Senate candidate Lin Hatfield Dodds says she’s not environmentally irresponsible for owning a V8 Toyota Landcruiser.
[..]
Ms Hatfield Dodds told The Canberra Times that poor public transport options forced her family to buy a second car about two years ago. The other family car was a Toyota Echo. The 4WD was chosen to take the family on monthly camping trips.
”I’m not at all worried about driving a four-wheel drive I’ve always said I don’t fit the mould of what people often perceive a green to be,” she said.
Well Lin, that’s just because most Canberrans don’t realise that the Greens’ socialist utopia inevitably involves the almighty administrators living a much more luxurious life than the rest of the population. It’s sold as “being nice to the environment” and “equality”…but you and I both know that this is not the case.
Back to the point though…monthly camping trips? Really? Aren’t those campfires bad for the environment or causing global warming or something? And if the rest of us are supposed to give up our large vehicles, how come you can’t lead by example. There are plenty of places to camp which do not require a four wheel drive in order to access them.
This is exactly the sort of “do as I say, not as I do” mentality that led to the delays and blowouts in cost of the Gungahlin Drive Extension. Admittedly the Stanhope government shares the blame for this by ineptly not simply overruling the cuckoo activists when they had the chance…however the Save The Ridge mob, supported by the Greens and the Socialists were the main cause of the delays in construction, the resulting blowout in costs, and the necessity to increase overall costs further by making the second lane a “we’ll just have to do that at some later stage” proposition for the ACT government. How is this a “do as I say, not as I do” issue? Because the Save The Ridge nuts use the GDE.
We can’t allow these people to take control of our government. We can’t risk having proponents of large central government in power when they pretend to be interested in “fairness”, but really just want to increase their own personal power and thrust some delusional socialist doctrine upon us. If they can cause a GDE fiasco at a local level, imagine what chaos they could cause at a national level. If you thought the Building the Education Revolution disaster was bad…you ain’t seen nothin’ (to borrow a quaint phrase) until you’ve seen Bob Brown as Dear Leader.
By the way, I love how The Canberra Times (aka The Fyshwick Guardian) not only tries to justify Lin’s hypocritical use of a V8 4WD with details of her carbon offset program (memo Lin: offsetting is not the same as reducing) but also seems to think that the only members of the Legislative Assembly are Greens:
Of Canberra’s four MLAs, three drive a Toyota Prius and the fourth has a Smart Car
I’m sure life would be much more in-line with the ideological standpoint of The Fyshwick Guardian if this were the case…but unless I missed something, the Hare-Clark proportional voting system hasn’t extended itself to removing all but the representatives of the party with the fewest elected members. Do the journos know something about the plans of the Greens that we don’t?
(with thanks to Jeremy Hanson MLA for the link to the article…seeing as I’ve mentioned Jeremy’s name, I should probably point out that my views do not necessarily reflect his)
So Earth Hour is upon us again at 8:30 tonight. Thankfully though this year there is an organised call to leave the power running to celebrate Human Achievement Hour which, through no coincidence, is on at the same time as Earth Hour. Whilst technically Human Achievement Hour is just an extension of what I’ve been saying for years (as have others before me) and that is that at least some of us should turn lights on to help keep the power grid operating normally…just leaving your power on and going about your normal life and taking advantage of the human achievements which have contributed to our great standard of living is good enough.
Global warming arguments to one side (because we all know my stance on the fraud that is anthropogenic global warming), think about this from another angle…your wallet. Large sudden drops in the amount of energy consumption cause the voltage in the power grid to increase, and can cause damage to the power grid, and who do you think ends up paying to replace damaged equipment? Yes, that’s right, you, through higher electricity prices. In fact, thanks to Earth Hour, you’re already paying more as power companies have had to budget for extra staff time to prepare for the sudden drop in consumption, thereby ensuring that we don’t all end up in a permanent Earth Hour.
With lights set to go out again tonight from 8.30, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has taken precautions in recent days to ensure that Earth Hour does not prompt a breach of its operating standards.
The sudden drop in demand for electricity caused by Earth Hour can cause a spike in the frequency and voltage rates coursing through the electricity network, and there are strict operating limits for both that must be observed by AEMO.
Frequency rates relate to the speed at which power travels through the grid, and exactly five minutes before Earth Hour begins tonight, AEMO will start a 20-minute dispatch of extra frequency control services to prevent an unwelcome surge in frequency.
AEMO has also decided to operate transmission voltages at the lower end of the usual scale, in a bid to manage the rise in voltage that comes in tandem with the reduced demand for electricity.
Now, of course, Earth Hour sponsor Fairfax would never use the word “damage” but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that with all those good ole baseload power plants (coal, nuclear etc) producing a consistent stream of energy (something which “renewables” like wind and solar still can’t do), if the consumption decreases and the production stays the same (which it does as it takes time to adjust large power plants), then the excess has to go somewhere, and that somewhere is likely to be the sensitive equipment which distributes power, or on a smaller scale, the sensitive compressor in your fridge.
I personally support the idea of turning on everything I can find (see one of my previous efforts for an example) as, despite the number of people who believe in this anthropogenic global warming nonsense decreasing every day, some people do still believe, and they’re as zealous as ever. Those of us who are turning things on are helping to balance out the energy fluctuations caused by those who will turn everything off, and are therefore helping to protect the power grid.
That said, I applaud anybody who simply goes about their normal business during Human Achievement Hour, as you’re doing your part to keep the power grid safe as well.
Sadly this year I won’t be in a position to turn everything on as I will not be at home, but I will be increasing my energy usage anyway. I’m attending an event where a nice big generator will be providing power in a spot which is not on the power grid, and I will have to drive there and back, plus use extra power to record The Bill and then keep the lights on to watch it after I get home.
If I wasn’t going out, then as I said to Mike Jeffreys yesterday morning, I’d be quite happy to replace all of my compact fluorescent bulbs with the hungrier incandescent bulbs for the hour.
I am quite pleased to see though that this year, more people seem to be taking my stance. I’m pleasant surprised by the overwhelmingly positive feedback which I’ve received over this on Facebook. Normally my anti-Earth Hour message leads to me having to spend a day or two defending my position. So far, it looks like the need for me to defend my stance and educate the masses is smaller than in any previous year…people are getting the message that anthropogenic global warming is a crock.
Regardless of what your plans are tonight, I’m just going to echo the sentiments of the Conservative Leadership Foundation and say to you “Don’t be stuck in the dark with the communists. Turn your lights on!”
Due to popular demand, two new lectures have been added to Lord Monckton’s Australian tour.
Perth – February 9
Venue: Wesfarmers Lecture Theatre, Business School, University of Western Australia
Address: Hackett Drive (off Stirling Highway at Matilda Bay) Crawley Perth WA
Parking: Car Parks 6 & 9, Hackett Drive
Time: 6pm – 8pm [Doors open at 5pm for 6pm start]
Cost: $20 per person. No bookings. Cash payment on entry. [Please bring a $20 note]
Note: Charge is for admission only. No provision of food/drinks.
Sydney – February 12
Master of Ceremonies: Alan Jones
Venue: Hilton Hotel
Address: 488 George Street, Sydney, Australia 2000
Time: 12:30 – 2:30pm
Cost: $20 per person. No bookings. Cash payment on entry. [Please bring a $20 note]
Note: Charge is for admission only. No provision of food/drinks.
As I understand it (and event organisers, please correct me if I’m wrong), all of Lord Monckton’s other lectures have now sold out.
Based on the television footage that I have seen so far, it would appear that Lord Monckton’s presentation was, as expected, almost the same at each venue. To that end, I’m excited to say that a DVD of his Brisbane lecture is apparently in production so there is no need for everyone who missed out, to miss out. I’m going to seek some more details about the DVD and get back to you about it.
I have been up for all but about three of the last 34 hours, so I’ll make this brief and deal with the details later.
Lord Monckton was rather rushed and didn’t have time for an interview but was kind enough to stop for a few seconds for a photo. I’ll be sleeping when the local ABC TV News bulletin goes to air tonight, but I expect to see bits of Lord Monckton’s excellent lecture on there and am recording to see which snippet they decide to run with. Lord Monckton is also, according to Andrew Bolt’s blog, on The 7:30 Report tonight with Kerry O’Brien…it will be interesting to see if Lord Monckton is able to finish many of his sentences in that stage-managed environment.
Lord Monckton appeared on 666 ABC Canberra’s breakfast show with Ross Solly after 8:30 this morning and I thought Lord Monckton ran rings around Ross. Ross was mostly fair in the interview but it was pretty clear who had a better grasp of the facts. I did feel sorry for Ross a couple times when he struggled to get words in at points where I thought Lord Monckton’s answers were already sufficient, but that was balanced by my annoyance at Ross’ obsession with who Lord Monckton is meeting, which I feel cost the audience some participation time.
I didn’t hear it yesterday as I was engrossed in work at the time, but Lord Monckton apparently appeared on 2CC’s Mike Welsh Drive Show. If and when that audio appears on their website (and when I notice it, considering that I’ll be out for much of the afternoon) I’ll post a link to that interview as well.
I thought I mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but it looks like I only posted the link on Facebook.
Lord Christopher Monckton is in Canberra today and will be appearing at the National Press Club between 3pm and 5pm, courtesy of the New South Wales Farmers Federation, presenting a lecture entitled “Why a Royal Commission must urgently review climate change science”.
Update: Sorry, it’s sold out. End update
The cost is $20 per head and afternoon tea and light refreshments will be available. I honestly don’t know if there are any spots left, however if there are any left, I expect that they will go quickly. The people to call in order to book are the New South Wales Farmers Federation on 1300 794 000. I’ll give them a call myself after 9am to check if there are any spots left, and update this post accordingly.
I’ll be there, and I’m still trying to arrange a short interview with Lord Monckton. Somewhere along the line there was a communication breakdown regarding this, so I’m making a last ditch effort to arrange this today. Hopefully I can get this off the ground because I would love to interview Lord Monckton; I have some questions to which I would very much like to hear his answers and, above all else, would like to make short audio interviews a more regular feature of this blog…having Lord Monckton as the first would be an honour and a privilege. Update: Not locked in, but a window of opportunity has been provided. Many thanks to the organisers for their prompt reply this morning. End update
Anyhoo, more details about today’s lecture can be found here, and if you’re attending then I look forward to seeing you. Feel free to come up for a chat.
Lord Christopher Monckton’s people have been kind enough to provide some more information about his upcoming lecture tour. The exact schedule is still subject to change, but as of this moment the following is known:
Wednesday 27.1.10 – 5.30pm – Sydney – Grand Ballroom, The Sheraton on The Park, Elizabeth Street, Sydney
Thursday 28.1.10 – 12.30pm – Newcastle – Banquette Hall, Newcastle City Hall, King Street Newcastle.
Friday 29.1.10 – 12.30 Lunch – Brisbane – Grand ballroom, Hilton Hotel, Queen Street, Brisbane
Saturday 30.1.10 – 2pm – Noosa – The J at Noosa Junction
Monday 1.2.10 – 12.30pm – Melbourne TBA
Tuesday 2.2.10 – 2pm – Melbourne – Grand Ballroom, Sofitel Hotel
Wednesday 3.2.10 Canberra
Thursday 4.2.10 – 2pm – Adelaide – Venue TBA
Monday 8.2.10 – 2pm – Perth – Venue TBA
I’m informed that details which are a bit more concrete should be available in a week or so.
Lord Monckton in Australia
(Please spread this message widely) 21 Dec. 2009
Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (Christopher Lord Monckton) has agreed to come on a lecture tour in Australia in late January 2010. Professor Ian Plimer will accompany Christopher Monckton on a whirlwind tour of the mainland capital cities starting in Sydney on January 26th and finishing in Perth on February 8th. Unfortunately we cannot fit in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Lady Juliet Monckton will come as well, in part to monitor Lord Monckton’s health.
Prof. Plimer says the following of Lord Monckton: “although I modestly state that I am a good performer, he is superb and I have seen him fielding a very hostile BBC and other networks. He has the ability to change thinking……”.
Given the now generally-acknowledged lack of understanding among the Australian general public of the underlying reasons for a “Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme” and the likely effects thereof, it is critical that the public gets a chance to hear a globally-recognised presenter to explain the rational understanding of the whole issue. Lord Monckton is the ideal person to carry out this task and to also put it to the mass media.
[Tour date details removed – see details above or download the PDF]
As you can understand, the cost of this exercise will be very substantial as we have to fly Lord and Lady Monkton to and from Australia, all his domestic travel and accommodation plus a “stipend” of $20,000. Our aim is to cover these costs from donations from individuals, appropriate associations and corporations; we expect the required total to be of the order of $100,000. We would like to keep the cost of admission to Monckton’s lectures at around $20 so as to maximise the number of people that will come to hear him.
We have had a number of donations already of $1,000 (and higher) and would prefer donations to be of that order, but of course any amount is very welcome. Should there be a surplus, this, depending on the amount, will be given to Lord Monckton and/or the Climate Sceptics Party which is assisting with this project.
Your donations should be directed to:
Westpac Bank – Lord Monckton Tour account
Bank BSB: 035612
Account: 253068
Thank you in advance for your support of this nationally important project.
Reader Denis writes in with some exciting news for Novocastrians. The previously mentioned Australian tour of Lord Christopher Monckton and Professor Ian Plimer will be visiting Newcastle.
Monckton and Plimer will be appearing at the Newcastle City Hall on Thursday, January 28 at 12.30 pm. Admission costs $2.00. (Update: This price seems to be lower than others, and I haven’t been able to confirm it, so please don’t take it as gospel. For information on Lord Monckton’s visits to other cities please click here)
Many thanks Denis. I’ll be in touch personally in just a moment.
I have a few tasks to do this afternoon…one of them is getting through this rather large backlog of unanswered emails from the last couple of weeks. Emailing Lord Monckton’s people about tour dates will form part of that, so I hope to have more details for you all shortly. In the meantime, if you know of a stop on the Monckton/Plimer Climate Truth Express, please let me know.
Update: The following information from the Climate Sceptics Party has just been brought to my attention:
The itinerary is still to be detailed, but what has been agreed with Lord and Lady Monckton so far is:
Sydney January 26 & 27, Newcastle the 28th, Brisbane 29th, Noosa 30th & 31st, Melbourne Feb. 1st & 2nd, Canberra 3rd, Adelaide 4th & 5th, Perth 8th.
That was published on the 16th of December so it might be out of date by now, but it’s a start. I will still follow this up with Lord Monckton’s people. End Update
Some of you may have noticed that Mick posted a comment yesterday asking me to “explain why we just had the 2nd warmest year on record and the warmest decade?” which, in many ways, I am thankful for. You see, the farce of hot year/decade alarmism is a story which I noted while I was away last month (along with about four or five others) which I never got around to writing about (again, like the others) and Mick reminded me of it, prompting me to more-or-less write the story as a reply to his comment.
It deserves a wider audience than being a mere comment though…so I’m posting a slightly updated version here to share with you all.
The simple answer to why the last decade has been measured as being the hottest on record is the after-effects of the el nino event in the late 1990s stayed with us for much of the decade. As it happens, much of the decade was above average, but was not rising. Temperatures overall have not risen since the el nino event, and have in fact dropped in recent years. The complex answer is much more convoluted than that, but can still be boiled down to that simple answer.
If you’re interested in a full summary, take a look at http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/10/countdown-to-an-unprecedented-warm-decade-2-months-to-go/ which, back in November before the UN started making noises about hot years and decades, examined how el nino affected the temperature record and, if the el nino affect is taken out of the record, the temperatures were quite normal.
You may also be interested in some information about how the temperature records have been altered to “hide the decline” (to quote the leaked CRU emails). http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/08/the-smoking-gun-at-darwin-zero/. This quite clearly shows that a number of methods used to “adjust” the temperature records are erroneously inflating records so that instead of showing their natural downward trend, they show an upward trend.
There are a couple follow-ups to that post as well. A search for “Darwin zero” on Watts Up With That will show them to you.
I’m also trying to find the graph which shows global temperatures but I don’t think the monthly update has been issued yet…and I’ve misplaced the end-of-November report. That said, the US data is interesting:
(click to enlarge)
source: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/na.html — change the end year to 2009 and hit submit. I’ve also unticked the trendline generation from this graph as it appears to be drawing a straight line from one end of the graph to the other…something which is completely useless on any graph with variable up and down points. Direct point-to-point trendlines are only accurate on graphs which only go up, only go down, or do not move at all. They are generally misleading on variable graphs.
An honest analysis of that data would say that we’ve really just been recovering from an abnormally cool temperature in the 1970s, we were then hit with el nino warming, and we’re just cooling off again. In fact, that graph shows something even more interesting…the UN weather agency (admittedly using a different dataset) are very very wrong to claim that we just had one of hottest years ever. But I’m not surprised by it…the Australian Bureau of Meteorology claimed that 2008 was abnormally hot, a claim which is false. It’s funny how that press release never made it in to their online archives.
Admittedly this is a huge answer to a simple question, and I apologise for not being briefer, however like most things in climate science, the answer is not as simple as the question.
A few weeks ago, former Prime Minister John Howard weighed in on the global warming debate. I completely missed it at the time and stumbled upon the video this morning. The substance of what John Howard was saying wasn’t really my main interest at the time as I really just watched the video to see how he is holding up. Back in September he was rushed to hospital due to a potentially life threatening allergic reaction, and I haven’t anything from him or about him since then…so I was a bit concerned for his welfare.
I was very pleased to see that he is looking extremely well, although I think his speech has slowed down a bit. With him looking well, my focus then shifted to his comments on global warming. (Video | Transcript)
I disagree with John’s view that we should “play on the safe side” because “we will all be long dead when we actually know the answer” to whether humans are heating the planet. The evidence is quite clear that we are not heating the planet and it’s a pity that John doesn’t acknowledge that considering his apparent familiarity with the science and the climategate emails.
Still, John did have a good point about what we should be doing to reduce pollution…after all we all agree that actual pollution (Carbon Dioxide is not a pollutant, regardless of what the Environment Protection Agency try to sell to you) is bad, right?
It’s well known that “renewable” energy such as wind is not currently capable of maintaining base load power. Maybe one day it will be, but at the moment if we’re serious about cutting pollution and doing so in viable ways, then our only option is to use nuclear power. Tony Abbott has recently raised this topic as being in desperate need of discussion, and it was refreshing to see John Howard weigh in with some sensible views on the topic:
I think we have to — I think countries that now don’t have nuclear power, including my own, should focus very heavily on nuclear power.
I think we should put enormous amounts of additional resources into things like clean coal technology, ways of making the fossil fuels we now use less polluting.
[..]
So, common sense tells me that what we should focus on is doing things that neither side of the debate can possibly object to, and something that utilizes a clean source of energy such as nuclear power — and it is the cleanest source of energy of all — anything that reduces the polluting impact of the use of coal and gas, things like that, where nobody can really argue.
Nuclear does raise the spectre of storing nuclear waste, and this alarms a lot of people, but not me. I am of the firm view that nuclear waste is only “waste” because we don’t know how to utilise it. I have no doubt in my mind that, given enough research, we can find a way to use nuclear waste for useful purposes, probably further power generation.
We mine so much uranium in this country that it’s a shame that we don’t have a nuclear power industry of our own. Hopefully Tony Abbott is successful in starting the national discussion and acceptance of nuclear power.
Padders over at The Right Aussie bring us some fantastic news. Lord Christopher Monckton will be visiting Australia later this year to spread some sanity about the whole global warming thing.
The dates haven’t been confirmed just yet, although Lord Monckton’s blog indicates that it should happen later this month. If Canberra is included on the list of places to be visited, then I’ll be sure to let you know. It would be fantastic if his lordship visits Canberra and I can arrange a brief interview…but for the moment that’s wishful thinking, and we’ll see what happens.
She might not be convinced by the facts being given to her by Lord Christopher Monckton, but she is at least surprised enough to want to check it out for herself.
She will certainly get a shock when she gets home and discovers that Monckton is right, and her beloved Greenpeace have been blatantly dishonest with her about global warming.
Usually it’s people on my side of the argument who get accused of being paid by the big oil companies (I still pay retail rates for my petrol, thank you very much)…but the truth couldn’t be more different. It’s not the climate sceptics who are being paid-off, it’s the great prophets of Global Warming Doom at the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
A story emerging out of Britain suggests “follow the money” may explain the enthusiasm of the United Nations to pursue caps on carbon emissions, despite doubts surfacing in the scientific community about the validity of the underlying global warming hypothesis.
A Mumbai-based Indian multinational conglomerate with business ties to Rajendra K. Pachauri, the chairman since 2002 of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, stands to make several hundred million dollars in European Union carbon credits simply by closing a steel production facility in Britain with the loss of 1,700 jobs.
The Tata Group headquartered in Mumbai anticipates receiving windfall profits of up to nearly $2 billion from closing the Corus Redcar steelmaking plant in Britain, with about half of the savings expected to result from cashing in on carbon credits granted the steelmaker by the European Union under the EU’s emissions trading scheme, or ETS.
Yeesh, the head of the IPCC making money from a carbon-belching steel plant, about to make money by putting 1,700 people out of work so that he call sell off his Global Warming Doom credits.
So this is how you get a Nobel Peace Prize these days is it?
Houston this morning broke a record with the earliest snowfall ever recorded in the city’s history.
Forecasters are still hedging their bets on the amount, but say the most likely scenario is 1 to 2 inches of widespread snowfall through the day. Some areas could get up to a half a foot.
Light snow already was falling downtown and in other areas before 8:30 a.m. Other forms of precipitation — such as rain, freezing, rain, sleet and hail — also have been reported. Houston’s main weather recording station at Bush Intercontinental Airport reported at trace of snow at 8 a.m., meaning Dec. 4 will go down as the new record.
But emergency management officials say snow isn’t the biggest concern — it’s icy roads. A 12-hour freeze period is expected to begin after sundown today, continuing into Saturday, which could cause hazardous driving conditions.
KVUE Storm Team meteorologists expected snow flurries to move into the Interstate 35 corridor Friday morning through mid-afternoon; in fact, very light snow was spotted in the KVUE parking lot in North Austin just before 9 a.m.
Total accumulations in the Hill Country will range from 1/2″ to 1″. Up to 1/2″ was expected in the Austin metro area, and 1″-2″ to the east of Austin near LaGrange.
A winter weather advisory was also in effect from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The high Friday will be 36
The good news is that Tony Abbott, who never had any intention of doing anything other than oppose the ETS, called a secret ballot on the matter of the ETS after he became party leader, and the party voted 55 to 29 in favour of deferring the ETS instead of supporting it.
The bad news is that four Liberal Senators are willing to cross the floor and vote for the ETS, according to an anonymous source of News Limited blog The Punch. Thankfully that is short of the seven Senators that Rudd/Wong/Gillard need in order to have the ETS approved by the Senate.
Two things on those Senators. Firstly, I’m surprised that there are four willing to cross the floor. One or two I could understand, but four seems a bit high immediately after the party voted in a new anti-ETS leader and clearly voted against the ETS.
Secondly, why do I get the awful feeling that Gary Humphries is one of the Senators who could cross the floor?
Update: Greens leader Bob Brown has just said what I’ve been saying for a while now. An Abbott Liberal Party gives Labor and the Greens the opportunity to negotiate a stronger ETS…one that they actually believe in. We can now have an election where the issue is a Labor/Greens “strong ETS” versus a Liberal/National “no ETS”. End Update
