Climate talks pause as battle over key science report looms

Gateway to the COP24 climate conference in 2018

Reality is trying to get a word in edgeways at the climate talks in Poland, but it’s not easy. Overblown disaster scenarios, unrelated to any facts on the ground, shouldn’t impress anybody but at least fail to impress everybody.

A diplomatic standoff over a single word could set the stage for a bigger showdown during the second half of this year’s U.N. climate summit, says Phys.org.

Negotiators took time out Sunday to rest after the first week of talks ended on a sour note the previous night, when the United States sided with Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in blocking endorsement of a landmark study on global warming.

Over a dozen ‘climate activists’ denied entry to Poland amid crackdown

Not everyone is welcome

Several people including a ‘climate ambition project coordinator’ have been sent home. It seems Polish hospitality has its limits.

Civil society says the Polish government is violating human rights and undermining the global climate negotiations by denying entry or deporting climate advocates.

At least 12 members of civil society groups and at least one member of an official delegation to this year’s United Nations climate conference have been denied entry to Poland or deported, reports Pacific Standard.

Some were stopped at airports, others pulled from trains, and several were given paperwork to sign in languages they didn’t understand. So far, only one person, Zanna Vanrenterghem, Climate Action Network Europe’s climate ambition project coordinator, has been allowed re-entry after the Belgian embassy intervened.

Vanrenterghem was on a direct train from Vienna when, 30 miles outside of Katowice, border patrol officials entered her car [carriage] and scanned her passport. Soon, four officers sat in the seats around her and told her she was being denied entry into Poland.

She was escorted off the train and taken to what she believes was a border patrol facility, where she was able to call CAN officials and the Belgian embassy to ask for help. The Polish officials who detained her were unable to tell her why she was being turned away.

Nugzar Kokhreidze, a member of the Georgian delegation, arrived at the Katowice airport last night and was stopped at passport control, where officials told him his name was on “a list of dangerous persons.” Officials at the airport told him if he flew back to Georgia on Tuesday, he could return eventually, because “this measure was only for the COP,” but if he refused and challenged them in court, he could be deported and banned from Poland for five years.

These denials and threats of deportation appear to be related to a sweeping new surveillance law passed by the Polish government earlier this year, specifically related to the U.N. climate conference. The law banned unplanned protests within the city of Katowice, and included provisions that allowed Polish authorities to gather data on conference attendees.

It was immediately criticized for putting undue pressure on activists and human rights defenders, according to Chiara Liguori with Amnesty International.

Even before the conference began, Liguori says, the new law was already exerting a “chilling effect” on potential participants, with many activists from the Global South, who had to apply for visas, electing not to participate.

According to Liguori, Polish authorities’ enforcement of the law and efforts to turn away COP participants at the border violate the Aarhus Convention—an international agreement ensuring the general public has access to environmental negotiations.

Continued here.

German farmers sue government over missed climate targets

German coal: back to the future
[image credit: BBC]

This is what can happen when climate models that don’t even reflect reality are used as an excuse to push the myth of ‘climate protection’, meaning humans should somehow manage the Earth’s climate – or prepare to face nightmarish problems if they don’t. Yet another attempt to get the courts to dictate national energy policy.

Dismayed by the German government’s failure to meet climate protection targets, dairy farmer Heiner Luetke Schwienhorst has filed a lawsuit against Berlin to force it into action, reports Phys.org.

“Some describe this as a fight between David and Goliath. To me, that’s besides the point,” said Schwienhorst, who suffered his poorest harvest in three decades after a record drought.

Storm Diego blasts California, will roar across southern US with snow, ice, rain, floods

Smoke from a California wildfire [image credit: BBC]

From huge wildfires to cold stormy weather in a matter of a few weeks in California.

A powerful storm will crawl across the southern tier of the U.S. over the next several days, delivering snow, ice, rain, floods and even a few tornadoes, says USA Today.

A powerful storm that slammed southern California Thursday will crawl across the southern tier of the United States over the next several days, delivering a nasty mix of snow, ice, heavy rain, floods and even a few tornadoes.

Ahead of the storm, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for all 77 counties in her state.

Hyperactive Comet Approaches Earth

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It has been billed as The Comet of The Year.

Spaceweather.com

Nov. 26, 2018: Small but hyperactive Comet 46P/Wirtanen is approaching Earth and could soon become visible to the naked eye. On Dec. 16th, the kilometer-wide ball of dirty ice will be less than 11.5 million km away–making it one of the 10 closest-approaching comets of the Space Age. It already looks magnificent through amateur telescopes. On Nov. 26th, Gerald Rhemann took this picture using a 12-inch reflector in Farm Tivoli, Namibia:

“The comet is currently gliding through the southern constellation Fornax,” says Rhemann. “If you look carefully at the image, you can see galaxy NGC 922 near the comet’s head, and another galaxy ESO 479-2 on the left.”

Rhemann says that the comet’s emerald green atmosphere is 50 arcminutes wide. In other words–almost twice as wide as a full Moon. Its apparent diameter could double in the weeks ahead as the comet comes even closer. Because Wirtanen’s brightness is spread…

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Macron’s carbon tax U-turn dismays UN climate talks

Image credit: The GWPF

The climate issue is so overblown and paranoid now that a few cents of tax, or not, in one country is seen as a big setback. The French people have spoken, and the cash-hungry global climate industry doesn’t like their pushback against its tired dogma.

Macron’s decision to suspend the carbon tax increase ‘sends a very bad signal,’ warn campaigners. KATOWICE, Poland — France’s sudden U-turn over an unpopular fuel tax in the face of violent anti-government protests sent shivers through the COP24 climate summit.

That’s because the sight of one of Europe’s most climate ambitious countries beating a hasty retreat over a proposal that would have hiked gasoline tax by 4 cents, or just under 3 percent, highlighted the difficulty of imposing any economic pain in the name of tackling climate change.

Macron’s government ‘to suspend’ fuel tax hike

Paris protest scene [image credit: BBC]

Kicking the can down the road seems unlikely to be enough to satisfy the protesters.

French government sources have indicated that a fuel tax hike, which has sparked violent protests, will be suspended, says DW.com.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is expected to announce the move later on Tuesday.

Michael ‘Hockey Stick’ Mann releases a batch of his old emails

Presumably an attempt at damage limitation.
H/T Climate Depot

Who wants to rummage through Michael “Hockey Stick” Mann’s dirty laundry? By James Delingpole.

The discredited “climate scientist” and fake Nobel-prizewinner has released a batch of his old emails, says Delingpole.

Riot police clash with Paris fuel tax protesters

‘Yellow vest’ fuel tax protesters in France

Strong resistance to paying any more for climate-related ideology through vehicle fuel bills continues in France. As the President suggested, many people are more interested in the end of the month rather than the (alleged threat of) end of the world. Trace gases are not a big deal to much of the public, it seems. Making ends meet is the top priority.

This is the third weekend of ‘yellow vest’ protests against President Macron’s controversial fuel tax, reports BBC News.

Protesters have scaled the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris, as clashes with riot police continue during a third weekend of “yellow vest” rallies.

Another Obama Green “Success” Story Bites the Dust

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Bad news for the workers, but most of the public just don’t want expensive electric cars when better options are available.

CO2 is Life

Six Years Ago Obama Promised to Buy a Chevy Volt. Now It Is Dead

General Motors announced Monday that it would cease production of the hybrid electric plug-in Volt and its gas-powered sister car the Cruze. The announcement came as part of a larger restructuring by the car company as it seeks to focus production around the bigger vehicles in favor with U.S. consumers. (Source)

Economic textbooks are being re-written to explain how a President with so many economic tailwinds could double the debt and have 0.00% interest rates and get so little for it. You really have to try really hard to fail so badly. The silver lining is that all President Trump had to do was reverse Obama’s policies and the economy exploded. Reagan did the same thing after Carter.

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UK to launch feasibility study for on-demand electric vehicle charging

Mobile EV charger

Could this be a viable option for aspiring EV owners who can’t park close enough to their homes to charge their batteries? A bit like a power bank for electronic devices, except not pocket-sized. £40 million is on the table to get a competition started.

FreeWire Technologies, a pioneer in flexible electric vehicle (EV) charging technology, has received funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and Innovate UK to participate in the Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging for Commercial Users competition, reports BusinessWire.

Supported by international energy and services company Centrica plc and delivered in partnership with Westminster City Council, the project will combine FreeWire’s mobile EV charging technology with Zipcar UK’s electrified fleet and driver patterns to test the feasibility of scalable on-demand EV charging deployments.

UK media refuses to correct the record on flawed climate paper

Looking the other way?

Time’s up. They had their chance, now they have to take the stick for not doing the right thing. Hit-and-run tactics seem OK for these climate alarm propagandists, who so far have preferred to ignore the inconvenient truth.
Update 1: the BBC has reacted, a day after the GWPF complaint piece and a week after the errors were reported in the US press.
Update 2: the BBC has overwritten the original story with their new ‘concerns’ article, reports The GWPF. So they’ve buried the fake news.
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Mainstream media is silent on errors in flawed climate scare story, says The GWPF.

London, 19 November: The Global Warming Policy Forum today slammed the UK media for its failure to tell readers about errors in a widely reported global warming story.  

The toxic business of ‘recycling’ China’s electric car batteries

Chinese electric car [image credit: scmp.com]

China already has 250 million electric scooters and around 3 million electric cars, most of which face battery replacements in the next decade or so. But high costs have opened the door to ‘cowboy’ operators.

Researchers estimate it will cost nearly US$3 million to reverse the damage caused by just one illegal plant, says the South China Morning Post.

Authorities in eastern China are turning to the courts to raise the millions of yuan needed to rehabilitate water and land polluted by dumping from an illegal lead-acid battery recycling plant.

Volkswagen to make Zwickau vehicle plant Europe’s top-performing electric car factory

VW ID. model

VW claims ‘the First complete transformation of a major car factory from internal combustion engines to e-mobility in the world’. All they have to do then is sell the products to a so-far unenthusiastic public, at a rate of about 900 a day. Before you ask: ‘Power supplies at the Zwickau plant were already changed over to 100 percent eco-power in 2017.’ And they waffle about ‘climate protection’ to appeal to wide-eyed planet-savers.

Germany’s biggest carmaker VW has substantiated plans to transform its product line and drastically scale-up the share of electric cars by revealing plans for a major e-car factory in the eastern German city of Zwickau, says CleanEnergyWire.

Anti-Carbon-Tax revolt threatens to paralyse France

Protesting in France

Leaders preening themselves on their supposedly green virtue signalling policies are running into some unpleasant realities.

France is bracing for a nationwide revolt over the weekend as angry drivers plan to block roads nationwide in protest against the government’s carbon tax and rising fuel prices, says The GWPF.

The French government approved a measure in late 2017 increasing a direct tax on diesel as well as a tax on carbon, allegedly to fight against climate change.

Climate change: UK report suggests drastic reduction of sheep and cattle numbers

English sheep

Sadly no, we’re not making this up. This is what a dumbed-down pseudo-religious belief in failing climate models and theories can lead to.

The number of sheep and cattle in the UK should be reduced by between a fifth and a half to help combat climate change, a report says.

The shift is needed, the government’s advisory Committee on Climate Change (CCC) maintains, because beef and lamb produce most greenhouse gases, reports MercoPress.

Climate change protesters blockade government energy department

Does the UK public have much appetite for this manufactured ‘crisis’ and its over-excitable advocates? The idea that the Earth’s climate can somehow be controlled with technology is a damaging delusion.

Demonstrators have blockaded the UK energy department in London over what they call the climate change crisis, reports BBC News.

They blocked entry to the offices by lying chained together on the pavement.

The UK is seen as a leader in policies to reduce greenhouse gases and ministers will soon be considering tougher targets.

US court halts construction of Keystone XL oil pipeline

Decision time again [image credit: AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez]

It’s a temporary ban that can be appealed. The circus continues.

A federal judge on Thursday halted construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, arguing that President Donald Trump’s administration had failed to adequately explain why it had lifted a ban on the project, reports Phys.org.

The ruling by Judge Brian Morris of the US District Court for the District of Montana dealt a stinging setback to Trump and the oil industry and served up a big win for conservationists and indigenous groups.

Japanese firm pulls plug on £15bn nuclear project in Cumbria

Proposed nuclear plant at Moorside [credit: in-cumbria.com]

This puts a large dent in UK electricity generation policy, which expects nuclear energy to supply a significant percentage of its ’emissions-free’ power alongside that from unpredictable part-time renewables like wind and solar.

The announcement is a major blow for the region, says TheBusinessDesk.com.

Japanese firm Toshiba has announced it is to pull the plug on the company set up to build a new £15bn nuclear power station in Cumbria.

The tech giant has announced it is winding up Manchester based NuGen, its UK-based nuclear arm, after efforts to sell the business failed.

Drilling to begin at UK’s first geothermal power plant

Credit: ukcampsite.co.uk

It seems unlikely that hordes of angry protesters would rush to this project to complain about any alleged dangers of deep drilling – but you never know.

Drilling will start this week at what could become the UK’s first deep geothermal electricity plant in Cornwall, reports ITV News.

Two wells will be drilled through granite rock near St Day, the deepest of which will reach 4.5 kilometres.

Geothermal Engineering Ltd says the aim of the project is to demonstrate the potential of geothermal technology to produce electricity and renewable heat in the UK.