Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, seeking to influence a United Nations conference on climate change next month, is convening a global summit on greenhouse gas emissions next week in Los Angeles.

His conference, announced six weeks ago, itself will be a sizable source of the gases blamed for contributing to global climate change, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

A U.S. scientist says evidence that global warming is causing a worldwide decline of amphibians might not be as conclusive as previously thought.

Penn State Professor Peter Hudson, co-author of the study, said the massive declines in amphibians around the globe seem to be linked with the chytrid fungus.

Hudson said there are currently two theories on the extinctions. The first suggests the declines were triggered by global warming, which has pushed temperatures to levels optimal for the growth of the chytrid fungus. The second theory posits amphibian declines are simply driven by the introduction and subsequent spread of the fungus from certain locations.

Hudson says his study suggests both theories are slightly wrong, since neither fit available data.

A spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance says the recent passage of a radical global-warming bill in London is a good example of hysteria setting political policy.

Lawmakers in London passed a bill last month that would cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050. As the House of Commons debated the bill, snow fell in London in October for the first time since 1922. However, the bill passed with only three members voting against it.

Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, predicts the cost of the measure will be great.

"Because what's happening is they're going to push up the price of energy -- and energy is used in all economic production," he explains. "And that means that there will be more money spent on energy and less spent on other things, including paying workers and production."

"I look forward to serving in the Obama administration and while I cannot yet reveal what my exact role will be, I can assure you that President-elect Obama and I are eager to get started building a new world," wrote an Al Gore impostor last week.

The statement, published on An Inconvenient Blog, came to my attention Sunday night. It had Al's picture and all the right corporate and nonprofit affiliations. Further examination revealed the falsehood, but for a moment I thought it might be true.

And that's exactly what the impostor wanted me to do — though not, as I found out later, for the reasons I expected.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus

Czech President Vaclav Klaus promoted his book The Blue, not Green Planet during his official state visit to Ireland today.

At the reception at the Dublin City Hall, Mayor Eibhlin Byrne said jokingly she would like to sit at one table with Klaus and former U.S. vice-president Albert Gore whose views on global warming Klaus criticised in his book.

Klaus presented his book to Byrne who described him as a man of strong views whom he admired.

In his book Klaus warns against panic the advocates of the global warming theory are provoking. Klaus believes that the world debate on global warming is absolutely irrational.

Al Gore had an editorial piece printed in the New York times today.  It’s full of typical environmentalist talking points but only half of the truth is provided.  Follow along as I share my comments (in bold) under each of Gore’s paragraphs (in italics) so help break down the truth from the hyperbole.  While I’ll only excerpt parts of the opinion piece, the entire op-ed can be read by following the link at the bottom of this post.

[W]e…must make…an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis.

Imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis?  We’ve had three straight years of lackluster hurricane seasons.  We’ve had two years of record-breaking cold winters.  Global temperatures have fallen greatly from a peak in 1998.  Show me some proof of how imminent this climate crisis truly is, Mr. Gore.

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team has been working for months on a plan to undo many of President George W. Bush’s actions without Obama having to consult with Congress. According to the New York Times, the team has made a list of approximately 200 items, which Obama could reverse immediately after taking office.

…

He will also almost immediately act against global warming, the Times report explains. He might even officially declare that carbon dioxide emissions are endangering human welfare, and he might ‘create a National Energy Council to coordinate all policymaking related to global climate change.’

During his speech at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Al Gore urged president-elect of the United States Barack Obama to take more measures in order to protect the environment from global warming, deeming the current actions aimed at solving this issues as not being drastic enough.

Moreover, Gore stated he believed that Obama should put forward a national plan entailing to get rid of non-renewable energy over the following ten years, thus rendering Americans to get 100 percent of their electricity from renewable and non-carbon sources.

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore compared such a plan to the one John F. Kennedy set out to turn to reality the time he was at the helm of the nation, when he wanted America to land a man on the moon during the 1960s. Furthermore, he added that Barack Obama had the support of a generation of young people who could actually accomplish the mission of dispensing with non-renewable energy, whom had been inspired by his campaign and were looking for a goal to achieve in their life.

Rajendra Pachauri

Last month I witnessed something shocking. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was giving a talk at the University of NSW. The talk was accompanied by a slide presentation, and the most important graph showed average global temperatures. For the past decade it represented temperatures climbing sharply.

As this was shown on the screen, Pachauri told his large audience: "We're at a stage where warming is taking place at a much faster rate [than before]".

Now, this is completely wrong. For most of the past seven years, those temperatures have actually been on a plateau. For the past year, there's been a sharp cooling. These are facts, not opinion: the major sources of these figures, such as the Hadley Centre in Britain, agree on what has happened, and you can check for yourself by going to their websites. Sure, interpretations of the significance of this halt in global warming vary greatly, but the facts are clear.

We're closing the new issue of TNR tonight, so, for now, I'll have to put off writing more about what Obama's big win yesterday means for energy policy and the environment. There's plenty to say, trust me! But in the interim, I have to agree with Jason here and Sam Boyd here that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would be an appalling choice to head up Obama's EPA. (If you believe the rumors, he's emerging as a front-runner, though some reports have him shuffling over to Interior, and of course there's always the possibility this is silly speculation and he's nowhere near the racetrack.)

It's not just that Kennedy was a prime peddler of those baseless—and harmful!—conspiracy theories about vaccines causing autism. The more salient fact is that there's no reason to think he has the managerial chops necessary for this position, despite his distinguished career as a crusading lawyer and eco-activist.

Read rest…

A European Union target to limit warming of the planet to no more than 2 degrees Celsius may not be technically achievable, the International Energy Agency said in a report to be published next week.

"Even leaving aside any debate about the political feasibility ... it is uncertain whether the scale of the transformation envisaged is even technically achievable, as the scenario assumes broad development of technologies that have not yet been proven," said the IEA's World Energy Outlook.

That analysis referred to a target to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees.

The implication is that the world may have to accept higher warming limits than targeted at present, for example by the EU since 1996, and prepare for effects which scientists say will include more droughts, floods and rising seas.

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Big green groups were wholly delighted that voters elected Barack Obama as the next president of the United States on Nov. 4.

Frances Beinecke, President, Natural Resources Defense Council: "It sure feels good once again to be an environmentalist. Just the sight of people going to the polls was a welcome reminder that President Bush's unrelenting assault on our natural heritage will soon come to an end. And if that weren't uplifting enough, there is the stunning outcome of the voting itself. An advocate for the environment, Barack Obama, will be the next president of the United States. Talk about transformation! ... Barack Obama's election is a huge win for everyone exhausted from playing defense. Count us among them. It rekindles our hope that environmental protection may be restored to its rightful place as a treasured American value."

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