Climate & Environment Weekly: October 20, 2005

Climate & Environment Weekly
October 27, 2005

Climate & Environment Weekly is brought to you by The Center for Science and Public Policy (CSPP). CSPP is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy organization.

CSPP relies on scientific experts in many nations and the vast body of peer-reviewed literature to help lawmakers, policy makers, and the media distinguish between scientific findings that are agenda-driven and those that are based on accepted scientific methods and practices. In a timely manner, the Center's Science Watch Team alerts policy makers, the media, and the public to unreliable scientific claims and unjustified alarmism which often lead to public harm. We strive for a fair and balanced examination of science.

Suzuki needs to accept differing opinions
Speaking as one of the "rogue scientists" who disagree with David Suzuki's views on climate change ("Speaking out in the name of science", October 18), Suzuki must accept that if scientists should be advocates, they will not all advocate what he believes. He cannot chastise us for keeping quiet, and then dismiss us when we speak out in a manner contrary to his beliefs. That is irrational... >>Read More<<

AS SCIENTISTS PREDICT SCIENTIFIC DISASTER, OTHERS FORESEE APOCALYPSE
TSUNAMI, HURRICANE, DROUGHT AND now earthquake and flood. In a single year, the Earth has buckled and lashed out, piling calamity on catastrophe to the point where humanity inevitably asks whether the catalogue of disasters is natural, in the sense of random and routine, or whether these are evidence of a pattern: either global warming, government failure, or God's wrath... >>Read More<<

Attitudes and Beliefs About Eating Fish: A National Opinion Survey Conducted for The Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy
Fish is part of a healthy diet. There is a growing body of research linking the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish with optimal brain function and cognition and improved eye and skin health... >>Read More<<

Tuna Canners Warn Against Dangerous Precedent
Tuna Canners Warn Against Dangerous Precedent; First Witness in Landmark Proposition 65 Case Would Have Warnings Placed on All Seafood in California... >>Read More<<

CLIMATE CHANGE MAY MEAN GREEN SAHEL
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Rainfall over parts of Africa's Sahel appears to be rising but its greening could prove a mixed blessing if the population surges as a result and drought follows, a leading ecologist said on Monday... >>Read More<<

CLIMBDOWN- EUROPE ADOPTS 'FLEXIBILITY' AND 'COMPROMISE' IN NEW CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY
Britain today insisted the European Union must work with a wide range of countries to combat climate change, but said a flexible approach to win partners would not weaken the bloc's determination to tackle the problem... >>Read More<<

Celestial Climate Driver: A Perspective from four Billion Years of the Carbon Cycle
The standard explanation for vagaries of our climate, championed by the IPCC, is that greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, are its principal driver... >>Read More<<

New data on Netherlands storm trend
There is a good solid paper in a recent issue of the International Journal of Climatology (25: 1331-1344 (2005)) on windstorm trends over the Netherlands 1962-2002... >>Read More<<

KYOTO GOALS NOT ATTAINABLE WITHOUT CRUSHING NEW ZELAND ECONOMY
A new report by economic consultancy Castalia reiterates and amplifies earlier warnings about the cost to the economy of attempts to meet greenhouse emission goals set out by the Kyoto accord, saying significant social and economic dislocations are in the cards should the government make a serious compliance attempt... >>Read More<<

The Fate of Fish in a High-CO2 World
In response to this concern, Ishimatsu et al. conducted a survey of the scientific literature with respect to the potential negative consequences of atmospheric CO2 enrichment on the health of fish that could arise from continued anthropogenic CO2 emissions... >>Read More<<

Fish is good ? fish is bad. Balancing health risks and benefits
Fish has been a staple of human nutrition in many cultures, but there has been some controversy recently about the benefits and risks of fish consumption... >>Read More<<

Beware the Easy Fix of Energy Price Controls
The West Coast is gasping from wholesale electricity at prices one would expect to pay on the moon. It is appealing in such a squeeze to ask for price control. Pass a law to push prices down... >>Read More<<

Study finds government advisories on fish consumption & mercury may do more harm than good
Eating one fish meal per week gives significant nutritional benefit
Boston, MA - A comparison of the risks and benefits of fish consumption suggests that government advisories warning women of childbearing age about mercury exposure should be issued with caution... >>Read More<<

Sea Gypsies See Signs In The Waves
(CBS) The tsunami may have lasted only a couple of hours, but it will not go away. New casualties are still being discovered: Thais, Swedes, Sri Lankans, and Indonesians. The death toll has topped 175,000. And there’s more than 125,000 still missing and presumed dead... >>Read More<<

Tag Team Hit Job
It can only be a good sign that one's views are having some influence when your critics begin to focus on ad hominem attacks and cartoonish mischaracterizations of your work. This has happened to me in, of all places, an interview of Georgia Tech's Judy Curry by journalist Paul Thacker of Environmental Science & Technology... >>Read More<<

Little Ice Age (Regional - Asia: China) – Summary
In an attempt to rewrite climatic history, certain scientists have claimed that the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period were neither global in extent nor strong enough where they did occur to have a discernable influence on mean global air temperature... >>Read More<<

Climate Change Policy: A Cost-Effective Strategy for the U.S. and for Oregon
Scholars have made much progress over the past thirty years in understanding the economic impact of social regulation... >>Read More<<

Nonlinear responses of tree growth to temperature
David Stockwell has suggested a discussion of nonlinear responses of tree growth to temperature. I’ve summarized here some observations which I’ve seen about bristlecones, limber pine, cedars and spruce - all showing an upside-down U-shaped response to temperature... >>Read More<<

Climate Audit Blog
David Stockwell has suggested a discussion of nonlinear responses of tree growth to temperature. I've summarized here some observatinos which I've seen about bristlecones, limber pine, cedars and spruce - all showing an upside-down U-shaped response to temperature... >>Read More<<

Temperature Record of the week is from Gravette, AR.
During the period of most significant greenhouse gas buildup over the past century, i.e., 1930 and onward, Gravette's mean annual temperature has cooled by 0.70 degrees Fahrenheit. Not much global warming here!
... >>Read More<<

Blame your high natural gas prices this winter on environmental groups
Issue: Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, writes in a report entitled "Energy and the Environment: The Future of Natural Gas in America" that because of
environmental laws passed in the 1980s and 1990s, utilities turned to natural gas as a cleaner fuel than coal... >>Read More<<

THE FUTURE OF THE EARTH: IS THIS THE END OF THE WORLD?
Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Floods. What is happening to our planet?
Is this the end of the world? The earth shakes in Asia and a generation of children is lost. The wind flails America and a city is destroyed. A giant wave rises in the Indian Ocean and whole islands are drowned along with swathes of coastland... >>Read More<<

McIntyre blog posts on WSJ story (excerpts)
-- You’d think the reporter might have spent some time at the Climate Audit site to see what the real issues are…and why Steve’s not “moving an inch.” It’s a fluff story…one that doesn’t actually report anything of real importance or significance... >>Read More<<