When it comes to many projects, endeavors, and merchandise touted as “green” these days, I find myself becoming more and more skeptical.

“Green” – for whatever reason – has come to symbolize environmentalism, likely through the association of green color with nature, health, and growth, and “green” energy generally refers to renewable and alternative production and use of energy.

An recent article in the Washington Post looks at five myths about green energy:

Americans are being inundated with claims about renewable and alternative energy. Advocates for these technologies say that if we jettison fossil fuels, we’ll breathe easier, stop global warming and revolutionize our economy. Yes, “green” energy has great emotional and political appeal. But before we wrap all our hopes — and subsidies — in it, let’s take a hard look at some common misconceptions about what “green” means.

5 Myths:

1. Solar and wind power are the greenest of them all.
2. Going green will reduce our dependence on imports from unsavory regimes.
3. A green American economy will create green American jobs.
4. Electric cars will substantially reduce demand for oil.
5. The United States lags behind other rich countries in going green.

Check out the full Washington Post article: Five myths about green energy.

There are 3 children missing and a television reporter was killed by a “blizzard of rocks and debris” in the current eruption of Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano near the capitol, Guatemala City. At least 65 people have been injured.

Another awesome video from the volcano. (video from ITN)

In this video of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, shock waves can be seen emanating with each explosive  pulse of lava, clearly causing displacement of the cloud of smoke, ash, and steam.

(pronounced [ˈɛɪjaˌfjatlaˌjœːkʏtl̥], listen (help·info))

‘No end in sight’ for volcano ash – Alijazeera

Risk of Katla: Could 2nd Icelandic Volcano Eruption Follow? – Huffington Post

Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano –Detroit Fee Press

Volcanic Eruption in Eyjafjallajökull – Flickr set

The eruption is between between two glaciers, Eyjafjallajoekull and Myrdalsjoekull, and 3,600 feet above sea level. Since it’s not directly affecting either glacier there is little likelihood of flooding as long as the erupting fissure did not extend beneath the glacier. The area, called Fimmvorduhals, lies on a popular walking path over a mountain pass.

The videos are raw, unedited footage — but absolutely awesome!

I’ve been fascinated with volcanoes for a long time and, whenever, there’s a new eruption somewhere, I start looking for images and news on it. The newest eruption, located in Iceland, has fortunately not posed a significant danger. There have been some interesting raw footage available online. Here is the most recent that I’ve found:

The eruption is between between two glaciers, Eyjafjallajoekull and Myrdalsjoekull, and 3,600 feet above sea level. Since it’s not directly affecting either glacier there is little likelihood of flooding as long as the erupting fissure did not extend beneath the glacier. The area, called Fimmvorduhals, lies on a popular walking path over a mountain pass.

Financial woes of another state budget could result in more park closures.  An Associated Press  report in Business Week says funding proposed in Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s budget recommendations could prevent a new state park from opening as scheduled and force the closing of other parks.

"We’re going to have to make some tough decisions because we don’t want to thin the soup any more," Johnson said. "It will mean shutting down the parks that don’t have as high visitation so we have the resources to maintain those parks that have higher visitation."

Johnson said the cut would mean the state parks won’t be able to hire maintenance workers, rangers, workers for fee collection stations and other employees needed to run all the parks. Johnson said his office would look at park closures and more limited hours, but he said it was too early to say which parks would be shuttered.

Read the Buisness Week article: Parks chief: La. gov’s budget would force closures.

In today’s hard economic times, closing state parks seems to be a remedy that many states have used or are considering.  A Las Vegas Sun article says Nevada legislators are considering closing all of the state parks in Nevada.

The Nevada Legislature is thinking of closing state parks as it considers how to patch an estimated $900 million budget gap, a move that would save a few million dollars while killing the economies of rural towns and stunting tourism efforts across the state, opponents of the idea say.

Gov. Jim Gibbons has suggested a 10 percent budget reduction for a number of agencies, including the State Parks Division. But the Interim Finance Committee could take that a step further. At its meeting in Las Vegas on Thursday, the committee is expected to consider following the lead of cash-strapped states such as California and Arizona, that have closed some or all of their state parks.

In Nevada, the proposal is the brainchild of Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, who says he is considering shutting down all state parks to save money.

Read the entire article: Would closing state parks to save money do more harm than good?

A report in Newsweek, Iceberg Ahead, looks at the current state of climate science and politics… and how things got to this point.

What went wrong? Part of the blame lies, of course, with those who obstructed the efforts of the IPCC and the individual scientists, including bloggers who tried to sandbag scientists with spurious FOIA requests, and the perpetrators (as yet unknown) of the hack at the Climatic Research Unit. Part of the blame also falls on the climate scientists themselves. Many of them—including perhaps Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC head—may have stepped too far over the line from science to advocacy, undermining their own credibility. Some scientists, as a result, are now calling for a change in tone from antagonism to reconciliation. Climate science, they say, needs to open its books and be more tolerant of scrutiny from the outside. Its institutions—notably the IPCC—need to go about their business with greater transparency. "The circle-the-wagons mentality has backfired," says Judith Curry, head of Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Read more: Iceberg Ahead – Climate scientists who play fast and loose with the facts are imperiling not just their profession but the planet.

Press release from Governor Patterson and Commissioner Ash:

The Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) today put forward a recommended list of closures and service reductions in order to achieve its 2010-11 agency savings target and help address the State’s historic fiscal difficulties.

Governor David A. Paterson issued the following statement:
"New York faces an historic fiscal crisis of unprecedented magnitude. It has demanded many difficult but necessary decisions to help ensure the fiscal integrity of our State. The unfortunate reality of closing an $8.2 billion deficit is that there is less money available for many worthy services and programs. In an environment when we have to cut funding to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and social services, no area of State spending, including parks and historic sites, could be exempt from reductions. We cannot mortgage our State’s financial future through further gimmicks or avoidance behavior. Spending cuts, however difficult, are needed in order to put New York on the road to fiscal recovery. Going forward through the budget process, I look forward to a productive dialogue with the Legislature on parks and historic sites, as well as other issues."

OPRHP Commissioner Carol Ash issued the following statement:
"The 2010-11 Executive Budget included reductions to every area of State spending. As such, the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation has today put forward proposed closures and service reductions to meet its agency savings target. These actions were not recommended lightly, but they are necessary to address our State’s extraordinary fiscal difficulties."

###

A fact sheet on the proposed closures and service reductions is included below:
The Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) today put forward a list of closures and service reductions in order to achieve its proposed 2010-11 agency savings target and help address the State’s historic fiscal difficulties. As part of a comprehensive plan to close an $8.2 billion deficit, the 2010-11 Executive Budget included necessary cost reductions to each executive State agency, as well as cuts to education, health care, social services, and every other area of State spending.
OPRHP’s plan includes the closure of 41 parks and 14 historic sites, and service reductions at 23 parks and 1 historic site.
The plan also assumes $4 million in park and historic site fee increases that will be identified at a later date, and the use of $5 million in funds from the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) to finance OPRHP operations. These two actions were part of the 21-day amendments to the Executive Budget and are intended to reduce the number of parks and historic sites subject to closures and service reductions.

Specific recommended closures and service reductions are detailed below:
Long Island

Brookhaven State Park
Suffolk
Close Park

Bethpage State Park
Suffolk
Eliminate Winter Sports;
Reduce picnic area and polo field

Caleb Smith State Park Preserve
Suffolk
Close Park

Cold Spring Harbor State Park
Suffolk
Close Park

Connetquot River State Park
Suffolk
Close Weekdays

Heckscher State Park
Suffolk
Close Swimming Pool

Jones Beach State Park
Nassau
Close West Swimming Pool;
Eliminate July 4th fireworks

Montauk Downs State Park
Suffolk
Close Swimming Pool

Nissequogue River State Park
Suffolk
Close Park

Orient Beach State Park
Suffolk
Close Park

Trail View State Park
Suffolk
Close Park

New York City Region

Bayswater Point State Park
Queens
Close Park

Riverbank State Park
New York
Reduce Operating Hours;
Close Outdoor Swimming Pool;
Eliminate Seniors Classes;
and Community/Cultural Events

Palisades Region

Fort Montgomery Historic Site
Orange
Close Historic Site

Harriman SP– Anthony Wayne
Orange
Close Park Area

Harriman SP – Group Camps
Orange
Reduce Maintenance

High Tor State Park
Rockland
Close Pool

Knox Headquarters Historic Site
Orange
Close Historic Site

New Windsor Cantonment SHS
Orange
Close Historic Site

Schunnemunk State Park
Orange
Close Park

Stony Point State Historic Site
Orange
Close Historic Site

Tallman Mountain State Park
Rockland
Close Pool

Taconic Region

Donald J. Trump State Park
Westchester
Close Park

FDR (Roosevelt) State Park
Westchester
Reduce Swimming Pool Season

Hudson Highlands State Park
Putnam
Close Arden Point Area

James Baird State Park
Dutchess
Reduce Golf Course Season

Mills Norrie State Park
Dutchess
Reduce Golf Course Season

Olana State Historic Site
Columbia
Close 2 Days per Week

Philipse Manor Hall Historic Site
Westchester
Close Historic Site

Rockefeller State Park Preserve
Westchester
Eliminate Interpretive Programs

Taconic Outdoor Education Center
Putnam
Eliminate Interpretive Programs

Taconic State Park – Rudd Pond
Dutchess
Close Rudd Pond Area

Wonder Lake State Park
Putnam
Close Park

Saratoga-Capital Region

Bennington Battlefield State Park
Rensselaer
Close Historic Site

Hudson River Islands State Park
Rensselaer
Close Park

John Boyd Thacher State Park
Albany
Close Park

John Brown Farm Historic Site
Essex
Close Historic Site

Johnson Hall State Historic Site
Fulton
Close Historic Site

Max V. Shaul State Park
Schoharie
Close Park

Schodack Island State Park
Rensselaer
Close Park

Schoharie Crossing Historic Site
Schoharie
Close Historic Site

Schuyler Mansion Historic Site
Albany
Close Historic Site

Central Region

Chittenango Falls State Park
Madison
Close Park

Clark Reservation State Park
Onondaga
Close Park

Fort Ontario State Historic Site
Oswego
Close Historic Site

Helen McNitt State Park
Madison
Close Park

Herkimer Home Historic Site
Herkimer
Close Historic Site

Hunts Pond State Park
Chenango
Close Park

Oquaga Creek State Park
Broome
Close Park

Old Erie Canal State Park
Onondaga
Close Park

Oriskany Battlefield/Steuben SHS
Oneida
Close Historic Site

Pixley Falls State Park
Oneida
Close Park

Robert Riddell State Park
Delaware
Close Park

Selkirk Shores State Park
Oswego
Close Public Swimming Beach

Finger Lakes Region

Beechwood State Park
Wayne
Close Park

Bonavista State Park
Seneca
Close Park

Chimney Bluffs State Park
Wayne
Close Park

Newtown Battlefield State Park
Chemung
Close Park

Springbrook Greens State Park
Cayuga
Close Park

Two Rivers State Park
Tioga
Close Park

Buttermilk Falls State Park
Tompkins
Close Public Swimming Area

Seneca Lake State Park
Seneca
Close Lake Swimming Beach

Stony Brook State Park
Steuben
Close Public Swimming Area

Thousand Islands Region

Canoe Island State Park
Jefferson
Close Park

Cedar Island State Park
Jefferson
Close Park

Eel Weir State Park
St. Lawrence
Close Park

Keewaydin State Park
Jefferson
Close Park

Macomb Reservation State Park
Clinton
Close Park

Mary Island State Park
Jefferson
Close Park

Point Au Roche State Park
Clinton
Close Park

Sackets Harbor State Historic Site
Jefferson
Close Historic Site

Genesee Region

Hamlin Beach State Park
Monroe
Close Swimming Beach 3 Days per Week

Oak Orchard State Marine Park
Orleans
Close Park

Regionwide
Multiple
Eliminate Camper Recreation Program

Niagara Region

Joseph Davis State Park
Niagara
Close Park

Knox Farm State Park
Erie
Close Park

Niagara Falls State Park
Niagara
Reduce Interpretive Programs

Wilson-Tuscarora State Park
Niagara
Close Park

Woodlawn Beach State Park
Erie
Close Park

Allegany Region

Allegany State Park
Cattaraugus
Close Quaker Area Swim Beach;
Close Quaker Cabins Area on December 1st;
Eliminate Winter Trails Maintenance;
Reduce Recreation Programs

Long Point State Park
Chautauqua
Close Park

A proposed $20 million New York state budget cut will likely result in closure of New York state parks.  A Saratoga Springs Saratogian report says that state parks, already hit hard by previous cuts, are in peril from further cuts.

“Every region will be impacted. It’s not just small, fringe sites. Some of the largest parks might close because they’re the most expensive to operate — Jones Beach, Niagara Falls.”

Unfortunately, possible closings come at a time when people need parks most. Last year, statewide usage increased by2 million visits — from 54 million to 56 million — as residents sought inexpensive, close-to-home vacations. This year, Moreau Lake State Park’s campgrounds are already booked most weekends.

“When times are tough, people use state parks,” said Julie Stokes of Greenfield, former deputy state commissioner for operations. “The impact would be very large. A ton of people from Troy use Grafton Lakes. They bus kids out there. That park is absolutely jammed, seven days a week.”

Read more in the Saratogian: Proposed state budget imperils state parks

What would the implications be if the world’s historical temperature records had been manipulated in a way that results in a warming bias?  A new report shows that this may, in fact, be the case.  At the very best, the January 27, 2010 report, Surface Temperature Records: Policy Driven Deception?, suggests that global temperature databases are badly flawed and should not be used for the basis for making policy.  Twelve “case studies in data manipulation” are included in the report.

 

There has clearly been some cyclical warming in recent decades, most notably 1979 to 1998. However, the global surface-station data is seriously compromised. First, there is a major station dropout and increase in missing data in stations that remained which occurred suddenly around 1990; about the time the global warming issue was being elevated to importance in political and environmental circles. A clear bias was found towards removing cooler higher elevation, higher latitude, and rural stations during this culling process though leaving their data in the base periods from which ‘averages’ and anomalies are computed.

The data also suffers contamination by urbanization and other local factors such as land-use/land-cover changes and improper siting. There are uncertainties in ocean temperatures; no small issue, as oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface.

These factors all lead to significant uncertainty and a tendency for overestimation of century-scale temperature trends. A conclusion from all findings suggest that global data bases are seriously flawed and can no longer be trusted to assess climate trends or rankings or validate model forecasts. And, consequently, such surface data should be ignored for decision making.

The in-depth report was co-authored by Joseph D’Aleo and Anthony Watts for the Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI).

According to major news sources, including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, major budget shortfalls in Arizona will result in the closure of 13 state parks by June.  Eight others have already been closed.

The Los Angeles Times:

The action represents the largest closure of state parks in the nation, although several other states are considering similar moves.

“It’s a dark day for the Arizona state parks system,” said Renee Bahl, the system’s executive director.

“We have 65,000 acres around the state and the majority of them are closing.”

The Arizona parks receive about 2.3 million visitors per year who bring about $266 million into the state, Bahl said.

The New York Times:

The Arizona State Parks Board has voted unanimously to close 13 parks in response to budget cuts.

The Washington Post:

The Arizona State Parks Board is closing some of the state’s iconic Old West landmarks, including the Tombstone Courthouse in one of the West’s most storied towns, and the Yuma Territorial Prison, which housed hundreds of Old West outlaws and was portrayed in the film “3:10 to Yuma.”

The decision also closes parks such as Red Rock State Park near Sedona that draw tens of thousands of tourists a year.

The Legislature has cut 61 percent of the state parks budget since July.

In a Huffington Post editorial, Chad Campbell, the House Democratic Whip in the Arizona State Legislature, describes the reappropriation of a quarter of a million dollars meant for state parks:

GOP legislators recently pilfered a nearly $250,000 gift left by an elderly woman – now deceased – for the Arizona State Parks system.

The severity of budget cuts in Arizona is quite disturbing, but the cuts to State Parks have touched an especially raw nerve. In 2003, 82-year-old Asta Forrest left nearly $250,000 to the Arizona State Parks Board. This Danish immigrant’s gift to Arizona was inspired by her love of its beautiful natural surroundings.

It’s ironic that, in today’s rough economic times, state parks are being closed.  During the Great Depression, construction of state parks provided need work for thousands of young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps.

In the UK, elderly customers at charity shops are buying up hardback books – as cheap fuel.

Cheaper than coal?

One assistant said: ‘Book burning seems terribly wrong but we have to get rid of unsold stock for pennies and some of the pensioners say the books make ideal slow-burning fuel for fires and stoves.

A lot of them buy up large hardback volumes so they can stick them in the fire to last all night.’

read the full article in metro.co.uk, Pensioners burn books for warmth.

“They’ve lost the raw data on which all the models, all the computer generated forecasts, the graphs and projections, are based.”

“Poor Al Gore”

Climate politics continue to be interesting.  Australia’s opposition Liberal Party has ousted its leader, Malcolm Turnbull, after the resignation last week of several senators from their “front-seat” positions.  The Aussie government’s climate change bill is now in jeopardy, raising the potential of an early general election in 2010.

The Climategate emails and documents are being investigated by a number of organizations, including an inquiry by Penn State University, where Michael Mann, creator of the discredited hockey stick graph – used by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth – is a professor. Inquiries are also under way at the University of East Anglia, the source of the leaked material.  Government investigations are either ongoing or pending and there has been at least one civil lawsuit filed.

At a minimum, the emails document the violation of UK Freedom of Information laws.

Many believe that the leaker was not a hacker, but, rather, was an insider acting as a anonymous whistleblower by leaking the emails and documents, including information that had been unsuccessfully been sought under the UK FOI statutes.

The emails are not the only incriminating material.  Computer codes and their documentation show fudged numbers and “blatant data-cooking” that tell a story of twisting reality to a desired view.

Many of the fantastic claims in the media about climate change are likely predicated on the same sort of skewed science.

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled The Climate Science Isn’t Settled, by Richard S. Lindzen, professor of meteorology at MIT gives a more balanced view of the state of climate science.

Claims that climate change is accelerating are bizarre. There is general support for the assertion that GATA has increased about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the middle of the 19th century. The quality of the data is poor, though, and because the changes are small, it is easy to nudge such data a few tenths of a degree in any direction. Several of the emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) that have caused such a public ruckus dealt with how to do this so as to maximize apparent changes.

While I have been skeptical of global warming claims for quite some time, this Climategate fiasco appears to show  a conspiracy to doctor the evidence.

In my interest in climate change, I wasn’t looking for a conspiracy, just the truth.

While I have spent a bit of time reading some of the emails that were leaked earlier the week, I simply do not have the time – or desire – to delve deeply into the files.  There are many others around the world digging into this.

I think that there have been serious consequences that have resulted from the actions of some of the scientists whose correspondence has been leaked.  In their zeal to “prove” — at all costs — CO2 as the cause of anthropogenic global warming, other potential causes have been marginalized.  Evidence is mounting that changes in land use may have a significantly greater impact on climate change than rising CO2.  If true, mitigation and adaptation to successfully address human impacts on climate could be done at a fraction of the cost of  the drastic actions and expenses that are being called for today.  It may be that efforts could have been started a decade ago, but for an obsession on CO2 as the global warming culprit.

On Examiner.com, Thomas Fuller is writing a series of articles regarding the actions and communications of a group of climate scientists and paleoclimatologists known as The Team. Click here to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 , Part 6, and Part 7.

My first post on this was Climategate.

While I haven’t blogged about it for a while, I read material related to global warming climate change every day, so it was with great interest yesterday morning that I read of the release of allegedly stolen anthropogenic global warming climate change correspondence.

I had woken early for some reason and was unable to get back to sleep.  By 4:30, I was up and checking email, blogs and the news-feeds that I subscribe to.

A little over an hour later, I was downloading the files.

It’s going to be interesting to see where this is going to end up.  Articles are already appearing in the mainstream media.

See new article: Climategate update.

We don’t watch much TV and we’ve already seen way too much of the current Michael Jackson media circus and the morbid fascination of the public and  some of the Michael Jackson fans.

Most people realized that Jackson had problems, but there seems to be some sort of sick fascination of the man and those problems. The media seems to think that the public wants or needs every detail of his life and the aftermath.

While I like much of his music, he was just another wealthy celebrity with problems that were exacerbated and enabled by his wealth and influence as far as I’m concerned.

I don’t need or want excruciating details about his funeral, his will, his mom, his dad, his kids, his ex-wife, etc., etc.

Just report whatever is actually newsworthy in this story and move on, please.  If there’s anything new, update us tomorrow.

I just find it annoying when there are so many more important things going on in the world that are being under reported because of this sensationalism.

Comments?

day 27