Scientists say past century in US west among wettest in last 7000 years, California currently in 20 year dry phase due to negative Pacific decadel oscillation and not related to global warming

1/25/14, "California drought: Past dry periods have lasted more than 200 years, scientists say," Mercury News, Paul Rogers

"California's current drought is being billed as the driest period in the state's recorded rainfall history. But scientists who study the West's long-term climate patterns say the state has been parched for much longer stretches before that 163-year historical period began....


Through studies of tree rings, sediment and other natural evidence, researchers have documented multiple droughts in California that lasted 10 or 20 years in a row during the past 1,000 years -- compared to the mere three-year duration of the current dry spell. The two most severe megadroughts make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s look tame: a 240-year-long drought that started in 850 and, 50 years after the conclusion of that one, another that stretched at least 180 years. 


"We continue to run California as if the longest drought we are ever going to encounter is about seven years," said Scott Stine, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Cal State East Bay. "We're living in a dream world."

California in 2013 received less rain than in any year since it became a state in 1850. And at least one Bay Area scientist says that based on tree ring data, the current rainfall season is on pace to be the driest since 1580 -- more than 150 years before George Washington was born. The question is: How much longer will it last?...

California, the nation's most populous state with 38 million residents, has built a massive economy, Silicon Valley, Hollywood and millions of acres of farmland, all in a semiarid area. The state's dams, canals and reservoirs have never been tested by the kind of prolonged drought that experts say will almost certainly occur again.

Stine, who has spent decades studying tree stumps in Mono Lake, Tenaya Lake, the Walker River and other parts of the Sierra Nevada, said that the past century has been among the wettest of the last 7,000 years.


Looking back, the long-term record also shows some staggeringly wet periods. The decades between the two medieval megadroughts, for example, delivered years of above-normal rainfall -- the kind that would cause devastating floods today.

The longest droughts of the 20th century, what Californians think of as severe, occurred from 1987 to 1992 and from 1928 to 1934. Both, Stine said, are minor compared to the ancient droughts of 850 to 1090 and 1140 to 1320....

Roos, who has worked at the department since 1957, said the prospect of megadroughts is another reason to build more storage -- both underground and in reservoirs -- to catch rain in wet years....

If a drought lasted decades, the state could always build dozens of desalination plants, which would cost billions of dollars, said law professor Barton "Buzz" Thompson, co-director of Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment.

Saudi Arabia, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries depend on desalination, but water from desal plants costs roughly five times more than urban Californians pay for water now. Thompson said that makes desal projects unfeasible for most of the state now, especially when other options like recycled wastewater and conservation can provide more water at a much lower cost....
 
Over the past 10 years, he noted, Australia has been coping with a severe drought. Urban residents there cut their water demand massively, built new supply projects and survived....

Some scientists believe we are already in a megadrought, although that view is not universally accepted.

Bill Patzert, a research scientist and oceanographer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, says that the West is in a 20-year drought that began in 2000. He cites the fact that a phenomenon known as a "negative Pacific decadal oscillation" is underway -- and that historically has been linked to extreme high-pressure ridges that block storms.

Such events, which cause pools of warm water in the North Pacific Ocean and cool water along the California coast, are not the result of global warming, Patzert said....

"Long before the Industrial Revolution, we were vulnerable to long extended periods of drought. And now we have another experiment with all this CO2 in the atmosphere where there are potentially even more wild swings in there," said Graham Kent, a University of Nevada geophysicist who has studied submerged ancient trees in Fallen Leaf Lake near Lake Tahoe.

Already, the 2013-14 rainfall season is shaping up to be the driest in 434 years, based on tree ring data, according to Lynn Ingram, a paleoclimatologist at UC Berkeley. "It's important to be aware of what the climate is capable of," she said, "so that we can prepare for it." Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045."...chart above, E.R. Cook et al Earth Science Reviews, Kahler, Bay Area News Group

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1/31/14,  "California's Sierra Snowpack Only 12% of Average, a Record Low," Dr. Jeff Masters Wunderblog

"Worst California drought in 500 years?" subhead

"Megadroughts in the Western U.S. can develop from natural causes, as well, and the current pattern of cooler than average ocean temperatures in the Eastern Pacific and warmer than average ocean temperatures in the Atlantic increase the odds of drought conditions like the ones we have seen during the current megadrought. Edward Cook, director of the Tree Ring Laboratory at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y., said at a presentation last month at the American Geophysical Union meeting that tree ring data show that the area of the West that was affected by severe drought in the Medieval period was much higher and much longer than the current drought. It is “indeed pretty scary,” Cook said. “One lasted 29 years. One lasted 28 years. They span the entire continental United States." Two megadroughts in the Sierra Nevada of California lasted between 100 and 200 years."...(3rd parag. under subhead)

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Obama Denmark Prime Minister selfie pal on thin ice after making deal giving Goldman Sachs 18% of Denmark state energy utility-NY Times Dealbook

"Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt, who is best known internationally for her recent “selfie” with President Obama at the funeral of Nelson Mandela, said she would form a new government....The party’s withdrawal from the coalition left the government of Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the prime minister, with a tenuous grip on power."...
 
1/30/14, "Goldman Deal Threatens Danish Government," NY Times Dealbook, Danny Hakim

Dec. 10, 2013, AFP Getty

"When Denmark gave the global financial giant Goldman Sachs the go-ahead on Thursday to buy a stake in its state utility, the move was not exactly followed by a celebratory signing ceremony....

Under the terms of the deal, Goldman would invest about $1.45 billion for an 18 percent stake in Dong Energy, the state utility, which has become a green energy exemplar in its push for electricity from wind turbines. Though the deal buys far from a controlling share, the minority stake would come with special privileges.. 
 

Goldman would get a seat on the utility’s board. And the bank, along with two Danish pension funds, would have veto power over changes in the utility’s strategy or its executive suite — specifically the utility’s chief executive or chief financial officer. The Danish pension funds are investing about $550 million.

Among the questions about the deal is whether it is being structured to avoid taxes. Goldman’s investment will be made through a company based in Luxembourg. Danish Broadcasting has reported that shares in the Luxembourg company are partly owned by entities based in the Cayman Islands and Delaware....
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So divided was the Socialist People’s Party that it withdrew its ministers from the country’s governing coalition. Some party members said the deal ceded too much power to Goldman. Annette Vilhelmsen, the party’s leader, who supported the deal, stepped down from her leadership role since she could not reach agreement within her party.

The party’s withdrawal from the coalition left the government of Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the prime minister, with a tenuous grip on power.

That so many Danes have been aghast at the idea of giving Goldman Sachs a prominent role in the country’s energy future reflects how far the damage to the investment bank’s reputation has spread since the financial crisis.

However much the financial world might envy Goldman’s trading prowess, many Danes see Goldman as an emblem of an industry that helped cause the crisis and then profited handsomely even as much of the Continent still struggles to recover.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest the deal; a prominent banner featured the vampire squid that critics have come to embrace as a symbol of Goldman Sachs. Nearly 200,000 Danes signed an online petition against the deal, a record.

The deal was approved on Thursday by a parliamentary committee. The departure of the Socialists left the two remaining parties in a precarious position....Dong Energy has a number of businesses, but it is perhaps best known of late for its leading role in building offshore wind farms. Dong also drills for oil and gas in the North Sea, has about one million gas and electric customers and operates coal and biomass power plants....

On Wednesday, an estimated 4,000 people gathered in front of Parliament to protest the deal. A few supporters also turned up, including Rasmus Jarlov, a member of the Copenhagen City Council and the Conservative Party.

During an interview, he was hit by a snowball, and later, he and three other conservatives were attacked by protesters....

But Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt, who is best known internationally for her recent “selfie” with President Obama at the funeral of Nelson Mandela, said she would form a new government. The two remaining parties in the coalition government, her Social Democrats and the Social Liberal party, hold about a third of the seats in the Parliament. The Socialists said they would still support the coalition in parliamentary votes. The governing coalition is also backed by a far left party.

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“It is quite an odd day in the Danish Parliament, considering one of the three parties that was in the government has left,” Benny Engelbrecht, a Social Democratic lawmaker, said in an interview. He said the departure of the Socialist People’s Party “was over a number of things, but inspired by this.”"...Image above, 12/10/13, "US President Barack Obama (R) and British Prime Minister David Cameron pose for a picture with Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt (C) next to US First Lady Michelle Obama (R) during the memorial service of South African former president Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium (Soccer City) in Johannesburg on December 10, 2013....AFP PHOTO / ROBERTO SCHMIDT (Photo credit should read ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)," via Wash. Times

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ClimateWire 'reporters' Lehmann and Lippman cheer Jan. 2014 Obama climate statements as 'fact' and 'sugar rush' yet two major Obama 2013 climate statements alleged as 'facts' have yet to be confirmed by the EPA, UN IPCC, or any scientist

1/29/14, "Obama tells sidelined lawmakers that climate change is 'a fact'," Evan Lehmann and Daniel Lippman, E&E reporters ClimateWire

Evan

"President Obama declared that the uncertainty around climate change is at an end, telling Congress "the debate is over" about its impacts on the Earth. His assertion in the State of the Union address served as a sugar rush for Democrats...."Climate change is a fact," Obama said in the first half of his speech."...Lehmann image via LinkedIn. Daniel Lippman, LinkedIn. 
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"On multiple occasions, and most recently on May 30^th of last year, President Obama has said, and this is a quote he has used several times, he said that 'the temperature around the globe is increasing faster than was predicted even ten years ago' and that 'the climate is warming faster than anybody anticipated five or ten years ago.'"

 

1/16/14, "Sen. Inhofe on Obama's Global Warming Claims: 'The President Just Made that Up'," CNS News, Craig Bannister

"Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) told a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee hearing today that the president must have fabricated two oft-repeated climate claims.

"Both statements are false," Sen. Inhofe said of Obama's global warming claims, since neither the EPA nor the U.N. IPCC climate group can provide any supporting statistics: [video:1]
 

"On multiple occasions, and most recently on May 30^th of last year, President Obama has said, and this is a quote he has used several times, he said that 'the temperature around the globe is increasing faster than was predicted even ten years ago' and that 'the climate is warming faster than anybody anticipated five or ten years ago.'

"Both statements are false, and through letters to you, Ms. McCarthy, and on the record in this Committee, we've asked the EPA to provide us with the data backing up these two statements, the two statements made by the president, but they don't have any data and referred us to the UN IPCC. And, their scientists, apparently, the EPA thought they were the source of this.

"Well, we went there and they had nothing to back it up, so apparently the president just made that up.

"And, I think that's very important because, when you get statements that are made, they're supposed to be logic and on truth, you have to check them out.

"Last week's record cold temperature brought the global warming debate back to the public's attention, but that's only important to the extent that it's bringing more awareness to the uncertainty of the science around the debate."

"The truth completely contradicts the president's statements," Sen. Inhofe said, noting that temperatures have "flat-lined" over the last 15 years - something no climate model used to promote global warming theory ever predicted:

"When you go back and look at the at look at the temperature projections from climate models and compare them to actual temperatures, two things are readily evident: first, temperatures have flat-lined over the last fifteen years; and second, an average of over 100 climate models from the last decade shows that the scientific community did not predict this would happen.  

And to my knowledge, not a single climate model ever predicted that a pause in global warming would ever occur. Senator Sessions is going to go deeper into this.

"The truth completely contradicts the president's statements and begs the question why he and the EPA not only continue to deny the truth but why it has raced to stop this information from disseminating into the scientific record.""
 

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Comment: The field of science is treated like a toy by many politicians and media members today. How can our children take science seriously?

 

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'When he had a hammer,' Pete Seeger considered songs to be weapons

1/28/2014, "When he had a hammer," NY Post Editorial Board

"‘Songs are weapons,” Pete Seeger used to say. For more than seven decades, he led America in sing-alongs, even as most of his audiences remained blissfully unaware of the messages behind many of his songs.

Take the now-iconic “If I Had a Hammer.” Today, it is admired as a call to justice. In fact, it was written for a 1949 testimonial dinner for top leaders of the US Communist Party, then on trial for advocating the violent overthrow of our government.

Such facts are missing from the tributes to the former Communist Party member, who died Monday at age 94. President Obama, for example, hailed him as “America’s tuning fork,” while Mayor de Blasio urged everyone to “sing a song for justice.”

Some will argue Seeger’s music should not be judged by the dubious movements he aligned himself with. But to Seeger himself they were inseparable.

Yes, he sang about “justice” and “freedom” and “peace.” But when Hitler and Stalin signed their pact in 1939, Seeger followed the party line, abandoning anti-fascism to sing out against “warmongering” by FDR — only to reverse himself, as the party did, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.

And yes, he protested US involvement in Vietnam. But he refused to join fellow singer Joan Baez in protesting the terrible abuses there after the communists won.

However brilliant a musical artist Pete Seeger may have been, honesty requires acknowledging that “America’s national treasure” was a tarnished gem." via Lucianne.

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Comment: I didn't know the story behind "If I had a hammer," which I associate with Peter, Paul, and Mary. 






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Peer reviewed study in Science confirms lack of certainty about human effects on climate due to lack of data on aerosols. Hansen cited this in 2013 and crash of NASA satellite to study aerosols in 2011

1/24/14, "Climate Effects of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions," ScienceMag.org

 

"Science 24 January 2014 Vol. 343 no. 6169 pp. 379-380 DOI: 10.1126/science.1247490

1. Daniel Rosenfeld1,*,Steven Sherwood2, Robert Wood3, Leo Donner4 

"Aerosols counteract part of the warming effects of greenhouse gases, mostly by increasing the amount of sunlight reflected back to space. However, the ways in which aerosols affect climate through their interaction with clouds are complex and incompletely captured by climate models. As a result, the radiative forcing (that is, the perturbation to Earth's energy budget) caused by human activities is highly uncertain, making it difficult to predict the extent of global warming (1, 2). Recent advances have led to a more detailed understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions and their effects on climate, but further progress is hampered by limited observational capabilities and coarse-resolution climate models. 

Read the Full Text...

 

Author Affiliations

1. ¹The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
2. ²University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
3. ³University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1640, USA.
4. ⁴National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA."

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2013 Hansen statements on lack of aerosols data including mention of 2011 satellite crash:

Page 1, Scientists note lack of scientific data on aerosols makes it impossible to accurately interpret global climate:

Jan. 15, 2013, “Global Temperature Update Through 2012, 15 January 2013,” Columbia University, J. Hansen, M. Sato, R. Rudy

(page 1, parag. 3): “The approximate stand-still of global temperature during 1940-1975 is generally attributed to an approximate balance of aerosol cooling and greenhouse gas warming during a period of rapid growth of fossil fuel use with little control on particulate air pollution, but satisfactory quantitative interpretation has been impossible because of the absence of adequate aerosol measurements 3,4.”…

 

(page 1): “Summary. …”The 5-year mean global temperature has been flat for a decade, which we interpret as a combination of natural variability and a slowdown in the growth rate of the net climate forcing"….

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Page 6 details problem predicting future “climate change” referenced on p. 1 above, ie lack of data on aerosols, and that the one US satellite designed to measure them crashed on takeoff:

page 6, last parag. of report under sub-head, “Climate Change Expectations”: 

“The one major wild card in projections of future climate change is the unmeasured climate forcing due to aerosol changes and their effects on clouds. Anecdotal information indicates that particulate air pollution has increased in regions with increasing coal burning, but assessment of the climate forcing requires global measurement of detailed physical properties of the aerosols. The one satellite mission that was capable of making measurements with the required detail and accuracy was lost via a launch failure, and as yet there are no plans for a replacement mission with the needed capabilities.4″

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Press links re: NASA climate satellite crashes in 2009 and 2011. 2011 satellite (referenced by Hansen) was specifically to study aerosols:

“Perhaps that’s why the loss hurts most, because Glory “was directed very specifically at the place where our knowledge was weakest“, he said.”…”A tragedy for climate science.”…”an area that desperately needs more study.”…

3/4/11, “Raze of Glory: NASA Earth-Observing Climate Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit,” Scientific American, John Matson
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“A launch malfunction sent the Glory satellite crashing into the ocean, almost exactly mimicking the 2009 loss of NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory.“…

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2011 crash of aerosols mission "a tragedy for climate science:" 

 

3/6/11, “Nasa crashes hit geoscience efforts,” AFP, News24, Washington

“A pair of costly satellite crashes have dealt a major blow to Nasa’s earth science efforts just as the US space agency faces scrutiny from Congress over whether climate science should be part of its focus at all.

The $424m Glory satellite to monitor aerosols and the sun’s power plunged into the Pacific on Friday shortly after launch, just two years after a similar satellite to study carbon dioxide in the atmosphere met the same fate.

“The loss of the Glory satellite is a tragedy for climate science,” said Bruce Wielicki, senior scientist for earth science at Nasa’s Langley Research Centre.”…...via The Hockey Schtick






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New Delhi air much worse than Beijing, more particulate matter-NY Times

1/25/14, "Beijing’s Bad Air Would Be Step Up for Smoggy Delhi," NY Times, Gardiner Harris, New Delhi

"In mid-January, air pollution in Beijing was so bad that the government issued urgent health warnings and closed four major highways, prompting the panicked buying of air filters and donning of face masks. But in New Delhi, where pea-soup smog created what was by some measurements even more dangerous air, there were few signs of alarm in the country’s boisterous news media, or on its effervescent Twittersphere.

Despite Beijing’s widespread reputation of having some of the most polluted air of any major city in the world, an examination of daily pollution figures collected from both cities suggests that New Delhi’s air is more laden with dangerous small particles of pollution, more often, than Beijing’s. Lately, a very bad air day in Beijing is about an average one in New Delhi.

The United States Embassy in Beijing sent out warnings in mid-January, when a measure of harmful fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 went above 500, in the upper reaches of the measurement scale, for the first time this year. This refers to particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, which is believed to pose the greatest health risk because it penetrates deeply into lungs..

But for the first three weeks of this year, New Delhi’s average daily peak reading of fine particulate matter from Punjabi Bagh, a monitor whose readings are often below those of other city and independent monitors, was 473, more than twice as high as the average of 227 in Beijing. By the time pollution breached 500 in Beijing for the first time on the night of Jan. 15, Delhi had already had eight such days. Indeed, only once in three weeks did New Delhi’s daily peak value of fine particles fall below 300, a level more than 12 times the exposure limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

“It’s always puzzled me that the focus is always on China and not India,” said Dr. Angel Hsu, director of the environmental performance measurement program at the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy. “China has realized that it can’t hide behind its usual opacity, whereas India gets no pressure to release better data. So there simply isn’t good public data on India like there is for China.”

Experts have long known that India’s air is among the worst in the world. A recent analysis by Yale researchers found that seven of the 10 countries with the worst air pollution exposures are in South Asia. And evidence is mounting that Indians pay a higher price for air pollution than almost anyone. 

A recent study showed that Indians have the world’s weakest lungs, with far less capacity than Chinese lungs. Researchers are beginning to suspect that India’s unusual mix of polluted air, poor sanitation and contaminated water may make the country among the most dangerous in the world for lungs.

India has the world’s highest death rate because of chronic respiratory diseases, and it has more deaths from asthma than any other nation, according to the World Health Organization. A recent study found that half of all visits to doctors in India are for respiratory problems, according to Sundeep Salvi, director of the Chest Research Foundation in Pune.

Clean Air Asia, an advocacy group, found that another common measure of pollution known as PM10, for particulate matter less than 10 micrometers in diameter, averaged 117 in Beijing in a six-month period in 2011. In New Delhi, the Center for Science and Environment used government data and found that an average measure of PM10 in 2011 was 281, nearly two-and-a-half times higher.

Perhaps most worrisome, Delhi’s peak daily fine particle pollution levels are 44 percent higher this year than they were last year, when they averaged 328 over the first three weeks of the year. Fine particle pollution has been strongly linked with premature death, heart attacks, strokes and heart failure. In October, the World Health Organization declared that it caused lung cancer.

The United States Embassy in Beijing posts on Twitter the readings of its air monitor, helping to spur awareness of the problem. The readings have more than 35,000 followers. The United States does not release similar readings from its New Delhi Embassy, saying the Indian government releases its own figures.

In China, concerns about air quality have transfixed many urban residents, and some government officials say curbing the pollution is a priority.

But in India, Delhi’s newly elected regional government did not mention air pollution among its 18 priorities, and India’s environment minister quit in December amid widespread criticism that she was delaying crucial industrial projects. Her replacement, the government’s petroleum minister, almost immediately approved several projects that could add considerably to pollution. India and China strenuously resisted pollution limits in global climate talks in Warsaw in November.

Frank Hammes, chief executive of IQAir, a Swiss-based maker of air filters, said his company’s sales were hundreds of times higher in China than in India.

“In China, people are extremely concerned about the air, especially around small children,” Mr. Hammes said. “Why there’s not the same concern in India is puzzling.”

In multiple interviews, Delhiites expressed a mixture of unawareness and despair about the city’s pollution levels. “I don’t think pollution is a major concern for Delhi,” said Akanksha Singh, a 20-year-old engineering student who lives on Delhi’s outskirts in Ghaziabad, adding that he felt that Delhi’s pollution problems were not nearly as bad as those of surrounding towns.

In 1998, India’s Supreme Court ordered that Delhi’s taxis, three-wheelers and buses be converted to compressed natural gas, but the resulting improvements in air quality were short-lived as cars flooded the roads. In the 1970s, Delhi had about 800,000 vehicles; now it has 7.5 million, with 1,400 more added daily.

“Now the air is far worse than it ever was,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the Center for Science and Environment.

Indians’ relatively poor lung function has long been recognized, but researchers assumed for years that the difference was genetic.

Then a 2010 study found that the children of Indian immigrants who were born and raised in the United States had far better lung function than those born and raised in India.

“It’s not genetics; it’s mostly the environment,” said Dr. MyLinh Duong, an assistant professor of respirology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

In a study published in October, Dr. Duong compared lung tests taken in 38,517 healthy nonsmokers from 17 countries who were matched by height, age and sex. Indians’ lung function was by far the lowest among those tested.

All of this has led some wealthy Indians to consider leaving. Annat Jain, a private equity investor who returned to India in 2001 after spending 12 years in the United States, said his father died last year of heart failure worsened by breathing problems. Now his 4-year-old daughter must be given twice-daily breathing treatments.. 
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“But whenever we leave the country, everyone goes back to breathing normally,” he said. “It’s something my wife and I talk about constantly.”" image above caption, "People made a fire in New Delhi to keep warm on Friday, one of many sources of pollution that makes the city’s air among the world’s worst. Sami Siva for The New York Times"

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Comment: Too bad UN climate chief Pachauri doesn't address "unsustainable" atmosphere in his own country instead of jet setting around the world complaining about American life which is none of his business.




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Mark Steyn now free to proceed in climate defamation lawsuit, no longer constrained by National Review lawyers

1/22/14, “Trial and Error,” SteynOnline.com

“As readers may have deduced from my absence at National Review Online and my termination of our joint representation, there have been a few differences between me and the rest of the team. The lesson of the last year is that you win a free-speech case not by adopting a don’t-rock-the-boat, keep-mum, narrow procedural posture but by fighting it in the open, in the bracing air and cleansing sunlight of truth and justice.” (last parag. in article)

“Although I was the only one on the NR side who’s actually won a free-speech battle (and so decisively that the law was eventually repealed), I was prevailed upon through the course of last year to leave it to the experts. The result is that we blew through half a million bucks, and have nothing to show for it - other than what even Judge Weisberg calls a “convoluted procedural history” that utterly buried the real issues at the heart of the case. As my motion put it:

Defendant Steyn has been in many courtrooms in his native Canada and many other parts of the British Commonwealth and has never seen a case so procedurally bungled.

Many “climate skeptics” wonder why the defendants would want to get the complaint dismissed rather than put Mann through a trial in which he would have to take the witness stand and discuss his work under oath. I can understand their enthusiasm for this but for me the priority has always been the broader cause of free speech:

Defendant Steyn stands by his words and is willing to defend them at trial and before a jury, should it come to that. However, as a noted human-rights activist in Canada and elsewhere, he believes that the cause of freedom of expression in the United States would best be served by dismissing the amended complaint, and that a trial would have a significant “chilling effect” in America of the kind the Anti-SLAPP laws are specifically designed to prevent.

The “chilling effect” is a bigger threat to civilized society than all Dr Mann’s warming. But the judge chose instead to put us on the road to a full-scale trial. So be it.“…via Judith Curry, Climate Etc.




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Super Bowl weather questions have upstaged even the point spread. 11 pro football championship games in NY winters 1934-2001 have ranged from pleasant to arctic-Dave Anderson, NY Times

The 48th Super Bowl will be played in the NY area but there have been 11 pro football championship games in the NY area in Decembers and Januaries from 1934-2001:

1/25/14, "New York Area Weather Has a History with the Super Bowl," NY Times, Dave Anderson

"In the countdowns to each of the previous 47 Super Bowls, the primary question was, quite simply, Which team will win?

But as Denver and Seattle await XLVIII next Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., questions about the weather for the first outdoor cold-climate Super Bowl have upstaged even the point spread.

How cold will it be? How windy? If it snows or rains, how much and when? Before the game? During the game?...

 
For the 11 professional football championship games at the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium and Giants Stadium over the last eight decades, the weather has ranged from relatively pleasant to arctic. 

DEC. 9, 1934 The Sneakers Game. With the Polo Grounds field frozen by 16-degree cold, the Giants, wearing rubber-soled sneakers borrowed at halftime from Manhattan College, rallied for 27 points in the fourth quarter to dethrone the Chicago Bears for the N.F.L. title, 30-13. Ken Strong rushed for touchdowns of 42 and 11 yards and kicked a 38-yard field goal before 35,059. “They were able to cut back,” the Bears star Bronko Nagurski said, “and we couldn’t.”

DEC. 13, 1936 Although the Boston Redskins won the Eastern Division title, their home attendance had been so low that the team owner, George Preston Marshall, transferred the N.F.L. championship game to the Polo Grounds, where it attracted 29,595 in bright, clear weather with temperatures around freezing. The Green Bay Packers won, 21-6, as Arnie Herber threw two touchdown passes. The next season, the Redskins moved to Washington.

DEC. 11, 1938 The day before, the Polo Grounds field was so muddy from days of steady rain, the Giants practiced in the vacant lot next to the ballpark. Ed Danowski passed for two touchdowns in a 23-17 victory over the Packers before 48,120 in 40-degree weather. In The New York Times, Arthur J. Daley nicknamed the title game the Cash Bowl. Each Giant’s bonanza was $504, each Packer’s $369.

DEC. 17, 1944 In sunny, mid-40s weather, the Packers defeated the Giants, 14-7, before 46,016 at the Polo Grounds. Ted Fritsch scored two touchdowns as the Packers mostly used the star receiver Don Hutson as a decoy. Al Blozis, a Giants star tackle recently commissioned an Army lieutenant, was permitted to play before World War II duty in Europe; five weeks later, he was killed in action in France.

DEC. 15, 1946 The day before, the police questioned Giants tailback Frank Filchock and fullback Merle Hapes about an offer of a $2,500 bribe and a $1,000 bet from the gambler Alvin Paris to throw the N.F.L. title game against Chicago. Hapes was ruled ineligible by Commissioner Bert Bell for not reporting the offer to Giants officials. Filchock, who denied the offer (he later acknowledged it in court) was allowed to play; he threw two touchdown passes as the Bears won, 24-14, before 58,346 at the Polo Grounds in 30-degree weather. Filchock and Hapes were later suspended indefinitely.

DEC. 30, 1956 In windy, 20-degree cold, 56,836 fans watched the Giants rout the Bears, 47-7, at Yankee Stadium with snow on the sidelines. Anticipating a frozen field, Giants defensive end Andy Robustelli brought four dozen pairs of sneakers from his Stamford, Conn., sporting goods store. Gene Filipski ran back the opening kickoff 53 yards to the Bears’ 39, and the Giants rolled. Alex Webster scored two touchdowns, and the Giants’ defense, led by the rookie linebacker Sam Huff, stuffed the Bears. They wore sneakers, too, but their coach, Paddy Driscoll, said, the Giants’ “soles were thicker.”

1962 NFL Chp.at Yankee Stad. w. dust, getty

DEC. 28, 1958 The N.F.L. championship game that came to be known as the Greatest Game Ever Played went into the league’s first overtime in perhaps the greatest possible weather: 47 degrees at the 2 p.m. kickoff, 49 at 4 p.m. with little wind. The Giants led the Baltimore Colts, 17-14, on Charlie Conerly’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Frank Gifford with two minutes remaining at Yankee Stadium. But Johnny Unitas drove the Colts 73 yards to position Steve Myhra’s tying 20-yard field goal with seven seconds on the clock. In overtime, Unitas, completing passes to Raymond Berry for 25, 16 and 21 yards, set up Alan Ameche’s 1-yard touchdown for the Colts’ 23-17 victory.

DEC. 30, 1962 As if the 17-degree temperature for the second-half kickoff of the N.F.L. title game at Yankee Stadium wasn’t frigid enough for the Giants and the Packers, swirling wind as wild as 40 miles per hour blunted their passing. Y. A. Tittle, who threw for 33 regular-season touchdowns for the Giants, completed 18 of 41 passes for 197 yards. “When the ball hit the wind,” he said, “it swerved like a dying duck.” Bart Starr hit 9 of 21 for only 85 yards for the Packers. In a duel of 13 punts, Jim Taylor rushed for 85 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown, and Jerry Kramer kicked three field goals in the Packers’ 16-7 victory. The Giants’ score resulted from a blocked punt. [image above]

DEC. 29, 1968 Early arrivals for the American Football League championship game at Shea Stadium stared. On orders from Al Davis, the Oakland major-domo, carpenters had erected a wooden chicken-coop-like structure on the Raiders’ sideline to shield his players from the frigid upper 30s cold with swirling 15-m.p.h. wind that gusted to 25 to 30 m.p.h. League officials quickly ordered the enclosure dismantled before the kickoff. In the wind, Joe Namath completed only 19 of 49 passes for 266 yards, but three were for touchdowns. The Jets won, 27-23, before 62,627 to qualify for Super Bowl III in Miami, where they upset the Colts, 16-7.

JAN. 11, 1987 When the Giants won the coin toss, Coach Bill Parcells opted to kick off in 30-degree cold at Giants Stadium with gusts in excess of 30 m.p.h. at their back. As the defense pinned the Redskins’ offense, the Giants jumped to a 10-0 lead on Raul Allegre’s 47-yard field goal and Phil Simms’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Lionel Manuel. Joe Morris added a 1-yard run for a 17-0 halftime lead. In the scoreless second half, the defense, led by Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson, completed the shutout. In a blizzard of torn paper, 76,633 celebrated the N.F.C. champions’ first trip to the Super Bowl, a 39-20 win over the Broncos. 

JAN. 14, 2001 With the temperature in the mid-40s and not much wind, the Giants routed the Minnesota Vikings, 41-0, for their third N.F.C. title in one of the franchise’s most dominant postseason performances. Quarterback Kerry Collins completed 28 of 39 passes for 381 yards and 5 touchdowns. Ike Hilliard caught 10 passes, two for touchdowns, for 155 yards. Coach Jim Fassel’s offense amassed 518 yards and 31 first downs. The defense limited the Vikings to 114 yards and 9 first downs as 79,310 at Giants Stadium looked forward to the franchise’s third Super Bowl, a 34-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Tampa, Fla.

But now, with the Broncos and the Seahawks about to arrive, the primary Super Bowl XLVIII question remains to be answered: What will the weather be and how will it affect the game?"

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Have some bubbly at Davos with CO2 spewing 'carbon bubble' profiteers, 'Sherbet, bubbles, and effervescent conversation' on the 'critical issue of the carbon bubble gains traction throughout the Davos meeting,' Carbon Trackers

1/24/14, "Heading to Davos to discuss carbon bubble and attend Carbon Bubble Cocktails," Anthony Hobley

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12/4/13, "Anthony Hobley named CEO of Carbon Tracker Initiative," Assn. for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia

"The Carbon Tracker Initiative – the London-based financial think-tank that has identified the need to prevent a ‘carbon bubble’ becoming the next systemic risk for the financial markets – has announced the appointment of its first CEO.  

Anthony Hobley, a London-based Partner at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, and Global Head of its Sustainability and Climate Change Practice, will formally take the reins on 1st February.

"Concerns about climate exposures and stranded assets are growing within the investment community, and I am keen to build on that momentum,” says Hobley. "Our message is that investors and their advisors have a duty of care to their clients and beneficiaries – and ignoring the climate change issue is putting value at risk.”  

The carbon arithmetic has been clear for many years; if dangerous climate change is to be avoided, a large percentage of the world’s fossil fuel reserves will have to remain in the ground.  This challenges the assumptions around demand and price for the fossil fuel commodities produced by the world’s oil, gas and coal mining companies – and therefore around their valuation, creditworthiness and business models.

Yet the capital markets have failed to factor in these risks and exposure continues to grow. In response, Mark Campanale and Nick Robins developed the ‘unburnable carbon/stranded assets’ thesis and, in 2009, Carbon Tracker was set up. Its seminal report, Unburnable Carbon, quantified these exposures at the company and stock market level for the first time. 

Carbon Tracker’s thesis has been picked up and developed by financial analysts at HSBC, Citi and Standard & Poor’s, among others, while its work on stranded assets has led to partnering with investors to scrutinise fossil fuel capital expenditure plans. Its latest output – a review of the economic and environmental risks posed by the Keystone XL pipeline – demonstrates the increasing financial analysis capabilities Carbon Tracker will employ....

"In a quarter of a century of work on the climate issue, I have never seen an intervention gain traction so rapidly and deeply as Carbon Tracker's first report did in July 2011,” says chairman Jeremy Leggett, the founder of leading UK solar company Solar Century. "To build on the brilliance of Mark Campanale's game-changing work on carbon-fuel stranded-asset risk, we are thrilled to be joined now by a world-class CEO."...

Hobley has held posts at a number of large international law-firms and was General Counsel at boutique investment bank Climate Change Capital. In addition to his legal career, he has been involved in establishing and leading a number of industry associations, including the Climate Markets & Investment Association, of which he is the current president. 

The Carbon Tracker Initiative has been widely recognised for its work in recent years, including by Investment Week, which awarded Carbon Tracker its 2013 Environmental, Ethical, Social & Governance Investment Award for Innovation, and by online publication BusinessGreen, which named it NGO of the Year.   

About Carbon Tracker Initiative

The Carbon Tracker Initiative is a think-tank established by its directors to align the capital markets with efforts to tackle climate change. Carbon Tracker has demonstrated the incompatibility of current capital expenditure plans in the energy sector with delivering emissions reductions to improve air quality and prevent climate change. This was captured in its 2013 report: ‘Unburnable Carbon: Wasted Capital and Stranded Assets’."






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How Vietnam became a coffee giant-BBC

1/24/14, "How Vietnam became a coffee giant," BBC, by Chris Summers

"Think of coffee and you will probably think of Brazil, Colombia, or maybe Ethiopia. But the world's second largest exporter today is Vietnam. How did its market share jump from 0.1% to 20% in just 30 years, and how has this rapid change affected the country?

When the Vietnam war ended in 1975 the country was on its knees, and economic policies copied from the Soviet union did nothing to help.

Collectivising agriculture proved to be a disaster, so in 1986 the Communist Party carried out a U-turn - placing a big bet, at the same time, on coffee.

Coffee production then grew by 20%-30% every year in the 1990s. The industry now employs about 2.6 million people, with beans grown on half a million smallholdings of two to three acres each.

This has helped transform the Vietnamese economy. In 1994 some 60% of Vietnamese lived under the poverty line, now less than 10% do....

While large numbers of Vietnamese have made a living from coffee, a few have become very rich."...




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Australian gov. to seek $2.4 million from insurer to reimburse taxpayers for monies they spent to rescue ice trapped Antarctic global warming expedition

Expedition leader "Mr. Godfrey said the ship had been caught by thick "multi-year" pack ice that towered 2-3m above sea level."

1/24/14, "Federal Government to seek full cost recovery for Antarctic expedition rescue," news.com.au

"The Federal Government will seek the full costs incurred during the recovery effort to save the MV Akademik Shokalskiy. 

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt yesterday said costs, estimated at about $2.4 million, would be sought from the insurer of the operators of the vessel.

The MV Akademik Shokalskiy, chartered by the University of NSW-associated Australasian Antarctic Expedition to retrace the steps of explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, became stuck in thick sea ice on Christmas Eve.

The 52 passengers were rescued by the Aurora Australis on January 2. Mr Hunt said the Commonwealth would seek compensation for the recovery effort. "We will be seeking full cost recovery through insurers for the up to $2.4 million costs incurred by the Australian government," he said. "We have a duty to protect life at sea and we do that willingly.

"However, what we see here is that there are some questions as to whether or not the ship was detained by the action of those on board within an area the captain had identified as potentially being subject to being frozen in. "I think we have a duty on behalf of taxpayers to seek full cost recovery."

The leader of an expedition to Mawson's Hut said the trip had been completed and the Akademik Shokalskiy had moved on to a different location before it became trapped in ice.

Expedition leader Ian Godfrey said the ship had dropped his Mawson's Hut Foundation work party off from the western side of a giant 97km-long iceberg.

He said it was only after the eight-person expedition team had completed its 140km round trip across the ice that the ship had moved to the eastern side of the iceberg.

It was there that the ship was caught in an ice trap, sprung by 70km/h wind gusts.

Mr Godfrey said the ship had been caught by thick "multi-year" pack ice that towered 2-3m above sea level." via Free Rep.

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Battle begins over Antarctic rescue bill 





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