A cool-headed Kiwi scientist talks about the global warming hysteria. A palaeontologist, stratigrapher and marine geologist with a deep knowledge of prehistoric climate, he’s ideally placed to advise us on the modern climate and its changes. The hot-heads need to hear Bob’s rational tone; those in power need to hear the facts—we could all benefit from listening to him. more…
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New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)—will it reduce global warming?
We breathe carbon dioxide and without it we would die. Growers routinely add it to greenhouses (four times the normal level) to make the plants grow better. Forests are growing measurably faster as the level of atmospheric CO2 climbs.
But human emissions of CO2 are allegedly warming the planet. Inducing a sense of guilt for driving a car or turning the lights on hasn’t reduced emissions. An alternative way to force emissions down is to create emission licences (or carbon credits) and then buy and sell them to each other. Entrepreneurs love it. New Zealand is setting up such a scheme right now. Continue Reading →
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More observations of record snow coverage and record low temperatures in many places in January 2008. more…
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In the 12 months to the end of January, the temperature dropped -0.629°C, rivalled in the last 10 years only after the 1998 El Nino peak. more…
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A couple of weeks ago, plans for a wonderful new coal-fired power station in Kent were given the green light and I was very pleased. more…
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All responsible citizens are ‘environmentalists’, but that is no reason to yield to mass delusion. more…
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References in the news media to global warming and its dire consequences are frequently inexact, unbalanced and unnecessarily alarming—sometimes even wrong. Their endless repetition is tiresome. Also they are dangerous, in that people disinclined to check for themselves will inevitably start to believe them. New Zealanders deserve better. Continue Reading →
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The Editor,
NZ Herald.
4 January, 2008.
Dear Sir,
Is our hard-won tourism industry to be ravaged by global warming?
No, not by rising sea levels, but by imposts to “offset” the “carbon footprints” of the growing numbers of our visitors? Let us hope that cool heads examine the matter carefully before hasty action spoils anything.
According to research from the University of Otago published in the NZ Herald today, visiting tourists’ CO2 emissions equal those from all our coal, gas and oil-fired electricity generators combined. Continue Reading →
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It’s been repeated so often that by now we take it for granted. The world’s climate is warming up and is starting to produce bad consequences which will worsen.
We’re told sea levels are rising, icecaps are melting, glaciers are disappearing and storms are intensifying. Polar bears are at risk because the ice they know and love is shrinking, tropical diseases are about to spread everywhere and we’ll soon be growing coconuts in Bluff.
Get ready for shorter ski seasons and be very cautious about buying seaside property. Continue Reading →
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Here’s a story you haven’t heard, and you should have. An analyst, working for the government, uses computers to crunch numbers and find the truth. Let’s call him “Mann.” The trouble with Mann is, he has an ideology. He knows what he wants his results to be. more…
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We’ve been diving through the night for a week to examine the coral polyps, those goose-bump-like swellings decorating various corals. They are readying themselves for the greatest sex show on earth. more…
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Now that most scientists agree human activity is warming the Earth, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, within decades, we’ll reach a “tipping point”. more…
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Last year, concerns that human activities were causing more frequent and more intense hurricanes received considerable attention. Hurricane expert Dr William Gray reviews the claims and discusses the 2006 hurricane season. more…
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We must admit we’re in real strife when even Tim Flannery says Hurricane Katrina proves global warming can destroy us. “These hurricanes have been a catastrophe just waiting to happen,” Flannery warned last weekend. more…
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An area of Siberian permafrost spanning a million square kilometres—the size of France and Germany combined—has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago. more…
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Recent major bleaching events on coral reefs of the South Pacific are not unusual. Earlier, higher sea surface temperatures did not cause dramatic bleaching and did not destroy the reefs. They regularly reconstruct themselves. more…
original source added 1 Jan 2024:
In conclusion, substantial evidence indicates recent major bleaching events experienced by coral reefs of the South Pacific Ocean are not as unusual as recent observations might seem to imply, as much longer records reveal instances of similar bleachings in prior centuries. In addition, there is substantial evidence for much earlier greater-than-present sea surface temperatures that did not elicit dramatic bleaching; and when such bleaching has occurred, it typically has not spelled the end of the reefs involved, for many of them have regularly reconstructed themselves in their own prior image.
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Scientists have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface has been gradually falling, which may mean global warming is a greater threat than previously thought. more…
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