Tensions between the “big two” parties over continuing Government co-operation have again surfaced – this time on the key issue of climate change and major hikes in the carbon tax.

Fine Gael TDs and senators on a special all-party committee considering actions against climate change, whose report has been repeatedly delayed, say they suspect Fianna Fáil is trying to delay necessary tough decisions.

Some Fine Gael members fear the effort may be to push the issue beyond local council and European Parliament elections on May 24 next.

But Fianna Fáil climate change spokesman Timmy Dooley has utterly rejected the Fine Gael claims. Mr Dooley said his party, Labour and Green Party were making common cause on the issue and he believed Fine Gael was actually behind the delays.

The climate change action pressure group ‘Stop Climate Chaos’ has noted that the all-party committee has been operating and considering recommendations from the Citizens’ Assembly since the middle of last year.

The group said a report with strong recommendations is now urgently required, especially given the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which warned that rapid, unprecedented and far-reaching action across all aspects of society is needed.

“The outcome of the committee is a litmus test on whether our political representatives are up to the task of responding to the crisis. The committee must deliver clear recommendations for specific new actions the State should take,” said Cliona Sharkey, policy adviser with Trócaire, adding that these must be enacted by Climate Change Minister Richard Bruton.

The TDs and senators are contemplating a fourfold increase in carbon tax in belated efforts to put Ireland back on track to meet its 2030 climate change targets, bringing the levy to €80 per tonne.

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see also: Sinn Féin to reject higher carbon tax

The post Ireland: Parties At War On Carbon Tax Increases appeared first on The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF).

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March 12, 2019 at 10:37AM

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: “There is no climate crisis”

via The Deplorable Climate Science Blog

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March 12, 2019 at 10:11AM

For ice extent in the Arctic, the bar is set at 15M km2. The average in the last 12 years occurs on day 62 at 15.07M before descending. Most years are able to clear 15M, but in the five previous years only 2014 and 2016 ice extents cleared the bar at 15M km2; the others came up short.

On day 62, March 2, 2016 cleared 15M, but did not reach that level again. The graph shows 2017 peaked early and then descended into the Spring melt.  2018 started much lower, gained steadily before peaking on day 74, 250k km2 below average. 2019 has been exceptional, surging early to surpass average on day 54, then declined for a week, before re-surging to virtually tie the average extent on day 70.  One final push in the next few days could go over the top. Typically, Arctic ice extent loses 67 to 70% of the March maximum by mid September, before recovering the ice in building toward the next March.

As reported previously, Bering Sea is a big part of the story this year.  The graph above shows NH ice extents from miid-February to mid-March with and without Bering ice.  It shows that Bering contributed about 700k km2 to the NH average, increasing to 800k km2 by the end of this period.  However, 2019 started with about 500k km2 from Bering.  The gap between the cyan and purple lines shows Bering ice declined down to 1440k km2, before adding back 100k km2 in the last 3 days.

What will the ice do this year?  Where will 2019 rank in the annual Arctic Ice High Jump competition?

Drift ice in Okhotsk Sea at sunrise.

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March 12, 2019 at 09:25AM

NPR on Twitter: “Here’s what life is like in a zero-carbon world”

It isn’t hard to imagine what a carbon free world would look like. Carbon is the basis of all life.

Our entire civilization is dependent on carbon based fuels. Without them there would be essentially no food supply, transportation, communications, and very little heat, light and electricity.  There would be no stores, no deliveries. Civilization would quickly collapse and billions of people would die. Places like Ontario, which use a lot of nuclear and hydroelectric power, are also completely dependent on carbon based fuels. But they don’t like to talk about that.

Toronto ranked the 47th worst traffic in the world

The global warming scam is being used to get westerners to self-destruct.  We need to shift the conversation away from junk science, to pointing out the evil which is driving the scam.

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March 12, 2019 at 09:14AM