Climate calculus

spacer February 12, 2012 by Policy Lass spacer 1 Comment

A column by Jeffrey Simpson in the Globe and Mail got me thinking about climate calculus.

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Here’s an excerpt:

“One line item in every Alberta budget shows how the miracle unfolds: non-renewable energy resources. Last year, Alberta took in $8.6-billion in personal income taxes, $3.6-billion in corporate income taxes, $3.8-billion in “other” revenue, $4.7-billion in federal transfers and $8.3-billion in resource revenues. In other words, oil and gas revenues (about half of which – $4.1-billion – came from tar sands oil) poured almost as much money into the Alberta treasury as personal income taxes. What provincial government wouldn’t love that?”

Alberta’s government took in as much revenue in oil and gas revenues as it did personal income taxes. 
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Half from the tar sands. Read more…
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“Laws are like…

spacer February 11, 2012 by Policy Lass spacer 8 Comments

“Laws are like sausages — it is best not to see them being made.”

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Often misattributed to Otto von Bismarck, this is a truism well appreciated by the policy analyst and policy maker alike.

I just spent a day in a policy seminar on the policy process put on by our local graduate school in public policy and co-hosted by the public service commission.The seminar was led by an academic and a senior bureaucrat and the room was filled with civil servants from a number of different ministries and with different titles following their names. Despite our differences, we could all appreciate the sentiment contained in that von Bismarck mis-quote, having been involved in more than one sausage-making session.

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policy, political will, politicians, sausages

Climate Denialism for Dummies

spacer January 22, 2012 by Policy Lass spacer 12 Comments

Take a tour around the climate denial-o-sphere and you will come across proof absolute that many people involved in discussing the issue of climate change and global warming just don’t know what the heck they’re talking about.

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Like Rick Perry, for example:

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“I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.”

Luckily, he’s out, but srsly, he was the top runner for a while.

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“My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet. …And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us.”

This is most distressing to those of us who acknowledge the reality of climate change / global warming because one of these folks could ultimately lead the US next year and to the man and woman, they are all in denial.

So what is denial? As the saying goes, “It ain’t a river in Egypt”…

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The Top Ten Signs That You’re A Denier

spacer January 8, 2012 by Policy Lass spacer 27 Comments

There’s a lot of confusion out there in the climate denialosphere over the title “Denier” vs. “Skeptic” and their proper application. Many deniers seem unable to recognize themselves in the mirror while others deny their denialist tendencies, like an addict who says they can quit anytime they want — really!

Some get really really upset that we call them Deniers.

Just to help them figure it all out, I decided to post the top ten signs that you’re a denier.

Public servant to the core, or what?

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10. When you watch a story on the telly about global warming, you look out your window and see snow and heave a huge sigh of relief because snow means it’s cold out and therefore, there can be no global warming.

A climate scientist would say that weather is not climate and will warn you that even though the average global temperature may be warming, there will still be winter and there will still be snow and there will still be a change in temperature between summer and winter, day and night.

For more on this story, you can visit the inimitable Anthony Watts who regularly mines the “weather is a sign that there is not AGW” meme.

For the antidote, you can visit Skeptical Science: Does Cold Weather Disprove Global Warming?

9. When a climate scientist points out that weather is not climate, you point out that the climate scientist is living high off the hog at the public trough.

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Denier Bunko Squad Alert — “Energy Citizens”

spacer January 4, 2012 by Policy Lass spacer 4 Comments

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is launching yet another astroturf organization and campaign that misinforms the public about taxes on the fossil fuel industry and seeks to create a false sense of threat to jobs and access to energy. It’s a casebook example of a vested interest trying to frame the discourse — but that’s not all it does. It’s blatantly misleading.

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Purporting to be the website of a grassroots movement of tens of thousands of “energy citizens” who are up in arms about the plans of those nasty anti-freedom un-American types to tax oil and GAS AND DESTROY JOBS OMGWTF!!!11 it’s nothing more than an attempt to protect its tax breaks by creating a false sense of threat to fossil fuel industry jobs.

It’s so crass and blatantly misleading that I’m disgusted and disheartened to think that anyone in his or her right mind would believe it.

Pure bunk.

Mother Jones covers the story here:

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Karma Bites

spacer December 15, 2011 by Policy Lass spacer 31 Comments

Interesting development in the climtategate front.

Apparently, the Norfolk Constabulary made a visit to Tallbloke’s home with warrant in hand and a request to see his computer cache.

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I gotta say it — 20 computers in his attic?

The response in the comments of Tallbloke’s post are hilarious!

Here’s Smokey:

Science blogging:

Encrypt
Encrypt
Encrypt

The feds couldn’t get Al Capone on his criminal syndicate, so they got him on income tax evasion. Word to the wise.☺

What’s funny is that Smokey refers to Al Capone, which isn’t the kind of comparison I’d like made about me – especially when there’s a criminal investigation of actions in which I may have been involved. spacer

I’ll post updates as we get them.

UPDATE:

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