J
jhk87
Guest
Yeah, you're right. This remind of those ungrateful Czechs asking or help in 1938.
Global Warming/Climate Change Super Thread
- Thread starter Cdn Blackshirt
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 17,019
- Points
- 1,010
jhk87 said:
Errr...Pardon?
The last global warming conference ever?
Rex Murphy, National Post · Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010
Article Link
This global-warming/climate-change stuff is a great racket. Over in England right now, they're locked in the jaws of a very early freeze-up. The roads are iced, the plows overworked, and people are angry. But there's a precious subset of the English population that are not enduring the frigid and premature torments of a northern winter. They're the climate-change activists, bureaucrats, politicians, puppeteers and NGOs -- the class of professional alarmists who've been banging on about global warming for close on two decades now. This bunch has exempted itself from the rigors of English November, traded their sackcloth and ashes for sun-wear and tropical breezes.
They're toasting their pasty, righteous, caterwauling epidermi on the golden hot sands of Cancun, Mexico, flopped out amid the bikinis and barbeques while they attempt to spell out a future of rationing and want for all the rest of us. Flown there on taxpayer or foundation money, meeting up with all their buddies from the bust that was Copenhagen, the grim, grey priesthood of "sustainable" living are convening in one of the great sybaritic strips of the entire Western world. The monks are in the cathouse.
But hey, if you're going to do Armageddon -- do it in Cancun. The apocalypse at the all-you-can-eat buffet. Parasailing to Armageddon.
Does not one of the great minds decoding next century's weather see the brain-splitting contradiction of holding a conference warning of the imminent threat of global warming in a venue that mainly exists because people fly there to get warmer? That's right, people spend money to fly to Cancun mainly because it's warmer there than where they live. In essence, Cancun is what the global warming crowd are, otherwise, warning us about.
Perhaps at some level of instinct they do know. Perhaps they know that this show of theirs is on its last legs, the jig is up, the great game is over. After the unsuccessful 2009 Copenhagen conference, they had to have realized that even Al Gore and all Al Gore's grim little men would never be able to put the whole rickety, tendentious machine back together again. After Copenhagen, and especially after Climategate, even the true believers must have lost heart. Witness this year's confabulation. Notice who's not there?
Last year, even the Golden One, Barack Obama, swept dramatically into Denmark. It was the venue for all the A-list politicians. Prime ministers and presidents were everywhere. This year, the world's leaders have stayed away. Even the press, whose Cancun presence is down considerably compared to Copenhagen, smells the decay of a cause.
Some countries have made it clear that they no longer are even pretending to play the global-warming abatement game. "Japan will not inscribe its target under the Kyoto protocol on any conditions or under any circumstances," declared Jun Arima, deputy director-general for environmental affairs at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Given that his was the country where the Kyoto Protocol was signed, it's a powerful blow to the Gore-ish forces. Perhaps Japan will get one of those cute Fossil of the Day Awards that Canada so excels at collecting.
Could this be the last global warming conference? It's possible. The environmentalists and the activists have had a tin ear and a surplus of righteousness from the beginning. But there's something extravagantly out of key, even for them, in holding their great "Save the Planet" revival at Cancun -- up to now famous for Spring Break and as a hangout for louche Hollywood types and cleavage researchers. It signals they've lost the will to pretend. And with Japan having walked away from the whole idea of Kyoto, it's hard to see how they'll work up the steam for another holiday next year.
end
Rex Murphy, National Post · Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010
Article Link
This global-warming/climate-change stuff is a great racket. Over in England right now, they're locked in the jaws of a very early freeze-up. The roads are iced, the plows overworked, and people are angry. But there's a precious subset of the English population that are not enduring the frigid and premature torments of a northern winter. They're the climate-change activists, bureaucrats, politicians, puppeteers and NGOs -- the class of professional alarmists who've been banging on about global warming for close on two decades now. This bunch has exempted itself from the rigors of English November, traded their sackcloth and ashes for sun-wear and tropical breezes.
They're toasting their pasty, righteous, caterwauling epidermi on the golden hot sands of Cancun, Mexico, flopped out amid the bikinis and barbeques while they attempt to spell out a future of rationing and want for all the rest of us. Flown there on taxpayer or foundation money, meeting up with all their buddies from the bust that was Copenhagen, the grim, grey priesthood of "sustainable" living are convening in one of the great sybaritic strips of the entire Western world. The monks are in the cathouse.
But hey, if you're going to do Armageddon -- do it in Cancun. The apocalypse at the all-you-can-eat buffet. Parasailing to Armageddon.
Does not one of the great minds decoding next century's weather see the brain-splitting contradiction of holding a conference warning of the imminent threat of global warming in a venue that mainly exists because people fly there to get warmer? That's right, people spend money to fly to Cancun mainly because it's warmer there than where they live. In essence, Cancun is what the global warming crowd are, otherwise, warning us about.
Perhaps at some level of instinct they do know. Perhaps they know that this show of theirs is on its last legs, the jig is up, the great game is over. After the unsuccessful 2009 Copenhagen conference, they had to have realized that even Al Gore and all Al Gore's grim little men would never be able to put the whole rickety, tendentious machine back together again. After Copenhagen, and especially after Climategate, even the true believers must have lost heart. Witness this year's confabulation. Notice who's not there?
Last year, even the Golden One, Barack Obama, swept dramatically into Denmark. It was the venue for all the A-list politicians. Prime ministers and presidents were everywhere. This year, the world's leaders have stayed away. Even the press, whose Cancun presence is down considerably compared to Copenhagen, smells the decay of a cause.
Some countries have made it clear that they no longer are even pretending to play the global-warming abatement game. "Japan will not inscribe its target under the Kyoto protocol on any conditions or under any circumstances," declared Jun Arima, deputy director-general for environmental affairs at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Given that his was the country where the Kyoto Protocol was signed, it's a powerful blow to the Gore-ish forces. Perhaps Japan will get one of those cute Fossil of the Day Awards that Canada so excels at collecting.
Could this be the last global warming conference? It's possible. The environmentalists and the activists have had a tin ear and a surplus of righteousness from the beginning. But there's something extravagantly out of key, even for them, in holding their great "Save the Planet" revival at Cancun -- up to now famous for Spring Break and as a hangout for louche Hollywood types and cleavage researchers. It signals they've lost the will to pretend. And with Japan having walked away from the whole idea of Kyoto, it's hard to see how they'll work up the steam for another holiday next year.
end
Donna hits another inside the park home run . . .
http://tinyurl.com/29lgycm
Does make you wonder where the mass media was, all those investigative "journalists" who are always on the look out for conflicts of interest, shady dealings & doings, outrageous breaches of established rules, flaunting of established procedures & outright fraud funded by taxpayers and performed by scientists, bureaucrats and legions of public teat sucking do-gooder NGO's.
http://tinyurl.com/29lgycm
Does make you wonder where the mass media was, all those investigative "journalists" who are always on the look out for conflicts of interest, shady dealings & doings, outrageous breaches of established rules, flaunting of established procedures & outright fraud funded by taxpayers and performed by scientists, bureaucrats and legions of public teat sucking do-gooder NGO's.
and then not to be outdone, JoNova bats one for the Aussie women . . .
http://tinyurl.com/2aylh8o
WikiLeaks swings both ways it seems.
The best one is the Saudi's asking the US for financial assistance in return for their support . . . big brass ones out there in the Kingdom.
http://tinyurl.com/2aylh8o
WikiLeaks swings both ways it seems.
The best one is the Saudi's asking the US for financial assistance in return for their support . . . big brass ones out there in the Kingdom.
- Reaction score
- 5,970
- Points
- 1,260
There is some, modest, hope for sanity according to Norman Spector in this report, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/spector-vision/on-climate-change-canada-finally-comes-clean/article1825385/
It must be remembered that the Kyoto Protocol was a gigantic European scam. The Europeanshad have a huge environmental problem – especially the Russian legacy in Eastern Europe. The costs of cleaning the environment, are and will remain huge – putting Europe at a competitive disadvantrage viz a viz America and China. A simple international environmental programnme would not do the trick: America is way ahead of Europe on most environmental measures and China, while taking the environment more seriously, will not play. Hence, “global warming.” There was a spectre that might force America and Japan to obey self imposed economic restraints roughly equivalent to what Europe would have to impose upon itself anyway. Canada and a few others, including Japan, signed on but America did not. Most of the signatories, including many of the European signatories, never tried to actually implement any of the Kyoto goals.
Kyoto failed but Wall Street and Washington managed, damned nearly, to sink the USA anyway.
So now Canada, along with Japan and Russia (who woulda thunk it?) can now lead the world into a better climate accord – more talk, far less spending and fewer massive, pointless conferences in warm, sunny places.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/spector-vision/on-climate-change-canada-finally-comes-clean/article1825385/
It must be remembered that the Kyoto Protocol was a gigantic European scam. The Europeans
Kyoto failed but Wall Street and Washington managed, damned nearly, to sink the USA anyway.
So now Canada, along with Japan and Russia (who woulda thunk it?) can now lead the world into a better climate accord – more talk, far less spending and fewer massive, pointless conferences in warm, sunny places.
Kyoto has been brain dead for years, now they have just removed the life support.
I doubt very much there will be a replacement. The international environmental industry has disgraced itself by pushing lies and propaganda all gussied up as science and nobody will believe a word they say for a long time.
The mistrust level is too high, the AGW Scam too outrageous and the UN too corrupt for anything like Kyoto to happen again.
Now would be a good time to start a counterattack and demand "meaningful" reform of the UN and make our funding dependent on cleaning up the Cess Pool at Turtle Bay.
Now that would be fun.
I doubt very much there will be a replacement. The international environmental industry has disgraced itself by pushing lies and propaganda all gussied up as science and nobody will believe a word they say for a long time.
The mistrust level is too high, the AGW Scam too outrageous and the UN too corrupt for anything like Kyoto to happen again.
Now would be a good time to start a counterattack and demand "meaningful" reform of the UN and make our funding dependent on cleaning up the Cess Pool at Turtle Bay.
Now that would be fun.
J
jhk87
Guest
Obviously, sceptics deserve automatic respect. Let`s begin teaching the controversy surrounding that idiotic theory of evolution that was forwarded by a series of elitist experts.
Boy, they sure are getting stirred up, cause the rich nations may not keep giving.....
Cancún climate talks in danger of collapse over Kyoto continuation
John Vidal, Environment editor The Guardian, Saturday 4 December 2010
Article Link
The UN climate talks in Cancún were in danger of collapse last night after many Latin American countries said that they would leave if a crucial negotiating document, due to be released tomorrow, did not continue to commit rich countries to emissions cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Alba) group of nine Latin American countries – who claim they are backed by African, Arab countries and other developing nations – said they were not prepared to see an end to the treaty that legally requires all of its signatories to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
They challenged the Mexican presidency of the UN summit to prepare a negotiating text including a commitment by rich countries to set fresh targets for a second period of Kyoto beyond 2012.
The Guardian understands that if the new text includes a reference to a continuation of the Kyoto protocol, the talks will continue. But if it omits the wording and opts only to support negotiations based on the weaker Copenhagen accord agreed last year, then developing countries are likely to stop the talks.
Mexico will publish its text on Saturday evening in preparation for the arrival of ministers from 193 countries for the high-level talks on Monday. The energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne will arrive then, leading the UK delegation.
The potential crisis was provoked by Japan stating earlier this week that it would not sign up to a second period of the Kyoto Protocol.
Other countries, including Russia, Canada and Australia are thought to agree but have yet to say publicly that they will not make further pledges.
Kyoto is considered iconic to developing countries because it is the only legal agreement that binds rich countries to emissions cuts. It is feared that wealthy countries, led by the US, which has not ratified the treaty, want an agreement that will commit them only loosely to targets.
"We will not support any situation where these countries get away with this and make no commitments. We want concrete commitments for Kyoto. A handful of countries have no right to do this," said Claudia Salerno, Venezuela's special climate envoy.
More on link
Cancún climate talks in danger of collapse over Kyoto continuation
John Vidal, Environment editor The Guardian, Saturday 4 December 2010
Article Link
The UN climate talks in Cancún were in danger of collapse last night after many Latin American countries said that they would leave if a crucial negotiating document, due to be released tomorrow, did not continue to commit rich countries to emissions cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Alba) group of nine Latin American countries – who claim they are backed by African, Arab countries and other developing nations – said they were not prepared to see an end to the treaty that legally requires all of its signatories to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
They challenged the Mexican presidency of the UN summit to prepare a negotiating text including a commitment by rich countries to set fresh targets for a second period of Kyoto beyond 2012.
The Guardian understands that if the new text includes a reference to a continuation of the Kyoto protocol, the talks will continue. But if it omits the wording and opts only to support negotiations based on the weaker Copenhagen accord agreed last year, then developing countries are likely to stop the talks.
Mexico will publish its text on Saturday evening in preparation for the arrival of ministers from 193 countries for the high-level talks on Monday. The energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne will arrive then, leading the UK delegation.
The potential crisis was provoked by Japan stating earlier this week that it would not sign up to a second period of the Kyoto Protocol.
Other countries, including Russia, Canada and Australia are thought to agree but have yet to say publicly that they will not make further pledges.
Kyoto is considered iconic to developing countries because it is the only legal agreement that binds rich countries to emissions cuts. It is feared that wealthy countries, led by the US, which has not ratified the treaty, want an agreement that will commit them only loosely to targets.
"We will not support any situation where these countries get away with this and make no commitments. We want concrete commitments for Kyoto. A handful of countries have no right to do this," said Claudia Salerno, Venezuela's special climate envoy.
More on link
- Reaction score
- 5,970
- Points
- 1,260
jhk87 said:
The climate is changing, no one denies that; it has been changing, for good or ill - depending upon one's point of view - ever since there was a climate. We are not helping ourselves by e.g. pouring chemicals into the atmosphere that e.g. weaken the ozone layer and so on. I have no problem with initiatives, local and global, that aim to make the planet a cleaner, safer place - that includes dealing, as far as we can, with carbon emissions. (And, by the way, I am a proponent of a carbon tax as the only effective way to change behavior (yours and mine) which, I am convinced, is the only effective way to reduce carbon emissions.) My problem was and is with the Kyoto process and with Copenhagen and Cancun and so on. Freak shows and media events are not a solution to anything.
More on Climate Change!
2010 set to be Canada's warmest year
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/12/02/climate-change-cancun-wmo.html
The year 2010 is expected to be one of the three warmest years worldwide since the collection of reliable climate data began — and Canada's on track to record its hottest year yet.
The data released Thursday by the UN's weather agency, the World Meteorological Organization, provides further evidence of a warming trend that has been seen for many years. Scientists blame a steady rise in man-made greenhouse gases, which have been building up in the atmosphere, trapping heat in.
During the first 10 months of 2010, the global combined sea surface and land surface air temperature was 0.55 degrees C above the 1961–1990 annual average of 14 degrees C.
A wild caribou roams the tundra in Nunavut. The Canadian Arctic has been warmer than usual in 2010. A wild caribou roams the tundra in Nunavut. The Canadian Arctic has been warmer than usual in 2010. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
So far, the WMO says 2010’s nominal temperature value is the highest on record, placing it slightly ahead of two other warmer-than-average years,1998 and 2005.
The final ranking of 2010 won't be known until data from November and December are examined early next year. But measurements from the first 25 days of November suggest global temperatures continue to track record levels.
"Canada had its warmest winter on record, with national temperatures 4 degrees C above the long-term average," said the WMO.
"Winter temperatures were 6 degrees C or more above normal in parts of [Canada's] North."
The organization added that Canada also had its warmest spring on record, as well as its driest winter ever. As an example, it noted the poor snow conditions at the Winter Oympics in Vancouver and Whistler.
Warmest decade on record
The WMO also says this decade just wrapping up has been the warmest ever recorded, with global temperatures averaging 0.46 degrees C above the 1961-1990 average.
While surface air temperatures were above normal in most parts of the world, Northern Canada was the scene of one of the most extreme temperature anomalies.
The WMO says mean annual temperatures across much of the eastern Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic were 3 degrees C or more above normal in 2010.
"Arctic sea-ice extent was again well below normal in 2010," the WMO said. In September, Arctic sea ice covered just 4.6 million square kilometres, it said. That's more than two million square kilometres below the long-term average.
"The autumn 2010 freeze-up has also been abnormally slow, with the ice cover as of [Nov. 28] being the lowest on record for the time of year. The Canadian sector had its lowest summer ice extent on record," it said.
The other major extreme warm anomaly this year took place most of the northern half of Africa and south Asia, extending as far east as the western half of China, where annual temperatures one to three degrees C above normal occurred over much of the area.
The weather data is part of a preliminary report on global climate change released by the WMO at the latest round of climate talks now underway in Cancun.
The meetings in Mexico are the first major UN climate conference since last year's Copenhagen Summit, which fell short of making much progress in curbing greenhouse gases. That summit revealed a large rift between industrialized nations, emerging economic powers like China and developing countries.
Climate change talks are ultimately aimed at replacing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires 35 industrial nations to cut global warming causing emissions by five per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
While Canada was one of the first countries to ratify the protocol, the government announced in 2007 it would not meet the protocol's 2012 targets. The U.S. was one of the few countries to refuse to ratify Kyoto at all.
2010 set to be Canada's warmest year
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/12/02/climate-change-cancun-wmo.html
The year 2010 is expected to be one of the three warmest years worldwide since the collection of reliable climate data began — and Canada's on track to record its hottest year yet.
The data released Thursday by the UN's weather agency, the World Meteorological Organization, provides further evidence of a warming trend that has been seen for many years. Scientists blame a steady rise in man-made greenhouse gases, which have been building up in the atmosphere, trapping heat in.
During the first 10 months of 2010, the global combined sea surface and land surface air temperature was 0.55 degrees C above the 1961–1990 annual average of 14 degrees C.
A wild caribou roams the tundra in Nunavut. The Canadian Arctic has been warmer than usual in 2010. A wild caribou roams the tundra in Nunavut. The Canadian Arctic has been warmer than usual in 2010. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
So far, the WMO says 2010’s nominal temperature value is the highest on record, placing it slightly ahead of two other warmer-than-average years,1998 and 2005.
The final ranking of 2010 won't be known until data from November and December are examined early next year. But measurements from the first 25 days of November suggest global temperatures continue to track record levels.
"Canada had its warmest winter on record, with national temperatures 4 degrees C above the long-term average," said the WMO.
"Winter temperatures were 6 degrees C or more above normal in parts of [Canada's] North."
The organization added that Canada also had its warmest spring on record, as well as its driest winter ever. As an example, it noted the poor snow conditions at the Winter Oympics in Vancouver and Whistler.
Warmest decade on record
The WMO also says this decade just wrapping up has been the warmest ever recorded, with global temperatures averaging 0.46 degrees C above the 1961-1990 average.
While surface air temperatures were above normal in most parts of the world, Northern Canada was the scene of one of the most extreme temperature anomalies.
The WMO says mean annual temperatures across much of the eastern Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic were 3 degrees C or more above normal in 2010.
"Arctic sea-ice extent was again well below normal in 2010," the WMO said. In September, Arctic sea ice covered just 4.6 million square kilometres, it said. That's more than two million square kilometres below the long-term average.
"The autumn 2010 freeze-up has also been abnormally slow, with the ice cover as of [Nov. 28] being the lowest on record for the time of year. The Canadian sector had its lowest summer ice extent on record," it said.
The other major extreme warm anomaly this year took place most of the northern half of Africa and south Asia, extending as far east as the western half of China, where annual temperatures one to three degrees C above normal occurred over much of the area.
The weather data is part of a preliminary report on global climate change released by the WMO at the latest round of climate talks now underway in Cancun.
The meetings in Mexico are the first major UN climate conference since last year's Copenhagen Summit, which fell short of making much progress in curbing greenhouse gases. That summit revealed a large rift between industrialized nations, emerging economic powers like China and developing countries.
Climate change talks are ultimately aimed at replacing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires 35 industrial nations to cut global warming causing emissions by five per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
While Canada was one of the first countries to ratify the protocol, the government announced in 2007 it would not meet the protocol's 2012 targets. The U.S. was one of the few countries to refuse to ratify Kyoto at all.
more things to add to the proof of global warming list revealed to us plebs at the Bib Cancun AGW conflab . . .
The big problem is, the scientist said, is that the public are really stupid. They think just because Dr David Viner of the Climatic Research Unit said in the Independent in 2000 that soon there’d be no snow because of global warming, when what he actually meant was that soon there’d be lots of snow and that this would be “proof” of global warming. The interviewer just missed out the word “proof” that’s all because journalists are lazy that way.
Then the scientist issued a cut-out-and-keep guide of Signs That Show Man Made Global Warming Is Definitely Still Happening And That Cancun Won’t Be An Almighty Flop.
1. Warm weather
2. Cold weather
3. In-between weather.
4. Dark skies at night
5. Light skies in the morning
6. An unpleasant moist/damp/wet sensation when it rains
7. Ice appearing when the temperature drops below zero
8. Clouds rolling across sky in all sorts of funny shapes, some days like cotton wool, other days in streaks, and on some days not there at all.
9. Ursine subarboreal toilet activity
10. Strong new evidence of ultramontane sympathies at the Vatican
Dellers has the full story
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100066594/signs-that-show-man-made-global-warming-is-definitely-still-happening/
The big problem is, the scientist said, is that the public are really stupid. They think just because Dr David Viner of the Climatic Research Unit said in the Independent in 2000 that soon there’d be no snow because of global warming, when what he actually meant was that soon there’d be lots of snow and that this would be “proof” of global warming. The interviewer just missed out the word “proof” that’s all because journalists are lazy that way.
Then the scientist issued a cut-out-and-keep guide of Signs That Show Man Made Global Warming Is Definitely Still Happening And That Cancun Won’t Be An Almighty Flop.
1. Warm weather
2. Cold weather
3. In-between weather.
4. Dark skies at night
5. Light skies in the morning
6. An unpleasant moist/damp/wet sensation when it rains
7. Ice appearing when the temperature drops below zero
8. Clouds rolling across sky in all sorts of funny shapes, some days like cotton wool, other days in streaks, and on some days not there at all.
9. Ursine subarboreal toilet activity
10. Strong new evidence of ultramontane sympathies at the Vatican
Dellers has the full story
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100066594/signs-that-show-man-made-global-warming-is-definitely-still-happening/
- Reaction score
- 35
- Points
- 530
MPwannabe said:
Just a couple of notes on the attached.....
There was a study done in looking at the weather data collection sites and in particular in Canada there has been a trend of shifting the sites further south while maintaining the "averaging" of the sites where collection is taking place. This obviously heavily skews "Average Temperature" for a huge surface area which skews the overall data which skews any conclusions they're trying to draw.
The climatolgists still have not adjusted for urban heat sinks and the encroachment of large denisities of concrete and pavement around weather data sites. Anyone who has walked in downtown Toronto on an evening as opposed to being in the country can immediately tell you that urban sprawl captures and retains far more heat than countryside so when measuring average temperatures....this heat sink contribution needs to factored out.
Although Arctic ice coverage may have fallen slightly, Antartic ice coverages has actually expanded....If these were reputable scientists that disclosure would be part of the release. As it's not, you can immediately tell that this is a propaganda release with the intent of furthering the alarm and guaranteeing that there will be more all expenses paid trips for climatologists and bureaucrats to sunny destinations like Cancun and Bali.
Of note, does no one on the alarmist side of the equation find it hypocritical that if the advocates of manmade global warming actually believed their own progmnistications, that perhaps instead of gatthering in tourist hotspots like Bali and Cancun that are responsible for millions of pounds of carbon dioxide release per year as aircraft feed their tourism industries, that they might instead not just teleconference?
Author claims we're in the grip of a mini ice age
Article Link
Dec 5 2010 by Mike Kelly, Sunday Sun
AFTER nearly two weeks of snow and sub zero temperatures rivaling those of Siberia, the old joke about global warming being a good thing has had a new lease of life. So what has happened to doom-laden predictions of the world heating up as glaciers melt? Mike Kelly reports.
A satellite image of the UK taken during last year's harsh winter
FIRST the good news. These bitter winters aren’t going to last forever. The bad news is that they will go on for the next 30 years as we have entered a mini ice age.
So says author Gavin Cooke in his book Frozen Britain. He began writing it in 2008 and it was published last year when experts were scratching their heads at the cause of the bitter winter of 2009/10 which brought England to a standstill. Some said it was a one-off event, with experts predicting snowfall becoming increasingly rare.
Now, 12 months on, the current sub zero spell makes last year look just a bit chilly. Just like kids enjoying ‘snow days’ off school, Gavin ought to be delighted with the cold snap. After all, he can justifiably say ‘I told you so’. But he’s as glum as the rest of us.
“I’m getting sick of it myself,” he said.
When Gavin, 48, of Monkseaton, North Tyneside, began writing the book the acclaimed documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ by former US Vice President Al Gore about global warming, was still fresh in the memory. It detailed how carbon emissions were contributing towards the melting of the polar ice caps causing the world to heat up.
Like Gore, Gavin’s interest in climate change went back to college when he studied energy and environment at what was then Newcastle Polytechnic.
He said: “The more I’ve looked into it the more fascinating it has become.”
He is quick to admit that he hasn’t got the scientific background of those who have spent a lifetime studying climate change. What he has brought to the table is his enthusiasm for the subject, his tracking of the arguments and a desire to make sense of a blizzard of information, so to speak.
To simplify, the basis of his theory seems to be sunspot activity, or rather the lack of it. Sunspots are dark, cooler patches on the sun’s surface that come and go in cycles.
They were absent in the 17th century – a period called the “Maunder Minimum” named after the scientist, Edward Maunder, who spotted it. Crucially, it has been observed that the periods when the sun’s activity is high and low are related to warm and cool climatic periods. The weak sun in the 17th century coincided with the so-called Little Ice Age. The Sun took a dip between 1790 and 1830 and the earth also cooled a little. It was weak during the cold Iron Age, and active during the warm Bronze Age.
More on page 2 at link
Article Link
Dec 5 2010 by Mike Kelly, Sunday Sun
AFTER nearly two weeks of snow and sub zero temperatures rivaling those of Siberia, the old joke about global warming being a good thing has had a new lease of life. So what has happened to doom-laden predictions of the world heating up as glaciers melt? Mike Kelly reports.
A satellite image of the UK taken during last year's harsh winter
FIRST the good news. These bitter winters aren’t going to last forever. The bad news is that they will go on for the next 30 years as we have entered a mini ice age.
So says author Gavin Cooke in his book Frozen Britain. He began writing it in 2008 and it was published last year when experts were scratching their heads at the cause of the bitter winter of 2009/10 which brought England to a standstill. Some said it was a one-off event, with experts predicting snowfall becoming increasingly rare.
Now, 12 months on, the current sub zero spell makes last year look just a bit chilly. Just like kids enjoying ‘snow days’ off school, Gavin ought to be delighted with the cold snap. After all, he can justifiably say ‘I told you so’. But he’s as glum as the rest of us.
“I’m getting sick of it myself,” he said.
When Gavin, 48, of Monkseaton, North Tyneside, began writing the book the acclaimed documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ by former US Vice President Al Gore about global warming, was still fresh in the memory. It detailed how carbon emissions were contributing towards the melting of the polar ice caps causing the world to heat up.
Like Gore, Gavin’s interest in climate change went back to college when he studied energy and environment at what was then Newcastle Polytechnic.
He said: “The more I’ve looked into it the more fascinating it has become.”
He is quick to admit that he hasn’t got the scientific background of those who have spent a lifetime studying climate change. What he has brought to the table is his enthusiasm for the subject, his tracking of the arguments and a desire to make sense of a blizzard of information, so to speak.
To simplify, the basis of his theory seems to be sunspot activity, or rather the lack of it. Sunspots are dark, cooler patches on the sun’s surface that come and go in cycles.
They were absent in the 17th century – a period called the “Maunder Minimum” named after the scientist, Edward Maunder, who spotted it. Crucially, it has been observed that the periods when the sun’s activity is high and low are related to warm and cool climatic periods. The weak sun in the 17th century coincided with the so-called Little Ice Age. The Sun took a dip between 1790 and 1830 and the earth also cooled a little. It was weak during the cold Iron Age, and active during the warm Bronze Age.
More on page 2 at link
Climate change causing more violent wildfires: study
Climate change is causing wildfires in the North to burn more violently, which could cause global warming to snowball as it feeds off its own byproducts, according to research released Monday led by an assistant professor at the University of Guelph.
The "runaway scenario" hinges on the fact that the fires are pumping significantly more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than previously thought, said Merritt Turetsky, who teaches in the university’s department of integrative biology.
The increased gases result in more warming which, in turn, leads to fiercer fires and, again, more gases, she explained.
The team of researchers published their findings of this damaging and potentially widespread effect of climate change as delegations from nearly 200 countries gather in Cancun, Mexico to draft a legally-binding environmental treaty with a focus on curbing global warming.
"Just a few degrees of warming of the Earth’s surface is going to have really fundamental shifts for Canadians, like increased droughts in the summer, longer snow-free seasons, and changes in agriculture," Turetsky said. "People hear a lot about climate change, but if they take it more seriously, if they understand it can impact their lives directly, I think politicians will get the idea that they need to start reflecting those societal concerns."
The impacts of global warming are felt particularly sternly in the North, she said, explaining that the higher volume of greenhouse gas emitted from fires is a consequence of the thawing of the northern soil, known as permafrost.
Carbon has been accumulating in the northern permafrost and peatland soils for thousands of years. About half of the world’s soil carbon is locked in that ground.
"The ecosystems are burning more severely, initiating the permafrost thaw and making a lot more carbon available for burning in the future," Turetsky said.
This study is another drop in much larger and growing body of proof that climate change is having dire effects in northern regions, the researchers said.
And although it’s not impossible to break the cycle these researchers uncovered, it’s unlikely, Turetsky said.
"Given the current structure of the boreal forest, it’s not likely," she said. "For anything to change the track of this runaway train, the boreal forest would have to act very differently than it does today."
But the cycle won’t go on indefinitely, said Eric Kasischke, a professor of biogeography at the University of Maryland who started this research project in the early 1990s.
The runaway scenario will probably continue for several decades and eventually lead to a complete shift in forest type, which will also lead to fewer fires, he said.
But such a shift will have a cascading effect on all living organisms in the North, he warned.
"The shift can destroy the habitat for the caribou, for example. So those populations are likely to drop, and moose populations are likely to increase, because they like the shrubs that come back after the severe fires," Kasischke said.
"And eventually it will affect people living in the higher northern areas, as they’re forced to shift their resources and refocus their hunting habits."
To collect the data for this study, which will be published in Nature Geosciences, researchers visited almost 200 sites in Alaska shortly after fires had been extinguished, and measured the amount of biomass that had burnt.
The group is undertaking similar studies in the Canadian boreal forests.
article link
(Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)
Climate change is causing wildfires in the North to burn more violently, which could cause global warming to snowball as it feeds off its own byproducts, according to research released Monday led by an assistant professor at the University of Guelph.
The "runaway scenario" hinges on the fact that the fires are pumping significantly more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than previously thought, said Merritt Turetsky, who teaches in the university’s department of integrative biology.
The increased gases result in more warming which, in turn, leads to fiercer fires and, again, more gases, she explained.
The team of researchers published their findings of this damaging and potentially widespread effect of climate change as delegations from nearly 200 countries gather in Cancun, Mexico to draft a legally-binding environmental treaty with a focus on curbing global warming.
"Just a few degrees of warming of the Earth’s surface is going to have really fundamental shifts for Canadians, like increased droughts in the summer, longer snow-free seasons, and changes in agriculture," Turetsky said. "People hear a lot about climate change, but if they take it more seriously, if they understand it can impact their lives directly, I think politicians will get the idea that they need to start reflecting those societal concerns."
The impacts of global warming are felt particularly sternly in the North, she said, explaining that the higher volume of greenhouse gas emitted from fires is a consequence of the thawing of the northern soil, known as permafrost.
Carbon has been accumulating in the northern permafrost and peatland soils for thousands of years. About half of the world’s soil carbon is locked in that ground.
"The ecosystems are burning more severely, initiating the permafrost thaw and making a lot more carbon available for burning in the future," Turetsky said.
This study is another drop in much larger and growing body of proof that climate change is having dire effects in northern regions, the researchers said.
And although it’s not impossible to break the cycle these researchers uncovered, it’s unlikely, Turetsky said.
"Given the current structure of the boreal forest, it’s not likely," she said. "For anything to change the track of this runaway train, the boreal forest would have to act very differently than it does today."
But the cycle won’t go on indefinitely, said Eric Kasischke, a professor of biogeography at the University of Maryland who started this research project in the early 1990s.
The runaway scenario will probably continue for several decades and eventually lead to a complete shift in forest type, which will also lead to fewer fires, he said.
But such a shift will have a cascading effect on all living organisms in the North, he warned.
"The shift can destroy the habitat for the caribou, for example. So those populations are likely to drop, and moose populations are likely to increase, because they like the shrubs that come back after the severe fires," Kasischke said.
"And eventually it will affect people living in the higher northern areas, as they’re forced to shift their resources and refocus their hunting habits."
To collect the data for this study, which will be published in Nature Geosciences, researchers visited almost 200 sites in Alaska shortly after fires had been extinguished, and measured the amount of biomass that had burnt.
The group is undertaking similar studies in the Canadian boreal forests.
article link
(Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)
The core of the global warming scam . . .
"One of the most disturbing things we learned from Climategate is that academic peer-review can be startlingly superficial. Phil Jones, the director of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (the source of the Climategate e-mails), told a UK parliamentary committee in March that, in all his years of publishing papers in reputable journals such as Nature and Science, no one has ever asked to examine his raw data or his computer code.
In drug trials, raw data and computer codes are inspected as a matter of course. A new kind of aspirin receives orders of magnitude more scrutiny than does the sort of research routinely cited by the IPCC. This means that governments are making trillion-dollar climate decisions based on IPCC reports that rely on data no one has ever double-checked."
Wonderful . . . $trillions of dollars in economic decisions and nobody bothers to check the data or even think it is necessary to check the data.
Or worse, doesn't want their data checked because they know how thin gruel it really is.
Now that is how you run a scam !
http://nofrakkingconsensus.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/a-powerful-new-research-tool/
"One of the most disturbing things we learned from Climategate is that academic peer-review can be startlingly superficial. Phil Jones, the director of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (the source of the Climategate e-mails), told a UK parliamentary committee in March that, in all his years of publishing papers in reputable journals such as Nature and Science, no one has ever asked to examine his raw data or his computer code.
In drug trials, raw data and computer codes are inspected as a matter of course. A new kind of aspirin receives orders of magnitude more scrutiny than does the sort of research routinely cited by the IPCC. This means that governments are making trillion-dollar climate decisions based on IPCC reports that rely on data no one has ever double-checked."
Wonderful . . . $trillions of dollars in economic decisions and nobody bothers to check the data or even think it is necessary to check the data.
Or worse, doesn't want their data checked because they know how thin gruel it really is.
Now that is how you run a scam !
http://nofrakkingconsensus.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/a-powerful-new-research-tool/
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