One fifth of aid dollars is now diverted to climate policy. These funds were formerly spent on other necessities such as better education for girls, strengthening the rule of law, improved health care and the like-Richard Tol, The American Interest

12/10/14, "Hot Stuff, Cold Logic," The American Interest, Richard Tol

"A fifth of official development aid is now diverted to climate policy. Money that used to be spent on strengthening the rule of law, better education for girls, and improved health care, for instance, is now used to plug methane leaks and destroy hydrofluorocarbons. Some donors no longer support the use of coal, by far the cheapest way to generate electricity. Instead, poor people are offered intermittent wind power and biomass energy, which drives up the price of food. But the self-satisfaction environmentalists derive from these programs does not put food on poor peoples’ tables.

In sum, while climate change is a problem that must be tackled, we should not lose our sense of proportion or advocate solutions that would do more harm than good. Unfortunately, common sense is sometimes hard to find in the climate debate. Desmond Tutu recently compared climate change to apartheid.¹ Climate experts Michael Mann and Daniel Kammen compared it to the “gathering storm” of Nazism in Europe before World War II.² That sort of nonsense just gets in the way of a rational discussion about what climate policy we should pursue, and how vigorously we should pursue it. (end of article)

¹Tutu, “We Fought Apartheid. Now Climate Change Is Our Global Enemy”, Guardian, September 20, 2014.

²Mann and Kammen, “The Gathering Storm”, Huffington Post, September 19, 2014."

"Richard Tol teaches economics at the University of Sussex and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is a veteran of four assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change." via Judith Curry, 12/26/14, via Climate Depot

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Mike Bloomberg: "People literally will starve to death in parts of the world, it always happens when food prices go up," Bloomberg told reporters after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change."...

2/11/2008, "Bloomberg slams U.S. energy law over corn ethanol" Reuters by Louis Charbonneau and Timothy Gardner
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"Cuban leader Fidel Castro blasted the Bush administration's biofuels policy as "genocidal" in a series of articles last year, saying they threatened to worsen global hunger by pushing up prices for food crops used to make ethanol....  
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A new U.S. energy law will cause an increase in global food prices and lead to starvation deaths worldwide because it continues to promote corn ethanol, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.
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"People literally will starve to death in parts of the world, it always happens when food prices go up," Bloomberg told reporters after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change.
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The new U.S. law, which came into force late last year, increased fivefold the required amount of blending of biofuels like corn ethanol -- creating higher demand for the grain that will push up corn prices."...

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Scientific study finds people who act green experience a 'warm glow' which then causes them to perceive global temperature to be higher-Nature peer reviewed study, 11/24/14

11/24/14, "Acting green elicits a literal warm glow," Nature Climate Change, Nature.com

• Danny Taufik, Jan Willem Bolderdijk, Linda Steg

"Environmental policies are often based on the assumption that people only act environmentally friendly if some extrinsic reward is implicated, usually money^{1, 2}. We argue that people might also be motivated by intrinsic rewards: doing the right thing (such as acting environmentally friendly) elicits psychological rewards in the form of positive feelings, a phenomenon known as warm glow^{3, 4}. Given the fact that people’s psychological state may affect their thermal state^{5, 6}, we expected that this warm glow could express itself quite literally: people who act environmentally friendly may perceive the temperature to be higher. In two studies, we found that people who learned they acted environmentally friendly perceived a higher temperature than people who learned they acted environmentally unfriendly. The underlying psychological mechanism pertains to the self-concept: learning you acted environmentally friendly signals to yourself that you are a good person. Together, our studies show that acting environmentally friendly can be psychologically rewarding, suggesting that appealing to intrinsic rewards can be an alternative way to encourage pro-environmental actions." via Hockey Schtick



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Incredibly cold weather in China causes even the Yellow River to freeze over-UK Independent

12/23/14, "Waterfall freezes over on the Yellow River," UK Independent, Kiran Moodley

"Tourists have been flocking to a section of China's Yellow River in far greater numbers recently as part of the Hukou Waterfall has frozen over in the incredibly cold weather. 
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With temperatures dropping to as low as -12° Celsius, part of China's second-largest waterfall has become a wall of ice, making it seem like someone has emptied the contents of a fire extinguisher over the entire scene.

The Hukou Waterfall is situated where the provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi meet and it is roughly 66-ft high.

Located on China's Yellow River - the third-longest on the continent - the waterfall is hugely popular among tourists and the recent cold snap in the area has not deterred many visitors now keen to see the natural phenomenon in its new guise as an ice palace. 

One tourist told reporters, "Ice is everywhere. Icicles on the waterfall; everywhere. I did not know the Yellow River could be frozen so it's surprising. I came here specifically for the stunning view of the Yellow River."

While some may be in a hurry to see "Hukou on ice", temperatures in the far west of China may drop even further. Two years ago, the mercury fell to -40° Celsius, so the waterfall could freeze over entirely by the onset of Spring." Image from UK Independent. via Lucianne



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Arctic Sea Ice Extent, Dec. 21, 2014

12/21/14, Arctic Sea Ice Extent, NSIDC, Sea Ice Index

Click "Daily" tab for dated charts.



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Club of Rome: We came up with the idea that the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like, would fit the bill-1991

1993 edition, "The First Global Revolution," A Report by the Council of the Club of Rome, Alexander King and Bertrand Schneider

page 75: "The common enemy of humanity is man"

"We came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like, would fit the bill....The real enemy then is humanity itself."...

9/3/1991, "The First Global Revolution: A Report by the Council of The Club of Rome Paperback – September 3, 1991, by Alexander King (Author), Bertrand Schneider (Author) 

------------------------

Prince Phillip praises Club of Rome in 1988 address to Conference delegates: 

p. xi, Quote from Prince Phillip, father of Prince Charles, address to Club of Rome Conference in 1988. From introduction to, "The First Global Revolution," A Report by the Council of the Club of Rome, Alexander King and Bertrand Schneider, 1991:   

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From Amazon.com 

9/3/1991, "The First Global Revolution: A Report by the Council of The Club of Rome Paperback – September 3, 1991, by Alexander King (Author), Bertrand Schneider (Author)

"In the 1970s, the Club of Rome launched the book, "The Limits to Growth". Essential reading for all those concerned about the future of the planet, the book was translated into 37 languages. Now, President Emeritus Alexander King and Secretary General Bertrand Schneider review global problems 20 years on, offering both a warning and an approach to a possible solution to world problems. Topics covered by this book include the need for the world to convert from a military to a civil economy, the recognition of the disastrous short-term effects of exploitation by First World countries of Third World poverty and need, and the containment of global warming: the need to reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide, to encourage reforestation, to conserve traditional forms of energy and develop alternatives."
 
 



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Japan scientist quits after government lab is unable to replicate her results on stem cells-AP

12/19/14, "Japan scientist quits as cell research discredited," AP, Tokyo

"The Japanese researcher whose claim of a major breakthrough in stem cell research was discredited resigned after the government lab where she worked failed to replicate her results
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Haruko Obokata said in a statement Friday that she was leaving the Riken Center for Developmental Biology after the lab concluded the stem cells she said she had created probably never existed. The center said it had stopped trying to match Obokata's results.

"Now, I am just exhausted. For the results to end this way is just perplexing," she said.

Obokata initially was lauded for leading the research that raised hopes for a discovery of a simple way to grow replacement tissue. But questions about the validity of the research prompted Riken scientists, including Obokata, to retract two scientific papers.

The allegations of research misconduct prompted a shake-up at Riken." via Drudge




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'China Dream' was launched with yearlong spectacle of tearful corruption confessions but 'new normal' has yet to be born-BBC

12/19/14, "Has President Xi Jinping achieved his China Dream?" BBC, Carrie Gracie, China Editor

"A China year is never short of changes, but one things that stays the same is the leadership's love of a political slogan. 

2014 was a year with two: The China Dream and The New Normal.

The China Dream was not strictly a 2014 slogan but this year saw it put on weight. 

It's counter-intuitive to suggest that a dream should feature a succession of handcuffed middle-aged men weeping piteously in a courtroom, but the dream narrative could not possibly take hold amidst the greed, cynicism and depravity of the Party machine which Xi Jinping inherited from his predecessors. 

So his China Dream had to be launched on a tide of tearful corruption confessions. 

The fall of the once-mighty has been a yearlong spectacle only slightly less savage than the tumbrels and guillotines of the French Revolution and precisely designed to avoid China's Communist leadership going the same way as the French aristocracy. 

The key takedown was the former security chief Zhou Yongkang. 

China watchers spent much of the year arguing about whether President Xi had the political clout to grapple this "tiger" into court, and whether his objective was cleaning up the system or just clearing out political rivals. 

But by year-end, there were criminal charges against Zhou and a stream of sensational anti-corruption investigations in the top ranks of the People's Liberation Army, the state-owned enterprises, police, judiciary and media. 

President Xi's China Dream was about resuming a place at the forefront of the world and through purges, austerity and "rectification", he spent the political year trying to build the resilient authoritarianism to get China there
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Dreaming different? 
 
But this is still one man and one dream, both of them carefully wrapped in the national flag. Those of his fellow citizens who dared to dream a different dream in 2014 had a terrible year.

Political liberals, Christian pastors, Uighur academics, internet activists, even those inside the establishment who the state deemed too ready to share their opinions with foreigners - they all found themselves behind bars. 

It's no accident either that this was the year President Xi published a book on governance. 

His message was that due to its special history, culture and circumstances, China has always and will always follow a different path. 

In November, he told US President Barack Obama that "the gene of traditional Chinese culture is deeply planted in the mentality of modern Chinese". The Central Party School began teaching Confucius as well as Marxism Leninism.

There were some ironies in all of this. 

For example, in 2014 China celebrated its first Constitution Day, but its biggest search engine Baidu banned internet forums about the constitution. 

Similarly, the Communist Party Plenum in October focused on the theme of rule of law without mentioning that some of the country's most prominent lawyers are now behind bars. 

China, the world's biggest internet censor, held its first world internet conference. 

'When dictatorship becomes a fact, revolution becomes a duty'
 
But ironies are less glaring where there's only one point of view, and the central project of the China Dream is shaping the minds of its young citizens before they're exposed to alternative viewpoints
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On this score, the key lessons of 2014 were delivered not on the Chinese mainland but in Hong Kong. "When dictatorship becomes a fact, revolution becomes a duty", read the T-shirts of some of the young Occupy Central protestors, in a jarring challenge to the China Dream slogan. 

It must have been unsettling for Beijing to observe that the younger and better-educated citizens of Hong Kong, the more pessimistic they seemed about their future under Chinese rule. 

But as week followed week in the Occupy encampment, the Chinese government played its cards adroitly, making no concessions on the key electoral demands and letting local government take the heat. 

Crucially there was no major flare up of sympathy protest on the mainland, underlining the importance of the "patriotic education" campaign in schools and universities, an education which reminds young mainlanders of the humiliations of their history and the benefits of unity and political stability under the firm leadership of the Communist Party. 

To drive home that message, 2014 saw the introduction of two new national remembrance days, one to commemorate the defeat of Japan and the other the Nanjing massacre. 

And it was no surprise that Beijing used all the propaganda tools at its disposal to convince the wider mainland public that foreign hostile forces were behind Occupy Central.

But Beijing has no direct access to young minds in Hong Kong and 2014 demonstrated how limited Chinese soft power is without it. 

A lesson taught not just in Hong Kong, but also in Taiwan, which saw its own dramatic student protest in the late spring. 

Like Occupy Central, Taiwan's Sunflower Movement was also driven by distrust of Beijing and distrust of local politicians seen as advancing Chinese objectives against the interests of their own citizens. 

It was surely one of 2014's big China paradoxes that China was determined to paint these movements as the work of hostile powers, whereas in fact the opposite was true. Both the Occupy and Sunflower protests flourished despite an almost complete absence of international encouragement. 

Should Beijing be more worried that this generation of Chinese citizens had the political grit to do it for themselves? Or more satisfied that its swelling economic might allowed it to quell the unease of democratic governments? It's hard to judge.

'The new normal' 
 
But that brings me to economics and China's other big slogan of the year: the new normal. 

2014 was the year the International Monetary Fund declared that China's economy had overtaken the United States on one key measure of scale, purchasing power parity. 

Beijing pushed ahead energetically with plans for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific and the Silk Road Economic Belt, all fertile territory for the China Dream, projects designed to signal to the rest of the region where its future interests lie. 

And the Apec forum in Beijing in November provided the perfect stage for Xi Jinping to deliver that message, and to tone down a rivalry with Japan which was hurting business and diplomacy. 

But behind another year of mesmerisingly huge China numbers - from infrastructure investment to naval build-up and internet growth - is the most important economic story and the one that will decide the future of the China dream: economic reform.

The new normal is Beijing's signal that however painful, it intends to put economic reform before high speed growth. For three decades China has grown at an average of nearly 10% a year but pressure on the environment and the social fabric means that is no longer possible. 

President Xi has said 7% "is not scary" and Prime Minister Li Keqiang now says "reform will be the stimulus". 

Even if it underperforms on its 7.5% target for 2014, China's economy will still have seen a growth rate much higher than any developed country. 

But many of the structural economic reforms pledged at the end of 2013 had not taken place by the end of 2014, while growth was still relying on debt-funded investment, casting a darkening cloud over property and land prices. 

Without high land sales, local government revenues are in trouble, and the house of cards that is local government debt may jeopardise financial stability. 

Despite dire warnings that there will be no bailouts, Beijing has not made an example of any major state enterprise or local government, presumably for fear of both the immediate protest which might follow and the damage to confidence in the entire financial edifice. 

Which brings us back to the tearstained courtroom where we started: anti-corruption as the first act of the economic reform drama, removing the robber barons at the top of the state sector and then breaking up their monopolies so that a more innovative and entrepreneurial private sector can step into the gap to drive a new growth in consumer and service industries. 

In this brave new normal, local governments would have a secure fiscal base no longer dependent on land sales, and infrastructure and property investment would no longer be the addictions they are today. 

But building this new normal is a race against time. 

In 2014, Beijing managed to deftly paper over the contradictions of the old but the longer this economic rebirth takes, the more painful it promises to be. 

In short, the China Dream can't get much further until the new normal is born."