As Japan burns more coal, climate policies under pressure

Not a word about the critical issue of climate change during the recent election from the ruling bunch. The country so closely associate with the Kyoto Protocol is now a leading climate criminal.

After close to 20 years of global cooling, the media scribblers still go on about "global warming". Amazing.

Japan burn fossil fuel, you have issue Japan use nuclear power, you have issue There is no pleasing all I guess!

Japan is less than 1% of the world's population so I hardly think Japan really has that big a responsibility.

Kyushubill:

Japan is less than 1% of the world's population so I hardly think Japan really has that big a responsibility.

The size of the population is irrelevant - it's the size of the economy and how much consumption/poluution a country creates - their environmental footprint.

“We expect Japan would certainly come up with an ambitious target for the post-2020 period. That is not just China’s expectation I think it is the expectation of the world,” said China’s delegation leader Su Wei at climate talks taking place in Lima ahead of a 2015 U.N. summit in Paris (COP21).........facepalm.....I never expected stand up comedy from Su Wei, especially after the global number one polluter has flagrantly refused to submit to any transparency or scrutiny on measuring its own emissions. Enough to make Voldemort blush.

kyushubill: Japan is less than 1% of the world's population so I hardly think Japan really has that big a responsibility.

AGW pundit Al Gore and IPCC chair R. K. Pachauri each have carbon footprints the size of small towns in Africa, now do you see the problem?

Anybody who thinks that the "global warming" brouhaha by politicians has anything to do with science is fooling themselves. This is a power and taxation grab and nothing more.

The future our environment, the methods of energy provision and consumption, has indeed been hijacked by a cynical polical agenda, the inherently socialist political methodology is evident in the policy being agressivily purposed by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change without any mandate.

Japan has been a preacher to India about Nukes, Carbon emission etc while 1% of world population emit morre pollution than India's population which is 1.2 billion. Now hard reality stares its face. Now it will understand India and other Asian nations and their security concerns vis avis China.

Sorry johann, a quick google search proves you wrong. India produces more pollution and more carbon dioxide than Japan :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions

http://www.numbeo.com/pollution/rankings_by_country.jsp

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/08/world/asia/india-pollution-who/

In fact, 10 of the top 20 cities with the most polluted air are in India.

WilliB: This is a power and taxation grab and nothing more.

What logic does this comment follow? - taxation grab by who? the scientis? the UN? But isn't it the governments who are dragging their feet with regards global warming yet, are the very same ones already with the power and rights to tax?

It is not the green house gases but the pollution. The increased pollution will sicken hundreds of thousands and kill outright tens of thousands.

The planet is heading into a 30 year mini ice age so this talk of global warming is incorrect still, the global warming bunch have been proved wrong many times over. The climate changes, as it always has since the beginning of time.

This carbon scheme and others like them are all about increasing the tax take, china india the US emit more than japan, NZ got tricked into the carbon tax aussie rejected it. Some are smart some are just smarting.

The planet is heading into a 30 year mini ice age so this talk of global warming is incorrect still, the global warming bunch have been proved wrong many times over. The climate changes, as it always has since the beginning of time.

well aren't we aft JT lucky to have some back on the Internet to tell us the truth since the 96% of scientists who spend their careers studying the matter can't seem to get it right. Good thing this hack can tell us the truth!

I am totally committed to the pursuit of clean sustainable renewable energy. There are vested interests, NGO's, political activists, who want to associate climate change to the conflict of social justice and to the fight against global poverty. These causes must be separated from climate change and presented at the ballot box. Government must concentrate on the development of the next generation power sources that will replace fossil fuels without fear or favour, or the interference of political lobby groups.

If I remember rightly the USA didn't want to joint the Kyoto agreement because it would mean that they would have to reduce there green house emisions, I still can't get my head around why you need a V8 or V12 8-12 ltr engine in a car when the speed limit is around 55-60 MPH, no wonder they call them gas guzzlers. In fact you can get more BHP out of a small engine with modern technology. So America when are you going to stop dictating to the rest of the world on emissions and come into line?

Japan should indeed invest on R&D "storage energy" plants technology and add more solar but the reality is Monopoly Electricity providers fighting the green energy (remember how they decided to no longer buy solar energy provided by independent providers) & certainly planing using CO2 emission as a reason to start their old aging nuclear reactors since they want to be sure to have a grip on your electricity and continue to charge what they want.

The only constant thing about the world's climate is that it constantly changes. For not one moment in the past hundreds of millions of years has the climate not changed, so exactly how does one fight climate change?

Anyone else here bothered to read any of the UN's climate reports? Anyone? For those of you who believe in climate change, have you gone to the trouble to read the gospel? Or do you simply listen to the priests? Each and every IPCC report has used computer models to predict future climate change. There are 36 models, can guess how many have correctly predicted the last 25 years of global temperature? Not a single one. None were even remotely close.

The US government has funded climate change research to the tune of $165 billion, spending $22.5 billion last year alone. How much was spent to debunk climate change by industry groups? If you do the math, you come up with about $90 million per year. If you are a scientist, and you need funding (as most scientists do), all you need to do to get a fat grant is somehow relate your research to climate change. If you do a search on any particular science, and cross-reference that science with climate change, you would be surprised at how many scientists have tied their research to climate.

How accurate is government-funded climate science? As accurate as their economic science? Economists and scientists are paid to produce the results their patrons want. Think about the $22.5 billion now spent annually in the US on climate change, then add what is spent by Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan. How much money is it? How many bureaucrats, researchers, and scientists owe their very livelyhoods to climate change?

And yes Virginia, there has been no global warming whatsoever for almost 20 years. Even the IPCC admits such publicly. Last year saw the coldest temperature ever recorded by man on the face of the earth. The northwest passage is again frozen over, the great lakes developed ice a full month before normal, beating last year's all-time record. Cold weather records have outpaced hot weather records for the past three years. According to the science printed in black and white in the IPCC reports, none of this was supposed to happen. Read the science yourself, don't let your government or newspaper spoon feed "facts" to you.

Queen.... Under pressure.....

Burn coal. i need my coal shares up.

especially after the global number one polluter has flagrantly refused to submit to any transparency or scrutiny on measuring its own emissions.

I am trying to figure out how you switched from China to America like that. Oh, you meant air pollution only. Yes, that's China. But the global number one polluter is still America. Would not want to rob anyone of their trophy!

“Japan is losing a golden opportunity to reduce emissions by turning to coal to deal with nuclear power stoppages instead of building on its forte, energy savings, and developing modern ways of efficiency and conservation,” said Aileen Mioko Smith, Executive Director, Green Action.

Well Eileen, if you really wanted to reduce emissions for sure, you could campaign for the NPPs to be restarted...

@sangestu03 there has been no global warming whatsoever for almost 20 years.

What? 11 of the hottest years ever recorded have been in this century. 2014 is heading to be the hottest year ever recorded - NASA and NOAA

Hi That Guy, yes air quality, my humble opinion is that the research into development of clean sustainable renewable energy that can replace fossil fuels must be the goal of 'climate change'. The pursuit of governmental agreement into research present a clear goal into improving the environment we live in. sangetsu03 has brought up the subject of computer modelling, these models are extremely expensive to produce and in many cases complex and present conflicting results open to poliltical interpretation. Integrated Assessment Modelling, Climate Economic Modeling, and one of my favorites, Intertemporal General Equilibrium Model. Tax payers money is about to committed in huge quantities and I feel tax payers should be able to distinguish between fact and theory of the best guess.

What? 11 of the hottest years ever recorded have been in this century. 2014 is heading to be the hottest year ever recorded - NASA and NOAA

Have you read the report? It predicts an increase over 2008 by 1/100th of a degree, with a 1/10th degree margin of error. Ludicrous. And while NASA and NOAA (which get much of that $22.5 billion) are predicting the "hottest" year, the IPCC is still publicly trying to explain the "current hiatus in warming". Which of these contradictory reports are right?

Temperature readings are irrelevant as it is not possible to establish a baseline because the number of thermometers is changed every year. There are now about 2/3 less thermometers than there were 50 years ago, so how can we compare temperatures between then and now when the methods of measuring are different?

The only constant thing about the world's climate is that it constantly changes.

The Left has invested itself in climate models of future temperatures and past temperatures (like the infamous hockey stick) only to find that they fail to accurately predict the future or misrepresent the past. Progressives used to promote the 'science' of eugenics in order to decide which persons were worthy of the support of society. Now short term 'climate change' is being used to decide which politically correct fields of study and which corporate entities (Solyndra, GE) should receive financial support from tax payers. Just rigging the system - that's all it is about.

After close to 20 years of global cooling, the media scribblers still go on about "global warming". Amazing.

Of course, you can provide a citation for this "fact", right? (And no, "Sean Hannity said it on Fox Radio so it MUST be true!" does not count as a "citation")

Anybody who thinks that the "global warming" brouhaha by politicians has anything to do with science is fooling themselves. This is a power and taxation grab and nothing more.

Again, not a hint of a citation for your claims. Just because you say something does not make it so.

Meanwhile, not a single graph compiled by NASA shows that there has been a cooling trend in the last 20 years. Indeed, the last TEN YEAR stretch of cooling happened in the 1940's. Since the 1970's, the temperature trend has either risen or remained steady. And here's my citation of these FACTS: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs_v3/ Feel free to look through all of those graphs and try to find one showing a cooling trend over "close to 20 years". I couldn't find one, but maybe I missed it. Go ahead. Show me.

When the actual data about global warming is presented rather than the blithering nonsense put out by overpaid talking heads on some conservative talk show, it becomes obvious who's spouting fiction and who's working with facts.

Lets take a quick trip back in time. Here is Dr David Viner, senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, the ground zero of the whole Global Warming thing (also the site of the infamous "Climategate" leaked e-mails where they where discussing how to skew data), predicting with certainty that within a few years, in the UK "Children just aren't going to know what snow is". This was in 2000. Check it out:

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html

So, lets digest this slowly. The science about all this is "settled", and the climate models accommodate all factors and are indisputable. And sceptics are against science. Really now?

Meanwhile, not a single graph compiled by NASA shows that there has been a cooling trend in the last 20 years.

Look at the right hand side of the very first graph in your link. How much temperature variation has there been over the last 15 to 20 years? Virtually none. The variation is well within the increases projected by the UN's data models. Temperatures have risen since the end of last cooling period that ended in the 1800's. The debate over climate is all about CO2 in the atmosphere. By now the Arctic ice cap was supposed to have disappeared. There is no direct correlation between CO2 emissions and global temperatures. If there were, the 1930's and 40's would not have been so hot. There are other factors that science does not yet understand.

Science is not definitive in a discipline with so many uncertainties as still exist with respect to the factors affecting global climate.

When the actual data about global warming is presented rather than the blithering nonsense put out by overpaid talking heads on some conservative talk show, it becomes obvious who's spouting fiction and who's working with facts.

The UN's projections of future climate are not facts but projections based on theories about the variables affecting global warming and data models that have not yet been proven to be accurate. The data models cannot even accurately account for past climate variation without changing underlying assumptions which obviates there utility for future predictions. Science has it's limitations. Let's not impoverish millions of people based on limited information that has not yet been proven out as fact.

Fadamor:

" When the actual data about global warming is presented rather than the blithering nonsense put out by overpaid talking heads on some conservative talk show, it becomes obvious who's spouting fiction and who's working with facts. "

Would you consider the The European Commission's in-house science service as a "conservative talk show"? Here is from the EU website:

"A hiatus in global warming ongoing since 2001 is due to a combination of a natural cooling phase, known as multidecadal variability (MDV) and a downturn of the secular warming trend. The exact causes of the latter, unique in the entire observational record going back to 1850, are still to be identified..."

(https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/climate-anomaly-causes-global-warming-slow-down)

So they admit we are in cooling period, but err... they just don´t know why. "Settled science", eh?

I would suggest you look at more sources than just the politically correct indoctrination emanating from your wonderful politicians and overpaid talking heads at ABC, NBC, MSNBC and the rest of your alphat soup.

So

Hang on, sorry. Did I read that correctly? China is putting pressure on Japan regarding elecological issues?

Wolfpack Dec. 16, 2014 - 12:45AM JST Science is not definitive in a discipline with so many uncertainties as still exist with respect to the factors affecting global climate.

Millions of years ago, there was a time when global temperatures were substantially warmer than today, and there was very little ice around anywhere on the planet. And the sea level was considerably higher than it is today. Sea levels are increasing today in response to the warming climate, as ice sheets melt and seas expand due to rising temperatures. Scientists are projecting up to 3 feet or more of global sea level rise by 2100, which would put some coastal cities in peril. What's troubling is that while there have been past periods in earth's history when temperatures were warmer than they are now, the rate of change that is currently taking place is faster than most of the climate shifts that have occurred in the past, and therefore it will likely be more difficult to adapt to. Regardless of which estimate is correct, it is clear that CO2 levels are now higher than they have ever been in mankind’s history. It is extremely unlikely that the steadily rising CO2 level is going to change anytime soon.

China's hypocrisy knows no bounds. It is China's air and seaborne pollution that is exacerbating Japan's environmental problems, not the other way around. Or don't the Chinese know that the prevailing wind and sea currents travel from west to east?

Without decentralisiing generation and building power transfers howwill things happen?

"A hiatus in global warming ongoing since 2001 is due to a combination of a natural cooling phase, known as multidecadal variability (MDV) and a downturn of the secular warming trend. The exact causes of the latter, unique in the entire observational record going back to 1850, are still to be identified..."

An interesting comment, but if you read it carefully you'll see that at no point in the quote do they say that the Earth has been COOLING since 2001:

"A hiatus in global warming" simply means that the global warming trend has stopped... for now. Indeed, temperatures have remained relatively flat since 2001. Temperatures remaining flat is NOT a cooling trend and there has been NO evidence that the next trend will be a cooling one.

"and a downturn of the secular warming trend" is even less indicative of cooling than the first statement was. If the warming trend was .1 degrees per year, you could have "a downturn of the secular warming trend" if the rate of warming fell to .08 degrees per year. The Earth would still be warming, just at a downturned rate.

So, even the quote you use to justify your statement fails to back up your claim that the Earth has been cooling "for the better part of 20 years".

I believe the oil companies are owed our thanks because without all this Anthropogenic Global Warming there'd be an actual downturn not just a hiatus and we'd all be shivering now. Species extincted, mass weather disasters, vacationers forced off the beaches by snow, A/C bills way too high, etc etc etc

So some of you think that the global warming is a myth? Fair enough, you're entitled to your opinion.

But would you agree that the burning of fossil fuels, especially the burning of coal leads to tens of thousands of deaths per year?

More.people will die from turning off the nuclear power plants and switching to coal than will die as a direct result of Fukushima.

But still, fossil fuels are clean and safe aren't they?

Heda_Madness - So some of you think that the global warming is a myth? Fair enough, you're entitled to your opinion.

Yes, the global warming, as promoted by the IPCC and UN, is a myth. The IPCC has been trying to prove their myth for 25 years but the actual global temp just won't cooperate. Global temps haven't been increasing for over a decade. CO2 levels are up but the global temp isn't.

Fossil fuels can be made cleaner.

The USA news reported 12/20/14 that it has a major problem removing and storing coal ash from all the coal burning electricity generating plants. What does Japan do with the ash? Where does it dump it - in the ocean? Nuclear power is the only alternative.

Its better to power up the Nukes than burn coal... where is the natural gas discussion.. where is the hydrogen stations where you can juice up your ride and also grab a nice cup of tea and meet energy conscious people with money. As a sister island culture I would thnk that alternative energy from sun, wind, waves would have been put into full activation to power the grid along with people relearning the old ways... to consume less.. to wear more in the winter and less in the summer.. like Aloha shirts for cool biz... the tall buildings block the sun in Tokyo but if they were to install solar windows in ALL new high rise construction... I am sure that you could set the standard and sell a lot of Japan made energy intellect... Spirited Away is a classic yet Japan lags behind in learning the lessons of the master and of nature.. for nature is god not man.