The state of ClimateGate today, Dec 18 2009. [krakatoa]

(A series of daily-ish roundups of the day's Climate news and commentary.)

This is by no means a comprehensive recap. The stories come from a variety of sources, and I highly recommend exploring the linked sites for more breaking news.

I want to take a moment to thank Ace for the opportunity to do some prime-time posting.

More importantly I'd like to thank the readers, as they both keep a fellow grounded by pointing out mistakes, and give the occasional atta-boy which makes reviewing stories from so many sites seem a little less tedious. I read far more than makes the page here; much of what I find is duplicative; much else is too populist and/or simplistic to add anything to the debate.

My goal is to try to screen out the banal and provide informative links that give everyone a fuller understanding of the underlying science behind the war we are waging with the AGW hysterics.

(after the break)

Chavez calls Obama a "Back door man."

"The Nobel Prize of War just finished saying here that he is here to act. Well, show it sir. Don't leave by the back door."

Sec.State Clinton pledges the U.S. will pay climate reparations to developing countries, in the amount of 100 billion/year by 2020. Claims it will be a mix of public & private funds by an 80/20 or 70/30 margin. So the American Left, who for years have studiously declined to pay more in taxes voluntarily, are now going to pony up 70 to 80 billion a year for third-world countries? Anyone holding their breath for that to happen?

Poll:

Approval of Obama's climate policy is at 45%, down 16% from June.

Not surprisingly, trust in scientists in regards to the Environment is also down among the non fairy-tale believing Republicans and Independants.

The Telegraph thinks a "meaningful agreement" was reached in Copenhagen. What actually seems to have occurred is an agreement to continue to discuss policy changes, but no agreement on any actual carbon reductions.

Ace skewers their analysis here.

Fox News reports some delegates are going home calling the Climate Summit a failure.

Delegates and activists are leaving Copenhagen with little more than fat bellies, wet noodles, & all "free" hotel towels they could fit into their carry-on baggage.

As Invader Zim would say: Was it a failure? Or a success?!

I'm fairly unsurprised by the entire fiasco.

What was at best a 50/50 prospect for some sort of Global agreement to hamstring economic growth for the foreseeable future, became a foregone conclusion before the first of over one hundred private jets landed in Copenhagen.

ClimateGate laid bare the spindly foundation upon which AGW has been carefully and clandestinely built for the past 20 years, and not even Obama himself could swoop in and rhetorically shore up the firmaments. This too was predictable, given his track record in persuading foreign leaders to support his interests, be they the site for the Olympics, or preventing a Nuclear Iran.

TBR.cc reports that a 1980 study invalidates all subsequent data used by NIWA in their warming claims. Study author? None other than a senior Met Office scientist, who concluded the Urban Heat Island effect was not being correctly accounted for.

"For the purpose of assessing climatic change, a 'rural' environment needs to be carefully defined. Climatic temperature trends can only be assessed from rural sites which have suffered no major transformations due to changes in shelter or urbanisation, or from sites for which the records have been made homogenous. Urban environments usually suffer continual modifications due to one cause or another."

"It is concluded that the warming trends in New Zealand previously claimed, are in doubt and that as has been found in Australia (Tucker 1975) no clear evidence for long term secular warming or cooling in Australasia over the last 50 years [1930-1980] exists as yet."

The state of ClimateGate today, Dec 18 2009. [krakatoa]&bodytext=(A series of daily-ish roundups of the day's Climate news and commentary.) This is by no means a comprehensive recap. The stories come from a variety of sources, and I highly recommend exploring the linked sites for more breaking news....&topic=world_news"> posted by xgenghisx at 05:37 PM

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