Another Week of GW News, September 6, 2009

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.

-het

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

"If we lost just 1 percent of the carbon in permafrost today, we'd be close to a year's contributions from industrial sources. I don't think policymakers have woken up to this. It's not in their risk assessments." -Chris Burn, Carleton University

More like this

That's not a sip.... that's the whole firehose, isn't it.

That image of "mother nature" is beautiful and fine example of the human imagination to see things that are evocative. I suggest those are tears of joy on learning that yet another boreal growing season has passed without killing frosts wiping out our crops and causing mass famine and death to the many people here on earth that love her. Where would we be without some kind of warming to counterbalance the inevitable plunge back into a frozen world?

Where would we be without some kind of warming to counterbalance the inevitable plunge back into a frozen world?

Personally I'm less concerned about an ice age thousands of years in the future than I am about the total disruption in the world economy that we're facing in the next century due to AGW.

I wasnât sure where to put this Coby, I suggest you have a topic titled âGW propagandaâ as this is where this post should reside.

I wait with much anticipation at Bob Geldofs latest attempt to resurrect his one hit wonder career as you can see below it should be a real hoot. This musical love in will rival the halcyon days of the 1960âs.

"MIDNIGHT Oil's hit song Beds are Burning is to be recorded by a group of 55 world celebrities, including British rock group Duran Duran and Irish singer/composer Bob Geldof, who have joined together to draw attention to the global warming crisis, organisers say."

w.w.w.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26074691-5005962,00.html

Most of Midnight Oils songs were protest songs, for example âbeds are burningâ was written to highlight the plight of the Australian Aborigines, but here is Bob turning it into a song to combat the GW crisis. The lyrics of the song are as follows:

Beds are burning

Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty five degrees

The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share

The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning
Four wheels scare the cockatoos
From Kintore East to Yuendemu
The western desert lives and breathes
In forty five degrees

In fact I think Bob is onto something here, all of his previous attempts to reignite his career have failed but not now. You see once this little propaganda stunt has run its course and his whining voice grates on political nerves enough to stop AGW he can then go on to stop the production of nuclear power plants with this Midnight Oil song.

Harrisburg

The empire rings
The umpire's not laughing
The President's resented,
The Ambassador's a night club
You cannot get it out
It's stuff you cannot taste or see
It's stuff you cannot smell
It's stuff that's twenty times as hot
As the hottest stuff in hell

Harrisburg, oh Harrisburg
The plant is melting down
The people out in Harrisburg
Are getting out of town
And when the stuff gets in
You cannot get it out

The company said it would not blow
The Government said it might
Harrisburg, Oh Harrisburg
I wonder who was right
Who can leave it behind,
The curtains are drawn
There's something I must say to you
You cannot get it out

But it does not end there, no sureee Bob his next little adventure can be to stop the US led Christian Crusades in the middle east with this Midnight Oil song.

US Forces

US Forces give the nod, it's a setback for your country
Bombs and trenches all in rows, bombs and threats still ask for more
Divided world the CIA, who controls the issue
You leave us with no time to talk, you can write your assessment

Sing me songs of no denying, seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing

Will you know it when you see it, high risk children dogs of war
Now market movements call the shots, business deals in parking lots
Waiting for the meat of tomorrow

Sing me songs...

Everyone is too stoned to start emission
People too scared to go to prison
We're unable to make decision
Political party line don't cross that floor
L. Ron Hubbard can't save your life
Superboy takes a plutonium wife
In the shadow of Ban The Bomb we live

Sing me songs...

Or if he finds this to sensitive for American ears maybe he can go around the world kicking out all the tin pot dictators he can find with this Midnight Oil song.

When the Generals talk

Up there on the platform
He is speaking to the people
The people are responding
With clapping and a'cheering
But the meaning of the message
Not revealed to those assembled
They're taken for a ride
Taken In his stride

When the Generals talk
You better listen to him
When the Generals talk
You better do what he say

There's a rumour in the ranking
Someone's talking insurrection
So the General has a purge
'Cos he wants to win elections
With the certain satisfaction
That the people are appeased
Long live the revoluton
The General's very pleased

Sitting on the fence both ears to the ground
The fat cats still push the thin cats around

And then his world wind tour of protest can end in all the countries that have nuclear weapons (this includes Israel) where he can perform this little Midnight Oil number.

Put down that weapon

Under the waterline
No place to retire
To another time
The eyes of the world now turn

And if we think about it
And if we talk about it
And if the skies go dark with rain
Can you tell me will our freedom remain

Put down that weapon or we'll all be gone
You can't hide nowhere with the torchlight on
And it happens to be an emergency
Some things aren't meant to be
Some things don't come for free

Above the waterline
Point the finger yeah point the bone
It's the harbour towns
That the grey metal ships call home

And if we think about it
And if we talk about it
And if the seas go boiling black
Can you tell me what you'll do about that

Put down that weapon or we'll all be gone
I must know something to know it's so wrong
And it happens to be an emergency
Some things aren't meant to be
Some things don't come for free

They keep talking about it
They keep talking...

Put down that weapon or we'll all be gone
You must be crazy if you think you're strong

Just a short note about Peter Garret, Garret was the lead singer of Midnight Oil and when the band broke up he went into politics, he was elected to parliament as a Greens minister on the back of his green credentials. However this did not last very long, Very quickly Peter sold his political soul and joined the Labor party where he is now the minister for the environment.

So far Peter has given approval for a wood chip mill in Tasmania to chop down old growth forest (some of the oldest in the world).

He has played a large role in overturning Labors âset in stoneâ two mine policy (uranium) and allowed a third mine to open, he played a large role in selling uranium to India who is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) but yet lambasts Iran who has signed.

He has just given approval for the massive Gorgon gas and oil fields to be mined in the North West cape, he has a string of other similar anti green anti environment victories to his name. It is now fair to say that Garret is the (well one of many) laughing stocks of Australian politics.

Another Week of GW News, September 6, 2009

Sipping from the internet firehose...

Another week of Climate Disruption News

September 6, 2009

It's always nice to start with a chuckle:

Here's a curiosity for ya. (Think it's photoshopped?):

The World Climate Conference in Geneva this week produced a Global Framework for Climate Services agreement:

The UK Royal Society released a report on geo-engineering this week:

The Himalayan conference went down in Kathmandu this week:

There was another largely unreported meeting in Thailand this week as well:

The Guardian/Observer group kicked off a PR campaign this week (which I mostly ignored):

The G20 finance ministers had another meeting:

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

The D. S. Kaufman et al. paper generated a lot of comment:

That spectral Damocles sword hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

While in Antarctica:

Yes, we have tipping points...:

Sunspots redux:

And on the bottom line:

Michael Tobis outlines a general problem:

Rob Grumbine continues his gentle education project:

Late comment on the IIED report:

The food crisis is ongoing:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

In the hurricane wars, Jimena zapped the Baja:

More Katrina retrospectives:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

As for GHGs:

And in the carbon & nitrogen cycles:

As for the temperature record:

Yes we have feedbacks:

Aerosols are making their presence felt:

While in the paleoclimate:

Glaciers are melting:

Sea levels are rising:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Corals are dying:

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

Desertification looms as a threat:

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

And speaking of hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

As for bottled water:

Anybody know what is really going on with the Tigris & Euphrates?

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

Consider transportation & GHG production:

While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

More Hansen:

Pielke alas:

Meanwhile on the road to Copenhagen:

While at the UN:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

Meanwhile on the international political front:

As for GW & security:

The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world as nations scramble to deal with climate change:

And on the American political front:

It hasn't quite been made explicit, but if the Senate fails to pass a climate/energy bill, the EPA could accomplish almost the same goal by regulation:

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

As for what is going on in Congress:

What are the lobbyists pushing?

While in the UK:

And in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

And in New Zealand:

While in India:

And China:

In Japan, much post-election positioning & commentary has ensued:

And elsewhere in Asia:

Tucked at the bottom of this diatribe on US fossil foolery, is
a succinct encapsulation of the Canadian political scene: