right?  The last point in their summary shows the prime concern of  the Guardian's view - money. 'Carbon pricing will result in a net benefit [to] the economy as compared to doing nothing and trying to adapt to the consequences'.

Joe Bastardi, a meteorologist and chief forecaster to Weatherbell Analytics (a respected company) has questioned Barack Obama's climate change plans.

Anthony Watts has an interesting article entitled Carbon dioxide - our salvation from a future ice age? which suggest peatlands could contribute towards global cooling.

For the first time in 18 years the IPCC will not be attending the upcoming United Nations Climate Change conference.  Why?  Because they haven't been invited.

Are other countries waking up to the cost of green taxes which have evolved from flawed science?

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Has AGW Been Found Out?

Q-Cells, once the world's biggest maker of solar panels, is filing for bankruptcy.  The German firm says it has abandoned an attempt to refinance its debts and filed for insolvency on Tuesday.

The panel manufacturer has been hit by falling prices and last year the company lost €846m (£702m). It had been trying to organise a deal to swap debt for shares in the company but it said that a court ruling last week, which blocked a similar restructuring for a wood processing company, convinced it that it could not go ahead with its rescue plan.

Last year there was political controversy regarding the giant US solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went into administration.

It's been obvious that solar panels are non-profitable and cannot operate without large subsidies.  Fortunately Scotland hasn't been too badly affected because we lack the regular quality of light required to power the panels, but there are still households which will suffer should they have one of the many now defunct manufacturers panels installed.

Jonova's latest post begins:

Soon, the moment will come when the crowd will say "I always knew it was a fake'.  Here are three signs we are at the beginning of The End [of global warming].  Read it here.

AGW has been found out but it will take much longer to unravel the plots than it took to plan them.  I can wait.

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Obesity Increases Global Warming

A study, carried out by a trio of researchers within the Centre for Obesity Research and Epidemiology (CORE) at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen suggests that if every obese and overweight person in the world lost 1.58 stone, the resulting drop in greenhouse emissions would be the equivalent of 0.2% of the CO2 emitted globally in 2007 (49.560Mt).


The calculation were based on a previous weight loss study that investigated the effects of a low-carbohydrate diet on body weight, body composition and resting metabolic rate of obese volunteers with type 2 diabetes.

Dr Catherine Rolland was one of the lead researchers on the study. She explains: "This decrease can be explained by the principles of respiration - the process by which organisms breathe in oxygen, which is then converted to CO(2) and then exhaled.

"CO(2) production is proportionate to body mass and heavier individuals naturally produce more than those of a healthier weight. The global obesity epidemic, therefore, has resulted in humans producing a higher volume of a major greenhouse gas."

What more motivation do we need knowing, that if we all aim to become stick-thin, we will be saving the planet.  Surprisingly the eco-fanatics haven't leapt upon this valuable piece of research as yet, but they will.


Mentioning this to a comfily built friend the other day, the reply was, "I'll stop eating cabbage and that'll be my contribution. Never liked it anyway." A trite response you may think but the man is a retired osteologist so he's sure to know a thing or two about human emissions.


Is it fanciful to foresee a new quango springing into the fake charity box in order to add more pressure upon the obese?  Anyone seriously overweight knows the risks involved but I doubt if many will be inspired to change their eating habits by being told they can save the world. That's probably the least of their concerns.


No doubt the gut man will correct me if I'm wrong.


source

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Carbon Man To Visit Scotland

Global warming campaigner - now calling himself a climate change campaigner - and former US vice-president Al Gore is to be the keynote speaker at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference (SLCIC) which will take place in Edinburgh this September.

The event is described as a leading international forum for emerging renewable energy and other low carbon markets. The cost of the conference will be mainly met by the taxpayer ie the Scottish government and Scottish Enterprise.

Fancy attending? The bargain price for the two day bash, including refreshments and lunch, is £495+VAT but if you want to splash out and join the 'exclusive drinks reception' and dinner that will set you back £645+VAT.

Whilst I applaud the use of natural resources to create energy, I have no time for Mr Gore and his carbon scam.  Why should anyone believe his environmental rhetoric about reducing our use of energy when he uses more than 20 times the US national average in his own home?

Only recently Fergus Ewing, the Scottish government's energy minister, stated the Scottish government was 'perfectly open' to the continued use of Hunterston and Torness power stations to ensure there was security of supply.  This statement had the usual suspect, FoE Scotland, foaming at the mouth, but it was welcomed by those with common sense.

Where energy policies are concerned I have to agree with this man, although Scotland did address the issue well before Westminster.

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Global Warming Strikes Dundee

Yesterday afternoon Dundee was the recipient of a thunder and lightning hail storm which resulted in the streets flowing with ice cold water.

Yet the warmists insist the onset of a mini Ice Age "... will be disguised by global warming." I'll wait until around March before I comment.

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The Global Warming Circus Australian Style

In the past few weeks of most enjoyable weather for this time of year, I've expected to hear at least one global warming expert pop up in the media and say, "We told you the world is warming," but no - It's very quiet on the global warming front isn't it?  Hardly a word from those experts who only a few months ago were determined to convince the sceptics that they are an ignorant, uninformed danger to the future of the planet.

The Australians seem to have reached a conclusion.  Then again, they have a sovereign government and parliament and are not in the control of the EU.  Says it all.

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Arctic ocean warms up. A sense of déjà vu.

Although the first part below has been reported elsewhere on the Blogosphere, it may be new to some readers, so I recommend that at least the first link be followed.



"The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consul Ifft, at Bergen, Norway.



Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers, he declared, all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met with as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm.


Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts, which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds."


This report is from that venerable publication, the Washington Times.


But it's not all bad news. "Cairn Energy, a corporation based in Scotland, recently began drilling oil wells in waters off Greenland's coast." complains Greenpeace spokesman and senior climate campaigner Ben Ayliffe in a comment published in Al Jazeera . Referring to the recent impact of Global Warming, he continues "It's a terrible irony that melting ice caps are (now) allowing companies and even governments to open up the possibilities of new oil developments"


I wonder if he realises just how ironic?


A guest post by Joe Public.

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The warmth that cools.

40 or 50 years ago the Gas Board (for that's what it was then) ran a series of educational advertisements explaining how 'The flame that cools" worked, to publicise gas-fired refrigerators. Their product was demonstrable, and worked.



A couple of days ago, an article in the New York Times attempted to explain why Global Warming creates more-frequent, colder-than-average winters.



"The sun’s energy reflects off the bright white snow and escapes back out to space. As a result, the temperature cools."


Having only 'O'-level physics, I struggle to understand how energy 'reflected' back to outer space 'cools' the earth. The earth getting 'less-warm' (because less radiant heat is absorbed) I can understand; but if that process worked, simply sticking mirrors around boxes is a trick every freezer-manufacturer must have missed.


[I can also understand how 'black-bodies' (that's a technical, not racist, description) radiate heat out to space. However, 'black-bodies' and white snow are metaphorically at opposite ends of the spectrum.]


The article's author also seems to have forgotten that the Eco-Loons are brainwashing us into reducing CO2 emissions. For those with short memories, that's the 'Greenhouse Gas' that was supposed to trap the heat, and so counteract the reduced radiant absorption caused by reflectivity of white snow. White snow being the stuff that covers the poles (and currently the Poles too) and is supposed to be shrinking. But if their area is shrinking, we're losing less heat, so it's a self-correcting phenomenon.


A guest post submitted by Joe Public at the behest of his Hungarian cousin Imas Keptic.

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A Fable for Christmas - Part 2

Part 2

Part 1 can be read here

They appeared to be in a board room belonging to some multi-national. A couple of men in smart suits were talking. One clearly the boss, one equally clearly a young pink junior.

"Listen and learn." said the Spirit.

Scrooge concentrated.

"Well, how's the campaign going?" said the boss.

"Pretty well boss, but..", said the pink young man.

"But what?" snapped the boss.

"Well, some ordinary people don't seem to be buying it."

"What do you expect? They don't know anything."

"But the deniers seem to be getting their message over, at least to the ordinary people. And, er, some of them do seem to know some real science."

"Hey! Look! Forget them, they're history, they're dinosaurs; we've got the politicians by the short hairs; we've got the media, the UN, the EU, the BBC and even the mainstream churches in our pocket - except for a few crazy journalists whom we call deniers anyway - along with any scientists who claim there's no problem with the climate. We've said they're in the pay of the big oil companies, and old Scrooge and the others in the chattering classes believe it."

"But boss, we are big oil aren't we? I mean we sell oil and gas."

"Hey kid, you'd better wise up here! Get this. Yeah, of course we're big oil; we drill the stuff, pump the stuff, refine the stuff and sell the stuff. But there's a problem, and has been for a fair while. There's too much of it. And what happens when there's too much product?"

"More people can have it?" said the pink guy hopefully, getting even pinker.

"No!" yelled the boss, "A thousand times, No! What happens is that it gets cheaper, you idiot; and if it gets cheaper, we make less profit, and that's bad for business, my business, that is."

"But..."

"Do try and keep up!"

The pink guy wilted.

"Why do you think we logged onto this 'climate' scare in the first place?"

"Because it was true?" hazarded the pink guy.

"Of course not! What do you take me for? I learned real science when I was younger, when it was still being taught, and it can't possibly be true unless the laws of physics can change overnight. No, because of profits. Why do you think diamonds are valuable?" 

The pink guy looked puzzled for a moment and then said,

"Because they're rare?"

"No, they're not particularly rare, but de Beers know that by restricting supply you can demand a very high price. Hence their mines are carefully controlled with very high security. It works a treat and diamond merchants are very rich men."

"But oil isn't like diamonds."

"Why not? It can be made to be. People must have it (which is more than can be said for diamonds) and we can restrict it - well, we can now. Before the climate change scare public pressure would probably have broken any attempt at a cartel, but now we have grabbed the moral high ground - thanks to Mrs Thatcher. By restricting supply and increasing the price we are 'saving the planet' - and getting very rich to boot!"

"But is that being honest, I mean if it isn't actually true?" said the pink person.

"Who cares about truth? Why, even the climate scientists, who push our line on our grants (sure - we pay the tax and tell the government to give grants to these guys), don't bother about honest science. No, they cherry pick their data, fiddle their computer models and call it 'post normal science' and the Scrooges of this world fall at their feet and worship!"

"But aren't they good scientists? Surely they wouldn't behave like that?"

"Ha! Look, these guys were always mediocre scientists scratching around for research grants to pay their mortgages and feed their families. Some third rate universities saw a market niche with climate in the 1980s and essentially cornered the research by giving their political masters the kind of answers they wanted; this brought more funding as alarm was spread among the population who expected their politicians to 'save' them." 

"You know when 'Global Warming' become an issue?" went on the boss.

"No. It must have been before I was born."

"Around 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell and the 'Red menace' evaporated. Leaders always need hobgoblins to frighten the populace. The Reds were gone, so Climate Change was seized on."

"But what about places like Africa? Don't they need cheap energy?"

"I am sure they do, but let me tell you a secret. World leaders don't want Africa to develop."

"What? Why not?"

"A number of reasons. Firstly, look at China and India; their economies are burgeoning and they already pose a huge threat to the wealth of the West in particular. They now make most of the things we want but we have very little that they want. For Mike's sake, pretty well all America's credit is Chinese money - they own America! If another continent got its act together the threat would seriously intensify. Now the West could do little about China and India - they are too big, but Africa is divided and can be more easily suppressed.

"Secondly a surprising number of greens and leaders of opinion want the population of the planet greatly reduced."

"But aren't there too many people?"

"Oh yes, that's been the message for some years now: we put out the 'five planets' myth which has been very successful. But the truth is that the planet can support the current population and more - if countries are allowed to develop. Development tends to naturally reduce population growth in the long term anyway. Look at Europe: its population is falling. Look at the USA: its has become static. But many think it might be quicker to see large areas depopulated through war, disease and famine. So NGOs and governments give 'aid' to Africa, but ensure that the aid cripples their ability to self determination and development; banning DDT and frustrating their use of fossil fuels has most certainly helped."

As he listened, for the first time Scrooge felt a qualm. Did the people he supported in his articles really think like this? Worse, did he think like this himself? He had to admit that sometimes he did, but surely not in those cynical terms? With this thought he tried to reassure himself. 

"Time is short." said the Spirit.

Once more a starburst in his head and he found himself on his couch. "Bong!" sounded Big Ben.

He caught his breath just in time, for the door flew open yet again. The third spectre swept into the room.

Tall, grey, hooded and cloaked, the Spirit looked strangely dignified yet somehow indistinct. A shiver went through Scrooge. He was not having a good night.

Tremulously, after a terrifying silence, Scrooge said,

"Are you the Spirit of Climate yet to Come? Am I to see what will be? Will I see if all those predictions we made of tipping points and runaway warming come to pass? Will the planet be unbearably hot?"

There seemed to be no answer. But a shiver ran through Scrooge as once more he was airborne with this new and frightening Spirit.

In a kind of shock he realised he was looking down on a new London. It seemed dim, few lights glowed in or above the blizzard-swept streets. Huddled figures shuffled through the snow. 

Then they were plunging towards a garret; they were inside watching a old lady preparing, it seemed, for bed. The contents of the  room were meagre and shoddy. A tin of cocoa and a quarter-full bottle of milk stood on a table near the woman's chair. The woman was wizen and aged beyond her years, with watery eyes, a rattling chest in which every breath seemed a effort. She was wrapped up in sweaters and a rug, which was hanging about her with a sort of carelessness that betrayed her frailty.

The woman was struggling to rise from her chair. After several attempts she stood up and, with a pitiful shuffle and a shaking hand, took a mug to a tap and filled it with water. Returning laboriously to the table she added a teaspoon of cocoa and a dribble of milk, as if eking it out, and slowly stirred it. Collapsing into her chair once more she set about trying to arrange the rug around herself. So difficult did she find this that Scrooge felt compelled, out of sheer pity, to try and assist her - but found he was paralysed and unable to help: he had to watch the excruciating slowness of these arrangements until at last they were done and shakily she reached for her cocoa, gasping for each breath and cupping the mug in her mittened hands as if for its warmth. But Scrooge knew it was stone cold.

Then it seemed as if the woman began to speak, her watery eyes seemed fixed on his, her voice, though weak, clear as crystal in Scrooge's head.

"I was still a teacher when they passed the first Climate Bill. We taught our children how bad the grown-ups had been in using coal and oil and how that must be stopped or all the fluffy animals would drown. Too many believed us. Carbon rationing was introduced. Gangs of youths we had taught prowled the streets, smashing windows of shops or of residents who were known 'carbon abusers' - often beating them up.

"Then came the round-ups of the deniers, mostly dissident scientists at first then anyone who expressed doubts. Children would tip the police off if their parents expressed doubts, an idea first sponsored in schools by N-Power. The prisons overflowed, so they had to build the camps to put them in. In some countries they began executing persistent deniers. Many died anyway in the camps as they lost their carbon rations, but the leaders didn't mind - they said they had committed crimes against humanity.

"What fuel there was became very expensive, only the rich could afford it. Electricity doubled in price every year as one by one the coal, gas and oil-fired power stations were closed down. The government said that wind turbines would easily fill the gap. They were wrong. 

"Alas! The wind turbine catastrophe. 'Green jobs for British people' said the government. But there were none. The turbine companies discovered that it was far cheaper to have them built in China and shipped to Britain and even installed by Chinese labour. The Chinese had more or less cornered the market in the rare metals needed for magnets and bearings so there was little choice anyway. The weather deteriorated, winters got progressively colder. The turbines constantly broke down, parts were slow in arriving, and they were breaking down faster than new turbines could be installed or the old ones repaired. As the winters got colder, the turbines failed to work at all: they iced up, the blades broke and before long, on land and sea, there were forests of useless towers, like a scene of shattered trees from a World War One battlefield."

Scrooge seemed to hear the echo of his own voice saying, "Are there no wind turbines? Are there no solar panels?"

The woman continued, "Then China refused Britain any more credit and stopped supplying altogether. Britain's industry had long since evaporated, its infrastructure - drains, trains, water and hospitals, operated, when they operated at all, like in a Third World country.

"Long power cuts became the norm. A new campaign was introduced. It was called 10:10 - ten hours on; ten hours off - if, that is, you could afford it.

"The banning of the airfreighting of food from Africa (or anywhere) and the compulsory introduction of organic farming caused the price of food in Britain to sky-rocket. Farmers had little fuel and were forced back to using horses. Crops failed with increasing frequency as the growing season shortened. Once again the poor were the victims. If they didn't perish from cold, they starved to death".

"It has been getting colder now for thirty years. Still they told us that the bad weather was caused by Man-made Global Warming and yet more carbon cuts were required. Anyone who started having more than one child was forced to have an abortion - to save the carbon footprint - they said. Reports came from Africa that the closure of the farms with the collapse of the export market had been killing them in the hundreds of thousands, anarchy reigned unchecked. But nobody seemed to care anymore.

"Why had no one prepared us for the cold? Why have so many died before their time?"

Her eyes flashed at Scrooge.

"Because we believed the Climate alarmists;  and soon after there was no one else left to challenge them. They had either been imprisoned or were dead."

The old lady's eyes seemed to bore into Scrooge. But suddenly her mug slipped from her hands and crashed to the floor, she gave a croaking gasp and light faded from her eyes.

A terrible sob which had been building in Scrooge burst out of him. He wept uncontrollably.

After what seemed an age, he turned to the Spirit of Climate yet to Come, and haltingly said, "O Spirit, who does not speak! Must these things be? Can't it be stopped?"

The Spirit gave no reply.

But with a flourish of the Spirit's cloak Scrooge found himself back on his couch. He was shivering, not just from cold but also from the horror and pity of what he just had witnessed.

On the floor by his couch lay an open book which Scrooge did not at first recognise. Closer examination showed it to be an old Bible. He must have had one in his shelves, but he'd never looked at it before tonight. He read the first lines on the open page:

"And Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold."

And Jesus said to him, "This day is salvation come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Gripped with a strange conviction, Scrooge leapt from the couch. "I can do something!" he said out loud. "Surely the Spirit showed me what might be, not what would be? It can be stopped. It must be stopped. I must get to work."

He went to his desk, grabbed a pencil and started to make notes:

1. Find out who those men were and see what can be done for their work.

2. My article for the day after Boxing Day? - with editor! - Cancel!

3. Write new article and send to editor - tell him it'll be a headline grabber!

He turned on his computer, opened a page and began to type:

I have an astonishing story to tell. 

It was Christmas Eve...

With apologies to Charles Dickens,

who must be getting used to this sort of thing by now!

NOTE

This story is a fable. But every statement about the climate issue, political or scientific is based on facts. Either the facts of climate and paleoclimate or 'facts' in the sense of public statements, in print or in public speeches, made by politicians, opinion formers, such as the IPCC and others in the public eye. Many of these people seem to live in a curious world where such outrageous statements and views are considered perfectly normal. Most of these people would be faintly surprised if their statements were challenged as being morally repugnant.

Philip Foster

author While the Earth Endures: Creation, Cosmology and Climate Change

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Good news for Christmas

Many (circular) sources have warned mankind that Global Warming threatened the existence of the loveable Polar Bear.


On 25th May this year, the venerable BBC warned that "Polar bears face 'tipping point' due to climate change." [A strange reason. Given that their habitat was supposed to be melting, 'Global Warming' was a more accurate description.]


WWF (the eco-friendly organisation, not the steroid-enhanced, muscle-bound men-in-leotards acting academy) has also highlighted the plight of the furry, photogenic ursus maritimus. Tugging at readers' heartstrings, it even uses their 'plight' to solicit donations.


Just in time for Christmas, the Obama administration via the US Fish and Wildlife Service have decided polar bears have no need of endangered species status.

JoePublic

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A Fable for Christmas - Part 1

  

Good morning.  It's Christmas Eve and an appropriate time for this story.  I feel privileged to have been offered the following two part fable (it's too long for one post) from the Reverend Philip Foster.  Regardless of where you stand on the climate change debate, I'm sure you will find the story enjoyable.  Philip tells me what inspired him was a bizarre report on WUWT about a climate scientist who apparently likes to converse with ghosts!

A Climate Carol 

A fable for Christmas

The Great Guardian Environment Correspondent sat in his office late at night on Christmas Eve in 201.... He was known as 'Scrooge' to his colleagues (behind his back of course) after he had once declared that sending Christmas cards caused sea-levels to rise. 

     Snow was falling, muffling the traffic in the streets. The building was quiet; only the desk light in his office was on, just enough light to see by. A buzzer sounded.

       "There are two gentlemen to see you, Sir." said the night porter.

       "Send them up."

     Some minutes later the men arrived. They introduced them-selves as working for a charitable Trust, Fuel for Africa. "We are hoping to get the oil and coal in Africa used for generating electricity, for indigenous industry and transport so that they can have clean water, health care and a better standard of living."

       "Stop there!" said Scrooge. "Are there no wind turbines? Are there no solar panels?"

       "Yes there are but they hardly...", Scrooge interrupted them.

       "Climate Deniers! Bah! Humbug! Get out of my office!"

They retreated hurriedly.  Scrooge sat and meditated. The brazen effrontery of the oil industry to sponsor these stooges, didn't they know that saving the planet was all that mattered?  The buzzer sounded again. It was the night porter. "I'm going home now, Sir."

       "Make sure you turn every light out and walk home - don't use the bus; think of your carbon footprint." 

"Yes, Sir." said the porter despondently.

It was quiet again. Scrooge nibbled an organic oat cake and a piece of cheese for his late supper; he would sleep on his office couch tonight, he thought.

Just as he was settling himself, the air was rent with a piercing shriek that set every hair on his body on end and a shiver down his spine.

His desk light flickered and went out, on and out again, the buzzer sounded and sounded, his computer awoke and started flashing strange pictures, then streams of data flowing up the screen with flashes of 'error', 'error', 'error'. Scrooge sat bolt upright. Was he dreaming? Was it the cheese?

The sounds now changed to a terrible clanking and banging which seemed to be coming straight towards his room. The door flew open and there stood a spectre looking horribly like Professor ——, that great climate scientist, who had recently died from an untreated hyper-active ego. But what was he dragging? Iron objects, tied together with barbed wire trailed behind the spectral figure. Closer inspection showed they were giant hockey sticks made of metal. The Spectre spoke:

"I was once what you are -  I too thought people were a disease on the planet. I too believed the planet must be saved from man-made climate change. I too began to lie. I too gained power, money and prestige. But now I am condemned to drag around for ever these chains I built for myself. At midnight three Spirits will visit you."

With this the spectre turned and, dragging his chain of hockey sticks with him, disappeared through the WWF wall poster showing polar bears drowning.

His desk light came on again, his computer went off, and slowly Scrooge's heartbeat began to return to normal.

As he tried to collect his jangling nerves he decided that it was some trick played by those two men - typical of the denial industry to try and frighten him like that.

Listening to Big Ben's chimes, he was composing himself for sleep and was just reaching for the light switch when the light extinguished itself, and the door of the room burst open with a blast of warm air followed by a chilly wind carrying snowflakes. A huge figure stood in the room, curiously disfigured because one side was fat and the other thin, one side dressed for summer, the other in furs for winter.

"Who... What are you?" croaked Scrooge, his mouth dry and speaking for the first time since sending the porter home.

"I am the Spirit of Climate Past."

"Oh, I know all about the past climate, as did Prof. ——." (his heart, however, took an fearful leap at this name).

"Quiet!" said the Spirit, raising his arm, and Scrooge fell back on the couch, breathing hard. "You know nothing of the past."

The Spirit's huge arm then reached out and seemingly plucked Scrooge from the couch. "Come! You shall see for yourself."

The room appeared to shrink away and they were floating above the city of London. But the city was changing before his eyes. Canary Wharf vanished and was replaced by ruined warehouses, then flashes and fire, then warehouses again, this time intact. Steamers, then tall masted ships, flickered in their hundreds along the docks; the Thames froze over and melted rapidly many times; St Paul's vanished and there was another brief flash of fire, then their journey seemed to halt.

It was bitterly cold, the snow lashed his face. The Thames was frozen over and a few black figures were picking their way across it. Glancing around, the people he saw were weary, pinched; they looked ill-fed; one person, huddled in a ragged cloak, tripped, fell, vomited and then lay motionless. Was this the Plague? thought Scrooge with a shudder.

"Yes." said the Spirit. "After three centuries of cold the ordinary man is weak and malnourished, crops are poor, food is scarce and expensive. This is the Little Ice Age which both Prof. —— and you dismissed as fiction. Come! We must go further back."

The ships got smaller and the docks shrank, bridges familiar to Scrooge had long vanished leaving only one bridge crowded with houses, then the Thames flowed free of ice through a diminished London of mostly wooden houses with just a few landmarks, such as Westminster Abbey, smaller and starker in outline.

The dizziness stopped and he found himself standing on a hill overlooking the Thames with London nestling mostly on its northern bank. The breeze was balmy and he immediately regretted that he was still wearing his longjohns. It was warm. He looked about him. What he took for peasants were going about their daily business; there was a cart trundling down the road towards London laden with barrels. Salted fish? thought Scrooge; it was clearly a medieval scene. Just then the cart hit a rut and a barrel bounced off and, crashing to the ground, burst open; the peasants cursed. Its contents spilled red along the ground - wine! Going to London? thought Scrooge in great surprise. "Yes, from Yorkshire." said the Spirit, answering his  thoughts. To Scrooge's left was a building site - it looked like the beginnings of a church or perhaps an abbey with a merry gang of masons and builders at work. He was surprised to see how well fed most people looked.

"Come, there is more to see in the past." said the Spirit. Once again the sense of dizziness began, as they spun back in time. The warm verdant landscape flickered more and more between green and white and then the white appeared less frequently and faded: just green and brown. They stopped and again Scrooge beheld the valley of the Thames. A yet smaller London, laid out in a more geometric pattern lay before him. The road beside which they stood was paved and with a surprising amount of traffic: carts and people, even some soldiers - whose appearance immediately told him that this was Roman Britain. Scrooge was now really regretting his longjohns as it was warmer than their previous stop. Scrooge noticed one of the carts was carrying amphora with the letter V on them. "Five what?" he thought. "No, VINUM, wine" said the Spirit, "from the south lands of the Picts beyond the Wall."

"We must go yet further back." said the Spirit. Onward they went with the uncomfortable sense of dizziness assailing Scrooge. Green and brown, green and brown, as the years slipped back, seldom broken by more than an occasional touch of white, then almost suddenly the green and brown changed to green and white then brown and white and then white and, even at the speed they were travelling, Scrooge became glad of his longjohns. There was one more brief flicker of green before the white seemed permanent. And he felt himself being pushed upwards by the very ground beneath his feet: but it wasn't ground, it was ice and snow.

The Spirit spoke again, "When it is warm, people are happier and wealthier - they eat better and have time and energy for great projects; churches, abbeys and cathedrals. Yet you, Scrooge, make your money by telling people to fear warmth and you urge them to try and stop it. Look around you now. What do you see?" 

"Ice and snow as far as the horizon." said Scrooge. 

"Do you see any people?" 

"No." said Scrooge. 

"Think on what you have seen, and learn." said the Spirit.

Then there was a starburst in his head and sound like a hurdy-gurdy and he found himself lying on his couch - soaked to his knees. Big Ben was striking the hour. He started to count the bongs, if only to calm himself; one, two, three, four. Suddenly the door swung open and a second spectre stepped into the room. Scrooge's heart leapt into his mouth, "What now?"

"I have come!" said a voice with an antipodean flavour to it, Scrooge trembled as somehow the voice was familiar and it unnerved him.

"Who are you?" 

"I am the Spirit of Climate Present."

Part 2 is here.

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