Monday smile: Stop Anthropogenic Solar Cooling Now! - As most scientists know, the Earth emits as much radio energy as a small star and with the advent of WiFi, Bluetooth and the iPhone, we as a society are continually emitting ever increasing amounts of electromagnetic (EM) transmissions. These EM emissions are interacting with the solar wind, forcing it back upon itself and therefore interfering with the Sun’s ability to generate sunspots. This is predicted by peer-reviewed models showing ever lower solar cycles in the future and is proven by the delayed start of cycle 24. (Here I go again)

House Democrats Push Climate Tax While Negotiating Fiscal Bailout - They just don’t get it

During a week where Americans were focused on perhaps the greatest economic challenges this country has faced in over a generation, House Democrats released a set of principles on October 2nd that outline an aggressive plan to cap greenhouse gas emissions. The plan could be even more economically restrictive than the failed Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which would have cost $6.7 trillion dollars, according to the bill’s own sponsors. That $6.7 trillion cost would have been passed on to families and workers across the country in the form of higher gas prices, higher electricity and heating/cooling bills, more expensive consumer goods, and higher workplace costs.

As we learned during this past summer’s debate on the failed Lieberman-Warner global warming cap-and-trade bill and with the recent victory on offshore drilling, the appetite of the American people to unlock America’s affordable energy resources is very strong. When it comes to being in touch with Americans, the House Democrats need a reality check. The current financial crisis only reinforces the public’s wariness about any climate bill that attempts to increase the costs of energy and jeopardizes jobs. (EPW Press Blog)

House passes $700B “bailout bill†- CO2 Tax issues included (Watts Up With That?)

Who Is In Charge, Karl Marx or the Marx Brothers? - Last January I wrote a column entitled: Are Polar Bears Edible? I pointed out that during good times, people worry about whether polar bears will have ice in one-hundred years—but when times are tough we wonder whether the bears are tasty.

I suggested that in the event of a worldwide financial crisis, we would likely focus our collective attention on government spending, and whether the corporate directors legally responsible for doing so were protecting our investments. In short, Americans would not worry much about whether companies were being socially responsible; we would worry about whether they were being financially responsible. (Nick Nichols, Townhall)

Main Street vs. Wall Street - The financial bailout isn’t as bad as Main Street thinks. It’s worse.

Main Street remains suspicious of government plans to buy distressed mortgage assets. Leading politicians and newspaper editorials are struggling to explain how the financial bailout will help Main Street. They see that the challenge is to get the American people to come around.

In fact, it is the elites who are badly misguided. The reality is that the Paulson plan is nothing more than a government assistance package for a declining industry. It has been embraced eagerly by Democratic politicians who welcome the enhanced power they will enjoy as a result of merging Big Finance with Big Government.

The American people are being given two reasons to support the bailout, namely, that it is needed to prevent another Great Depression and that it will actually earn a profit for taxpayers. Both rationales are suspect.

The most credible evidence that the Main Street economy is in danger is that “Ben Bernanke is worried, so everyone should be worried.†In fact, no economic textbook, including Bernanke’s, offers any theory that predicts depression as a result of consolidation in the financial sector. (Arnold Kling, The American)

Not rocket science: Biden's Fantasy World - Sarah Palin may not know as much about the world, but at least most of what she knows is true. (Wall Street Journal)

Environment Minister's views on climate change "bizarre" - In his efforts to attack the "green gang", the Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson, puts himself at odds with the global scientific community and paints an inaccurate and misleading picture of the scientific evidence.

While he accepts that climate change is occurring, the Minister implies that the recent rise in global average temperature is part of a natural cycle and may be attributable to changes in solar activity. That is not what the scientific community has concluded. (Bob Ward, News Letter)

Yes, global warming "is just propaganda" - Worldwide interest in my quite run-of-the-mill comment, on the need to debate the manmade global warming hypothesis, is pleasing but not surprising. It confirms that my fellow science writers have miscalculated badly. Most readers don't want endless scare stories about climatic doom, accompanied by authoritarian lectures about their carbon footprints. They're hungry for a variety of opinions.

Unfortunately only 1% of the huge number of articles on climate change in the posh London newspapers deviate from the official line of the Intergovernmental Panel. That's not my reckoning. It comes from researchers at Oxford University who complain about the more balanced reporting in the not-so-posh papers, with a deviancy rate of 23%. They say it has 'skewed public understanding of human contributions to climate change'. In other words, kindly abandon the journalistic principle that different points of views should be heard on controversial matters, or else a lot of dreadful people out there (you or me) may not truly believe that climate change is their fault.

Yes, you've got it. Man-made global warming is just propaganda. My father Ritchie Calder was a science writer too, but during the Second World War he played a leading part in Allied propaganda against Nazi Germany. He told me quite a lot about the tricks, employed in what was then a good cause. Now I watch them being used every day by the global wamers. (Nigel Calder, News Letter)

I'll Gladly Pay You Tuesday . . .  - The Kyoto industry has been a windfall to those major-emitting countries that insisted on exemption, such as South Korea, China, India, Brazil, and Mexico, for the very same reason it has been a financial drag on the economies of the small handful of countries (35) that claimed they would do . . . something. That is, most of the “reduction†promises were no such thing, thanks to a 1990 baseline tailored to accommodate subsequent economic collapse by half of the 35.

So, a very few countries claimed to reduce emissions, which in practice has universally meant transferring wealth to other people to develop more cleanly or with less energy intensity. (Chris Horner, Planet Gore)

During Seattle Visit, Czech Republic President Cites EU's Crippling Effect on Democracy - Wednesday night Václav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, addressed 1,100 guests of Washington Policy Center at the organization's 2008 Annual Dinner in Seattle. His remarks are available online. (John Barnes, Seattle Politics Examiner)

Seas turn to acid as they soak up CO2 - The Bay of Naples is renowned for its breathtaking beauty and glittering clear waters. For centuries, tourists have flocked to the region to experience its glories.

But beneath the waves, scientists have uncovered an alarming secret. They have found streams of gas bubbling up from the seabed around the island of Ischia. 'The waters are like a Jacuzzi - there is so much carbon dioxide fizzing up from the seabed,' said Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, of Plymouth University. 'Millions of litres of gas bubble up every day.' (The Observer)

“Surface Temperature Cooling Trends and Negative Radiative Forcing Due to Land Use Change Toward Greenhouse Farming in Southeastern Spain†By Campra Et Al 2008 - An excellent new paper has appeared. It is Campra, P., M. Garcia, Y. Canton, and A. Palacios-Orueta, 2008: Surface temperature cooling trends and negative radiative forcing due to land use change toward greenhouse farming in southeastern Spain,J. Geophys. Res., 113, D18109, doi:10.1029/2008JD009912. (Roger Pielke Sr., Climate Science)

'Supreme threat of gorebull warming'? Oh puh-lease! Slicing up Whitehall - Merging the energy and climate departments sells short the supreme threat of global warming (Peter Preston, The Guardian)

That New Climate Department - So, in today’s reshuffle of the UK Cabinet, Gordon Brown has decided to establish a new ‘Energy and Climate Department’ to be headed by Ed Miliband, brother of our ‘Warmista’ Foreign Secretary, David Miliband [‘Greens welcome new climate dept’, BBC Online Science and Environment News, October 3]. Oh dear! I fear that such a Department is going to need an awful lot of Ministers and Parliamentary Under Secretaries. On this question, I have already consulted Sir Humphrey Appleby GCB, KBE , MVO, MA (Oxon), no less, who is horrified at the large number of politicians who might have to be promoted (although, of course, he welcomes the staffing implications for more civil servants). (Global Warming Politics)

Stupidity: MPs tipped to call for greater cut in UK emissions - The UK's independent climate change committee is expected to recommend next week that the government sets a binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, campaigners say.

The increase in the target from 60%, hinted at by the prime minister, Gordon Brown, in his party conference speech last month, would bring the UK in line with several other governments including Germany, France and California, although the British target would have the strongest enforcement. (The Guardian)

Where's Al Gore now? - Obviously, Al Gore's personal "carbon footprint" is massive. As I dug deeper into Gore's own energy use, even I was surprised at the extent of the absolutely cartoonish gap between his words and his actions.

Remember, Al doesn't think that you should have the right to make your own hallway light bulb choice. (Tom Nelson)

Watermelons trying to reach into your pocket, again: New charges on shipping could help climate - Billions of dollars could be raised to help the poorest countries cope with and tackle climate change under proposals to be floated in London this week for new charges on international shipping.

Opponents fear the charges - in the form of a fuel tax or selling permits to pollute - will raise the cost of food imports, especially for small island states that depend on trade to feed their populations. (The Guardian)

Oh boy... Go to a climate party — change your lifestyle - Open your front door to friends and the future of the planet. The climate party is the new Tupperware party in Sweden, where the only thing on offer is a change of lifestyle. (Christine Demsteader, Sweden)

Green Shift: Eco issues take back seat to market mayhem - Calgarian Mark Leigh believes he does his part for the environment: he is a devoted cyclist and volunteers at two bicycle co-operatives so others can ride for a small cost.

But during this federal election campaign, Leigh, 24, does not feel environmental issues are prominent enough.

"It definitely gets buried," said Leigh, who works as head of stage carpentry and rigging at Theatre Junction Grand and bikes to work every day, "because it's such an economy-driven city." (Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald)

Hold the front page on who's causing climate change - LIKE many, I'm finding it hard to decide whether climate change is a man-made phenomenon or part of a natural order, a natural cycle of things.

But it seems as if there can be no debate about this. Dare to challenge the "inconvenient truth", that global warming, leading to climate change, is man-made, and heaven help you. In ages gone by, it seems you either died of the black plague, were drowned as a witch or burned as a heretic. Life choices were thus somewhat limited.

Isn't there now a little of "Middle Ages" intolerance in the climate change debate? (David Purchase, The Age)

Winds are Dominant Cause of Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheet Losses - Two new studies summarised in a news article in Science magazine point to wind-induced circulation changes in the ocean as the dominant cause of the recent ice losses through the glaciers draining both the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, not ‘global warming.’ (Climate Research News)

Watts Up With That? has a nice animation to go with the above.

Record South Pole Ozone Hole Predicted - CHURCHVILLE, VA—A Canadian scientist says the largest known hole in the ozone will occur over the South Pole in the next week. If that happens, it will help us understand global warming.

Dr. Qing-Bin Lu, of Canada’s University of Waterloo, says NASA satellites and laboratory measurements show cosmic rays are the real cause of the seasonal hole in the earth’s ozone layer over the Antarctic. Cosmic rays are tiny, invisible, high-energy particles from exploding stars which constantly strike the earth—and people. Cosmic rays probably cause some of our cancers, by altering the DNA inside our bodies.

However, if Dr. Qing-Bin Lu and others are correct, they also are connected to climate change. The number of cosmic rays hitting the earth varies sharply based on the activity level of the sun and the size of the magnetic wind it projects out into space. A weak sun means a weak magnetic wind and more cosmic rays striking earth. Britain’s BBC recently reported that the solar wind is now blowing at the weakest rate in more than 50 years, and is also 13 percent cooler than it was 15 years ago. (Dennis T. Avery, CGFI)

Less 'flu is 'a concern' now? Global warming impact on flu bug concerns experts - A warmer Earth likely means less flu, but determining just how much less is a "wicked problem," the dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health told a standing room-only crowd of more than 100 people Friday at Science 2008.

It was the eighth year for the free symposium that draws scientists and people interested in science.

Several experiments and studies conclude that climate change will impact infectious diseases worldwide, said Dr. Donald Burke, but scientists need to devise better models and solid numbers before they can make a convincing case for action to the public. (Tribune-Review)

That poor virtual world: Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission preparing for effects of climate change - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is looking for ways to limit climate change's impact on wildlife. (Miami Herald)

New Solar Cycle Not Packing Much Punch - I found a reference to this article while looking at Leif Svalgaard’s website, and since I missed it the first time around, and because the message is still valid, I thought I’d reprint it here. Also, the artwork they provided a hi-res link to makes a great desktop wallpaper. - Anthony (Watts Up With That?)

How not to measure temperature part 72: Italian Style - People send me things, its always interesting to see what comes in the inbox daily: (Watts Up With That?)

Gore links Iowa floods to climate change - Iowa's recent natural disasters are connected to global climate change, former Vice President Al Gore said in a speech at the state Democratic Party's annual fall fundraiser Saturday. (Des Moines Register)

Gore demonstrates he doesn’t understand basic meteorology, much less climate - Gore links Iowa floods and tornadoes to climate change, but makes a basic error on global temperature to evaporation linkage, plus he misses the real reason behind imagined tornado increases. (Watts Up With That?)

Media mythology: Economic turmoil could scupper EU climate plans - As if the European Union's attempts to curb carbon dioxide emissions had not drawn enough criticism, the current economic turmoil is bringing further attempts to weaken European climate protection policies. (NewScientist.com news service)

A changed climate: The European Union is struggling to deliver on its promises to cut carbon emissions - JUST 18 months ago the European Union promised to save the world from climate change. A final plan to deliver on those promises must be finished soon. But it is in deep trouble.

The conclusions of the March 2007 summit proclaiming the EU’s “leading role†on climate change make for wistful reading today. They begin “Europe is currently enjoying an economic upswing,†and add that growth forecasts are “positiveâ€. Back in that long-lost golden age, the EU’s leaders were in heroic mood. They offered binding promises known as the 20/20/20 pledges. By the year 2020, they would cut Europe’s carbon emissions by at least a fifth over 1990 levels; derive 20% of all energy from renewable sources; and make energy-efficiency savings of 20%.

The heroic mood is gone now. (The Economist)

Ecologists fear EU diluting climate change battle plans - European Union plans to tackle climate change reach a crucial phase on Tuesday with votes in the EU parliament, amid fears among green groups that pressure from industry is watering the proposals down. (AFP)

Six EU states ready to block climate plan: Poland - WARSAW - Poland has assembled a blocking minority among the European Union members enabling them to stall Brussels' climate package, Polish officials said.

Poland and Greece reached an agreement late on Thursday, following a similar accord with Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, that more debate was needed on the EU's package of climate measures. (Reuters)

EU climate change cuts: Poland leads revolt over Russia fears - Poland has claimed that it has assembled enough votes to block a landmark EU climate change agreement after spearheading a revolt by Eastern European states that fear the package would increase their dependence on Russian natural gas supplies. (Daily Telegraph)

Poles To Freeze Brussels’ Sprouts - I am delighted to say that many of the newer entrants to the European Union are exhibiting a far more robust approach to potentially-damaging ‘global warming’ politics and economics than ‘moules-frites-in-the-sky’ Brussels. As widely reported, Poland has now assembled a ‘blocking minority’ among EU member states sufficient to stall Brussels’ unrealistic climate-change packages [see, for example: ‘EU climate change cuts: Poland leads revolt over Russia fears’, The Daily Telegraph, October 3; ‘Six EU states ready to block climate plan: Poland’, Reuters, October 3]. (Global Warming Politics)

'Taxing' farts and burps - Committed to the Kyoto Protocol, New Zealand promised to cut its emissions to 1990 levels. The country's biggest source is methane from cattle, and as Stephen Evans discovers, the issue is raising a stink among local farmers. (BBC)

Climate change stocks fall more than wider markets - LONDON - Shares in companies specializing in curbing greenhouse gas emissions, including energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, have tumbled faster than wider markets this year, indices showed.

"It would be easy to blame the credit crunch, which certainly has made it more difficult for project developers in wind and solar to raise debt finance," said Michael Liebreich, chairman and CEO of research firm New Energy Finance on Friday.

Another contributory factor was a correction in high valuations for some renewable energy companies, said Liebreich. (Reuters)

Peru Studies Climate Riddle as the World Heats Up - LIMA - Scientists are using everything from a yellow submarine to weather balloons and special airplanes to solve a climate conundrum: why is Peru getting colder while the rest of the world heats up? (Reuters)

More virtual world guessing: Fish stock at risk in climate change - CLIMATE change is likely to hit supplies of many of Australia's favourite eating fish, including barramundi, salmon, rock lobster and prawns, the most extensive study on the subject yet undertaken by the Federal Government has warned.

The CSIRO study, commissioned by the Department of Climate Change and to be released today, reports the overall impact of global change "will pose some very significant risks to the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in Australia". (Sydney Morning Herald)

Wild guess #... Climate change ‘will cut water supplies’ - Householders will have to reduce their consumption of water by a third or more over the next 40 years because climate change will cause river levels to slump, new research has shown.

Average river flows will be 10 to 15 per cent lower than at present, according to a study by Ian Barker, head of water resources at the Bristol-based Environment Agency. The study overturns the assumption by climate-change modellers that while summer and winter rainfall patterns will alter, the overall quantity will remain much the same. (The Times)

While simultaneously causing more floods, no doubt: Britain's rivers could run dry - Britain's rivers could nearly run dry because long hot summers caused by climate change will not be sufficiently compensated by wetter winters, researchers predict. It is a scenario that would endanger wildlife and send household water bills soaring.

Flows in the Mersey and Severn are likely to be reduced in summer by up to 80 per cent by 2050, according to a study by the Environment Agency. The Thames's flow is likely to decline by up to 50 per cent during the same period. (The Observer)

UCS says so? So what? Report warns Pennsylvania about global warming effects - Apples and sweet corn, brook trout and smallmouth bass, fall foliage and winter snow cover will all disappear from Pennsylvania if emissions causing global warming continue at their current rates, according to a detailed, state-specific climate change report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. (Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Billions of Barrels Could Mean Trillions of Government Dollars; Media AWOL - Old Media's coverage of the recently-lifted executive and congressional bans on offshore exploration and drilling for oil and natural gas largely overlooked an important element that should have been very relevant to the discussion.

Supporters of lifting the bans surely share much of the blame for only rarely citing it. Though they have frequently noted the hundreds of billions of dollars a years annually sent overseas to pay for oil that could have been extracted here, they have mostly missed a golden opportunity to tell the American people what over a quarter-century of drilling bans has cost the government and taxpayers. They also generally failed to tell us about the windfall that awaits if the end of the offshore and other bans finally leads to appropriately aggressive use of this country's God-given resources.

But if we had inquisitive financial reporters in the business press who were interested in information relevant to the "Drill Baby Drill" debate instead of merely repackaging the press releases they received from those on both sides (the sole exception I found was this Wall Street Journal editorial), many more Americans would have long ago learned about what follows. (Tom Blumer, NewsBusters)

EDITORIAL: Drill, and drill now - Barack Obama and John McCain have been talking about finding new forms of energy, bringing down its cost and finding alternatives to oil. At the recent Clinton Global Initiative summit, both addressed how they would solve an energy "crisis" that has led to pain at the pump for Middle America. Unfortunately, offshore-drilling prospects remain entangled in red tape and legal challenges.

A Gallup poll last month revealed that only 1 percent of McCain supporters and 2 percent of Obama supporters consider energy their most important issue. Yet, the cost of energy plays a significant role in the overall health of the economy. It stands to reason that if gas and electricity are more expensive, these costs will be reflected in the prices of everyday items. (Washington Times)

Gas Pains for the Environment - Common sense dictates that some of the more important keys to American energy independence are: more oil exploration and drilling; more natural gas exploration and drilling; more nuclear plants; more wind farms and solar panels—but not more bio fuels because diversion of corn and other plant life to the fuel market increases food prices more than is reasonable.

T Boone Pickens—with the concurrence of Aubrey K McClendon—both bigwigs in the Oil and Natural Gas industries—has created a plan for our energy independence. I checked it out on both their websites. Steven Milloy of JunkScience.com has covered the subject of Picken’s Plan in detail on Townhall about the Iran claims and several other misrepresentations. I’ll take a different tack here. (SmartGreenUSA)

An Energy-Fraud Twofer Insult: Measure Dictates Renewable Energy Use - Oct. 3--Proposition 7's arrogance should offend every Californian. Its two alleged benefits are that it will "reduce the rising costs of energy" and "limit the dangers of global warming."

First, the more-obvious canard: Even if you buy the theory that man-made greenhouse gas emissions create higher global temperatures, which we don't, the certainty of growing reliance on fossil fuels by developing nations alone would far outweigh whatever relatively meager emission reductions California might accomplish through Prop. 7.

The other preposterous claim that Prop. 7 will "reduce the rising costs of energy," is, at best, wishful thinking. The independent state Legislative Analyst concluded, "Higher electricity rates are more likely in the short term," and "the same cost factors ... might also lead to higher long-run electricity rates." So much for reducing energy costs. (Appeal-Democrat)

Solar hopes up in smoke - JOHN POPPINS has many investments, but his proudest sits on his roof. The retired engineer has $30,000 worth of solar panels on his Mount Waverley home, a personal power station that covers all his home energy needs and then some. He's not, he says, a guy who likes to "put his hand out". But it's people like Poppins who, you might think, deserve some payment for the excess clean electricity they feed back into the community. (The Age)

Brazil announces more oil and gas proven reserves - Brazil’s oil and gas government managed corporation Petrobras announced the proven presence of oil in a well south of the Santos Basin, in sandy reservoirs above the salt layer. The discovery confirms the good light oil potential in the shallow water portion of the basin, said Petrobras in a brief release from last Friday. (Mercopress)

ENAP exploring for coal methane gas in Magallanes - Chile is exploring for methane gas from the abundant coal reserves in the extreme south region of Magallanes, more precisely 80 kilometers to the north of Punta Arenas. (Mercopress)

European carmakers plead for £32bn loan to meet green target - Carmakers are pushing the European commission for a €40bn (£32bn) "green" bail-out plan to help them meet stringent EU limits on carbon emissions, it emerged yesterday. (The Guardian)

Dutch city kept warm by hot-water mines - In an age of rapidly rising fuel bills the discovery of vast supplies of free hot water sounds too good to be true. But that is exactly what one Dutch city has found to run the radiators of hundreds of homes, shops and offices.

Heerlen, in the southern province of Limburg, has created the first geothermal power station in the world, using water naturally heated in the deep shafts of old coalmines — which once provided the southern Netherlands with thousands of jobs but have been dormant since the 1970s. (The Times)

Another myth exposed: the "epidemic of childhood obesity and poor health in Australia" - Just as in the United Kingdom and the United States, the myth of a growing epidemic of obesity and disease among Australia’s children and teens has been shown false by its government’s own statistics. It was only this past summer when Australia’s fat bomb was resoundingly defused. Now, as proposals to address Australia’s “childhood obesity epidemic†become increasingly extreme, costly and unsupported — from mandatory after school sports exercise programs for the nation’s school children to banning advertisements for breakfast cereals — two new government reports reveal that an epidemic of childhood obesity is a myth and that Australia’s children and young people are healthier than ever… (Junkfood Science)

Healthcare on the government - The Federal Parliament's House Standing Committee on Health and Ageing began its Inquiry into Obesity in Australia on March 19th. It has received more than one hundred submissions from stakeholders with proposals for addressing obesity — Remember the submission from the Baker Heart Research Institute, Australia’s Future Fat Bomb? — and has been conducting a series of public hearings. Among the presenters at this past week’s public hearing were Queensland Health and the Centre for Burden of Disease and Cost-Effectiveness. (Junkfood Science)

How about some science to go along with your cereal? - Are added sugars and foods low in fiber bad for kids and lead them to become fat?

Researchers with the Dortmund Nutritional Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study — the large German study that began recruiting waves of infants in 1985 and has recorded detailed information on the diets, growth and development, and metabolism of more than 1,200 children from infancy to adulthood — specifically examined the effect of carbohydrate quality and fiber intake on the development of body fat composition in early childhood.

Hundreds of media stories around the world have been reporting that breakfast cereals with milk and their cartoons characters loved by generations of kids are now villains for promoting “unhealthy†diets and contributing to an epidemic of obesity. But this study has received nary a blip in the news.

So, on behalf of children and worried parents, here’s the research media ignored. (Junkfood Science)

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Killing Malarial Mosquitos Now! - Not long ago, most Americans thought malaria had disappeared from Planet Earth. Few remembered that it had killed thousands every year in the United States, into the 1940s – or that it was once prevalent in New Jersey, Ohio, California and the South, as well as in Europe and even Siberia.

All but a handful knew this preventable disease was killing an African child every 30 seconds – a million every year. Almost none realized malaria was still a global problem largely because of strident environmentalist opposition to insecticides and DDT to control mosquitoes that spread the disease. (Paul Driessen, Townhall)

Weather Eye: A gloomy October is bad for our health - It looks as if October is about to become a lot gloomier, with unsettled conditions lasting for another week and possibly longer. Following on from the dullest August on record in Britain, there are concerns about the effects of the lack of sunshine on our health.

Ultraviolet rays in sunlight convert a type of cholesterol in the skin to vitamin D. Much of the vitamin is made in the summer and becomes depleted through the winter. But there is a growing problem with a lack of vitamin D across the British population, particularly children, pregnant women, the elderly, dark-skinned people and anyone who covers up their skin.



Rickets was largely eradicated in industrialised countries in the 1920s, using ultraviolet light to irradiate foods such as milk. These days the coal smoke has gone and there is a lot more sunshine but the problem is that most of us spend too much time indoors. And this summer’s appalling gloom made the situation even worse.

The effects of a healthy supply of vitamin D are astonishing. Not only is it involved in making healthy bones, but it may protect against several types of cancer, multiple sclerosis and diabetes, and boosts the immune system.

Vitamin D can be found in oily fish, liver, egg yolk and fortified margarine [and fortified milk]. (The Times) We have been here before. In the 1800s, lack of vitamin D caused rickets, widespread in smog-ridden cities. “A perennial pall of smoke . . . cut off from narrow streets a large proportion of the rays which struggle through the gloom,†wrote the British scientist Theobald Palm. He realised how the lack of sunlight explained why the poorest children were most likely to have rickets and he recommended sunbathing to prevent the problem.

Hmm... where to begin? Failure to fight ozone pollution 'puts lives in danger' - Human health and food production are being damaged because too little is being done to control worldwide ozone levels, a report by the Royal Society says.

Ozone forms a protective layer that helps to block ultraviolet radiation high in the atmosphere, but at ground level it is a significant pollutant and a contributor to global warming.

Regulations to control the gas have been introduced by Britain and other industrialised nations but it is still present in quantities well above safe levels, largely because it is carried by air currents from other parts of the world. Levels close to the ground have risen 6 per cent each decade since the 1980s, the Royal Society says in its report, which calls for concerted international action. (The Times)

A 60-year-old scandal, an eminent botanist and a plant that was planted - THE discovery of a rare plant on the Isle of Rum in the 1940s led scientists to question whether the Ice Age had ever reached the Scottish isles. Now, more than half a century later, it has emerged that the man credited with finding the plant had grown it in his Newcastle garden before replanting it in the Inner Hebrides. (The Scotsman)

Sheesh! Price rises to force cuts in water use - Ministers want householders to cut their water consumption by a fifth using compulsory metering and sharply rising prices.

Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, aims to cut use by 30 litres a day per person by 2030. He has said the current daily consumption of 150 litres is unsustainable and should be reduced to 120 litres.

The proposed cut is the deepest in the history of the water industry, reversing years of rising consumption.

It is likely to mean sweeping changes in the way water is priced and paid for, including compulsory metering, water labelling for “wet goods†such as washing machines and dishwashers and incentives to restrict flow from taps and showers. (Sunday Times)

God save the Queen! Really, really long may She reign! Charles targets GM crop giants in fiercest attack yet - In a provocative address to an Indian audience, the Prince echoes Gandhi with a stinging attack on 'commerce without morality'. Geoffrey Lean reports

It is less than two months since Prince Charles was on the receiving end of a fusillade of scientific, political and commentariat criticism for voicing, yet again, his concerns about GM crops and foods. He was widely accused of "ignorance" and "Luddism"; of being too rich to care about the hungry, and even of trying to increase sales of his own organic produce. It was put about that Gordon Brown was angered by his intervention.

Yet the Prince has responded by stepping up his campaign, making his most anti-GM speech yet, in delivering – by video – the Sir Albert Howard Memorial Lecture to the Indian pressure group Navdanya last Thursday. And he made it clear that he was going to continue. "The reason I keep sticking my 60-year-old head above an increasingly dangerous parapet is not because it is good for my health," he said " but precisely because I believe fundamentally that unless we work with nature, we will fail to restore the equilibrium we need in order to survive on this planet." (The Independent)

The war over GM is back. Is the truth any clearer? - Genetically modified foods were sidelined in Britain 10 years ago amid a furious assault on 'Frankenstein foods'. Now climate change and world hunger have placed them back on the agenda. The ferocious debate is again splitting the science, political and environmental communities. But, asks Observer food expert Jay Rayner, what's the real truth about GM? (Jay Rayner, The Observer)

SOUTH AFRICA: GM Sorghum Test Approved - JOHANNESBURG, Oct 3 - As Africa grapples with the question of food insecurity, biotechnology buffs seem to have an answer: genetically modified crops that could feed a continent vulnerable to famine and food deficits. But environmentalists warn of new dangers.

An appeal board recently overturned opposition from the South African GMO Executive Council to allow testing of a nutritionally enhanced, genetically modified sorghum, known as 'Super Sorghum' in greenhouses in Pretoria.

The application by the Council for Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) -- and endorsed by South Africa's Minister of Land Affairs and Agriculture -- was successful at the second attempt when the applicant supplied additional information that it would meet biosafety requirements for the laboratory trials. (IPS)