Re: Canadian Scientists Warn Of New Ice Age

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:01:50 -0700, mr dude@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Canadian Scientists Fear Global Cooling By Nathan Burchfiel | February
8, 2008 - 16:33 ET

Investor's Business Daily is reporting something we haven't seen much of
in the media since the 1970s: concerns about global cooling. You read
that correctly: cooling.

Kenneth Tapping, a researcher at Canada's National Research Council,
wants to look for evidence of increased sunspot activity, according to
IBD. "The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what
is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of
centuries and can last as long as a century."

A "solar hibernation" in the 17th Century "corresponded with a period of
bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes
of warming, until 1715," IBD reported. "Frigid winters and cold summers
during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in
Northern Europe."

Tapping's concerns fly in the face of the current media drumbeat about
global warming, which would have Americans believe the Earth is on
course for catastrophic climate changes unless the federal government
(i.e. taxpayers) steps in to save the day.

The media have warned of impending climate changes for at least the last
century. Most recently, global warming has been the, er, hot topic. But
in the 1970s it was global cooling.

Could Tapping's concerns be the turning point in the media's
environmentalist crusade? It's more likely the media will simply ignore
- or maybe even viciously attack him - as a global warming "denier" or
equally loaded buzz word commonly used to attack or discredit scientists
and others who don't buy into the global warming catastrophe hype.

mr dude (the Global Warming Nazis are pissed)




Gore Financially Invested in Climate Cause
By Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
May 14, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - Weeks before announcing a $300-million, three-year
advertising campaign to raise awareness about global warming, Al Gore was
conducting a slide show for a group of investors in Monterey, Calif.,
touting companies such as Bloom Energy, Amryis , Mascoma and other firms
that are not household names -- yet.

These bio-fuel and green technology firms could be poised to take off,
Gore told his audience.

"Here are just a few of the investments I personally think make sense,"
he said during the March 1 presentation. "I have a stake in these so I'll
have a disclaimer there." (See Video)

Gore's admitted stake in those companies comes from his partnership in
the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). Gore
joined the firm last November, forging a partnership between KPCB and the
London-based Generation Investment Management, a firm Gore chairs, and
which steers investments in green and "sustainable" companies.

This month, KPCB announced it has invested $500 million into start-up
"green growth" companies, and another $700 million into more established
greentech, information technology and life science ventures.

The seed money is intended to "grow" the companies so they can be
publicly traded. Both funds are closed to further investment. Last week,
Generation Investment Management reportedly closed a $683-million
"Climate Solutions Fund" to further investment.

The firms, with similar goals, differ in that GIM focuses mostly on
public equities, while KPCB focuses on startup or expanding companies
that haven't gone public yet.

But without government action on climate change, some business analysts
say green companies backed by KPCB are either unlikely to be profitable
or that their growth will be slow.

To Gore's critics, his financial stake in businesses that could profit
from government policies designed to fight global warming demonstrates a
motivation other than a selfless desire to protect the planet.

Gore has lobbied Congress and state governments to enact bolder
environmental regulations. Gore's defenders counter that he and his
partners are simply looking at companies that will have long-term
sustainability during the "climate crisis."

"There are a bunch of folks that stand to make real money, who have
invested a lot in companies that are not worth real money until the
agenda that this ad campaign is advocating is achieved," Chris Horner, a
senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-enterprise
think tank, said in an interview.

Companies in the KPCB portfolio, as start-up companies, might be in
greater need of a helping hand from government policy changes, but the
larger, more established firms in the GIM portfolio also could benefit if
the government manipulates the current market by mandating alternative
fuels or imposing a cap and trade system.

As a private citizen, Gore is not required to publicly disclose how much
of his personal fortune is invested in the venture capital firm. KPCB
spokeswoman Brianna Woon declined to say how much Gore had invested in
the firms, and she said the firms couldn't comment at this time on
whether the greentech companies can succeed without government action.

Lack of government action could delay profits, but the free market is
nonetheless moving toward clean energy on its own, said Gary Patterson,
an analyst with the Fiscal Doctor Inc., of Wellesley, Mass. He predicts a
good return for the venture capital firm's green investments.

"It would be very helpful if you have government initiative. Without it,
it will take longer for these to be economically viable," Patterson told
Cybercast News Service

However, Bert Ely, a financial analyst with Ely & Associates of
Alexandria, Va., is skeptical that the kind of green investment portfolio
Gore is advocating can be profitable without government action. History
has shown green companies to be risky ventures, he says

"Wind power, solar and bio-fuels all operate on tax subsidies or purchase
requirements," Ely told Cybercast News Service. "The government
stimulates demand. The most notorious subsidy is the 51 cent gas credit
for ethanol."

"To the extent that you got some kind of government mandate here, whether
it is cap-and-trade or a purchasing requirement, a taxpayer subsidy, to
me that's a dicey way to look for a return on a venture because what the
government giveth it can taketh away -- and often does," Ely said.
"You're making a political bet, not an economic bet."

(A cap and trade system would set limits on the amount of carbon a
company can emit. The limits are called a "cap." If a company has to
exceed the limit, it would be allowed to buy credits from companies that
pollute less. This transfer would be the "trade.")

In public statements, KPCB has pointed to the likelihood of new
government policies as a selling point for investors.

"The growing sense of global urgency over our twin crisis -- climate
change and energy security -- is now driving businesses to become green,
consumers to demand green and policy makers to drive policies to
accelerate the market adoption of green products," KPCB partner John
Denniston said in a May 1 statement announcing the new ventures.

James Ritterbusch, a petroleum analyst and president of Galena, Ill.-
based Ritterbusch & Associates, is skeptical about the ability of the
green firms to succeed without government help.

"It would be a challenge," Ritterbusch told Cybercast News Service .
"Ethanol would be a model. It was very difficult for ethanol to make
inroads at all. Without a subsidy, it's an uphill battle."

Gore's 'We campaign'

Gore's ad campaign, titled "We," includes several commercials. In one of
them, the conservative Rev. Pat Robertson joins the liberal Rev. Al
Sharpton in calling for action to stop global warming. Another TV ad
features former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich and current
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warning about the danger of climate
change.

Neither Gore's Nashville-based office nor his non-profit organization
Alliance for Climate Protection (ACP), which is sponsoring the campaign,
responded to inquiries for this report.

The non-profit ACP has partnerships with United Steel Workers of American
and the Girl Scouts of America, among others.

The ACP's Web site says the advertising effort is not just intended to
lobby for legislation.

"The We campaign is not about supporting a particular bill or
resolution," the site says. "It is about stimulating a cultural shift
around this issue. Unfortunately, our leaders won't take the bold steps
necessary until the American people demand real change. The We campaign
is designed to catalyze this shift in public awareness and engagement."

Green business 'will make money'

Last November KPCB and Generation Investment Management announced a
"global collaboration to find, fund and accelerate green businesses,
technology and policy solutions with the greatest potential to help solve
the current climate crisis."

When Gore joined KPCB as a partner, KCPB's John Doerr joined the
Generation Investment Management advisory board.

GIM's long-term strategy for investing goes further than environmental
factors, said company spokesman Richard Campbell. He said other
sustainability factors, such as corporate governance and staff retention,
also play a role.

"It's too simple to say that. It's just too simplistic. Generation's
success is not based on a cap and trade system in the U.S.," Campbell
told Cybercast News Service.

"I don't think you can read anything into Al Gore's campaign to make
people understand the severity of the climate crisis for the last few
decades with the performance of the fund management business that he
chairs," Campbell continued.

The GIM portfolio includes investments in firms such as Johnson Controls,
which could profit from the battery systems for low-carbon emissions
vehicles in the future. It also includes General Electric, which has
teamed with the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), an
alliance promoting a cap and trade system to the United States.

Campbell said the purpose of GIM is to make money for its investors, and
anticipating the climate crisis is one way of doing that.

"Generation believes that the climate crisis will have an enormous impact
on financial services, will have an enormous impact on business,"
Campbell continued. "Those businesses that are best able to take
advantage of the opportunity for climate change will make money and those
business that aren't ready to face up to the challenges of the climate
crisis will lose money. That is the basic premise about long term
investment."

Other companies in the Generation portfolio are Metabolix, a firm that
develops bio-plastics, and alternative fuels; Waters Inc., a laboratory
company that provides products for health care delivery, environmental
management food safety and water quality; and Techne Corporation, which
manufactures biological products.

"He's already in the global warming business," Matthew Vadum told
Cybercast News Service . Vadum is a research associate for the Capital
Research Center, a conservative think tank that has investigated Gore's
financial interests in the global warming movement. "I believe Al Gore is
a true believer, but he also is a smart businessman."

** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
.

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