UN censor, Nick Nuttall's role in payoff to Kofi Anan

Nick Nuttall is the wackadoodle U.N. censor who denied media accreditation to The Rebel's reporters attending the Marrakesh climate conference next month.  Claudia Rosett describes a conflict of interest scandal involving Kofi Anan and Nick Nuttall's role in it:

Ignore the UN and you'll live longer

New front page scare story.  This time it's a stepped-up warning from WHO about carcinogenic food:

On Monday, the World Health Organization delivered a wallop on the unsuspecting public: hotdogs cause cancer ....

So what else is new?  If it isn't scary speculation about global warming it's scary speculation about food.

Ignore the UN.  Your anxiety levels will drop and you'll live longer.

Also from this story, one of my pet peeves:

"... commonplace medical advice: don’t eat junk food and take everything else in moderation."

That's not bad advice, but there's no such thing as junk food.  There are only junk diets.  So, if you take everything in moderation, including what people insist on labeling as "junk" food, you'll do fine.   Even moderation should be taken in moderation. Pig out once in a while!

Propaganda from the UN climate change bureaucracy

Ramping up the propaganda leading up to the December 2015 UN summit in Paris, UN climate bureaucrat, Christiana Figueres, in today's National Post, addressed Canada's role in the global effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Some of the first words were:

... [human] emissions have been scientifically proved beyond any reasonable doubt to cause global warming, and if unchecked will have calamitous and costly consequences for Canada and the world.

By itself, the statement that "[human] emissions have scientifically proved beyond any reasonable doubt to cause global warming" is true.  However, combined with the second part "if unchecked will have calamitous and costly consequences ..."  and the subsequent blather about the urgency of reducing global emissions, Figueres is saying that it has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that human emissions are the dominant cause of global warming. and that is flat-out false.

There is a great deal of reasonable doubt about the extent of the human contribution to global warming.  One notable expression of that reasonable doubt comes from Judith Curry, Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology.  She recently gave testimony at the US Congressional Hearings into the President's UN climate pledge. The lead-in paragraphs of her testimony:

"The central issue in the scientific debate on climate change is the extent to which the recent (and future) warming is caused by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions versus natural climate variability that are caused by variations from the sun, volcanic eruptions, and large-scale ocean circulations.

Recent data and research supports the importance of natural climate variability and calls into question the conclusion that humans are the dominant cause of recent climate change.  .... "

Divestment - the UN's latest climate enthusiasm

UN backs fossil fuel divestment campaign

The UN organisation in charge of global climate change negotiations is backing the fast-growing campaign persuading investors to sell off their fossil fuel assets.  

Of course the UN is backing an overtly activist political climate campaign.  It had already politicized climate "science" through its corrupt UNIPCC.  This was an inevitable next step.

If this were to take hold in any serious way, the world economy would indeed be in deep ka-ka.

UN IPCC climate head Rajendra Pachauri resigns

WUWT

From the “the hornier they are the harder they fall” department: The head of the United Nations climate change panel (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, has stepped down amid sexual harassment allegations.

It would have been much better had he been given the boot long ago for failure of  leadership, blatant hypocrisy and conflict of interest.

But we'll take what we can get.

UN IPCC Chaiman accused of sexual harassment

From No Frakking Consensus:

Texts and e-mails allegedly sent by IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri tell a disturbing tale. Months after a female subordinate objected repeatedly and strenuously to his sexual advances, the UN official continued to physically and electronically stalk her.

Mail Today, New Delhi, February 21, 2015

Should we expect Dr. Pachauri to blame global warming for his overheated state?

The Media Party just loves the UN and its Agenda 21

The Media Party, like all dedicated leftist tools, are attracted to, defend and make excuses for any totalitarian organization or concept.  It's exactly what they're doing for Justin Trudeau and his radical crew.

UN Agenda 21 - global, totalitarian “sustainability”

To highlight Cheryl Gallant's excellent effort towards raising awareness of the threat posed by UN Agenda 21, I'm bringing forward (with updated links) my January, 2012 post on the subject:
 

******************************************************************************
A Democrat speaks to a Tea Party meeting about how UN Agenda 21 is being foisted on a largely unsuspecting public and subverting individual rights:



From the UN web page for Agenda 21:

Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment. ... [Agenda 21 originated from the 1992 Rio Conference, thanks to Maurice Strong.]

Canada and Agenda 21:

Canada has signed or ratified at least 45 multilateral environmental conventions and agreements and is signatory to numerous agendas for action (e.g., Agenda 21, the Habitat Agenda, the World Summit on Sustainable Development [WSSD] Plan of Implementation, and the Kyoto Protocol) ...

Local community involvement:

Originally known as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), today the group simply calls itself “ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability.”

In 1992, ICLEI was one of the groups instrumental in creating Agenda 21. The group’s mission is to push local communities to regulate the environment—and it’s having tremendous success. [Note that 30 Canadian member communities are listed]

British Columbia is using its carbon tax to bribe communities to get on its "Climate Action" programme:

“The Climate Action Revenue Incentive program will be a new conditional grant equal to what local governments pay in the carbon tax, with only one string attached – to be eligible, communities must sign onto the Climate Action Charter and commit to becoming carbon-neutral by 2012,” said Premier Campbell. “If communities do that, and publicly report on their plan and progress in meeting that goal, they will be eligible to receive a grant equal to 100 per cent of their carbon tax costs.” [Big surprise: all 176 BC communities signed on.]

Defining "sustainability"

Does anyone know what "sustainability" means?  Every eco-freak, NGO activist and city mayor and council attempting to brand their city as the greenest on the planet uses it with abandon.  A good way to get a handle on it may be to list those things that are considered unsustainable.  The chief global promoter of "sustainability" hysteria is the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In its Global Biodiversity Assessment it identified human activities it seeks to suppress or reverse, including:

337 – Ski Runs

350 – Grazing of Livestock: cows, sheep, goats, horses

351 – Disturbance of the Soil Surface (livestock)

351 – Fencing of Pastures or Paddocks

728 – Agriculture

728 – Modern Farm Production Systems

728 – Chemical Fertilizers

728  -Herbicides

728 – Building Materials

730 – Industrial Activities

....

....

....

And the list goes on and on.  If  the U.N. and it's global network of eco-radicals succeed in reducing or eliminating all that, what's left?  It's a very scary, profoundly anti-human agenda (and part of UN Agenda 21).

Exposing UN Agenda 21

It's good to see that someone in government is concerned about the subversive UN Agenda 21.
Cheryl Gallant's recent Report from Parliament outlines those concerns and the action being taken in some quarters to combat it:

... the [United Nations] has very specific land use policies they would like to see implemented in every village, town, city, county, province and nation.  The specific plan is called United Nations Agenda 21 Sustainable Development, which has its basis in Communitarianism.  Most Canadians have heard of sustainable development, but are largely unaware of the U.N. initiative Agenda 21. A non-governmental organization headquartered in Toronto called the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives, ICLEI, is tasked with carrying out the goals of Agenda 21 worldwide.

In a nutshell, the plan calls for government to eventually take control of all land use removing decision making from the hands of private property owners.  It is assumed people are not good stewards of their land and “the government” will do a better job if it is in total control.  Individual rights in general are to give way to the needs of communities as determined by the governing body.

Take the poll at the bottom of Gallant's report.

Elizabeth Nickson's excellent book "Eco-Fascists" (inspired by her personal experience on Salt Spring Island, BC) also deals with many of these issues.

Global warming review 2014 - latest UN IPCC report is "climate porn"

Ezra Levant:

Robson's excellent overview of the Earth's climate

John Robson isn't a climate scientist, nor does he claim to be.  But he's a very smart, reasonable guy.  On Friday's Byline show he presented a layman's overview of the history of the Earth's climate in relation to CO2 and the chaotic nature of the climate system.



To summarize, John's main points were:

(1) historically, temperature is completely uncorrelated with atmospheric CO2 levels
(2) atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have been far above today's level for most of the planet's history (more than 20 times higher at one point)
(3) today's CO2 concentrations are near historic lows
(4) the earth's average global temperature today is well below historic averages
(5) the climate system is chaotic, sometimes unstable and generally unpredictable
(6) UN "Climate Change Convention Executive Secretary", Christiana Figueres (channeling Justin Trudeau's admiration of China), is a dope.

Bottom line takeaways:

(1) Is there global warming? Robson didn't discuss it.  From recent data, apparently a little.
(2) Should we be alarmed by it? Hardly.
(3) Can we trust UN climate change policy? No frackin' way!

"Smart" grids, "smart" cities, "smart" growth - "subversive, or dumb or both"

Peter Foster:

... “smart” has ... become a ubiquitous weasel word that, like “social” and “sustainable,” conceals a multitude of political dangers. 

When it comes to smart grids, smart cities and smart growth, we are dealing with concepts that are potentially subversive, or dumb, or both.  

... Technology will obviously continue to shape the city, but the dangers of “over-specification,” that is inflexible top-down design, are highlighted in a recent pamphlet, “Against the smart city”, by New York based urban designer Adam Greenfield. 

... Mr. Greenfield does a wonderful job of explaining the manifest shortcomings and dangers of the overdesigned smart city, but his critique ultimately flies off the rapid transit rails because he sees these urban monstrosities as an offshoot of the “neoliberal agenda,” a Chomskyan phrase that speaks volumes about anybody who uses it. 

... The smart city may be a cover for the moralistic city, and moralism is often a cover for power-seeking.  Indeed, the overweening ambition of “seamlessly coordinating everything” is the very model of sustainable development as conceived by the likes of Canada’s former UN mastermind Maurice Strong.

In fact, the "smart" concept reeks of U.N. Agenda 21, the sustainable development mantra, which a whole lot of "smart" bureaucrats and politicians in a whole lot of cities round the world have enthusiastically signed on to.  Subversive indeed!

CBC Radio's top celebrity interviewer gets overheated on "climate change"

Peter Foster:

Jian Ghomeshi is arguably the coolest thing on CBC radio. However, Mr. Ghomeshi became uncharacteristically heated during his show, Q, on Monday morning over an issue that often raises righteous temperatures: climate.

The text for  Mr. Ghomeshi’s editorial, titled “Hot enough for ya?” was a new report from the World Meteorological Organization, WMO, which claimed that the decade to 2010 was one of “unprecedented high climate extremes.” ...

... Mr. Ghomeshi is an important and influential figure, but one suspects that he did less research on this editorial than he does for most celebrity interviews.  Next time he has Al Gore on the show, perhaps he can ask him about the British High Court judgment that found “An Inconvenient Truth” to be chockablock with scientific errors.

Excellent column.

Nudge, nudge - the Sunstein doctrine

Peter Foster:

Cass Sunstein obviously takes pride in having been called “The most dangerous man in America”...

... Mr. Sunstein dangerous was that ...  he is the leading peddler of the “nudge” doctrine, which aims at bigger, smarter, more subtle government.

The Orwellian rationale for this Brave New Government ... Nudgery says that governments should use these foibles in a clever form of policy jujitsu, utilizing individuals’ own stupidity to guide them towards falling on the “right” choices.

... the complex of psychological quirks that determine their own immoveable, history-free, left-liberal interventionist mentality, not to mention the fact that politicians invariably use public ignorance not for the public good, but to gain power.

... The clear and present danger represented by Mr. Sunstein is on display in his new book, Simpler: The Future of Government, and in an article he penned for the Globe and Mail on Saturday, titled Green by default.

... According to Mr. Sunstein, the answer to using more green energy is to make it ... the default “choice.”

... Ontario’s experience ... shows that Mr. Sunstein’s suggestion that “green default” would “save money” is pure biomass.  

...

 There's lots of evidence of green nudgery being applied here in BC:

Our provincial carbon tax is being used to bribe BC cities, towns and municipalities to sign on to the BC Climate Action Charter. (All driven or guided by UN Agenda 21 and ICLEI)

Vancouver Mayor Gregor ("Moonbeam") Robertson's and other cities' "smart growth" schemes (thanks again to UN Agenda 21 and ICLEI) with everything from laneway housing (boosting population density) to dedicated bike lanes (discouraging automobiles).

My own city's planning documents are saturated with green "sustainability" bafflegab that drives everything from building construction to casino approvals to our brand new, expensive (and pain in the ass) waste collection and recycling system.

This is why the left are so dedicated to pushing the global warming theme.  It enables easier nudging of the sheep into their socialist pens.

Canada's admirable contribution to combatting desertification

When Canada recently announced its withdrawal from the UN Convention on Combatting Desertification (UNCCD), professional do-gooders and political partisans began howling with righteous outrage.  For example:

Elizabeth May (tweeted): "So upset Harper pulled us out of another global env treaty. He's making us a rogue nation. The North Korea of environmental law."

Toronto Star: "... The Harper government’s latest nose-thumbing at the UN is a baffling move that lacks any obvious political advantage to balance out the sizeable blows it inflicts on the government’s domestic and international credibility. ..."

Craig and Marc Kielburger: "... walking away accomplishes nothing."

Oh, COME ON! Cut the hyperbole!  With all due respect to the Kielburgers, rather than "accomplish nothing" Canada announcing its withdrawal has had at least two very beneficial effects: 

(1) Until then, no one, least of all the above complainers, had ever even heard of the UNCCD.  Now it's their cause célèbre.

(2) Canada has, once again, drawn attention to the wasteful uselessness of the UN.  Most UN activities, UNCCD included are, at best, unproductive talk-fests that use UN conventions as an excuse for over-paid bureaucrats to regularly gather in five star hotels in exotic locales.

This can only boost real action towards combatting desertification and reforming the UN, something you'd expect the Lizzy Mays, the T-Stars and the Kielburgers would be applauding rather than bitching about. 

The "Secret Santa" blows the whistle on the IPCC

Donna Laframboise:

A week before Christmas, three data sticks containing 661 files and amounting to nearly one gigabyte of material came into my possession. They were created by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Friends of Science: "... Whistleblower Files End Climate Change Catastrophe Cult"

... (IPCC) internal files ... reveal more attempts by agenda-driven activists to skew the science on climate change. In 2012 the UK met weather office revealed no global warming for at least 16 years while IPCC admits global warming predictions were way off and there is no trend in extreme weather.

... “In October 13, 2012 the Daily Mail reported that the UK Met Hadley weather office revealed there had not been any global warming for 16 years despite a substantial rise in carbon dioxide (CO2).”

... two weeks later on December 13, 2012 Alec Rawls leaked 14 draft chapters of the upcoming IPCC report on-line....confirmed the catastrophic warming scenarios of the previous IPCC climate models were way off, far too high, by several factors. ... Further, the IPCC itself stated that there was no trend toward more extreme weather, confirming the Oct. 31, 2012 Wall Street Journal statement by Roger Pielke Jr.

... “And finally, the IPCC admitted and then evaded recognition that the sun is a major factor in climate change,”

... “A trillion dollars has been wasted on carbon reduction schemes in the past decade,” ...  “Generations of children have been terrified and taught absurd anti-scientific group-think, economies have been bankrupted in the ‘rush to low-carbon renewables’ – such as Ontario, the UK, Spain, California – falsely believing people can ‘save the planet’ by reducing carbon dioxide.

All-purpose scapegoat, "climate change"

Paul Driessen:

... Sandy was “unprecedented,” the result of “weather on steroids,” various “experts” insist. “It’s global warming, stupid,” intoned Bloomberg BusinessWeek. ...

“Superstorm” Sandy killed more than 100 people, destroyed thousands of homes ...

Sandy was "unprecedented" only if you completely ignore the past:

... A 1775 hurricane killed 4,000 people in Newfoundland; an 1873 monster left 600 dead in Nova Scotia; others pummeled Canada’s Maritime Provinces in 1866, 1886, 1893, 1939, 1959, 1963 and 2003.

Manhattan got pounded in 1667 and by the Great Storm of 1693. They were followed by more behemoths in 1788, 1821, 1893, 1944, 1954 and 1992. Other “confluences of severe weather events” brought killer storms like the four-day Great Blizzard of 1888. The 1893 storm largely eradicated Hog Island, and the 1938 “Long Island Express” hit Long Island as a Category 3 hurricane with wind gusts up to 180 mph.

... Hurricane Sandy, November 2012 marked the quietest long-term hurricane period since the Civil War, with only one major hurricane strike on the U.S. mainland in seven years. This is global warming and unprecedented weather on steroids?

Meanwhile, Michael Bloomberg flogs his PlaNYC 2030 [in which "climate change" and  UN Agenda 21 (via ICLEI) figure large]:

... [city officials] thought nothing of placing generators in the basements of hospitals and skyscrapers built in areas that are barely above sea level.  ... Sandy’s nine-foot surges (plus five feet of high tide) flooded those basements, rendering generators useless, and leaving buildings cold and dark.

... The mayor has also obsessed about urban sprawl. However, when new developments mean high rents, high taxes and photo-op groundbreakings, he has a different philosophy.

... No wonder Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Cuomo and other politicos prefer to talk about global warming, rising seas and worsening weather — to deflect attention and blame from decisions that have put more people in the path of greater danger.

... How nice it must be to have convenient scapegoats like “dangerous man-made global warming” and insurance companies. [Actually insurance companies have been all too willing to use "climate change" as an excuse for raising rates.]

Environmental shakedown artists

A business model similar to Acme Window Smashing and Glazing

Earlier this week, the Polaris Institute, a left-wing NGO, released a report that purported to demonstrate, via public lobbying records, “how some of the biggest companies in the world are using well-oiled lobby machinery to directly manipulate policy making in Canada.”

... Meanwhile, Polaris’s claims beg a question: If oil companies are so all-powerful in the political process, why are the oil sands under siege? How was it that Keystone XL was blocked? Why is Northern Gateway’s future looking so rocky?

The simple answer is hugely effective campaigns of misinformation supported by organizations such as Polaris.

... But corporations have also funded their ENGO persecutors by buying them off as “consultants” and kowtowing to a business model analogous to that of the Acme Window Smashing and Glazing company: create environmental hysteria, then offer your services on how to deal with hysteria. [Where "dealing with hysteria" means creating more of it and further abusing corporations who (stupidly) cough up even more funding].

Monckton booted from Doha(haha) climate confab

From Christopher Monckton of Brenchley in Doha, Qatar

I have been a bad boy. At the U.N. climate conference in Doha, I addressed a plenary session of national negotiating delegates though only accredited as an observer.

... The microphone was just in front of me. All I had to do was press the button. I pressed it. ...

Quietly, politely, authoritatively, I told the delegates three inconvenient truths they would not hear from anyone else:

• There has been no global warming for 16 of the 18 years of these wearisome, self-congratulatory yadayadathons.

• It is at least ten times more cost-effective to see how much global warming happens and then adapt in a focused way to what little harm it may cause than to spend a single red cent futilely attempting to mitigate it today.

• An independent scientific enquiry should establish whether the U.N.’s climate conferences are still heading in the right direction.

As I delivered the last of my three points, there were keening shrieks of rage from the delegates. They had not heard any of this before. They could not believe it. Outrage! ...

... I was amiably accompanied out into the balmy night, where an impressive indaba of stony-faced U.N. officials were alternately murmuring into cellphones and murmuring into cellphones. ...

Heh. Outstanding show, Lord Monckton!