During the recent northern polar vortex Australian cities were getting 47C and bushfires took weeks to control. Luckily if global warming is all a beat up then the next northern summer should be fine.

The Occams Razor principle says we should look for underlying reasons between different phenomena. Alternatively we have Antarctic ice melt caused by volcanic heat, Vikings growing grapes in 11th century Greenland and 21st century polar vortices caused by the whims of the wind. Nothing to do with any underlying process. As Woody Allen might say they should listen to themselves.

"They're making it all up!" - as many lf us already knew.

I much prefer the assessment of the situation provided by these two essays.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/14/heat-and-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it

http://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/14/capitalisms-ownership-of-global-warming

And speaking of "making it up" the Heartland Institute is one of the earliest purveyors of made up fake news and "information".

It is also very much a purveyor of the politics and "culture" of the loveless heart, or to put it more bluntly a propaganda factory for the merchants of death. The Toxic Sludge (and smoking too) Is Good For You school of economics and politics.

What do heat waves, floods, droughts, rising sea level, forest fires, hurricanes, African wars, mass extinctions, disease outbreaks, and migration from South America and the Middle East have in common?
Jay & Tom,
They create careers for those who don't do anything about pollution except blame everyone else for it ! It's a haven for academic hypocrites !

The Author needs to try talking from a little higher up! Needs to know a little more about the atmosphere than observed locations/paths of this or that Jet Stream.

The stratosphere immediately above the poles averages around -40C. Whereas, above the equator -70C! Reported readings indicate the air above the poles is warmer.

Why, because the equator is subject to much more direct, intense solar radiation. Consequently, the air at the equator rises more sharply and far higher, forcing the inversion layers that separate the layered atmosphere, to rise far higher at the equator. Thus forcing the equatorial stratosphere far higher into vastly colder regions.

As more of the solar radiant heat is trapped by increased greenhouse gases, [CO2, and methane,] and subsequently increased evaporate. this global convection is exaggerated. Thus creating more eddies and whirls.

Sometimes described as willie willies, or tornadoes or vortex. And demonstrated in a typical thunderstorm as the warm air rises to be displaced by falling colder air.

For every cause, there is a reaction and for every reaction, there is a cause, is an immutable foundation stone of irrefutable science.

Without question, the climate is out of whack! With antic temperatures freezing the balls off Chicago. Sending snow down as far as Hawaii. Creating droughts, (worst in living memory) firestorms in Tassie and record destructive rainfall in our north.

Well genius, where do you think happens to all that increased evapourate when the atmosphere there cools?

Time to take a reality check and for real leaders not held hostage to the mighty dollar or powerful vested interest or dictatorial madmen, to step up to that plate and put a stop to the excessive emissions causing current change! MSR thorium!

We may only be responsible for 1.4% of CO2 emissions. but our coal, gas an iron ore exports create as much as 40%+ of it.

Time to kick the pretenders out and replace them with folk able to think with their brains! Otherwise, it's ( frog in a bowl of gradually warming water) business (climate change denial) as usual!
Alan B

I love this. It explains exactly what Dr Tim Ball is referring to:

“Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner and a bottle of wine, they retire for the night, and go to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
“I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes” replies Watson.
“And what do you deduce from that?”
Watson ponders for a minute. “Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe.”
What does it tell you, Holmes?
Holmes is silent for a moment. “Watson, you idiot!” he says. “Someone has stolen our tent!”

This is how climate scientists are working today, clowns!
Cheers
Galen

"Global warming won't make it colder!"

Ever since The Hiatus I don't think we allowed to call it 'global warming'. Instead the approved term is 'climate change', which is caused by increasing the level of CO2 in the atmosphere from 3 molecules per 10000 to (wait for it!) 4 per 10000.

This is clearly caused by man because, as we all know, the climate never changed before we started emitting CO2 </sarc>

My Goodness, the trogs and deniers are out in force today.......
We live in interesting times indeed.

ateday,
Are you referring to the GW deniers or the CC deniers ? The Gw proponents have had to change their tune to CC in case you hadn't noticed ! Which ones are less hypocritical ?

Climate change cause finally revealed.

Farmers' fury after Labor MP blames 'meat-eating MEN' for climate change

Irate farmers have labelled a State MP a 'green communist' after she blamed 'meat-eating' men for climate change while praising vegans.

Lisa Baker, the Labor member for Maylands in Perth, told the State Parliament her Government should promote reduced meat consumption.

She went onto state meat-eating men tend to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than vegan women.

Gary Buller, who breeds Angus cattle in WA's south-west, said Ms Baker needs to get a 'grip on reality'.

'There is much too much emotion in this whole debate and not enough dealing with the facts,' Mr Buller told the West Australian.

'People with these views are away with the fairies — they are green communists.'

David Littleproud was equally scathing in his criticism, with the Federal Agriculture Minister saying Ms Baker's comments were 'laughable.'

A spokesperson for Ms Baker told Daily Mail Australia the State MP stands by her comments and clarified she wasn’t a vegan.

http://thewest.com.au/politics/state-politics/wa-labors-meathead-ng-b881105206z

http://www.perthnow.com.au/politics/state-politics/wa-labors-meathead-ng-b881106534z

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6707427/Farmers-fury-Labor-MP-blames-meat-eating-men-climate-change.html

I think we should charge the Greens with theft. These hare-brained "things' are stealing oxygen !

Alan B
You stated
<We may only be responsible for 1.4% of CO2 emissions. but our coal, gas an iron ore exports create as much as 40%+ of it. >

The people who use our exports to cook and have heat for warming and lighting, are the grossly overpopulated countries like India, China, and 3 rd world countries. We are in fact halving CO2 emissions by stopping them from burning wood(trees) to cook and keep warm.
Burning wood produces very high CO2 emissions higher than coal, and in addition it destroys trees and forests and masses of animal habitats.

The global warming ideologists have always chosen not to look at these facts, as their chief motive in global warming alarm was to promote socialist,communistic agenda,
blaming Capitalist societies because of their better lifestyles.

This fits their communistic views of the world and gains them millions of voters and supporters. But the capitalist system with all its faults and wealthy hierarchies has still always been a better system for the ordinary people who adopt capitalism as their economic system than the dead hand of communism has ever proven to be.

It really doesn’t matter what system you have regarding elite wealthy groups who take control at the top. Whether Communist or Capitalist, you will always get groups who make sure a bigger share of the wealth goes to them.
Like the wealthy communistist parties in China and Russia.
But at least with Capitalism the individual is at least educated and allowed to work with his own skills to make a decent life for himself and his family.

The communists don’t allow the flourishing of personal hard work and ability because everyone must stay in the same narrow dead lowest common denominator so that no one is more equal than anybody else.

To al of you virtue signalling, educated caste narcissists, who think that endorsing left wing causes displays to the world that you are extremely intelligent and possess supreme virtue, the time to flee this Human Induced Global Warming BS is now. The whole thing is coming apart and it is being exposed for the fraud it really was.

If you run away from this loser now, then in a few years time, you can say to everybody how you always knew that HIGW was a hoax. So you can continue to pretend that you are rooly, rooly smart. Just hope that your friends don't remember, although you latte sipping mates will probably be doing their best to pretend that they always knew it was a hoax too.

The longer you leave it, the sillier you look. And your self image is the most important issue here, right? Put it down to youthful naivety and learn from your mistake. Your mistake was to take the word of a bunch of stupid socialists who knew how to manipulate your youth and your youthful ideals. They played you like a fish and they made a fool of you. Get angry about that and don't trust socialists ever again.

And while your at it, look again at other left wing causes and figure out that you are being lied to and played like a fish on those issues as well. All the socialist had to do was present their causes as the those that smart and moral people support, and you fell for it, hook, line and sinker.

Don't be one of those who are born every minute.

Cherful.
It is hardly communist! But rather a free market model presided over by a tiny minority of communists, headed by a virtual dictator, with banks and other institutions, still owed by the state. Ditto our free trade partner, ally and tiger economy Singapore.

Moreover, these hated commies are our biggest trading partner and buyer of our coal, gas and iron ore. And basically all that keeps us afloat after the willful dismantling and destruction of our own manufacturing sector.

Currently, creating electrical power with coal means burning annual million of tons of coal, creating millions of annual tons of CO2. Just to turn flywheels/turbines/alternators that eat up to 6-85% of the energy created. Pushing current through transmission lines and distribution facilities, eats away a further 75% of the remaining.

We could use a quarter or less of that coal, extend the life of our reserve by up to 3,000 years, without creating very much CO2!

If we first just cooked the coal, with flameless heat, then sent the methane down a national grid pipeline, to the end user's methane-powered ceramic fuel cells. To create reliable, dispatchable, on-demand power (and copious free hot water) with an energy coefficient of 80%, at the flick of a switch.

[This same gas, compressed will run virtually all internal combustion engines, with around 40% less CO2 and far fewer particulates, AT FAR LESS COST!]

The exhaust product of ceramic fuel cells being mostly pristine water vapour! The lowest costing flameless heat being MSR thorium! Both in construction and operational costs.

Alternatively, we could place a few dozen of these (nuclear waste burners) around the joint to power carbon free mini-grids. Thus lowering the price of power below 2 cents per KwH. Which would more than just resuscitate the manufacturing sector, but create its renaissance!

As for steel, we should use what we need as a carbon source, waste plastic coking coal and use the locally invented, single step, arc furnace reliant, method. To produce the world's lowest costing steel with demonstrably the lowest carbon footprint. Ditto aluminium.
Alan B.

see Bom fiddling the numbers yet again. Oh well!

Alan B

Mmmm...
You lost me with all that ceramic cell stuff, I know nought about it.
I do know they are now able to build coal stations that emit a lot less carbon.

Nuclear power, I do not like at all. I am very sceptical of them saying they can control the waste product from nuclear power. The radiation from it remains active and dangerous for 1,000 years. Sooner or later a natural disaster or war comes along and no one is there to monitor or control the stuff.

I doubt Carbon dioxide would exist at the levels it does except for the gross overpopulation of the earth, where everyone needs to cook, need warmth and light and transport etc. Every single human and all animals except sea creatures, produce carbon dioxide merely by breathing etc.
A lack of coal with the resultant destruction of trees for cooking, means that one of the best sources of purifying carbon dioxide, trees, are wiped out faster.

There is gas, but the Greens seem to object to using that as well.
The earth according to some physicists I have watched, goes through mini periods of
warming and cooling. These periods can be as short as a few decades.

Maybe contraception and a halving of the worlds population is the answer, So forests are not destroyed so massively is the best answer, but tell that to some of the stupid religious leaders in countries around the world.

They are more at fault for humanitys polluting effect on the world, than wealthy countries are. Wealthy countries have huge reafforrestation farms, that are harvested
and replanted at staggered intervals.

Carbon dioxide itself, should result in more heavy greening of the planet and world jungles and forests, because trees thrive on carbon dioxide. But the Forests can’t keep ahead of populations that are in the billions and keep on rising, who are clearing the forests for makeshift dwellings. Africa’s population is set to double in the next couple of decades.

let's curb the population growth, problem solved !
Offer the people of the world the option of sterilisation & reward them. Those who don't won't get child support after two children.

Cheful, ceramic fuel cells were invented right here in Oz and trialled in Victoria some years ago on methane (NG.)

But like most of our best ideas and better people. Obliged to go offshore to get commercial backing. MSR Technolgy operates very differently from conventional nuclear power. And can be very safely deployed to very safely burn other folks nuclear waste.

I get that you don't understand it Cherful, because when it comes to science, you get the dunce's hat!

And because of you and a world full off chattering fellow idiots, we're are still tied to 18h century coal-fired power. And almost unstoppable climate change!

Down to folk (Modern day Luddites) like you, with entirely unfounded concerns, who just stand in the way!

As for folk in third world countries burning wood?

The alternative to that is another local innovation. Namely a two tank bio-digestor. That treats the family's biological waste (sewerage) and turns it into biogas (methane) scrubbed to remove a small CO2 content, can be fed into individual fuel cells to cook the food, light their domicile, pump their water. Run the fridge, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, desktop, TV, Stereo etc-etc. Day or night, whether the sun shines or the wind blows!

And still have around 50% for other uses, sale or charge electric vehicles. Just need our foreign aid retasked to progressively provide just that!

Individual.
As for population reductions? Can just see it now, billions of folk hammering your door down to take advantage of your very generous offer!

Alternatively, females education seems to slow local population growth and of all the trialled remedies, the only one showing any success!

Involuntary sterilisation was tried in Nazi Germany to prevent the intellectually disabled from breeding?

You are not suggesting that sterilisation/castration be forced on folk? Or are you?
Alan B.

I am still not convinced on all this GW or CC hoo haa.
I note that the two largest countries (population) in the world, and arguably with some of the most intelligent people in the world, are in fact building new fossil fueled power stations.
China and India.
Now either they've got it wrong, or we've got it wrong.
After realising that the countries who are allied to the USA, all are GW, CC promoters, it leaves me with all kinds of doubts.
After a bit more thought it began looking very much like the 'elite' are at it again.
But to what end?
How do they benefit from this ruse?
Frustrated at not coming up with anything, I put it out to you guys on OLO, and maybe some of you have a credible theory to explain why we are being lied to once more.

Never mind the made up human population scare mongering. The absolute maximum population we will experience is circa 11B, we are now in a linear rate of growth not exponential as some would argue.

Additionally termites currently produce more Co2 than humans, cull them first if you have a problem with GW or CC or whatever name they call it now.
Galen

billions of folk hammering your door down to take advantage of your very generous offer!
AlanB,
So, what's your proposal to curb population growth ?

Individual:
First, read what I've already written. Which is, the only successfully trialled method of curbing and dramatically slowing population growth below replacement, has only ever been achieved by the education of the female population.

To allow them to actually believe, they are able to choose whether or no to become involuntary incubators as virtual sex slaves, minus the right to refuse a sex-crazed aggressive abusive male. "Sex slave owner"!

That they the female populations are half the population and possibly superior if not the equal of the other half!?

And borne out by population census numbers, that show with the education of the vast bulk of previously uneducated female populations, there is an increase in the general wealth and with that increase in economic well being, economic security/social welfare.

Population rises are first severely curtailed then go backwards below replacement numbers.

This is not good news for the exploitive (extreme capitalist) class, who nee poverty and unmet need to provide their lowest common denominator, personal wealth producing product, for their accumulation of "purloined" wealth.
Alan B.

http://divermag.com/letter-to-the-women-of-the-world-by-hans-hass/

AlanB,
I have put this link up several times on OLO over the years. never did get any reaction to it.
I'm in total agreement with your last post. (no, not the one played on the Bugle)

JESUS! Alan, WTF.
In one entry on OLO you have destroyed whatever cred and ability to reason you seem to have demonstrated in the past.
Your 'allegations' are more appropriate in a 'womens rights' march or rally.
I reckognise women as women, and nothing more or less.
I do not look to women for leadership and guidance beyond that of family related issues.
This new BS pushed by the SNAGS and NEUTERS along with the majority of queers, is not what nature tells us, and it's not within the boundaries of 'human nature'.
This push for women is unfounded and is backfiring all around us.
Look back at how many women in high profile positions have failed.
I do not subscribe to this extreme discrimination of men by the push to have 50% of women in all levels of employment, even the boardroom.
If a woman has the 'balls' to make the hard decisions, she is not a woman.
And if that is the case, she is damaged goods, and I would not want her anywhere near any form of decision making.
Anyway I thought this topic was covered and put to bed some time ago.
It was proven that as long as women had periods, they were too prone to mood and emotional swings, which ultimately lead to their decisions being compromised, questioned or brought into disrepute.
After menopause, was a different scenario.
By then it was deemed that their 'use-by' date was well and truly past.
So Alan, if you were just some guy out there I would say that your comments were to impress the fairer sex, with a view to helping you 'have your way' with them.
I sense that's not the case, so if that's not the case then mate, you're on your own.
I have to warn you, with the kind of language you are using, it will not bode well for your standing amongst the MEN in any community, ANYWHERE!

Altrave: Threats from the like of you, just confirms what the rest of the world already knows. You are a moribund narcissist in love with yourself and your own unfathomable and unprovable opinions!

Galen; Casting pearls before swine is not recommended.

One is reminded of a story told by Richard Bramston. He claims, so the story goes, to have invited a highly placed, Flat Earth Society member up for a ride in low orbit, space ride.

Once they were at optimum height, the official gazed spellbound through a porthole and a visibly round world. Upon landing, Sir Richard asked, well what do you believe now? Whereupon, the official turned and replied, and here I paraphrase. The graphics were almost real and ditto the special effects space ride.

It's a waste of valuable time trying to present proven evidence to some folk when they won't see the truth! THERE ARE NONE SO BLIND!

And when that is so as one can see in at least half the posts, no amount of proven facts or even the evidence of their own eyes will ever convince them they are mistaken. Moreover, they avoid the most uncomfortable and inconvenient facts by simply refusing to look at what now is mountains of irrefutable evidence

. It becomes in their eyes, fake news or falsehood! I mean to be able to weigh the insurmountable evidence, one first needs an open rational mind!
Alan B.

best news of the week is the silly warmist girls who don't want to breed because of gw. The less these fools reproduce the better.

Alan, if you are going to claim exclusivity on facts perhaps you should check yours. His name is Sir Richard Branson not Richard Bramston, just sayin...

Alan, do you actually read what you write.
Seriously mate, you went on and on, and upon reaching the end, all I was left with were questions.
Basically, wondering why you wasted so much time writing and wasting other OLO'ens time in reading it.
You don't like what I have written, I get it, but your attempt at challenging my comments failed miserably because you did not offer ONE item challenging or refuting anything I said.
My comments are based on others comments and opinions, which are based on historical social standards and expectations.
These things I speak of were written in papers and various publications, over many years, so unless you are the sensitive type who refuses to believe uncomfortable truths, then I can understand why you rebut with such vagaries and not actual or factual reasoning.
Alan you may have some misguided affiliation or even a soft spot for women, you must distance yourself from looking at them subjectively, it will not render the correct outcome, and therefore leave you at odds with the truth.
Alan,don't waste your time attacking me.
Attack my comments.

Hmm, earlier in this thread it was about vegans.
I wanted to comment that if you have those ideas, I suggest you go
to a mirror and look at your teeth.

Bouquets for a most interesting discussion, CHERFUL and Alan B. Thank you.
Brickbats for ALTRAV’s contribution. What a shame. I can’t help thinking:
A chauvinist is someone who blindly and enthusiastically believes in the superiority of his cause or people. ... The put-down “male chauvinist pig” describes a man who believes that women are not as intelligent or worthy of respect as men. Often when we hear the word chauvinist, we think of arrogant men. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/chauvinist
Can you recognise yourself in this?
TinaC

TinaC, I'm not sure of your time on OLO, but let me give you a piece of advise.
You are no better than the ones you criticise.
By YOUR very words, you regale us with some pathetic account of feminism but you fail to rebuke my comments and statements, which, by the way, are based on excerpts of previous comments, publications and historical data.
You are as arrogant as your ilk, in a vane attempt at trying to promote your cause and your gender, but you fail to see that your cause is like watching women 'tread water'.
You and your cause are destined to drown.
So when you have some OBJECTIVE, not subjective rebukes to what is already history and enshrined in historical records, don't bother, you will only make yourself and women look more foolish and petulant than you already are.
Another history lesson;
'It is far better to keep ones mouth firmly shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and have it confirmed'.

As per usual lots of comments not held in place by any evidence. Just saying something is wrong doesn't make it wrong, in science you need evidence.

Professor Jennifer Francis has been researching jet streams for many years, she is one of the pioneers in the field. There are a number of Youtube films where Dr Francis explains jet streams. Dr Francis's explanations are somewhat different to Dr Ball's interpretation as explained by Harris!
Harris quotes Dr Ball as saying "Dr. Ball explains that the real cause of the severe cold outbreaks in the US is a wavy jet stream." The hyperlink in the article to Dr Ball's comments does not work.

Dr Ball states extremely cold conditions are going to be experienced in the Northern Hemisphere for a lengthy period. Global temperature takes into account Regional variations world wide, so while one area might be extremely cold others are extremely warm. It is the aggregate that counts.

Permafrost is thawing and has been doing so for a number of years. For permafrost to thaw, warm temperatures over an extended period need to occur. Rather than me providing references to show that to be true .. check whether that is right. Extreme cold would mean that ice volume, ice extent, and ice thickness would be happening rapidly in the Arctic Ocean.

Don't bother with being abusive if you are going to reply, it displays how you have no answers, it means a big "F" for failure.

After watching the referenced video below, I'm now wondering whether it was more than just a mistake in suggesting that jet streams are the cause of cold weather. There is much more to the matter than suggested by Harris's interpretation of Dr Ball. I'm now also beginning to wonder whether the failure of the hyperlink in the article was more than a mistake. The denier trick is to latch onto recognised research to push a fallacious viewpoint.

The following video of the work of Dr Alley used by WUWT shows how research properly completed by scientists is completely misrepresented by deniers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c90nab5i-TQ

ant, would you care to offer your opinion as to why the two largest (by population) countries in the world are ramping up their construction of fossil fuel powered electricity generating plants.
And also why it is that the US and it's allies are seemingly the main proponents of GW or CC.
The question follows;
Who's got it wrong, us or them?
Who stands to gain from this latest ruse, and how?
The person who comes up with the most objective answer, wins the prize.
If your answer is subjective, don't bother, I've already heard them all.

ALTRAV

Very few countries are maintaining the promises made at the Paris Accord, some better than others. The business as usual program promoted by the LNP is followed by some other countries particularly the USA.

Dr Alley in the referenced film states very clearly that the palaeoclimate conditions displayed in the ice cores he worked with show abrupt climate changes between the glacial periods.

Geologist, Dan Britt in his Youtude film titled Orbits and Ice Ages: History of Climate states very clearly that Earth should be cooling now when taking into account the Milankovitch cycle which he had been following for the last 50 million years through rock samples. Currently, rather than cooling the Earth has been warming, he states that emissions from fossil fuels is causing that. The film is restricted to only individual use, it can easily be found with the details provided.

It is only a few weeks ago that oceans were put in the spotlight due to warming. It has been known for decades that oceans provide a sink for warmth and CO2.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190110141811.htm

Old Ship captain mate just called me for a yarn & when we started on GW he said "just wait for Wednesday & Thursday when Cyclone OMA starts having an impact on the Gold Coast.
There'll be 3-4m surf rolling in & when houses that should not have been built where they are will be swamped. "
On the Sunshine Coast too many hoses are built on the flood plains.
I wonder if the academic professional blamers will state GW or CC for causing the cyclone ?

Bill Gates - let's stop jerking around with batteries & solar panels for climate change
Tuesday, 19 February 2019

Gates says we're "jerking around" with the idea that batteries and so called renewables will easily solve climate change.

“Do you guys on Wall Street have something in your desks that makes steel? Where is fertilizer, cement, plastic going to come from? Do planes fly through the sky because of some number you put in a spreadsheet?”

“The idea that we have the current tools and it’s just because these utility people are evil people and if we could just beat on them and put (solar panels) on our rooftop—that is more of a block than climate denial,” Gates said. “The ‘climate is easy to solve’ group is our biggest problem.”

It is on a Youtube video.

A chauvinist is someone who blindly and enthusiastically believes in the superiority of his cause or people.
TinaC,
Educate white women seem to fall into this category !

Indy, TinaC, is just another woman who feels she knows what's wrong with EVERYTHING, and EVERYONE, it's true, just ask her.
What I find stereotypical about these 'kind' of women is their personal belief that they have something to offer that anyone would want to hear.
You may have noticed how they lack the fortitude and imagination to challenge comments objectively, instead they choose the straw man approach which in this case is best described as being promoted by the straw 'women'.
Anyway I take such comments and submissions as moot, until they can debunk the contents/comments, and not engage in personal attacks or observations about the commentor.

Here's what you're after Philip S
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjgDvG13Hgs
He's not too articulate about it, but he's correct in saying, "There is no substitute for how the industrial economy runs today".

Modern industry can't be bound to circadian rhythms, but there is fear of what abundant, cheap, reliable energy might afford.

Others disagree. At http://slideheaven.com/thinking-about-nuclear-power.html Renewablista-in-Chief, Avery Lovins, is quoted, “Even if nuclear power were clean, safe, economic, assured of ample fuel, and socially benign it would still be unattractive because of the political implications of the kind of energy economy it would lock us into."

I found this interesting http://www.manasjournal.org/pdf_library/VolumeXXX_1977/XXX-45.pdf

Er..Amory Lovins.....

The hyperlink to Ball 's comments is still not available. I should have delved deeper with hyperlinks before!
Quite priceless, a quote from National Geographic hyperlink:

"In an email exchange Friday, Francis said, “It's absolutely true that fewer cold records are being broken than high-temperature records, which is totally consistent with a warming globe. But this new possible connection between Arctic warming and disrupted stratospheric polar vortex adds nuance to this story, albeit a complicated one that will take a while to verify—or not.”"

Tim Ball says definitely that jet streams are the cause of the cold conditions, while the pioneer of jet stream research Professor Francis is more circumspect.