“I Got it Wrong on Climate Change—it’s Far, Far Worse”

Posted on January 28, 2013 by climateshifts.org

By Daniel Politi, Slate, Posted Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, at 11:11 AM ET

Nicholas Stern, the author of a 2006 report commissioned by the British government on climate change that has been used as a reference ever since, says he now realizes he “underestimated the risks” of rising temperatures. In an interview with the Guardian, Stern, who is one of the world’s leading environmental economists, says that had he known then what he knows now, he would have been “a bit more blunt” about the risks that climate change poses to the economy.

Continue reading →

Climate Change Given Prominence in Obama’s Address

Posted on January 21, 2013 by climateshifts.org

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON and JOHN M. BRODER, New York Times, Jan 21 2012

¶WASHINGTON — President Obama made addressing climate change the most prominent policy vow of his second Inaugural Address on Monday, setting in motion what Democrats say will be a deliberately paced but aggressive campaign built around the use of his executive powers to sidestep Congressional opposition.

¶“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” Mr. Obama said, at the start of eight full sentences on the subject, more than he devoted to any other specific area. “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.” Continue reading →

What’s causing Australia’s heat wave?

Posted on January 18, 2013 by climateshifts.org

By Neil Plummer (Assistant Director Climate Information Services at Australian Bureau of Meteorology), Blair Trewin (Climatologist, National Climate Centre at Australian Bureau of Meteorology), David Jones (Head of Climate Monitoring and Prediction Services at Australian Bureau of Meteorology), Karl Braganza (Manager, Climate Monitoring Section at Australian Bureau of Meteorology) and Rob Smalley (Climatologist at Australian Bureau of Meteorology)

Australia has started 2013 with a record-breaking heat wave that has lasted more than two weeks across many parts of the country. Temperatures have regularly gone above 48°C, with the highest recorded maximum of 49.6°C at Moomba in South Australia. The extreme conditions have been associated with a delayed onset of the Australian monsoon, and slow moving weather systems over the continent.

Australia has always experienced heat waves, and they are a normal part of most summers. However, the current event affecting much of inland Australia has definitely not been typical. Continue reading →

HOW HEARTLAND LIED TO ME AND ILLEGALLY RECORDED THE LIES

Posted on January 18, 2013 by climateshifts.org

by CINDY on MARCH 15, 2012 (repost)

4 a.m. Bali, December 2007, the first Tuesday of the two-week UN climate talks. My phone rings, waking me up. Blearily, and a little crossly, I answer it.

I was in Bali to run Greenpeace International’s media for the meeting. The caller was someone called “John” who said he was an intern for a US NGO that I had never heard of. It was a small NGO, he said, who couldn’t come to the meeting, but “john” asked me for a copy of the UNFCCC’s media list for the meeting. Continue reading →

The Australian: Front page error, tiny second page correction.

Posted on January 17, 2013 by climateshifts.org

Its a great strategy. Get it completely wrong in bold type on your front page, and then, when pushed, make a tiny, hard to notice correction at a later date!

Media is missing climate in heatwave story

Posted on January 16, 2013 by climateshifts.org

By Simon Divecha, University of Adelaide

As Australia stares at “a once-in-20 or 30-year heatwave”, with temperatures over 40 degrees, it is likely that more extreme weather events similar to this are in store for us. The probability of this occurring is well researched. (For example, Professor Barry Brook has previously outlined Adelaide’s situation.)

Australia’s media largely fails to link climate change to the heat. There have been more than 800 articles in the last five days covering the heatwave. Fewer than ten of these also discuss “climate change”, “greenhouse gas”, carbon or “global warming” (from a 3 -7 January 2013 Factiva news source search conducted on 7 January at 4pm). Continue reading →

‘The Australian’ goofs it up again while IPCC chief calls for ‘sane voices’ in local climate debate.

Posted on January 15, 2013 by climateshifts.org

As The Australian claims sea level rise is not linked to global warming, the world’s most influential climate scientist has called on “sane and rational voices” to speak out and correct the record.

Here is another piece from a journo (Graham Readfearn) who by contrast seems to always get it right! Murdering Science, the Graham LLoyd way.

Crikey.com.au, January 15, 2012

More than 250 scientists have gathered in Hobart today for a summit of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN’s climate science body. The Oz marked the summit’s opening with a front-page “exclusive” story which claimed there was “no link” between sea level rises and global warming. Continue reading →

Trains have been halted in western Queensland amid fears tracks may buckle in the scorching heat.

Posted on January 13, 2013 by climateshifts.org

Updated Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:23pm AEDT

The state is enduring heatwave conditions, with the mercury climbing into the 40s in many inland centres.

Queensland Rail (QR) says passengers travelling on board its Spirit of the Outback train were put onto buses at Emerald this morning to travel west to Longreach. Continue reading →

News Limited: Why do they get the facts so wrong?

Posted on January 4, 2013 by climateshifts.org

I have wondered for sometime as to why some newspaper commentators find it hard to get the facts right on climate change (example). Here is a breakdown by Tristan Edis of yet another piece of poor reporting by News Limited’s The Australian.

Tristan Edis, The Climate Spectator, Jan 7 2012

On December 10 The Australian newspaper ran a front page story entitled, Forget the doom: Coral Reefs will bloom. Following this bold headline came the following four paragraphs:

A WIDESPREAD belief that the world’s coral reefs face a calamitous future due to climate change is proving less resilient than the natural wonders themselves.

(This is a curious statement given that the science stacks up massively in support of the opposite!) Continue reading →

2012’s Surreal Record Warmth in the USA

Posted on January 4, 2013 by climateshifts.org

By Jason Samenow, Washington Post, Jan 2013

What is our little mate Anthony saying about this?

Article: We await the inevitable “official” announcement from NOAA that 2012 was the warmest year on record in the Lower 48, by a huge margin. Recall, in mid-December Climate Central calculated there was 99.99999999 percent chance this feat would be achieved.

In the mean time, it’s amazing to watch related records stream in at national, regional and local scales.

Figure: 2012 temperatures in the U.S. compared to normal. The only large region where temperatures were slightly cooler than normal was the Pacific Northwest. (High Plains Regional Climate Center) Continue reading →

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Monthly Archives: January 2013