Save the Date: First Annual Fellowship Dinner

Friday, April 20, 2012, Fairview Park Marriott, Falls Church, VA

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Wayne Grudem, Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary
Dr. Grudem has served on the Cornwall Alliance’s Board of Advisors from its start in 2005. He has written more than 100 articles and edited and authored numerous books. His most recent, Politics—According to the Bible, includes an outstanding chapter on the theology, ethics, science, and economics of environmental stewardship.

Reception begins at 6:30 p.m., Dinner follows at 7:15 p.m.
Register at http://www.ministrysync.com/event/home.php?e=4205.

Fun Facts for the Week

Shale Gas Hyperbole Shows Our Lack of Institutional Memory (Dr. Frank Clemente/Energy-Facts.org, February 15, 2012)
“Over the years 2000-2010, global coal consumption increased almost 2,300 million metric tons or 50%. During the current decade coal use will expand at least another 25% (1,700 million tons) … Over the past century, coal has contributed more than any other fuel to making the benefits of electricity available ... By 2010, over 5.5 billion people had at least some access to electricity—and 40% of that power came from coal.” Hyper efficient coal powered electricity plants are coming online with peak efficiencies of 45% (40% less CO2 than currently emitted). Coal is our energy workhorse; it works when dams are dry, when it’s cloudy, when there’s insufficient wind.

Recent Significant Developments

Economics & Energy

Big Lies on Big Oil (David Limbaugh/Townhall.com, March 14, 2012)
The left complains that America uses a disproportionate amount of oil, having only 2-3% of the world’s proven reserves, but using 25% of total annual oil. “That definition excludes many oil reserves that Obama has declared off-limits … 1.4 trillion barrels of oil … with existing technology. The largest deposits are located offshore. So the United States has more recoverable oil than the rest of the non–North American world combined.” Furthermore, in economic terms, America ought to be congratulated for buying all the oil that apparently other nations can’t or won’t use and giving those countries something they do want—money.

A Little Pollution Saves Lives (Dr. Roy Spencer, March 7, 2012)
Long repining for the day when there is “no pollution,” environmentalists, via the Environmental Protection Agency, would do well to redefine pollution, and remember that some pollution saves lives. How clean is clean enough? When getting cleaner reduces rather than enhances human health and longevity.

Religion & Ethics

Explosive Pachauri Profile in Australian Magazine (Donna Laframboise/No Frakking Consensus, March 2, 2012)

Turnaround is fair play. Since the climate alarmism community seeks to denigrate qualified scientists for their skepticism of climate alarmism it is interesting to consider the qualifications of the man leading alarmists. The title of Laframboise’s book “The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World’s Top Climate Expert” speaks volumes. So does a look at IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri’s qualifications: he’s an economist and industrial engineer, not a climate scientist.

Christian Theology of Stewardship and Sacred Relationship Between God, Humans, and Creation is Essential to Healing the Earth (Eslkevin's Blog, March 2, 2012)
Sojourner’s, a Left-wing think-tank, continues to claim that the well-being of an inanimate object, the earth, supersedes the well-being of men. That is a false dichotomy. The earth benefits from man’s stewardship; nature is not pristine on its own, but rather fallen and in need of man’s care. The Evangelical Environmental Network is not far behind, having created weekly devotionals for Lent on doing no harm to the environment, an impossible charge.

Law, Regulation, & Litigation

The High Priests of Eco-Destruction (Michelle Malkin/Townhall.com, February 22, 2012)

“Scrutiny of the White House anti-science brigade couldn't come at a better time.” Jon Jarvis, for example, head of the National Park Service, was accused of 21 counts of scientific fraud while acting as regional director. His actions negatively affected important Californian industry. Of course Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, is the cream of the crop when it comes to corrupt politico-scientists; he has, with Carol Browner, presented biased reports with a view to ban off-shore drilling, for which he has been subpoenaed. Issues with the California Delta Smelt, dams in Siskiyou, Oregon, add to his deserved title of “high-priest of eco-destruction.” More here.

How Obama’s Energy Policy Will Kill Jobs (Thomas Hemphill and Mark Perry/The American, March 8, 2012)
“The oil and natural gas industry, one of the strongest job-creating sectors of the U.S. economy, has been unfavorably targeted by President Obama’s proposed 2013 fiscal year federal budget. To start with, Obama is proposing, for the fourth consecutive year, to repeal Section 199 of the ‘American Jobs Creation Act.’ If enacted, this selectively punitive treatment would increase taxes on oil and natural gas companies by almost $12 billion over the next decade.” President Obama is also proposing the repeal of other tax breaks, write-offs, deductions, and business expenses regardless of the cost to the company as an investment.

Politics & Debate

R&D Budget and Policy Program (AAAS)

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has released the 2012 federal budget’s expenditures for climate research. The total is $19.7 billion with some large recipients being “US Global Change Research Program ($2.6 B), NOAA ($3.6 B), NASA ($1.8 B), NSF ($2.5 B) and the Department of Energy ($8.5 B).” The report, chapter 15, is here (pay subscription).

Poland Opposes EU Environment Ambition (Gariela Baczynska and Barbara Lewis/Reuters, March 7, 2012)

Poland may break rank with the EU by vetoing a proposed carbon reduction by 2050. This comes as no surprise since Poland has just started to produce its own energy by hydraulic fracturing, and its economy is growing.

Is The Fight Against Global Warming Alarmism Hopeless? (Dr. Roy Spencer, February 26, 2012)
“Is the fight against global warming alarmism hopeless? It can seem so. The long-term threat to humanity comes from fears that carbon dioxide, which is necessary for life on Earth to exist, will lead to damaging energy policies, which kill perhaps millions of poor people around the world each year.” But there is a two-fold hope. Market forces constantly reject “green” energy, making it plain that the market is superior, and capable of handling environmental issues. The other hope is time. All environmentalists need do to be shown as frauds is keep talking, and all skeptics need do is stall them and wait for the “doomsday clock” to run out a few more times.

Food & Agriculture

Global Warming Implications of Anthropogenic Nitrogen Inputs Into the Environment (De Vries et al./NIPCC, February 28, 2012)
Environmentalists claim reactive nitrogen compounds, theorized to come mostly from fertilizers, are increasing the greenhouse gas effect in the earth’s atmosphere. But countering evidence shows that while there is increased nitrogen, and it can cause warming, it also increases plant and microbe metabolism. In turn, plants and microbes are more efficient at photosynthesis, thus drawing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, negating the effect of increased nitrogen.

Science & Ecology

The Roman Warm Period vs. The Current Warm Period (Chen, et al./NIPCC, February 29, 2012)
"Frisia et al. (2005) conclude that the 'Roman Classical Period' temperatures were similar or slightly higher than those of today … and they state that the relatively high temperatures reconstructed during the Roman Period ‘are consistent with a reduced glacier extent in the Alps’ …. In addition, they state that based on pollen records in Georgia, ‘a maximum phase of warming in the Holocene is reconstructed between 100 BC and AD 200.’ Given such findings, at least with respect to the southern region of Italy, it would appear that the relatively high temperatures of today are not unique."

UAH Global Temperature Update for February 2012: -0.12 deg. C (Dr. Roy Spencer, March 2, 2012
)
"The global average lower tropospheric temperature anomaly cooled a little more in February, 2012, again not unexpected for the current La Nina conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean."