The recent 100th birthday of Rachel Carson, (the author of Silent Spring, which is credited for launching the modern environmental movement) has triggered baseless attacks from politicians, and pundits. These attacks, however, are not new, they have been slung at Carson since before the book was published. Carson was violently assailed by threats of lawsuits... Continue Reading →

New Scientist has just published a comprehensive guide debunking 26 most common climate myths and misconceptions with lots of links to primary research and major reports for those who want to follow through to the original sources. Many of these myths and misconceptions have been exploited by industry funded skeptics to cloud the scientific consensus... Continue Reading →

WWF has taken on the fight to stop the Salween river Damn, which I first blogged about while travelling in the region in 2005/20066. A deal signed between Thailand and Myanmar would clear the way for the first large-scale hydropower plant on the Salween River in north-eastern Myanmar. The project could displace and negatively impact... Continue Reading →

While Exxon has acknowledged that climate change is real, it continues to fund groups that use junk science to could the consensus on climate change. According to the report, Exxon provided $2.1 million in 2006 to 41 "think" tanks and associations that actively sow doubt about the realities of climate change. Since 1998, ExxonMobil has... Continue Reading →

Solar cell technology developed by the University’s Nanomaterials Research Centre will enable New Zealanders to generate electricity from sunlight at a 10th of the cost of current silicon-based photo-electric solar cells.

They call it "colony collapse disorder." Thousands of bees vanish, and nobody knows why. It's happening all over North America. Honeybees are disappearing. They're not dying, and they're not failing to reproduce. They're just . . . leaving; often half the bees in a colony just fly away and don't come back. Scientists don't know... Continue Reading →

A new 138 page study (PDF) by the Government Accountability Project proves what we already knew: Bush censored climate change information. Redacting the Science of Climate Change: an investigative and synthesis report – took a year to complete and compiles information from dozens of interviews and thousands of FOIA disclosures, internal documents and public records.... Continue Reading →

The media typically does a terrible at of accurately representing scientific issues, from presenting both sides of the climate change debate as being equal (when only one side has peer-reviewed data on its side), to exaggerating the effects of implementing carbon emissions caps, or exaggerating the risks of climate change, the media has failed to... Continue Reading →

Well at least now it is official. Philip Cooney, former chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality [former energy industry lobbyist, and currently with ExxonMobil], acknowledged at a House hearing that some of the changes he made were "to align these communications with the administration's stated policy" on climate change... "Interference... Continue Reading →

[Scientists] are exploring global warming solutions that sound wholly far-fetched, including giant artificial “trees” that would filter carbon dioxide out of the air, a bizarre “solar shade” created by a trillion flying saucers that lower Earth's temperature, and a scheme that mimics a volcano by spewing light-reflecting sulphates high in the sky. My favourite of... Continue Reading →

The recent 'Documentary' on the UKs Channel 4 The Great Global Warming Swindle, seems to show compelling evidence that climate change is not caused by humans, despite the consensus in peer-reviewed journals, and what the IPCC say. It all seems like compelling evidence to prove that humans are not responsible for climate change, but as... Continue Reading →

Is anyone surprised? The [US] federal government suppresses or manipulates information about the environment, prescription drugs and public safety, making it increasingly hard for members of the public to learn about matters that could affect their lives. That was the assessment Monday of former government officials, librarians, scientists and others at a session billed as... Continue Reading →

Today is March 14 (3.14), also known as Pi-Day the most irrational day of the year. It is about a curious group of people with an almost religious zeal for a mind-numbing string of numbers. Actually one number, made up of a chain that is known — so far — to be more than one... Continue Reading →

By reducing CFCs to repair the damage to the ozone layer, we also reduced greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Of course at the time people opposed to the Montreal Protocol had all sorts of arguments as to why it was a bad idea. It is a good thing we did not listen. The science is... Continue Reading →

Why does Big Oil need government handouts when it is making record profits? A [US] bill to be voted on Thursday would cut federal benefits by a third and give them to renewable-energy programs... Nevertheless, the proposed cuts go only so far. Even if the House's new clean-energy legislation becomes law, the oil and gas... Continue Reading →

It seems pretty obvious doesn't it? A Canadian minister has introduced a bill that would give Olympic organizers an almost unbelievable amount of control to restrict the use of not just its trademarks, but a host of other words, including "winter, gold, silver, bronze, sponsor, Vancouver, Whistler, 2010, tenth, medals, and games" The government has... Continue Reading →

It all depends on who you ask. Al-Qaeda represents the most serious threat to US interests, the new US intelligence chief has said. Sounds pretty serious, but don't worry too much a slightly more intelligent man disagrees. Stephen W. Hawking, the renowned cosmologist and mathematician, told The Associated Press that global warming has eclipsed other... Continue Reading →

CO2 offsetting has always seemed like a flaky solution. Carbon offset calculations are incredibly complex, the customer cannot hope to truly understand them. This makes it possible for (unethical) carbon offset companies to take money with the promise of reducing CO2 emissions, while doing little to actually offset the CO2 emissions. The Customer would have... Continue Reading →

Lets get one thing straight Gore IS an environmental hypocrite, his energy footprint is huge, and he consumes far more than any environmental consciouses person should. This does not however weaken any of his climate change arguments. Environmental crusader and prominent Democrat Al Gore uses 20 times more electricity in his home than the average... Continue Reading →

The smallest country in Africa is this morning playing host to one of the longest queues on the continent, as hundreds of people line up for miracle cures for asthma and Aids, promised by the Gambian President. Scientists have reacted with horror to a claim by President Yahya Jammeh that he can cure asthma on... Continue Reading →

The 4th IPCC report was released (summery for policy makers) last week. It provided the world with the the most compelling assertions that humans are causing climate change, scientists are now 95% certain that we are to blame. The debate is now over as far as the public and the media is concerned, or at... Continue Reading →

How do you remain a global climate change skeptic when oil companies are now admitting that the science is sound. Even the biggest skeptic of them all is now a believer. In an interview reported in the Wall Street Journal today, Kenneth Cohen began to shift Exxon's corporate positioning on climate change, accepting the reliability... Continue Reading →

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow stated that “contrary to stereotype,” President Bush has been “actively engaged in trying to fight climate change.” He also took issue with a reporter’s comment that the US has been absent from a global emissions program, arguing that the Bush has “actually taken the lead on those kinds of... Continue Reading →

So Much for our Kyoto agreements. The New Canadian Clean Air Act, is an attempt by the Conservatives to appear to be addressing many environmental issues such as global warming, when in reality the conservatives are continuing with the Liberals tradition of doing nothing to actually reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced by Canada.... Continue Reading →