Tree rings, including bristlecone pines, have been used by climate scientists as a useful took, claiming they show past temperatures. Mike Baillie, a dendrochronologist begs to differ - he has publically said they do not (and others have periodically pointed out that tree rings are affected by a variety of factors, such as precipitation rates, and where individual trees might be situated - within a forest and surrounded by aged trees, or in an open position without any competition) - and so on.
Climate change news
Doomsaying
Doomsaying is a noteable feature of the medical world - report after report telling us for instance that cholesterol was a bad thing as it clogs up arteries and results in heart attacks. However, in recent months we have just got used to the idea that there is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol - and we must not eat this or that, especially certain kinds of fats. Now we have news that bad cholesterol might not be so bad after all - and is an essential of a healthy life (see www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110505142730.htm ).
Carbon - a pollutant or an essential of life?
Over at http://wattsupwiththat.com on April 29th we learn that some AGW doomsayers have said the devastating Alabama tornadoes are a result of 'C02 pollution' rather than other factors - but incredibly, at www.joannenova.com.au/carbon-demonised-by-climate-propaganda/ it seems that some people really do think volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis are induced by global warming and rising levels of C02. Worse still, some people are so convinced carbon is a pollutant they think they should try and avoid it altogether - even in food.
Follow the Dosh
This story was big on the blogosphere a year or so ago but it seems a Telegraph 'investigative' journalist has caught up with reality and cottoned on that big money lies at the root of AGW propaganda. See http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2011/04/23/digging-into-the-globe... (and the comments are really worth reading - very illuminating) and the same story but with less genteel charm is up at http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/04/hail-msm.html which is hard hitting and from a hack of many years experience.
Oil Leaks
Oil leaks into the oceans all the time - naturally. Pierre Gosselin at http://notrickszone.com a German blog, asks 'Where is the Oil? Deepwater Horizon one year later' - it seems bacteria have been feasting on the crude. The day before, April 21st, he has a spat about the five worst environmental disasters that never actually happened - in spite of the hype of doomsayers of the day. This makes you wonder about the hysteria generated over Deepwater Horizon, which had an air of irrationality inherent within the doomsayings of the day.
The Ozone Hole - an early manifestation of Global Warming doomsaying?
The environmentalists extravaganza over the so-called ozone hole in the 1970s and 1980s led to the banning of an efficient refrigerant that was replaced by an inefficient one - and millions of pounds of western subsidies found their way to countries such as China. For example, CFCs enabled one to locate a freezer in the garage if space was limited but this is not advisable with the new refrigerants hoisted on to the consumer by the green lobbyists. It all went quiet for a number of years as environmentalists switched tune and began the long-winded process of hyping AGW.
Global Warming Models
Some people say that C02 does not cause warming - recent rising temperatures are due to natural factors such as solar cycles. Others think there is a lot less global warming than the propaganda proclaims - the data has been massaged by various means to create an 'illusion' of rising temperatures. Still others accept C02 as a greenhouse gas and that as such it warms the planet - but the models labour under a false assumption and that is the idea of feedback. C02 causes greater warmth which causes more water to evaporate from the oceans - and adds to the warmth.
A Climate Change Most Foul
At http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/04/09/the-pre-climategate-issue-that-is-... is Anthony Watts take on a piece of McIntyre sleuthing that can be view in full at http://climateaudit.org/2011/04/09/yamal-and-hide-the-decline/ which is the full disclosure of what was going on behind the scenes to upset the HADCru whistle blower leading up to the Climategate email leak about 18 months ago. In the News was covering the Yamal tree ring story as developed at the time by McIntyre.
Charlatans
Piers Corbyn, on April 5th, said that during the period April 6-9th there was a threat of a major earthquake - and this duly happened, in Mexico. This follows earlier predictions of earthquake activity that came to pass in Japan, Thailand and New Zealand. People are beginning to sit up and notice - especially when he suggests western North America is vulnerable. Corbyn's methodology involves luni-solar cycles, or astrology as AGW alarmists decried after he successfully predicted the blizzards of 2009. Seems there are a lot of charlatans out there.
Arctic Ocean Ponding
At www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/72214/title/Arctic_Ocean_hosts_wierd... which is caused by rivers emptying from Siberia into the Arctic Ocean in combination with the sea ice that accumulates there during the dark winters and large amounts of which melt during the summer months. Hence, the Ocean has pooled, as the saying goes, failing to mix fresh with salty waters from further afield. It is the pattern of circular polar winds that have corralled a huge pond of fresh water within the Beaufort Gyre off northern Canada.