WWF Canada wants Canadians to fly more in order to save the planet

"Canadians need to take a stand against climate change, and joining Team Earth Hour is a great place to start."

Josh Laughren, Climate and Energy Director, WWF

WWF Canada has sent out an interesting press release about how they want Canadians to "take a stand against climate change", "the greatest threat facing our planet":  By taking more (polluting) jet flights!:

The first 100,000 Canadians who pledge to switch off their lights for Earth Hour can also earn 5 AIR MILES(R)(i) reward miles(i).
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With more than 10 million active AIR MILES accounts, the AIR MILES Reward Program has the ability to reach Canadians from coast-to-coast and inspire them to do their part for the planet every day.

"The notion that wind power can be cheap is just more hot air"

“People should believe that [wind power] is very, very cheap.”
Connie Hedegaard, EU Climate Commissioner

Another Dane, Bjørn Lomborg, who is not - like Hedegaard - acting as PR agent for the Danish wind turbine industry, does not agree:


In fact, this is a highly problematic claim. While wind energy is cheaper than other, more ineffective renewables, such as solar, tidal and ethanol, it is nowhere near competitive. If it were, we wouldn’t have to keep spending significant sums to subsidize it.


To prove his point, Lomborg refers to recent U.K. studies - and the IPCC(!):

The U.K. Carbon Trust estimates that the cost of expanding wind turbines to 40 gigawatts, in order to provide 31 percent of electricity by 2020, could run as high as $120 billion. And the benefits, in terms of tackling global warming, would be measly: a reduction of just 86 megatons of carbon-dioxide per year for two decades. In terms of averted rise in temperature, this would be insignificant. Using a standard climate model, by 2100, the U.K.’s huge outlay will have postponed global warming by just over 10 days.

Moreover, this estimate is undoubtedly too optimistic. Wind frequently does not blow when we need it. For example, as the BBC reported, the cold weather on Dec. 21, 2010, was typical of a prolonged cold front, with high-pressure areas and little wind. Whereas wind power, on average, supplies 5 percent of the U.K.’s electricity, its share fell to just 0.04 percent that day. With demand understandably peaking, other sources, such as coal and gas, had to fill the gap.
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Contrary to what many think, the cost of both onshore and offshore wind power has not been coming down. On the contrary, it has been going up over the past decade. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change acknowledged this in its most recent renewable-energy report. Likewise, the U.K. Energy Research Center laments that wind-power costs have “risen significantly since the mid-2000s.”
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Like the European Union, the U.K. has become enamored with the idea of reducing carbon-dioxide through wind technology. But most academic models show that the cheapest way to reduce carbon-dioxide by 20 percent in 2020 would be to switch from coal to cleaner natural gas. The average of the major energy models indicates that, downscaled for the U.K., achieving the 20 percent target would imply a total cost of roughly $150 billion over the coming decade, and $29 billion every year after that. These figures include reductions in areas other than electricity, as well as higher energy prices’ total cost to the economy.

Nonetheless, the lesson is clear: If the goal is not just to cut carbon-dioxide emissions, but also to use renewables to do it, the models show that the cost balloons to $298 billion for this decade and $57 billion every year after 2020. In effect, insisting on wind power means using energy that is far from competitive, does not help to avert climate change, and costs an extra $146 billion for the U.K. alone.

Read  the entire article here

Fitch: Even with lower estimate shale gas could still be a game changer in Poland

Even with the new lower estimate Poland´s shale gas reserve could still  be a game changer, according to Fitch:

The PGI shale gas reserve estimate, made in conjunction with the US Geological
Survey, is still substantial. The shale gas reserves would be sufficient to
cover Poland's gas consumption for 25-55 years, in addition to 10 years coverage
by conventional gas reserves. Substantial shale gas production could lower
Poland's dependence on gas imports (currently covering about 70% of gas demand),
most of which comes from Russia. It would also shape Poland's future power
generation mix as the country aims to diversify from the dominance of coal in
power generation by investing in renewables, nuclear energy and gas-fired power
plants.

Read the entire article here

These are still early days for shale gas exploration in Poland, and in Europe in general. It is quite possible that there will be an adjustment upwards of the Polish reserve later on. So there is no reason for either Gazprom or the greenies to celebrate.

IKEA - hype and reality

On its internet page IKEA, the Swedish furnishings company, brags about its ethical management and its partnership with the WWF "to address climate change":

The hype:

Shared values

In the 21st century, the business winners will be those companies who look upon climate change as well as the need for reduced use of natural resources as a driver for innovation and a key to business development − including structuring business operations, setting targets and actively pursuing strategic partnerships. Both WWF and IKEA are convinced that through co-operation we will accomplish more.
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The Climate Positive project is an umbrella for all the climate projects that IKEA and WWF are working on. It is mapping various opportunities for IKEA to create a general positive climate impact in society, not only by reducing its own emissions, but also by thinking and acting on how IKEA´s impact effects others.

The reality:

Spying is not a secret to IKEA France executives:

Several Ikea France executives have been asked to cooperate with investigators on charges on illegal surveillance of employees and customers.
This week, French watchdog newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné published condemning emails showing that several high executives at Ikea France, a branch of the Swedish furniture giant, knew about illegal surveillance practices.
Ikea France is said to have set up an entire system for surveying customers and employees, buying information gathered by the national police through a private security company. Questions have also been raised about where this security company got these secret files.
Ikea France apparently also searched for information on employees and customers through records of driving licenses and permits and through mobile phone operators.
CNIL, the French commission on data privacy, will continue the search for internal documents proving acts of illegal surveillance within the company. This morning, they visited several Ikea stores in the Paris area to examine computers and other information storage systems. They were also checking to see if information on personnel was being stored by the company.
--

this isn't the first complaint filed against the company that brags about its ethical management. American employees launched complaints in 2010. Also in 2010, a book was published recounting scandalous company practices.
In France, empoyees and union members have already said they will press charges.

Read the entire article here

Nigel Farage on van Rompuy and the euro

Nigel Farage´s video from last week is funny - and so true:

Senior Editor of Scientific American calls for world government and "species-wide alteration in basic human behaviours"

Gary Stix, Senior Editor at the Scientific American, confirms in his recent blog article what many have suspected; what global warming alarmists want is a Brave New World, ruled by a (socialist) World Government:

Effective World Government Will Be Needed to Stave Off Climate Catastrophe

I’ve come to the conclusion that the technical details are the easy part. It’s the social engineering that’s the killer. Moon shots and Manhattan Projects are child’s play compared to needed changes in the way we behave.
--

To be effective, a new set of institutions would have to be imbued with heavy-handed, transnational enforcement powers. There would have to be consideration of some way of embracing head-in-the-cloud answers to social problems that are usually dismissed by policymakers as academic naivete. In principle, species-wide alteration in basic human behaviors would be a sine qua non, but that kind of pronouncement also profoundly strains credibility in the chaos of the political sphere. Some of the things that would need to be contemplated: How do we overcome our hard-wired tendency to “discount” the future: valuing what we have today more than what we might receive tomorrow? Would any institution be capable of instilling a permanent crisis mentality lasting decades, if not centuries? How do we create new institutions with enforcement powers way beyond the current mandate of the U.N.? Could we ensure against a malevolent dictator who might abuse the power of such organizations?
Behavioral economics and other forward-looking disciplines in the social sciences try to grapple with weighty questions. But they have never taken on a challenge of this scale, recruiting all seven billion of us to act in unison. The ability to sustain change globally across the entire human population over periods far beyond anything ever attempted would appear to push the relevant objectives well beyond the realm of the attainable. If we are ever to cope with climate change in any fundamental way, radical solutions on the social side are where we must focus, though. The relative efficiency of the next generation of solar cells is trivial by comparison.

Stix is calling for "Species-wide alteration in basic human behaviours" in order to achieve World Government. This is clearly in line with the kind of "human engineering" proposed by professor New York University professor S. Matthew Liao and his co-authors.

Something has clearly gone terribly wrong in some parts of the scientific community!

Catholic Bishops´ Conference of the Philippines endorses "Mother Earth"?

Strange things seem to be happening within the Catholic Church. Earlier today we reported about the San Jose bishop calling his parishioners to participate in the Earth Hour and "reduce our climate change impact". In the Philippines the Catholic Bishops´ Conference appears to have adopted a new deity, Mother Earth:

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called on Filipinos to take part in the global campaign to combat climate change and promote energy conservation.

In a release, CBCP’s Commission on Youth (ECY) executive secretary Fr. Conegundo Garganta urged Filipinos, specially the youth to observe the Earth Hour on March 31, 2012 (Saturday).

Meanwhile, the cleric also urged young Filipinos to join the “I Will If You Will” campaign, wherein ECY will change its office light bulbs to compact fluorescent lights if others will switch off their lights on March 31.

“This campaign empowers people to share to the world their own personal contribution on how they can willingly do ways to save Mother Earth,” added Garganta.

Read the entire article here

The fundamentalists of the global environmentalist religion centered on Gaia worship and the uniting of all life forms around the goddess of "Mother Earth" certainly welcome the catholic bishops of the Philippines to their ranks, but one wonders whether the Vatican gives blessing to such a move?

How to succeed at your local Earth Hour cocktail party

The annual celebration of darkness, also known as the Earth Hour, is - unfortunately - soon here again. It is important to be properly dressed for the festivities, in order to be able to fully enjoy the fun.

If you want to really make an impression at the local WWF cocktail party, here are a couple of suggestions to brighten up the gathering:


This trendy shirt is bound to make your presence an instant success:

"Combining Summer of Love design with cutting edge digital technology, the T-60s T-Shirt makes sure you stand out for all the right reasons. Whether you're chilling at a festival or dancing the night away, this shirt is the grooviest way to stand out from the crowd, man."

If you are invited to a more formal Earth Hour party, with such prominent guests as e.g. Al Gore, R.K. Pachauri, or Dr Peter Gleick, you might want to consider this LED Silver Sequin Flashing Bow as a perfect accessoire to your tuxedo.

"This elegant bow tie will dazzle those around you with the silver sequin design, and delight everyone when you turn on the 4 super-bright flashing white LEDs!"

Should the silver design not quite suite your taste, here is another, more discrete, classical flashing lights tie:

If you are Irish, you might want to opt for this exlusive Flash O'Flair-igan design:

If it´s a garden party, and global warming has not yeat made the weather warm enough, a traditional fedora hat may be useful. This one will make every greenie green with envy:

 "Wear this super stylish light up hat at any event! The LEDs reflect off the sequins for an awesome light show".

This is definitively the optimal choice for the lady at the Earth Hour party:

"Purple Blinking Butterfly Wings are the ultimate costume accessory!"

Standing there in the darkness, surrounded by a bunch of greenies, you can easily loose sight of your cocktail glass. Therefore the use of these exclusive LED gloves is strongly recommended:

The Mystical Mitts can be seen half a mile away! Each glove uses 2 powerful CR2032 lithium batteries (included and replaceable).

Enjoy the party!

PS

In case you do not intend to join the party people, you might want to check out what we recommended last year as alternative celebrations.

"Message to EU meddlers: Hands off Hungary!"

One does not have to agree with everything the present Hungarian government says and does, but one thing is clear - Viktor Orban is right when criticizing the EU for double standards and meddling in Hungary´s internal affairs:


Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday (15 March) accused the EU of colonialism and meddling in his country's domestic affairs.
His words come after Budapest was hit with a €500 million EU funds freeze for its continued budget deficit and with legal action over constitutional changes limiting the independence of media, judges and the central bank.
"We will not be a colony. Hungarians won't live according to the commands of foreign powers, they won't give up their independence or their freedom," Orban told over 100,000 people gathered outside the parliament in Budapest on the anniversary of the country's 1848 revolution against Hapsburg rule.
"As a European nation we demand equal treatment. We will not be second class European citizens. Our rightful demand is to have the same standards apply to us, which apply to other countries," he said.

These words reflect a sense that Brussels is keener to apply its new tough budget rules to smaller countries, than it is to larger ones. Earlier this week, a budget concession was granted to Spain while Hungary was sanctioned.
Orban's centre-right party (Fidesz) enjoys a super-majority in the parliament after a landslide win in the 2010 elections. The political dominance has allowed him to pass sweeping constitutional changes - changes that the European Parliament and democracy watchdogs have since deemed anti-democratic.
An anti-Communist himself, Orban compared EU meddling with Soviet rule: "We are more than familiar with the character of unsolicited comradely assistance, even if it comes wearing a finely tailored suit and not a uniform with shoulder patches."

It is also easy to agree whit what University of Kent professor Frank Furedi (born in Hungary) recently wrote:

Message to EU meddlers: Hands off Hungary!
Brussels’ culture war against the ‘white savages’ of Hungary is destroying democracy and helping to boost reactionary right-wingers.


Thirty or 40 years ago, the way that the EU and the IMF are behaving towards Hungary would have been described as a classic example of neo-colonial pressure. Unlike Greece, Hungary is not simply being lectured about the need to sort out its economy - it has also been subjected to a veritable culture war. As far as the EU and the Western media are concerned, the real crime of the Hungarian government is not so much its inept economic strategy as its promotion of cultural and political values that run counter to what is deemed correct in Brussels.

The Brussels bureaucracy has long regarded Hungary as a society in danger of being engulfed by white savages. In 2006, when people in Budapest rioted against their corrupt government, the EU and sections of the Western media described the demonstrators as right-wing mobs posing a threat to democratic values. At the time, Brussels weighed in to support its man in Budapest, Ferenc Gyurcsany, the Socialist prime minister. The fact that Gyurcsany had lied to cover up the scale of Hungary’s massive budget deficit, and that he had admitted his dishonesty to some of his close colleagues, did not stop his mates in the EU from singing his praises. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, president of the Party of European Socialists, was quick to rush to Gyurcsany’s defence, claiming he was the ‘best man to make the reforms that Hungary needs’.

Catholic cult of climate change celebrates Earth Day in California

The cult of climate change seems to have replaced traditional theology in at least one Catholic diocese in California. In a letter posted to the diocesan website, San Jose Catholic Bishop Patrick McGrath asks his parishioners to join in the Earth Day celebrations:

It is fitting that on Earth Day, April 22nd, we ask our parishioners to renew their commitment to the Saint Francis Pledge. By taking this pledge we agree to:

Pray to reflect on our responsibility to care for God's creation and protect the poor and vulnerable;

Learn about and educate others about climate change;

Assess how we contribute to climate change in our homes, our schools, our parishes and in the chancery;

Act to reduce our climate change impact;

Advocate Catholic principles in climate change discussions and policy work.

Our Catholic Social Justice Teaching impresses upon us that nature is not something to exploit; rather, is God's creation to preserve. We are called to celebrate the splendor of God's handiwork, to be good stewards of creation, and to safeguard the integrity of all that God has made. Prayerfully consider how you can join us in this important initiative.

With every best wish and kind regard, I remain,

Sincerely yours,

Patrick J. McGrath
Bishop of San Jose

It is interesting to read the comments to Bishop McGrath´s letter. The great majority of them are extremely criticial of the bishop´s teachings. Here is one of my own favourites:

Posted Saturday, March 17, 2012 10:16 PM By Anton L Seidl
The Green Movement is poorly disguised paganism. Celebrating "Earth Day" during a Catholic church service, which has happened in the San Jose Diocese, is an abomination. To state that "nature is not to be exploited" but rather "to be preserved" is in direct contradiction of common sense. Do we not plow fields, dam up rivers, dig for minerals, raise animals for food and fell trees for fuel and for building homes? These activities distinguish man from animals. The ultimate objective of the greens is to return the natural world to its pristine wilderness, tear down dams, preserve swamps by calling them wetlands. This movement is anti-progress and essential anti-human. I want no part of it and resent being preached to by people who should know better. The Green Initiative has nothing in common with the good Saint Francis; it is left-wing agitprop of the worst kind.

Putin´s crackdown on opposition has began

Vladimir Putin, the thug who recently was "elected" de facto president for life in Russia, has now initiated the widely expected crackdown on opposition:

Police, prosecutors, governors and local officials across Russia have started to come down hard on upstart citizens, signaling an end to the winter of tolerance that characterized the run-up to the March 4 presidential election.
But the crackdown that has unfolded in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s victory has provoked a determined reaction. Local activists are pushing back, forging new alliances and strategies, concentrating on local levers and turning to the daunting task of organizing — house by house.

Members of a feminist punk band are in jail and facing seven-year sentences, accused of sacrilege for singing an anti-Putin song on the altar of Moscow’s cathedral. Environmental activists are organizing in their defense. A scientist who wants to save a rare forest by the Black Sea was thrown in a cell overnight Tuesday, along with his attorney, and faces five years on a charge of hooliganism. Opposition political leaders plan demonstrations on his behalf here and elsewhere Saturday.
“It’s a sign of the beginning of repressions against civic activists,” Sergei Mitrokhin, head of the Yabloko party, said in a statement on the arrests.

On Tuesday, Alexei Navalny and the staff of his anti-corruption blog were summoned for questioning by investigators from the police extremism department. Two days earlier, prosecutors decided to pursue a fraud case against the husband of Olga Romanova, who emerged as a prominent leader of the anti-Putin demonstrations.

Read the entire Washington Post article here

PS

Putin obviously thinks that he can continue as if nothing has happened, but he is wrong. The opposition against the mafia state he created is growing, and the former second rate KGB spy will not be able to stop it.

Poles are tired of being lectured by Germany on nuclear power and shale gas

The Poles are - justifiedly - tired of lectures from an increasingly eco-fundamentalist Germany. German decision makers are intensifying their campaign against Poland´s plans to build nuclear power plants and to develop its shale gas resources:


Poland's nuclear dream is practically destined to cause friction with its neighbor to the west. Rarely in the last 1,000 years have Poland and Germany been on such good terms as they are today. But in response to Poland's decision to build nuclear power plants, lawmakers of all political stripes in the state parliaments of the eastern German states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (both of which border Poland), as well as in the city-state of Berlin, have passed motions appealing to the Poles to follow Germany's lead and do without nuclear energy.
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"If someone doesn't want to build nuclear power plants, that's their problem," says Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Last week, Economics Minister Waldemar Pawlak told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the decision had already been made. The state-owned energy company PGE is expected to build two reactors, and one of them will most likely be in Mayor Krzemiski's jurisdiction, on Lake Zarnowiec.

The disagreement over nuclear power isn't the only energy dispute that pits Polish producers against German politicians. They are also at odds over shale gas discoveries. Geologists have found enormous natural gas reserves locked into the rock deep underneath the hilly, forested landscapes of Pomerania and Kashubia in northwestern Poland. Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski already envisions his country as the Norway of Eastern Europe.
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Many Poles fear that despite their tremendous economic successes, the Germans will continue to treat them as backward country bumpkins who are proving to be obstinate on the subject of nuclear energy.
The Poles become especially irate when the Germans and the Russians join forces, as they did almost seven years ago, when Berlin and Moscow agreed to build a natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Poland.

Then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder didn't even feel it was necessary to consult Warsaw. For many Poles, the notion that Germans now want to prevent them from developing their own natural gas reserves is the height of audacity.

But, once again, it is primarily German environmentalists who are curbing the euphoria over the natural gas find. Jo Leinen, a member of the European Parliament for the center-left Social Democrats and an environmental expert, is calling for tighter regulation of the special process used to extract the natural gas, known as fracking.
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Poland currently buys two thirds of its natural gas from the state-owned Russian gas company Gazprom, which charges Russia's former ally higher prices than its business partners in the West. Warsaw currently pays Russia $500 (€375) for 1,000 cubic meters of gas, while the rest of Europe pays only $300. Poland has filed a lawsuit against Russia in an international court of arbitration in Stockholm.

Read the entire Der Spiegel article here

Europe´s new Imperial Chief Scientist introduces herself

Most western countries nowadays have a chief scientist. That is why the EU Commission´s unelected President, former Portuguese maoist José Barroso, decided that his empire should have one, too. The new imperial über-scientist, Scottish molecular biologist Anne Glover has now introduced herself with a message that surprises no-one:

"Make no mistake, if we had unabated man-made climate change, we would go through an absolutely horrible period of conflict and migration, until the world's population started diminishing very rapidly."
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"The simplest way to think about increasing jobs is to make more stuff and get people to buy more stuff. But my point is that we can't do that, because we're running out of resources," Glover said.

She pointed to estimates from scientists and campaigners that if EU consumption patterns were adopted globally, the equivalent of almost three planets would be needed to keep pace with the current rates of resource depletion.
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But scientific evidence on the need to cut greenhouse gases is sufficient to compel policymakers to act, and Glover believes politicians should be forced to justify themselves whenever they choose to ignore clear scientific findings

"I accept that there will be times when that evidence is rejected for a number of reasons, they could be ethical, economic or social," she said.

"But when that happens, there should be an obligation to highlight that the policy differs from the one the evidence would suggest.

Evidence is quite a precious thing. It's normally produced at a substantial cost, it's peer-reviewed,. So you have a very robust valuable resource, and people need to be very certain why they would reject it."


The new Imperial Chief Scientist is certainly right about one thing - "the substantial cost" of the dubious "evidence" produced by the IPCC´s united warmists.  Everything else in her  "message" is the same empty greenie propaganda that we are used to hear from the overpaid, politically correct EU and UN bureacrats and people like Al Gore, who specialize in teaching others what they do not practise themselves.