Democratic National Convention, 2008 – and Its Official Carbon Advisor

The 2008 Democratic National Convention will take place in Denver August 25-28. This is an historical event from the perspective that it is the first time that a national presidential candidate convention has had an “Official Carbon Advisor”. In fact the DNCC is planning the “Most Sustainably-Produced Democratic Convention in American History” [http://www.camcoglobal.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/DNCC-Camco_-_Press_Release_3_6_08_(5)-FINAL.pdf], and have hired the first ever Director of Greening for a Democratic Convention.

And guess who’s coming to dinner?

As the Official Carbon Advisor, Camco Global will “work with the DNCC to estimate the Convention's carbon footprint.” Who is Camco Global? One of Al Gore’s investments, of course. The Blood and Gore team (Generation Investment Management, with chairman Al Gore and managing partner David Blood – a former CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management) has purchased almost ten percent of Camco Group [http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSL0490971420080604], which, according to the Camco website: “works closely with major companies worldwide, establishing partnerships to turn our clients’ climate change liabilities into economic, social and environmental assets.” Camco Group states: “We generate carbon credits by partnering with companies to identify, develop and manage projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Camco then arranges the sale and delivery of carbon credits to international compliance buyers and into the voluntary market.” Leah D. Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC said: “Camco, a world-renowned pioneer in the sustainability field, will help us make good on that goal by turning climate change liabilities into environmental assets.”

Perhaps Denver will thus get some relief from the global warming that has been causing its citizens to suffer so. Or then again, maybe all their hot air will have no effect.

The following figure shows the historical temperature anomaly data for the Denver area from the Hadley Climatic Research Unit (HadCRU) data. HadCRU provides temperature data to the IPCC. They collect data from the NOAA database and other data and then make adjustments to the individual stations before calculating the anomalies and averaging them by 5x5 degree lat-long grids. (Unfortunately, as an anomaly to the scientific procedure, they do not make the station data available so that the adjustments can be examined, they only publish the averaged 5x5 degree gridded data.)

Denver is at 105 degrees W longitude, so the following figure includes both 5x5 degree grids bordering 105W. One grid shows that current temperatures are similar to the late 1800’s. Both grids show that the warmest temperatures occurred in the 1930s-1940s.

The following figure shows several temperature stations in the Denver area from the NOAA Global Historical Climate Network database. No consistent trends – and no global warming.

The following figure shows precipitation for the Denver area, from the NOAA Global Historical Climate Network database. No drought.

I guess Camco will have a successful non-impact from the DNCC carbon “footprint” – decades of Denver area CO2 emissions haven’t yet made an impact.