"Global warming" continues in the UK: Icy conditions and subzero temperatures forecasted

This may be a common sight  soon again  in  Aberdeen and other parts of  the  UK

Gritter/plow teams have been training in order to make sure that there are no icy roads when Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visit Aberdeen on Monday.



After a record wet and chilly summer, "global warming" is continuing in the UK: 

After a wet spring and a washout summer, you might have thought we were owed a fine September of warm sunshine.

Well, dream on. The Indian summer appears to be over already.

You’ll need jackets and umbrellas from today and while you’re at it you might want to look out a scarf and gloves.

Temperatures started plunging last night with some parts of  England and Wales falling to 0C (32F) overnight.

Widespread ground frosts in northern and central areas were also expected this morning – with gritting vans seen on the roads in some northern areas.

In Scotland temperatures were expected to drop to -4C (25F) in the early hours with icy conditions on high ground.

Latest warmist scare: Brain-eating Amoebas!

Brain-eating Amoebas are the latest global warming scare

The list of all the horrors caused by global warming/climate change seems to be endless. The latest warmist scare is about brain-eating amoebas:

This one may be the scariest of all.

From The Advisory Board Company:

CDC researchers say that the two Louisiana individuals who died last year from a brain-eating primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) contracted the infection after using neti-pots with tap water harboring the bacteria, according to a study in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The victims’ deaths, the first recorded PAM cases in the U.S., were linked to the presence of Naegleria fowleri in the tap water they used to regularly clear their sinuses with neti pots, the study says. The municipal tap water tested negative for the bacteria, but one victim’s tankless water heater anrd the other’s sink and faucet tested positive for the bacteria.

What are the symptoms of PAM? In the first case, a 28-year-old man developed a severe headache, neck stiffness, back pain, confusion, fever and vomiting and became extremely disoriented. The second victim was a 51-year-old woman who suffered from nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue, fever and neck stiffness.

What’s the global warming connection? The CDC believes that as temperatures increase, these bacteria can colonize in household plumbing and tap water. CDC researchers say there has been a shift north in the geographic pattern of where PAM cases are reported, perhaps due to a climate change or localized heat waves.

Read the entire article here

It is of cause sad that there have been cases of amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). However, loose talk about climate change/global warming as a cause is just another example of the warmists´ scare propaganda blaming global warming/climate change for almost every conceivable bad thing happening in the world. 

(image by wikipedia)

Germany´s Academy of Science and Engineering: There will be no climate catastrophe in Germany

German farmers will enjoy a longer growing season according the the German Academy of Science and Engineering
(image by wikipedia)

There is no reason to speak about any threatening climate catastrophe for Germany. That is the clear message by the German Academy of Science and Engineering (Acatech) as reported in several newspapers in Germany. Climate change is basically manageable, according to a new Acatech study made on behalf of the German government. "In this country we will have no such constraints which do not already exist in other regions and which as a rule are managed", says the German academy according to Der Spiegel. Neither is there according to the study any reason believe in horror scenarios about climate related mass immigration to Germany from other countries.

The academy instead chooses to emphasize the positive effects of climate change, such as a longer growing season for agricultural products and lower heating costs during the winter months. Also, e.g. Southwestern Germany will be able to enjoy a Mediterranean climate.

Kudos to the German Academy of Science and Engineering for having the courage to speak out, while so many other national science academies have chosen to act as megaphones for the global warming alarmists!

Obama and other western leaders are shamefully silent about Putin´s crackdown on democracy and human rights

Western leaders should voice their support for the Russians who dare to criticize dictator 

Putin´s crackdown on democracy

Russian dictator Putin´s crackdown on dissent, human rights, civil society and democracy in Russia continues. Western media are full of reports about what is going on in this eastern mafia state. But western leaders - from Obama to Merkel - remain silent. This silence, which also applies to China´s authoritarian regime, is nothing but shameful. Leaders, who do not dare to speak out and condemn the brutal crackdown on democracy and human rights, are weaklings, who should be punished by voters in coming elections: 

The decision to halt USAID work in Russia is just the latest in what has been an especially bad year for human rights in that country, though you wouldn’t know it from the virtual silence of Western leaders. Since Vladimir Putin’s formal return to the Russian presidency in May, there has been an across-the-board crackdown on civil society and the opposition. Beyond the show trial of members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot, authorities have raided the homes of government critics and their family members, conducted criminal investigations and prosecutions of opposition figures and their spouses, and used brutal force against protesters.

Meanwhile, aside from spokesmen’s statements of concern, President Obama and most of his European colleagues have said next to nothing. A clear condemnation of Putin’s actions is necessary out of principle and to show support to those brave Russians who are fed up with authorities’ rampant corruption, abuses and heavy-handed tactics. Tens of thousands of Russians turned out at anti-Putin demonstrations last December, this spring and again on Saturday, despite the threat of arrest and beatings. Western governments should show unwavering solidarity with them.

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 Instead of pushing back and forcing Putin to publicly kick out USAID — a scenario from which he might have backed down — the Obama administration has capitulated peremptorily, without even an expression of regret, betraying and demoralizing Russian civil society and setting a dangerous precedent under which repressive regimes elsewhere that don’t like our support for civil society and human rights can ask us to leave.

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U.S. officials say they are figuring out ways to quietly convey messages to Putin. But private missives simply won’t work. Putin is not going to be persuaded that his path is wrong; his interest is in staying in power at any cost. An August report detailing Putin’s luxurious lifestyle — 20 residences, 50 planes and helicopters, four yachts — underscores what is at stake if he were to relinquish power and lose his immunity. Only pressure from within and outside Russia is likely to force a change in his regime’s behavior. Accordingly, Western leaders, not spokesmen, need to speak out in a clear voice against Putin’s crackdown.

Read the entire article here

Human rights in China: EU speaks softly and carries no stick

The Baroness had a nice cup of tea with Chinese PM Wen Jiabao. "She provided no details about individual issues or cases raised, nor did she clarify what other steps may have been proposed to better defend human rights."

Human Rights Watch wants the European Union to "demonstrate its new commitment to protect and promote human rights around the world" at the EU-China summit, which is due to begin on Thursday: 
“China is often a litmus test for other governments’ willingness to raise human rights,” said Sophie Richardson, China director. The upcoming summit presents an ideal opportunity to reverse a legacy of EU reticence in addressing human rights concerns with Chinese officials.”
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With the adoption on June 25, 2012, of a landmark human rights package, EU foreign ministers pledged that human rights, democracy, and rule of law will be promoted “in all areas of the EU's external actions without exception” and that the EU will “place human rights at the center of its relations with all third countries including strategic partners.”At that time, Human Rights Watch said that the test of this commitment would be whether the EU would follow through with its promise to throw its “full weight behind advocates of liberty, democracy, and human rights throughout the world.”

It is of course good that Human Rights Watch reminds the European Union about its responsibility to follow up on its new "landmark human rights package". However, HRW´s Sophie Richardson must know that the EU is not going honor its commitments with regard to human rights in China.  

There is more than enough of evidence that human rights are put on the backburner when EU leaders meet with their Chinese counterparts. We saw that happen when German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently was in China (on a kowtowing trip). And Sophie Richardson herself tells us about the way Baroness Ashton dealt with human rights and democracy questions on her last visit to Beijing: 
On June 26, 2012, however, following the conclusion of the 3^rd High-Level EU-China Strategic Dialogue, the joint dialogue communique made no reference to human rights. In her public remarks, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, noted “a good exchange on our respective views on human rights issues. We covered individual rights, the protection of vulnerable groups, the importance of the rule of law.” She provided no details about individual issues or cases raised, nor did she clarify what other steps may have been proposed to better defend human rights.
 Read the entire article here

Dame Vivienne and idiocy

Dame Vivienne
(image by wikimedia)

“Before we have had class war, rich against poor. You know what the division is now? It’s idiots against eco-warriors. That’s it.”

Dame Vivenne Westwood on the division between people who believe in climate change and those who don’t

(interview in the WSJ on September 16)

"The 71-year-old combined the shortest of shorts with clumpy platforms, chunky socks, a sequinned hat and a ragged T-shirt proclaiming “climate revolution”.

If that wasn’t bizarre enough, she topped it all off by drawing a crude moustache and monacle on her face with black marker pen – and at one point had what appeared to be a leather whip in her mouth.

Dame Vivienne Westwood at the presentation of her "Climate Revolution" collection in London on September 16.

PS 

In her WSJ interview Dame Vivienne also had this encouraging message to people who plan to have children: 

“Please consider if you want to have children. Do you want to bring them into a world in which 80% of people are going to die?…Within one generation we could see mass extinction. We’ve already started.”

François Hollande - A weak socialist in bed with the greenies

Recenty there were some indications about a possible change in the French government´s senseless ban on fracking, Particularly France´s prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault appeared to be more open to ending the ban. Regrettably, the enviro-fundamentalists have Ayralt´s boss, socialist President François Hollande, under their spell, which means that France says no to the shale gas revolution: 

“As far as the exploration and exploitation of non-conventional hydrocarbons is concerned, this will be my policy throughout my [five-year] term of office.”

Read the entire article here

Hollande also said seven applications for permission for hydraulic drilling to explore shale gas had rejected by his government, although he did not specify which ones.

"In the current form, no one can say that gas and shale exploration through hydraulic drilling, the only technique known today, is not exempt from posing great health and environment risks," he said.

Read the entire article here

Needless, to say, those who are responsible for creating the much needed economic growth in France are more than worried: 

Laurence Parisot, head of Medef, the employers’ federation, said she feared that Mr Hollande had closed the debate on shale deposits, saying such a step “would be very dangerous for the economy and for the country”. She said no plan had been outlined on how to reach the nuclear target.

Estimates from the US energy department suggest France could possess as much as 5tn cubic metres of shale gas, one of the biggest reserves in Europe or about a fifth of US reserves.

Medef argues that exploitation of the reserves could offer a big boost to the French economy, as it has in the US. It says there should be deeper investigation of the effects of fracking and the development of other technologies for shale exploitation.

Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, chief executive of Solvay, the Franco-Belgian chemical group, and a Medef delegate at the conference, said shale had produced a “competitive shock” for the US which France could emulate. “Plus we have an industrial sector in which France could be a global leader,” he said.

Read the entire article here

Read the entire article here

PS

There are more and more signs that Hollande will be a huge disappointment as president. A weak socialist apparatschik in bed with the greenies is not what France needs. 

Cars running on natural gas - not electric hybrids - are the future

A Honda Civic running on natural gas

Natural gas vehicles are the future for the auto industry, not the much hyped electric hybrids. The U.S. has more than enough of shale gas for at least 100 years, and there is plenty of it elsewhere in the world, too. The good news is that the gas can also be used as a cheap transportation fuel: 

As America finds more reserves of natural gas, the auto industry is sure to take notice.

Natural gas got a strong vote of confidence as a future vehicle fuel at the Society of Automotive Analysts Strategic Planning Summit in Southfield, Mich. last week.

New methods of extracting the gas are one of the biggest changes affecting the auto industry in years, General Motors chief economist Mustafa Mohatarem said.

"The U. S. now has a 100-year supply of natural gas," he said. "I'd make a bet it's the next big transportation fuel. The price is so much lower than gasoline -- people will find a way to use it."

The idea got a second from John Casesa, senior managing director of investment banking at Guggenheim Partners. "We're also very high on natural gas," he said. "It's a massive change for the United States, and probably a big deal for the motor industry."

Read the entire article here

Natural gas is already a big thing in the commercial truck market. Firms operating big fleets are switching to natural gas vehicles in order to save fuel costs. When car manufacturers are able to offer decently priced passenger cars running on natural gas, they will find buyers, who appreciate the low fuel costs: 

Honda used the cleaner-emissions pitch when its Civic GX came on the U.S. market in 1998, says Brad Johnson, corporate fleet director with Pacific Honda in San Diego. Now, he says, buyers seem more interested in saving at the pump and using a fuel produced in the U.S. Honda is also promoting the fact that CNG vehicles can drive in high-occupancy-vehicle lanes on California freeways.

Even though consumers are slow to adopt natural-gas passenger vehicles, at least a few gas retailers are optimistic that if they build it, drivers will come.

Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, of Oklahoma City, plans to open 10 retail outlets with CNG pumps this summer, thanks to a partnership with Chesapeake Energy.

And Kwik Trip Inc., an operator of gas stations and convenience stores, opened its first CNG station aimed at passenger-car drivers in La Crosse, Wis., this spring, with plans for several more.

"It's attractive to customers because it's a domestic product, there's a steady supply, and the price is right," says John McHugh, Kwik Trip's communications manager. "If we can offer the consumer a value, we know people will jump on the bandwagon."

Read the entire article here