Climate Depot has posted a story on their site about how a computer hacker broke into computers at Hadley CRU, Britain’s top institute for climate change, and released confidential emails that show top scientists manipulating global warming data.

The hacker, who is now believed to be an  insider who’s now blown the whistle, uncovered over 1,000 e-mails from the institution which may incriminate the science of global warming. Apparently, prominent scientists who have been pushing the man-made warming theory have been exaggerating and manipulating warming data. According to Climage Depot, the CRU director admits the e-mails appear genuine. Here is one below. See others here.

From: Phil Jones

To: ray bradley ,mann@XXXX, mhughes@XXXX

Subject: Diagram for WMO Statement

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:31:15 +0000

Cc: k.briffa@XXX.osborn@XXXX

Dear Ray, Mike and Malcolm,

Once Tim’s got a diagram here we’ll send that either later today or first thing tomorrow.

I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline. Mike’s series got the annual land and marine values while the other two got April-Sept for NH land N of 20N. The latter two are real for 1999, while the estimate for 1999 for NH combined is +0.44C wrt 61-90. The Global estimate for 1999 with data through Oct is +0.35C cf. 0.57 for 1998.

Thanks for the comments, Ray.

Cheers

Phil

Prof. Phil Jones

Climatic Research Unit Telephone XXXX

School of Environmental Sciences Fax XXXX

University of East Anglia

Norwich

Just eight months into his presidency, President Barack Obama was shocked to wake up and discover that he’d won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Rather than awarding specific achievements, awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama is clearly a symbolic gesture meant to honor Obama’s political moment and his aspirations rather than achievements.

“To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace,” Obama said. “But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.
That is why I’ve said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won’t all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it’s recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.”

One thing we do know is that the Nobel committee also recognized the President for his position on climate change. “Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting,” they stated.

Nobel committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said of Obama’s new approach to foreign policy: “Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts,” he said.

Obama is scheduled to personally accept his Nobel Peace Prize at the December 10 awards ceremony in Oslo. He will donate his $1.4 million prize money to charity.

Google Earth has unveiled a crystal-ball like feature that will predict what planet will look like up to the year 2100. Using data provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Google has created a new 3D mapping program that will show the range of expected climate change under different global emissions scenarios that could occur throughout the century.

Narrated by Al Gore, Google will also add layers showing what communities around the world are doing to combat climate change.

Hugh Jackman appeared at a climate change forum for New York Climate Week‘s opening ceremony at the New York Public Library. Other speakers include world leaders including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“I hope to be a voice for the billion people in developing countries who will be the hardest hit by changing weather patterns, by the droughts and floods that destroy their crops and threaten their food security,” Jackman said.

Hot piece of man meat and People’s Sexiest Man Alive, Hugh Jackman is going to play a key role in launching NYC Climate Week this coming Monday, September 21st.

Jackman will speak at a climate change forum in New York alongside world leaders including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“I hope to be a voice for the billion people in developing countries who will be the hardest hit by changing weather patterns, by the droughts and floods that destroy their crops and threaten their food security,” Jackman said. “Climate Week NYC provides an ideal forum to help underscore the urgency for world leaders to secure and fund an ambitious global climate change deal in Copenhagen that is effective, fair and binding.”

Maryland Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, an up-and-coming Democratic leader and chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has big ideas when it comes to passing a climate bill in 2009.

Grist is reporting that Van Hollen suggests offering Americans rebates or “dividands” by taking proceeds from selling pollution permits to industries and return that money directly to “every American with a Social Security number” in the form of a monthly check.  His hope is that this legislation will help grow support for legislation to cap carbon.

Van Hollen says, “You need to get something that will be politically supported on an ongoing basis. You don’t want somebody coming through three years from now and undoing something. If you want sustainable clean energy, you need sustainable political support for clean energy, and you need sustainable support among the American people.”

The National Center for Atmospheric Research has released a new report detailing finding that indicate rivers in world’s most populated areas are losing their water as a consequence of climate change. Researchers have determined that the descending level of water in rivers is in many cases associated with global warming, and that this trend could cause reduction of water supplies in some of the world’s most major cities.

Studies showed that Colorado River in the United States, the Yellow River in China, the Ganges in India and the Niger in Africa are steadily losing their water.

“Reduced runoff is increasing the pressure on freshwater resources in much of the world, especially with more demand for water as population increases,” says NCAR scientist Aiguo Dai.

“As climate change inevitably continues in coming decades, we are likely to see greater impacts on many rivers and water resources that society has come to rely on,” said Kevin Trenberth, also of The National Center for Atmospheric Research.

According to frightening new reports, less runoff from snow and rain that usually strengthen the 1,400-mile river caused by human-induced climate change could mean that by 2050 the Colorado River won’t be able to provide all of its allocated water 60 percent to 90 percent of the time, according to two climate researchers at University of California at San Diego.

The more dry the landscape becomes, the more difficult the choices will be for those who rely on the Colorado river’s water and those in charge of allotting it’s resources.

”The dry year scenarios in the future are going to be absolutely brutal,” said Tim Barnett, lead author of the study.

Barnett and scientist David Pierce shocked people last year with a study saying there’s a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead, the reservoir created by the Hoover Dam, could run dry by 2021.

They teamed up again on this latest study of the Colorado River to predict how the river will react under different climate scenarios, predicting 10 percent to 30 percent reductions in runoff will be unable to fully meet all of the demands put on it. Decreases in runoff could short the Colorado River by about 400,000 acre feet of water 40 percent of the time by 2025. That’s equivalent to the amount of water needed to supply 400,000 to 800,000 households.

The results were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Republican Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio possibly explained why it has taken so long for people to realize climate change is a problem on Sunday the 19th with his interview on This Week with George Stephanopolis. There was a segment where Boehner was asked about where the republicans stand on climate change and carbon emissions. After stepping around the topic and saying the usual response that we need to worry about other countries emissions first, Boehner then goes on to make this statement, and I quote: “The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical.”

After all the research that has been done I truly find it hard to believe that the Republican Party could be so uninformed and out of touch with climate change. I have provided a link for you to watch the entire interview on YouTube.

Earth Hour 2009 has kicked off in some parts of the world and has already been touted a resounding success in Sydney harbor and Beijing.

The Earth Hour Web site reported that hundreds of people lined Sydney harbor to witness the dimming skyline at 8.30 p.m., the local time that nearly 4,000 participating cities around the world were (and are) expected to switch off non-essential lights. The famous Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing and the Water Cube were extinguished as 20 cities joined in – a blunt yet effective statement that we need to do something about climate change and global warming.

Other landmarks around the world that will dim their lights for Earth Hour are the Egyptian pyramids, Vatican, Niagara Falls, the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Acropolis in Athens and the Las Vegas casino strip.