Mindanao Leaders Talk about Peace and Development from The AIM Blog

Each day this week WhiteHouse.gov will highlight ED efforts to help reach the President’s goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
WhiteHouse.gov Features Education from U.S. Department of Education

The Obama administration’s blueprint to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act will support state and local efforts to help ensure that all students graduate prepared for college and a career.
ESEA Plan: Flexibility, Resources, Accountability from U.S. Department of Education

BNP leader Nick Griffin is to appear at an “academic conference” in Belgium next week shoulder-to-shoulder with holocaust denier Bruno Gollnisch of the Front National, Frank Vanhecke of the far-right Flemish seperatists Vlaams Belang and the Austrian Freedom Party’s Andreas Molzer.

Speaking in October 2004, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Gollnisch had said:

“I do not question the existence of concentration camps but historians could discuss the number of deaths. As to the existence of gas chambers, it is up to historians to speak their minds.”

The news comes just days after Griffin said the public “can no longer call us racist” in the wake of the BNP’s decision to admit non-white members, and is another example of the reality behind the BNP’s new façade.

On Sunday, BNP thugs assaulted a Times journalist from a press conference, ejecting him from the venue. This is how the journalist, Dominic Kennedy, describes the attack:

“One man grabbed my nose and tried to remove it from my face. I was seized and shoved out of the door towards a parked car. I threw my hands out to steady myself. A BNP thug snarled: “Don’t touch people’s cars mate.” Obviously, I offered no resistance.”

Far from condemning the attack, Griffin, in a message to BNP members, said the attack proved his party hadn’t gone “soft”.

Griffin to speak alongside Holocaust denier from Left Foot Forward

Seven federal agencies are participating in a $130 million effort to create jobs and lower utility bills by making buildings more energy efficient.
Making Buildings More Energy Efficient from U.S. Department of Education

I am experimenting with a redesign of my presentation skills workshop and have re-written it around the metaphor of ‘preparing and delivering a presentation is like preparing and serving a meal’.

I was thinking that in addition to using some chef related props in the room I could use related music through the day and wondered if the creative juices of TZ had any suggesstions of songs I could use related to cooking/eating/food and my mind has gone blank and all I could think of was ‘Food glorious food’ from Oliver!

read more

Songs with a cooking theme from

The Daily Mail and Times are at the centre of a row with scientists over the accuracy of their reporting on climate science. They have been accused of “making things up” and “printing misleading claims”.

Two leading climate scientists, Murari Lal and Mojib Latif, have accused the Daily Mail of misquoting and misrepresenting them. Dr. Latif said, ‘”I don’t know what to do. They just make these things up.” Similarly, the US-based National Snow and Ice Data Centre, a part of the University of Colorado, supported by NASA and National Science Foundation, have accused the Daily Mail of printing “nonsense” and of “very lazy journalism.”

One particularly misleading story in the Mail said:

“According to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado the warming of the Earth since 1990 is due to natural oceanic cycles, and not man-made greenhouse gas emissions.”

An NSIDC spokesman said:

“This is completely false. NSIDC has never made such a statement and we were never contacted by anyone from the Daily Mail. We hope that this is simply a case of very lazy journalism and nothing more.”

At Realclimate.org, a group of leading climate scientists have written a blog post titled ‘Daily Mangle,’ rebutting recent misleading claims from The Mail. The scientists write:

“Unfortunately, these kinds of distortions are all too common in the press nowadays and so we must all be prepared to respond to those journalists and editors who confuse the public with such inaccuracies.”

Left Foot Forward supports the advice of the web’s foremost climate blogger, Joe Romm, who writes:

“Scientists should refuse to grant interviews to the paper without a third-party present or an agreement to allow a review of any quotes used.”

Leake-gate

More recently, following Left Foot Forward’s blog by Joss Garman revealing the “pseudo-science” with links to Big Oil behind a Sunday Times story, Environment Editor Jonathan Leake is facing new claims of shoddy journalism.

A story headlined, ‘IPCC Shamed By Bogus Rainforest Claim’ was eventually changed to, ‘The UN climate panel and the rainforest claim.’ Thus, the newspaper accepted it had over-egged the story. But by that time the damage had been done and the story – which became known as “Amazongate” – went around the world. In fact, the content of the Sunday Times story was plain wrong. The WWF report which Leake disputed was completely backed up by peer-reviewed literature. ClimateSafety.org traces how the story seems to have begun on a blog from well-known climate sceptic Richard North. As Deltoid explains:

“Leake deliberately concealed the fact that Dan Nepstad, the author of the 1999 Nature paper cited as evidence for the IPCC statement about the vulnerability of the Amazon had replied to Leake’s query and informed him the claim was correct. Leake didn’t report what Nepstad told him. Instead he claimed that the IPCC statement was “bogus”, even though he knew it wasn’t.”

It now emerges that in the same story Leake completely misrepresented the views of another leading climate scientist, Dr. Simon Lewis of Leeds University who called it “An outrageous piece of journalism.” (In contrast Lewis gave a similar interview to the BBC’s Roger Harrabin who reported his views accurately.) It also turned out Leake didn’t  bother to contact the author of the report at the centre of his story.

The New Republic has now picked up the story, asking ‘Why is the British press so sloppy on climate issues?’ and adding:

“The guy fanning most of the allegations against the IPCC is Jonathan Leake of the London Times, who appears to print whatever misleading claims climate skeptics tell him to report and then actively ignores the scientists he talks to who try to set him straight.”

Facing the heat: Daily Mail and Sunday Times climate journalism from Left Foot Forward

Coventry council has announced it will install dimmer switches on all 28,000 of the city’s street lights in a bid to cut carbon emissions and combat light pollution.

A new computerised system will allow the local authority to have much more flexibility in controlling municipal lighting, leading to large efficiency gains.

Under the system, streetlights would be kept bright during busy times and in accident black spots, but can be dimmed in the early hours when they are least needed.

Coventry is a Conservative-run council, and its adoption of this intelligent, progressive scheme should be a model for other councils – Conservative or otherwise – around the country.

It is also a sign-up to the 10:10 campaign, which encourages individuals, businesses and organisations to cut their emissions by 10 per cent during 2010.

Concerns were raised late last year that very few Tory-run councils had joined 10:10, but representation is now more evenly balanced: of councils currently signed up, 38 are Conservative-run, 31 Labour, 37 Lib Dem and 32 NOC/Independent.

Still, as a proportion of their total councils, the Tories still lag behind.

Coventry’s announcement comes as councils across the UK prepare for the start of the Carbon Reduction Commitment, a new emissions reduction and trading scheme for medium-sized emitters, which commences in April.

The council is not the first to introduce measures to tackle emissions from street lighting:

• Cornwall council is running a three-year programme to replace streetlights across the county with new adjustable bulbs, with communities free to choose how and when their lights are dimmed; and

• Last June, Wokingham Borough Council began a one-year trial of turning out selected street lights at night, aiming to save £18,000 in taxpayers’ money per every 1000 lights.

Wokingham is Conservative-controlled, whilst the Lib Dems hold Cornwall.

Some have argued that dimming streetlights will increase the likelihood of road accidents and street crime, but carefully managed, this need not be an issue.

Coventry council are not proposing to dim the lights on main roads or accident blackspots; indeed, the new scheme will enable lights to be made brighter for selected areas and times, such as after concerts and football matches.

The British Astronomical Association has long lobbied for more efficient street lighting, in order to cut light pollution and ensure Britain continues to enjoy spectacular starry nights.

Figures from their Dark Skies Campaign indicate that a countrywide deployment of more efficient streetlight designs that focus light downwards would save 830,000 tonnes of CO2.

Turn the lights down low: Coventry council finds novel ways to cut carbon from Left Foot Forward

On the morning that the British Government welcomed the fall in ILO unemployment and youth unemployment, Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe has emailed the President’s list of 13 million supporters with an email declaring “We’re on the road to recovery.”

The chart, reproduced below, shows how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has helped slow increases in unemployment.

Although the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance has increased, figures out today in the UK confirm that the recession has had a milder impact on jobless numbers. The Office for National Statistics writes today:

“When compared with previous recessions, the unemployment rate in the 2008-09 recession has remained lower.”

The UK stimulus was considerably smaller than the US stimulus so continued support is needed to secure the recovery. Left Foot Forward will have more analysis on the jobless numbers later today.

The power of stimulus from Left Foot Forward