Daily Archives: 30. March 2021
Lava flows as Pacaya volcano erupts, Guatemala – March 29,2021
Volcanic eruption in Iceland! Live – tuesday 30th – camera1
Guatemala : lava flow from Pacaya volcano , disrupting life for nearby villagers , march29 2021
The Active Volcano in El Salvador; Ilopango
Space Weather Update March 30th 2021!
Volcanic eruption in Iceland! Live – tuesday 30th – 2nd camera
Cherry Picking Real Cherries
Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
Now that the cherry trees have bloomed in Kyoto this year, I’ve been seeing people claiming that the cherry blossoming record shows the dreaded “Climate Change!!!”, and we’re all gonna die. Here’s an example:
Now, cherries blossoming earlier on that chart mean the temperature is warmer. I looked at that and thought “Hmmm … why would the full flowering dates of the cherry trees be relatively stable for about a thousand years, and then suddenly start moving earlier in the year?”
The first thing that came to my mind? “Population”. As a city’s population increases, the “urban heat island” effect causes the temperature inside the city limits to increase. And the more people in the city, the warmer than the surrounding countryside it usually becomes.
So I went and got the cherry blossom data here. And I dug around and after much frustration and a reasonable sprinkling of expletives, I got Kyoto population data here and here and here. What I found is that after the Meiji restoration in 1868, the population of Kyoto rose very rapidly.
Below is the result. Unlike the graphic above, I’ve inverted the left-hand vertical axis so that warmer is higher and colder is lower on the graph. Here you go:
As is usual in the world of climate … things are rarely as simple as folks make them out to be. Are there other factors involved in cherry blossom timing? Absolutely—temperature, humidity, rainfall, and changes in tree species have to be some of the players in the game … and it certainly seems that population is among them. No surprise there. Willis’s First Rule of Climate states, “Everything is related to everything else, which in turn is affected by everything else … except when it isn’t.”
Here on our springtime forest hillside with a tiny bit of the ocean visible in the distance, I spent half the day yesterday with a digging bar and a posthole digger, trying to get the remains of a rotted 6″x6″ (150mm x 150mm) wooden gatepost out of the ground so I can put in a new one. It was most recalcitrant, held in the ground by the remains of the concrete it had been set in, plus plenty of temporal inertia. Even after I’d used the digging bar to crack up the concrete, it still held fast.
After far too much sweat I thought “You idiot!”, and I went and grabbed my Hi-Lift jack, threw a strap around what was left of the post, and yanked it out of the ground like a rotten tooth …
… sometimes it takes me a while, but I generally get there in the end.
Best to all on this marvelously complex planet,
w
My Perennial Request: I can defend my words, but not your interpretation of my words. Please quote the exact words you’re discussing so we can be clear on your subject.
via Watts Up With That?
March 30, 2021 at 12:32PM
The One Million-Kilometer Frequent Flier – In Just 2 Years: Director Of Environmental Activist Organization!
A.R. Göhring at the Germany-based European Institute for Climate and Energy (EIKE) here features a look at environmental activist group ‘Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) – German Environmental Aid – and its co-director Jürgen Resch.
Million-kilometer frequent flying climate activist. From Bündnis 90/Die Grünen – Jürgen Resch (Deutsche Umwelthilfe), CC BY-SA 4.0, https://ift.tt/3rB5X7i
It is one of the best-known and some would argue one of the most scandalous German NGO organizations who like to mix climate science with policymaking
Founded in 1975
First a little history: The German environmental group DUH is surprisingly old – it was founded already in 1975 and served to raise money for environmental group BUND – the German League for the Environment and Nature Conservation. It employs about 100 people, who make an average of about 49,000 euros a year + benefits and insurances.
DUH offices and branches are located in Berlin, Radolfzell, Hanover, Erfurt, Wolgast (Pomerania) and Köthen (Anhalt). The capital city office is located in a noble building in a prime location at Hackescher Markt 4.
The DUH is very well funded and has been a major player in pushing the German government to enact ridiculously strict limits on nitrogen oxides (NOx) in outdoor air and vilifying the diesel engine and plenty of climate activism.
Funded by government, foundations and corporations
Not only is the organization well funded by the government, but it also receives a number of donations from larger corporations and private foundations. These include the ClimateWorks Foundation, CWF, which in 2014, sent $700,000 from San Francisco to the DUH. One of the most important players at CWF is John Podesta, advisor to Barack Obama and campaign manager for Hillary Clinton.
Toyota has been working with the DUH for 20 years and supports two DUH projects with up to 80,000 € annually. In return, DUH recommends the purchase of Prius and other hybrid models. In 2005, DUH received €100,000 from filter manufacturers.
Lavish lifestyles
In 2015 and 2016, a total of 8.1 million euros was earned, which was also spent probably on the lavish salaries and environmentally unfriendly lifestyles. Co-director Jürgen Resch has been with the organization since 1986 and earned so much money at the beginning that he gave up his studies to work for DUH.
1 million kilometers of flying – in 2 years
Resch was even denounced by Der Spiegel in 2007 for his ecological double standards when the magazine noted that the DUH director almost lived at the airport, With Lufthansa he had the highest possible frequent flier status, HON Circle. To be eligible, one only had to fly at least 600,000 miles (almost 1 million kilometers) within two years – equivalent to about 28 circumnavigations of the earth.
According to Spiegel: “Resch justifies his restless flight missions with his participation in international climate conferences and projects. He also has to commute several times a month between the DUH headquarters on Lake Constance and the association’s office in Berlin.”
Resch’s double standard was and is possible without any problems because almost all ecologically-minded people only use the issue for their own purposes and, according to the statistics, usually even have a much greater eco-footprint than the normal taxpayer.
One should not forget that the DUH German Environmental Aid is only the visible tip of the iceberg. The internationally networked alarmist scene in NGOs and the media, the base of the iceberg, is huge.
via NoTricksZone
March 30, 2021 at 12:11PM
Army To Roll Out Electric Tanks To Fight Climate Change!
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
The Russians must be quaking in their boots!
Electric tanks and vegetarian options in the mess are just some of the ways the Armed Forces will go greener, the Ministry of Defence has revealed.
The MoD sets out in a new report how it will respond to “the threat posed by climate change”, following an internal climate change and sustainability review conducted by Lt Gen Richard Nugee last year.
Lt Gen Nugee told The Telegraph that a major factor under consideration was how renewable energy could replace fossil fuels. He said that while it was not possible to turn the UK’s “monster” Challenger 2 main battle tanks electric, there was a “distinct possibility” that in the next “10 to 15 years”, 20 tonne, un-crewed tanks could potentially operate with renewable energy.
Lt Gen Nugee said in such a scenario, “that makes it possible, not definite, but possible to be propelled by a green energy solution.
“Not all our vehicles are going to be susceptible to this, but what we should be doing is looking for the mindset and the opportunity to develop different types of vehicles which are susceptible to renewable energy over time,” he said.
Lt Gen Nugee, who revealed that he had reduced his own meat consumption by “80 per cent”, added that troops were being educated about the benefits of vegetarianism for both a healthy lifestyle and the planet.
He noted that while it was Napoleon who said “an army marches on its stomach”, the Armed Forces would look to educate troops “that eating less meat is a good idea”.
He added that they would also “produce menus in our messes that might offer more alternatives to meat”.
“If we’ve educated people and we have told them of the value of some of the other diets that are available, then I think we might see a difference,” he said.
Oh for General prepared to tell the Ministry of Defence where to get off, instead of kowtowing to what they must know deep down is absolute, and extremely dangerous, nonsense.
Whether they are “monster” Challenger tanks or 20 tonne ones, it is absurd to think that they can be powered by batteries and/or renewable energy. If battery power is to be used, how on earth are they supposed to be recharged every night in the middle of nowhere? Or maybe they are thinking of putting a solar panel on top, and hope that the Russians don’t attack at night.
And, as we know, the range for electric cars is distinctly short. By contrast, tanks can carry around their own fuel, which allows them to carry out extended operations.
The Telegraph editorial goes one step further, suggesting that tanks will simply swap batteries, not seeming to realise that you would need a crane to lift the darned things. Or for that matter questioning where the flat batteries are supposed to be recharged.
There was a time when proper journalists would rightly have torn these proposals to pieces. Instead they have been replaced by babies.
FOOTNOTE
In another Telegraph article last week, covering the Defence Review, they reported:
Given that our Armed Forces have traditionally been trained and expected to operate in all environments, from desert to snow, and jungle to mountains, I am not quite sure why they need to build resilience to climate change!
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
March 30, 2021 at 11:33AM