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Non-Tech : Climate Change, Global Warming, Weather Derivatives, Investi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (209)	5/25/2008 10:30:30 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 442

Snow Keeps Some Trails, Campgrounds Closed For Memorial Day kirotv.com Seattle---May 22, 2008 Some trails and campgrounds are still under several feet of snow, keeping them closed, in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Officials said of the 34 campgrounds normally open for Memorial Day, 24 will be open for the holiday weekend. Snow covers the other 10 and most of the trails. "We had unprecedented snowpack this year and above 2,000 feet elevation you will encounter continuous snowfields, or lower, if the area is shaded," said Rodney Mace, a forest recreation staff officer. Campground openings that have been postponed include Silver Springs until May 30, and the following until June 13: Denny Creek, Miller River Group, Beaver Creek Group, Coal Creek Group, Wiley Creek Group, North and South Bayview, Mineral Park, and Silver Fir. Visitors can check campground opening dates by calling 541-338-7869 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m, Saturday. Visitors can also call 541-822-3799 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Or check out their Website. For updated information about road and trail conditions go to the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest site. People who have reserved campgrounds that have been closed due to snow can negotiate a new date or get their money back by contacting the National Recreation Reservation System or calling HooDoo at the above numbers. Avalanche danger remains a concern, according to the Northwest Avalanche Center, which advises the public to check its Website before visiting the forest.

To: Sam Citron who wrote (209)	11/30/2008 12:55:26 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 442

British Lawyers call for international court to punish states that fail to "protect the environment" A former chairman of the Bar Council is calling for an international court for the environment to punish states that fail to protect wildlife and prevent climate change. By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent 28 Nov 2008 telegraph.co.uk Stephen Hockman QC is proposing a body similar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to be the supreme legal authority on issues regarding the environment. The first role of the new body would be to enforce international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions set to be agreed next year. But the court would also fine countries or companies that fail to protect endangered species or degrade the natural environment and enforce the "right to a healthy environment". The innovative idea is being presented to an audience of politicians, scientists and public figures for the first time at a symposium at the British Library. Mr Hockman, a deputy High Court judge, said that the threat of climate change means it is more important than ever for the law to protect the environment. The UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland this month is set to begin negotiations that will lead to a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen next year. Developed countries are expected to commit to cutting emissions drastically, while developing countries agree to halt deforestation. Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has agreed the concept of an international court will be taken into account when considering how to make these international agreements on climate change binding. The court is also backed by a number of MPs, climate change experts and public figures including the actress Judi Dench. Mr Hockman said an international court will be needed to enforce and regulate any agreement. "The time is now ripe to set this up and get it going," he said. "Its remit will be overall climate change and the need for better regulation of carbon emissions but at the same time the implementation and enforcement of international environmental agreements and instruments." As well as providing resolution between states, the court will also be useful for multinational businesses in ensuring environmental laws are kept to in every country. The court would include a convention on the right to a healthy environment and provide a higher body for individuals or non-governmental organisations to protest against an environmental injustice. Mr Hockman said the court may be able to fine businesses or states but its main role will be in making "declaratory rulings" that influence and embarrass countries into upholding the law. He said: "Of course regulations and sanctions alone cannot deliver a global solution to problems of climate change, but without such components the incentive for individual countries to address those problems – and to achieve solutions that are politically acceptable within their own jurisdictions – will be much reduced." The court would be led by retired judges, climate change experts and public figures. It would include a scientific body to consider evidence and provide access to any data on the environment. Most importantly, Mr Hockman said an international court on the environment would influence public opinion which in turn would force Governments to take the environment seriously. He said: "If there are bodies around that can give definitive legal rulings that are accepted as fair and reasonable that has its own impact on public opinion." Friends of the Earth welcomed the idea. A spokesman said: "We think any institution that is going to promote and help people enforce their right to a clean and healthy environment is a good thing."

To: Sam Citron who wrote (209)	12/22/2008 2:25:10 AM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 442

Deroy Murdock: Baby, it's cold outside, no matter what Al Gore says The Manchester Union-Leader ^ \| December 22, 2008 \| Deroy Murdock theunionleader.com Winter officially arrived with Sunday's solstice. But for many Americans, autumn 2008's final days already feel like deepest, coldest January. New Englanders still lack electricity after a Dec. 11 ice storm snapped power lines. Up to eight inches of snow struck New Orleans and southern Louisiana that day and didn't melt for 48 hours in some neighborhoods. In southern California Wednesday, a half-inch of snow brightened Malibu's hills while a half-foot barricaded highways and marooned commuters in desert towns east of Los Angeles. Three inches of the white stuff shuttered Las Vegas' McCarran Airport that day and dusted the strip's hotels and casinos. What are the odds of that? Actually, the odds are rising that snow, ice and cold will grow increasingly common. As serious scientists repeatedly explain, global cooling is here. It is chilling temperatures and so-called "global-warming." According to the National Climatic Data Center, 2008 will be America's coldest year since 1997, thanks to La Nina and precipitation in the central and eastern states. Solar quietude also may underlie global cooling. This year's sunspots and solar radiation approach the minimum in the sun's cycle, corresponding with lower earth temperatures. This echoes Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist Dr. Sallie Baliunas' belief that solar variability, much more than carbon dioxide, sways global temperatures. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service reports that last summer was Anchorage's third coldest on record. "Not since 1980 has there been a summer less reflective of global warming," Craig Medred wrote in the Anchorage Daily News. Consequently, Alaska's glaciers are thickening in the middle. "It's been a long time on most glaciers where they've actually had positive mass balance," U.S. Geological Survey glaciologist Bruce Molnia told Medred Oct. 13. Similarly, the National Snow and Ice Data Center found that Arctic Sea ice expanded 13.2 percent this year, or a Texas-sized 270,000 square miles. Across the equator, Brazil endured an especially cold September. Snow graced its southern provinces that month. "Global warming is over, and Global warming theory has failed. There is no evidence that CO2 drives world temperatures or any consequent climate change," Imperial College London astrophysicist and long-range forecaster Piers Corbyn wrote British Members of Parliament on Oct. 28. "According to official data in every year since 1998, world temperatures have been colder than that year, yet CO2 has been rising rapidly." That evening, as the House of Commons debated legislation on so-called "global-warming," October snow fell in London for the first time since 1922. These observations parallel those of five German researchers led by Professor Noel Keenlyside of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences. "Our results suggest that global surface temperature may not increase over the next decade," they concluded in last May's "Nature," "as natural climate variations in the North Atlantic and tropical Pacific temporarily offset the projected anthropogenic (man-made) warming." This "lull" should doom the 0.54 degree Fahrenheit average global temperature rise predicted by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Vatican of so-called "global warming." Incidentally, the IPCC's computer models factor in neither El Nino nor the Gulf Stream. Excluding such major climate variables would be like ESPN ignoring baseball and basketball. So, is this all just propaganda concocted by Chevron-funded, right-wing, flat-Earthers? Ask Dr. Martin Hertzberg, a physical chemist and retired Navy meteorologist. "As a scientist and lifelong liberal Democrat, I find the constant regurgitation of the anecdotal, fear-mongering clap-trap about human-caused global warming to be a disservice to science," Hertzberg wrote in Sept. 26's USA Today. "From the El Nino year of 1998 until Jan., 2007, the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere near its surface decreased some 0.25 C (0.45 F). From Jan. 2007 until the spring of 2008, it dropped a whopping 0.75 C (1.35 F)." As global cooling becomes more widely recognized, Americans from Maine to Malibu should feel comfortable dreaming of a white Christmas.