Other recent articles by John Vidal:

Second driest spring since 1910, says Met Office

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/02/more-sun-june-met-office

Climate change in tropics poses food threat to poor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jun/03/climate-change-tropics-threat-food-poor

Crisis meeting is called as drought leaves crops dying in the fields

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/05/drought-farming-caroline-spelman-uk

Bonn climate talks: Developing nations question funding commitment

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/06/bonn-climate-funding-commitment

Has this guy been saving all his journalistic talent up for the week before the Bonn climate talks?
Or does he write this stuff on a daily basis?

If you have a strong stomach, read this;

Sober government scientists at the centre for hydrology and ecology are openly using words like "remarkable", "unprecedented" and "shocking" to describe the recent physical state of Britain this year, but the extremes we are experiencing in 2011 are nothing to the scale of what has been taking place elsewhere recently.
...
Wherever you look, the climate appears to be in overdrive, with stronger weather patterns gripping large areas for longer and events veering between extremes.
...
Sceptics argue that there have always been droughts and floods, freak weather, heatwaves and temperature extremes, but what concerns most climate scientists and observers is that the extreme weather events are occurring more frequently, their intensity is growing and the trends all suggest long-term change as greenhouse gases steadily build in the atmosphere.
...
New analysis of natural disasters in 140 countries shows that climate is becoming more extreme. Last month, Oxfam [ Oxfam? ] reported that while the number of "geo-physical" disasters – such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – has remained more or less constant, those caused by flooding and storms have increased from around 133 a year in 1980s to more than 350 a year now.
...
"I think that global 'weirding' is the best way to describe what we're seeing. We are used to certain conditions and there's a lot going on these days that is not what we're used to, that is outside our current frame of reference," says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University.
...
The WMO concludes, tentatively, that global weather will now return to something approaching normal. The trouble is, no one is too sure what normal is any more.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/13/extreme-weather-flooding-droughts-fires

Is there another climate conference in the imminent future?

Mike Jackson - indeed and Pump Aid is most effective at delivery ...

http://www.pumpaid.org/latest-news/times-christmas-appeal-pump-aid-2/

Behind the paywall...

Wind turbines pick up £2.6m for standing idle
An 'expensive mismatch' between supply and demand led to consumers paying for wind farms to be switched off
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Environment/article646619.ece

(btw the £2.6m payment was for last month)

I wonder how this is audited? What processes are in place to stop the wind farmers cheating?

Another wonderful example today of Cameron's ability totally to miss the point.
Not to be upstaged by Bill Gates' decision to donate a further $5bn over five years to providing vaccines for the world's poor children, Cameron has decided to chip in with £800m (of our money!) for vaccines against -- among other things -- diarrhoea!
I'm not sure of the precise figures but by far the major cause of diarrhoea in African children is contaminated water and inadequate drainage. Has it never occurred to anyone that that problem could be almost completely solved on a one-off basis with about one-quarter of the money which was (supposedly and largely pointlessly) earmarked worldwide for the implementation of the Kyoto accord.

Climate change policies and energy prices
http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2011/06/13/climate-change-policies-and-energy-prices/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JohnRedwoodsDiary+%28John+Redwood%27s+Diary%29

Yes, AJC - I think that's another nail.

The comment I liked in the Guardian article was this: "Climate change ... may be tackled in religious education too." I thought that's where it was primarily being tackled?

(Dropping Climate Change from the school curriculum has been picked up by the Daily Mail as well. But no mention in the Independent it seems ...)

Huhne under fire as power boss warns of further rises

Sir Roger said customers should not be surprised that some of the costs involved in ‘decarbonising’ power generation had to be recouped through higher bills.
‘Ofgem [the regulator] has said that it would see over the next decade a dual fee bill going up by £500 a year for a typical consumer and that’s related to decarbonisation rather than market forces,’ he said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2002874/Energy-Secretary-Chris-Huhne-power-boss-warns-rises.html

Further to AJC comment, guess who The Guardian went to for a second opinion?

Yup, dear old fast fingers but, but,:-

"But Bob Ward, policy and communications director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, warned that Oates' ideas might not be in pupils' best interests and could make science less interesting for children."

"An emphasis on climate change in the curriculum connects the core scientific concepts to topical issues," he said. "Certain politicians feel that they don't like the concept of climate change. I hope this isn't a sign of a political agenda being exercised."

"I hope this isn't a sign of a political agenda being exercised." Political agenda Bob? I wonder what your true motivation is?

Another nail?

"to get back to the science in science"

Climate change should be excluded from curriculum, says adviser
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jun/12/climate-change-curriculum-government-adviser