Two articles in the Guardian/Observer this weekend seem to have stretched reports produced by conservationists to effect the maximum possible alarm. On Saturday, the Guardian reported that the National Trust had produced an audit of climate change effects on wildlife...
Observing the Observer
The Observer (the Sunday Guardian) welcomes the appointment of a Gaia-botherer to Obama's team. The decision by Barack Obama to appoint John Holdren as his chief scientific adviser deserves widespread welcome. The Harvard academic and former energy expert at the...
A Peak Peak-Oil-Theory Theory
Five months is a long time in climate politics. The arguments change with the seasons. Back in the hazy days of July and August, the eco-newswires were dominated by stories about ‘record-breaking’ arctic ice extent – even though it wasn’t record-breaking, and the...
Last BBC Show Standing?
Even the curmudgeonliest of climate realists need a break from complaining once in a while. So, no moaning about how BBC2 somehow managed to force a lesson in sustainability into a documentary about the behaviour of pygmy marmosets. No grumbling about how BBC R4's PM...
unthreaded
This post is a spillover from the discussion on a recent post which lost its direction.
The Completely Cuckoo Climate Change Cyberspace Conspiracy Conspiracy
How long has it been since we last mentioned George Monbiot? The truth is that we simply got bored of his predictable column in the Guardian. Furthermore, we aren’t convinced that anyone actually takes him at all seriously, apart from the people who book him for media...
Plane Selfish
Ridiculous, self-indulgent, self-absorbed, self-righteous, and self-important protest outfit, Plane Stupid broke into Stansted Airport today, to delay the reopening of a runway. The group's website quotes one of their number, 21 year old Tilly, "We're here because our...
Cold is the new warm
When is a short term trend not a short term trend? When it's an upward anomaly. James Randerson in the Guardian tells us that, This year is set to be the coolest since 2000, according to a preliminary estimate of global average temperature that is due to be released...
There’s gold in green: profiting from climate change
Imagine an unpopular, impotent, and fragile UK Government, trying to make political capital out of a looming crisis. To avoid being embarrassed by criticism of its shallow policies, it appoints an independent panel of experts, to which it defers controversial...
Eco-Prophets or Eco-Profiteers?
Ben has another article about the Climate Change Committee on The Register today. There's no doubt there's money to be made from this new legislation, which was passed last week. A recent conference, given the title 'Cashing in on Carbon' was, in its own words,...