Think Of The Little Ones
via The Deplorable Climate Science Blog
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Carbon pollution from the Valmont power plant is a major contributor to the permanent drought in Colorado.
If you look into the eyes of these animals grazing next to Kevin Trenberth’s National Center for Atmospheric Research, you can see their deep concerns about global warming, and the permanent drought.
via The Deplorable Climate Science Blog http://ift.tt/2i1JH7O
May 29, 2017 at 10:47AM
Desperate Paris Agreement Advocates: The USA is a “Rogue Country”, Better Off Out
via Watts Up With That?
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Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Climate advocates have boasted about physically bullying President Trump, and are hurling vile insults at President Trump and the USA in general, over Trump’s refusal to date to endorse their climate bully pact.
Trump Delays Final Decision On Paris Agreement Until Next Week
28/05/2017 2:11 PM AEST | Updated 28/05/2017 2:11 PM AEST
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Sources told HuffPost this month that Trump was leaning toward withdrawing. But since then, world and corporate leaders have increased pressure for the U.S. to remain in the deal. During his first visit to the Vatican this week, Pope Francis gave Trump a 184-page letter on climate change.
In the president’s best-known business book The Art of the Deal, he outlines a strategy for negotiating based on making aggressive opening salvos. Vowing to withdraw could be an initial step toward reworking the Paris Agreement to get what his administration considers more favorable terms.
Pulling out of the agreement could have major economic consequences. The U.S. could lose jobs in a clean energy industry estimated to be worth $6 trillion by 2030. Countries could put a tariff on American-made imports. And investors could sour on the U.S. amid what they see as instability sown by sclerotic regulation of carbon emissions.
The diplomatic ramifications could be worse. Quitting the deal could brand the nation as a “rogue country“ and a “climate pariah” as it loses its seat at the negotiating table on global climate policy. Moreover, the U.S. risks ceding global influence to rival superpower China, which has already promised to support poorer countries’ efforts to adapt to climate change.
“Trump has heard now very clearly from world leaders, CEOs, and even the Pope,” David Waskow, director of international climate policy for the World Resources Institute, told HuffPost by email. “It’s time for him to make the right decision.”
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Read more: http://ift.tt/2qt0OUj
The Australian National University, which seems to think “the ends justify the means” when it comes to the climate cause, also joins the growing wave of insults against the USA;
Paris Agreement safer with the US out: Climate observer
ELEANOR HALL: One close observer of international climate negotiations says it would in fact be preferable were President Trump to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement.
Dr Luke Kemp is no climate change denier. He is a lecturer in International Relations and Environmental policy at the Australian National University, and he joined me earlier.
Dr Kemp welcome to The World Today.
LUKE KEMP: Good to be here Eleanor.
ELEANOR HALL: Now European leaders are warning that the US should not abandon the Paris Agreement, but you argue that it would be better for international action on climate if the US were to withdraw. Why?
LUKE KEMP: Well it’s really quite simple, the US as a rogue administration can do much more damage inside of the agreement, than it can do outside of the agreement.
All you’re doing by keeping the US inside of it is gifting greater leverage to a recalcitrant administration.
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Read more: http://ift.tt/2qsJij7
This is not the first time greens have called the USA a rogue state to try to get this way. The following from back in November, shortly after Donald Trump won the Presidency;
US will be a ‘rogue state’ if Trump backtracks on climate: UN envoy
Published on 16/12/2016, 9:07am
Former Ireland president Mary Robinson says incoming administration must live up to the country’s commitments or be ostracised
By Ed King
Governments, civil society and faith groups must unite and condemn the US if the incoming Donald Trump administration pulls out of the Paris Agreement and stops climate funds.
That’s the view of Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, the UN’s envoy for El Nino and La Nina and a long-term advocate of tougher climate policies.
“If the Trump administration does not live up to its Paris commitments in whatever way – by increasing emissions, looking for oil or failing to support the Green Climate Fund – it must be called out as a rogue state,” she said.
“It’s just not acceptable: countries came to an agreement in Paris. The situation of the world could be grossly worsened – the window to act is short yet the opportunities there are good.”
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Read more: http://ift.tt/2hNzX0d
Climate advocates have also suggested that the age of mutual cooperation with the USA is over;
Merkel, After Discordant G-7 Meeting, Is Looking Past Trump
By ALISON SMALE and STEVEN ERLANGERMAY 28, 2017
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Europe’s most influential leader, has concluded, after three days of trans-Atlantic meetings, that the United States of President Trump is not the reliable partner her country and the Continent have automatically depended on in the past.
Clearly disappointed with Mr. Trump’s positions on NATO, Russia, climate change and trade, Ms. Merkel said in Munich on Sunday that traditional alliances were no longer as steadfast as they once were and that Europe should pay more attention to its own interests “and really take our fate into our own hands.”
“The times in which we could rely fully on others — they are somewhat over,” Ms. Merkel added, speaking on the campaign trail after a contentious NATO summit meeting in Brussels and a Group of 7 meeting in Italy. “This is what I experienced in the last few days.”
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The new French president, Emmanuel Macron, has shown a willingness to work with Germany and to help lead the bloc out of its troubles. And Ms. Merkel sees Germany’s future more and more with the European Union of 27 nations, without Britain after its vote to leave the bloc.
“This seems to be the end of an era, one in which the United States led and Europe followed,” said Ivo H. Daalder, a former United States envoy to NATO who is now the director of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “Today, the United States is heading into a direction on key issues that seems diametrically opposite of where Europe is heading. Merkel’s comments are an acknowledgment of that new reality.”
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Read more: http://ift.tt/2rcbJR9
The attempt to bully the USA isn’t just verbal; President Macron of France seems to have admitted that he intentionally tried to physically hurt President Trump with his infamous G7 “handshake”.
Mr. Macron told the French news media that his now-famous handshake tussle with Mr. Trump was a deliberate effort to show that he could not be pushed around by the American president. He told the Sunday newspaper Journal du Dimanche that it was “a moment of truth” — designed to show that he is no pushover, and a message for the European Union leadership, as well.
“My handshake with him — it wasn’t innocent,” Mr. Macron said. “One must show that you won’t make small concessions, even symbolic ones, but also not over-publicize things, either.”
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Read more: Same link as above
Video of the infamous handshake incident
All this in my view demonstrates how toxic and dysfunctional the international political environment has become.
The world is facing real threats, real unstable rogue states actively deploying chemical weapons against their own people, rogue states attempting to acquire long range nuclear capability. The day when terrorists or unstable lunatics acquire the ability to destroy entire Western cities with nuclear bombs may almost be upon us.
But instead of responding to President Trump’s call to pull together, to deal with those real threats, climate advocates hurl insults at the USA and apparently try to physically bully President Trump, to prevent the almost undetectable 0.3C of warming which might occur by the end of the century if the USA withdraws from the job destroying Paris Agreement.
via Watts Up With That? http://ift.tt/1Viafi3
May 29, 2017 at 09:07AM
British Airways blames ‘power surge’ for IT meltdown & travel chaos
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
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Airport chaos for BA passengers
BA moves in mysterious ways, its blunders to perform – but with dire results for a lot of unlucky customers.
BA chief executive Alex Cruz says the airline’s flight disruptions had nothing to do with cutting costs but were caused by a power surge that “only lasted a few minutes”, reports BBC News via the GWPF.
BA chief executive Alex Cruz says he will not resign and that flight disruption had nothing to do with cutting costs.
He told the BBC a power surge, had “only lasted a few minutes”, but the back-up system had not worked properly.
He said the IT failure was not due to technical staff being outsourced from the UK to India.
Mr Cruz said “I am profusely sorry” to the 75,000 passengers affected across 170 airports in 70 countries. [Talkshop note: not as sorry as they were.]
He said two thirds of passengers will have reached their destination by the end of the day. There was no evidence of a cyber attack, he added.
“There was a power surge and there was a back-up system, which did not work at that particular point in time. It was restored after a few hours in terms of some hardware changes… we will make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Mr Cruz said in his first interview.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop http://ift.tt/1WIzElD
May 29, 2017 at 08:03AM
via Ice Age Now
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We must assess not just the alleged risks of using certain pesticides, but also the risks of not using them.
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Not long ago, Paul Driessen predicted that endangered species designation for certain bumblebees would be used to delay or block pesticide use and construction projects across the USA.
“The abuses have already begun, says Driessen, “and now a federal judge has ruled that EPA failed to consult with the Fish & Wildlife Service before approving dozens of products that contain neonicotinoid pesticides.
“The silver lining is that her decision gives the Interior Department and EPA a golden opportunity to open the consultation process to all the experts and affected parties who should be involved and could help ensure that policies and regulations are more solidly based on sound science, common sense, and proper attention to everyone who is likely to be affected by their decisions.”
This article by Paul Driessen explains how and why this should be done.
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Consult with all affected parties, to ensure informed endangered species and pesticide policies
By Paul Driessen
One of my recent articles predicted that the Fish & Wildlife Service’s endangered species designation for the rusty patched bumblebee would lead to its being used to delay or block construction projects and pesticide use on hundreds of millions of acres of US farmland. The abuses have already begun.
Projects in Minnesota and elsewhere have been delayed, while people tried to ascertain that no bees were actually nesting in the areas. Now a federal district court judge has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to consult with the FWS before approving 59 products containing neonicotinoid pesticides that are used primarily as seed coatings for corn, canola, cotton, potato, sugar beet and other crops.
As crops bud and grow, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt must nip this problem in the bud. Thankfully, Judge Maxine Chesney has given them the means to do so.
The Endangered Species Act requires that EPA determine whether a pesticide “may affect” a listed species, she noted, and consult with the FWS and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, which has no conceivable role in protecting domesticated or wild bees), before approving the 59 products, which contain the neonics clothianidin or thiamethoxam. So EPA must consult with the agencies and determine that the insecticides would have “no effect” on the species or establish stricter guidelines for using them.
The Center for Food Safety and a couple of beekeepers initiated their lawsuit to toughen restrictions on or ban use of the 59 pesticide products, because of alleged risks to bees and other pollinators. Pesticide manufacturers, their CropLife America trade association, and various farmers and beekeepers argued that these “neonic” insecticides are safe for bees, and no new measures or restrictions are needed.
Properly done, consultation would evaluate the conflicting claims and ensure more informed policies. During the Obama Administration, those consultations would likely have involved only the EPA, FWS and NMFS, where many analysts have anti-pesticide views, along with the anti-insecticide plaintiffs. The industry and other parties who intervened in the lawsuit would likely have been excluded or ignored.
But those interveners certainly bring essential expertise. So do farmers, other beekeepers, the Department of Agriculture, scientists who have been studying neonic and other threats to honeybees, and wild bee experts like Sam Droege in the Interior Department’s US Geological Survey.
Truly informed policies and regulations must involve all such experts, as well as parties who will be most affected by any EPA-DOI decisions: construction companies and unions, local government officials, conventional farmers who rely on neonics to protect their crops – and beekeepers who increasingly understand that honeybee colony losses in recent years were due to natural pests and pathogens, and that alternative pesticides are actually more harmful to bees than neonics.
Extensive studies have concluded that the actual cause of bee die-offs and “colony collapse disorders” has been a toxic mix of tiny pests (parasitic Varroa destructor mites, phorid flies, Nosema ceranae gut fungus, tobacco ringspot virus and deformed wing virus) – as well as chemicals used by beekeepers trying to control these beehive infestations. These diseases and pathogens can easily spread to wild bees.
Field studies involving crops where bees forage for pollen have consistently found no observable adverse effects on honeybees resulting from exposures to properly applied neonic seed coatings. The studies assessed neonic residues from bees and hives under actual pollinating/pollen-gathering conditions; they found that pesticide residues were well below levels that can adversely affect bees – and that neonics “did not cause any detrimental effects on the development or reproduction” of honeybee and wild bee species.
That should not be surprising. Coating seeds ensures that neonic pesticides are absorbed into plant tissues – and thus target only pests that actually feed on the crops. This reduces or eliminates the need to spray crops with much larger quantities of neonicotinoid, pyrethroid or other pesticides that definitely can kill birds, bats and beneficial insects that inhabit or visit the fields or are impacted by accidental “over-sprays.” Even organic farming can harm bees, as it often employs powerful, toxic “natural” chemicals (like copper sulfate) and spraying with live Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) bacteria.
Laboratory studies consistently overdose bees with pesticides, under conditions that do not come close to approximating what bees encounter in forests, grasslands or croplands. That makes their findings highly questionable to useless for devising responsible, science-based regulations.
These realities help explain the sudden attention to wild bees. When the hullabaloo over honeybee deaths and “colony collapse disorder” supposedly caused by pesticides (especially neonics) collapsed like a house of cards, eco-activists began raising alarums over wild bees species. That’s because so little is known that their latest “no wild bees – no food or flowers” claims cannot yet be refuted as convincingly as were claims about domesticated honeybees that have been bred and studied for centuries.
The FWS and Interior Department clearly opened a Pandora’s Box when they decided to list the rusty patched bumblebee as endangered (rather than merely threatened). That bee’s historic range covers nearly 4 million acres, scattered in unknown segments among 378 million acres across 13 Northeastern and Midwestern states. Other species that anti-pesticide activists want added to the endangered list (yellow-banded, western and Franklin’s bumblebees) were found historically in small areas scattered over more than a billion acres in 40 US states. Some nest in the ground; others in trees.
If environmentalists succeed in getting these endangered designations – especially coupled with a narrow consultation process – they could delay, block or bankrupt power lines, bridges, highways, pipelines, housing developments, wastewater treatment plants, plowing operations and other projects all over the USA. Non-organic farming, neonic-treated seeds, and other pesticide use could be particularly vulnerable.
The actual environmental benefits would be minimal – or profoundly negative, as farmers are forced to use other insecticides or switch to land-intensive organic methods. Additional ironies abound.
The constant environmentalist, court, news media and government agency attention to bees and pesticides is hard to understand in the context of policies that promote, mandate and subsidize large-scale wind turbine installations – while ignoring or exempting their impacts on raptors and other birds, bats, and even whales (NMFS should investigate that) and human health.
Meanwhile, extensive monoculture corn and canola plantations (to produce feed stocks for ethanol and biodiesel production) replace millions of acres of food crop and wildlife habitat lands, while using vast quantities of water, fertilizer and energy to replace the oil, coal and natural gas that rabid greens want kept in the ground. These biofuel operations reduce biodiversity and the numbers and varieties of flowering plants on which wild bee species depend. In addition, over their life cycles ethanol and biodiesel generate more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels per Btu of energy produced (see here, here and here).
Broad-based consultations are therefore essential, to ensure that all these topics are addressed by experts and affected parties who can help evaluate the science and policy implications for domesticated and wild bees, as well as for farming, construction, jobs, families and other species.
They must assess not just the alleged risks of using neonics, but also the risks of not using them, risks associated with having to use other classes of pesticides, and risks that could be reduced or eliminated by using modern neonic seed coatings. They should focus on replicable, evidence-based, field-tested science, not laboratory studies; balance agricultural, consumer and environmental needs; and consider bees in the context of how we protect (or don’t protect) other valuable wildlife species.
These steps would help restore science and common sense to policy and regulatory processes – and serve as a foundation for adjusting the Endangered Species Act to minimize regulatory and litigation excesses.
Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power – Black death.
The post appeared first on Ice Age Now.
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May 29, 2017 at 07:33AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 