Tag Archives: climate deniers

Climate Dangers

climate change, politics, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, ,

Climate Change dangers that Australia is ignoring

955199c9-5763-407f-a581-a8acd28f04d3-460x460When you read the statistics on the range of dangerous changes already occurring to the planet because of climate changes, you do wonder about the stupid and dangerous decisions being made by the present Australian Government.

Suzanne Goldenberg has written that because of the changes to climate the world is nearly five times as dangerous and disaster prone as it was in the 1970s. Her reference is a new report from the World Meteorological Organisation.

Click here for that article.

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Paul Costigan, 26 July 2014

Trust Scientists?

climate change, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, ,

Naomi Oreskes: Why we should trust scientists

 

Merchants_of_DOUBTMany of the world’s biggest problems require asking questions of scientists — but why should we believe what they say? Historian of science Naomi Oreskes thinks deeply about our relationship to belief and draws out three problems with common attitudes toward scientific inquiry — and gives her own reasoning for why we ought to trust science. (From YouTube)

Naomi Oreskes is an American historian of science. She became Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University in 2013, after 15 years as Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California San Diego. (Wikipedia)

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Al Gore

climate change, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, ,

Al Gore writes on optimism in dealing with Climate Change

In an article in Rolling Stone, Al Gore provides some very welcome optimism on how we may yet deal with the coming climate change events.

The article is very very long. It takes quite a commitment to allow the time to get through it all.

It is worth it! Happy reading. Click here.

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Paul Costigan, 20 July 2014

Climate Terminology

climate change, politics, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, ,

Climate Change Terminology

It’s all in the words we use

Variability in terms is a product of government climate

About a decade ago, when some of us were attempting to get the issues of Climate Change to be the basis for the debates on sustainable settlements, it was curious to see the distractions being manufactured in order to avoid taking these debates as comprehensively as they needed to be.

The most ardent opposition to a simple us of language actually came from particular academics who should have been the ones leading the charge to have clear and precise arguments. I suspect that despite their so called concerned views, the overriding pressure was that they were in fact part of large corporations, called universities, that had yet to step up and tackle the then conservative government’s point of views on climate change.

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Wind Farm Refugees

climate change, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, wind power,

Wind Farm Refugees

re-post from The Drum on the ABC

rabbott01If you have paid any attention to the wind farm debates within Australia, two names surface. One is the Waubra Foundation, and the other is their leader, Sarah Laurie. The town of Waubra has had its name used by this so-called foundation, even though it has requested that they cease using their town’s name in this campaign. As for Sarah Laurie, there have been numerous articles exposing her claims. Today there is another researcher who calls into question the claim that people have become refugees of the wind farms as they have had to leave their properties to get away from the harm caused by the wind farms.

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Australia’s climate plan

climate change, politics, sustainability, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, ,

Australia’s climate plan: are you serious?

rabbott01We live in strange times. The former Australian Government had developed an international reputation for being in the business of looking after its people, of caring for the environment and for careful financial management.

The new Rabbott government is establishing itself as far more interested in the short term aim of providing for those who assisted it into power. This means handing decisions on social, financial and environmental issues back to the business lobby groups. This is the new version of government taking a back seat and allowing business to drive the agenda. In many cases, this means the business lobby groups are having government wind back programs, especially on any issues dealing with the environment. There’s a good piece in The Conversation on the attitude taken by this government to addressing climate change.

“Reverting to fossil fuels, phasing out of renewable energy incentives and increasing deforestation levels to accommodate expanding agriculture explains most of this. Which begs the question of Australia’s government: are you serious?” read the full article here.

 

Climate Change on TV

climate change, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, ,

Climate Change on TV

How Little Time Television News Devotes To Climate Change

an article about climate change on TV re-posted from the Huffingtton post

Climate change got more coverage on broadcast news in 2013 than in the previous few years, but the issue still didn’t get nearly as much attention as it did in 2009, Media Matters found in a new analysis. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox together featured more coverage in 2013 than they did in 2012. The amount of airtime granted to climate change on both the Sunday shows and the nightly news was up, too — to a total of 27 minutes, and an hour and 42 minutes, respectively, for the entire year. The progressive media watchdog group Media Matters totaled the time broadcasters devoted to climate change for a new report released Thursday. read the full article here

Threats to Climate Action

climate change, GOVERNANCE, politics, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, ,

Opinion: Climate in danger from Australia

Threats to Climate Action

re-post from the Guardian

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

rabbott01Once upon a time, not that many years ago, Australia was on the world stage as a leading in actions on climate change. It was not that a lot had actually happened. The truth was that a many new initiatives were being proposed.

The aura was that the country was on the move. The Australian Government was open to do business on climate change.

Other countries were admiring the remarkable turn around on climate change actions from those of the previous Howard government years. If you happened to have been overseas, you felt proud of your country and were able to discuss these issues in the knowledge that your country was out their doing its stuff; or at least about to do so.

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Climate Deniers

climate change, GOVERNANCE, politics, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS,

Re-Post from Climate News Network

‘Dark money’ funds US climate deniers

LONDON, 6 January – Approximately three quarters of the hundreds of millions of dollars that go to US climate change denial organisations is from unidentifiable sources, according to new research in the journal Climatic Change.

Robert Brulle, a sociologist at Drexel University in the US, set himself the challenge of trying to identify the financial backers who bankrolled more than 100 US organisations, the Climate Deniers, that make up what he calls the “climate change counter movement”.

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Climate Deniers

climate change, GOVERNANCE, politics, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, ,

Re-Posted from The Fifth Estate

Peter Newman: Why climate whingers and climate deniers need to get real

Any climate change-related article in The Conversation, and indeed any newspaper, attracts some of the most diabolical discourse, the most offensive personal abuse and the most deeply felt rhetoric. It is not very elevating to read. Climate Skeptics dominate the media.

It has of course spilled over into politics and threatens to tear apart the fabric of our society.

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