On why the once highly regarded WWF has almost disappeared from the news

If you wonder why the WWF has almost disappeared from the news recently, this may be one reason:

Ahead of WWF’s annual Earth Hour on 29 March 2014, South Ayrshire Council is celebrating after once again being named as WWF’s Earth Hour Local Authority Champion for 2013.

Councillor John McDowall accepted the award after the Council was recognised for doing the most of all 32 local authorities in Scotland to support Earth Hour in 2013. The Council’s efforts included switching off feature lighting on 14 of the areas most iconic landmarks, a ghost walk around Ayr and golfing in the dark at Troon.
“This year, we’d like to see more people than ever before in South Ayrshire make their own champion effort to switch lights off for an hour between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on 29 March 2014.
“We will be supporting the campaign and have already been awarded a ‘Super Local Authority’ badge for our proposed plan involving switching off many of our landmark buildings feature lights, a night cycle, ghost walk and more golfing in the dark. --

Lang Banks, Director of WWF Scotland, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that South Ayrshire Council has won our Earth Hour Local Authority Champion title for the second year in a row.

When the bosses of the once highly regarded World Wildlife Fund (now World Wide Fund for Nature) concentrate on awarding titles like "Super Local Authority" and "Earth Hour Local Authority Champion" to councils organizing "ghost walks" and "golfing in the dark", no wonder that even the most eager warmist media lose interest ...

Sanity prevails in Scotland: Scottish Power cancels the Argyll Array, which was to be the world's largest offshore wind farm

Another huge blow to the wind energy lobby - and a victory for sanity: Scottish Power abandons its £5.4bn plan to build the world's largest offshore wind farm, the Argyll Array.

Scottish Power has abandoned a £5.4bn plan to build the world's largest offshore wind farm, after four years of planning, because it is "not financially viable" (NNoN: not even the present high level of subsidies was high enough):

The decision to abandon the Argyll Array was a great victory for the No Tiree Array group, which yesterday welcomed the decision by the developer, calling the plans an "environmental disaster for Tiree and the west coast of Scotland".

Here is the No Tiree Array press release:

Eco-fascism in action: Scottish government "planning reporter" allows wind farm destroying historic St Andrews golf course landscape

St Andrews, the home of golf.
(image Wikipedia)

Alistair Edwards, a Scottish government "planning reporter" has - against the will of both an unanimous Fife Council and Scottish Natural Heritage - decided to allow a wind farm to be built which destroys the historic landscape of the Old Course at St Andrews, the home of golf.

This is Scottish eco-fascism in action:

“The turbines would be visible to outdoor recreational users. There are a number of coastal golf courses within ten kilometres of the appeal site, including the Old Course in St Andrews. Turbine blades would be visible from some holes on this course and others to the north of St Andrews. However, I consider that players’ (and observers’) attention would be primarily on the game, the golf course itself, the expansive sea views, and buildings and prominent landmarks in St Andrews.

“The movement of the blades may draw attention. However, the distance to the blades, a dip in the landscape where the turbines would be located, tree screening, the presence of a caravan park in the foreground (to the east of St Andrews), and the presence of the Fairmont hotel to the east of the appeal site would all reduce the visual impact of the blades. The visual impact from other courses including Crail, Kingsbarns, Fairmont, and The Castle golf courses would similarly be reduced to users due to attention to seascapes.
“No significant impacts to communities, the built or natural environment would occur.”

No wonder anti wind farm campaigners are furious:

A Government planning reporter has overturned a unanimous vote by Fife councillors to block proposals for the six turbine development at Kenly Farm, three miles South east of St Andrews.
The wind farm is being developed by St Andrews University and the turbines - each 328ft high - will be used to generate an expected 12.3 megawatts of electricity to be connected to the university’s high voltage network at the North Haugh Campus.
Both Fife Council and Scottish Natural Heritage had raised “significant concerns” relating to the impact of the proposed development on the historic skyline of St Andrews, the landscape setting of the town, and the visual amenity from town’s West Sands and the Links.
But planning reporter Alistair Edwards has ruled that the renewable energy scheme will have “no significant impact” on surrounding communities or the built or natural environment.
Linda Holt, a spokeswoman for the anti-wind farm campaign group, Scotland Against Spin, condemned the decision. And she claimed: “Many Fifers will be devastated by this undemocratic decision.. It will wreck the landscape, destroy quality of life for local residents and damage the tourist trade in the East Neuk.
“This wind farm will become a sorry symbol of the arrogant contempt with which university managers regard St Andrews and Fife”
John Goodwin, the chairman of the Kenly Landscape Protection Group which has spent four years campaigning against the proposal, said campaigners were “baffled” by the reporter’s decision. He said : “Every single councillor voted against this wind farm and local communities were wholeheartedly against it.”
He claimed: “People’s enjoyment of their homes will be diminished and house prices will inevitably fall. Similarly holiday homes and other rental accommodation will find it harder to find tenants.”

Read the entire article here

Hopefully the anti wind farm campaigners will redouble their efforts in order to have the "planning reporter's" undemocratic - and senseless - decision overturned!

Donald Trump continues his fight against landscape destroying and bird killing wind turbines in Scotland

The Ardrossan wind farm in Scotland.
(image by wikipedia)

"Wind farms are a disaster for the environment". "They kill the birds. They are very expensive in terms of energy."  "Who would build a hotel where the windows are looking right into an industrial turbine?"
Donald Trump

It is not difficult to agree with business tycoon Donald Trump in his fight against wind turbines in Scotland. And Trump is not alone in his opposition to these useless and expensive monsters:

He says Scotland is going to end up erecting thousands of wind turbines that'll have to be junked.

They're unreliable, highly inefficient and require heavy subsidies, he says.

Trump appeared before the Scottish parliament's energy committee last year with this warning.

"Scotland, if you pursue this goal, of these monsters all over Scotland, Scotland will go broke," Trump told parliamentarians. "As sure as you are sitting there, Scotland will go broke." --

Plenty of others share Trump's dislike of turbines, says Linda Holt, spokeswoman for Scotland Against Spin, an alliance of groups campaigning against Scotland's wind energy policy.

"I think there are tens of thousands of people, if not hundreds of thousands of people," Holt says. "I think in rural communities, they are so against them now there are hundreds of local groups who think the policy is ridiculous, is uneconomic, has gone far enough."

WWF and Coca Cola restore unique English rivers - but want to fill their surroundings with ugly wind turbines

WWF and Coke are cleaning the rivers, but want to fill the surrounding landscapes with ugly wind turbines.

The UK branch of the WWF, the world's probably richest envirofundamentalist organization, has published a propaganda video extolling the benefits of its cooperation with Coca Cola:

WWF and Coca-Cola: a year of protecting English rivers

Together we’ve already made some great progress in helping to restore English rivers. For example, we’re working to improve the health of the River Nar, in the Norfolk countryside. The Nar is one of only 200 chalk streams in the world, over two thirds of which are here in the UK.

There is, of course, nothing wrong in protecting these unique chalk streams, but what about the unique landscapes where these rivers originate and flow? Aren't they also worth being preserved? 

Apparently not, if one is to believe the WWF, which (together with Coke?) wishes to see unique areas of natural beauty filled with ghastly bird killing, ineffective and expensive wind turbines. 

Thank God, there are still organizations, which remain true to their original purpose, like the National Trust:

The National Trust has set out its battle plan for rural "warfare" with a list of 25 wind farm projects it is challenging.

Sir Simon Jenkins, the Chairman of the Trust, spoke yesterday of the “warfare” in the countryside sparked by a huge number of housing developments and wind farms planned in rural areas.

Today the Trust reveals they are opposing or "keeping a close eye" on 25 wind farms that threaten stately homes and unspoilt landscape around the countryside.

Britain is building more wind turbines this year than ever before with more than 1,200 turbines due to start spinning throughout the countryside and around the coast over the next 12 months.

Opposition against the WWF supported destruction of the rural natural heritage areas is fortunately growing also in Scotland:

The villagers of Straiton in South Ayrshire have launched a campaign against the projects, which they say have reduced residents to tears and would devastate an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson said the village, in the heart of the Galloway Forest Park, had survived as an exemplar of Scotland’s unique rural heritage for over 250 years and was “packed with a dazzling array of flora and fauna”.

He added: “However, the area is now under imminent threat from wind farm developers. Separate plans from five different companies, if allowed to go ahead, would see the village encircled in a virtual ring of steel, which would devastate the local environment and put the villagers’ way of life in peril.”

(image by wikipedia)

Wind energy in Scotland:"The biggest transfer of money from the poor to the rich that we've ever seen in history"

The skyline of Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, Scotland, is dominated by an enormous wind farm.
(image by wikipedia)

"We're seeing in Scotland the biggest transfer of money from the poor to the rich that we've ever seen in history"

"In parts of the Highlands now tourism is being effectively destroyed and people are leaving the Highlands because tourists no longer want to go there with the landscape bristling with wind factories and industrial wind turbines"

Struan Stevenson

MEP, Scottish Conservatives

Finally somebody is telling the truth about the Scottish government's absurd wind energy policy, which is destroying Highlands tourism, enriching a handful of wealthy landowners and leading to skyrocketing consumer prices,without bringing any significant CO2 reductions. Over the next eight years Scotland's wealthiest private landowners are on course to earn £ 1 billion in rental fees from wind farm companies, according to the book The Myth of Green Energy, written by Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson:

• Duke of Roxburghe, could earn £1.5 million a year from turbines erected in the Lammermuir Hills.
• Sir Alastair Gordon-Cumming, a seventh baronet, could earn £435,000 a year for allowing 29 turbines on his Altyre Estate near Forres in Moray.
• The Earl of Seafield could get £120,000 a year from eight turbines on his estate near Banff.
• The Earl of Moray could receive around £2 million annually in rent for 49 turbines at Braes O’Doune
• The Earl of Glasgow, a Liberal Democrat peer, has 14 turbines on his Kelburn estate in Ayrshire that could generate £300,000 of income per year.
• The Crown Estate, which controls large tracts of land and the seabed around Scotland, is on course to net billions of pounds from offshore wind farms. The revenue will be split between the Treasury and the Queen.

Read the entire article here

And this huge transfer of money will happen without achieving any meaningful economic or environmental benefits: 

 “In every country where wind turbines have been installed they have failed to demonstrate economic feasibility; they have failed to demonstrate viability as a solution to global warming; they have failed to achieve significant CO2 reductions and have failed to provide efficient electricity production or protection of the environment.

“Indeed in countries where industrial wind power has been added to the grid in any volume, consumer costs have rocketed. The two countries with the highest numbers of installed commercial wind turbines, Germany and Denmark, now have the highest electricity bills in Europe.

“And yet in Germany, Der Spiegel reported in a recent article that despite 20,000 installed turbines, CO2 emissions have not been reduced by even a single gram, because additional coal-burning plants have had to be built to support wind power.”

Read the entire article here

"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.

"Europe´s Green Energy Capital" Scotland - myth and reality

Scotland´s First Minister Alex Salmond appears to live in his own dream world, in which he is the mighty leader of an independent "Europe´s Green Energy Capital": 

"Scotland has a target of delivering the equivalent of 100% of domestic electricity demand from renewables"

Our wind and seas hold some of the most concentrated potential not only across the UK and Europe, but in the world – our practical offshore renewables resource has been estimated at 206 GW. By harnessing around a third of this resource, installed offshore renewables capacity could reach 68 GW by 2050 – enough to meet Scotland’s own domestic electricity needs seven times. Around 20 per cent of the electricity generated in Scotland is already exported to the rest of the UK and Scotland can go far beyond this to become the green energy capital of Europe.

Salmond is also fantasizing about support for his energy hallucinations from "major international figures". However, the only one lauding his new energy empire seems to be former vice president Al Gore, who is busy cashing in on the global warming fraud in order to become the first carbon billionaire:  

Climate change campaigner and Nobel Laureate Al Gore praised Scotland’s commitment to renewables when he said: "Scotland has not only provided inspiring leadership, you are exploiting one of the greatest resources anywhere on the planet, with wind onshore and particularly offshore, all sorts of variety of windmills - and the new renewable technologies are especially important". So clearly, major international figures think we have the framework right in Scotland.

When Salmond - hopefully soon - wakes up from his green pipe dream, he has to face the real world: 

The number of homes north of the Border in “fuel poverty” is expected to have increased rapidly to 800,000 last year – more than a third of the total – thanks to rising energy bills.

If heating and electricity prices continue to spiral at the same rate, the report found that the “median household” in Scotland will find it difficult to afford their bills from this year.

It is projected that middle-class Scots will be spending 12 per cent of their income paying for electricity and heating by 2015, but the Tories warned the SNP’s focus on expensive wind power would make the situation worse.

Although ministers have focused the efforts on helping people on benefits, the study found that more than a third (38 per cent) of those in fuel poverty are middle class or wealthy.

Fuel poverty is defined as a household spending more than 10 per cent of its income on energy bills. The Scottish Government has promised to eradicate the scourge “as far as is reasonably practical” by 2016.

However, the study suggested this is a forlorn hope, noting that energy bills have risen at the six times the rate of household income in recent years. British Gas, which includes Scottish Gas, recently reported profits of £2 million a day.

Alex Johnstone, Scottish Tory housing spokesman, blamed the SNP’s “obsession with renewables”. He said: “The Scottish Government’s policy of pursuing wind generated electricity is causing household energy bills to rise, intensifying the fuel poverty situation across Scotland as a result.”

And it is getting much worse, if Salmond is allowed to continue with his obsession: 

ELECTRICITY bills will rise by at least 58% if the UK Government is to meet its renewable energy target within the next eight years, according to an industry expert.

Sir Donald Miller, who spent a lifetime as an engineer in the power industry, rising to chair both the South of Scotland Electricity Board and ScottishPower, warned the cost to households would increase by that amount if ministers were to meet their tar-get of 30% or more of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020. It would mean the average annual electricity bill of £489 for Scottish homes would go up by £283.62 to more than £773 a year within the next eight years.
The more ambitious Scottish Government target of generating the equivalent of 100% of Scotland's own electricity demand from renewable resources by 2020 would mean even greater rises in household bills, he warned. 

Study: Poorest countries adapt well to climate change

"One of the biggest injustices of climate change is that the poorest countries are most exposed and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change even though they have done least to raise atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases. Now they must contend with the brutal arithmetic of a tight budget for global emissions as they try to fight poverty, develop and grow, while managing the enormous risks of climate change."
Nicholas Stern, I.G. Patel Professor of Economics and Government and chair of the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics
José Antonio Ocampo, Professor,Columbia University 

“The huge injustice of climate change is that it is those who have done the least to cause the problem - the most vulnerable from the world’s poorest communities - who are hardest hit by it.

“That is why Scotland is committed to supporting climate justice and why we are launching Scotland’s Climate Justice Fund.”
Alex Salmond, First Minister, Scotland

There is great news for Salmond, Stern and all the other warmists who pretend to be worried about the impact of global warming in poor countries. A new study shows that the poorest countries actually adapt better to climate change: 

A new study involving experts in the School of Geography at The University of Nottingham found that the very poor and the relatively wealthy countries are less vulnerable — it was the group in the middle that was most at risk. This unexpected result was found at several different scales and by different members of the research team. They’ve called on policy-makers and NGOs to take their findings into account.


Scottish taxpayers´ money will hopefully now be used for some more urgent purposes. 

The Scottish government´s renewable energy spin vs reality

Scotland - quite like the UK - has a "green" government, which has eagerly embraces
all the warmist propaganda arguments and cheap renewable energy slogans. Now the Scottish Department for Energy and Climate Change is claiming that the government´s "low carbon initiatives will have a big impact on consumers´energy bills": 

Using renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, is a good way to reduce your energy bill.

The DECC argued that by 2020, policies to reduce Scotland’s carbon footprint will shave £94 off energy bills, a feat that would not have been possible if they hadn’t been put in place.

The current drive towards using renewable energy sources will see average household energy bills stand at £1,285 by 2020, a figure which would have climbed up to £1,379 had the government not acted.

The findings were also backed by research by industry regulator Ofgem, which supported the idea that energy bills will be lowered by the government’s green initiatives.

The news will be welcomed by consumers, many of whom are expecting a rise in energy bills by as much as £50 after Centrica, which owns Scottish Gas, announced an increase in wholesale gas prices.

“Renewable energy is vital to Scotland and to the rest of the UK. It is essential if we are to keep bills down for ordinary families, boost the economy and meet our climate change targets,” said Fergus Ewing, the energy minister.

The Scottish government is of course quite right when saying that its "low carbon initiative will have a big impact on consumers´ energy bills". However, the problem is that the impact will be a steep rise in energy prices: 

ELECTRICITY bills will rise by at least 58% if the UK Government is to meet its renewable energy target within the next eight years, according to an industry expert.

Sir Donald Miller, who spent a lifetime as an engineer in the power industry, rising to chair both the South of Scotland Electricity Board and ScottishPower, warned the cost to households would increase by that amount if ministers were to meet their tar-get of 30% or more of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020. It would mean the average annual electricity bill of £489 for Scottish homes would go up by £283.62 to more than £773 a year within the next eight years.
The more ambitious Scottish Government target of generating the equivalent of 100% of Scotland's own electricity demand from renewable resources by 2020 would mean even greater rises in household bills, he warned.
Sir Donald calculations are contained in his submission to the Scottish Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee's inquiry into the Scottish Government's targets.

The former engineer, who favours a mix of energy sources including nuclear, also claims Scottish Government targets imply a four-fold expansion of wind power in Scotland, offshore and on land, within a period of eight years, but counsels: "This seems unlikely and not least because of resistance to a proli-feration of wind farms onshore."
He believes the conduct of planning inquiries into wind farms is bringing the Scottish planning system into disrepute and points to growing evidence based on experience in the United States and Ireland that high levels of interruptible generation, such as wind, produce much smaller savings in CO2 emissions than had been thought.

Read the entire article here

NASA´s Hansen wants Al Gore to change his lifestyle?

Will we soon see Al Gore give up his  several  homes,  fuel hungy cars and  private  jet flights?

For some strange reason, it appears that the global warming cult has many of its most ardent followers in Scotland. Now the clan of Scottish warmists have decided to award NASA´s James Hansen with what the Guardian describes "the prestigious Edinburgh Medal". 

The Guardian - always happy to promote the cult - gives a glowing presentation of the high priest: 

Now 70, Hansen is regarded as one of the most influential figures in climate science; the creator of one of the first global climate models, his pioneering role in warning about global warming is frequently cited by climate campaigners such as former US vice president Al Gore 

Hansen will, of course, use this opportunity to present yet another catastrophic global warming scenario and call for a "worldwide tax on all carbon emissions". 

The very rich and most profligate energy users, people with several homes, or private jets and fuel-hungry cars, would also be forced into dramatically changing their energy use. In the new paper, Hansen, director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and his colleagues warn that failing to cut CO2 emissions by 6% now will mean that by 2022, the annual cuts would need to reach a more drastic level of 15% a year.


Will we soon see Hansen´s pupil Al Gore - a member of the group of "the very rich and most profligate energy users, people with several homes, or private jets and fuel-hungry cars" - "dramatically" change his lifestyle and energy use?

(image by wikipedia)

"Scottish pioneers of climate justice"

Alex Salmond - A proud "pioneer of climate justice"

Scotland´s First Minister Alex Salmond has suggested that 2012 should be the "year of climate justice". Consequently, the Scottish parliament has had the "first ever parliamentary debate" on "climate justice".

The World Development Movement blog enthusiastically summarizes the debate:



As SNP MSP Marco Biago said: “I am drawn to the World Development Movement’s phenomenal statistic—which I have no reason to doubt—that the UK emits more carbon dioxide in one year than Bangladesh has emitted in its entire history. When we have spent 200 years polluting our way to prosperity, the issue becomes not noblesse oblige—helping because we can help—but helping because we caused or contributed greatly to the problem, so we have an obligation to help.”

Politicians also recognised Scotland’s historic responsibility as one of the countries that created the modern world, with its reliance upon coal and oil for fuel. The image of the Scot as pioneer of old who ‘in coffee shops and taverns up and down the Royal Mile... put together the ideas that underpinned the modern world and the industrial revolution’, and who should now become a pioneer of climate justice, was a nice one promoted by Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie.

And as the Labour MSP Neil Findlay put it: “Scotland has been a world player in so many fields in past centuries, and I hope that over the next ones we will be seen as pioneers whose actions have environmental justice as a core philosophy, unhindered by balance sheets, corporate greed and further exploitation.”

Importantly, Neil Findlay also picked up on WDM’s concept of climate debt, saying:
“The World Development Movement argues that we in the west have accrued an adaptation debt because of our contribution to climate change internationally. It is calculated that our share of that debt is £22 billion over 40 years. I am not arguing that we immediately write a cheque to settle that, but it is morally right that we develop policies that try to repair some of the damage that we have inflicted. We should provide expertise and capability to assist countries in the developing world.”

The debate was also an opportunity for Stewart Stevenson ( Minister for Environment and Climate Change at the Scottish Government) to announce a new ‘climate justice fund’ that will help people in poor countries to adapt to climate change.


Meanwhile The Scotsman is reporting about "development movement" in the real world:

‘Twenty years of austerity’ for Scots public spending

SCOTLAND’S battered economy will remain flat throughout the first half of this year and public finances face an austerity chill of almost two decades before spending returns to its pre-recession high, the country’s chief economist has warned.         
--
The study predicted spending cuts would last longer and have a far deeper impact than first envisaged. Some £51 billion will be lost from the Scottish budget – a third higher than the £39bn forecast last autumn. The cumulative loss would build up year on year and mean an 18-year austerity chill in spending. Holyrood’s budget would start to rise again in 2017-18, but it would be 2027-28 before it got back to its pre-recession high of 2009-10.
--
Unemployment also showed little sign of picking up, with the rate in Scotland having more than doubled from about 4 per cent before the recession struck to almost 9 per cent.

Twenty years of austerity and spending cuts is on offer for the people of Scotland - and paying the £22 billion "climate debt", of course, comes on top of that. Perhaps we should congratulate the "Scottish pioneers of climate justice"?

(image by wikipedia)

Head of UK government advisory body on climate change: Climate change good for Scotland

Lord Krebs, an internationally renowned scientist and the head of a UK government advisory body on climate change, has great news for Scotland: Climate change in will lead to fewer winter deaths, lower heating bills, a boost for tourism and good opportunities for Scottish business.

The Scotsman summarises Lord Krebs´s newly published report:

Lord Krebs, a former chairman of the British Food Standards Agency, said that the changes to seasonal temperatures were likely to grip Scotland by 2050, with other positive affects also leading to a boost for tourism, due to sunnier climes, as well as lower heating bills. He said: “There could be implications for heating bills, as there’s a likelihood that winters will be milder.
“In the longer term there could well be a reduction in people’s heating bills as the winters get warmer.
“It’s uncertain as to when this might happen, but we could be talking about the period from the middle of the century.
“Part of the story for Scotland is that we’re perhaps talking about people who are getting towards middle aged now, enjoying a warmer climate when they are pensioners.
“It’s not just heating bills though, as there will be positive opportunities in leisure and tourism, with the warmer climate meaning that there are more chances for outdoors activities and people are also more likely to visit as tourists when the weather is warmer.”
Lord Krebs said that the melting of Arctic ice due to climate change could lead to a growth in global trade opportunities for Scottish business.
He said: “If Arctic ice melts, it will have benefits in opening up new shipping routes and boosting international trade.
“But at the same time there’s more of a risk of pollution, as the water becomes more active. We’re talking about anywhere covered by ice.
“Climate change for Scotland would mean that there would be good opportunities for Scottish business if it thinks well ahead.

This should be really good news also for the Scottish government. But instead a government spokesman had this to say:

“Taking action on climate change is one of our top priorities.”

Or maybe he actually meant, that the Scottish government will take action to speed up the positive developments mentioned in the new report?

Greenpeace activists arrested in Scotland

Recently Greenpeace boss Kumi Naidoo and some of his fellow "activists" were arrested and deported by the police in Greenland.

Now Edinburgh police have had enough of the Greenpeace bunch:

About 20 Greenpeace activists were arrested at the Edinburgh headquarters of Cairn Energy Plc (CNE) today after protesting against Cairn’s refusal to publish its spill- response plans for deep-water drilling off Greenland, the environmental group said.

The activists entered the offices to “search for a copy of the company’s secret oil spill plans,” Greenpeace said in an e- mailed statement. Lothian and Borders police said in a statement on its website that “a number of people” were arrested at Cairn’s offices and will appear at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court tomorrow.

Read the entire article here

It is time to get tough with these people, who think they are above the law!

Fighting climate change in Scotland

The Scots are famous for their frugality. However, that may not be true anymore. Otherwise it is difficult to understand why the Scottish taxpayers have been paying  £ 50.000 to the 1100 strong Edinburgh Hindu community to find out the carbon footprint of each member of the community.

The Edinburgh University based Carbon Masters consultancy carried out the study, the main findings of which are these:

The report revealed that the highest contributor to emissions was energy consumption, which accounted for 40% of each individual’s carbon footprint, transport and flights and food were both responsible for 24%, followed by consumables (8%), and leisure activities (4%).
Several cultural factors were evident in the Hindu community’s carbon footprint. A major contributor to high-energy use was the large number of bright, white lightbulbs popular in Hindu homes. The bulbs are not commonly available in the UK and most are bought in India where they are cheaper.


Food buying habits peculiar to the community also contributed. Most people buy fresh indigenous produce from local Asian stores rather than homegrown produce from supermarkets. A high number of international flights, most to India, but also to Africa, the Middle East and America had the effect of raising the community’s carbon footprint significantly.

These findings must have taken everyone with surprise. Who could have guessed that the Hindus in Edinburgh buy cheap light bulbs, shop Indian produce in Asian stores and visit their relatives and friends in India and elsewhere?

The next step "will be to focus on challenging people to change their lifestyle". So, no more cheap Indian light bulbs, no fresh Indian produce and no flights to India for the soon to be re-educated Hindu community in Edinburgh.

Kevin Houston, the chief of Carbon Masters, is excited:
“The carbon footprint report provides a baseline indication of the Edinburgh Hindu community’s emissions which demonstrates, clearly, the main areas that need attention.
“This is a great example of a community taking responsibility for helping to reduce climate change and a precedent for others throughout Scotland and the UK to follow.”

Read the entire article here

No wonder that Mr. Houston is smiling - after all, his consultancy must have pocketed the major share of the £50,000 so generously provided by the Scottish taxpayers. And now he is looking forward to many more similar payments. All in the name of fighting the non-existent problem of human-induced global warming.

PS

Here is one more reason why Mr. Houston and the climate alarmists at his university are smiling:

A University building, close to the Scottish Parliament, is to be refurbished to house the ECCC (Edinburgh Center on Climate Change)

"The £10 million refit, scheduled to open in 2012, will deliver a forum for collaboration and the development of professional skills on all matters related to climate change.
Award-winning Malcolm Fraser Architects has been appointed to design the facility".

As can be seen,  no ordinary building is good enough for the University of Edinburgh climate change alarmists. Of course, saving Scotland and the world from (bogus) catastrophic human-induced climate change requires a world class working environment, courtesy of the Scottish taxpayers. (If you look close enough at the video, you will notice that the University of Edinburgh warmists even are going to be able to watch fellow warmist BBC on a huge flat screen in the cafeteria!)

And all this at a time when the reality for ordinary Scots looks somewhat different:

POVERTY campaigners have made an urgent call for more government support for poor families after a “shocking” new study showed their day-to-day living costs have risen 50% faster than richer households since the recession struck.