y7l!~~_7.JPG "jonnjenn"){kind=avatar}
Don't expect anything from that one.......never has produced anything relevant..never will....;-)
Very true words.... and very well said.... and an excellent character assessment of his abilities. 🙂
Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Big Tobacco and Billionaires
A new academic study confirms that front groups with longstanding ties to the tobacco industry and the billionaire Koch brothers planned the formation of the Tea Party movement more than a decade before it exploded onto the U.S. political scene.
Far from a genuine grassroots uprising, this astroturf effort was curated by wealthy industrialists years in advance. Many of the anti-science operatives who defended cigarettes are currently deploying their tobacco-inspired playbook internationally to evade accountability for the fossil fuel industry's role in driving climate disruption.
The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institute of Health, traces the roots of the Tea Party's anti-tax movement back to the early 1980s when tobacco companies began to invest in third party groups to fight excise taxes on cigarettes, as well as health studies finding a link between cancer and secondhand cigarette smoke.
Published in the peer-reviewed academic journal, Tobacco Control, the study titled, 'To quarterback behind the scenes, third party efforts': the tobacco industry and the Tea Party, is not just an historical account of activities in a bygone era. As senior author, Stanton Glantz, a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) professor of medicine, writes:
"Nonprofit organizations associated with the Tea Party have longstanding ties to tobacco companies, and continue to advocate on behalf of the tobacco industry's anti-tax, anti-regulation agenda."
http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/02/11/study-confirms-tea-party-was-created-big-tobacco-and-billionaires
China launches its first carbon trading scheme
China has launched its first pilot carbon emission trading scheme in the southern city of Shenzhen.
Shenzhen is one of seven pilot cities for the scheme aimed at reducing pollution from greenhouse gases before a national program is implemented.
The seven pilots will account for 700 million tonnes of carbon by 2014.
Deputy CEO of the Climate Institute Irwin Jackson has told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific program the scheme is a significant step for China.
"China has been taking action to reduce pollution and encourage clean energy industries for a number of years now," he said.
"But this is the first time we'll actually see the emergence of an absolute cap on emissions."
Companies will be allowed a set quota of carbon dioxide emissions and they will have to buy carbon credits if they want to exceed their quota.
Reports say companies will also be able to profit from selling excess permits to other firms if they emit below their quota.
More than 600 large industrial enterprises and 200 buildings in the city will have to abide by the new rules.
Dick Gross, a tutor in climate change at Melbourne University, says this marks a shift involving several countries.
"This represents a dramatic change from 2006 when [China] did a deal with Asian Pacific neighbours to avoid Kyoto with the AP-6 partnership," Mr Gross said.
"They've gone from trying to avoid obligations under Kyoto in 2006 to being significant contributors to the future of a less carbon intensive world."
However analysts have said the scheme, which covers 38 per cent of Shenzhen's emissions, is unlikely to produce significant emissions reductions for the country.
Li Yan, head of environmental group Greenpeace's climate and energy campaign in China, says it is too early to judge the impact of the scheme on carbon emissions.
"It only covers less than half of the city's emissions, so the effectiveness in terms of carbon cuts needs to be seen," Ms Li said.
"The pilot is necessary homework to get the country prepared on its capability to manage carbon."
Due to its reliance on coal and heavy industry, China has emerged as the top producer of climate-changing carbon emissions, ahead of the United States, though its per capita emissions remain below the US.
China has no targets to reduce absolute carbon emissions and government officials have said emissions figures will continue to rise until around 2030.
Beijing is aiming by 2020 for a 40 per cent reduction from 2005 levels of carbon intensity, which is a measure of the amount of carbon produced per unit of economic output.
ABC/AFP
