There’ve been no strange storms in Europe, no wild storms in Canada and the drought and flooding in Australia isn’t happening. I've just come in from outside, wet through, where there is usually minus 10 and heaps of snow at this point in January and I'm lying if I tell you there's plus 2, light rain and a gale. It's not happening at all.
Everything’s normal, all’s ok. Bloggers, journos and pollies know far more than scientists about such matters, after all. So, one last time, it's not happening, all right? Trust me on this.
The main evidence you draw to our attention relates to it being warmer overall (just now) than we have each personally seen before.
ReplyDeleteYou might be right; in fact I think you are.
But what does that say to cause?
This chap clearly has other things in mind.
Best regards
I'm confused
ReplyDeleteUh...James, there are daffodils - _daffodils_ - growing in east Gloucestershire tonight. In my 30 rather poor years, I have _never_ seen daffs in January. Last year they came out in April and lingered throughout May, so cold was spring...
ReplyDeleteNo-one disputes that the climate is changing. It always is. The issue is whether human activity is causing it. I am no scientist, but such an anthropocentric view of the world seems to me less plausible than that the "usual suspects" are talking up a doomsday theory to justify bigger government.
ReplyDeleteSince Socialism was discredited as a justification for Big Government, the totalitarians of the world have been seeking the next big idea. You can surely forgive us for suspecting this may be it?
Nothing makes me more suspicious than the various political attempts to suppress dissent. Good science doesn't need the Spanish Inquisition.
I wouldn't buy a used Lada from Al Gore, let alone theories that may lead to demands for the reduction of human population by billions to "sustainable" levels, or at least the return to the Dark Ages of technology!
Tom, Amen to that brother (and it's funny that the remedies to global warming involve the er, destruction of capitalism- I've heard that somewhere before..) but,er....there are _still_ daffs growing here and I have never, ever seen that before...
ReplyDeleteClimate change is happening, humans are playing a role...but how much?
ReplyDeleteAnd what to do? I agree with the thoughts around the ususal line of lets end capitalsim.
I was supposed to be scared by a repor yesterday that said the UK could warm by 4o by 2100.
Sounds ace to me...
James,
ReplyDeleteBy the same token, yesterday the Campsie Fells were covered with extremely seasonal (and most scenic) snow, and getting to work in Glasgow on Thursday was like 'March of the Penguins'.
Nastrovya.
I remember winters in the eighties when London had daffs sprouting in January, and forsythia in Feb.
ReplyDeleteTom, wicle I agree that it all sounds a bit anthropocentric, if you look at it you'll see that in the past two hundred years we humans have done things on this planet that have never been done before. One, grow far more numerous than at any previous time, all over the world; and two, create a lot of heat. Everythign we do produces more heat than our ancestors used to produce. And since there are also exponentially more of is, tthat is a lot of heat to be sudden;ly producing. Plus., the well-documented fact of the disappearance of the ozone layer means we are more prone to the heat of the sun than ever before.
This is all just true. Like skunk being worse for you than old-fashioned grass, the sun's rays are now stronger than they were when the Coppertone baby was just a cute kid.
This has been going on since before Al Gore was even on the political landscape. You can't reject something like this on party political grounds. I can't remember a time in my life when we didn't know fossil fuels were harming the planet and were also not sustainable: the fact that we've carried on increasing our use of them for 35 years doesn't make it okay. Back when I was a kid I was reading about the danger to the planet caused by "the population explosion" (the US population is now over 300 million; it hit 200 million 39 years ago; that's 100 million people in 39 years in one country, all creating heat).
You know, sorry, but the "there is no global warming" argument sounds partly like party politics - hence the accusation at the "other side" - and partly like not wanting to park up and get the bus.
Sorry for the typos, I'm in my wrong glasses! And I meant to say 100 million EXTRA people. Whatever I say is useless though because we can't imagine that many people.
ReplyDeleteMs Baroque, you hit the nail on the head by saying this thing was political. One of my links is to the scientific community who simply say that the bunch of scientists Exxon and friends bought to say it wasn't happening was designed to muddy the waters.
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame Exxon and global partners, lawyers, accountants and everyone else attached to the Finance. If the public panics, they lose big bikkies.
I played devil's advocate yesterday to the local scinece community and the Russians simply trotted out the stats and the consensus to show that:
1] of course it's happening - open your eyes;
2] yes it has been accelerated by human action;
3] a lot of it is due to enormous amounts of Chinese coal burning;
4] the bulk of it stems from North America and to a lesser extent Europe;
5] those in denial are either politically motivated or like the fashionable blogosphere anti-climate change stance.
I would add, myself, that one of the main reasons usually sane people such as some of these commenters are saying what they are is because the government has hijacked the agenda and is stirring people up for its own reasons, not in the least concerned with climate change.
It's more a case of anti-government than denial of climate change.
I agree with your last comment James. Looks like much of the carbon tax is just that. What needs to happen is not just tree planting and the like, but changes in the way things happen. Eventually we will have to pay off the Global Warming Credit Card, not just pay the interest every month. I am suspicious that much of the government involvement will be an unspecified tax to address global warming rather like speed cameras are to address public safety.
ReplyDelete