Agmates

Global warming alarmists claim that the Arctic Polar ice melt is concrete evidence that man-made global warming is occuring.

At the start of this years thaw here is what the credible purveyors of truth at World Wildlife Fund predicted was / would happen this year.

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On April 24 the World Wildife Fund (WWF), another body keen to keep the warmist flag flying, published a study warning that Arctic sea ice was melting so fast that it may soon reach a “tipping point” where “irreversible change” takes place.

This was based on last September’s data, showing ice cover having shrunk over six months from 13 million square kilometres to just 3 million.

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Of course what the WWF didn’t say was that a month earlier in March the ice had already recovered to 14m sq kilometres.

Well this years arctic melt season is finished, so we’ll see how the predictions of the global warming crew have fared. But we won’t quote the usually alarmist BS that comes from self interest groups like WWF, lets go straight to the scientific experts in Arctic ice the prestigious National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC):

Here was their prediction -

With survival rates similar to those in 2007, the minimum for the 2008 season would be only 2.22 million square kilometers (0.86 million square miles). By comparison the record low extent, set last September, was 4.28 million square kilometers (1.65 million square miles).

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So hence based on that data, folks like WWF have been predicting that the Arctic would be ice free this summer. So what actually did happen.

Remember if the planet is warming the way science is modeling it, we should have seen some where between last years record low (bear in mind record low means since 1979) 4.28 million square kilometres and the NSIDC prediction of 2.22 million square kilometres that sent the AWG’ers into a frenzy at the start of the season.

Melt Season Over - Arctic Sea Ice up 9.4%

Yes thats right folks Arctic sea ice covered increased by 390,000 square kilometres over last year. To put that in perspective thats an area equal to all of Tasmania, all of Victoria and about 10% of NSW.

Oops, the models in fact were out by at a maximum 2,24 million square kilometres. Thats roughly the area of Western Australia. But have a look at how the good scientists at NSIDC report the result. One has to look after ones research funding after all.

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The Arctic sea ice cover appears to have reached its minimum extent for the year, the second-lowest extent recorded since the dawn of the satellite era. While above the record minimum set on September 16, 2007, this year further reinforces the strong negative trend in summertime ice extent observed over the past thirty years.

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Hey folks just remember that is the second lowest ever with “ever” being 1979 or just 29 years ago. It is a known fact that there have been a number of occassions in past history when there has been far less Arctic ice.

Now for the absolute prize, remember the Arctic is melting because we humans are causing global warming with our rampant pumping of CO2 into the atmosphere.

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Despite overall cooler summer temperatures, the 2008 minimum extent is only 390,000 square kilometers (150,000 square miles), or 9.4%, more than the record-setting 2007 minimum. The 2008 minimum extent is 15.0% less than the next-lowest minimum extent set in 2005 and 33.1% less than the average minimum extent from 1979 to 2000.

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The Arctic Ice Melt is touted by global warming alarmists as the absolute proof / evidence that man made global warming is happening.

Really??? No wonder a few of us are “Skeptical”.

(thanks to readers Sally, Peter & Jane)

Have your Say!

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Got a tip off, article or have you seen a video or item you’d like to be seen by the Agmates Community? If so please email it to us at news@agmates.com

In light of the WWF attacks on QLD farmers, have a look at this video to see the sort of crazies farmers are up against.

Thanks to Agmates reader Jeff from his comments:

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“Earth First, an organisation that can be linked to Greenpeace and TNC. The clip is embarrassingly funny, but it also will sober you up when you realise the sort of people your dealing with.”

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Have your say. Did the hair stand up on the back of your neck like mine did as you watched this?

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Below are the demands that WWF is placing on the QLD government. If the government caves into these demands the ramifications for grazing in QLd will be horrendous.

Farmers & graziers that have spent a small fortune on clearing land and planting it to improved pastures in the Brigalow, Gidgee, Mulga and high rainfall coastal country will lose it all to regrowth.

By WWF’s own admission we are talking about 10-14 million hectares taken out of agricultural production in QLD.

Additionally Graziers is the Mulga country have for a century used the Mulga as a drought fodder. As Quilpie Western Queensland Mayor David Edwards stated on Agmates -

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“That’s what this country has survived on, bore water and Mulga trees. The golden rule out here is - look after your country and it will look after you.”

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Taken from WWF web site - (thanks to Agmates reader Lee)

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WWF is insisting the State Government plug four legal loopholes to reduce clearing, including:

1. “Regrowth” exemption: 10-14 million hectares of recovering Queensland forests, often including endangered, vulnerable and threatened ecosystems can be cleared without a permit. This is about twice the size of Tasmania.
2. Fodder Harvesting Code: over 110,000 hectares of Mulga trees cleared or “harvested”.
3. Urban, mining and infrastructure exemptions in small, but highly biodiverse areas.
4. Boosted compliance to tackle unknown amounts of illegal clearing.

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“The single largest environmental win of the Beattie era is being eroded. The Government cannot currently claim a significant clearing reduction as its legacy,” Mr Heath said.
For more information

Nick Heath, Program Leader for Queensland: 041 888 5324

Julian Murphy, Press Officer: 0418 970 778

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This campaign of WWF’s is absolute Green hysterical madness. All broad acre landing clearing was stopped by legislation on the 31st December 2006. All the figures they are using to demand a ban on controlling regrowth predate that time.

This is an out and out attack by WWF on the very viability of farming and particularly grazing in Queensland.

On their own estimate they are talking up to 14 million hectares.

If you do the sums on that land and very conservatively value it in its improved state at $500 an acre or $1,235 a hectare, they are campaigning to have $17 billion dollars worth of privately owned productive grazing land converted back to totally unproductive wilderness.

This will lead to financial devastion for 1,000 QLd farmers and graziers over the coming 2-5 years.

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Have Your say!

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In today’s Courier Mail - The headlines scream in their Talking Point (P32 / 10/09/2008):

With Increasing global temperatures, the continued practice of land clearing may well turn our state into a desert.

Owen Jackson [of Morningside Brisbane] says its time to enforce land clearing bans.

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“I FOUND the article “Clearing’s heavy toll on wildlife” (C_M, Sept alarming and distressing.

The figures revealed in this article present an obvious contradiction to government plans to ban land clearing from 2006.

It was previously reported that a satellite search of QLD found that between 2001 and 2003, one million hectares of QLD’s vegetation was cleared. In other words, the rate remains unchanged. When is the government going to act?

The ecosystems of the Australian environment are particularly vulnerable due to the scarcity of water and fragile soils. We never be able to repair this damage.

With increasing global temperatures, the continued practice of land clearing may well turn our state into a desert.

In 2003, a $150 million package was jointly funded by the QLD & Commonwealth Government to assist the farming community with the vegetation clearing restrictions.

Why didn’t these funds make a difference? We need to work together to support the environment as it supports us.”

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This is my comment from Agmates article -

Courier Mail Outrageous attack on farmers & rural QLD.

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“Good on you Ian, Judy & Von,

It is interesting to note other farmers have not expressed their outrage at this Courier Mail biased.

Especially those involved in AgForce who spend a small fortune each year in the Queensland Country Life telling people “every family needs a farmer” which always amuses me in that it’s preaching to the converted. In fairness they do spend a bit of that money on TV ads that I imagine reach Brisbane and the major regional centres.

However he’s is how this works.

1. The WWF in cohorts with the Courier Mail commence an unchecked campaign to pressure the state government over an issue. This one is to ban any tidying up of regrowth / woody weeds, the last one was banning Gamba grass etc.

2. The Urban population then reads this unchallenged rubbish and not seeing any rebuttal they belive its a fact. I mean they could buy the Country Life, but with a circulation of 35,000 copies a week with 5,000 of those going to government public servants - leaves about 30,000 copies. Now Brisbane has a population of 1,000,000, the gold coast 500,000 and a total state pop of 4 million I don’t need to tell you that most Queenslanders or 3,975,000 people don’t read the QCL.

3. The government then reacts to concerns of the voting public (read urban voters), and the Green lobby pressure. They announce something to sooth the worries of the Urban voters and the greens.

4. At the 11th hour AgForce get involved trying to get a decent outcome for the bush. But by that time - the government has made up its mind.

5. The government passes new legislation to ban whatever it is, The bush is up in arms, the new law is in and the Greens and the Courier Mail has another win.

The time to be up in arms, to debunk the hysterical claims of the greens is now - not after the horse has bolted.

But it would appear that you 3 and myself are the only ones who care enough to have a say.

I’ll wager there will be plenty of bush people screaming ‘blue murder’ after the greens get there way and have all treatment of regrowth / woody weeds banned.

Just can’t be bothered to start screaming ‘bloody murder’ when it can actually do some good.

Oh well we tried.”

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We invite you to have your say. Unlike the Queensland Country Life, your Agmates Online Rural News media is read by country and city folks right across Australia and internationally.

As Kevin Rudd said in todays media.

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“Mr Rudd told an international newspaper conference on the Gold Coast yesterday that his wife, Therese, and three children got their news online and he was “the last of the Mohicans” when it came to reading the papers.”

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Your say does make a difference on Agmates.

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Agmates broke the news last Friday that the radical Green conservation group World Wildlife Fund is mounting a media campaign to pressure the QLD government to stop farmers treating woody weed regrowth.

Rural Lobby group AgForce has contacted us to advise that they have received many copies of our article and are ‘onto it.’ [ thanks to our Agmates readers]

Heres the latest from todays Brisbane Courier Mail. This an absolutely disgraceful article by the Couriers Environmental writer Brian Williams. You can see the online version here.

Curiously the online version does not include the disgraceful allegations of wildlife numbers being slaughtered by farmers that is printed in the physical paper.

It’s a full half page article on page 14, 8/09/2009. He is what has been left out of the online article:

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Mr Heath [sic WWF spokesperson] said 70 million animals were likely to have been killed by the clearing in 2005-06 based on estimates in a report by scientists Dr Hal Cogger, Professor Hugh Ford, Dr Christopher Johnson, James Holman and Don Bulter.

In 2003 they found about 100 million animals were killed when an avergae 446,000ha remnant vegetation was cleared in 1997-99.

This included 19,000 Koalas, 342,000 possums and gliders - 8,500,000 birds and 89,000,000 (thats right 89 million) reptiles.

Mr Heath said the massive losses were unacceptable. “It’s a huge blow for our wildlife, our climate, our rivers and the reefs.”

“The animals that are wiped out suffer horribly as they are burnt or starved to death.”

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And From the web site:

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“Queensland will fail to reduce emissions if it continues to allow this level of land clearing,” Mr Heath said.

“Halting the practice is a cheap and easy way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

WWF said the Queensland Government should act immediately to stop all clearing of endangered, vulnerable or threatened regional ecosystems.

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It is no wonder that urban dwellers have the view that farmers are “rednecked environmental vandals”. The reporting by Brisbane’s only daily newspaper is pure green propaganda, offensive and a disgrace.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense will tell you that the above figures of wildlife death are green hysteria and pure fabrication. Courier Mail environmental journalist Brian Williams should be sacked for printing this obvious beat up designed to denigrate farmers and pressure the government.

AgForce should be seeking legal advise on behalf of all QLD farmers. They should be suing Brian Williams and the Courier Mail for defamation.

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Have Your say!

Are you disgusted and horrified by the blatant biased reporting and obvious use of journalistic power to portray QLD farmers as environmental vandals and the heartless mass slaughter of our wild life.

All QLD farmers and rural people should be demanding a full retraction and public apology and the immediate sacking of Brian Williams.

The Courier Mail is nothing more than a Radiacl Green propaganda rag mascarading as a respected city news paper.

It is an anti QLD farmer, anti rural QLD community publication. You could make your own protest in a small but effective way - Don’t buy it or advertise in it until they remedy this outrage.

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There appears to be a very close and cosy relationship between Brisbanes Only Daily Newspaper The Courier Mail and radiacl Green group WWF.

In todays issue alone they have run a disgraceful article with WWF using 2-3 year old figures and gross unfounded accusations putting pressure on Natural Resources Minister to ban QLD farmers from clearing woody weed regrowth.

Then online on they team up again to run this disgraceful story labeling 11 energy companies including Alcoa & Rio Tinto as ‘economic Dinosaurs’.

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ONE of Australia’s biggest miners is amongst a group of 11 power generators labelled carbon emissions “dinosaurs” by an environmental group… Rio Tinto and and aluminium giant Alcoa, are among the group that failed a WWF scorecard on carbon reduction performance.

WWF had sent a survey to each mining company asking them to declare how much they’d spent on low carbon technology and then rated them accordingly.

The organisation found about half the 19 generators performed very badly, scoring less than two out of five stars. Alcoa, Intergen and Rio Tinto were the worst performers.

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The Courier Mail then goes on to extensively quote WWF spokesperson Paul Tony, but curiously it does not mention anybody from the energy companies labeled as ‘economic dinosaur’.

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“WWF spokesman Paul Toni says the companies know they should be doing more to cut emissions.

For two decades there has been no wringing of hands, no worrying about the future or the impact on our environment, just business as usual, without a second thought for anything but short-term profits,” he said in a statement.

It’s remarkable how these dinosaur companies can complain about their future and ask for handouts but do zero to reduce their emissions.

Some companies had been making an effort to reduce carbon emissions, Mr Toni said.

The appalling results of companies such as Rio Tinto and Intergen are in stark contrast to industry leaders like Origin Energy, TRUenergy, Babcock and Brown, Transfield Infrastructure Services and Verve.

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Well the same story as it happens was reported on ABC’s Lateline Business the night before and Lateline reporter Jayne Margets did talk to some of the ‘economic dinosaurs’ mentioned.

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JAYNE MARGETTS: Both Rio Tinto and Alcoa say the findings are inaccurate, because they didn’t provide any information to the WWF.

In a statement Alcoa said:

‘It’s absurd to suggest that Alcoa is unprepared for a low-carbon future. Alcoa’s operations in Australia are among the most greenhouse and energy efficient in the world’.

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And when Jayne Margets put this to WWF’s Paul Toni - he shifts from foot to foot and stammers:

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PAUL TONI: Well, all I can say is that they were given the opportunity to respond.

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OK So Rio, Alcoa and a host of other Energy companies told WWF to ‘bugger off’ with their survey and so WWF rank them as ‘No Stars’ out of Five, label them ‘economic dinosaurs’ and run to the the Courier Mail with their ‘credible survey’.

One can only assume that the Courier Mail did not bother to either ask Paul Toni for the actual survey data or contact Rio or Alcoa for comment on the article.

If they had spoken to Rio or Alcoa or any of the others companies that were ranked so lowly by WWF simply because they’d refused to give them any information the Courier surely would have not run the story, realizing the survey was worthless.

Its either lazy journalism or a grubby conspiracy between WWF and The Courier Mail. The article only appeared online without a bye line. However it was on Environment writer Graham Readfearn’s page who we have had issues with before.

What do you think?

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Have Your say.

WFF starts campaign to pressure QLD Natural resources Minister Craig Wallace to remove exemption on clearing of regrowth.

Yesterday I wrote about a disgraceful article that Crikey anti farmer reporter Bernard Keane had written. QLD Farmer illegally land clearing.

I asked why he would launch such a blatant attack on farmers. Agmates reader Peter pointed out the the figures he was quoting were 2-3 years old (2005-2006) and that Courier Mail ‘journalist’ Brian Williams had run a similar article in todays paper, Outback Clearing Continues despite Tree Laws.

At first glance I thought the article was just a grubby example of ‘churn’ journalism as it quoted the same 2-3 year old figures. But then I had a closer look at it. Straight away you can see what the grubs at the radical green group WWF are up too.

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WWF-Australia spokesman Nick Heath said the clearing was equivalent to 5.1 million average-sized suburban blocks and accounted for 24 per cent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Heath said that, despite new state laws, loopholes had allowed farmers to clear an enormous amount of land.

He called for a clearing moratorium until the loopholes were plugged.

There have been a lot of good intentions in recent years but the fact remains total clearing is relatively unchanged from mid-90s,” Mr Heath said.

The loopholes included the regrowth exemption, under which an area as big as Tasmania could be cleared without a permit.”

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And obviously they are putting the pressure on QLD Natural Resources Minister Craig Wallace.

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“A spokeswoman for Natural Resources Minister Craig Wallace said the figures were being investigated.”

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Typical of WWF - use years old data and blatant miss truths to beat up a story to put pressure on the Minister to ban cleaning of of regrowth.

Queensland farmers & graziers need too send this article too your local AgForce rep and get them to kill this move to scrap the regrowth exemption with the minister before it gains any traction in his or his departments minds.

(thanks to Agmates reader Peter from Roma)

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Have Your say!

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Agmates “Onya” award today goes to Queensland Nationals Senator Ron Boswell.

Senator Ron Boswell has spoken out after Conservation group WWF has blamed climate change for the coldest August in Sydney for more than 60 years.

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“The freezing temperatures are proof of the urgent need to cut carbon pollution, according to WWF development and sustainability program manager Paul Toni.”

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Now wait a minute, commonsense would tell us that Labors Carbon Emission Reduction Scheme is being forced upon us to cut CO2 emissions that is causing Global warming? Ron Boswell thinks so too and is brave enough to state the bleeding obvious.

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“I thought we were concerned with the perils of global warming, that we had to act immediately to stop temperatures and water levels rising and inflicting untold disaster,’

Now the WWF wants us to believe that manmade carbon emissions are responsible for colder temperatures.

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It did not take Labor long to vilify Boswell over his comments. Victorian Labor Senator Gavin Marshall a former Victorian assistant secretary of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) yesterday accused Senator Boswell of being a “redneck”.

This is typical of the GW “alarmist”. No sustance just a personal attack on anybody who dares to speak the obvious truth.

Senator Boswell speaking on a Bill amending greenhouse gas reporting by companies went on to say;

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“The governments green paper is a recipe for colossal damage to our ket competitive industries.”

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Senator Boswell wins an “Onya” from the Agmates community for common sense and the courage to speak out.

“Onya” Ron.

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Have Your Say!

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