UK Department of Energy & Climate Change censors its own infographics on wind energy land use

This is the infographic the UK Government doesn't want you to see:

(Hinkley Poin C is the new nuclear power plant to be built in Somerset)

The Telegraph reports that the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) quickly deleted the infographics from its website after the Renewable Energy Association called it "unhelpful".

Al Gore's 24 Hours of Reality exceeds all expectations: 707 views worldwide on YouTube!

Al Gore's 24 Hours of Reality extravaganza took place on October 22. Anybody noticed?

On YouTube it has been a whopping success: A total of 707 views worldwide!

Congratulations Al!

Here is the Climate Reality statistical breakdown:

24 Hours of Reality: Asia

• by Climate Reality
• 2 days ago
• 185 views

 

24 Hours of Reality: South America Finale

• by Climate Reality
• 2 days ago
• 66 views

24 Hours of Reality : Europe Finale

• by Climate Reality
• 2 days ago
• 57 views

    24 Hours of Reality: Africa

• by Climate Reality
• 2 days ago
• 96 views

24 Hours of Reality: North America Finale

• by Climate Reality
• 2 days ago
• 133 views

America & Caribbean

• by Climate Reality
• 2 days ago
• 170 views

 

Greenland ends ban on uranium mining

This is good news for Greenland:

Greenland's parliament has voted to end a decades-long prohibition on mining for radioactive materials like uranium, further opening up the country to investors from Australia to China eager to tap its vast mineral resources.
The move will not only allow the mining of uranium deposits, but also of rare earths, minerals used in 21st century products from wind turbines to hybrid cars and smart phones and that are currently mostly extracted by China.
With sea ice thawing and new Arctic shipping routes opening, the former Cold War ally of the West has emerged from isolation and gained geopolitical attention from the likes of Beijing and Brussels thanks to its untapped mineral wealth.
"We cannot live with unemployment and cost of living increases while our economy is at a standstill. It is therefore necessary that we eliminate zero tolerance towards uranium now," Greenland Prime Minister Aleqa Hammond was quoted as saying by local newspaper Sermitsiaq during the debate.
Hammond's government won the heated debate by 15-14 votes.

Read the entire article here

The friendless Obama

Germans are sour about the "news" that Barack Obama's NSA has monitored Angela Merkel's phone:

The Democrat, who prefers to spend his evenings with his family or alone in front of his computer, has made it no secret in Washington that he does not want to make new friends. That maxim especially applies to his foreign diplomacy. Unlike his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama is loved by the people of the world, but much less by their heads of government. On the heels of recent revelations that US spy agencies might have monitored Chancellor Merkel's cell phone, the complaints about Merkel's "lost friend" Obama are misplaced. Obama doesn't want to be a friend.--

So much non-diplomacy is new among US presidents. Reagan wooed Margaret Thatcher. George H.W. Bush confided in Helmut Kohl as Bill Clinton did in Tony Blair. George W. Bush, who many thought was an isolationist, could count on a whole team of "buddies," such as the then-prime minister of Spain, José Aznar, and the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He even entertained them at his ranch in Texas.

Merkel was also invited there, and in return Bush ate a dinner of wild boar in her German electoral district. The chancellor has from time to time said that she values such trans-Atlantic closeness.
That is over. "Coolness has its price," Washington Post columnist Jackson Diehl wrote in 2010, adding that Obama appeared to have no genuine friend among world leaders. But what for? He has the NSA.

The fact that the US spies on leaders of other countries should not come as a surprise for Germany, or any other country. That's what intelligence gathering organizations are for.

However, Gregor Peter Schmitz of Der Spiegel is right about the friendless Obama. But what made him think that "Obama is loved by the people of the world"?

Ban Ki-moon visits world famous Copenhagen Tivoli Gardens - "Fairy tale like experiences for all ages"

UN Secretary General  Ban Ki-Moon and his travelling circus earlier week visited the world famous Copenhagen Tivoli gardens as guests of the Danish government:

"The Tivoli Gardens - fairy tale like experiences for all ages"
(official UN photo)

Oh, yes, while enjoying the sights and sounds of the Danish capital, the busy Secretary General also found some time to deliver his standard "tipping point" warning:

"The world is at a 'tipping point,' and how it produces, distributes and uses energy will determine if sustainable development succeeds."

Ban's UN speechwriter had written an almost poetic end line for his boss's Copenhagen "keynote speech":

“With focus, resolve and ambition, we can lower the global thermostat and raise the level of economic opportunity for all – from the poorest households to the largest enterprises.”

Ban made the statement at the launch of the Sustainable Energy for All Energy Efficiency Hub at the UN City in the Danish capital.

The Danes were perhaps lucky to have Ban as the keynote speaker. Had it been the UN's climate boss Christiane Figueras, tears could not have been avoided ...

 

The UN Green Climate Fund reports "huge progress": The search for a logo continues

Global warming has stopped, but the huge UN climate bureaucracy continues like nothing would have happened. The fact that the UN Green Climate Fund so far has been able to raise only $ 7.5 million  of its promised US$100 billion per year for climate finance by 2020 does not seem to bother the army of climate bureaucrats, who are full of praise for their "achievements":

"The huge progress we have made on the Fund's business model framework during this Board meeting moves the Fund much closer towards operationalization".

Zaheer Fakir, Green Climate Change Fund Co-Chair

The "huge progress" Mr Fakir was talking about was apparently this:

"Calling for nominations from developing countries of national designated authorities (NDAs) or focal points that will help ensure that country ownership and a country-driven approach are core operational principles of the Fund"

(Green Climate Fund press release on June 28)

The most important concrete issue the UN climate bureaucrats are dealing with seems the be the logo of the Green Climate Fund:

At the Paris (where else?) meeting in June the Green Climate Fund Board made a decision about the "constitution of a logo selection panel to judge the outcome of the Fund's international logo competition".

After a number of meetings (in Paris or some other inspiring venues?) the Panel and the Board were apparently not pleased with the "outcome":

"The Fund's Board decided in October 2013 (decision B.05/09, see Annex) to contract a professional designer who will design the logo of the Fund and requested the Fund's Secretariat to issue a call for tender"

This call for tender supersedes and replaces the logo competition which was previously announced by the Fund, and which did not deliver a result meeting the Board's expectations.

That competition is now cancelled by the Board, as allowed for under the competition's terms and conditions."

Which means that the ground breaking work carried out by the Green Climate Fund enters another decisive stage: The search for the missing logo continues!

Following the decision of the Fund’s Board from October 2013, the Secretariat is seeking to contract a professional designer who will design the logo of the Fund.

The tender is open to any professional designer who would be able to work as an independent consultant with the Fund.

Individuals wishing to respond to this call are invited to do so by 3 November 2013. Responses should be made by email to: logo(at)gcfund.net following the instructions from the Terms of reference downloadable below.

 

No doubt, the question of the new logo will keep the Green Climate Fund secretariat and Board busy for at least another year, with a number of meetings in Paris (or similar locations). The most important item on the next Board meeting will probably be, whether the 7.5 million so far raised, will cover the cost of the logo ...

Don't cry for me Christiana!

Costa Rican-born UN climate boss Christiana Figueres should consider a career in movies. The ability to captivate audiences through tearful performances, like the one at a climate conference in London, is a highly rated asset in Hollywood. However her tears in London do not yet quite qualify her for an Oscar:

Speaking to the BBC on the sidelines of a climate conference at Chatham House in London, Ms Figueres became tearful when she reflected on the impact that climate change might have on coming generations.

"I'm committed to climate change because of future generations, it is not about us, right? We're out of here," she said.

"I just feel that it is so completely unfair and immoral what we are doing to future generations, we are condemning them before they are even born."

"We have a choice about it, that's the point, we have a choice. If it were inevitable then so be it, but we have a choice to change the future we are going to give our children."

Christiana's London appearance was not a first for her. You can watch another of her tear acts here.