It's Winchester Science Festival this Fri/Sat/Sun 24/25/26th
: I picked out the Climate relevant events
Festival Pass U19 FREE
Festival Pass Adults : £48.15 or by individual event £3.30 about

FRIDAY
15.45-16.45
THE BURGER APOCALYPSE : DR TONY CURRAN £3.30
This highly participative session will explore the environmental impacts of the food sector – around 20% of the UK’s carbon footprint. Attendees will learn about the A-B-C of low carbon eating: AVOID wasting food, BUY in-season food and CHOOSE low carbon food more.

SATURDAY
12.30-13.30
YOU ARE DEFINITELY WRONG! CERTAINTY & UNCERTAINTY IN THE SCIENTIFIC DEBATE.
DALLAS CAMPBELL AND FRIENDS £3.30
From climate change to GM crops, alternative energy to drug use, the world of science is full of controversial topics that divide opinion. TV presenter and science populariser Dallas Campbell will bring together a panel of experts to discuss why we believe what we believe, and why certain areas attract so much controversy.

SUNDAY
11.15-12.15 HOW CAN WE PREDICT THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANET?
DR TAMSIN EDWARDS £3.30
Every week the papers report new predictions about future climate change – whether about rising sea levels, more severe heat waves, or better wine making in the UK. Scientists make these predictions using highly complex computer models and measurements of the past. But it’s rare to hear much about how they do this, or the sometimes surprising stories behind the science and technology. What do climate models have in common with car radios? Did you know we use the same algorithms as email spam filters to reject “junk predictions”? Tamsin will lift the curtain on this cutting-edge research area.

14.30-15.30
FALLACIES OF PROBABILITY AND RISK : PROF NORMAN FENTON £3.30
From Climate Change and Surgical Decisions to Motor Insurance or Forensic Evidence, Bayesian reasoning and analysis offers us a remarkable insight into why the world behaves the way it does and how we can prepare ourselves for future events.

17.00-18.00
THE REAL URBAN JUNGLE : SIMON WATT £3.30
Nature is under attack. The rainforests are shrinking, the ice caps melting, the seas poisoned. But there is one habitat that is expanding and thriving: the urban jungle

EXHIBITORS
include the company chaired by Lord Deben
"Veolia will be showing how they turn waste into useful resources. Come and have a go with their hands-on model of an energy recovery facility and see what they do with what YOU throw away at home."
..and how they make use your Tax Money that you throw away on eco-subsidies ..maybe

FUTURE INTERESTING EVENT
Monday, August 24, 2015 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
University Shambles - A Critique of University Research
The Tea Bar, 9-13 London Street, Basingstoke (map)

The speaker for the August 2015 meeting of Basingstoke Cafe Scientifique at The Tea Bar will be Professor Chris Rhodes, Director of Fresh Lands Environmental Action. Professor Rhodes will be discussing the results of his research into how University research is managed in the UK from his novel "University Shambles".

\\we need more electricians plumbers carpenters mechanics farmers gardeners and bricklayers. Many of our “universities” should become technical colleges again to provide practical training of exactly this kind. Much better to be a trained plumber in demand and earning a good living than an unemployed university graduate. //

\\Society is about to change dramatically as supplies of cheap crude oil begin to fail. We can expect a drastic scaling down of transportation as a liquid-fuels crisis ensues. Global growth will be stifled by limited resources. The consequence will be a re-adaptation to more locally-based communities and indeed we will need far fewer universities and “academic” education but much more in the way of practical skills. Welcome to a Brave New World.//
..certainty beyond the evidence IMHO

Same area September 12th for Heritage Open Days
- Green Park Wind Turbine Tour
Reading NO 1 LLP ....... Saturday 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Of course for the same weekend you can look out for other energy biz open-day in your area

An event from last week at Royal Society of Chemistry is now on Youtube video (and comments are not blocked !)

Feed the world: The Challenges of Global Food Security
Lecture by the alarmist Professor Tim Benton
Thursday 13 August 2015,

Climate change is becoming an increasing challenge to food production, with the amount of land and water available for production limited. At the same time, the world is becoming more populated with people who are wealthier and demanding more food. The food system provides benefits for many. In the developed world, food is typically super-abundant and readily available. Despite this, over 800 million people are starving on a daily basis. Therefore, at a population level we over-consume and waste a significant proportion of the food we buy.

minute 1:25.00 "more than 50% of the population in China are diabetic or prediabetic"
..em I hope he substantiated that earlier that sounds like hype
In a study 2010 it was actually counted at 25%
"RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalences of total diabetes (which included both previously diagnosed diabetes and previously undiagnosed diabetes) and prediabetes were 9.7% (10.6% among men and 8.8% among women) and 15.5% (16.1% among men and 14.9% among women)"

ah I see in a Tim Benton pdf slide ">50% of adult Chinese are pre-diabetic*
*JAMA. 2013;310(9):948-958. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.168118" here quotes "the prevalence of prediabetes was estimated to be 50.1%" for that 2013 study (note that is just PREDIABETES add in dfiabetes and it's 60% ! allegedly)

..remember there is a self reporting bias in the people who turn up studies which jacks up the stats
and I tend to doubt all stats in "tell you want you want to hear" Asia.

A 2014 Sept BMJ article calls in to question the measurements that count as prediabetes due to that Chinese study.

".. 50.1% .. — prompted the analysis" Yudkin said.

“It just seemed crazy, especially when comparing it to the 8.3% who had impaired glucose tolerance, which is something that is clearly a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease,” Yudkin said.

I am surprised not more experts spoke up in 2013 at the incredible 50.1% figure.
His Oct 2014 Youtube: Kenote : Overdiagnosis and the Epidemic of Prediabetes

Seems Tim Benton is the type that grasps onto confirmation-bias stats and doesn't bother to check them