Buried amongst the comments on ...

Is the Corps of Engineers forcibly reverting floodplain to its natural state?
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/26/is-the-corps-of-engineers-forcibly-reverting-floodplain-to-its-natural-state/

is this unintended consequence of wind farming.

"This is second year that hydro operators have had to balance heavy runoff, the maximum spill regulations and avoiding windmills curtailment."

The extension of the ETS emissions trading scheme in Europe to cover non-european airlines seems to have upset the Chinese amongst others, and Beijing has blocked a deal for Chinese airlines to buy $3.8bn worth of Airbus aircraft.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c4ce5aa0-9e4b-11e0-8e61-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1QQNZyskF

I just keep agreeing with Richard Betts, Met Office, IPCC climate scientist, why are we so far apart, because of NGO propaganda against sceptics?

richardabetts Richard Betts
#climate science must be careful not to end up looking like Harold Camping when we hit 2 degrees. May be v bad, may not. Risk not certainty.
22 May »

richardabetts Richard Betts
"time for environmental community to reconsider use of apocalyptic terms when describing fears for future" http://bit.ly/jVFEZG - I agree
22 May

There has been some very positive, twittering, chat and dialogue, between - Andrew Montford, Richard Betts (Met Ofice, IPCC AR4 & IR5 lead author) Clim*Resisatance, Mark Lynas and others this last month... Lots of sensible construstive adult dialogue.

http://twitter.com/#!/richardabetts

A bit disappointed by this earlier tweet by Richard

richardabetts Richard Betts
Great to have @frannyarmstrong visit @metoffice yesterday to chat about Age Of Stupid, @1010, #IPCC and our latest #climate science
27 May

Why does Franny get a tour, can we have a delegation from Bishop Hill to have the same privledge...

Does Richard know about the 10:10 'No Pressure' video....

Or Franny's 300,000 manmade climate change deaths... or 4 years to save the earth/ our lives?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/sep/30/10-10-no-pressure-film

FRanny Armstrong: "We 'killed' five people to make No Pressure – a mere blip compared to the 300,000 real people who now die each year from climate change," she adds.

That definte 300,000 deaths due to agw, NOW is very dodgy, just extreme weather, where the main cause of death is that you are poor.

Serioulsy would Richard agree this this hypebole?
Franny: "Because we have got about four years to stabilise global emissions and we are not anywhere near doing that. All our lives are at threat and if that's not worth jumping up and down about, I don't know what is."

Richard would seem to disagree witth that..

richardabetts Richard Betts
@clim8resistance @mark_lynas Completely agree that GHF attribution of 300,000 deaths to AGW poorly founded. Have spoken on that myself.
15 June

I would imagine that I'm far closer to agreeing with Richard Betts on many science climate issues than Franny,(and far beter qulaified scientifically than Franny) yet I would be labbelled and thought as the climate sceptic that is anti-science or a flat-earther bt some, yet Franny gets tours of the Met Office.?

Are they that out of touch with sceptical thoughts, that they have bought into the lobby group propaganda about sceptics, like Bishop Hill, WUWT, etc...

Bishop,

This item has just appeared on WUWT.

Fascinating item from the geological society.

rgds

Peter

http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/views/policy_statements/page7426.html

Sorry, BBD - I actually meant to address my previous comment at the quote you gave.

However, having read your quote puts the quote by sHx in much better context - they actually belong together. I agree with Mike entirely - they would have a much better chance of persuading the electorate to support change framed as he has framed it. Unfortunately, they wouldn't find it so easy to justify carbon taxes ...

sHx - that is a most interesting quote. Too bad nobody paid Mike Hulme enough attention five years ago, or they may not have antagonised quite so many sceptics. And the parallel he draws with WMD is quite apt too. Nobody learns.

sHx

If you are interested/for future quoteable reference, there's more from Mike Hulme in this BBC Viewpoint interview from 2006.

This has got to earn me my first ever Head Tip from Bishop Hill.

Professor Mike Hulme of University of East Anglia was on ABC Big Ideas program. The topic is Why We Disagree About Climate Change:

Why We Disagree About Climate Change
14 Jun 2011, 11:00

Mike Hulme is a UK Professor of Climate Change who thinks we've mistaken the means for the end when it comes to climate change action. On a visit to Australia, he gives an impassioned lecture about why it's such a hard sell in such a "partisan era".

We should stop focusing, he says, on the goal of trying to "stop climate change", or identifying which risks are natural or not. Instead, Hulme says we should focus on ensuring that the basic needs of the world's growing population are adequately met. It's a very plain argument, which is also hopeful about the future.

Amongst Hulme's "good news" stories is India's considerable solar power production. His lecture at TAFE NSW Sydney Institute was given in conjunction with the Hot Science Global Citizens symposium. He was introduced by Australian climate scientist, David Karoly.

The Big Ideas web page offers a highlights clip (approx. 9 mins), full clip (approx. 75 mins), full audio, and full download. No transcript, unfortunately.

Mike Hulme speaks carefully and diplomatically on many things that may greatly interest the community here.

Matthu, Thank you for the comment below. Sadly, I have to agree with you.

I decided to root around for information on H L Mencken. I found a site and glanced through his quotations, some of which are attributed and some are just in his notebooks.

There is, may I say, a real treasure trove of quotations by him. Here is one;

"One seldom discovers a true believer that is worth knowing."

I suppose that this can be applied to either side of the AGW argument, depending on the zealousness of the individuals, but I can think of a group of Hockey Stick Mannufacturers to whom it most definitely does apply.

Rgds

Peter Walsh