In the Guardian - Germaine Greer writes an excellent article about the Brisbane flooding.

Australian Floods: Why were we so surprised?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/15/australian-floods-queensland-germaine-greer

Only a passing mention of AGW, an article of total clarity and sanity....

ie predicted months ago, by meterologists, worse flood in 1893, quotes that poem ' the kland of drought and floods', mentions that the dam used to manage the water flow, was not used properly, because they did not want to waste the water.

Germaine was born in Australia and spends 3-4 moths there a year. Thus a little local knowledge, trumps alarmism.

An interesting quote:

"Professor Neville Nicholls, president of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, believes that "the Queensland floods are caused by what is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) La Niña events since our records began in the late 19th century". He was asked if the intensification was a consequence of global warming, and declined to comment. Other people have been rather too quick to claim the extreme weather as a direct consequence of global warming. (It will surprise many readers of the Guardian to learn that in Australia there is still a bad-tempered debate about whether global warming is happening or not.)"

Could someone email it to Damian Carrington and George Monbiot ;)

Hi Jerry

Quite happy to be corrected, but do you have a ref for that? The only claim I can see is a single comment in one of the linked pages.

Ta

Stuck Record said

Must...try...hard...not...to...laugh

Environmentalist Starts Israel’s Worst Ever Fire: Greenpeace Blames Global Warming.
http://hauntingthelibrary.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/environmentalist-starts-israels-worst-ever-fire-greenpeace-blames-global-warming/

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. In this case the article is wrong and mixes up two different fires in Israel about a month apart.

It's too late, collapse of Antarctic Ice sheet will flood major cities, AAAS hype:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/01/rising-seas-look-inevitable.html

Quote at end of article:
"looks like a solid study, and the most interesting new result is the tie to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet," says Richard Alley, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Human-caused warming, he says, could influence Antarctica's land ice many centuries after we stop burning fossil fuels

Thanks Pharos. Good to know.
I've been avoiding Beeb for a while. My blood pressure can't take it.

Leader of Australian Greens Bob Brown says re the Queensland floods

It's the single biggest cause, burning coal, for climate change and it must take its major share of responsibility for the weather events we are seeing unfolding now

He then demanded the coal mines pay for the entire cleanup.

He would say that. Wouldn't he?

http://www.watoday.com.au/national/no-time-for-fingerpointing-greens-warned-20110116-19scd.html

Phillip Stott's still about. Keeps popping up on various BBC radio shows. Last one I can find still on iplayer is 16 Nov 2010, but I'm sure I've heard him since, possibly on Jeremy Vine.

Something that has been bothering me for a while: does anyone know what has happened to Philip Stott? Almost the only skeptical voice to appear on the BBC, and I haven't seen or heard him on anything since last May. His blog has gone silent too.

Any sightings?

Bristol alumni forum:Flood risk and climate change, London
23 March 2011, 6.30 pm

Join some of the major players in the climate change debate as they discuss the critical issues around flood risk and climate.

Panel members include: Dr Simon Buckle CMG (BSc 1982), Policy Director, Grantham Institute of Climate Change, Dr Jim Freer, Reader in Hydrology, Dr Kate Marks (PhD 2002) National Manager, Mapping & Modelling at the Environment Agency and Professor Julia Slingo OBE (BSc 1973, PhD 1989, Hon DSc 2010), Chief Scientist at the Met Office. The panel will be chaired by Paul Bates (PhD 1993) Professor of Hydrology.

Venue: The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS

Tickets cost £25, to reserve your place please book online.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alumni/events/diary/2011/244.html

Interesting note about ClimateSmart2050 doc.