On Friday lunchtime, the blog by Paul Hudson, a "weather presenter and climate correspondent for BBC Look North in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire" (this title is important and its significance will become clear later), was posted up onto the BBC weather website. Presumably it was a spin-off of a short report Hudson had put together for a segment on Sunday's Politics Show discussing the claims made by UKIP's Yorkshire MEP Godfrey Bloom that "man-made global warming is a myth based on bad science".

The blog had the rather provocative heading, "Whatever happened to global warming?" But then Hudson immediately explained its use:

The blog then continued with a quick run through of Hudson's views as to why this apparent anomaly might be so. He included some of the familiar thoughts put forward by climate sceptics such as Weather Action's Piers Corbyn (although, curiously, the blog didn't point out that Corbyn himself is a well-known sceptic). So far, so mundane.

But then a few hours later the blog was repackaged as a news story and posted on to the BBC news science and environment section. From the section's front page it was trailed as a "features, views and analysis" article, but once you clicked on the article it carried no such "furniture", namely, the look and feel of other such opinion-driven articles such as this recent one by the BBC's environment analyst, Roger Harrabin. To the untrained eye, it looked like a "straight" news story (and will continue to do so to people arriving at the page via an aggregator or, in months to come, via a web search).

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see toon everywhere... And what's going on? The whisky was warm... The ice in the whisky is cooling it off but the sum total of temperatures ice-whisky is going up...

An accounting problem in the way some greenhouse gas emissions are calculated could critically hobble efforts to reduce them in coming years as nations move to combat global warming, scientists warn in a new report.

The accounting irregularity even gives the impression that clearing the world’s forests, which absorb and thereby diminish heat-trapping carbon dioxide, is good for the climate, the scientists write in an article published Friday in the journal Science.

The problem boils down to this: In emission calculations, all fuel derived from plants and other organic sources — including ethanol — is generally treated as if it has no effect on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, even though though biofuels do emit carbon dioxide when burned.

This might make sense if the source of the fuel were, say, a crop of corn grown on barren land specifically for use as fuel, because the crop would have absorbed carbon dioxide as it grew, offsetting what it emits when ultimately burned.

But if an existing stand of forest land is cleared for fuel, its ability to absorb carbon dioxide is lost, and the net balance of the gas in the atmosphere goes up.

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Gus: in most instances Biofuels add some net CO2 to global warming unless it comes from a crop already cultivated... This has been known since the beginning of "biofuel"... Thus biofuel can create food shortages by removing food crops from the equation or can add a net of CO2 in the atmosphere if land is cleared to make way for biofuel crops... This is not knew.

Dr Clive Spash is an ecological economist who has worked for the CSIRO since 2006, specialising in the interactions between the environment and the economy.

In Dr Spash's paper, which he has not been allowed to publish, he argues that carbon trading - like the emissions trading scheme being promoted by the Federal Government - appears to be ineffective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He says more direct measures such as a carbon tax or new infrastructure would be simpler and more effective.

His paper was submitted for publication in the UK journal New Political Economy earlier this year.

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Ecomony is NOT a science. Ecomony is an art form. Politics is NOT a science... politics is an art form... Economics and politics are non-objective.

The choices we make in both may have repercussion in the development of our environment, though... The point that can be argued here is that the simpler form of emission reduction, such as a carbon tax, could kill a government walking a fine line at this point in time and destroy any chance of progress since it would give the opposition — that does not believe in global warming — the power to kill any forms of emission reductions. 

Temperatures are soaring across parts of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales as emergency crews brace for worsening fire conditions.

For the second day in a row parts of South Australia have been declared catastrophic code red areas and parts of New South Wales and Victoria been issued with total fire bans.

By mid-morning the temperature in Ceduna and Whyalla in South Australia had already topped 40 degrees Celsius, and was expected to reach 47 degrees with strong winds.

The west coast, eastern Eyre Peninsula and lower Eyre Peninsula are on high alert, with six schools closed as a precaution.

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see toon at top...

Mammoth dung has proved to be a source of prehistoric information, helping scientists unravel the mystery of what caused the great mammals to die out.

An examination of a fungus that is found in the ancient dung and preserved in lake sediments has helped build a picture of what happened to the beasts.

The study sheds light on the ecological consequences of the extinction and the role that humans may have played in it.

Researchers describe this development in the journal Science.

The study was led by Dr Jacquelyn Gill from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the US.

She and her colleagues studied the Sporormiella fungal spores contained in the sediment deep within the bed of Appleman Lake in Indiana.

See toon at top...

Whale poo reduces carbon levels

The iron-rich faeces promote the growth of algae. (ABC)

Australian scientists have discovered whale faecal matter could be crucial in reducing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The iron-rich faeces promote the growth of algae.

Scientists at the Australian Antarctic Division in Hobart analysed samples of whale faeces and found they contain more than 10 million times more iron than seawater.

Iron is essential to the growth of tiny microscopic plants like algae and phytoplankton.

Scientists found that when krill feed on algae, and whales in turn feed on krill, the amount of iron in the ocean concentrates.

Chemical oceanographer Dr Andrew Bowie says more algae is good news for climate change.

"When algae grow they undergo the process of photosynthesis and one part of that process is carbon dioxide being drawn down from the atmosphere," he said.

The research suggests more whales means an increase in algae and a corresponding decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Sperm whale faeces may help oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the air, scientists say.

Australian researchers calculate that Southern Ocean sperm whales release about 50 tonnes of iron every year.

This stimulates the growth of tiny marine plants - phytoplankton - which absorb CO2 during photosynthesis.

The process results in the absorption of about 400,000 tonnes of carbon - more than twice as much as the whales release by breathing, the study says.

The researchers note in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B that the process also provides more food for the whales, estimated to number about 12,000.

Phytoplankton are the basis of the marine food web in this part of the world, and the growth of these tiny plants is limited by the amount of nutrients available, including iron.

Faecal attraction

Over the last decade or so, many groups of scientists have experimented with putting iron into the oceans deliberately as a "fix" for climate change.

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see article above this one... and toon at top...

The future of Africa's Greater Congo Basin Gorillas is under threat.

According to a UN report, the animals could disappear by the mid-2020's, with many caught and sold as exotic pets, and others killed and sold as "bush meat".

Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri reports from the Virunga National Park in eastern Congo.

http://english.aljazeera.net/video/africa/2011/07/2011731134513416497.html

Tragic pathway to extinction... Human aggressive carelessness...

see toon at top...

see also "last chance to see"