BIGGEST HOAX OF THE DECADE?

Well apparently the tide is turning , people are starting to get more sceptical as more absurd claims are made about the impending doom we face as the planet does or does not get a bit toasty.

So it is with great delight that we find that The Australian columnist Janet Albrechtsen sounds a sensible word of caution about the growing hysteria and stunts...

Supposed "facts" like this:

" Scientists scolded us with a report that a 750ml bottle of bubbly could produce 100 million bubbles, releasing five litres of carbon dioxide."

Errr yea - so what about beer? And anyway who cares.... its fluffy inconsequential stuff.

But its the stunts and the lies that Albrechtsen really takes issue with.

Just like the small island nation of Maldives where, last month, the president conducted a cabinet meeting underwater to remind the world that his country would be rendered uninhabitable by rising sea levels. Kitted out in full scuba-diving outfits, Mohamed Nasheed and his ministers sat at a table underwater off the coast of the capital of Male.

As planned, the president’s stunt made headlines across the globe. Send us money - and lots of it - is his message. The media love stunts. They are so easy to report.

Sadly, the media is not inquisitive enough to report those who question the circus acts of climate change. A week after the Maldives underwater show, Nils-Axel Morner - a leading world authority on sea levels - wrote an open letter to the president telling him that his stunt was “not founded in observational facts and true scientific judgments”.

Morner is a former professor who headed the department of paleogeophysics and geodynamics at Stockholm University and past president (1999-2003) of the International Union for Quaternary Research commission on sea level changes and coastal evolution. INQUA was founded in 1928 by scientists who aimed to improve the understanding of environmental change during the glacial ages through interdisciplinary research. In other words, the Swedish professor has gravitas when it comes to sea levels.

Alas his letter did not make headlines. That is a shame. Morner says there is “no rational basis” for the hysterical claims that the people of Maldives - or the rest of the world - are threatened by rising sea levels. And he sets out some facts.

Fact number 1: During the past 2000 years, sea levels have fluctuated with 5 peaks reaching 0.6m to 1.2m above present sea level. Fact number 2: From 1790 to 1970 sea levels were about 20cm higher than today. Fact number 3: In the 1970s, the sea level fell by about 20cm to its present level. Fact number 4: Sea levels have remained constant for the past 30 years “implying that there are no traces of any alarming ongoing sea level rise”. Fact number 5 (and I am paraphrasing here): The notion presented by the President of the Maldives that his country will be flooded is bunkum.

We prefer to call it bullshit... Even if it does warm up the globe a bit....

And for a fragile economy like ours we dont want to see the decision makers put the probable fiction of climate change ahead of the definite imperative to keep our economy safe..

WORSHIPPING AT THE ALTER OF THE GREEN

You have to worry about Nick Smith. He is the out of tune green soloist in a band of blue.

So it is with alarm that we we read the Wall Street Journal and see that they are taking the piss out of NZ because we are shaping up to take a hit on our livings standards to " look good" in a green way in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Its a very succinct and hard hitting article that will reach the eyes of most of the key influencers of the world.

Stuff pandering to the green climate change extremists . This Government has more support than any other administration has had for bloody years. So it is in that political climate that you would think that Keys boys would be prepared to make some of the tougher decisions.

So its time to drop your balls boys. Concentrate on making this country the economic powerhouse it could be, indeed should be, but reducing our living standards as a sacrfice to the green idols aint the way to do it.

ACHTUNG BABY PINUS ACHTUNG

Well chop my tree down and call it firewood. Kiwiblog has a great post on the command and control of Forestry by MAF-

This is silly beyond silly. Its the work of short sighted imbeciles. Its time David Carter gave some direction to the forestry unit in MAF. It needs some serious pruning.

WELLINGTON HIVE AND OTHER COMMENTATORS SAY LABOUR WIN BY A NOSE ON DAY ONE

We need more substance and quick from the Nats - and they need to say it with confidence and force. Queen Been at Wellington Hive says it with her usual elegance..


We here at the Prawn endorse her every speech point.

ERIC ROY GOES GREEN - ??????

This from the Southland Times ....

Eric is planting trees to offset his electoral carbon emissions. I think Eric is a lovely big huggie bear and an tireless local Mp but seriously this is a crock.

Invercargill MP Eric Roy kicked off a carbon-neutral campaign for re-election yesterday by planting trees in Queens Park.

Mr Roy planted 20 native podocarps near the animal enclosures on the Queens Dr side of the park yesterday afternoon.

The 20 trees would be more than enough to offset the carbon emissions produced while travelling around the electorate, he said.

Mr Roy drives a 3-litre diesel Hilux. He estimated he would travel 1500km during the next 40 days.

"There's a bit of driving ... we've made the best attempts to work out what we need to do and work out how to meet that requirement." The calculations were based on the estimate the emissions of an average household per year could be offset by planting four trees, he said.

The campaign would produce an estimated 430kg of carbon dioxide, while each tree would offset 250kg during its growing life, he said.

"I'm significantly under the estimation." Campaign materials would also be printed on recycled paper, which would cost 30 percent more than normal paper, he said.

The campaign had not been registered with carboNZero, a branch of Crown Research Institute Landcare Research, he said.

CarbonNZero technical manager Ann Smith declined to comment on Mr Roy's campaign as it was political.

Invercargill's Green Party candidate Craig Carson applauded Mr Roy's attempt to go carbon neutral.

"I think it's great that he's doing it. How well it works or not I'm not sure." Mr Carson said that because he worked fulltime and had limited resources, he was not able to follow suit.