A climate change conspiracy theorist has uncovered a set of strange patterns and repeated terminology in research papers, which he says is highly suspicious.
Source: Climate denier says it’s suspicious that every single scientist says EXACT same thing | The Shovel
The question arises whether or not funding will go to private or public interest science and, whether will it be profit or value directed. Abbott tore the shreds out of the value-directed public research into climate science. He claimed scientific research needed to be a Capitalist free market activity and not one based on national and global needs. ” It’s not our job” Morrtison rubber-stamped that and readily funded a 5% cleaner fossil fuel technology calling it a “decarbonisation” success story rather than a maintenance of ” Carbon excess” tale.
Labor talks the talk but will it walk?
The analysis by STA shows that this Science Future Fund could inject $650 million every year from investment income into science breakthroughs, generating a massive $2.3 billion in new economic returns for the country every year.
Australia has experienced its hottest year on record, its most intense flooding and an unprecedented coral bleaching — all in the last few years — as the climate warms, says a new report.
Source: Report details Australia’s hotter, rainier and more dramatic climate
We have the technology but not the determination or leadership to do what has to be done as fast as possible. Imagine its the Fossil Fuel Industry that’s trying to control COP27 and like the Tobacco Industry which is declaring to be the world leader in QUIT SMOKING action. Fossil Fuel is declaring they are the best positioned to reduce CO2 emissions as they are the biggest current and future investor. The reality however is to slow what needs to be done in the interests of saving their bottom lines and not the planet
Despite this help from nature, the concentration of atmospheric CO₂ continues to climb. In 2022 it’ll reach a projected average of 417.2 parts per million. This is 51% above pre-industrial levels and higher than any time in the past 800,000 years.
Climate scientists are very careful about attribution. But these scientists wrote, “we found that the 5-day maximum rainfall over the provinces Sindh and Balochistan is now about 75% more intense than it would have been had the climate not warmed by 1.2C, whereas the 60-day rain across the basin is now about 50% more intense, meaning rainfall this heavy is now more likely to happen.”
Australians have begun to see the new face of extreme religion in our “conservative” politics.
It is not just the rights of individuals but the (flawed) democracies that have gradually made room for civil rights for more groups than just property-owning White men that is at stake in the rise of the authoritarian Religious Right. These democracies are more likely than authoritarian regimes to protect the equality of Others, preventing the persecution and even the atrocities that religion-infused extremism can foster. Without data-driven secular governments, our capacity to tackle the climate emergency is crippled. It is critical that we perceive the risk that is reflected in the speeches of Scott Morrison to his Pentecostal audiences. It is not merely a foreign faith movement uncomfortably shoe-horned into our secular state; it is a threat of incalculable scope. We must work together to keep authoritarian religious radicalism out of our government.
Nor is this limited to the West or is Christianity the only faith drawn into the nativist nationalist trend. In India, the Hindutva movement aims to subdue all Indians within a Hindu nation with one faith and language. Shinto is central to a Japanese nationalist movement. Buddhism is key to Myanmar and Sri Lanka’s nationalist movements. Israel is self defining as a Jewish nation and imposing second class status on non-Jews within its borders.
Mountain glaciers are essential water sources for nearly a quarter of the global population. But figuring out just how much ice they hold – and how much water will be available as glaciers shrink in a warming world – has been notoriously difficult. In a new study, scientists mapped the speed of over 200,000 glaciers to get closer to an answer. They discovered that widely used estimates of glacier ice volume may be off by about 20% in terms of how much Earth’s glaciers outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could contribute to sea level rise. Mathieu Morlighem, a leader in ice sheet modeling and a coauthor of the study, explains why the new results hold a warning for regions that rely on glaciers’ seasonal meltwater, but barely register in the big picture of rising seas.
Source: A quarter of the world depends on Glacier Melt for their Water; it will be Gone Sooner than Expected
DON’T LOOK!!
December discussion at the American Geophysical Union suggested that the massive Thwaites glacier in Antarctica, the size of Florida, could plop into the ocean in the next 10 years, with the potential to set in train further collapses, raising sea level by as much as six feet. Thwaites itself could raise the level by two feet. A two meter sea level rise is half of everything the UN scientists in the IPCC report were expecting by the end of the century, which means they likely were way too conservative. One thing they could not foresee is that the South Pole has heated up 3 times as fast as other areas on earth in recent decades.
Should all West Antarctica’s glaciers ever collapse, there is no coastal city in the world that would not, over time, be swamped at ruinous cost to life and economies. The consensus of glaciologists used to be that it would take centuries of global heating before glaciers the size of Thwaites shattered and collapsed, but so rapid and unexpected has been the loss of sea ice at the opposite end of the earth in the Arctic, and so sudden was the loss of Larsen B that it is now considered possible it could happen rapidly in Antarctica, too. Ice loss in the Arctic barely affects sea levels because it mostly forms at sea. Antarctic ice, however, is mostly on land so any melting adds to sea levels.
Source: Scientists watch giant ‘doomsday’ glacier in Antarctica with concern | Antarctica | The Guardian
My thought for the day Science has made in my lifetime, the most staggering achievements and they are embraced, recognised and enjoyed by all sections of society. The only areas that I can think of where science is questioned is in the religious fever of climate change doubters, conservative politics and unconventional religious belief.( John Lord )
Source: The consummate liar – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Each cubic metre of lunar regolith contains 1.4 tonnes of minerals on average, including about 630 kilograms of oxygen. NASA says humans need to breathe about 800 grams of oxygen a day to survive. So 630kg oxygen would keep a person alive for about two years (or just over). Now let’s assume the average depth of regolith on the Moon is about ten metres, and that we can extract all of the oxygen from this. That means the top ten metres of the Moon’s surface would provide enough oxygen to support all eight billion people on Earth for somewhere around 100,000 years. This would also depend on how effectively we managed to extract and use the oxygen. Regardless, this figure is pretty amazing! Having said that, we do have it pretty good here on Earth. And we should do everything we can to protect the blue planet — and its soil in particular — which continues to support all terrestrial life without us even trying.
Source: The Moon’s top layer alone has enough oxygen to sustain 8 billion people for 100,000 years
The greatest shame looking back is that it wasn’t science that put us 50-60 years back and behind the 8 ball. It wasn’t science that misinformed us and restricted our work on Climate. Its’ not science that is screwing us with Covid either.
After early psychiatric experimentation in the 1950s and ‘60s, followed by decades of prohibition – sparked in part by the backlash against the hippy counterculture – psychedelics are experiencing a renaissance. A new wave of research has returned to hallucinogenic drugs as potential candidates to treat psychiatric conditions.
We have to stop living in the past, teach science properly in all schools, let people follow any beliefs they choose – as long as they do not harm others in so doing – and teach ethics in all schools, while the money saved from ceasing to give tax benefits to existing bodies – except for genuinely philanthropic activities – should be used to help all the people who are currently struggling to survive. Far more important than religion, is ensuring that all can survive, and that demands attention to climate change!
The Australian Christian Lobby has called on its supporters not to “fear death” and instead push state governments to end COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions. In an email to members on Friday night, managing director Martyn Iles said the coronavirus was here to stay and that he was “not afraid to face the inevitable”. “Christians should lead the way on this because fear of death’s a condition from which Christ has freed us,” Mr Iles wrote. “The truth is, we must face the virus, either sooner or later because it’s not going anywhere. But fear is ruling the day at great cost.
Source: Australian Christian Lobby says believers should push for COVID freedoms, not ‘fear death’
It may well be the case but in “reality” it still exists and need to be called out and eradicated
The idea of “race” still matters in sociology only because racist oppression still exists. But, since the mapping of the human genome, biologically, the term is irrelevant, writes Dr A L Jones.
Climate action advocates reiterated demands for urgent measures to rein in global heating after the World Meteorological Organization warned Thursday that there’s a 40% chance the planet will temporarily hit 1.5°C of warming in the next five years. The WMO, a United Nations agency, also said in its update that there’s a 90% chance at least one year between 2021 and 2025 will be the hottest on the books—a record currently held by 2016.
Source: World Edging ‘Inexorably’ Closer to 1.5°C Warming Threshold: WMO | Common Dreams News
Depending on your point of view, the creation of an embryo that is part-human and part-monkey is either a great opportunity for medical experts to create organs and tissues for human transplantation; or, the starting point of a horror movie.
Either way, that premise is now a reality.
Source: The bioethics of the first human-monkey hybrid embryo | Salon.com
By undermining humanities education, the Morrison Government is helping create a superficial society, which opens the door to far-Right extremism, writes Alex Hipgrave. AS STUDENTS across Australia begin a new academic year, it may be apt to re-examine the role of our schooling system in shaping societal attitudes and how capitalism undermines education.
Neo-fascism on the rise as critical thinking dissolves
So much for accepting the science. Morrison is happy to ride on the coat tails of the State premiers by claiming to have accepted the health science but he clearly doesn’t accept the climate science. We need less marketing and more hummingbirds.
The Hummingbird – » The Australian Independent Media Network
More than 250 scientists and scholars from 30 countries have issued an open letter calling on policymakers to “engage more with the growing risk of societal disruption and collapse due to damage to the climate and environment,” arguing that only then “might communities and nations begin to prepare and so reduce its likelihood, speed, severity, harm to the most vulnerable, and to nature.”
As World Teeters on Brink, Over 250 Scientists and Scholars Warn of Full-Fledged ‘Societal Collapse’ | Common Dreams News
There are voluntary redundancies going on left right and centre. For people who rely on research funding, I think this is the final straw.” University of Western Australia genetic disease researcher Dr Gina Ravenscroft found herself shaking as she read the grant results, on which the employment of her colleagues depended. “It is not a way to live, where you are so worked up and stressed about whether or not you’re going to be able to keep employing people,” she said. “There is just no way that is a sustainable way to fund research.”
Coronavirus Australia: Scientists face bleak Christmas as COVID-19 funding crunch hits research
More smoke and mirrors from Rupert Murdoch, as News Corp gets all “scientific” with Big Tobacco, writes Rhys Muldoon. WITH PROFITS down, News Corp, like many media companies, has had to find new revenue streams.
News Corp’s new-found belief in science
Incapable of nuance Trump simply denies Science but Science and technology well American Science is the best in the world
Urged to slow the planet’s warming to save lives, the president said, “I don’t think science knows, actually.”
Trump Scoffs at Plea to Take Climate Change Seriously
- What does science stand for;
- what does it try to accomplish, and what are its limits?
What is science?
Whilst Australia has halted declining research funding, Federal funding policy has made it far more difficult for younger scientists to gain experience and stable employment. This is the fourth story in our series exploring intergenerational inequity. Lachlan Gray reports.
I recall back in 2014, during my second year of university, I was told by my lecturer to get out of Australia if I wanted any sort of career in science. At that time, and indeed now, that sentiment has continued to be relevant. Since the election of Tony Abbott in 2013, Australia has witnessed a dramatic decline in meaningful scientific funding from each successive Coalition government.
via Boomers vs Millennials: Federal funding leaves young scientists under pressure
It’s what China understands and turns to offer global assistance and what the US and Australian ultra conservatives ignore with their early calls of back to work while they social distance (ODT)
While the politicians offer reassurance, the scientists urge vigilance. And it is worth heeding the science. The medical experts who advise the government expect this threat to continue in waves for years.
Even if we eradicate the disease in Australia, says James McCaw of the Doherty Institute and the University of Melbourne, the virus will spread around the world and easily return.
“That epidemic in some places may also go locally extinct after a small or a large wave,” he says. “But it’s almost implausible to imagine this virus going extinct globally, which means that it will be here to stay. It will become a part of our everyday life and the transition to it not being a huge driver of complete societal change is a very difficult thing to work through.”
via Coronavirus Australia: This virus could change the way we live for years, not months
‘this trial was about none of the above. Rather, this trial was purely and simply about the proper construction of a clause in an Enterprise Agreement.’
JCU has been at pains to point out that Ridd “was never gagged or silenced about his scientific views,” a matter that, Cocklin said, “was admitted during the court hearing.”
Key points:
Jo Cameron was referred to pain geneticists after doctors discovered she underwent serious surgery without painkillers
Her genetic mutations suppress pain and anxiety and boost happiness, wound healing and memory loss
Researchers believe the findings point towards a “novel painkiller discovery”
“The benefit is simple in that it is very large-scale base load [continuous] energy production, with zero greenhouse gas emissions and no long-life radioactive waste.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-15/china-attempts-to-create-an-artificial-sun/10495536
Meanwhile, Columbia University’s Silencing Science Tracker documents news stories about climate scientists who have been discouraged from conducting, publishing or otherwise communicating scientific research. These groups have documented four ways that climate-related information has become less accessible since Trump took office.
If I do not support the 95% of scientists, every major scientific institution and the research that is constantly peer evaluated I am obliged to accept the alternative. That is that I should take seriously the likes of Andrew Bolt (a journalist), Alan Jones (I’m not sure how you would describe his contribution to society), Lord Monckton (a discredited something who was once a lobbyist for the tobacco companies), Nick Minchin and Tony Abbott (both politicians). In fact, Minchin is on the record as saying that climate change is a left-wing conspiracy to replace communism. None of the aforementioned people has a background or expertise in climate science.
Climate change is a dirty word in the United States federal government. Speaking about it gets you, at best, a “visceral reaction” from Rick Perry, and at
One of Australia’s leading climate scientists calls for a major shake-up of management, and the return of a “science culture” at the CSIRO.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke “is committed to restoring trust in the Department’s decision-making,” a spokeswoman said.
Countless thousands of scientists and their supporters have marched around the world to protest what they say is Donald Trump’s rejection of science.
The president’s savaging of environmental safeguards is a direct attack on reason and research
Mm, it gets hard… I’ve spent several days trying to reconcile the idea that certain people can both admire a leader like Vlad Putin suggesting that Australia needs a leader like him, while arguing that any attempts to persuade people to vaccinate their children is an attempt to impose a dictatorship and we all should…
By Brian Morris Religious institutions will feel a pressing need to regain the initiative following damning revelations from the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse. With renewed calls for a parliamentary conscience vote on marriage equality — and foreshadowed legislation on voluntary euthanasia in three states — one may assume the churches will resume their…
Source: Bernardi, Trump and ‘religious freedom’ – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel has said US President Donald Trump’s move to censor environmental data is ‘reminiscent’ of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s control of science in the USSR.
olddogthoughts 