The Albatross Round Attenborough’s Neck
In this newsletter:
1) Chile Cancels Annual Talk-Fest For Climate Activists
BBC News, 30 October 2019
2) 1000 Doomsday Academics Demand Career Breaks So They Can ‘Save The Planet From Climate Change’
The Daily Telegraph, 30 October 2019
3) Warmist Waffle, The Albatross Round Attenborough’s Neck
Paul Homewood, The Conservative Woman, 29 October 2019
4) Europe’s Carmakers Facing Disaster, Demand Government Subsidies To Save Them
Neil Winton, Forbes, 29 October 2019
5) Controversial Polar Bear Scientist Deserves Academic Freedom
Peter Wood, Real Clear Education, 28 October 2019
6) And Finally Another Green Flop: Offshore Wind Farms Generate Less Electricity Than Models Predicted
The Times, 30 October 2019
Full details:
1) Chile Cancels Annual Talk-Fest For Climate Activists
BBC News, 30 October 2019
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has pulled out of hosting a major United Nations climate change conference as anti-government protests continue.
He said that the decision had "caused him a lot of pain" but that his government needed "to prioritise re-establishing public order".
The conference, known as COP25, was scheduled for December.
Chile also pulled out of hosting next month's Apec summit, which was expected to draw the US and Chinese presidents.
At least 20 people have been killed since the mass protests began. They have shown little sign of abating despite Mr Piñera announcing measures to ease Chileans' discontent with high levels of inequality and other grievances.
2) 1000 Doomsday Academics Demand Career Breaks So They Can ‘Save The Planet From Climate Change’
The Daily Telegraph, 30 October 2019
Academics have demanded career breaks so they can save the planet from climate change as they warn that “humanity is on a precipice”.
[1000] British professors and lecturers have signed an open letter to vice-Chancellors and research funding chiefs warning that “the very future of life on earth is in question” (sic!) if “climate breakdown” is not addressed.
Since universities are the “bastions of wisdom and knowledge”, the academics say that their services are urgently needed to combat the “climate crisis”.
The letter, published by the Times Higher Education magazine, is signed by academics from the country’s leading institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Bristol universities as well as those from the London School of Economics and Imperial College London.
They use the letter to urge university leaders to “support scientists, academics and students to help address the climate emergency through a series of new programmes, fellowships, sabbaticals and voluntary placements to help the critical efforts needed to save all life on our planet”.
Its publication comes amid increasing concerns from some in the psychological community about the dangers of so-called “eco-anxiety”, although many contest the existence of the phenomenon.
Earlier this month, academics argued that climate scientists should be “allowed to cry” to help deal with the “grief” of documenting environmental decline.
Full story (£)
3) Warmist Waffle, The Albatross Round Attenborough’s Neck
Paul Homewood, The Conservative Woman, 29 October 2019
IT looks like David Attenborough has been making it up as he goes along again.
On Sunday evening, the legendary BBC presenter took viewers to Antarctica, the southernmost continent, for the first episode of Seven Worlds, One Planet. Now 93, Sir David emphasised the shocking effects humans are having on this untouched frozen desert by contributing to global warming. He revealed how the population of albatross – large seabirds that live in cold conditions – has more than halved in 15 years.
He said this is due to the warming of the Southern Ocean, which is causing more severe weather patterns than ever seen before and the young birds simply cannot deal with it.
Sir David went on: ‘Summer in Antarctica is a time of plenty, when most humpback whales are able to put on the reserves they need for the whole year. But the wildlife in these waters faces an uncertain future.
‘The Southern Ocean is warming and 90 per cent of the world’s ice lies in Antarctica. In some parts, the rate that it is melting is doubling every decade. Sea levels are rising, but there is a more immediate threat.’
Sir David explained how albatross chicks are often left on their own by their parents.He added: ‘The warming of the coldest region on Earth is having a profound effect on global weather patterns. This change in the climate is already being felt right here.
‘This Grey-Headed Albatross chick is four weeks old. So far, it has been sheltered from the gales by its parents. It is the only chick that they will have in two years.
‘The delicate touching of the beaks strengthens their bond, but these tender moments cannot last forever. As a chick grows, so does its appetite, so one parent has to leave to find food before the other returns. Parting is a big step and they take time over it.’
The chick was then shown struggling to stay alive on its own, before meeting a sad destiny which clearly touched the presenter. Sir David finalised: ‘For the first time in its life, this chick is alone.
‘The Antarctic is the windiest continent and in recent years climate change has brought storms that are more frequent and even more brutal. Winds now regularly reach 70mph, and the albatross chicks must try to stay on their nests.
‘Surviving the storm is one thing, but now off the nest in these freezing temperatures, this chick has just hours to live. The brutal conditions have taken their toll, some have succumbed to the exposure. The albatross population here has more than halved in the last 15 years.’
The Southern Ocean has been warming? Afraid not, Sir David, the opposite is true:
Sea surface temperatures there have actually been dropping since the 1980s, and are no higher now than in the 19th century.
And as any half-competent meteorologist could have told him, global warming should in theory lead to weaker extratropical storms, not stronger. This is because of the Poles warming faster than the tropics, thus reducing the temperature differentials which affect the strength of storms.
The great climatologist H H Lamb was always very clear on this and found that storms in the post-medieval Little Ice Age tended to be more powerful than now.
As for those poor albatross, bird experts could have told Sir David that their decline is due to industrial fishing and not global warming. Indeed, the Guardian ran an article earlier this year, describing the problem.
Full post
4) Europe’s Carmakers Facing Disaster, Demand Government Subsidies To Save Them
Neil Winton, Forbes, 29 October 2019
Europe’s carmakers, spooked by the imminent mortal threat to profits from European Union (EU) regulations to curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, called for governments to raise subsidies on electric car purchases to stimulate sales.
The European Auto Manufacturers Association, known by its French acronym ACEA, pointed out that sales of battery only electric cars and plug-in hybrids vary widely across the EU, from a market share of 2% in Germany last year, the continent’s biggest car and SUV market, to Poland’s just 0.2%. Britain notched up electrically charged vehicle market share of 2.5%, and France 2.1%.
Socialist oil and gas producer Norway, outside of the EU, has an electric vehicle market share this year of about 50%. It uses tax incentives to boost electric sales and big tax penalties to curb the sale of internal combustion engine-powered vehicles. There are bus lane, city access and parking bonuses for electric car users.
EU rules say car and SUV makers must achieve a fleet average of CO2 the equivalent of 57.4 miles per U.S. gallon by next year and 2021. This increases through to 92 miles per U.S. gallon average by 2030 through another step in 2025. This effectively means that most car sales will need to be all-electric by 2030.
Manufacturers will be hard pressed to provide vehicles to match these demands and many are likely to suffer crippling blows to their bottom lines.
According to a report from investment researcher Jefferies in August, if the auto industry makes no progress curbing CO2 from 2018 towards meeting the EU’s 2020/21 regulations, it faces fines totalling the equivalent of $36 billion, twice its estimated profits, and be forced to raise prices up to 10%.
And according to ACEA, 2018 CO2 emissions actually rose 1.6%, as sales of diesel-powered vehicles slid, and demand for bigger gas-guzzling SUVs spiked.
European governments need to act to spur sales of electrically charged vehicles, according to ACEA.
“Mobility must remain affordable for all layers of society. That is why we are calling on governments to put in place more meaningful and sustainable incentive schemes to stimulate sales EU-wide,” ACEA Director General, Eric-Mark Huitema said.
He gave no details of the amount of subsidy that might be required, or how it could be raised.
Currently, battery-electric car purchasers in Britain get a $4,500 subsidy, in Germany $4,400 and France up to $8,500. In the U.S., car buyers get a $7,500 tax break, until the manufacturer’s electric car sales reach 200,000.
The massive improvement in CO2 emissions obviously calls for more electric cars, and the big manufacturers, led by Volkswagen, are in the middle of big spending plans to produce enough. VW has said 25% of its global car sales by 2025 will be battery-electric only. Other big manufacturers are pursuing only slightly less adventurous plans. The trouble is, consumers don’t yet seem ready to embrace the concept.
According to respected market researcher IHS Markit, by 2025 only 10.2% of global sales will be battery electric, and will only have reached 14.8% by 2030.
This spells financial disaster for the big carmakers if the gap isn’t narrowed.
Full story
5) Controversial Polar Bear Scientist Deserves Academic Freedom
Peter Wood, Real Clear Education, 28 October 2019
Crockford’s dismissal is a striking example of how the academy attempts to police scientific opinions on climate change.
The apex predator of the north is the polar bear, which devours about 150 pounds of meat at a sitting.
Fortunately for the seals (and occasional humans) polar bears dine out only every five or six days.
Polar bears, of course, have been elevated by environmentalists to the status of demi-gods of the wilderness. Images of them adorn almost every appeal to save the Earth from the depredations of humanity.
Among the favorite visuals is the forlorn and emaciated bear, trapped on an ice flow as his Arctic environment melts away around him. The message: our ravenous desire for fossil fuels is driving the beautiful bears to the brink of extinction.
This message has some evident flaws, not least of which is that polar bears are excellent swimmers. But the greater flaw is that polar bear population in recent decades has been growing rapidly. Extinction isn’t on their menu.
The most prominent bearer of the news about bear fecundity has been Susan Crockford, a zoologist and an adjunct researcher in the anthropology department at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia. Her university just deleted her from its speaker bureau and cut off her adjunct status. Adjuncts of course can be fired for no reason and universities aren’t required to explain why. But Crockford believes she was cashiered because her popular blog, polarbearscience.com, undercuts the environmentalist mythology. She puts the extant polar bear population at about 39,000, which cuts against a widespread belief that there are no more than a few thousand left.
Among Crockford’s enemies numbers Penn State “climatologist” Michael Mann, who has a troubled history with facts but a celebrity status among warmists. Mann characterized Crockford’s website as a “denier blog.”
Denying Crockford’s adjunct status at the University of Victoria puts at risk her research funding, much of which is tried to her maintaining a university position.
The National Association of Scholar’s Canadian counterpart, the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, wrote to the University asking for the grounds and the procedure for her firing. Crockford herself sees a political motive behind the university’s decision. Her new book, The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Happened, stands perilously on the melting iceberg of climate orthodoxy.
Crockford’s dismissal is a striking example of how the academy attempts to police scientific opinions on climate change. Scientists — including very well-known figures such as Crockford, William Happer, and Judith Curry — are subject to a constant barrage of ad hominem attack. They seldom receive more than token support for their academic freedom, but are instead pressured to “respect” the so-called “climate consensus.”
Instead of debates on the merits of climate models and critical examination of the underlying data, we have universities that are willing to take active steps to suppress dissonant views. Perhaps the polar bear is indeed an apt symbol for environmental extremism: a charismatic killer that gorges on the innocent.
Peter Wood is the President of the National Association of Scholars.
6) And Finally Another Green Flop: Offshore Wind Farms Generate Less Electricity Than Models Predicted
The Times, 30 October 2019
Offshore wind farms will generate less electricity than expected because turbines slow wind speeds more than had been forecast, the world’s biggest offshore wind developer has warned.
Shares in Orsted, which is majority-owned by the Danish government, dropped by 7.4 per cent to DKr577 after it cut its long-term financial forecasts on the back of what it said was likely to be an “industry-wide issue”. Turbines and entire wind farms may be a greater brake on wind speeds than expected, to the detriment of neighbouring turbines and projects, the company claimed.
Orsted, the former Dong Energy, has built more offshore wind farms than any other group. It owns eleven sites in British waters and is building two more: Hornsea One, already the world’s biggest, and Hornsea Two, which will take the title when it is completed. It also has projects elsewhere in Europe, in the United States and in Taiwan.
The company shocked investors yesterday by saying that it had reviewed extensive data from its projects and had concluded that “current production forecasts underestimate the negative impact of two effects across our asset portfolio”.
Full story
The London-based Global Warming Policy Forum is a world leading think tank on global warming policy issues. The GWPF newsletter is prepared by Director Dr Benny Peiser - for more information, please visit the website at www.thegwpf.com.
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