Update: February 7, 2020

This is an update to a post The Ever Changing Climate with a new slide showing fluctuating Alpine glaciers over several thousand years.  Context below is from the previous with the new content.

Raymond of RiC-Communications  studio commented on a recent post and made an offer to share here some graphics on CO2 for improving public awareness.  He has produced 12 interesting slides which are presented in the post Here’s Looking at You, CO2.   I find them straightforward and useful, and appreciate his excellent work on this. Project title is link to RiC-Communications. This post presents the five initial charts he has so far created on a second theme The World of Climate Change and adds another regarding Alpine glacier studies by two prominent geologists.  I appreciate that Raymond was able to interact with these two experts in their native German language.

This project is The World of Climate Change

Infographics can be helpful, in making things simple to understand. Climate change is a complex topic with a lot of information and statistics. These simple step by step charts are here to better understand what is occurring naturally and what could be caused by humans. What is cause for alarm and what isn’t cause for alarmism if at all. Only through learning is it possible to get the big picture so as to make the right decisions for the future.

– N° 1 600 million years of global temperature change
– N° 2 Earth‘s temperature record for the last 400,000 years
– N° 3 Holocene period and average northern hemispheric temperatures
– N° 4 140 years of global mean temperature
– N° 5 120 m of sea level rise over the past 20‘000 years
– N° 6 Eastern European alpine glacier history during the Holocene period.

Comment:

This project will explore information concerning how aspects of the world climate system have changed in the past up to the present time.  Understanding the range of historical variation and the factors involved is essential for anticipating how future climate parameters might fluctuate.

For example:

The Climate Story (Illustrated) looks at the temperature record.

H20 the Gorilla Climate Molecule looks at precipitation patterns.

Data vs. Models #2: Droughts and Floods looks at precipitation extremes.

Data vs. Models #3: Disasters looks at extreme weather events.

Data vs. Models #4: Climates Changing looks at boundaries of defined climate zones.

And in addition, since Chart #5 features the Statue of Liberty, here are the tidal guage observations there compared to climate model projections:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

via Science Matters

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February 7, 2020 at 06:27AM

So much for the “hotter drier” future they were warning us about 3 weeks ago

As predicted, droughts in Australia often end in floods. It is the way it has always been. Today people are already being rescued from the rising water and possibly another 200 -300mm of rain may fall before Sunday warns the BOM. Many fires have been extinguished.

Climate change has made no difference to the drought trends in Australia in the last 178 years and climate models are totally skilless at rainfall. When will the climate modelers admit that these are natural cycles?

‘We’re only half way through’: East coast smashed by flashflooding and heavy winds

Forecasters become increasingly concerned that even more rain could fall even faster than expected as five people have been rescued from floods.

The NSW State Emergency Service issued a flood warning for Sydney’s metropolitan areas, saying forecast weather conditions were “likely to cause widespread flooding”.

Flooding has already occurred in Roseville in Sydney’s Upper North Shore and the north-western suburb of Putney, where commuters are advised to allow extra travel time.

Meteorologist have said they are increasingly worried about the unfolding weather event […]

via JoNova

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February 7, 2020 at 05:27AM

After confidently telling motorists for decades that certain types of vehicle were better for the environment, our politicians now plan to penalise those same drivers by government fiat. 

This week’s announcement that the sale of new hybrid cars will be banned from 2035, alongside new petrol and diesel cars, came as a shock to customers and an industry that had been supported by rhetoric from a succession of ministers promoting their supposedly green credentials.

The resale value of these fairly expensive vehicles is likely to plummet as a result of government action, so owners are right to be angry. With new sales of hybrid, petrol and diesel banned, it is likely that much of the infrastructure essential to driving these cars will also disappear, rendering them unusable in practice. Readers may recall that we’ve been here before.

This is not the first time that the prevailing wisdom has shifted dramatically, to the cost of consumers. The last Labour government incentivised the purchase of diesel vehicles following changes to the car tax system in 2001. Despite tending to be more fuel efficient, evidence suggested that diesel vehicles emitted greater amounts of other pollutants. The New Labour tax break contributed to increased sales of diesel cars and a corresponding decrease in air quality. The government, in effect, promoted polluting vehicles under the guise of the green agenda.

Almost 20 years later and we are in the same position. Affluent consumers rushed to buy the latest hybrid Prius after the government backed them as a solution to the climate crisis and the UK’s worsening air quality, especially in London where city authorities made the cars exempt from congestion zones and the latest Ultra Low Emission Zones. Now those same authorities are penalising hybrid drivers.

Nothing better sums up the risk of the state seeking to pick winners and losers in the name of environmentalism, or the way in which ordinary taxpayers inevitably pick up the tab for policymakers’ mistakes. This epitomises the government’s contradictory set of policies, and the broader lack of joined-up thinking on energy and the environment.

Not only is Boris Johnson’s government pushing ahead with the net zero emissions target hastily agreed by Theresa May last year – it is arguably doing so with even greater enthusiasm. The decision to ban “offending” vehicles by 2035, after all, merely expedites an existing government target by five years. 

As such, they have adopted a black and white attitude towards green technologies – ignoring any downsides that might arise from their development or use. For instance, some models of hybrid car are better for the environment than petrol and diesel cars, but the latest announcement will undoubtedly give people second thoughts about trading in their old polluting banger for a hybrid. There are also serious questions about whether we are prepared for the vast rollout in infrastructure the electric car revolution envisaged by politicians will require, and yet the government seems deaf to the concerns of businesses and industry experts about its feasability.

Across government departments, there is a severe disconnect; policies for green subsidies in some areas sit uneasily alongside significant punitive taxes in others and support for non-renewables elsewhere. Sometimes the aims are wholly contradictory. 

In the energy sector, wind and solar still receive substantial subsidies – although much lower than in the recent past – while Ofgem notes that around £120 of the average household energy bill is as a direct result of “environmental and social obligation costs” – that’s green taxes to you and me.

Full post (£)

The post The Government’s Hybrid Car Fiasco Shows The UK Is Nowhere Near A Coherent Environmental Policy appeared first on The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF).

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)

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February 7, 2020 at 05:12AM

via Watts Up With That?

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February 7, 2020 at 04:55AM