All posts by Rob

Climate Cover-Up

Climate Change

I have just finished reading Climate Cover-Up by James Hoggan (with Richard Littlemore). James runs a public relations company James Hoggan & Associates based in Vancouver where I once lived. He chairs the David Suzuki Foundation, a Canadian environmental organization. The book catalogues in a readable manner some of the techniques used to hide the reality of global warming as a man-made threat to the current living world. The current common method is to suggest that there is uncertainty in the science and a lack of consensus among climate scientists. I see this in all the comments I read to articles explaining the CO2 problem.

One of my meta-complaints about the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was that having said that if the WMD were given up there would be no invasion. That an invasion happened and no WMD were discovered means that countries being told to give up WMD programs or face consequences know that they had better get the WMD as fast as they can because the threats are really going to become an excuse to try regime-change regardless. Diplomacy is devalued.

Hoggan makes a similar point towards the end of the book. That companies and politicians have worked with public relations companies to spin their way out of problems for which they should be culpable means that those groups are no longer trusted; credibility has been degraded. Hoggan commissioned polls of public opinion and found just that in Canada. One disjointed statistic in one of the polls is that 5% of people said that they were not concerned about the problems of climate change, but people thought that 50% of others were not concerned about climate change: people are unsure of each other. No individual want to take a lead and start to address something in their own lifestyle. This is what must change; we need to do things individually to reduce our carbon footprint and let others see that we are doing so. We have to join together to push politicians and industrialists to work for our common good.

We world leaders

Politics & Society

I remember seeing some TV reporting of the Genoa 27th G8 summit in 2001. After some of the violent protests there was a comment by Tony Blair in Genoa starting, “We world leaders……”. At that moment I had some understanding of the inner driver of Tony Blair. It was a revelation. My impression was confirmed by what I saw in the public parts of the meetings between Blair & Bush before the invasion of Iraq. Although I think that some of the people putting the knife in now are also serving their own agenda, the latest inquiry confirms it. Ken Macdonald confirms it directly: Intoxicated by power.

Kill the messengers?

Climate Change

It seems that evading the evidence is not enough for some: Hacked email climate scientists receive death threats. The most useful information in this comment is a statement by Tom Wrigley, previous Director of the UEA CRU, “We did not destroy any primary records  …..  All these data came from National Meteorological Services, and the originals are still there for anyone to access. Indeed other groups such as GISS and NOAA have independently accessed these data and independently reproduced our results.”

Geo-engineering by accident

Climate Change

Here is a dilemma: Antarctica may heat up dramatically as ozone hole repairs. It seems that the ozone hole above Antarctica has changed air flows so as to keep Antarctica colder than it would have been without the ozone hole.

Should we return to using products that use CFCs in order to keep the ozone hole above Antarctica for now in order to stop rapid temperature rise there? This does illustrate that some geo-engineering is possible even if other side-effects are undesirable.

Why do people evade the evidence?

Politics & Society

I was struck by this article: Killer syndrome: The Aids denialists

I did not realise that there was still an argument against the HIV/AIDS link and that retroviral medication has given longer life to many. The methods seem to be the same as those that are used by many people who suggest global warming is a hoax. I am trying to think symmetrically about this by asking myself – why do I accept the evidence? I have started that on my page Climate Change. It is easy to get locked into a position and to cease thinking laterally.

I found responses to the news that UEA CRU had disposed of raw data used for the temperature estimates about twenty years ago, Climate change data dumped, fascinating in this respect. This particular news item is mentioned a lot of times, if you check in Google, as showing that the scientists were destroying evidence that would show them biased. There is rare mention that a lot of data is being lost all the time. NASA cannot even read the data tapes recorded decades ago because the tape readers are gone. I remember in the mid 1980s buying a 20 MB hard disk that cost as much as four or five good specification complete computers now. I would always like to keep all the data, but I can understand that some people will want to tidy up with no bad intent.

Science is not about certainty or perfection; it is a way of collecting and assessing evidence about the world.

Science, Society and Politics

Politics & Society

I found this a very pertinent article by Polly Toynbee:

Bad politicians are slave to public opinion. Good ones try to change it

Her mention of the Alan Johnson & David Nutt clash is just what I said to friends when discussing it:

‘ Johnson could have told a truth about both science and politics: “This drug research is accurate, but people fear softening the law sends the wrong message. I intend to talk about it openly. Politics is about listening and talking to people. When the facts are more widely understood, we will review drug classifications.” ‘

Polly gives a few other examples of scientific evidence being ignored in the long term.

eco-friendly messages

Climate Change, Politics & Society

This article shows just how far we have to go:

Top 10 green living myths

 It is correct that people may become complacent just because they use eco-products and eco-machines, and buy local, but these may not be all they seem. We don’t want to put people off making improvements because it seems too complicated to know what is best and this seems an argument for proper research with clear recommendations for major effective changes. David MacKay’s book Sustainable Energy – without the hot air makes similar points.

There is a temptation for manufacturers of good products to make eco/sustainable claims that are only partially true in order to enhance sales.

Loft Insulation

DIY

The loft insulation in my house is old and thin between-joist fibre-glass. However, I did put boards over most of it so that the space could be used as a store. I need to work out U values for various possibilities.

2010/04/06. I thought that I would make a start by logging the temperatures in the loft and in a room below and I have some temperature loggers from Signatrol that I hope to set up for a few weeks to collect temperatures. I will also regularly check the room ceiling temperature with an IR thermometer that I got from Maplin.

I am investigating using reflective insulation, though I read that the manufacturers have exaggerated the effectiveness of the products. I will try to make some theoretical estimates of effectiveness before deciding how to go.

Solid Wall Insulation

DIY

I am researching external insulation for solid walls (that part of my house has).
The Energy Saving trust has a leaflet of advice (but from 13/06/2006): Practical refurbishment of solid-walled houses (CE184)

Here is a useful summary: http://oxfordsolar.energyprojects.net/links/tech_solidwall.htm

One firm that I may get a quotation from is: Westville Insulation

As it will be costly I am not rushing but trying to get as much information and understanding as possible before going ahead. I think there may be grants for this soon.

Although the house is detached, because of other extensions and abutments the solid wall area that needs covering on four sides totals about 90 m2. The typical temperature difference between the two sides of the wall measured with an IR thermometer is about 10 C, which leads to a power loss of about 2 KW through the walls. There is also about 18 m2 of double glazing in this area. As the different family members have different circadian rhythms the heating may be on for 18 hours a day, so as well as comfort in the solid wall areas there will be significant cost & emissions savings.

What can I contribute?

Climate Change

It seems to me that there is a big battle on ‘global warming’ and a lot of energy and time can go into commenting and explaining. I am not best placed to do that, but I should put my money where my mouth is. There is no argument for me on this issue for a long time yet I have not done as much as I could personally. How can I expect people who are sceptical or little informed to make changes? I intend to research insulation and heating solutions for my own house and invest in those solutions that I can cope with. I hope to help by example. The investigations and any implementation details and problems will appear on pages here over the next year. First I am looking into solid-wall insulation and loft insulation.