Councillor Cockburn, excited over climate change declaration

A momentous 15 minutes in the chamber today, as previously truculent councillors finally smelled the coffee brewing in the pot that is the over-heating climate. Like old sailors grasping the sheets, previously-in-denial sea dogs like Councillors Cockburn and and Hubber enthusiastically backed Chairman Timms quite freely given offer to sign the declaration that seems to mean something quite different to her than it does to me, but never mind, every good councillor voted yes and the pen twirled daintily. The Southland Times article below represents the tidy version of events, and doesn't include the wrangling from me over what signing will mean for the council, but that can wait. For now, some progress has been made :-)

"Environment Southland Council is signing up to a local government declaration on action on climate change with one councillor saying it needs to be in their minds when granting consents.

The motion was carried by the Council on Wednesday for Chairman Ali Timms to sign the Local Government Leaders' Climate Change declaration on behalf of the council.

The declaration calls on councils to acknowledge the importance and urgent need to address climate change and to support the New Zealand Government in developing and implementing an ambitious transition plan towards a low carbon New Zealand.

Last week Auckland's deputy mayor Penny Hulse launched the declaration on behalf of Local Government New Zealand.

Timms said it was initially proposed by metro councils, but support was now sought from mayors and chairs from throughout the country,

Names of councils would be added up until the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015 where the declaration would be presented by Sir Bob Harvey as the sector's special envoy.

This was something local government should be united on and showing leadership, Timms said

Councillor Robert Guyton said he was very pleased that the council was on board and showing support.

"I'm very much in support of that."

Councillor Nicol Horrell said it was putting more pressure on central government to act, while councillor Jan Riddell said it was her hope that all regional councils would sign up to this.

"I think it's important regional councils take the lead."

The council needed to be keeping the declaration in mind when granting consents, Riddell said.

"There is work to be done."

Councillor Maurice Rodway said in the planning area generally council needed to be looking at opportunities to encourage the community to reduce greenhouse gas contributions.

Councillor Ross Cockburn said he was quite excited because council were actually going to be talking about prevention of disasters.

"It's time we got on to that boat," he said."

- Stuff

Oh my goodness!

David Bellamy drubbed by George Monbiot.
Drubbed!
Paranormal?

"Please stop writing letters to the newspaper. Everyone's sick of it."

It's inevitable that the panel of real scientists that advise the world's governments on global warming would attract a fake 'denier-panel', funded by industry money and intent on undermining the real science. 

  Tuesday's letter from the co-lead editor of that group did what it could to convince readers that 'equal consideration' should be given to their wrong-headed and dangerous claims, but it shouldn't.       

 Their call for 'business as usual' is wrong and puts our future at serious risk. 

 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the respected and real authority. 

 The other panel that seeks to shroud itself under a similar sounding name, is a mouth-piece for the very industries that are causing global warming. 

  Trust the former, be very wary of the latter. 

ROBERT GUYTON

Riverton 

(I received an anonymous note through the mail, urging me to stop writing to the Southland Times. Sadly, this letter was already in the pipeline and you can't stop a good thing happening, I always say :-)

The erudite John Purey-Cust also had a letter in today on the topic of climate change and the idiotic position Britain has taken over it, a position similar to that taken by our present Tory/National Government).

Leo's future (letter to The Southland Times editor)

The weather's been patchy lately; hot then cold, rainy then sunny not only here in Southland but across New Zealand.

Globally, the story's the same; odd weather, unseasonal and unusual, just as the climate scientists predicted it would be. There have been soaring temperatures in some countries, extreme cold in others. According to the scientists, the extra energy created by burning fossil fuels; coal, oil and gas creates an unstable climate that causes serious problems for human-kind and they were right; that's exactly what's been happening.

Should we do something about it now, or should we leave it to our grandchildren to try to cope with a dangerously unstable and hostile climate?

I think we should take action now.

Sadly, our Government thinks it's best to pretend it's not happening.

On behalf of my little grandson, I challenge that irresponsible thinking.

Bed-wetters and the farmers' union

A letter in the current Straight Furrow cites a speech from Lord Christopher Monckton where he calls those who accept that anthropogenic climate change is a reality, "bed-wetters".
Monckton is presently touring New Zealand and is supported by the farmers' union, Federated Farmers.
They should be ashamed of themselves. I'm thinking too, of those people who wet their beds, against their own wishes, being used in a derogatory way. It's a disgraceful thing to say, especially coming from someone claiming to be a Lord, and to being intelligent.

Warmest regards (for paranormal)

Lord Christopher Monckton writes in today's Southland Times:

The monstrous conspiracy of global warming, perpetrated by a scandalously huge majority of the scientific world, persists.

The latest outrageous deception is the attempt to ascribe some sort of significance to the "fact" that Antarctic Peninsula is melting in summers at a level not seen for 1000 years. This requires us to take on blind faith the assumption that this so-called continent exists outside the minds of alarmists.

To point to Antarctica's presence on maps is a fatuous nonsense. When was the last time a scientist came out and acknowledged that Antarctica didn't feature in the early maps used by some of the world's most intrepid and admired explorers? Has anyone even asked who first added it, and for what reasons? Certainly not the uncritical mainstream news media. What proof do we have, beyond anecdotal reports from those who claim to have been there - a perfect way for any ne'er-do-well who needs to cover his tracks to disappear from scrutiny for long stretches at a time?

As for satellite imaging purporting to show the presence of some southern polar mass; it is already a well-established fact that images can be doctored. You could just as easily insert an Atlantis in the same space. The latest report describes the so-called continent as the "Antarctic Circle" when even those fabricated images show something that is far from perfectly round. The global warming brigade can't even get that part of their story straight.

Then there is the highly questionable issue of timing and the assumption that the world is more than 1000 years old. Nowhere in the Old or New Testament will you find references to the terms "BC" or "AD". The hands that wrote the scriptures under guidance from the Holy Spirit did not insert these misleading signposts; they were added centuries later by worldly monarchs taking their eyes off scripture and falling under the thrall of that most perilously fashionable of disciplines, mathematics. In any case, they got it wrong. Nowhere in these calendars do they allow for the year 0, rendering them mathematically unsound. Surely another kick in the credibility goolies for global warming.

The latest report also claims that the Antarctic Circle (sic) has seen the most extreme global warming on Earth since the 1960s - a decade widely associated with hallucinogenic drug-taking. Hardly a trustworthy basis for any serious comparison. Any evidence gathered in that decade must be dismissed out of hand. And how many of the scientists at present pleading with the world to react gained their so-called degrees in that decade? We shudder to think.



The breathtaking vanity of those who believe in anthropomorphic global warming must also be confronted and rejected. Not necessarily in that order. If history has taught us anything - and the jury is still out on that - it's that mankind's assumption that we could materially influence the glorious majesty of the natural world speaks of nothing other than our failure to accept our own insignificance. An unspeakable vanity. Whatever came of our attempts to influence the seasons by sacrificing beasts, virgins and the like? Nothing. Do rain dances end droughts? Of course not. Did all our teeny tiny attempts to split atoms in ways that might generate huge discharges of energy result in any explosions of truly global consequence? Not so far, buster.

We need to worry about today and let the future take care of itself. Should the day ever come that climatic calamity is upon us, and we are up to our armpits in hard evidence, that is the time to sit back in restful contemplation and give consideration as to what exactly we should or shouldn't have done. Until then it's all conjecture.

Grim news

For several years now, we've been told, quite correctly in my view, that the amount of Co2 we can safely allow in our atmosphere before we start to see a rise in global temperatures, is 350 parts per million. At the various events that were held over that time to draw attention to the importance of recognising the danger of exceeding that figure, the level could be seen to be rising. Three years ago, Southlanders gathered at Oreti beach to build sand castles below the high tide mark to illustrate the danger to low lying communities on the islands, deltas and basins of the world. At that point we were told that we were in the 390's for global Co2 levels. The following year, when Rivertonians gathered on the viewing platform to create an umbrella forest to highlight the unstable weather we are to expect with rising atmospheric temperatures, and got blown practically inside out by the squalls that thrashed us on the day, the level was even higher. Today I learned that global gas levels have passed to 400ppm mark. This is not cause for celebration at all. I've always felt there would come a time when we would all need to batten down the hatches and this latest news supports my fears. Worse still, international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have failed entirely, so far as I can see. Targets are not being reached or even stiven-for. The new approach to climate change, climate instability, global warming seems to be; prepare yourselves for difficult times ahead. If you live near the coast, think of relocating. Tough luck if you are a low lying island community. Tough luck if you live in an arid region. Or if you are an ice-dweller. All will presently change. Gloomy news I know, but that's how I'm seeing it. What to do? Seems it's every man for himself. Woman and children too, plus every other manifestation of humanity that you can think of. It doesn't seem cheerful news to me. But there it is, we've topped the 400 mark. Congratulations, humanity. You're almost there!

Oram and Salinger in the South

Tomorrow it's the turn of Rod Oram and Jim salinger to grace our fair city and share their combined learning with Southlanders wanting to get the real oil of climate change and the effects it will have on Southland. Here's notice of their meeting from the Environment Southland website. I'll be at the meeting, so if you are there also and have an interesting point of view that you think might stir me up, please say hello and let rip :-)

How will climate change affect the rural sector?

 

 

Environment Southland is hosting the free public seminar in Invercargill on October 27 when renowned climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger together with business commentator Rod Oram will discuss the prospects of maintaining farm profitability and profits in the face climate change.
Dr Salinger, who was the lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the seminar will inform the public on the latest information about climate trends and how they could affect the agriculture sector in the future.
Predicted changes to New Zealand’s climate, including in Southland, will have both benefits and disadvantages for the sector, he said.
It could be a very different place even within even the next decade as climactic variation has an increasing influence.
Climate volatility was likely to increase but there could also be slightly warmer temperatures and wetter weather because of more easterly winds, he said.
In that context the growing season could lengthen for pastoral agriculture in areas at higher elevation but there would also be more exposure to flood events, Dr Salinger said.
As well as a more in depth analysis of the climate by Dr Salinger, Mr Oram will venture into the economic implications of climate change targets, how government policy might address them and how rural communities could be affected.
That includes what could happen to agricultural trade and steps could be taken by farmers to protect economic viability while reducing emission levels.
The pair are usually accompanied by Lincoln University Professor Caroline Saunders however she will not attend the Invercargill seminar.
Dr Salinger said Mr Oram would ably present her material during the presentation on carbon foot-printing and the agricultural export sector in her absence.
He said during the sessions held across New Zealand there had been a good response from people wanting to be informed about the big issues that could affect them.
“Over the last 50 years agriculture has made adjustments to keep up with change and it will have to again.”
The seminar will be held at the Invercargill Workingmen’s Club on Thursday 27 October at 1.30pm.

Calling all climate change deniers!

"It's been a summer of near Biblical climatic havoc across the planet, with wildfires raging in Russia and floods claiming lives across Asia. But the moment the Petermann glacier cracked - giving birth to the biggest Arctic ice island in half-century - it may symbolise a warming world like no other."

We need to ignore the climate deniers, show them the intellectual contempt they deserve and force change because politicians only listen when they have to.

Bomber on Tumeke! is not impressed.

Nor am I.