August 25, 2010 by admin.

The Independent

Baby boom blamed on cold winter

PA

Wednesday, 25 August 2010

…independent midwife Joy Horner, of Birth Joy, said bad winters often led to baby booms.

She told the Portsmouth News: “We do see a rise in conception rates when there’s been severe weather. The weather does have an impact.

“The snow could definitely be the reason for the baby boom next month.

“If you can not get out of your house, you’ve got to find some way to keep yourself occupied.”….

Full story: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/baby-boom-blamed-on-cold-winter-2061676.html

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Save the environment.  Shower with a friend.

–Walter
http://lce.folc.ca

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August 23, 2010 by admin.

Financial Post

Mike De Souza, Postmedia News · Monday, Aug. 23, 2010

OTTAWA — Sustained cuts to Environment Canada weather-service programs have compromised the government’s ability to assess climate change and left it with a “profoundly disturbing” quality of information in its data network, says a newly released internal government report.The stinging assessment, obtained through an access-to-information request, suggests that Canada’s climate network infrastructure is getting progressively worse and no longer meets international guidelines.

“Environment Canada is on the road to junior partner status with respect to other agencies, both provincial and international, in the area of climate data gathering, quality control and archiving,” said the report, released to the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental research group.

The analysis — Degradation in Environment Canada’s Climate Network, Quality Control and Data Storage Practices: A Call to Repair the Damage — noted the lack of data on climate conditions can affect decisions on major infrastructure such as roads, buildings and sewers as well as a number of “real-life” decisions made by Canadians every day….

Full Story

It is a good thing that the Pembina Institute made the Freedom of Information Act request, because very few of the rest of us mortals can.  However, the Pembina Institute puts its own political spin on the causes of the calamity by blaming Stephen Harper and his party instead of John Chretien and the Liberal Party, the real culprit responsible for the budget cuts, while the elephant in the room goes unnoticed.

Perhaps the report contained no information on what the elephant is.  If so, it is amazing that neither the author of the Financial Post article nor the Pembina Institute were sufficiently astute to notice the biggest problem of all, which is that the vast majority of Canada’s weather stations that once regularly reported on weather conditions now no longer exists.

One could argue that weather satellites eliminated the need for ground-based temperature measurements, but that would be far too simple a reaction. Weather satellites do not measure local conditions such as rainfall-and snowfall amounts, wind-speed and -direction, relative humidity and hours of sunshine — all absolute necessary not only for climate change modelling but also for accurately forecasting the weather.

The deterioration of the weather services programs was not only caused on account of automation, as claimed in the report, but primarily on account of closing down hundreds and perhaps thousands of weather stations.  That was done many years before Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada made it into Ottawa and even before the Conservative Party of Canada even came into existence.  The fault for the severe cutbacks to the data-collection network lies squarely with the Liberal Party.  It did not happen by accident.  It happened because it was a deliberate policy of the Liberal government.

Have a look at some pertinent comments on the report (at wattsupwiththat.com)

• MaxL says: August 23, 2010 at 2:45 pm

• Dave in Exile says: August 23, 2010 at 3:16 pm

• Dennis Nikols, P Geol. says: August 23, 2010 at 4:37 pm

One of those comments (the first on the list) was made by a Canadian weather forecaster.  It seems to be obvious that no other commenters either at the FP article or at the wattsupwithtthat.com posting have any appreciation of what is necessary to produce accurate weatherforecasts.  It even seems that most of the commenters see no need for accurate weather forecasts, which makes me wonder why they bother to comment on the article except to complain that funding for weather-forecasting is a waste of money.

Many of the commenters see the Environment Canada report as a cry to stimulate more funding, somewhat justifiably surmising that the bureaucrats responsible falsely feel that if we only throw more money at the problem, the quality of  the data produced by the Canadian weather services programs will be improved.  It is very doubtful that will any improvement will happen, although all extra funding will doubtlessly be used up.  After all, Environment Canada’s size grew within a relatively short time from an office with with about 15 employees to become a large employer with a workforce that grew to very large proportions.

Environment Canada is a federal government department with approximately 4,700 employees located in 100 communities. (Source: Environment Canada, “What We Do: Key Facts and Figures,” About Us, 31 March 2003, <http://www.ec.gc.ca/introec/keyfacts.htm> , 13 May 2004)

The Wikipedia entry for Environment Canada presently shows an employment figure of ~6,000, although I have no idea how old that figures is, while it seems to me that not very long ago I read an article that put the total number of Environment Canada employees at 10,000.  Darn it, I did not bookmark that.

Regardless of how much money is being thrown at that problem, even with the best intentions, the quality of the data outputs of the weather service programs cannot be better than the quality of the data that is being input: garbage in = garbage out.

Posted in Weather, Climate Change, Community & Industry | Print | No Comments »

August 5, 2010 by admin.

All of South America experienced a very harsh cold spell in mid-July that killed more than 400 people (mostly children), much life stock and many alpacas. (See Historical Cold Snap Freezes South America, July 21, 2010)

Now another consequence of the extreme cold spell emerges.

BoliviaBella.com

1 Million Fish Dead in Bolivian Ecological Disaster

(3 Aug. 2010 - Update: The number of dead fish and other water-dependent wildlife has increased to about 6 million.)

Over 1 million fish and thousands of alligators, turtles, dolphins and other river wildlife are floating dead in numerous Bolivian rivers in the three eastern/southern departments of Santa Cruz, Beni and Tarija. The extreme cold front that hit Bolivia in mid-July caused water temperatures to dip below the minimum temperatures river life can tolerate. As a consequence, rivers, lakes, lagoons and fisheries are brimming with decomposing fish and other creatures….(Full Story — make sure to watch the video at the end of the article)

It would be surprising if the fish-die-off would not affect other South-American nations as well.

The mainstream media in the anglo-sphere kept totally silent on the ecological disaster and instead continued all along with raising alarm about catastrophic man-made global warming.

Posted in Censorship, Wildlife, Weather, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »

July 21, 2010 by admin.

Thanks to Wattsupwiththat.com:

Cold snap freezes South America – beaches whitened, some areas experience snow for the first time in living memory

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Anthony Watts

The full text of the article, including good-resolution photos is also available at this link (PDF file)

Excerpts:

HISTORICAL COLD SNAP FREEZES SOUTH AMERICA
By Alexandre Aguiar / MetSul Weather Center

A brutal and historical cold snap has so far caused 80 deaths in South America, according to international news agencies. Temperatures have been much below normal for over a week in vast areas of the continent. In Chile, the Aysen region was affected early last week by the worst snowstorm in 30 year. The snow accumulation reached 5 feet in Balmaceda and the Army was called to rescue people trapped by the snow….

In Uruguay, there were widespread reports of sleet and even snow mixed with rain in towns in the Southern and Eastern part of the country, even in the capital Montevideo. At leas two deaths have been blamed in Uruguay on the low temperatures. Hospitals were packed with patients with respiratory illness.
In Paraguay, at least nine people died due to the cold weather in only 3 days. Cattle were very affected and one thousand animals died of hypothermia. In Bolivia, dozes of people died in consequence of the very low temperatures. In some areas of the nation the cold period was described as the worst in 15 years. It even snowed in the Chaco of Bolivia, one of warmest areas of South America, where the local population never saw snow before. Classes were suspended in Bolivia for three days to prevent more cold related deaths (El Nacional newspaper from Bolivia)….

Southern Brazil was also very affected by the cold air eruption from the Southern Pole. Last week the temperature dropped to -7,8C in the city of Urupema, Santa Catarina. In Rio Grande do Sul, in the hills of the state, temperature felt to -4,9C in the city of Cambara. In the state of Paraná, the low was -6C. Only the nights were freezing, but the afternoons were very cold. In some days, temperature failed to reach 5C in many towns, the first time in a decade. Flurries observed in towns of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná and sleet was also reported in Western Santa Catarina….

On July 14th, in the afternoon hours, temperatures in the hills of Rio Grande do Sul state in Southern Brazil were lower than in Marambio, the main polar base of Argentina in Antarctica. In Central Brazil, in the tropics, the long streak of cold days was considered extremely rare. It was so cold that thousand of animals died in this region of Brazil known for its cattle, just South of the Amazon basin….

Maybe the most notable fact took place in North South America. The cold reached Amazon and temperatures felt to as low as 7ºC in towns in the Amazon Forest in the states of Acre and Rondonia. Temperature even felt in Roraima, where the state capital Boa Vista record 20C (normal lows are 25C) and the wind were blowing from the South. Boa Vista is located at 2º North of latitude, so the influence of the Antarctic cold blast crossed the Equator line and reached towns in the Northern Hemisphere. It would be the same of a cold snap from the Arctic crossing the entire North America continent, the Caribbean and reaching North Brazil in cities at 2º South of latitude as Santarem, a bizarre situation….

Well, given that all of that happened July 15, why did we not hear or see much of that on the news?  Perhaps we are not supposed to know about it.  Effective propaganda entails censorship of news that don’t fit the program.   A cold snap of historical proportions in South America, one that causes an antarctic blast of cold air to cross the equator into the northern hemisphere does not fit the program of man-made global warming alarmism.

We have to be careful about what we see and read in the news, but it appears that it is at least as important to be aware of what we do not see or read in the news.

As far as the mainstream media goes, consider the extent to which they regard the hundreds of deaths due to cold in South America as news worth covering.

Something is seriously wrong with that picture.

Posted in Censorship, Weather, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »

June 11, 2010 by admin.

Global warming is just propaganda

Talk by Nigel Calder, Savile Club, London, 9 Dec. 2008

(Full Story)
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nigel Calder (born December 2, 1931) is a British science writer.

Between 1956 and 1966 [when the magazine still covered science objectively], Calder wrote for the magazine New Scientist, serving as editor from 1962 until 1966. Since that time, he has worked as an independent author and TV screenwriter. He has conceived and scripted thirteen major documentaries and series concerning popular science subjects broadcast by the BBC and Channel 4 (London), with accompanying books. For his television work he received the Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science during 1972. During 2004, his book Magic Universe was shortlisted for The Aventis Prizes for Science Books.

Nigel Calder is the son of the late Lord (Peter) Ritchie-Calder, a brother of the historian Angus Calder and the father of travel writer Simon Calder. His other children are Sarah (business writer), Penny (museums writer and consultant), Jo (working in an IT company) and Kate (public relations consultant). His wife Liz is his literary agent and was formerly an adviser on language teaching for the London Chambers of Commerce.

Calder is a long-standing sceptic [sic] of global warming. As early as 1980, he predicted that within 20 years “the much-advertised heating of the earth by the man-made carbon-dioxide ‘greenhouse’ [will fail] to occur; instead, there [will be] renewed concern about cooling and an impending ice age”.[1] Calder participated in the polemic film The Great Global Warming Swindle. He also co-authored The Chilling Stars. Regarding global warming, Calder has said that “Governments are trying to achieve unanimity by stifling any scientist who disagrees. Einstein could not have got funding under the present system.”[2]

(Full Story)

Wikipedia’s CV for Nigel Calder is, of course, somewhat heavily biased in favour of the global-warming hype and hysteria, for reasons explained exceptionally well in the text of Nigel Calder’s speech.  Yes, when it comes to subjects like climate change, Wikipedia is anything but an objective source of information.

For instance, Wikipedia states:

As early as 1980, he [Nigel Calder] predicted that within 20 years “the much-advertised heating of the earth by the man-made carbon-dioxide ‘greenhouse’ [will fail] to occur; instead, there [will be] renewed concern about cooling and an impending ice age”.

Nevertheless, Wikipedia quite brazenly fails to point out that Nigel Calder’s prediction is correct.  Global temperatures failed to rise in a statistically significant manner since 1998 and have been gradually dropping during the last ten years.  The only part in Nigel Calder’s prediction that has not come true is that “there [will be] renewed concern about cooling and an impending ice age.”

Well, that is not quite correct.  Some prominent climate scientists lately expressed those concerns.  It’s just that the main-stream media so far provided virtually no coverage of that.  The details of why that is so are contained in the text of Nigel Calder’s speech.  I can’t think of anyone who explains the subject any better or in a more enlightening manner.

Posted in Propaganda debunked, Corruption & Fraud, Weather, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »

December 10, 2009 by admin.

The current Climategate scandal and years of temperature-data fiddling by leading and controlling climatologists resulted in a clear demonstration that Michael Mann’s hockey stick graph was a fabrication that falsified the global temperature history for the past thousand years.

One of the most outstanding features of Michael Mann’s hockey-stick graph was that it attempted to eliminate a well-established historical fact, the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), a period of time when temperatures throughout the globe were substantially warmer and far more benign than they are now.

During the MWP the Vikings colonized Greenland, England had a substantial wine-production industry — based on vineyards grown as far north as Hadrian’s Wall — that successfully competed with that in France, and civilization throughout Europe grew and thrived.  All of that ended with the advent of the Little Ice Age, a period of time that brought much colder weather, crop failures, the burning of the witches and millions of deaths through the bubonic plague (a.k.a. the Black Death).

The Little Ice Age ended around 1850.  Climate alarmists, including the 15,000 or so meeting at the Copenhagen Climate-Jamboree, brand the slight warming we experienced from about 1850 to the end of the second millennium — with temperatures that are not even yet as high as those reached during the MWP, as something to be afraid of, harbingers of calamities that will bring about not only the end of civilization but the end of all life on Earth.

The climate alarmists, much like a surgeon calling for the amputation of an arm to cure a hangnail, call for futile measures that are far more drastic than the burning of the witches and so far brought nothing less than the doubling and tripling of food prices, spelling death for millions of the world’s poor at the edge of starvation. One third of arable land is now being used not to grow food for those who need it but to grow crops for bio-fuels for cars that don’t need bio-fuels.

Yet, the alarmism relating to the most recent global temperature rise, exaggerated as it is, is nothing but displaced, at best. Temperature trend hockey sticks abound throughout the long climate history of the world, with the current peak in the temperature trend being far from being the highest ever experienced during civilization’s relatively short history.  (See also climate histories in Greenland and in the Antarctic.)

With the current warm period being far from indicating anything special, it seems that the next ice age is just around the corner. Perhaps the arctic blast that will quite likely hit the Copenhagen Climate Jamboree this coming weekend will serve as a practical reminder of that.

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See also a related article.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

By Alan Caruba

One of the great ironies of the Climate Change Conference taking place in Copenhagen is that its focus is on “global warming” at a time when Planet Earth has been in a cooling cycle for the passed decade….(Full Story)

Posted in Weather, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »

December 3, 2009 by admin.

News from WeatherAction

WA News No 91 - 30th Nov 2009

WeatherAction releases free long range forecast for Copenhagen

Climate summit to be hit by blustery deluges, probably turning to snow or blizzards and icy blasts in the region at times - especially heavy when President Obama visits

Honest Greens called on to “Jump from the Titanic before you and what you stand for gets dragged down with it”….

(Full statement in WANews09No91 pdf)

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Note: Unsurpassed by any other weather-forecasting methods, the long-range forecasts by WeatherAction are on average 85% accurate.

Posted in Weather, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »

July 31, 2009 by admin.

By Dr. Roy Spencer

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

Those who promote the theory that mankind is responsible for global warming have been working for the past 20 years on a revisionist climate history. A history where climate was always in a harmonious state of balance until mankind came along and upset that balance.

The natural climate cycle deniers have tried their best to eliminate the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age from climate data records by constructing the uncritically acclaimed and infamous “hockey stick” of global temperature variations (or non-variations) over the last one- to two-thousand years.

Before being largely discredited by a National Academies review panel, this ‘poster child’ for global warming was heralded as proof of the static nature of the climate system, and that only humans had the power to alter it….(Full Story)

Posted in Weather, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »

July 5, 2009 by admin.

World Climate Forecast

By Piers Corbyns

For the next 100 years

Issued on the 26th of June 2009

Piers Corbyns, of Weather Action, makes long range weather forecasts with exeptional accuracy.  He forecasts that global temperatures will drop untill about 2030 and then stay lower than current values, or recent values, for the next 100 years.

Piers Corbyns makes a presentation of his prediction that is accessible at YouTube.

The presentation concludes with: “General cooling until 2030, and staying generally cool — below current levels — for the following century.”

Posted in Weather, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »

June 22, 2009 by admin.

You may wish to bookmark the following link to help you to keep up-to-date on discussions of energy issues:

http://www.icecap.us/

Today, here are some of the articles that will probably interest you.Jun 21, 2009

The Wong-Fielding Meeting On Global WarmingBy David Evans on Joanne Nova’s blog

The article relates to a meeting between government officials and government-funded climate change alarmists on the one side, and reputable climate scientists in Australia who fall into the camp of the so-called climate-change “skeptics” on the other side.

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Jun 20, 2009 “World cooling has set in and it will stay colder for at least 100 years predicts scientist”

By Piers Corbyn, WeatherAction

Piers Corbyn is an astrophysicist-turned-weather-forecaster whose long-range weather forecasts - based on solar activity trends and their influence on Earth - are remarkably accurate.

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Jun 22, 2009 United States, Great Britain and Russia Climate Action In the News

Obama Gives Green Light to Canadian Oil Sands

Climatico, 21 June 2009

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Britain Green Suicide Note: 5,000 Pound Power

By Louise Barnett, Consumer Editor

That will be the combined costs of electricity and natural (or city-) gas by 2020.  Costs are projected to go up by as much as 42% a year.
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Jun 21, 2009 Appeal to Authority

By Norm Kalmanovitch

From the article:

See large image here.

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Jun 20, 2009 A Move to Put the Union Label on Solar Power Plants

By Todd Woody, New York Times Business

Posted in Energy Issues, Weather, Alternative Energy Sources, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »