Silenced

That the Australian climate change denialosphere is being utterly and completely silenced by the Main Stream Media is beyond doubt. Andrew Bolt, Piers Akerman, Planet Janet, Alan Wood et al. of News Corp. - all gagged. Miranda Devine of Fairfax - suppressed. Michael Duffy of our ABC - mute.

Who could possibly know that a few emeritus wing-nuts and free marketeers who don't like the AWG-associated implications for their lifestyle  have decided to deny its very existence?

Poor little dears, for they have no voice.

Sadly, the cone of silence has now further descended over those associated, directly and indirectly, with the Institute of Public Affairs.   They've become terribly emasculated since the arrival of Tom Switzer, former opinion page editor of The Australian.

You'll note their absence via multiple letters printed in the Oz in recent days.

Jennifer Marohasy couldn't get a word in on Saturday:

PROFESSOR Marvin Geller says the sun could not be driving recent global warming as climate change sceptics claim because solar radiation has not changed very much since 1978 ("Professor sheds light for climate change sceptics”, 4/12).
But climate change sceptics do not claim there has been recent global warming. They claim there has been a levelling off, or fall in temperatures, over the past 10 years since the 1998 El Nino-driven temperature peak.

As regards the El Nino event of 1998, according to Professor Geller, El Ninos cause a temporary increase in global temperatures, not the steady and consistent upward trend typical of warming from greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. But there has been no consistent upward trend.

The same day, the journal Geographical Research published a paper suggesting a correlation between solar magnetic phases and the state of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation Index (SOI).

The paper, by Robert Baker, emphasises the influence of the sun’s magnetic field through the rate of ionisation—the rate of ionisation being affected by solar cosmic ray showers whose incidence follows the inverse of the sunspot cycle—not solar radiation as suggested by Professor Geller.

Dr Baker claims his discovery has important implications for drought predictions in Australia recognising the relationship between the SOI and rainfall in Australia and the periodicity of the strength of the sun’s magnetic field.

Jennifer Marohasy
Institute of Public Affairs,
Melbourne, Vic

Max Rheese, of Marohasy and the IPA’s astroturf group: the Australian Environment Foundation, has his very breath stolen today:

THE onerous implications of just one segment of the policy detail with regard to the introduction of an emissions trading scheme became apparent on the floor of the Senate last week, highlighted in the article “Communities sacrificed to carbon sinks” (6-7/12).

Contemplation by the parliament of taxpayer-funded concessions to schemes that will lock agricultural land into permanent carbon sinks and seriously undermine Australia’s food production beggars belief.
Bad legislation that betrayed constituents was reportedly on the mind of Fiona Nash when she crossed the Senate floor. Sadly, a greater number of her colleagues did not share her clarity of thought.

Permanent carbon sinks will not aid the forestry or agriculture sectors, will not enhance GDP and will cost the taxpayer a fortune, as will the introduction of this poorly conceived emissions trading scheme.

Adapting to ever-present climate change will mean changes to agriculture production to maximise yield and minimise impact on the environment. It does not mean shutting down viable food production and sacrificing rural Australia on the altar of citycentric climate change policy that has no proven outcome.

Max Rheese
Australian Environment Foundation
Benalla, Vic

Poor old Art Raiche, who contributes to Marohasy’s blog , couldn’t be heard either:

I AM surprised that a professor of astrophysics at UNSW, Michael Ashley (Letters, 6-7/12), is unaware of the work at the Danish National Space Centre which proved a link between cosmic rays and climate.

Its experiment, SKY (Danish for cloud), showed that electrons released from cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere significantly promote the formation of building blocks for cloud condensation nuclei on which water vapour condenses to make clouds.
As noted in Jennifer Marohasy’s letter of the same date, the reduction in solar wind associated with low sunspot activity results in a large increase in the cosmic ray barrage of the earth’s atmosphere.

The resulting increase in low cloud density will have a global cooling effect.

Art Raiche
Killara, NSW

Des Moore, also of the Institute of Public Affairs, like a mouse:

THE Coalition has apparently talked itself into a position of feeling unable to oppose government policies and legislation when it has either previously adopted a similar major change in policy to the Government, or because the latter claims electoral mandate.

Such is the pusillanimity that two important policies involving very major structural changes likely to have serious adverse economic effects, emissions trading and WorkChoices, are now in danger of being waved through with minimal questioning.

Is it too much to expect the principal Opposition political party to contemplate the possibility of either changing its mind or stating that the way the government proposes to implement the policies is totally unacceptable? What precisely does an electoral mandate mean?

At the very least, the Coalition surely has a duty to the Australian public to ensure that the likely consequences of the Government’s proposals are fully examined and explained in detail. No such consequential examination appears likely.

Des Moore
Institute for Private Enterprise
South Yarra, Vic

Imagine if they could speak. Imagine if they could sing!