Congrats to Dellers, Booker, Monckton, Lawson — Carved into Denier Stone Prize Art

What success! Six skeptics have been honored in prizewinning art at Anglia Ruskin, a large university in Britain. Their names were carved into a plywood mock-rock, that drips oil.  James Delingpole is rapt — who wouldn’t be?

The top of the “rock” reads “Lest We Forget Those Who Denied”. The names: Christopher Booker, Nigel Lawson, Christopher Monckton, Melanie Phillips, Owen Paterson.

Indeed, the 2015 Sustainability Art Prize went to great sustainable art. In years to come, when everyone realizes how silly it was to demonize carbon, this art will live on — recycled as a testament to the vacuity of post-modern art. This work is already a classic of government-funded-largess, capturing the pure inversion of insight that comes through unwitting satire as “daring” artists pander to power. Perfecto.

These heroic names should be carved into real rock.

James Delingpole:

The sculpture has been described as an “oil painting with a difference” because a continuous stream of engine oil drools symbolically over the “deniers’” names, like tragic sea otters after an Exxon spill.

 

9.6 out of 10 based on 85 ratings

92 comments to Congrats to Dellers, Booker, Monckton, Lawson — Carved into Denier Stone Prize Art

  • #
    Pathway

    Do they have to wear a yellow star on the garments?

    220

    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      No, because as Dr Seuss pointed out, there would be no point:

      “…until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew, whether this one was that one… or that one was this one…or which one was what one… or what one was who.”

      “The Sneetches and Other Stories”.

      (or all I ever needed to know about corporate status).

      102

    • #
      F. Ross

      Good observation indeed!
      …and probably have a number tattoed on them as well.
      /sarc

      20

  • #
    pesadia

    Isn’t it supposed to be a list of people who deny climate change?

    As far as I know not one of those people on the list deny that the climate changes.
    In fact, I have never met a climate change denier.
    Am I missing something?????????

    430

    • #
      Manfred

      The UN has defined what we all thought we understood as axiomatic climate change — see: klimate khange.

      Anglia Ruskin…very passé – Corporal Schicklgruber considered politics to be the greatest of all arts, and propaganda the most important arm of politics.

      121

      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        It is the propagandist’s wet dream: By changing the definition of the words in common usage, you can change reality.

        I have had this “discussion” several times. My response is along the lines of, “By ‘Climate Change’ are you are referring to the ability that people may or may not have to vary the climate, by accident, or intent, or by natural means?” To which they invariably reply, “No, if it occurs in nature, then it is ‘Climate Variation’ but if it is caused by man, then it is ‘Climate Change'”.

        To which I reply, “I see, so if a bolt of lightning starts a forest fire, releasing tons of carbon into the atmosphere, then that is ‘Climate Variation’, but if I start a bonfire, to burn some garden refuse, and that bonfire gets out of hand, because of a shift in wind, and starts a forest fire, releasing tons of carbon into the atmosphere, then that is ‘Climate Change’?”

        Whereupon, they jump at the idea that the second case was caused by the wind shift, and so was natural. My response then is, “Ah, so the difference between ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Climate Variation’ comes down to a puff of wind, that may or may not have occurred?”

        373

        • #
          Manfred

          So RW, if I understand you correctly, flatus is the climastrologers version of the meteorologists ‘butterfly effect‘ described by Edward Lorenz regarding chaos theory and its application to climate?

          70

          • #
            Rereke Whakaaro

            Something like that. Words evolve, in an organic way, because of the way that they are used, by the majority of people in everyday conversation.

            It is the sign of central planning, and the mark of the central planners, when words are suddenly expected to take on a new meaning, by diktat.

            This is useful, when you think about it. When a word or phrase suddenly changes its official definition over night, we can all say, “Oh look mummy, there is a central planner. Why isn’t he wearing his funny central planners hat?”

            If you make fun of the process, then less people are taken in, and the process fails.

            70

    • #
      Hasbeen

      So this bit of bumph earned someone a prize.

      I assume it will also earn them nice fat grants for many a year.

      What ever happened to artists living in a garret, or a Pacific island, & living on the smell of an oily rag?

      60

      • #
        PeterPetrum

        Looks like the “artist” would have had lots of oily rags after “creating” this monument to their own lack of understanding.

        70

  • #
    pesadia

    Ian Wolter, the artist might be amused to know that “Alien Wort” is an anagram and in my opinion, a more appropriate description of both him and his so called work of art.

    51

  • #
    Mikky

    As a Brit I’d say this is jolly unfair, just not cricket, the “artist” should have organised a vote to pick the top 6 from a list of eager candidates, just think how No. 7 is feeling about being ignored, and how Jo is feeling at being ineligible.

    In a way I’m a bit pleased at seeing a hint of spirit in UK universities, they’ve been like sleeping kittens during the recent era of Tory rule, austerity, fee rises and “vicious” attacks on the benefit system.

    60

    • #
      Greg Cavanagh

      I can’t but think that William Briggs would be number 7.
      Perhaps we should picket for a follow up art piece.

      60

    • #
      John Westman

      I feel so awful Mikky!

      I reckon that I may have been number seven which will leave me depressed for the rest of the day

      40

  • #
    Sean

    Oil on plywood. I’d call that kindling.

    180

  • #
    TdeF

    So the most famous labelled ‘deniers’ in England are journalists? An extraordinary aspect of allegedly man made alleged global warming is how many of the activists are writers, politicians and economists and how many of the deniers. Hardly a scientist to be seen in the entire debate about “The Science”. All are BAs.

    Even when you get a scientist, what is the chance their field of expertise is far away from any knowledge let alone competence in physical sciences. The most egregious is our own Dr. Tim Flannery, someone with a BA in English who openly claims to be a senior technology expert and climate specialist. At least another Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes can play football.

    Al Gore is another writer whose History thesis was ‘The Impact of Television on the Conduct of the Presidency, 1947-1969.’ Prof Phil Jones, head of the Climate Research Unit in East Anglia has odd qualifications with a BA in environmental science and then degrees in hydrology. How do all these people get to pronounce on meteorology and complex physical models of the planet?

    However geologist scientists like Prof Ian Plimer whose life work is about the history of the planet and specifically the history of global climates are ignored, even vilified?

    What distinguishes these famous deniers from the high priests of global warming is a sense of humour. Then how could you not laugh at Tim Flannery’s inane pronouncements, Prof Turney trapped in non existent ice with his “ship of fools” and Lord of the frequent Fliers, Pachauri’s demise. We would all be laughing if the waste of twenty years of world peace and two trillion dollars was not so tragic.

    413

    • #
      johninoxley

      Just a small spelling correction. “All are BAs.” That would be Baaaas,as in sheep.

      41

    • #
      Winston

      TdeF,

      Good observation.

      I think the only suitable riposte is to produce our own form of sceptical work of “art” in response. Might I suggest a giant pig with names of prominent alarmists along its girth, fashioned after those well remembered tipping birds of days gone by. The pig in question tips its snout at regular intervals into the trough, teeters back for a moment due to its counterweight only for it to then tip forward again into the trough in perpetual fashion.

      What do you think… Too subtle perhaps?

      52

  • #
    Roy Hogue

    What! Joanne Nova is not on that list. Jo, you’ve been slighted. 😉

    190

    • #
      Greg Cavanagh

      Nor is Willy Soon. We demand a recount…!

      160

      • #
        Oswald Thake

        Neither is Mark Steyn, also famous for being the world’s only impolite Canadian. But I forget; candidates must be citizens of the United Kingdom.

        20

    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      Steady on, we all know that the believers have trouble with math. There are only six names, because the designer only has five fingers to count upon, plus the counting finger.

      See, it is simple when you know the back-story.

      172

      • #
        Graeme No. 3

        I laughed then, considering the level of arithmetiical expertise shown by the trolls I realised that many a true word etc.

        61

    • #
      Bulldust

      No Anthony Watts… I mean Watts up with that?

      80

  • #
    TdeF

    Oil has always been vilified. Dirty, useless stuff, very natural pollution. As Golda Meir said, how is it that only Israel has no oil? Then you cannot have a land of milk and honey with dirty oil.

    Until oil, we slaughtered whales for oil and the Romans grew millions of olive trees so they could read at night, not because they loved salads. So all of Corfu is covered in olive trees. Later all the trees in Finland were cut down to make coke for steel manufacture, destroying the forests.

    So oil actually saved the whales, saved the forests and saved many ecosystems and cleaned the air from all the particulate matter from open fires. Cracking of heavy oil into lighter fractions was invented in 1840 but petrol was useless and dangerous until 1890 with cars. The original submarines in the US Civil war, the Monitor and the Confederate Merrimack were coal and steam powered. Sir Winston Churchill famously changed the British fleet from coal to oil in 1912, creating a connection between Britain and the Middle East which has been the problem in two world wars and many more. Even coal burning now is clean. Oil in all its forms has changed the world completely and improved quality of life incredibly, even maintaining a standard of living which supports a wide artist class, but people still vilify oil and coal. Then no one vilifies petrol or kerosene or diesel or gas. Why? Possibly because oil and coal are black and black is obviously dirty.

    So oil money is dirty money and deniers support dirty oil and coal, the backbone of our standard of living. So oil is used to denigrate and vilify and quite literally blacken someone’s name as in this alleged art. It is hard to think of any other reason except ignorance of science and the history of science, the one consistent flaw which goes to the heart of the mythology of global warming, faux science.

    280

    • #
      KevinK

      “The original submarines in the US Civil war, the Monitor and the Confederate Merrimack were coal and steam powered.”

      Slight correction;

      The original METAL ARMORED warships in the US Civil war, the Monitor and the Confederate Merrimack were COAL POWERED WITH STEAM PROPULSION PLANTS.

      The one known submarine in the US Civil war (a Confederate boat) was human powered through a hand cranked propeller. It is very difficult to get combustion air for fossil fuels into a submarine, hence the great advantage of nuclear powered submarines.

      Other than that you make good points, nothing has added more to the current standard of living than fossil fuels. Certainly added to the lifespans of the whales.

      Cheers, KevinK.

      140

      • #
        TdeF

        Yes, true. They were Ironclad steamships but the monitor had a dramatically low freeboard so it looked very much like a surfaced submarine. I always saw this as pioneering the concept and many merchants boats were sunk by German submarines operating purely as gun platforms like the monitor, not by torpedo. In fact submarines in WWII they could not dive very deeply because of the need to exhaust their diesel engines and so they could still be seen from the air. One desperate attempt to lengthen the exhaust and run deeper resulted in asphyxiation. Electric boats were only built at the end of the war.

        42

        • #
          KevinK

          With respect, all submarines from WWI through WWII until the advent of the first nuclear sub (the USS Nautilus) after WWII were “diesel-electric boats”. Submarines are always called “boats” in Navy jargon, I honestly don’t know why.

          They all had diesel engines that ran on or near the surface (with a combustion air supply via a “snorkel”). These engines then charged batteries that powered electric motors when the boat was submerged. Very much the first viable “hybrid” combustion engine/electric motor/battery system ever produced. It dates back to before WWI. So the Prius ™ is basically just a WWI submarine with wheels…. But I bet it smells better inside a Prius what with the scented cardboard pine tree hanging from the rear view mirror and all.

          Cheers, KevinK

          41

          • #
            Ted O'Brien.

            I thought the Prius has electric brakes, which put charge back into the batteries. And that electric trains do too, putting charge back into the system.

            10

            • #
              KevinK

              Yes, hybrid and electric cars (and electric train locomotives) have re-generative braking, which does return electricity to the battery. This “re-coups” some energy for later re-use. In a traditional car this becomes wasted heat at the brake pads/shoes.

              Submarines/ships do not have “brakes” per say, you can reverse the propeller rotation to back-up. But the only close equivalent to brakes on a ship/boat is the anchor. Once you drop the anchor the ship will rotate around the anchor as the winds and currents decide. The only way to control where a ship goes is to provide power (turn the propeller). With a ship/boat there is no fixed surface to “push against” to determine direction like the tires on a car do.

              20

          • #

            “With respect, all submarines from WWI through WWII until the advent of the first nuclear sub (the USS Nautilus) after WWII were “diesel-electric boats”. Submarines are always called “boats” in Navy jargon, I honestly don’t know why.”Have you heard of the K class subs that the British used in WW1 that were steam driven(I kid you not)They ran on the surface with steam and on batteries when underwater.The steam was produced with diesel fuel.The funnel had to be retracted and the hatch sealed on diving .What a nightmare they must have been to work in.

            00

            • #
              KevinK

              Jethro, I had not heard of those, yes what a nightmare to operate.

              Ok, I modify my original statement to:

              “MOST (not all) submarines from WWI through WWII until the advent of the first nuclear sub (the USS Nautilus) after WWII were “diesel-electric boats”, except for the diesel fueled steam-electric boats that the British Navy had in WWI.

              Thanks for the interesting info.

              Cheers, KevinK.

              10

              • #
                Byron

                what a nightmare to operate

                Indeed , no “K” class subs were ever lost to enemy action , of the 18 built a full 1/3 were lost to accidents , most of those were the result of improper hatch/vent closure , K15 even managed to sink itself while moored at Portsmouth .

                00

          • #
            TdeF

            Yes, but from what I have read, until the development of energy dense Lithium battery storage, battery propulsion was almost useless. German subs could not run underwater without the diesel at more than 3-4 knots and very limited range. US subs could run at 20knots on the surface and 9 knots underwater with diesel and snorkel but underwater running on batteries alone they could move at a mere 2 knots for only 48 hours before they had to surface. You cannot chase or even escape at 2 knots.

            Battery storage has always been the problem, before the Lithium battery technology. The Russians captured the father of a German friend, expert in Lithium batteries and kept him in Irkutsk for years after the war.

            At the very end of WWII had the Germans had built 65 boats with substantial battery storage which would have been a massive threat but luckily they were grabbed by the Russians and never entered the war. As pointed out, the other big development with the Prius was regenerative braking, which is really the source of the efficiency in city driving. Battery technology has been the key, but the world seems intent on reinventing the windmill, not storing energy. Without storage, Green energy is never where and when you want it and is basically non storable, non portable, non saleable.

            The best energy storage I can find is in metal, not batteries, as in refining aluminium and then using it as solid fuel. For a tiny fraction of the hundreds of billions spent on windmills, we could have cars which ran on metal fuel which burns very well and is totally recyclable, non poisonous, non explosive and yields no CO2, but mentally people are hooked on burning carbon. My dream would be the Australian Government to offer an engineering prize for an engine which burned solid aluminium. Aluminium is a solution in waiting for energy storage and transportation. The biggest problem with AL2O3 is that it is very hard and abrasive.

            01

            • #
              TdeF

              I find the Lithium batteries amazing, another great technology out of WW2. A typical phone battery has something like 2 amp hour! A car battery might have 40 amp hour, but the power in a phone could weld metal or start a car. In fact car service people are now using tiny Lithium batteries to start cars, not the bulky lead acid batteries we used to see. This also shows you that they can store a very dangerous amount of power, which is why there are now restrictions on transporting them by air. The 777 dreamliner has had serious problems with their batteries. It shows you that commercially people will find a way. We just need to divert the money from useless primitive post medieval ‘Green’ schemes to things which actually work. There are plenty of inventors. Just offer prizes.

              40

            • #
              Byron

              No snorkels were fitted to American fleet boats until the GUPPY 2 program in 1947 , the 9 knots submerged speed for US Gato class subs is on batteries only , as You would expect range was vastly reduced at higher speeds , range at 3 knots or 1/3 ahead was 104 nautical miles , more than 4 times greater than the max range at flank speed

              00

    • #
      Bulldust

      Likewise the area around Kalgoorlie (WA) was deforested to support the original gold mining boom. The trees are being replanted and returning.

      30

    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      TdeF,
      To continue the theme, a very experienced medico/sceptic/philosopher friend once expounded in detailed a private theory that green opposition to selected entities was derived from their use in large warfares. Lead in bullets, chlorine in trenches, mercury in detonators, hydrocarbon tank fuels, radioactivity in nuke bombs, etc.
      The greens have specific programs to hate then ban all of these.
      Correllation is not causation, some is there a causality? Well maybe, but not much discussed yet. Darwinin evolution needs genetic changes like mutations. While mutations are considered to take many generations to express, this doc friend asked if there were fast and slow mutations even in humans, so the experiences of grandpas’ war were expressed 2 -3 generations down because they has such high impact.
      The greens of today, apart from free riders in their ranks, might be unable to think normally because unknown to them, unseen forces are now directing their lives
      What do you think?

      00

  • #
    James Bradley

    A future monument to sanity.

    70

  • #
    Radical Rodent

    I met a man whose son-in-law was an environmental officer in Prince William Sound, where the Exxon Valdez foundered, before and after the grounding. His conclusion had been that the environment had not been richer than after the event – except in those areas which had been cleaned up!

    It would be interesting to see a more scientific study about this, and similar, environmental “disasters”.

    132

    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      There is one, because I have seen it. It came out quite a while after the event, and described the food-chain that came into existence, based on the oil itself (some thing eat oil, apparently). I will see if I can dig out the reference.

      71

  • #
    cheshirered

    I don’t suppose the ‘artist’ would engage in a spot of debate with his subjects? Obviously it would be a walk in the park for him to win his ‘settled science’ arguments hands-down, right?

    Thought not.

    120

  • #
    mark fraser

    Should people victimized by the warmistas not be filing hate crimes charges against same?

    91

  • #
    Yonniestone

    What happens when the wood runs out of oil, will this art simply dry up and fade away?, what a metaphor for the CAGW denial ideal, simply brilliant!

    100

    • #
      PeterPetrum

      And what pumps the oil around? Oh, I know, a solar panel linked to a little 12v motor…… Or is it just plugged into the wall sucking up that stuff generated from coal?

      30

  • #
    graphicconception

    You need to ask yourself, who is more to blame: the sellers of the oil or the buyers?

    If the do-gooders would all agree to stop buying oil and its derivatives then there would be no Big Oil. It really is in their own hands.

    100

  • #
    Popeye26

    They can hold their heads PROUD and contemplate that these MORONS may one day even add Galileo Galilei’s name to that wooden sculpture.

    Heretics, I say, all of them – off with their heads – we can’t have people thinking for themselves now, can we?

    Where do these frigging universities get off?

    Cheers,

    20

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Our Universities have become sheltered workshops for third rate academics with a vastly inflated opinion of their own importance.
      Unfortunately in Australia, while the ABC continues its attack on Abbott any (and possibly all) of them will be invited to fill the airways. The BBC seems to follow the same idea in its pursuit of early medieval lifestyle (and life expectancy).

      10

  • #
    manalive

    James Delingpole’s response is very sporting but given the artist’s comments about criminalising ‘climate change denial’, it’s no joke and probably actionable under English defamation law.
    I’m not sure Monckton or the others will be as generous in their reaction.

    130

  • #

    I would pay good money to be on that list. It is almost as great an honor as being a signer of the US Declaration of Independence or a Magna Carta baron.

    111

  • #
    Glenn999

    It’s beautiful! Is it possible to purchase this piece of art?

    20

  • #
    C.J.Richards

    I thought Catastrophic Climate Change was supposed to be a global phenomenon. So what’s with the limiting of names to a choice of English persons only ? Is it to be like war memorials where each country celebrates it’s only own heroes, eventually ?

    41

  • #
    James Bradley

    Honour role for the Outlaw 3%’s.

    30

  • #
    RoHa

    Delingpole is wrapt? That might be a good idea if he is ropeable.

    If he is pleased, on the other hand, then he is rapt.

    (And my heart bleed for Lord Monckton. Awful to have his name associated with the odious Melanie Phillips.)

    41

  • #
    Matty

    Rather than just a list of names, could the artist not come up with a sculpture of whatever it is they are supposed to be denying ?

    Melanie Phillips though. I’ve been following this since mid 2009 & have never noticed her. A reformed ( or lapsed) Lefty perhaps but hardly one of the leading lights. Where is David Rose I wonder.

    30

    • #
      Peter C

      I am with you Matty.

      Melanie Phillips?

      I think I have heard of Owen Pattison. Isn’t he a politician who discovered his doubts about CAGW after he left office.

      20

      • #

        Owen Patterson became uncomfortably vocal after the Somerset floods; brought to he UK by environmentalists that drove Environment Agency policy; contrary to technical advice from the Institution of Civil Engineers and within DEFRA; to the detriment of people.

        Without Patterson’s effective intervention, Somerset would probably have been drowned economically. Meanwhile HRH Prince of Fools used the floods as a photo-op; attempting like other rent-seekers to tie it to “climate change”.

        50

    • #
      Eddie

      If Melanie Phillips is a ‘lapsed Lefty’ perhaps that is the greater sin of apostatism that needs punishing, more than just being David Rose.

      10

  • #
    Ross

    Slightly OT. We are told the education system has been over run by the AGW crowd / sympathisers and the kids are being brainwashed. I’m sure there is a large element of truth in this but it would appear they are not doing so well with the propaganda

    http://harvardpolitics.com/online/young-voters-climate-change-takes-back-seat/

    So it is good to see many young people still have an open mind , are able to research and make up their own minds.

    81

  • #
    Athelstan.

    Anglia Ruskin? Hmm.

    Put it this way, I don’t think it’s up there with the best sixth form colleges in Chelmsford.

    The other thing about the cupid stunts who fashioned this piece of ‘art’. Is it not true that, pop art is so incredibly chic in the malformed culture of youf and indeed in the salons of norf Landan. Hampstead and the like, where the left leaning champagne Socialistas ‘get by’ scrapping a living and making ends meet in their £5[+] million piles and any green stuff, is dahling! is just oooh gung ho Obarmy!
    Lo! anyone who appreciates this sort of crap inspired work, are totally impervious too thick to comprehend the self parody. Alack, without fossil fuels how can they fly to Hollywood and pootle the Maserati and down for a spot of shopping in Harvey Nics or Harrods [for Gods sakes!] – “Africa darling what label is that” – ?

    Dellers et al – will be loving the PR this worthless effort brings. For, it all adds to their DENIER notoriety in depth reportage, the credentials of precision bearing witness to the great green scam, thus by – speaking truth to authority and unto nations.

    Ironic it is and knowing him, it would greatly appeal to James Delingpoles’ sense of humour. An own goal, a direct RPG hit [green on green] fired from Ruskin and veering towards their own derrieres……up the ar8*s of the eco-loonies – what’s not to like?

    No wonder JD luvs it, me too……;^)))))))

    [Your “typing errors” nearly got you moderated, Athelstan. Take this as some friendly advice, to not try pushing the limits, or the Moderators patience.] Fly

    50

  • #
    Bulldust

    From the SMH – people should be willing to lay down their lives, like teh ANZACs, for climate change:
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/lets-emulate-diggers-sacrifice-to-tackle-climate-change-20150429-1mvr06.html?rand=1619825#comments

    My “backed-up” comment (reference to the article’s part on US EPA funds to research how religious organisations can aid in spreading the CAGW word):

    Ironic that they are grasping at the religions to push the Climate Change faith now. The science has ostensibly failed, given that the models are proven wrong (read the IPCC report) and clearly severely over-estimated the impacts of CO2. The IPCC even admits that “natural variation” (aka Mother Nature, Gaia if you prefer) appears under-represented in the IPCC models. in other words, things are a lot better than we thought.

    That doesn’t stop the fear-mongerers of course. After all, what is a religion without a significant second coming doomsday event? For climate zealots it is thermageddon.

    Just to note, I am neither a rusted on Lib or Laborite, certainly never a Green (they are too loony for my taste, except on privacy issues), as both parties have stuffed up policies and half-decent ones. But let’s not succomb to the readers of chicken entrails forecasting doom. Much like Flannery’s dams that would never fill again, and going back to the likes of Malthus, they were all wrong and nothing to worry about.

    Copied elsewhere as I know the SMH/Age mods can be a tad one-eyed.

    62

    • #
      Greg Cavanagh

      After many years of articles like this one, it is clear the authors never read the comments below their article.

      I also note the faithful responders defend their belief with the following logic:

      “Funny how you noticed this massive flaw in the science, but tens of thousands of actual scientists missed it.”

      Obviously they also don’t read the responses, but simply react to the response.

      00

  • #
    pat

    Delingpole quoted Dr. Jones:

    Anglia Ruskin Uni: Dr Aled Jones FRSA, Director, Global Sustainability Institute
    Dr Aled Jones FRSA is the inaugural Director of the Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) at Anglia Ruskin University. Dr Jones also chairs a working group on climate finance within the Capital Markets Climate Initiative on behalf of Greg Barker, the Minister for Climate Change in the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). He regularly presents on climate change issues to corporates and governments and sits on the UNEP FI insurance sector working group.
    Dr Jones was previously the Deputy Director at the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and was Director of the Climate Leadership Programme and Chevening Economics of Climate Change Programme (for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office). He was a founding member of the ClimateWise insurance principles, was facilitator for the P8 Pensions Group, 12 of the world’s largest public pension funds working collaboratively to address the problem of climate change and investments and set up the Banking & Environment Initiative. His work with the P8 Group has been recognised by the State of California…etc
    http://ww2.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/faculties/fst/staff/dr_aled_jones.html

    Jan 2015: Anglia Ruskin Global Sustainability Institute: Speaker Programme
    The interface between sustainability research and policy
    Professor Jorgen Randers, Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway
    He also sits on the sustainability council of The Dow Chemical Company in the US and Astra Zeneca in the UK.
    He was President of the Norwegian Business School BI 1981-89, and Deputy Director General of WWF International (World Wide Fund for Nature) in Switzerland 1994-99…
    He co-authored ‘The Limits to Growth’ in 1972 and its sequels in 1992 and 2004…
    He has received many prizes and awards, including an honorary doctorate from the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge UK. He is a full member of the Club of Rome…
    Professor Ugo Bardi, University of Florence, Italy
    He has been the recipient of several NATO fellowships and has managed several international research project, for NATO, the European Union, and the European Science Foundation (ESF)…
    His work is performed in collaboration with associations and research institutions such as FAO (food and agriculture organization), the Club of Rome, ASPO (association for the study of peak oil) and others…
    His most recent book is ‘Extracted; how the quest for mineral wealth is plundering the planet’, published by Chelsea Green in 2014. Before that, he published ‘The Limits to Growth Revisited’ (2011) with Springer. He is also active in communicating science to the general public publishing on the web on Energy Bulletin, Financial Sense on line, Cassandra’s Legacy, and the Club of Rome blog…
    Dr Alina Averchenkova, Co-Head, Policy and a Principal Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, the LSE
    Her prior experience includes consultancy KPMG, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a carbon asset manager First Climate and the Environmental Defence Fund…etc
    http://ww2.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/global_sustainability_institute/global_sustainability/speakers_programme.html

    41

    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      If we miners has not been extracting the mineral wealth of potash and phosphate, the agricultural revolution including GM would have struggled to happen and billions alive today might not have been.
      So, screaming at mineral extraction has mass human murder as the flip side.
      But it is terribly politically incorrect to publicise this….

      00

  • #
    bemused

    ‘Lest we forget’? That may well come to haunt the climate worriers.

    20

  • #
    pat

    NOTE, in particular: ***The final report also removes demands for a phase-out of fossil fuels that appeared in an earlier draft published by the New York Times.

    QUESTION: did CAGW SCEPTICS bring about this change in the document???

    29 April: CarbonBrief: Sophie Yeo: Vatican spells out vision for zero-carbon world
    This was the essence of a declaration (LINK) signed by the attendees of a one-day meeting hosted yesterday by the Holy See…
    Today, these institutions released theirown report (LINK), designed to accompany the declaration and to support a forthcoming encyclical on climate change authored by Pope Francis.
    The report is entitled “Climate change and the common good: a statement of the problem and the demand for transformative solutions”. It was prepared by a selection of high-profile scientists and economists, including Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Potsdam Institute…
    Zero emissions
    The Pontifical academies join the growing call from campaigners, politicians and scientists alike for emissions to be reduced to zero.
    ***However, the report is unclear on whether carbon emissions should be reduced to “near-zero” or “net-zero” by around 2070, demanding both at different points in the text.The difference is an important one…
    Reducing emissions to nearzero by around 2070 means that the total volume of emissions would have to be cut dramatically, without the help of negative emissions technology. This cuts the fossil fuel industry far less slack, as it means demand for the products is also reduced to near zero.
    While the academies’ text appears to conflate the two, the options are not at all interchangeable…
    Renewable energy
    However, there are hints in the report that the academies are backing the near-zero option.
    The clue is in the authors’ vision of the future energy supply. They call for a shift towards “zero-carbon and low carbon sources and technologies” – a demand echoed by the declaration…
    ***The final report also removes demands for a phase-out of fossil fuels that appeared in an earlier draft published by the New York Times…
    ***The second version removes the idea that continued extraction of coal, oil and gas is impossible in a sustainable future, replacing it instead with the less prescriptive warning on the dangers of ‘business-as-usual’ extraction, but without a calling for a phase-out…
    http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/04/vatican-spells-out-vision-for-zero-carbon-world/

    i posted the earlier 12-page version in comments at jo’s Matt Ridley thread:

    pdf. 10 pages: 29 April: Climate Change and the Common Good: The Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
    http://www.casinapioiv.va/content/dam/accademia/pdf/protect/climate_change_common_good.pdf

    21

  • #
    Alan Watt

    These heroic names should be carved into real rock.

    Mount Rush Less, perhaps?

    10

  • #
    Random Comment

    Booker et.al. should seek out an enthusiastic practitioner of stained glass window making to prepare a suitable thank you reply. Perhaps design ideas with suitably religious overtones could be selected via a competition promoted in this and other sceptical blogs. This could then be presented to an appropriate educational institution – say, Oxford University, or similar – for mounting in the Great Hall where students can forever be reminded of the folly of blindly following charismatic preachers and also the need for reformation. I can see it now… Al Gore as the high priest with his fawning acolytes at his feet, a few stationary windmills in the background and a large cloud about to obstruct a massive sun ironically beating down on their sweaty brows…

    40

  • #
    TdeF

    With stained glass, you can be sure the windmills are stationary and appropriately medieval! Only a few of the original Dutch windmills are left but they have thousands of the new ones which in my opinion will eventually be attractions for puzzled Asian tourists.

    10

  • #
    pat

    just remembered i heard this on ABC this morning!!! links to pdf report:

    30 April: ABC: Brian Owler: AMA says climate change is a serious threat to Australians’ health
    (Associate Professor Brian Owler is president of the Australian Medical Association and a Sydney neurosurgeon)
    As the predicted effects of climate change become reality, we need to deal with the massive changes to Australians’ health that will result
    CLIMATE CHANGE IS a significant worldwide threat to human health that requires urgent action. There is overwhelming evidence that the global climate is warming and human factors have contributed to the warming. It is happening gradually, but there is no doubt that it is warming. The AMA supports that evidence.
    As the world continues to warm, there will be significant and sometimes devastating impacts of climate change — particularly for human health.
    Today, along with the president of the highly respected Australian Academy of Science, Professor Andrew Holmes, I launched the Academy’s much-anticipated report — Climate change challenges to health: Risks and opportunities (pdf)…
    Both the AMA and the Academy of Science hope it will be a catalyst for the Federal Government to show leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris later this year…
    Policies and institutions must be in place now to ensure that Australia can adapt to the health consequences of climate change — these phenomena are inevitable.
    As the climate warms, and we experience more extreme weather events, we will see the spread of diseases, disrupted supplies of food and water, and threats to livelihoods and security.
    The health effects of climate change include increased frequency of extreme weather events such as heat waves, flooding and storms. In Australia, we are already experiencing weather extremes with prolonged drought and bushfires in some areas, and severe storms and floods in others. Not only can these cause illness and death, but there are significant social impacts as well.
    Climate change will dramatically alter the patterns and rate of spread of diseases, rainfall distribution, availability of drinking water, and drought. International research shows that the incidence of conditions such as malaria, diarrhoea, and cardio-respiratory problems is likely to rise.
    The Academy of Science recommends that Australia establish a National Centre of Disease Control to provide a national and coordinated approach to Australia’s response to climate change…
    http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2015/04/30/4226722.htm

    30 April: Australian Academy of Science: Climate change will affect vulnerable people’s health most: Academy
    The elderly, the sick, the very young and disadvantaged Australians are most likely to suffer health problems as the climate changes, according to a new report released today by the Australian Academy of Science.
    Climate Change Challenges to Health: Risks and Opportunities has been endorsed by the Australian Medical Association…
    The report and its 22 detailed recommendations are based on discussions between world experts and 60 early- and mid-career researchers at a Think Tank convened by the Academy with support from the Theo Murphy (Australia) Fund in Brisbane last year.
    https://www.science.org.au/news/climate-change-will-affect-vulnerable-people%E2%80%99s-health-most-academy

    11

  • #
    pat

    re Theo Murphy (Australia) Fund –

    Australian Academy of Science: 2014 Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank: Climate change challenges to health
    23-25 July 2014, Royal on the Park Hotel, Brisbane
    (see Steering committee and Invited Experts + Breakout Groups etc etc)
    https://www.science.org.au/events/2014-theo-murphy-high-flyers-think-tank-climate-change-challenges-health

    Australian Academy of Science: Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tanks
    The Academy’s Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tanks bring together early- and mid-career researchers (EMCRs) from a broad range of relevant disciplines to:
    Engage in thinking about novel applications of existing science (including social science) and technology to issues of national significance
    Identify issues and gaps in current knowledge, and
    Propose solutions.
    Since 2009, these Think Tanks have been supported by the Theo Murphy (Australia) Fund, courtesy of the Royal Society of London…

    21

  • #
    pat

    posting cos it’s fun to see Samenow have to report this:

    29 April: WaPo Capital Weather Gang: Jason Samenow: “Historically harsh” winter weather slowed U.S. economic growth substantially
    The Department of Commerce reported today that the gross domestic product (GDP) increased at just a 0.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2015 compared 2.2 percent during the final quarter of 2014.
    “The weather impact was evident in weakness in consumer spending,” Reuters reported. “Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, slowed to a 1.9 percent rate. That was the slowest in a year and followed a brisk 4.4 percent pace in the fourth quarter.”…
    Much of the highly populated northeastern U.S. had one of its top three coldest first quarters of the year in records dating back to 1895. And Boston experienced its snowiest winter on record, with over 110 inches…
    Interestingly, the White House CEA has observed a trend towards more severe winters over the last 10 years – with weather shaving away an increasing fraction of the GDP. In 2014, the severe winter slashed the GDP by 1.4 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported…
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/04/29/historically-harsh-winter-weather-slowed-u-s-economic-growth-substantially/

    28 April: Star-Telegram: Monica S. Nagy: Tuesday sets DFW record for lowest high temperature
    FORT WORTH
    OK, that was really cool.
    On Tuesday, the series of weather events continued with a bracingly chilly day. The high temperature at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport reached only 59, and that came in the evening after the sun came out from behind the clouds.
    That set a record for the lowest high temperature for April 28. The previous mark was 61 in 1932…
    http://www.star-telegram.com/news/weather/article19791903.html

    11

  • #
    handjive

    And in other news …

    200 witchdoctors arrested in Tanzania crackdown (news.yahoo)

    20

  • #
    toad

    http://www.campaigncc.org/climate_change/sceptics/hall_of_shame
    The first “HALL OF SHAME” list of “Climate Change Deniers” was composed some years ago by George Monbiot (whom some of you may remember) and Caroline Lucas, England’s only Green MP.
    These two make strange bed-fellows at their “Campaign Against Climate Change”.
    On THAT list we find Lawson, Delingpole, Monckton and Booker along with Bjorn Lomborg, Ian Plimer, Senator Inhofe and Benny Peiser, but not Owen Paterson or Melanie Phillips.
    Good to see that original “team” is still to the fore in presenting the truth.
    Followers of Caroline Lucas’s progress will realise that she is now trying to get re-elected on her record as a constituency MP, not as a Green MP, or so my daughter, one of her “constituents” in Brighton tells me.
    Such is the disastrous record of Brighton under the jackboots of the Jason Kitcat Green Regime !

    30

  • #
    Richard

    Anglia Ruskin, a large pretend university in Britain.

    At one time, being a University in the UK meant something.

    25 years ago, most of these places were still just technical colleges and then somebody decided that everyone could/should go to Uni, so every college suddenly became a Uni – coincidentally, this was about the same time that they started handing out high school A-levels in such subjects as photography and psychology, in a weeties packet.

    30

  • #
    Stew Green

    Richard is right. In 1991 a group of art/tech colleges joined to become Anglia Polytechnic. A year later at the bottom of a box of cornflakes they found a certificate making them a University.

    30

  • #
    Stew Green

    Smears journalist’s names rather than proper debate.
    Paul Matthews observed that SUPER IRONY this artwork literally smears dirty oil over the names of journalists who dare challenge green dogma. It is pure intimidation [snip] as Geoff Chambers observes. But my comment pointing out that people can google and find similar [snip] artwork smearing [snip] did not make it past moderation of the Press Gazette. Their article “Journalists’ names on university ‘memorial’ to ‘those who denied’ climate change” seems to question whether it is deliberate intimidation of journalists.
    – Yes if we look back we would similar sneering examples probably smearing [snip], or intimidating non-soldiers with a white feather during the first world war etc.

    OK artists should be free to express, but we should be free to comment on it. However the problem is the PUBLIC MONEY/PLATFORM that is used to promote this political viewpoint above others.

    – Talking of irony look at the Dr Aled Jones, director of Anglia Ruskin’s Global Sustainability Institute, said: “The winner was chosen because of the way they approached their subject by bringing together a powerful message with a beautiful piece of art.
    – The oil waterfall sculpture could be viewed in decades to come as a monument to a period of history that saw scientific knowledge battle to be heard above political ideologies.”
    …god the PROJECTION of the man.

    [Jo wants to cut out the kind of references I removed. Please remember this in the future.] AZ

    10

  • #
    Bill

    Since when does trash qualify as “art”?

    00

  • #
    CraigAustin

    To convince me climate change is dangerous, you first must prove that climate stasis is possible.

    00