Russ Steele A reader of Dalton Minimum Returns asked a question that prompted this question: What were the temperatures at the beginning of the Dalton Minimum prior to the official start in 1790? I find this an interesting question as. …
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Dalton Minimum Returns Question
.The Federal Opposition has accused the Climate Change Minister Penny Wong of being in contempt of the Senate.
The Opposition says Senator Wong has failed to provide information on the emergency advice she sought from her Department on what the Government could do in the short term to address the dire situation in the lower Murray River.
The Opposition’s climate change spokesperson Greg Hunt says she has failed to do that.
The Senate voted last week to require Senator Wong to disclose the advice.
“This is the moment, nearly three months after she commissioned urgent advice, to release that advice and what can be done with a water package for the lower lakes and the Coorong.
“Senator Wong is in contempt of the Senate, but much more importantly she’s in contempt of the people of South Australia,” he said.
She says she will ensure all the information the public needs on the situation in the Lower Lakes and Coorong is provided.”
Senator Wong has told Question Time she will be making a statement to the Senate later today.
But she says she will not be releasing the advice to the Senate, because it is confidential.
“Can I be very clear about this, this Government is absolutely willing to get all the facts on the table when it comes to the Lower Lakes, absolutely willing,” she said.
“Senators would be aware that I have provided a great deal of information to the public about the very serious situation in the Lower Lakes and the Coorong, this is because the Government believes it is in the public interest for people to understand how serious this situation is.”
Russ Steele A reader of Dalton Minimum Returns asked a question that prompted this question: What were the temperatures at the beginning of the Dalton Minimum prior to the official start in 1790? I find this an interesting question as. ..
See the rest here:
Dalton Minimum Returns Question
One possible cause of the linear increase may be Earth’s continuing recovery from the Little Ice Age (1400-1800). This trend (0.5C/100 years) should be subtracted from the temperature data during the last 100 years [0.6C increase] when …
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Earth's warming since the Little Ice Age
.
THE debacle that has become Labor’s bid to sell the NSW power
network continued to forge unlikely alliances over the weekend with
neither party able to maintain a unified front.
The Opposition Leader, Barry O’Farrell, was forced yesterday to
explain away the apparent support of the sale by two prominent
colleagues, federal frontbencher Tony Abbott and NSW leadership
aspirant Mike Baird.
Meanwhile Mr O’Farrell had secured the unlikely support of the
Greens MP John Kaye, for his announcement that a reduction in
energy use would become part of Liberal energy planning.
A spokesperson for Mr O’Farrell said both had publicly supported
privatisation in principle, but agreed with his position that now
was not the right time to go ahead with the sale.
Verity Firth, the NSW Climate Change and Energy Minister, said
there was “virtually nothing” in the Opposition’s plan that was not
being done by the State or Federal Governments.
“While Mr O’Farrell is being attacked by his friends in the
business lobby, his focus on managing electricity demand would
result in lower household energy costs and reduced greenhouse gas
emissions,” said Mr Kaye.
Unions continued their attack on the Treasurer, Michael Costa,
who has championed the privatisation plan, and is reported to be
considering far-reaching sell-offs of other assets for a
mini-budget in 10 weeks’ time.
“Barry O’Farrell … has suddenly pulled out of his back
pocket an energy efficiency plan to justify his actions last week,
to justify actions that were very politically-based and he knows
it,” she said.
Nick Lewocki, the NSW secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union,
said Mr Costa was “hellbent” on further privatisation and would
like to see water resources, state forests and City Rail sold
off. He reportedly said he would resign
if the measures were not passed. They think he
is a millstone around the Government’s neck, that he is arrogant,
that he is hurting the party, that he is burning the villages.
“I know what some of his colleagues think of him.
The savagery of the dispute within the Labor Party prompted
Anthony Albanese, the Federal Infrastructure Minister, to call for
a ceasefire.”
The Premier, Mr Iemma, and Mr Costa yesterday refused to comment
on of further sell-offs as part of the mini-budget. “It’s important I think that the party does unite
now, they have the opportunity to do that.
“I want to see the parliamentary party as well as the
organisational wing of the party unite in a constructive fashion to
move away from any recriminations that have occurred,” he told the
Nine Network. “Privatisation, of course, has always been a
difficult issue for the Labor Party.”
Mr Albanese said selling off state assets was never an easy
issue for the ALP.”
.
THE debacle that has become Labor’s bid to sell the NSW power
network continued to forge unlikely alliances over the weekend with
neither party able to maintain a unified front.
The Opposition Leader, Barry O’Farrell, was forced yesterday to
explain away the apparent support of the sale by two prominent
colleagues, federal frontbencher Tony Abbott and NSW leadership
aspirant Mike Baird.
Meanwhile Mr O’Farrell had secured the unlikely support of the
Greens MP John Kaye, for his announcement that a reduction in
energy use would become part of Liberal energy planning.
A spokesperson for Mr O’Farrell said both had publicly supported
privatisation in principle, but agreed with his position that now
was not the right time to go ahead with the sale.
Verity Firth, the NSW Climate Change and Energy Minister, said
there was “virtually nothing” in the Opposition’s plan that was not
being done by the State or Federal Governments.
“While Mr O’Farrell is being attacked by his friends in the
business lobby, his focus on managing electricity demand would
result in lower household energy costs and reduced greenhouse gas
emissions,” said Mr Kaye.
Unions continued their attack on the Treasurer, Michael Costa,
who has championed the privatisation plan, and is reported to be
considering far-reaching sell-offs of other assets for a
mini-budget in 10 weeks’ time.
“Barry O’Farrell … has suddenly pulled out of his back
pocket an energy efficiency plan to justify his actions last week,
to justify actions that were very politically-based and he knows
it,” she said.
Nick Lewocki, the NSW secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union,
said Mr Costa was “hellbent” on further privatisation and would
like to see water resources, state forests and City Rail sold
off. He reportedly said he would resign
if the measures were not passed. They think he
is a millstone around the Government’s neck, that he is arrogant,
that he is hurting the party, that he is burning the villages.
“I know what some of his colleagues think of him.
The savagery of the dispute within the Labor Party prompted
Anthony Albanese, the Federal Infrastructure Minister, to call for
a ceasefire.”
The Premier, Mr Iemma, and Mr Costa yesterday refused to comment
on of further sell-offs as part of the mini-budget. “It’s important I think that the party does unite
now, they have the opportunity to do that.
“I want to see the parliamentary party as well as the
organisational wing of the party unite in a constructive fashion to
move away from any recriminations that have occurred,” he told the
Nine Network. “Privatisation, of course, has always been a
difficult issue for the Labor Party.”
Mr Albanese said selling off state assets was never an easy
issue for the ALP.”
Dalton Minimum Returns: Sunspots maybe mirroring the Dalton Minimum .
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Dalton Minimum Returns: Sunspots maybe mirroring the Dalton Minimum
solar cycle 24 has begun , but solar cycle 23 has not ended. solar cycle 23 will fade away and cycle 24 may begin a new solar cycle ice age (no sunspot activity)…global warming vs solar cycle ice age = iowa flooding…offshore oil …
The rest is here:
gustav clash of titans – global warming vs. solar cycle iceage
Because of this pattern, there is concern we are heading for a new ” Dalton Minimum ,” the phenomenon that occurred in the mid to late 1700’s causing severe famine and problems throughout the world. He said many economists are …
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The Next Little Ice Age?
“it is apparent that solar cycle 23 is a long one. i agree with jan janssens’ spotless day-derived result of month of minimum being july 2009.
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david archibald on solar minimum and global cooling
Next, the UN abolished the medieval warm period (the global warming at the end of the First Millennium AD). In 1995, David Deming, a geoscientist at the University of Oklahoma, had written an article reconstructing 150 years of North …
See the original post:
Reply to Stern report
.
PATNA, India : Food riots erupted Wednesday in eastern India, where more than two million people have been forced from their homes and about 250,000 houses destroyed in what officials said were the worst floods in 50;years.
One person was killed in Madhepura district when angry villagers fought over limited supplies of food and medicines at overcrowded relief;centers.
The floods have killed close toly 50 people in;Bihar.
The Kosi river in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, smashed through mud embankments and changed course last week, inundating hundreds of villages and;towns.
Some experts attribute the floods to increased monsoon rains caused by global warming, while others say the authorities have failed to take enough preventive measures to improve;infrastructure.
Torrential rains have killed more than 1,000 people in South Asia since the monsoon began in June, mainly in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in India but also in Nepal and;Bangladesh. Others ran for miles under helicopters that were dropping food packets.
Officials said flood victims had looted grains at some places in Bihar.
“We have enough stock of food grains but the problem is that we have limited means of transport to supply them among the villagers,” Rajesh Kumar Gupta, a government official in Madhepura, said by;telephone. One boy was killed and about 30 people were injured in Supaul district when food packets fell on;them.
“We are having difficulty in getting the exact number of prisoners who fled since communication networks have totally snapped,” said Nitish Kumar, Bihar's chief;minister.
Several prisoners took advantage of the floods and escaped from a jail in Supaul on Tuesday night, officials;said. Railway tracks have been submerged and essential commodities, including food, are being transported by;boat.
The United Nations children's fund, Unicef, said roads had been damaged and water and electricity supplies disrupted in the affected areas.
Local people call the Kosi the “Sorrow of Bihar” for its regular floods and ability to change course quickly.
Those displaced by the floods are not expected to be able to return home for two or three months, when the embankment is repaired and the river moves back to its normal;course.
Unicef said cases of diarrhea and fever were being reported in makeshift;camps. It originates in Nepal, where it broke a dam last;week.
Television images showed people using banana tree trunks and cots to stay afloat, some even with their cattle and;goats.
“The weather has been extremely hot, aggravating the suffering of the displaced population, particularly for children, pregnant and lactating women and the aged,” it;said. Millions were affected and officials fear climate change will make similar disasters more;often.
Last year, floods in eastern India and Bangladesh killed about 2,000 people.
.
Engineers began repairing the broken dam on the Kosi river in Nepal on Wednesday to prevent it from resulting in further;damage
milder than the younger dryas cold spell that preceded it, but more severe than the little ice age that would follow, the 8.2 kiloyear cooling was a significant exception to general trends of the holocene climatic optimum . …
Original post:
8.2 kiloyear event
(1998) brought the snowball Earth hypothesis to the forefront of paleoclimatic scientific interest by offering a specific explanation for the presence of glacial rock formations in mid to low latitude regions, the occurrence of cap …
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Showcase
Today Icecap links to a paper that predicts a new Maunder minimum , based on analysis of changing sunspot attributes during recent cycles, from 1990-2005. I have seen several references to this research.
The rest is here:
New Maunder Minimum
Cooling, or “ Little Ice Age ” proponents like Chapman, say that it could still swing either way. He proposes preventive measures to slow any potential cooling, such as bulldozing Siberian and Canadian snow to make it dirty and less …
Continued here:
Is a "Little Ice Age" Imminent? -Maverick Scientists Say "Yes"
if you choose to refer to your wikipedia graph, bear in mind the, year curve necessarily shows averages measured over long periods of time see the accompanying notes and the accompanying observation that the holocene climatic optimum …
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most people that i discuss this with get their basic iowa skill test
The Dalton minimum was coincidental with the explosion of Tambora, and the sulphur cloud from that eruption caused “the year with no summer.” The Laki fissure eruption in Iceland may also be related to the Dalton minimum , and this time …
See the original post:
Sunspots vs earthquakes and volcanoes (08-24-2008 10:36:34)
The chemical arguments for the interpretation of paleoclimate from coal beds come principally from the work of different geologists.
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Coals are best indicators of ancient climate
Paleoclimatic evidence: Glaciation of the southern continents of South America and Africa. Presence of tillites (glacially deposited sedimentary rocks) and striae (grooves left from movement of ice sheets on bedrock) in southern …
The rest is here:
Geog!
.The Federal Government is being urged to analyse Indigenous rock art and oral history more thoroughly to inform future climate change policies.
Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance spokesman Joe Morrison says the Government has not done enough to understand and recognise Aboriginal knowledge of climate.
He says there are clear depictions of climate change recorded on rock faces in Kakadu and there are living libraries who carry with them important clues handed down through the generations.
He has told a national climate change conference in Darwin Indigenous people have adapted to changes in the land and sea over many centuries.
The alliance is also hopeful climate change policy could serve to lift remote communities out of disadvantage and poverty.
“There’s a lot of old people that are still alive that have very in depth comprehensive knowledge about changing climates and also alot of people still have interpretations related to rock art which depict climate change events,” he said.
He says the top down approach to welfare reform under the intervention should be replaced by a new system which could employ whole communities to address climate change.
Mr Morrison says people already living in remote communities are in a perfect position to monitor and protect the pristine NT environment.
.
“Indigenous people are mere spectators to the whole show that’s going on in Australia about climate change and unfortunately, it’s the situation because Indigenous people in communities are already in a vulnerable position in relation to any changes in climate,” he said
last post by: manyandvaried on 08/21/2008 @ 14:48:09.
Here is the original:
solar cycle 23 predictions (by: manyandvaried)
paleocene–eocene thermal maximum cretaceous thermal maximum permo–carboniferous glaciation ice ages 3.
Go here to see the original:
examples of climate
last post by: alana on 08/21/2008 @ 11:18:22.
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solar cycle 23 predictions (by: alana)
last post by: 999 on 08/21/2008 @ 08:19:49.
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solar cycle 23 predictions (by: 999)
Amateur astronomers have observed the first sunspots to appear on the solar surface for weeks. This period of extreme magnetic calm has made some scientists.
Here is the original post:
Sunspot Pair Observed Today – Is Solar Cycle 24 Waking Up …
.As splits emerge in the federal Opposition over the Government’s Pacific guest worker scheme, an advocacy group says the scheme will not take jobs away from Indigenous Australians.
Workers from four Pacific Island countries will soon be eligible for a visa to Australia to harvest fruit and vegetables for up to seven months of the year.
Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson says there should be enough unemployed Australians willing to work.
The pilot scheme will allow up to 2,500 workers to fill the chronic worker shortage in Australia’s horticulture industry.
But federal Nationals MP Kay Hull has defended the plan.
He has criticised the plan to bring in people he describes as “dirt poor Pacific islanders” to help farmers, and has echoed calls for unemployed Aboriginal people to be encouraged to take harvest labour jobs.
She says they have tried for many years to attract Australian workers, with little success.
Ms Hull says many fruit growers in her southern New South Wales electorate are in desperate need of pickers and would welcome the Pacific islanders.
“None of the endeavours that have been put in place have resolved it.
“There is an absolute recognition for years and years and years that there has been a labour crisis and a shortage in this electorate,” she said.”
She says she is not sure where Mr Nelson’s opposition to the plan is coming from. My growers deserve a fair go.
“I’m only too happy to have the most rigorous of criteria put in place.
“I am not sure where the advice is coming on this and I am aware that if there were concerns about health issues and criminal checks and et cetera, that there are significant guidelines and criteria to be put in place to cover all of those aspects,” she said.
If you can get Australian labour into this electorate to be reliable and to stay for full harvest, then fantastic. Just put the criteria in place, give my growers an option.”
– Indigenous workers -
Some groups have criticised the scheme for not including Indigenous people, but the Edmund Rice Centre supports the pilot program and says alternative initiatives are needed to tackle Indigenous unemployment. But our efforts for the past at least 10 years that I’ve been the Member, have all failed.
“It’s a very different issue, I think, the Indigenous needs, but they’re certainly extremely important and they [Pacific Islanders] are taking nothing from them,” she said.
The centre’s Jill Finnane says the Government needs to address unemployment in Aboriginal communities through other initiatives.”
Ms Finnane says the scheme will help those likely to be severely disadvantaged by global warming.
“Our Pacific Islands neighbours have needs as well and we’re a large, rich country, with plenty to share for all.
“But they’re also looking to how they’re going face the bigger problem of what climate change is going to do to the very survival of their nation and what happens to their people.
“They’ve got a lot of young unemployed people, a very high percentage of young unemployed people,” she said.
Mr Mundine is calling for the Pacific Worker scheme to be offered to unemployed Australians, including Aboriginal people in remote communities.
Mr Mundine is calling for the Pacific Worker scheme to be offered to unemployed Australians, including Aboriginal people in remote communities.
He says the Government must make if harder for people on welfare payments to refuse the fruit picking work.
“There’s a lot of disincentives in the system at the moment and we need to remove them and we need to put in place that if you can work – if there’s a job and you don’t take that job – then you should lose your welfare payment,” he said.
Paleoclimatic data are critical for enabling us to extend our knowledge of climatic variability beyond what is measured by modern instruments. Many natural phenomena are climate dependent (such as the growth rate of a tree for example), …
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Importance of Climate Change in long term context
Look out High Priest Al Gore and all you unthinking drones of the MDI* but it seems that the earth may be entering a “ little ice age ” and it will be decreased solar activity that will be the cause. Or so says a Mexican scientist in a …
See the original post here:
Mexican Scientist Warns of 60 – 80 Year ‘Little Ice Age’
Herrera has indicted the most immediate result of the upcoming “ little Ice Age ” will be a global issue of drought, as even more of the planets fresh water is captured in frozen form. At present it is suggested the third largest reserve …
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Little Ice Age on the way says Mexican geophysicist
… was curious to read the next climate change prediction out of Mexico : An expert from the National Autonomous University of Mexico predicted that in about ten years the Earth will enter a ” little ice age ” which will last from 60 [. ..
Originally posted here:
Little Ice Age
.The Federal Government will provide $50 million to the geothermal industry to help it begin making the technology viable for baseload energy production.
Speaking to Alexandra Kirk on radio program, the Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, said there was huge potential for geothermal energy in Australia.
Mr Ferguson says encouraging the development of geothermal energy is important in tackling climate change and ensuring national energy security.
New figures from Geoscience Australia show just 1 per cent of Australia’s hot rocks supply could produce 26,000 times the country’s current annual energy use.
“The industry indicated that these guidelines actually suited their needs because what they want to prove is a couple of successful opportunities and then hope that one of those investors is able to take it to a commercial demonstration plant which then will encourage the private sector to further invest in the industry,” Mr Ferguson said.
The $50 million Geothermal Drilling Program, to be officially announced by the Minister at an industry conference today, will be used to give grants to cover the cost of drilling geothermal wells.
“The geothermal industry is regarded as very important from a renewable point of view because what you’re effectively doing is pumping water below ground where it’s heated by hot rocks and circulated through a closed system that generates electricity which is entirely different in terms of emissions from a coal fired power station,” he said.
Mr Ferguson said if drilling proves successful geothermal energy could provide a “significant” contribution to the Government’s target of 20 per cent renewable energy use by 2020.
“If you could produce the geothermal energy and use it to supply local loads the cost could be comparable to coal,” he said.
However, director of the research institute for sustainable energy at Perth’s Murdoch University, Professor David Harries, has told AM’s Anne Barker the huge cost of drilling five kilometres into the earth and the vast distance of sites from the national electricity grid may just prove exorbitant.”
Professor Harries also says there are unknown environmental risks in bringing radioactive water to the earth’s surface.
“If on the other hand you’re talking about getting hot rock energy coming into electricity in central Australia and then building large transmission lines to Adelaide and Sydney the costs are going to be too expensive.
“In theory these fields only last a limited amount of time and then the heat runs out and they’ve got to move onto another field,” he said.
Retired Adelaide scientist Dennis Matthews agrees and says Government is backing the wrong industry.
“It’s often claimed these are renewable energy projects but 100 years renewable is not a renewable industry in my book,” he added.
“Then it takes about 100 years for the heat to come back to the first field.
an expert from the national autonomous university of mexico predicted that in about ten years the earth will enter a “ little ice age ” which will last from 60 to 80 years and may be caused by the decrease in solar activity.
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earth will see ‘little ice age’ for next 80 years?
Marc Morano sent around a story from Milenio about a Mexican scientist who is predicting, on the basis of diminished solar activity,nbsp;another Littl… . .
Original post:
¿The Next Little Ice Age?
.Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has lashed out at the Fijian military leader, Frank Bainimarama, for refusing to attend the Pacific Island Forum in Niue.
Commodore Bainimarama originally said said he would go to the meeting, where Fijii’s decision to delay its elections is one of the main agenda items.
Speaking from New Zealand, where he has been holding talks with Prime Minister Helen Clark, Mr Rudd says the Commodore is showing contempt for other Pacific leaders.
But he has since announced he is boycotting the meeting and hopes of democracy being restored in Fiji have been put on hold.
“That is why we don’t believe that we can sit idly by while the principles of democracy are shredded.
“We in the South Pacific and Pacific Island countries in particular take democracy seriously,” he said.
Mr Rudd predicts other leaders will be very angry at Commodore Bainimarama’s actions.
“Therefore the resolve of Pacific Island countries is that we act in concert on this question and we look forward very much to the discussion which will now occur minus Fiji in Niue on how this matter should be handled into the future.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark says there is no excuse for Fiji not to attend the forum and other leaders will be very disappointed.
“Bainimarama’s contempt for regional leaders such as the grand chief of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare, on this question have to be taken into account and I think its going to turn into a very interesting discussion in Niue in terms of this decision not to attend,” he said.
“No doubt the forum will be in touch with the interim Government of Fiji afterwards to convey the views of the forum.
“I personally intervened to ensure that transit visas were available for the Fiji delegation to go through Auckland airport to Niue so that they could be accountable to forum leaders for commitments given last year,” she said.
“Well I suppose it is understandable in the current situation they have in Suva.”
Niue Premier, Toke Talagi, is disappointed but says he would like dialogue to continue with Fiji’s interim government.”
Commodore Bainimarama, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 2006 says his country will not let others dictate its future. It may mean that we will be able to concentrate on some of a bit more the regional issues that we’ve been talking about.
Mr Rudd will be flying into Niue tonight where climate change will be the main theme of the summit.
He has accused Australia and New Zealand of victimising Fiji and blames his boycott on New Zealand’s refusal to give him a visa to attend talks afterwards in Auckland, as well as important political issues at home.
.Birds Australia has signalled a dire future for migratory birds during a federal hearing on coastal climate change.
The House of Representatives Climate Change, the Environment and Arts Committee is meeting in Darwin this week to hear evidence of coastal climate change.
He says in Tasmania some flock numbers have halved.
Eric Woehler from Birds Australia says migratory birds are the “canary in the mine” for the nation’s coastal zones.
“There are birds that I remember seeing in the 80s that I haven’t seen now for 20 years.
“I’ve been involved in coastal research and coastal management in Tasmania now for 30 years, working both on shore birds and sea birds and in the 30 years that I’ve been involved in I’ve seen at a state level average a loss of 50 per cent of the numbers of birds and the mix of birds,” he said.
The Northern Land Council (NLC) was also expected to address the hearing, but the committee says the NLC had to postpone their submission as a result of an emergency meeting.”
Mr Woehler says development, rising sea levels, livestock and recreational activities like four-wheel-driving and jet skiing are all contributing to predictions that Australia will lose most if its beach nesting birds in the next 50 to 70 years.
.There has been an urgent call for Australia and New Zealand to tailor their immigration programs to help Pacific Islanders displaced by climate change.
Over 100 NGOs from across the Asia-Pacific region have sent a letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Helen Clark ahead of this week’s Pacific Islands Leadership Forum.
The letter calls for reduced carbon emissions, resources for resettlement and increased permanent migration.
The leaders will be discussing climate change at a meeting in New Zealand tomorrow before Tuesday’s Forum.
“Ultimately there needs to be recognition in our immigration program that there are people already in the Pacific being displaced as a result of climate change, people having to leave small atolls and islands as a result of sea level rises,” he said.
Damien Lawson from Friends of the Earth Australia says Australia needs to introduce a new category of migration to deal with those who are forced to resettle.
Mr Lawson says both countries need concrete plans for resettlement and migration.
“We think there needs to be a special category in our humanitarian program that recognises the displacement caused by climate change.
“But alongside of that, there needs to be more permanent migration put in place from the Pacific to Australia and New Zealand to help build a resource base.
“Australia and New Zealand need to be putting resources and planning into how the displacement can be coped with and how that resettlement can take place,” he said.”
other fields, such as paleoceanography, paleoseismology, paleoclimatology , and paleomagnetism, apply geologic knowledge of ancient conditions to learn more about the earth. the greek prefix paleo is used to identify ancient conditions ..
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all about geology
4:15 pm philbest, like i showed above, there are many many recent historical and paleoclimatic reconstructions around, so what changes? Observing known laws of physics = greenhouse gases leading to warming
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Comment on Energy Editorials by stephen
“As the proxy results began to come in, we were astounded to find that paleoclimatic and paleoproductivity records were full of cycles that corresponded to various sun-spot cycles. About that time, [geochemist] Jan Veizer and others …
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Comment on Espiner on Energy by PhilBest
Oslisly and his colleagues are also conducting paleoclimatic reconstruction studies in the same area, which allow them to figure out what the climate used to be like thousands of years ago in Central Africa. …
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Hunting for History
Scheibner, C., and Speijer RP, in press.
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Late Paleocene – early Eocene Tethyan carbonate platform evolution …
.An Australian engineering firm has announced plans to build what it says would be the world’s biggest solar plant in Australia within three years.
Worley Parsons has launched a study into finding possible sites to host the $1 billion plant.
The Managing Director of the Worley Parson’s sustainability arm, Peter Meurs, says the project is ambitious.
The study is backed by nine Australian companies including miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
The Managing Director of Worley Parson’s sustainability arm, Peter Meurs, says the search will focus on desert locations.
“It could provide power for 300,000 homes – each power station – and our vision is that Australia’s a suitable place for this and we could build up to 34 of these power stations by 2020,” he said.
The Greens say the decision is an acknowledgment that clean coal technology is not achievable.
“The ideal location for a thermal solar power station is a desert type location, you want maximum solar with the least cloud cover or interference and our dry desert locations are ideal,” he said.
“This is really an acknowledgment that clean coal is never going to be achievable and the coal industry itself is leapfrogging clean coal and recognising the power of renewable energy and solar thermal in particular,” she said.
Green’s Climate Change spokeswoman, Christine Milne says it is a big boost for the renewable energy sector and should be supported by the Federal Government.
.A director of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says policy uncertainty about climate change is costing the economy.
Professor Warwick McKibbin says there is a fixation with targets and timetables for addressing climate change and it is crucial to “get the balance right” between long-term environmental gains and short-term economic costs.
He has told a national finance conference on the Gold Coast that Australia should take a leading role in developing a global framework to reduce carbon emissions.
Professor McKibbin is an economics professor at the Australian National University and has been studying climate change for 17 years.
“I think that is what we have been missing in the global negotiations,” he said.
But he said it was critical to “get the balance right between the long-term environmental gains and the short term economic costs”.”
Professor McKibbin says there is a fixation with targets and timetables for addressing climate change.
“In the global negotiations people are focused on the environmental outcomes mostly alone, and not really taking into account enough the costs of getting there.
“You see people presenting reports saying science tells us we have to cut Australia’s emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, well that’s just completely not right,” he said.
He says countries should be concerned about reducing the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere.
“What science says is that we have to build a global framework so that all countries together can reduce emissions as quickly as possible to stop the bath tub from overflowing.”
Most climate scientists agree that the late 17th century was the Little Ice Age , but there is some disagreement on the exact beginning and end.
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When Was the Little Ice Age? Controversial Dates for the 17th …
What can we learn about the Little Ice Age from paleoclimate studies conducted in the Mediterranean region of Europe? … and what does that knowledge suggest about the nature of 20th-century global warming?
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Little Ice Age (Regional – Europe: Mediterranean) — Summary
.Universities have told a federal inquiry that Australia will lose standing in the academic world if scholarships for PhD students are not substantially increased.
Universities from across New South Wales told the hearing the stress on PhD students is phenomenal.
Government scholarships last for up to 3.
They say students are not being given enough time or money to complete their theses.
They say that makes it very difficult for Australian students to compete with their international counterparts.5 years but the academics say most students take at least four or more years to complete their research.
A spokesperson for the University of Sydney, Professor Merlin Crossley, says the Government needs to take action in order to avert a crisis.
Some professors related how their students were being forced into part-time study to pay their bills and one noted that rents in Sydney added an extra burden.
“So it’s a little bit like climate change.
“What one will find is gradual shortage of skilled people, one will see salaries going up as the war for talent increases,” he said. No one will be certain when it started but after a while people will realise there is a crisis unless some action is taken.”
Long cycles in sunspots and other solar activity may have affected the Sun’s energy output and Earth’s climate.
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Maunder Minimum & Variable Sun: Solar Variations, Sunspot Activity …
.The Federal Opposition has criticised the Commonwealth Government’s $50 million water buyback scheme, saying only a trickle of the water will make it into the Murray River this year.
The Government has purchased about 35 billion litres of water entitlements from a number of catchments across the Murray-Darling Basin.
He says the Federal Government should not have purchased water until a plan was drawn up to manage the river system.
Federal Opposition water spokesman John Cobb says the drought conditions through much of the system mean most of the water will not be delivered this year.
“They should not be willy nilly trying to buy water at this time, there is no plan.
“All the $50 million has bought is a promise in the future of water, it has bought air space, it will not put any water in the Murray River at this time,” he said.”
The Government has defended the buyback scheme, with Fedearl Water Minister Senator Penny Wong saying it is part of a long-term plan to save the river system.
“When you speak to those who have been charged with buying the water they concede there was no plan, they just bought the cheapest water they could, which was buying air space in dams, it did not actually buy water at this time.
“The fact is, after years of inaction and in the midst of a drought and the effects of climate change the Government is working to improve the health of the rivers.
“For the first time and after years of inaction the environment will have an entitlement as governments allocate water,” she said.”
.The states and territories could lose $1.4 billion a year under an emissions trading scheme, figures released by the Australia Institute show.
Australia Institute executive director Richard Denniss says New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland will be worse off as they are forced into paying higher electricity, transport and wage costs associated with carbon trading.
The Canberra-based think tank says the rise in expenses is equivalent to 15,000 teachers, nurses or police officers losing their jobs and says it is surprised the issue was ignored in the Federal Government’s green paper into an emissions trading scheme.
The Australia Institute predicts New South Wales will see its costs rise by more than $450 million a year while the Victorian Government will have to face $350 million in extra costs and Queensland almost $300 million annually.
“What’s surprising is to date the issue hasn’t even been on the agenda but I don’t think it’ll stay that way for long,” he said.4 billion in the first year but the costs would be ongoing, the study says.
The total bill for all states and territories would $1.
“If you think about all the services states provide – hospitals, schools for example – they consume a lot of electricity, they consume a lot of goods and services, and also just their wages bill is set to rise because of the small inflationary effect,” he said.
Dr Denniss says it is strange the issue of compensation for the states was not addressed in the green paper.
“As with households and as with some businesses there’s a very strong case for compensation here,” he said.
Dr Denniss says the federal Government has so far overlooked the severity of the economic impact for states and territories and concentrated on compensating big polluters instead.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong says the point of the Government’s green paper is to generate discussion and submissions from all stakeholders including the state governments are welcome.
“As with so many other disputes between the states and the Commonwealth they’ve got COAG and other processes for figuring this out but it’s no different from a stoush between the sates and Commonwealth over health funding and education,” he said.
