Two of the leading climate sceptic organisations are in real trouble over misrepresenting the views of climate scientists.

Back in September last year, Dennis Avery from the right-wing Hudson Institute, wrote an article claiming that 500 scientists backed the theory that “most of the recent global warming has been caused by a long, moderate, natural cycle rather than by the burning of fossil fuels;” The article was also published by another sceptic right-wing think tank, the Heartland Institute, where Avery is a “Senior Fellow”. Continue reading ‘“What you have done is totally unethical!!”’

One of the ways climate change will affect us will be in ways we do not expect. We may have climate models, but we cannot predict all the horrors that lie in store.

Here is one such horror. The New Scientist has run a story about how “decades after most countries stopped spraying DDT, frozen stores of the insecticide are now trickling out of melting Antarctic glaciers. The change means Adélie penguins have recently been exposed to the chemical.” according to a new study.” Continue reading ‘Antarctica: Climate Change Exposes “Toxic Soup”’

A US federal appeals court has ruled that the rights of victims in BP’s fatal Texas City explosion in March 2005 were violated by US prosecutors who reached a secret plea agreement with the UK oil group late last year before consulting victims.

The victims insist the plea deal is too lenient and they should have been consulted on the terms. “We are confident that when those objections are considered, this sweetheart plea bargain will be ultimately rejected,” said David Perry, lead attorney for the victims. Continue reading ‘Court Rules BP Blast Victims Rights’ Have Been Violated’

Democrats in the US Senate yesterday called for a temporary special tax on oil companies’ profits and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks as part of an energy package.

The proposed 25 percent profits tax would apply just to oil company earnings above what would be considered “reasonable” and only if those profits are not reinvested in expanding refinery capacity or renewable energy sources. Continue reading ‘Democrats Seek Special Tax on Oil Profits’

First it was the polar bear, now its the Koala. Both are threatened by climate change.  The bears are threatened by the rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because it saps nutrients from the eucalyptus leaves they feed on.

According to Ian Hume, emeritus professor of biology at Sydney University, the amount of toxicity in the leaves of eucalyptus saplings rose when the level of carbon dioxide within a greenhouse was increased. Continue reading ‘Koalas at Risk from Climate Change’