Why Kyoto will vanish into hot air

So the leaders of the world are gathering in Montreal this week to discuss Kyoto, climate change, and complain about the USA again this week.

After a while, one begins to wonder if they'll ever get tired of the incessant complaining about the US and just move on. (Disclosure - I've been saying Kyoto is as good as dead for years, now, without US, Russian and Chinese buy-in.)

The British Newspaper site "The Times Online" is now saying the same thing. They may be slightly more optimistic, but their conclusion is the same - "Kyoto has been an extraordinary piece of work. A treaty that its most important signatories have found impossible to meet, and which has changed behaviour very little, has still become a resonant global symbol."

So what will shape efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions after Kyoto dies? There are a number of options.

It will be fascinating to see whether the assembled plethora of European Nations and activist NGO's can develop a solution which is rationale, reasonable and market driven... or continue to beat the dead horse which is a punitive, country driven effort, like Kyoto.

Australia pioneers energy from hot rocks

Fascinating story coming out of Reuters. Here at Checkmate, we're always interested to see new technology being used in commercial applications to solve everyday needs.

In Australia, a "combination of nature's bounty, government support and entrepreneurial spirit may well help Australia win the race to generate electricity for commercial purposes from rocks, which some say could produce more than the country's known oil or coal reserves."

The rocks are heated by the earths core, and insulated under several rock layers. By drilling down to the hot rocks, companies are exploring using that heat to create steam and generate electricity - by some accounts, enough electricity to power the majority of south Australia.

Geothermal technology isn't new, but doing it on a large scale for commercial purposes is. Good on ya, Mates!

New Study Warns of Total Loss of Arctic Tundra - New York Times

More junk science and fear mongering on the pages of the New York Times.

... a new study says "if emissions of heat-trapping gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere at the current rate, there may be many centuries of warming and a near-total loss of Arctic tundra."

However, what the headline fails to point out, and what the story buries in paragraph EIGHT(!) is that the study's author isn't accepting the conclusions. (Par 8: The study author's "stressed that the uncertainties were high over such a time span, and said the study was intended to illustrate broad consequences rather than project specific ones.")

But, true to form, the Times uses the next six paragraphs to illustrate why the scenario could be realistic.

As a former journalist myself, one has to ask - is this journalism, or simply story-telling?

"All the News that's Fit to Print" ....and a whole lot of stuff that isn't.