UK slashes number of Foreign Office climate staff – London staff down by more than two thirds
Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem environment spokesperson, said: “It’s appalling that the number of people working on climate change in the Foreign Office has been substantially reduced, especially now that the Decc has been disbanded.
“It sends all the wrong signals about this government’s commitment to tackling our biggest global threat, and undermines the work being done to encourage other nations to take action.”…
Der Spiegel: EU Corporations Have Raked In 25 Billion Euros Through Corrupt Emissions Trading Scheme
…EU MEP Roger Helmer: ‘The Lessons of Lysenko’ & ‘climate change’
Following the death of Fidel Castro, it’s perhaps a good time to think about the malign impacts of totalitarian government, and the damage that political agendas can do to science.
I was recently discussing Lysenko with a friend (as you do), and naturally we turned to Wikipedia to clarify a point. And I came across a quote that hit me between the eyes (figuratively speaking);
“The term Lysenkoism can also be used metaphorically to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives”.
Dear Reader, you’re way ahead of me. Yes of course, I was struck immediately by the read-across to climate science. The parallels are remarkable.
You’ll be familiar with the story of Lysenko. He was a Russian biologist and agronomist who rejected Darwinian evolution and the rôle of genes, and preferred instead the Lamarckian concept of “inheritance of acquired characteristics”. Of course that concept is difficult to accept – especially when you reflect that a man who has lost a leg is perfectly capable of fathering a child with two legs. With the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to believe that Lamarckism was once regarded as a credible alternative to Darwinian theory – but so it was.
And Lysenko, in the late 1920s, took that view, and built a whole theory of plant breeding on it. More than that, he had the ear of Stalin, and Lysenkoism became official Soviet doctrine. The theory was imposed rigidly. More than 3000 mainstream biologists were fired, imprisoned or executed for challenging it.
Lysenkoism held sway in the USSR until the sixties, with dire consequences for Soviet agriculture. Again with hindsight it is difficult to credit the fact that it survived so long, when plainly it did not work. But worse than that, not only did it fail in the field (literally), it also totally blocked proper academic study and research in Russia in the area of plant breeding and Mendelian genetics for decades.
So how close are the parallels with climate theory? Of course Lysenkoism was restricted to the USSR. And it was imposed by a totalitarian régime that could, and did, shoot dissenters. Climate alarmism, on the other hand is broadly speaking global (even if some countries merely pay lip-service to the orthodoxy). It is imposed not …
‘Dark Mood in Brussels’: ‘EU unity on climate action could splinter’ – Prez. Trump can kill UN climate deal
Via: http://www.thegwpf.com/president-trump-can-kill-un-climate-deal-warns-eu-carbon-market-chief/
DARK MOOD IN BRUSSELS: PRESIDENT TRUMP CAN KILL UN CLIMATE DEAL, WARNS EU CARBON MARKET CHIEF
Date: 09/11/16 – EurActiv
The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States is a “real and imminent threat” to the fight against climate change, and “completely upends every single element” of the Paris Agreement, making it almost impossible to deliver, the MEP leading EU carbon market reform has warned.
Trump, elected today (9 November), has called climate change a hoax, saying it was “fictional”, and “created by the Chinese”.
The president-elect has threatened to pull the US out of the UN deal to cap global warming at no more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels with an aspirational 1.5 degree target. Today, EU Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete wrote to Trump, stressing the need for continued EU-US cooperation.
Ian Duncan is the Conservative member of the European Parliament leading the reform of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), the world’s largest scheme for trading emissions allowances.
Reforming the ETS is a major part of the EU strategy to cut emissions in line with the bloc’s climate commitments.
World governments are this week meeting in Marrakech, Morocco for the COP22 climate conference, which aims to thrash out the practical implication of the landmark pact to cap global warming.
“It completely upends every single element of the Paris Accord and almost certainly makes it impossible to deliver,” Duncan said.
Who will listen to US Secretary of State John Kerry in Marrakech now?, he asked. US officials in Morocco are “speaking for nobody but themselves and for an outgoing administration.”
China and the US, the world’s two biggest emitters, ratified the Agreement at the same time, giving impetus to the push that brought the deal into force on 4 November, much earlier than expected.
“The extraordinary thing about Paris was that it came together in the way it did. The 1.5 degree ambition was an incredible thing to see,” Duncan said, One year on and the US participation is now in jeopardy.
“You can’t have the EU alone addressing climate change and nobody else doing it. Your industries will suffer immediately.”
Duncan, who represents Scotland, added, “The ramifications for climate change are a real and immediate threat.”
Dark mood in European Parliament
Duncan spent this morning at a meeting of MEPs from the other major European political parties. They discussed compromised …
‘Climate Hustle’ film debuts at EU Parliament in Brussels – EU Hosts Morano & Producer Chris Rogers
Roger Helmer EU MEP & United Kingdom Independence Party & Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group continued:
While the movie covered much ground that I found familiar, I personally found it hugely encouraging – not least the number of interviews with highly qualified climate scientists like, Judith Curry , who started out accepting the scientific “consensus” uncritically, but were prompted to take a closer look by the evident contradictions in the orthodoxy, and switched to a sceptical position – despite the damage that involved for their careers. They deserve our respect.
Given my own experience as a (fairly) lone voice in the climate debate in the EP, the movie’s affirmation of my own views was hugely encouraging, and I am grateful to Marc Morano and to Climate Depot for coming to Brussels.…
Morano goes to EU! To premiere ‘Climate Hustle’ film at EU Parliament on Oct. 19 in Brussels!
http://www.ukip.org/roger_helmer_mep_to_host_screening_of_climate_hustle
Roger Helmer MEP to host screening of ‘Climate Hustle’
Published Oct 12, 2016
Roger Helmer MEP has organised a special screening of the highly-acclaimed film Climate Hustle. He said: “The film takes apart the case for ‘catastrophic global warming’ and exposes the lies, exaggerations and misinterpretations which underlie the new religion of ‘warmism’.”
The“Climate Hustle” film was created by Climate Depot, the US think-tank and advocacy group and Mr Helmer has arranged a screening of it in Brussels next week, Wednesday, October 19, at 3pm. The event will be open to visitors and anyone interested can pre-register at [email protected]. Those attending should should arrive an hour beforehand, to allow for the Parliament’s extensive registration and security procedures.
Roger Helmer said: “We have Marc Morano, perhaps the most prominent campaigner against climate alarmism, and a co-author of the film, attending the event. He will speak and take questions. If you ever thought 97 per cent of scientists back ‘warmism’, or that we’re about to cross a catastrophic tipping point, or that the human race will be reduced to a few thousand people scraping an existence at the South Pole, this film will reassure you.”
About Marc Morano:
Marc Morano, the award-winning host of Climate Hustle, is one of the highest profile voices of climate realism in the world today. He currently serves as executive editor and chief correspondent for CFACT’s award-winning ClimateDepot.com, a news and information service he founded in 2009. He is a frequent guest on radio and television talk in the U.S. and internationally, including CNN, Fox News, the BBC, and Canada’s Sun TV, and has been profiled in the New York Times, Esquire magazine, Rolling Stone, and numerous others. From 1992 to 1996, Morano served as a reporter for the nationally syndicated “Rush Limbaugh, the Television Show.” He next served as an investigative reporter for Cybercast News Service and as a reporter and producer for the nationally syndicated television newsmagazine “American Investigator.” In 2000, his investigative television documentary “Amazon Rainforest: Clear-Cutting the Myths” created an international firestorm. During his tenure as senior advisor, speechwriter, and climate researcher for U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), he managed the communication operations of the GOP side of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Europe’s Electric Cars Fiasco: Sales fell for the fourth month in a row
Sales of battery electric vehicles in Western Europe fell for the fourth month in a row, an analysis of a respected European industry publication says.
In August, a month in which the overall Western European new car market climbed 8%, sales of BEVs in the world’ second largest EV market behind China dropped 1.2% compared to August 2015, paid subscribers of the AID Newsletter were told. The harsh realities of EU registrations cast a shadow on the EV euphoria of the Paris motor show, once again raising the question on auto executives’ minds: “Who will buy all those EVs?” Matthias Schmidt, editor of the UK-based publication, thinks he may have the answer: Push comes to shove, OEMs might buy their own cars.
In spite of electric car incentives doled out by some EU governments, “West Europe’s electric car sales share remains stuck at last year’s low level,” says the report. Even more worrisome “is the sudden speed at which Norway’s previously highly enthusiastic car buying public appears to be turning away from BEVs.”
After lavish Norwegian incentives for EVs were dialed back a few notches, Tesla’s marquee market folded its tent while customers switch to plug-in hybrids. Overall, the “gravitational pull from PHEVs” significantly lowered the trajectories of BEVs in the first eight months of the year, AID says.…
Green Fraudsters: US Calls Out Europe For Emissions Cheating
…China Funds And Builds Europe’s New Coal Power Plants
From GWPF:
The Balkan region’s first privately-funded power plant came online on Tuesday, increasing the region’s dependency on coal-fired power stations even as environmental concerns are driving them to the brink of the extinction elsewhere in Europe. It was built by China’s Dongfang Electric Corp and financed with the help of a 350 million euro ($391.13 million) loan from the China Development Bank.
Coal-fired power plant Stanari
Planned coal power plants in south-eastern Europe; source Bankwatch
The 300-megawatt plant, in the northern Bosnian town of Stanari, is a foreign investment in a chronically impoverished country that remains heavily dependent on foreign aid more than 20 years after it emerged from war.
Even though the Western Balkans has a power deficit, European investors are reluctant to finance more polluting coal which forms the backbone of supply in the region, attracting Chinese financiers and contractors.
Work on the investment, by Serbian-run but British-based Energy Financing Team (EFT), started in 2013. It was built by China’s Dongfang Electric Corp and financed with the help of a 350 million euro ($391.13 million) loan from the China Development Bank.
EFT, which focuses on power markets in central and southeast Europe, won a 30-year concession in 2008 to build the Stanari plant and expand an adjacent coal mine that will feed it at a total cost of 560 million euros ($625.63 million).
Lignite – the most polluting type of coal – is widely available in the Balkans, making it appealing to governments seeking ways of ensuring security of supply and keeping energy prices low while also placating influential mining lobbies.
The new plant, which will generate 2,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, creating 1,000 jobs, will strengthen Bosnia’s position as a leading energy exporter to the region.
It generates more than 40 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric power, making it, along with Bulgaria and Romania, one of the few Balkan countries with a domestic power surplus.
Environmentalists fear that the region’s cash-strapped governments will be tempted to cut corners in this and other projects, exposing them to costly upgrade costs once they join the European Union.
Some 2,800 megawatts of extra coal-fired capacity is planned across the region in coming years at a total cost of 4.5 billion euros, most of it financed by China.
Meanwhile:
SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), September 20 (SeeNews) – Bosnian state-controlled coal miner Banovici [SAJ:RMUBR] plans to sign …
We’re Saved! France bans plastic forks and spoons to fight climate change!
http://travel.aol.co.uk/2016/09/18/france-bans-plastic-cutlery-fight-climate-change/
Plastic cutlery and crockery is set to be banned in France unless it is made from biologically sourced materials.
The move is part of the French environmental initiative called Energy Transition for Green Growth, and the law will come into force in 2020.
…
The Telegraph reports that the move is part of a growing trend to rid the world of the use of plastics.
San Francisco banned plastic shopping bags in 2007, and the use of plastic water bottles on public properties in 2014.
And a law was recently passed in Britain requiring the public to pay 5p for plastic shopping bags.
…