Environment minister Sammy Wilson: I still think man-made climate change is a con
Wednesday, 31 December 2008



Environment minister Sammy Wilson

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Spending billions on trying to reduce carbon emissions is one giant con that is depriving third world countries of vital funds to tackle famine, HIV and other diseases, Sammy Wilson said.


The DUP minister has been heavily criticised by environmentalists for claiming that ongoing climatic shifts are down to nature and not mankind.

But while acknowledging his views on global warming may not be popular, the East Antrim MP said he was not prepared to be bullied by eco fundamentalists.

“I’ll not be stopped saying what I believe needs to be said about climate change,” he said.

"Most of the people who shout about climate change have not read one article about it

“I think in 20 years’ time we will look back at this whole climate change debate and ask ourselves how on earth were we ever conned into spending the billions of pounds which are going into this without any kind of rigorous examination of the background, the science, the implications of it all. Because there is now a degree of hysteria about it, fairly unformed hysteria I’ve got to say as well.

“I mean I get it in the Assembly all the time and most of the people who shout about climate change have not read one article about climate change, not read one book about climate change, if you asked them to explain how they believe there’s a connection between CO2 emission and the effects which they claim there’s going to be, if you ask them to explain the thought process or the modelling that is required and the assumptions behind that and how tenuous all the connections are, they wouldn’t have a clue.

“They simply get letters about it from all these lobby groups, it’s popular and therefore they go along with the flow — and that would be ok if there were no implications for it, but the implications are immense.”

He said while people in the western world were facing spiralling fuel bills as a result of efforts to cut CO2, the implications in poorer countries were graver.

“What are the problems that face us either locally and internationally. Are those not the things we should be concentrating on?” he asked.

“HIV, lack of clean water, which kills millions of people in third world countries, lack of education.

“A fraction of the money we are currently spending on climate change could actually eradicate those three problems alone, a fraction of it.

“I think as a society we sometimes need to get some of these things in perspective and when I listen to some of the rubbish that is spoken by some of my colleagues in the Assembly it amuses me at times and other times it angers me.”

Despite his views on CO2, Mr Wilson said he does not intend to backtrack on commitments made by his predecessor at the Department of the Environment, Arlene Foster, to make the Stormont estate carbon neutral.

He said while he wasn’t worried about reducing CO2 output, he said the policy would help to cut fuels bills.

“I don’t couch those actions in terms of reducing Co2 emissions,” he said. “I don’t care about Co2 emissions to be quite truthful because I don’t think it’s all that important but what I do believe is, and perhaps this is where there can be some convergence, as far as using fuel more efficiently that is good for our economy; that makes us more competitive. If we can save in schools hundreds of thousands on fuel that’s more money being put for books or classroom assistants.

“So yes there are things we can do. If you want to express it terms of carbon neutral, I just express it terms of making the place more efficient, less wasteful and hopefully that will release money to do the proper things that we should be doing.”

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/environment-minister-sammy-wilson-i-still-think-manmade-climate-change-is-a-con-14123972.htm

1) We're NOT spending billions on Co2 reductions.

2) We're spending HUNDREDS of BILLIONS on oil wars, oil company subsidies, and pollution clean up.

3) We could save HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS switching to sustainable energy sources and conservation.

Silent Spring has not happened yet, and I`m not sure it ever will. The book did contribute greatly to help put a stop to the over use of pesticides, the banning of DDT etc,but conservatives were also a part of the group demanding changes. To be honest, most people who are truly conservative have a deep and abiding love of the land and every critter on it, including the oceans.
In fact, some of the most enduring so called progressive legislation has been drawn up by coalitions of conservative and liberal politicians. What I do not understand is why so many liberals justify outrageously expensive programs that do not work, and why so many right wing conservatives believe the country is better off with deregulating the private sector to the point where abuses abound.

Back in the day when the hippies began squatting on vacant land in Florida, they talked a grand talk about saving the earth, but everywhere they went, they left huge piles of refuse(including human waste) lying around in pristine environments.
All of my life I`ve seen my government be among the most reckless and wanton destroyers of environment through either poorly planned policy, or complete disregard for anything but its own interests. The only thing I can add to this is that the old Soviet Union was at least a hundred times better at defiling their land, and you expect me to support liberals who support big government to save the planet? The only thing I`ve noticed about all government offices from local to federal is that over time they have become more and more clandestine, refusing to be transparent, and that started long before 9/11. Now we have scientists who seem to be climbing aboard this political fiasco over CO2 emissions by mankind being responsible for global warming. The truth is that in comparison to natural sources of Co2 emissions man`s contributions are insignificant


Adding up all anthropogenic greenhouse sources, the total human contribution to the greenhouse effect is around 0.28% (factoring in water vapor).

Water vapor is, and always will be the strongest climate forcing agent in Earth`s atmosphere. Alternative energy sources are still worthy of pursuit, and it appears we`re almost at the threshold of manufacturing petroleum from algae which is practically carbon neutral.

Why are alternatives important to me? I`ll let T. Boone Pickens say it for me.....
... T. Boone Pickens can't read his lines. Squinting at his teleprompter, he is posing in front of a mile-long ribbon of wind turbines, churning against an endless Texas sky. Pickens is in Sweetwater, a town of 12,000 that bills itself as the nation's wind-energy capital, to shoot a commercial urging Americans to put themselves on a new energy diet: cutting out imported oil—which costs $700 billion a year—in favor of domestically produced sources such as wind and natural gas. "Our dependence on foreign oil means that we are buying from our enemies," he drawls into the camera, veering from the script. At this, the director walks onto the set, frowning his disapproval. "Don't want me to say 'enemies', huh?" Pickens deadpans as he drops his head in mock shame and scuffs his cowboy boot in the dirt. "How 'bout 'Some friends and a few a––holes?' That better?"
I`d love to see the day when we can bring a few friends over, and let a lot of assholes eat sand. Ahh shit, there`s another five or so inches of fresh snow on my driveway and sidewalks. Gotta shovel snow again tomorrow, at least I haven`t busted my ass slipping on the ice yet this Winter. This is a real bummer for a native Floridian.

Speaking of liberals, I decided to vote for Barack Obama and Jeff Merkley for US Senator this year, both of which are liberal Democrats. Why not? I couldn`t take the chance that Sarah Palin`s chances of becoming US president were too likely for me to vote for McCain who looked and acted like he was lost too much of the time during his campaign anyway. Gordon Smith (R) Oregon came out against the war in Iraq when things got rough over there; if the sonofabitch voted to go to war, he should have had the guts to continue his support. I can live without politicians like him. So you see? I already have let liberals have a crack at it. Barack Obama isn`t as liberal as the Repukingcans painted him anyway.

Thanks to the man made global warming histaria , more people on this planet are using toxic fluorescent bulbs to save energy than ever.
1 broken bulb pushes contamination to 300 times EPA limits
Poisonous vapor so bad, researchers recommend families no longer use CFLs--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 11, 2008
9:55 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Compact fluorescent light bulbs have long been known to contain poisonous liquid mercury, but a study released earlier this year shows the level of mercury vapor released from broken bulbs skyrockets past accepted safety levels.


Following a story reported by WND last year about a Maine woman quoted $2,000 for cleaning up a broken fluorescent bulb, or CFL, in her home, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection studied the dangers of broken CFLs and the adequacy of recommended cleanup procedures.
The results were stunning: Breaking a single compact fluorescent bulb on the floor can spike mercury vapor levels in a room – particularly at a child's height – to over 300 times the EPA's standard accepted safety level.

Furthermore, for days after a CFL has been broken, vacuuming or simply crawling across a carpeted floor where the bulb was broken can cause mercury vapor levels to shoot back upwards of 100 times the accepted level of safety.

Following the study, the Maine DEP made eight new recommendations for usage and cleanup of CFLs, including the recommendation to not even use the bulbs in carpeted rooms where children, infants or pregnant women live. The likelihood of breakage, near impossibility of cleanup and risk of prolonged exposure, the study concluded, are just too great.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences website acknowledges that Brown University published a similar study last month confirming the Maine results: Breaking a fluorescent bulb sends mercury vapor levels to unsafe levels for the elderly, pregnant and young – and those levels remain elevated for days.

The NIEHS website states, "Today’s CFLs underscore mercury's volatile vapor form, which is still a significant health concern – ventilation reduces but does not eliminate this toxicant. Mercury vapor inhalation can cause significant neural damage in developing fetuses and children."

(Story continues below)






According to a Mercury Policy Project overview paper, unpolluted air contains one to two nanograms, or billionths of a gram, of mercury vapor per cubic meter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established a level of 300 ng/m3 as the safety threshold for prolonged exposure to the poisonous gas.

Some states, though not the federal government, have also established a safety threshold for a one-time, acute exposure to mercury vapor. California, for example, has established that any level of exposure over 1,800 ng/m3 has potentially harmful health effects.

The Maine study, however, discovered that upon breakage of a CFL, mercury vapors can rise "with short excursions over 25,000 ng/m3, sometimes over 50,000 ng/m3, and possibly over 100,000 ng/m3 from the breakage of a single compact fluorescent lamp."

In other words, the study found breaking a single bulb can send mercury vapor levels in a room to over 50 times the level that California considers dangerous and to over 300 times what the EPA has established as a safe level for prolonged exposure.

Researchers in the study broke 45 bulbs in a variety of flooring surfaces and then studied lingering gas levels after a variety of cleanup techniques. The results contradicted a number of commonly held thoughts on CFLs, for example:

• Though proponents of CFLs often argue a single bulb only contains 5 mg of mercury, the study found it was an average. The bulbs actually range from 0.9 to 18 mg of mercury.

• Though the EPA's Energy Star program recommends placing a broken bulb "in a glass jar with a metal lid or in a sealed plastic bag," the study discovered mercury vapor leaches right through plastic bags. "Of the 12 different types of containers tested during the 23 different tests, the plastic bag was found to be the worst choice for containing mercury emissions," researchers stated. "Based upon this study, the DEP now suggests that a glass container with metal screw lid with a gum seal be used to contain debris."

• Though the Energy Star guidelines suggest ventilating a room for 15 minutes before attempting cleanup, the study found that in every case – even in well-ventilated rooms – it took over an hour to drop mercury vapor levels below the EPA safety standard.

• And for cleanup on carpets, the Energy Star guidelines suggest vacuuming and disposing of the dust bag. The Maine study, however, discovered that vacuuming served to simply stir the vapor into the air and "irreversibly contaminate the vacuum". The researchers, acknowledging it was inconvenient, recommended only one course of action for broken bulbs on carpet: remove the carpet.
The Maine study also discovered, however, that carpets aren't the only problem with broken bulbs.

"All three flooring surfaces in this study (pre-finished hardwood, short nap carpet, and shag carpet) were able to be cleaned up with pre-study cleanup guidance so that they looked clean. However, mercury vapors emanating from all three surface types were detected, especially when agitated, for weeks after the cleanup of a break. … Flooring surfaces, once visibly clean, can emit mercury immediately at the source that can be greater than 50,000 ng/m3."

"Flooring surfaces that still contain mercury sources emit more mercury when agitated than when not agitated. This mercury source in the carpeting has particular significance for children rolling around on a floor, babies crawling, or non mobile infants placed on the floor."

As WND has reported, several countries, including the U.S., have signed laws that will eventually phase out typical incandescent light bulbs and dictate their replacement with CFLs.

Even the U.S. EPA, however, has recognized that recent studies show CFLs aren't safe for all circumstances.

The Maine study may prove the most condemning of the use of fluorescent bulbs yet.

Part of the study detailed the potential hazards posed by mercury vapor:

"There are a number of studies documenting neurotoxicity as a consequence of inhalation of elemental mercury in adults. … Studies documented changes in EEG, deficits in peripheral nerve function, autonomic effects, psychological and sleep changes, and deficits in fine motor performance, visuomotor coordination, visual reaction time, visual scanning, memory, concentration, and executive function."

In children, and especially unborn children, the results can be far worse:

"It is well established that the developing organism may be much more sensitive than the adult to neurotoxic agents. For example, methylmercury exposure can produce devastating effects in the fetus, including cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, and even death, while producing no or minimal effects in the mother."

Children are also more susceptible to mercury vapor exposure from broken CFLs:

"Infants and toddlers also have a much higher rate of respiration than adults. Therefore they have a higher exposure to similar concentrations. They also are lower to the floor and therefore closer to the source of the exposure and presumably more apt to obtain a concentrated dose of mercury."

The study, however, didn't leave out the elderly:

"Elderly and unhealthy individuals may already be at comprised health and be more susceptible to mercury effects than a healthy individual. For example, mercury does kidney damage which could exacerbate an already existing kidney disease."

Unlike many poisons that can be flushed out of the body, mercury bioaccumulates, which means the various tissues store the toxin in increasing amounts, a particular concern as the use of CFLs increases.

The Mercury Policy Project summary paper quotes an estimate that the U.S. currently releases two tons of mercury vapor into the environment each year from broken fluorescent bulbs alone. Two tons contrasts startlingly with the level the EPA has established as dangerous to human health: a mere 300 billionths of a gram.



www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72133

Hand...you talk about fear mongering? Just what the hell do you call this "dangers of mercury in cfls" crap? Most mercury is released by COAL BURNING numbnuts. The amount of mercury in CFL's is so minute to even bring it up is LAME! WEAK! CFL's reduce energy use...thus reducing the amount of coal need to be burned. Nice try though...maybe next time try not to use the latest popular attempt to bash progress towards sustainability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CFL_bulb_mercury_use_environment.svg



This article suggests that CFL's are bad because if you put your face in a broken bulb you'll be subjected to dangerously high levels of mercury. That's genius stuff there bro...I need to remember that. There's a fraction of the mercury found in traditional thermometers in CFL's, and most of it is bound to the inner surface.

That article is next to pure shit...it's brutal...the dumbass who wrote it attempts to make a direct comparison between the total amount of mercury released by CFL's and the allowable health levels for humans...that's retarded...especially considering that coal plants release hundreds if not thousands of times more.

Why? If the war was a mistake what good is it to continue with the mistake? Some wacked logic there ben.

As for your H2O claim...you don't think researchers are aware of these things? You think they just missed the mark? Did you notice how much of the atmosphere water accounts for? Did you know that it's basically a fixed amount too? CO2 isn't fixed...we keep dumping into the air. So if we're gonna look at changes why would the element that's fixed be the culprit?

"Thanks to the man made global warming histaria , more people on this planet are using toxic fluorescent bulbs to save energy than ever."

Conservation was around long before people noticed the icecaps and glaciers melting away ... are you arguing that trying to save energy is a bad thing?


http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#fluorescent
What to Do if a Fluorescent Light Bulb Breaks

http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#whatnever
What Never to Do with a Mercury Spill

It's not rocket science.

Record low temperature set this morningSometime before 4 a.m., the mercury at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport dipped to 19 degrees, besting the record low of 20 degrees set for this day 44 years ago. And the cold isn't over yet.

By Karen Gaudette, Nicole Tsong and Sara Jean Green

Seattle Times staff reporters

PREV of NEXT


STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Downtown Seattle, caught in a deep freeze with the snowy Olympic mountains in the backround.


STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Allen Christie, of Issaquah, clears an inch of snow off the field lines before the start of a preseason girls soccer tournament at Skyline High School. Parents were bundled on the sidelines watching their kids.


STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Arlington police and fire personnel and a tow truck are on the scene after a car skidded off 44th Street Northeast near Arlington. Roads in the area's hills remained icy throughout the day Sunday. The firetruck and other Arlington Fire Department personnel left their vehicles at the top of the hill to help others below. The vehicle that was pulled out of the ditch is behind the tow truck.


MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Luke Abubakari helps a neighbor move her car up an icy road near Northeast 147th Street and 9th Avenue Northeast Monday morning in the Shoreline neighborhood.
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Snow's not all bad: Ski areas are opening

Stevens Pass will operate four lifts today, and the Summit West base area at Snoqualmie will open Friday. Hours will be limited to 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at both passes. Check out conditions at area slopes



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Prevent carbon-monoxide poisoning

Warning devices may provide additional protection, but should not replace the following prevention steps:

• Never burn charcoal inside homes, vehicles or garages.

• Do not burn charcoal in the fireplace in your home.

• Never use gasoline-powered equipment indoors.

• Never use a gas oven to heat your home, even for a short time.

• Never idle a car in a garage, even when the garage door is open.

• Never sleep in a room while using an unvented gas or kerosene heater.

• Make sure chimneys and flues are in good condition and are not blocked.

• Have fireplaces, wood stoves and oil or gas appliances checked every year by a professional.

Source: Public Health — Seattle & King County
Click here for carbon monoxide warnings in six languages (PDF).



Nickelsville copes with cold weather

About 100 people find a shelter and protection from the elements at Nickelsville, a homeless encampment located at the University Congregational United Church of Christ in University District.



Think it was cold this morning?

Sometime before 4 a.m., the mercury at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport dipped to 19 degrees, besting the record low of 20 degrees set for this day 44 years ago.

And the cold isn't over yet.

Our next best chance of breaking a low-temp record will come Friday — if the forecast holds true with an anticipated 16-degree low. That would be one degree colder than the record low of 17-degrees set for December 19 in 1990, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.

What's more, there's at least an 80 percent chance of snowfall between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Thankfully, the recent cold snap across the Seattle area hasn't been accompanied by high wind.

That's good news because the cold coupled with widespread power outages would create miserable conditions for a lot of people, said meteorologist Johnny Burg.

"We get cold weather but this is definitely not normal for this time of year," he said, noting that we're averaging temperatures that are 10 degrees colder than the 36-degree average temperatures typically seen in December.

Today should be mostly sunny with highs around 30 and lows down to the teens. On Tuesday expect sun, highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s with a chance of snow.

On Wednesday, the highs should be in the lower 30s.

Check http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/seattle/ for the latest forecast.

The expectation of more snow this week is music to the ears of winter-sports enthusiasts, but not to beleaguered retailers counting on a final Christmas rush.

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008522970_webweather15m.html

Wow hand...record breaking weather...some solid evidence against climate instability you got there!

the record low temperature in seattle post is a distraction - a little mental virus that infects a percentage of logic-compromised brains, and parks itself as a question mark in front of larger reports of sea ice melt...thanks to that mind-bomb, some people don't have to get worked up and do anything about the melting arctic ice because it's cold in seattle this week...next week there will be record cold somewhere else on the planet and so they will naturally oppose spending any money dealing with 'global warming' to save that investment for something worthwhile like beating up brown people who hog their oil reserves