Marrickville - People Against Global Warming

Here's a good quote from an article from yesterday's SMH. This is from Jeremy Leggett's, Half Gone, which is a book that came out a couple of years ago. This will bring to attention the problems in the US on excessive use of fuel to power the millions on SUV's driving around the US.

"Every day, 15 million barrels of oil pass in tankers through the narrow Straits of Hormuz, in the troubled waters between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The US Government could wipe out the need for all their 5 million barrels [from the Middle East] by requiring its domestic automobile industry to increase the fuel-efficiency of cars and light trucks by a mere 2.7 miles per gallon. But instead it allows [the manufacture] of ever more oil-profligate vehicles. Many sports utility vehicles (SUVs) average just four miles per gallon. The SUV market share in the US was two per cent in 1975 [the last oil shock]. By 2003 it was 24 per cent. In consequence, the average US vehicle fuel efficiency fell between 1987 and 2001, from 26.2 to 24.4 miles per gallon. This is at the same time as other countries were producing cars capable of up to 60 miles per gallon."

- Jeremy Leggett, Half Gone (2005)

The European Trading Emissions Scheme (ETS) was designed by a rather unintelligent bunch of European bureaucrats back in 2005 with the intention to discourage green-house gases and furthermore encourage cleaner energy forms. However, it has done the opposite, it has rewarded polluters rather than punishing them. It has been about as useful as pockets in your underpants.

The ETS covers five main industries and with those five industries there were 13,000 factories or businesses that were considered serial polluters – the ones that have no morals when it comes to big smoke stacks with lots and lots of black smoke. These polluters were given pollution trading vouchers, like Myer’s vouchers, except you can sell them to others factories that want to do some more polluting. Business that wanted to do more polluting had to buy some vouchers from the 13,000 polluters. Illogical you might say, as the pollution is only traded from one polluter to another. But it gets worse, the 13,000 polluters can also buy vouchers from a large number of developing countries and then continue to pollute in the same way they polluted before. Based on the Koyoto treaty, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was established. Developing countries, when they have approval from the UN, they can sell their pollution vouchers to EU companies.

Here’s how the polluters are rewarded. One of the 13,000 polluters lowers it’s pollution levels and passes the cost on the consumer. Our EU polluter then sell the vouchers to another EU company for $90 a tonne (the ETS is measured in tonnes of pollution). Because our developing country maybe in the process of getting approval or the ETS voucher is more easily available at a cheaper price - our EU polluter will be able to buy the same voucher as low as $45 a tonne. Hence by buying cheap CDM’s , our EU company can go back to polluting, pass on extra cost to the consumer and keep the $45 profit per tonne on the voucher they got for free for being a chronic polluter. Only a lunatic would think of a more stupid scheme!!

Who is Pat Michaels? Pat Michaels is Virginia's state climatologist, a University of Virginia professor and senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute.

In his book “Meltdown” he challenges the conventional “doom” saying about global warming. To his benefits he acknowledges that the earth is warming because of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, but he states that warming will probably be modest and that the Bush government will simply sort it out! He denies stories as melting ice caps and glaciers (even though there is evidence to prove otherwise). Who pays for this. The bloody Coal Industry!!

Here's an article on the Global Warming Blog that gives more details on the antics of the coal industry in funding global warming sceptics.
Global Warming Watch – Why you aren’t doing anything about…

Desperate US Fossil Fuel burning utilities are passing the hat for one of the few remaining scientists sceptical of the global warming harm caused by industries that burn fossil fuels.

The well known global warming sceptic, Pat Michaels (Virginia's state climatologist, a University of Virginia professor and senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute) told Western business leaders last year that he was running out of money for his analyses of other scientists' global warming research. So last week, a Colorado utility organised a collection campaign to help him out, raising at least $150,000 in donations and pledges.

This sounds very much like how the tobacco companies used to operate in the 50's and 60's. It's a wonder Peter Beattie hasn't put some money in the hat to protect his local coal industry.

An initial meeting was held last night to discuss the setting up a focus group to communicate the importance of Global Warming to the citizens of Sydney’s inner west. A small committee was set up with the objectives of:

• Determining the scope and objective s of the group
• Setting down a plan as to how the group can be established
• Setting a date for our first meeting.
  

The four members of the committee are: P Siktars, P Williamson and G M Orangey (minutes).

By burning fossil fuels, mankind has been adding gases to the atmosphere that tend to warm the earth, known as "greenhouse gases." In the coming decades, we are likely to continue to change our atmosphere. Because the greenhouse gases that warm the earth stay in the atmosphere longer than the aerosols that cool the earth, the earth's average temperature will continue to warm.

The continued addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere will raise the earth's average temperature by several degrees in the next century, which will in turn raise the level of the sea. In the future, most of the world is expected to warm. Scientists are currently unable to determine which parts of the world will become wetter or drier, but there is likely to be an overall trend toward increased precipitation and evaporation, more intense rainstorms, and drier soils.