A benefit of global warming – winter deaths decline in UK

2014-12-01_winterdeaths
  • Why don’t we hear about the beneficial side of climate change? “There is a very good reason why excess winter deaths fell so sharply in the space of a year. Last winter was particularly mild: December and January were 2° Celsius above the long-term average. The winter 2012/13, by contrast, had prolonged periods of cold. There is a long term correlation between cold winters and excess winter deaths.”
  • The Language of Climate Change – “The data in this report will be used by policymakers when making reforms. This importance makes the act of understating the findings—so as not to repeat the wave of criticism of the fourth report—a questionable endeavor. It also strains the IPCC’s relationship with international policymakers. If it is muffling the data so as not to scare people, it might not be fully trusted to provide legitimate information for future changes.”
  • Deficit fetishism – John Quiggin writes: “As the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook approaches, talk about the budget deficit is approaching panic. This piece from Deloitte, warning that ‘the budget is burning’ is typical.”
  • Nicotine Without Death – “Are e-cigarettes completely safe? asked Saul Shiffman, an addiction expert at the University of Pittsburgh. ‘There is not enough data to say that,’ he acknowledged. But on a relative basis, electronic cigarettes are far preferable to the old-fashioned kind. After all, e-cigarettes are essentially nicotine delivery devices, and while nicotine is addictive, it is the tobacco in cigarettes that kills.”
Jeff Koons - 'Self portrait' (1991)
Jeff Koons – ‘Self portrait’ (1991)

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