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CLIMATE
CHANGE UPDATE 20.07.2010
CLIMATE CLAIM CORRECTION as item in last CN 24 2 which states on p1, that Cowry shells live in tropical and sub tropical areas
should read around 2/3 of Cowry shells are tropical or sub tropical. Any conclusions in the article re past climate based on Cowry
distribution should be held as unsubstantiated till the species of fossil Cowry referred to in the article is fully identified. Our
apologies for this error.
RISING SEA LEVEL SURPRISE, according to a report in ABC (Australia) News in Science 3 June 2010 and Global and Planetary Change
online 21 May 2010. Arthur P. Webb of Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission, Fiji and Paul Kench of School of Environment,
The University of Auckland, New Zealand have studied aerial photos of 27 islands taken between 20 and 60 years ago and found 80
percent of the island had remained stable or increased in size. The results surprised those who believe Pacific Islands were doomed
to disappear below global warming induced sea level rise. The researchers still believe sea levels are rising but the islands can
keep up with it or even outgrow it. Kench commented: "Some of those islands have gotten dramatically larger, by 20 or 30 percent.
We've now got evidence the physical foundations of these islands will still be there in 100 years."
Island growth is due to a number of processes. In their article the researchers wrote: "Results contradict existing paradigms of
island response and have significant implications for the consideration of island stability under ongoing sea-level rise in the
central Pacific. First, islands are geomorphologicalLy persistent features on atoll reef platforms and can increase in island area
despite sea-level change. Second, islands are dynamic landforms that undergo a range of physical adjustments in responses to
changing boundary conditions, of which sea level is just one factor. Third, erosion of island shorelines must be reconsidered in the
context of physical adjustments of the entire island shoreline as erosion may be balanced by progradation on other sectors of
shorelines."
ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/06/03/2916981.htm
ED. COM. Who would have believed it? Al Gore certainly never suggested it and Prince Charles and the Archbishop of Canterbury still
haven't spotted it. There remains no excuse for the sea level rise scare tactics being used by politicians to introduce new save the
earth taxes to increase their powerbase. Instead, we should be studying the earth, learning to live with the changes that are
occurring, use the resources wisely and reminding ourselves that the earth will be sustained by its Creator until it pleases Him to
bring it to an end. (Ref. climate change, geomorphology, Oceania)
RISING SEA LEVEL CLAIM RETRACTED reported an article in the Guardian, 21 Feb 2010 and Nature Geoscience, Published online: 21 February 2010 | doi:10.1038/ngeo780. In July 2009 a group of scientists led by Mark Siddall, of Earth Sciences Department, University of Bristol, UK published a report that predicted global warming could cause to rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century. Although the report admitted: “It is difficult to project sea-level rise in response to warming climates by the end of the century, especially because the response of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to warming is not well understood,” the study was considered further confirmation of the IPCC’s warnings about sea level rises due to man-made global warming. Following critiques by other climate scientists Siddall’s team have now formally retracted their report, saying: "Since publication of our paper we have become aware of two mistakes which impact the detailed estimation of future sea level rise. This means that we can no longer draw firm conclusions regarding 21st century sea level rise from this study without further work. One mistake was a miscalculation; the other was not to allow fully for temperature change over the past 2,000 years. Because of these issues we have retracted the paper and will now invest in the further work needed to correct these mistakes." Other scientists have estimated sea level rises may be even higher that Sidall’s team’s calculations, but Sidall says he does not know whether his estimate was an overestimate or underestimate.
Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/21/sea-level-geoscience-retract-siddall
ED. COM. Did you notice how many unknowns are involved in these estimates. The number of things scientists admit they don’t know refutes the claims by global warming alarmists that “the science is settled.” Most of the warnings in the IPCC reports are based on computer models like the one used to estimate sea level rises. The more unknown factors in a model, the less reliable it is. If we don’t understand something, we certainly can’t control it, and it is about time the climate science community showed a little humility and admitted there are some forces in nature we are never going to be able to control, such as the sun or earthquakes. The sun is the source of most of the heat on the earth, and earthquakes affect sea-levels from the bottom up. This does not mean we should not study them. We should, in order that we might seek to understand the patterns and cycles that the Creator put into nature in the beginning, and then live as best we can within them. But most of all we should put our trust in the Creator God who spoke the earth and the universe into existence, and can call for the water to be poured out on the land, as He did in the time of Noah, or for the storm to stop as Jesus who is this same creator God, did in a boat on Galilee. (Ref. climate change, floods, oceanography)
CLIMATEGATES TOP SCIENTIST ADMITS NO GLOBAL WARMING SINCE 1995, according
to BBC News 13 Feb 2010 and Daily Mail 14 Feb 2010. Professor Phil Jones (now ex-head of
East Anglia Climate unit), is the leading scientist under investigation following the “Climategate” email
and data leak, admitted on a BBC News interview, there has been no significant global
warming since 1995. When asked: “Do you agree that from 1995 to the present there has been no
statistically-significant global warming? Jones answered: “Yes, but only just. I also calculated the
trend for the period 1995 to 2009. This trend (0.12C per decade) is positive, but not significant at
the 95% significance level.” When asked if the trend from 2002 to the present was one of cooling
Jones said: “No. This period is even shorter than 1995-2009. The trend this time is negative (-
0.12C per decade), but this trend is not statistically significant.”...
When asked whether the rate the most recent period of warming from 1975 to 1998 was no
different from previous periods of increasing temperature, i.e. 1860-1880 and 1910-1940, Jones
admitted the warming rates were “similar and not statistically significantly different from each
other.” This is an important admission because the earlier warming periods are considered to be
from natural processes, not man-made....
Jones and an American colleague Michael Mann, had a large part in producing the now discredited“hockey stick graph” which showed no signs of the well documented Medieval Warm Period and
indicated the recent warming was unprecedented over the last thousand years. This was used by
the IPCC to convince politicians that current warming was a dangerous man-made phenomenon.
Jones admitted the MWP occurred in the Northern Hemisphere and was as warm as the current
period but said there was not enough data from the tropics and southern hemisphere to say it was
a global. He admitted: “Of course, if the MWP was shown to be global in extent and as warm or
warmer than today (based on an equivalent coverage over the NH and SH) then obviously the late -
20th century warmth would not be unprecedented.” Jones still believes the current warming is
unprecedented and is caused by man-made factors...
Jones and some of his colleagues at the University of East Anglia climate centre have been found
guilty of ignoring legal Freedom of Information requests for data from the centre, and Jones has
confessed to not keeping records in any usable form and that the data used to promote man-made
global warming may have been lost...
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8511701.stm
Daily Mail: Click HERE
ED. COM. A trend of minus 0.12 degrees C per decade equals 0.096 degrees cooling over the
last eight years. That may not seem significant, but it is the opposite of the politicians’ and popular
media’s dire warnings of unrelenting heating. No wonder Jones and colleagues didn’t want the
data to be released into the public domain, even if they haven’t lost any of it. Jones is partly right
about the Medieval Warm Period lack of data from the tropics and southern hemisphere for that
period, as groups such as the aboriginals in Australia and most natives throughout the Pacific
region have no written accounts of any time period. However a recent article in Science, vol. 324,
p78, 3 April 2009 presented “globally distributed proxy data” for the past 947 years indicating the
Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age that followed were associated with changes in
massive ocean currents involving both hemispheres....
In the meantime masses of money, media hype and politicians’ promises are being wasted
propping up a theory founded on data that has been manipulated into discredited graphs and may
no longer exist. With recent revelations of mistakes by the IPCC, and regional raw data being reanalysed,
the global warming facade is cracking, but don’t start cheering yet. Politicians, media
managers and carbon traders will not easily give up the power and money that comes with global
warming alarmism. Instead, we should be humbling ourselves before our Creator, who is in charge
of the climate, and getting on with the things we can do to be good stewards of the earth. (Ref.
weather, politics, climate change)...
WARM BLAST FROM THE PAST. A supporter recently sent us an ageing and brief
newspaper clipping from the Courier Mail claiming evidence of a warm period around 2,000 years
ago that showed earth’s climate “can warm up suddenly without any connection to human activity.”
The report was dated 14 August1998. We tracked down the source of the article in Science vol.
281, p280, 14 Aug 1998 which described a study of oxygen isotopes in biogenic silica in a high
altitude lake in Kenya. The amount and type of Oxygen isotopes are a useful indicator of water
temperature. The study indicated there was a warm period some 2,300 to 1,500 years before the
present, i.e 300BC to 500 AD. The authors also noted there is evidence for a warm period at this
time from other places in Africa and locations as far apart of Yukon Alaska and Swedish Lapland.
ED. COM. It is interesting that the mainstream media at 1998, before global warming alarmists
took over the media, reported a study that says global warming is not man made. Human activity
may not have warmed up the world, but it is interesting to consider what humans were doing at this
time. The Roman Empire rose and fell during this time, and so we know from other historical
records that this was a warm period. Warm periods in Europe and Britain are times of wealth and
plenty, and the warm conditions undoubtedly made it easier for the Romans to expand through
Europe and Britain and establish their road system and other infrastructure....
But there is one surprising consequence of this Roman Warming Era. At the height of this warm
period the Lord Jesus Christ lived, died, rose from the dead and commissioned his disciples to take
the gospel to all nations. There is no doubt the warm climate and Roman infrastructure made the
movement of early Christians relatively easy throughout the Roman Empire, and as a result the
gospel reached as far as Britain during Roman times. Just an interesting reminder that the earth’s
climate is under the control of the Creator who uses it to fulfil his purposes. To claim that man can
defy God’s climate control is as futile as the efforts of the Roman Empire to stop the spread of the
Gospel. (Ref. weather, evangelism, history)...
COOLING RESPONSE TO GLOBAL WARMING, according an article in BBC News 7 Feb
2010. On 3rd and 4th February a British survey organisation named Populus carried out a survey
of opinions on global warming. This was compared with a similar survey from November 2009.
They found there has been a rapid DECREASE in the number of people who believe in man-made
global warming - from 41 percent to 26 percent. The number of climate sceptics is on the rise.
Those who believed that climate change was happening, but has not been proven to be caused by
man, increased from 32 percent to 38 percent; and those who believed “climate change is
happening, but it is environmentalist propaganda that it is man‐made” increased from 8 to 10
percent. There was even an increase in people who believe that climate change is not happening:
from 15 to 25 percent...
The survey also showed that one third of the people who agreed that climate change was
happening believed “the potential consequences of living in a warming world had been
exaggerated”. This was an increase from one in five in Nov 2009...
For full survey results see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8500443.stm
Michael Simmonds, managing director of Populus, commented to BBC News: “It is very unusual
indeed to see such a dramatic shift in opinion in such a short period.” He went on to say: “The
British public are sceptical about man's contribution to climate change - and becoming more so.
More people are now doubters than firm believers.” Professor Bob Watson, chief scientific adviser
to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the results were “very
disappointing”. He told BBC news: “The fact that there has been a very significant drop in the
number of people that believe that we humans are changing the Earth's climate is serious. Action
is urgently needed.” He went on to warn: “We need the public to understand that climate change is
serious so they will change their habits and help us move towards a low carbon economy.”
In between the two surveys there have been numerous stories of flawed climate science, but these
did not appear to be the main reason for the change. Only 57 percent of people were aware of the
bad science stories and 73% of these said the bad science stories had not changed their views
about the risks of climate change. Michael Simmonds said that it was very unusual for single
events to have a dramatic impact on public opinion. He commented: “People tend to make
judgements over time based on a whole range of different sources.”
ED. COM. Although only 57 percent of people said they knew of the flawed science stories full
survey results show 83 percent said they heard stories about the record cold UK winter but the
survey did not ask if these stories made people change their minds. People may not know what
makes for good science, but they do know if they are cold, and it is unlikely they will want
politicians to pass laws that increase the cost of keeping warm. Whatever has made people
change their opinion, it seems the more strident the govt climate warnings, the more people think
science and Govt claims are exaggerated. The climategate e-mails and the false claims made by
the IPCC indicate there are more stories of flawed science to come. The really worrying thing is
that people may lose their respect for real science and lose interest in doing the things that can be
done about environment. (Ref. weather, politics, public opinion)
OCEANS ARE RISING? See Al Gores new $4mill seaside home at fisherman's wharf in San Francisco not far from Chinatown. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zOXmJ4jd-8&NR=1 time index - 27m:07s
‘RELIGION MUST EVOLVE TO LEAD US TO ECOLOGICAL SALVATION’ states Irish Times writer John Gibbons in response to the pro global warming declaration from the Catholic Bishops of Ireland in their publication “The Cry of the Earth” (Irish Times Nov 11p. 3 and Nov 12p. 13). Man must be dethroned from his dominion and his perceived license to exploit the planet as traditionally taught by the Catholic church and ensconced in Genesis 1 and 2 and repeated after the flood account to Noah ( Genesis 9 :1-6)who according to Gibbons was authorized to ‘plunder the natural world”.
ED.COM. It is evident that neither the Irish Bishops nor the Irish Times writer believe Genesis to be the real history of the Planet. Gibbons definitely accepts a totally naturalistic view of man and it is also evident that the Bishops are seeking a way to fit their theology to what they perceive the world regards as popular. See NOTABLE QUOTABLE below ( Ref. Climate, Christianity, religion)
AT THE SAME TIME AUSSIE Climate Skeptic Geology Prof Ian Plimer is touring the UK (November 09) and getting minor airtime on the BBC as he exposes the fallacies in just about everything the British Govt. environmental lobby and UN climate alarmists are saying. His chief weapon is both the geological evidence of past dramatic climate changes which had nothing to do with man, and the fact that over the past 150 yrs there have been 3 cooling periods and the same people who predicted the world would enter a new Ice age during the 1970s, are today’s barrow pushers of heating alarm and making considerable money out of it. British Geologist David Bellamy who has disappeared from the BBC since he took a stance against Global Warming is getting limited space in the Irish press (Irish Times Nov 11p. 3) as he continues to warn that climate has changed over and over through history and the present situation has nothing to do with CO2 production which has continued to increase as the temperature has started to go down over the past 10 years.
AUSSIE PM’S CLIMATE WAR, as reported on ABC (Australia) News and The Age 6 Nov 2009. In an address to Lowy Institute Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, has delivered a “fierce attack” on those who question man-made global warming, calling them “reckless gamblers who are betting all our futures on their arrogant assumption that their intuitions should triumph over the evidence.” He went on to say: You are betting our jobs, our houses, our farms, our reefs, our economy and our future on an intuition, on a gut feeling, on a political prejudice you have about science." According to Rudd their real agenda is “to destroy the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme at home and it is to destroy agreed global action on climate change abroad. “
ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/06/2735769.htm
The Age: http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudd-attacks-climate-change-sceptics-20091106-i1tp.html
ED. COM. The “Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme” is a carbon tax scheme that Rudd has been trying to establish in Australia, but has been frustrated because his political party does not control both houses of Parliament and cannot get the legislation passed. As the UN climate conference approaches, Climate Agenda politicians are getting more strident in the scorn they hurl at those who question man-made global warming. Perhaps they realise they may be losing the battle and won’t be able to gain the extra power and money they crave. Observations of the real world rather than man-made computer modelling, shows that the global warming has ceased for the past decade even though CO2 has increased and this information is slowly seeping out to the general public, especially to those who have endured two recent very cold winters. If the truth does manage to reach the majority of people, politicians like Rudd will lose the trust of the electorate and people will become harder to govern. Who knows what tactics they may resort to stay in power? (Ref. politics, controversy, environmentalism)
WEATHER CHANNEL FOUNDER WANTS TO SUE GORE, according to a FOX News video on Resist Net. Alan Coleman, who founded the Weather Channel and is now weatherman on KUSI TV in San Diego, wants to take Al Gore to court over Gore’s claims that man-made global warming is destroying the world. Coleman claims to have 30,000 scientists with him in his belief that Gore is guilty of fraud. Coleman also claims he has tried to engage Gore and his supporters in a debate over climate change but has been repeatedly told by Gore that the debate is over, and therefore there is nothing to discuss. Coleman is also frustrated by the mainstream media who refuse to let him air his views. Therefore, he believes he has to resort to a court of law to force Gore to answer his criticisms.
Video interview with Coleman: http://www.resistnet.com/profiles/blogs/weather-channel-founder-and
ED. COM. If Coleman goes ahead with this plan there is a legal precedent for it in Britain when a school governor challenged the compulsory showing of Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth in British schools. British High Court Judge Sir Michael Burton identified nine incorrect claims in Gore’s film, and ruled that the film could be shown in schools but should be accompanied by notes that balance Gore’s view. For more details of this ruling search for “Gore” in the Fact File on the Evidence website at http://evidenceweb.net/generic_search_results.php?p_SEARCHTYPE=Fact_File_Index .
We don’t recommend that people try to resolve scientific issues in law courts, although we do understand Coleman’s frustration. For this reason Creation Research has produced DVDs on climate change: Climate Change and Creation and Climate Change: the God Factor. These can be ordered from www.creationreserch.net click webshop. Why not show these and discuss them with your few friends so the issue could be debated properly in spite of the media suppression. (Ref. controversy, litigation, politics)
CLIMATE CHANGE AGENDAS AND ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT is Lord Monkton’s warning in a 4 minute interview regarding the December Global Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen where nations will cede away sovereignty to a global government body. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMe5dOgbu40
Then click the following link to listen to Lord Monckton's 15 minute radio interview with Allan Jones in Sydney, Australia regarding the ETS, Copenhagen Treaty, and a One World Government.
http://www.2gb.com/index2.php?option=com_newsmanager&task=view&id=4998
AUSSIE CLIMATE CLUES FROM DINO BURROWS, according to articles in fossilscience.com
and BBC News 10 July 2009. Two years ago Anthony Martin, a palaeontologist at Emory
University and colleagues found bones of a small adult dinosaur and two juveniles in a fossilised
burrow in south western Montana. The dinosaur was named Oryctodromeus cubicularis, meaning
"digging runner of the lair" and was dated as 95 million years old. Martin is a specialist in trace
fossil (tracks, burrows, etc.) and has now found three more burrows in Victoria, Australia that are
very similar to the O. cubicularis burrows. The burrows are twisted, and the largest and best
preserved turns twice before ending in a larger chamber. It is more than 2.1m (6ft 4in) long and
Martin suggested an animal around 10kg in size would have made each burrow. Twisted burrows
help keep predators out and maintain more even temperature and humidity. Martin and colleagues
suggest that dinosaurs dug burrows to care for their young and to escape extremes of climate.
Martin explained: "This research helps us to better understand long-term geologic change, and
how organisms may have adapted as the Earth has undergone periods of global cooling and
warming." The Australian burrows are dated at 106 million years, during "the one of the last times the
Earth experienced global warming, with an average temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit - about
10 degrees higher than today," but even then the southern edge of Australia would have
experienced cold winters and these new finds indicate dinosaurs burrowed into river banks to
shelter from harsh weather.
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8144000/8144199.stm
Fossil Science:
http://www.fossilscience.com/research/Down_Under_dinosaur_burrow_discovery_provides_climate_change_clues.asp
ED. COM. Send Al Gore a copy - dinos suffered from Global warming - cause please Al? All
jesting aside - proving that these burrows were dug by dinosaurs will not prove to be possible
without evidence of dinosaurs actually using them. (Ref. reptiles, trace fossils, Cretaceous)
PINE TREES WIN FROM HIGHER CO2 as late press from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090803173246.htm reports 'Higher Carbon Dioxide
May Give Pine Trees A Competitive Edge' with promo blurb: "Pine trees grown for 12 years in air
one-and-a-half times richer in carbon dioxide than today's levels, produced twice as many seeds of
at least as good a quality as those growing under normal conditions."
ED.COM. WE PREDICT that such experiments using all plants should show such an increase in
benefit to most plants.
UNFORESEEN ADVANTAGES OF CO2 FOUND, according to a report in Science Daily, 1
June 2009. Scott Denning, a physicist from Colorado State University, and his colleagues in the
North American Carbon Program (NACP) are devising methods of tracking carbon dioxide levels
all over the North America using monitors on cell phone and air traffic control towers. As the results
are collected they have "discerned and confirmed the unforeseen advantages of rising carbon
dioxide levels." Denning commented: "Stuff is growing faster than it's dying, which is weird."
Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0603-
can_carbon_dioxide_be_a_good_thing.htm
Evidence News 08/09 5th August 2009 - Climate
ED. COM. These findings may seem weird to a physicist, but they should be no surprise to
biologists and geologists. Carbon dioxide is one of the essential raw materials plants use to make
food for themselves and in turn feed, clothe and shelter all other living things on the planet. The
fossil, rock and sediment records indicate there have been periods when carbon dioxide has been
higher in the past, and those periods are associated with abundant lush vegetation. The recent
climate change publicity has painted carbon dioxide as a poison, e.g. Richard Branson said "We
want to encourage scientists and individuals from around the world to come up with a new way of
removing lethal carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They will not only make history, but preserve
history." (Voyeur, Virgin Blue in flight magazine, July 2007, p33) Carbon dioxide causes some
discomfort at concentrations higher than one percent in the air, and is toxic at around five percent,
but at the current concentration of between 0.03 to 0.04 percent it is essential to all life an earth. If
it doubled, as the climate alarmists claim it will, WE PREDICT it will be a boost to life on earth, not
a death sentence. (Ref. atmosphere, gas, carbon cycle)
UK CREATIONIST MICHAEL GARLAND ... recommends the book 'Climate Change
Reconsidered', a comprehensive refutation of the UN/IPCC argument for CO2 driven global
warming, available as a free download from click HERE.
I would highlight chapter 3 - a lucid expose of the famous 'hockey stick' graph supposedly
demonstrating accelerating 20th / 21st century temperatures as a lesson in how not to do science. I
mention the book here because so many 'highly reputable' scientists are, surely, going to have egg
on their faces. The take home message that I am going to try to exploit is that science excludes
alternative and minority voices to its peril. Indeed we need to make that point because the
alternative, post-modernism take on this is that we can't know anything. Science now concerns
itself with advocacy when it should be about critical thinking.
From what I've seen this book seems to get so much right. Even the web pages are done superbly,
simple navigation with summaries at every heading, the language is simple yet the literature review
and citations are awesome - talk about taking the IPCC reports to the cleaners! A reviewer stated: "None of the UN document's principal claims is left standing. No objective reader can walk away
from the NIPCC report without realizing how weak the case is for alarm over global warming.
Global warming simply is not the crisis so many politicians and activists claim it is. It never was."
The book is from the 'Nongovernmental Internal Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC)'.
AUSSIE SENATOR'S QUESTION TO GORE during his recent visit to Australia, was a simple
question involving the observation that if CO2 is increasing and world temperature is now
decreasing - what's your problem?
ED.COM. Senator Fielding is not the first to ask the question - but he seems to be the first to be so
publicly ignored by Gore whose refusal to meet the senator or answer him, gave the media a
FIELDing day, if you can forgive the pun. Gore also refused to publicly answer any question by
anyone who was critical of Gore's position - seems the truth was just too inconvenient.
MALDIVE DATA CAUTION as Kiwi expert, Alan Radcliffe, a Licensed Cadastral Surveyor
asks: "Your article on the Maldives Not Drowning", in Evidence News 04/09 6th May 2009 (click HERE) Item 11), is the first I
have seen from you on sea level, and it has set me thinking. The article says the IPCC claim of
2.3mm/yr sea level rise, presumably for the whole world, or at least the stretch from Hong Kong to
the Maldives, was based on a single tide gauge at Hong Kong. I haven't read the IPCC paper that
claims this, but I would be amazed if they only used the readings from one gauge. There are
hundreds of accurate tide gauges, and many have been operating for up to 100 years. I have
looked at Professor Axel-Nils website, and although he is listed as a sea level expert, I cannot see
any paper he has written about sea level. Has he personally done any sea level research? I would
be wary of his bona fides without knowing of the depth of his sea level research.
I have done some research on sea level here where I live in Gisborne, New Zealand. I obtained the
paper charts from the automatic recording tide gauge operated by the Harbour Board for the years
1983 to 1991, extracted annual means, and plotted these on a graph with three other MSL
determinations in 1926, 1951 and 1953. A straight line linear regression "fit" was calculated, which
produced an annual mean sea level rise here of 2.3mm/year over 65 years. I know Professor John
Hannah of the Otago University School of Surveying, and one of his areas of research is sea level
rise. He has written two (or more) papers on this, analysing data from four tide gauges in NZ. All of
these gauges show long term (80+ yrs) rise rates, being Auckland (0.8mm/yr), Wellington
(1.6mm/yr), Christchurch (1.8mm/yr) and Dunedin (1.0mm/yr). My result from Gisborne is not
greatly different. Papers I have read on sea level research in other countries indicates long term
rise in some places.
It could be that these apparent rises in sea level are caused by sinking of the land rather than
rising of sea level. There are now sufficient continuous recording GPS stations here to track
changes in land height, and after say 20 years readings have been analysed, it may be possible to
determine if the land is sinking over a large area. Do you have any other info on sea level change
that might back up the claim by Professor Axel-Nils?"
ED. COM. We have tried to find alternate authoritative sources for the data and claims by
Professor Axel-Nils and Morner on the Maldives sea level not rising and at present we have not
succeeded so we therefore recommend caution on the original article. Anybody with further
independent data please get in touch.
COOL CLIMATE CHANGE reports Deroy Murdock of Scripps Howard News Service and
media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University, 7
July 2009. In spite of continued dire warnings about global warming, June was an unusually cold
month on both sides of the globe. Summer temperatures in Manhattan, Boston, Phoenix, the
Yucca Valley (California) and Los Angeles have been the mildest for over a century. In the
southern hemisphere unusually cold winters have been reported in Brazil, South Africa and New
Zealand. New Zealand's National Climate Centre issued a press release on 2 June headlined: "Temperature: lowest ever for May for many areas, colder than normal for all." Murdock then
quotes former U.S. Senate Environment Committee spokesman Marc Morano: "There has been no
significant global warming since 1995, no warming since 1998, and global cooling for the past few
years," and "The latest global averaged satellite temperature data for June 2009 reveal yet another
drop in Earth's temperature . . . Despite his dire warnings, the Earth has cooled 0.74 degrees F
since former Vice President Al Gore released 'An Inconvenient Truth' in 2006."
Furthermore fifty years of carbon dioxide research by National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, show that changes in
carbon dioxide levels do not fit with global temperature changes. CO2 increased from 314.67 parts
per million (ppm) in 1958 to 366.87 ppm by 1998. Since then global temperatures stabilised and
started to cool, but CO2 continued to rise to 385.54 in December 2008.
This article was followed by a number of reader comments. Among them reports of rising heating
costs, observations on increasing Antarctic ice and not wanting to go back to the Little Ice Age.
One insightful comment from a reader identifying himself as "Dr Jay" was: "But who says we know
what temperature is best for the world and mankind anyway? Only man and his incredible ability to
boast of his self-importance would deign to think he possesses that knowledge." Scripps Howard
News Service: http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/44463
ED. COM. The disconnect between global temperature and carbon dioxide noted by Murdock is an
important one. Previous periods of warming have been associated with rises in CO2 but it is now
known to be equally likely that the warming caused the CO2 increase. When things are warmer
there is more plant and bacterial growth and more CO2 producing activity in the living world in
general.
"Dr Jay" is right in asking the question about what is the right temperature for the world. The best
judge of the right temperature for the world and mankind is not man, but the Creator of the world
and the human race. Sadly we forfeited the best climate when we began to reject God as Lord over
us. God the Creator also said to Noah after the flood (Genesis 8:22), that hot and cold times would
be the norm from them until the world ends, so it is not only arrogant to claim that mankind can
change what God has decreed will happen, but it means it is totally predictable that the G8
attempts to control world temperature will certainly prove they are not in charge of the climate.
(Ref. atmosphere, weather, politics)
LITTLE ROOM FOR CO2 IN CLIMATE CHANGE, according to CNSNews.com 24 July and
Baylor University news 27 July 2009. Chris de Freitas of Auckland University, NZ, along with
Australians John McLean and Bob Carter, have studied records of lower atmospheric temperatures
from 1958 to 2008 and found a strong correlation with natural phenomena including "internal
climate-system factors including the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Pacific warming
phenomenon and its cooling twin, La Nina" and "intermittent volcanic activity". In particular they
found temperature variations followed ENSO with a lag of about seven months. The researchers
concluded: "The sequence of the lagged relationship indicates that ENSO is driving temperature
rather than the reverse." According to De Freitas the ocean oscillations account for about 80% of
the temperature variation, leaving "little room for CO2" as the cause of recent climate changes.
El Nino and La Nina are also believed to have started in the late Tertiary period according to a
report in Baylor University news, which says: "The Late Tertiary period is a crucial period in earth
history because it represented warm weather conditions immediately prior to the development of
extensive northern hemisphere glaciers. It is widely believed this period provides the best available
analog for predicting climate changes associated with global warming that the world is presently
experiencing." Researchers at Baylor University have studied a recently discovered "sinkhole lake
filled with well-preserved sedimentation and fossils that act as a good record of the Late Tertiary
period from four million to seven million years ago" and found "patterns of recurring thicknesses,
with repetitions that were four and 24 years apart." Steven Driese, professor of geology at Baylor
University explained: "The 24-year repetition corresponded to Hale sunspot cycles, which can
influence weather conditions. The only known mechanism for the three-to-four year cycles is El
Niño and La Niña variations in climate."
CNSNews: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=51517
Baylor University: http://www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=story&story=59825
ED. COM. It is no surprise these two studies show changes in the oceans having a major effect on
climate. Water absorbs and holds most of the heat on earth. Therefore changes in the ocean and
ocean currents will have much greater effects on the climate than gases in the air. Furthermore, in
the air it is water vapour that holds most of the heat, rather than carbon dioxide. The most profound
changes in climate described in the Bible are associated with changes in the distribution of water.
In the beginning the earth was surrounded by "waters above" placed there by God on the second
creation day, and in the first world, the ground (and all things growing on it) were watered by a
daily mist. This produced a lush, fruitful, pleasantly mild environment. At Noah's Flood there was a
catastrophic change in the distribution of water, with masses of water falling from the sky and
bursting forth from underground reservoirs. After 40 days and nights of atmospheric filtering by
water, huge amounts of CO2 would also have been removed, all of which made for a massive
permanent change in the water cycle and the arrival of extremes of seasons after the flood.
Volcanic activity with huge amounts of gas activity that began with the breaking of the fountains of
the deep to start Noah's flood has also continued. After the flood God promised that regular
seasons (summer and winter) and times of heat and cold will continue until the world's end. The
world is still here and we will experience times of heat and cold brought about by large forces such
as the sun, volcanoes and ocean current that mankind has no control over, but are tools in God's
hands. (Ref. oceanography, meteorology, atmosphere)
CENTURY OF RECORDS LINKS SUN AND CLIMATE, according to a report in National
Science Foundation (NSF) 16 July and Science Daily, 17 July 2009. Gerald Meehl, of the National
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, and colleagues have analysed
sea surface temperature records from 1890 to 2006 and used two computer models to simulate the
response of the oceans as the sun's radiation changes. Solar output varies by about 0.1 percent
over an eleven year cycle. Their results indicated that as the sun reaches solar maximum it heats
cloud free regions of the Pacific Ocean, which increases evaporation, which affects tropical rainfall,
and via trade winds and ocean currents, affects weather patterns all over the world. In particular it
affects the formation of El Nino and La Nina events which are associated with changes in rainfall
on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Jay Fein, of NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences
commented: "These results are striking in that they point to a scientifically feasible series of events
that link the 11-year solar cycle with ENSO, the tropical Pacific phenomenon that so strongly
influences climate variability around the world. The next step is to confirm or dispute these
intriguing model results with observational data analyses and targeted new observations."
NSF: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115207&org=OLPA&from=news
Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090716113358.htm
ED. COM. A variation of 0.1 percent over a period of eleven years may not seem much, but when
you consider the relative sizes of the sun and the earth .1% is real huge. Therefore the sun will
have far greater affect on climate variability than anything human beings can do. The G8 has not
yet recommended controlling the sun or even taxing it, as there is nothing human activity can do
about the sun. However, the sun is a mere tool in God's hands and He has promised that there will
be regular periods of heat and cold until the end of the world. (Ref. solar, sunspots, oceanography)
AUSSIE SENATOR CHALLENGES CO2 THEORY in an article in The Australian, 8th June
2009. Senator Steven Fielding recently attended (at his own expense) a conference conducted by
the Heartlands Institute where he saw for the first time evidence that recent changes in climate
were not caused by carbon dioxide emissions, but by natural phenomena, in particular variation in
solar activity. He wrote: "As an engineer, I have been trained to listen to both sides of the debate in
order to make an informed decision about any issue. Any scientist worth their salt will tell you that
in order to form a conclusive view about any topic you need to properly explore all available
possibilities." He says that he had accepted the idea of man-made global warming without
question, but "At the conference I attended on Tuesday hosted by the Heartland Institute, I heard
views that challenged the Rudd government's set of 'facts'. Views that could not be dismissed as
mere conspiracy theories, but that were derived using proper scientific analysis. The idea that
climate change is a result of the variation in solar activity and not related to the increase of CO2
into the atmosphere is not something I can remember ever being discussed in the media. The
question of whether global warming is a new phenomenon or something that is just part of the
naturally occurring 1500-year climate cycle was never raised in any of the discussions I have had
with the Rudd government." Fielding then notes that a recent Parliamentary library report
completely ignored any evidence against man-made global warming and asks: "Why are these
opposing arguments treated with such disdain and, in fact, largely ignored?" He then states: "I
raise these questions not because I am wholly convinced of the merits of these arguments. Rather,
because I believe that only by having a healthy debate on the issues and not shirking from these
confronting facts can we expect to arrive at the proper conclusion, whatever that may be. I have
been criticised by some for raising these questions. However, I firmly believe that a fear of doing
something unpopular should never get in the way of the responsibility to do what is right."
Fielding's article: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25601203-7583,00.html
ED. COM. For those not familiar with Australian politics Senator Fielding is a member of a small
conservative political party named "Family First". The "Rudd government" refers to Kevin Rudd, the
Prime Minister, who wants to introduce a carbon emissions trading scheme, but because his
political party does not have a majority in the Senate, Rudd needs Senator Fielding's support for it
to be voted into law. So far, neither politicians nor scientists seem to be taking Fielding's questions
seriously, which brings us to the important principles raised by Fielding, even for those not involved
in Australian politics: ignoring or pouring scorn on an opposing opinion is not the way to find the
truth, and sometimes it is necessary to take an unpopular stand to maintain the truth. (Ref. politics,
weather, philosophy)
MALDIVES NOT DROWNING and sea level rise is greatest lie ever told says Swedish geophysicist, according an article in Telegraph.co.uk, 28 Mar 2009. Dr Nils-Axel Mörner, Emeritus professor of paleogeophysics & geodynamics, Stockholm University,
Sweden, who is an expert on sea levels, states the alarming warnings of catastrophic sea level rises from Al Gore and the IPCC are "the greatest lie ever told". According to Morner, "the sea is not rising. It hasn't risen in 50 years." Morner claims the IPCC
is wrong and he is right because the IPCC is relying on computer models and he (Morner) is "going into the field to observe what is
actually happening in the real world". Morner was in charge of the International Commission on Sea Level Change and investigated
the claims that the Maldives (a group of islands in the Indian Ocean) were about to be swept off the map by rising sea levels. He
found there was no rise and offered to show the inhabitants a film explaining why they needn't worry, but was prevented from showing
it by the government. Other places that seem to be drowning in sea water, such as Venice and Tuvalu are actually sinking - a
completely different process to rising sea levels. Morner has also studied IPCC reports and found their claim of a 2.3mm rise was
based on "on the finding of a single tide-gauge in Hong Kong harbour showing a 2.3mm rise". He was asked to be an expert reviewer
of the last two IPCC reports and was "astonished to find that not one of their 22 contributing authors on sea levels was a sea level
specialist: not one".
Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/5067351/Rise-of-sea-levels-is-the-greatest-lie-ever-told.html
A pdf copy of an interview with Morner is available from:
http://www.climatechangefacts.info/ClimateChangeDocuments/NilsAxelMornerinterview.pdf
ED. COM. So Prince Charles and the Archbishop of Canterbury's March 09 plea that the industrial west MUST SEND FUNDS the poor
drowning people of the Maldives was totally unnecessary. Actually, Morner should perhaps have called his book the "second greatest
lie ever told". The greatest lie is the one Satan sold to Eve in the Garden of Eden, that if you disobey God you will become like
gods. Nevertheless, Morner does remind us of a real problem - the climate change debate has been hijacked by politicians and
journalists, and those who go out into the field are ignored if their results don't fit the agenda of those with power. Melting sea
ice does not cause sea level rises. It is only when ice and water is added to the sea from the land that sea levels rise. Sea ice
is already in the water and therefore does not add any more water to the ocean when it melts.
(Ref. global warming, climate, oceans)
ANTARCTIC ICE GROWING as a recent study of satellite imaging data by the British Antarctic Survey has shown the Antarctic Sea Ice
has actually been growing by approximately 100,000 sq km (39,000 sq miles) per decade for the last 30 years. Also reported in The
Australian, 18 & 29 April 2009 and FOXNews 18 April 2009. Melting and cracking sea ice has been used as evidence the world is about
to experience catastrophic sea level rises. The increase is not even, with ice breaking up on the Western side, but expanding on the
Eastern side. The growth on the eastern side far exceeds the loss caused by icebergs calving off from the west, and according to
Ian Allison, head of the Australian Antarctic Division's glaciology program, the icebergs are just part of part of a natural cycle.
Allison commented: "Ice shelves in general have episodic carvings and there can be large icebergs breaking off - I'm talking 100km
or 200km long - every 10 or 20 or 50 years." Allison also said there was no indication the Antarctic ice cap was melting.
Furthermore, studies of ice cores from near Davis Station in East Antarctica taken by the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems
Co-Operative Research Centre reveal the ice is also thicker. Last year, the ice had a maximum thickness of 1.89m, its densest in 10
years. The average thickness of the ice at Davis since the 1950s is 1.67m. These changes show there is an overall increase in the
amount of ice around Antarctica - the opposite of the popular belief that Antarctica is shedding its ice at a rapid rate.
The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25349683-11949,00.html
FOXNews: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517035,00.html
AUSSI CABINET SOLIDARITY CRACKS OVER ANTARCTIC ICE, according to reports in The Australian, 29 & 30 April 2009. Photos of breaking
up polar ice have been given widespread publicity as evidence of global warming, often accompanied with dire predictions about sea
level rises. Australian cabinet Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, who also has responsibility for Antarctica, claimed
the break-up of the Wilkins ice shelf on the western sided of Antarctica indicated sea-level rises of 6m (20ft) were possible by the
end of the century, and that ice was melting across the continent. However, the photo used in support of this view was taken 13
months ago (March 2008) and recent studies of Antarctic ice have revealed the ice is increasing. Some of his colleagues were
annoyed at Garrett for "weighing into the climate change debate with exaggerated claims", and Craig Emerson, Minister for Small
Business has "cast doubt on the assertion that scientific evidence was conclusive for a catastrophic meltdown of the polar icecaps
if global warming was not curtailed".
The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25402488-601,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25406747-11949,00.html
ED. COM. Hopefully this crack in political solidarity may let in some more truth that may hopefully restrain politicians from
taxing people to solve a problem that doesn't exist. (Ref. propaganda, climate, oceans
CLIMATE
CHANGE UPGRADE FROM EVIDENCE NEWS 03/09 8th April 2009AD
1.HIGH CO2 MADE FOR GIANT SNAKE based on new fossil find according to reports in EurekAlert and BBC News 4 Feb 2009, and Nature, vol. 457, p715, 5 Feb 2009. A team of scientists led by Jason Head (University of Toronto at Mississauga, Canada), have found fossilised bones of a giant snake in the Cerrejon Formation of northeastern Columbia, dated at 58-60 million years old. Labelled "Titanoboa cerrejonensis", the fossil has "a body length of 13m (42.7ft) and a mass of 1,135kg (2,500lb), making it the largest known snake." Researchers estimated the size and weight of the snake by comparing its vertebral bones with bones from present day snakes of known size and weight. The longest living snakes are reticulated pythons, known to grow to 10m (32ft), and the heaviest known snakes are Green Anacondas, which can weigh up to 250kg (550lbs).
There is much speculation about how a snake could grow this large. Head's team suggest it was because the snake lived in the "hot Paleocene neotropics with high concentrations of atmospheric CO2". David Polly, one the researchers, told the BBC "A snake living in the tropics would have been operating at a much higher metabolic rate. So snakes had the opportunity to evolve and grow as big as this one did in a way that they probably wouldn't today." He also suggested that as the earth gets warmer cold blood animals could be expected to evolve larger bodies. Other scientists are not so quick to make the link with global warming. Matthew Huber, a climatologist from Purdue University, Indiana, questioned whether the link
between size and temperature was "generalisable and accurate". He went on to say: "Head and colleagues' findings are the
result of probably the first study in 'snake palaeothermometry', and as such must be viewed with caution." The
EurekAlert article ends with this summary of giant animals: "Evolution has produced a wide variety of gigantic animals over the last several hundred million years - dinosaurs, ancient dragonflies, and today's blue whale, to name a few; but why some species
lineages produce monsters remains a matter of debate among evolutionary biologists and ecologists."
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7868588.stm
EurekAlert: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-02/qmuo-lps020209.php
ED. COM. Like most reptiles, snakes are capable of growing throughout their lives, provided they are free of disease and stress,
have sufficient nutritious food, and live in a warm environment without extremes of temperature. Where would you get such a perfect environment? In the original "very good" world created by God, where even after Adam's rebellion, yet prior to Noah's flood, human beings lived for very long times (see Genesis 5), so it is reasonable to suppose that animals could also have had long life spans. This meant any animals capable of growing throughout their lives had plenty of time to grow very large. Instead of being the hottest snake, this fossil may have been the longest lived snake ever found. The fact that extra CO2 has been suggested is just a plus and a reminder that CO2 is not the hazard politician's claim. (Ref. herpetology, serpents, giants)
2. "ALTERNATE WARMING and cooling has occurred about every 27 yrs since 1470AD, well before atmospheric CO2 began to increase," wrote Geology Prof Don Easterbrook (2 Nov 2008), for Gobal Research. Easterbrook is Professor Emeritus of Geology at Western Washington University, Bellingham (USA) and has correlated historical records of climate cycles with data from the Greenland Ice Core, the Pacific and North Atlantic Oscillations and sunspots, and predicatively concludes the earth is entering a period of cooling that could last almost 30 years. Easterbrook's work was published by Global Research Jan 17 2009 just as winter took a turn for the worse in the Northern Hemisphere.
Easterbrook concludes: "Global warming (i.e, the warming since 1977) is over. The minute increase of anthropogenic (man made) CO2 in the atmosphere (0.008%) was not the cause of the warming-it was a continuation of natural cycles that occurred over the past 500 years. The PDO cool mode has replaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us of about 30 years of global cooling, perhaps much deeper than the global cooling from about 1945 to 1977. Just how much cooler the global climate will be during this cool cycle is uncertain. Recent solar changes suggest that it could be fairly severe, perhaps more like the 1880 to 1915 cool cycle than the more moderate 1945-1977 cool cycle. A more drastic cooling, similar to that during the Dalton and Maunder minimums, could plunge the Earth into another Little Ice Age, but only time will tell if that is likely."
Easterbrook: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10783
ED.COM. When this editor arrived at Heathrow airport UK early February 09, in the middle of the worst snow falls in 27 yrs according to the UK media, we found Easterbrook's work very relevant. We then asked older folks in England and Wales when the last big snow and cold occurred in their area and their answers also agreed with Easterbrook. For a tragic comparison the last big batch of killer bush fires to spread across 3 states of Australia were in 1983 - 26 years ago. Easterbrook has been brave enough to put his head on the block when he makes the testable prediction that we will have cooling for the next 30 years or so. Now we can sit back and watch if the politicians let us.
Those who have endured the two recent freezing cold winters will have no problem believing global cooling is here, but Easterbrook's work reminds us of the importance of looking at the big picture and learning from history. By doing this Easterbrook
puts the recent warm period in its proper place, and shows there are bigger forces at work than human activity. However, we suspect politicians will continue to believe the man made climate change activists, as they need an excuse to impose a global tax system and carbon tax is their best opportunity in ages. It will be an invidious irony if they have to spend them on coping with disasters, food shortages and increased energy needs caused by cold weather - but will they then refund the Tax? (Ref. weather, temperature, environment)
3. MEDIEVAL WARM PERIOD WAS NATURAL, according to an article in New Scientist, 2 Apr 2009 and Science, vol. 24, p78, 3 Apr 2009. The "Medieval Warm Period" extended from the ninth to the fourteenth century AD. Following that the climate rapidly cooled to the "Little Ice Age" that lasted to the nineteenth century. A group of climate scientists have studied tree rings Morocco and stalactites in Scotland to reconstruct the climate over the last thousand years in Britain, Europe and North Africa. They concluded that during the warm period there was an intensification of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) associated with increased circulation of warm ocean currents in the North Atlantic resulting in more warm westerly winds blowing over these regions. The researchers collated climate data from other parts of the world and used computer models to come up with a hypothesis of why the ocean currents and winds changed. They suggest there was a La Nina, or cool region, in the tropical western pacific at the same time, and this combined with the increased NAO set up a positive feedback loop that kept the warm period going for five centuries.
The New Scientist article claims the study "scuppers one of the favourite arguments of climate-change deniers" because it "means the medieval warm period was mainly a regional phenomenon caused by altered heat distribution rather than a global phenomenon." The original report in SCIENCE makes no such claim, but concludes "The persistent positive phase reconstructed for the MCA (Medieval Climate Anomaly) appears to be associated with prevailing La Nina-like conditions possibly initiated by enhanced solar irradiance and/or reduced volcanic activity and amplified and prolonged by enhanced AMOC (Atlantic meridional overturning circulation). The relaxation from this particular ocean atmosphere state into the LIA (Little Ice Age) appears to be globally contemporaneous and suggests a notable and persistent reorganization of large-scale oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns." New Scientist:http://www.neientist.com/article/dn16892-natural-mechanism-for-medieval-warming-discovered
ED. COM. The twist given by the New Scientist arti a classic example of the fallacy of peer review publishing. The changes in climate at the beginning and end of the> Medieval Warm Period was as great as recent changes in climate, but the original authors in SCIENCE admit they were caused by changes in solar irradiance, volcanic activity, ocean currents and winds. These are all natural phenomena and they are all still happening, so it is inconsistent to blame the recent climate changes
on human activity. We tend to agree with one New Scientist letter to the editor which suggested "readers will start to think of the magazine as Green Scientist" because it pushes the green political agenda. (New Scientist Letters, 1 Nov 2008, p20) (Ref. history, weather, politics)
4. HILARY ON THE GLOBAL CRISES, reported in the UK Guardian, 21 Feb 2009. During her visit to China Hilary stated that the United States and China should cooperate with one another to lead the world out of the global economic crisis. She was criticised by Amnesty International for not pressing the Chinese government over human rights, Taiwan and Tibet. In response she said: "We have to continue to press them... But our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises. We have to have a dialogue that leads to an understanding and cooperation on each of those." Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/21/hillary-clinton-china-economy-human-rights
ED. COM. Global cooperation to save the world from global crises with the proviso that human rights will not be allowed to interfere with inter government cooperation sounds rather like one world government. Particularly when you add the realisation that the ICC has for the first time in March 2009, issued an indictment of a ruling head of state, and proudly proclaimed that this is the first step towards a single world court. Of course that was the day before the Dafurian African dictator threw out all western aid agencies and so the people in Darfur are now suffering even more. Add to that the USA Govt's March declaration they are now willing to accept a global currency and the scene is set.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5050407/US-backing-for-world-currency-stuns-markets.html (Ref. politics, economics, globalism)
5. COLDEST WINTER IN 500 YEARS was described in New Scientist, 7 Feb 2009, p46 which reported that on January 6, 1709 the temperature plummeted from Scandinavia to Italy - from Czechoslovakia to the west coast of France, and everything turned to ice. The sea froze. Lakes and rivers froze, and the soil froze to a depth of a metre or more. Livestock died in their barns, chicken's combs froze and fell off, trees exploded and travellers froze to death on the roads.
Off Italy's west coast, sailors aboard English men-of-war died from the cold. One of England's most meticulous meteorological observers William Derham wrote, "I believe the Frost was greater (if not more universal also) than any other within the Memory of Man". 1709 holds the record as the coldest European winter of the past half-millennium. It was the climax of a period known as the "Little Ice Age" which began in the 14th Century AD and extended to the 19th Century AD.
No-one really knows what caused the extreme cold but it seems the sun's output was low, and there were some large volcanic eruptions 1707 and 1708, including Mt Vesuvius, Mt Santorini and Mt Fuji that would have sent large amounts of dust into the atmosphere. Dennis Wheeler, a climatologist at the University of Sunderland, UK, is working with the E.U.'s Millennium Project, which aims to reconstruct the past 1000 years of Europe's climate. Wheeler is using records of wind and weather from the Royal Navy. So far he has found some unexpected results. Cold weather in Europe usually results from freezing winds blowing in from Siberia in the east, but Wheeler found a predominance of southerly and westerly winds and many storms - conditions that normally bring milder weather. Wheeler commented: "This combination of cold, storms and westerlies suggests some other mechanism was responsible for that winter." He went on to say: "We need to explain the natural variation in climate over past centuries so that we can tease apart all those factors that contribute to climate change. But before we can do that we need to nail down those changes in detail. Climate doesn't behave consistently and warmer and colder, drier and wetter periods can't
always be explained by the same mechanisms."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126942.100-1709-the-year-that-europe-froze.html
ED. COM. The Little Ice Age was preceded by a period known as the "Medieval Warm Period", which was warmer than the current warm period, but no-one was driving cars or generating electricity then. We do need to understand the natural variations in climate, but we also need to have the humility to admit that there are many forces at work that we cannot control (or tax), such as volcanoes, wind, sunspots, and God. We should then get on with being good stewards of the things God gave us dominion over, and put our trust in the Creator who can control these greater forces. (Ref. weather, environment, history)
6. ALASKA SEA ICE INCREASED in March to greater than 1979 levels or didn't you read that in the secular media. Our correspondent in Alaska sent us the Satellite Pics from the Snow and Ice Data Center Boulder Colorado with the same query and the comment "Polar bears should have no problem at all".
7. LOST: ENOUGH ICE TO COVER CALIFORNIA, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) 18 Feb 2009 and Bloomberg.com 20 Feb 2009. The extent of ice covering the Arctic Ocean in January and February 2009 was underestimated by about 500,000 square kilometres (193,000 square miles), an area about the size of California, due to a problem with one of the satellite sensors used to monitor the ice. The problem was 'sensor drift' and NSIDC scientists were alerted to it when "puzzled readers" asked NSIDC about reports that showed ice covered areas as open ocean. NSIDC has since recalculated the sea ice extent using data from another satellite and is conducting a quality control check. The centre also said "There is a balance between being as accurate as possible at any given moment and being as consistent as possible through long
time-periods. Our main scientific focus is on the long-term changes in Arctic sea ice."
Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aIe9swvOqwIY
NSIDC: http://www-nsidc.colorado.edu/arcticseaicenews/2009/021809.html
ED. COM. The experience of NSIDC's "puzzled readers" shows there is nothing like the direct observations of people who are there to get an accurate record of what is really happening. Nevertheless, NSIDC are right about the importance of keeping the big picture in mind, and their records are a good illustration of the big picture of sea ice. As more and more catastrophic predictions about the world drowning from melting sea ice, NSIDC's records show that sea ice undergoes regular cycles of melting and freezing and after thirty years of records the sea ice is back to being the same as it was in 1979, when the records begin. For more information on this see "Back to 1979 Levels for Sea Ice," Evidence News 4 Feb 2009 in the Evidence News archive on http://www.evidenceweb.net. (Ref. polar, climate, mapping)
8. MANMADE CLIMATE MESSAGE "LOSING GROUND" according to a recent survey of American attitudes to global warming reported by Gallup Poll, 11 Mar 2009 and OneNewsNow, 16 Mar 2009. The Gallup Poll survey found a "record-high 41%" of those surveyed believed the seriousness of global warming was exaggerated. The survey also found "fewer Americans believe the effects of global warming have begun to occur. The figure is now 53%, down from 61% in March 2008. At the same time, a record-high 16% say the effects will never occur." The survey also asked about concern about other environmental issues, such as pollution of water, air and soil and availability of fresh water, loss of forests and endangered species and found: "Not only does global warming rank last on the basis of the total percentage concerned, but it is the only issue for which public concern dropped significantly in the past year."
Gallup Poll summed up the survey results as follows: "Americans generally believe global warming is real. That sets the U.S. public apart from the global-warming sceptics who assembled early March in New York City to try to debunk the science behind climate change. At the same time, with only 34% of Americans saying they worry "a great deal" about the problem, most Americans do not view the issue in the same dire terms as the many prominent leaders advancing global warming as an issue." However, OneNewsNow comments that the survey results really indicate that more people are aligned with the New York conference that the Gallup Poll scoffed at. This conference, run by Heartlands Institute, attracted over 750 people - more than twice as many who attended last year, in spite of being totally ignored by the media. Mark Morano, one of the 70 speakers at the conference commented: "The only place where this alleged climate catastrophe is happening is the virtual world of computer models." (Quoted in New Scientist Soundbites, 14 Mar 2009, p10.)
Gallup Poll: http://www.gallup.com/poll/116590/Increased-Number-Think-Global-Warming-Exaggerated.aspx
OneNewsNow: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=450780
Heartlands Institute conference: http://www.heartland.org/
ED. COM. The old saying about not fooling all of the people all of the time seems to be coming true about climate change. It seems many members of the general public are smart enough to discern the difference between observed changes in climate and the unproven claim that human activity caused them. It is about time the politicians started taking notice or they may find themselves and their carbon taxes voted out. Gallup Poll was wrong about the purpose of the Heartlands Institute New York conference - it was not to "debunk the science behind climate change" - it was to critically analyse claims made by politicians and journalists who pick and choose which scientific results suit their agenda and ignore those that don't suit them. (Ref. opinions, politics, anthropogenic)
9. SHIFTING WINDS RELEASE OCEAN CARBON DIOXIDE, according to a report in ScienceDaily, 13 Mar 2009. Many scientists believe the dramatic climate shift involved in ending the last ice age, usually dated as being around 17,000 years ago, occurred due a change in the earth's orbit. Ice core records show an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide occurred at the end of the ice age. Scientists at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University suggest the orbital change caused westerly winds in the Southern Ocean to be displaced southwards where they caused heavy mixing in the ocean around Antarctica, which released dissolved carbon dioxide from the water into the air.
Geochemist Robert Anderson explained: "The faster the ocean turns over, the more deep water rises to the surface to release CO2. It's this rate of overturning that regulates CO2 in the atmosphere." This theory was put forward two years ago by J. R. Toggweiler, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Columbia University scientists tested the theory by studying sediments from the bottom of the Southern Ocean to measure the rate of overturning. Upwelling of deep water also brings nutrients to the surface, which causes an increase in phytoplankton. The Columbia University scientists compared phytoplankton spikes in sediment cores with ice core records and "realized the added upwelling coincided with hotter temperatures in Antarctica as well as rising CO2 levels." It seems that in the last 40 years the winds have shifted south much as they did at the end of ice age 17,000 years ago. J. R. Toggweiler commented "Now I think this really starts to lock up how the CO2 changed globally. Here's a mechanism that can explain the warming of Antarctica and the rise in CO2. It's being forced by the north, via this change in the winds."
However, the Columbia researchers still believe that man-made carbon dioxide is the cause of recent global warming. Robert Anderson claims the effects of the current ocean upwelling "will be dwarfed by the accelerating rate at which humans are burning fossil fuels" and said "It could well be large enough to offset some of the mitigation strategies that are being proposed to counteract rising CO2, so it should not be neglected."
ScienceDaily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090312140842.htm
ED. COM. Here is another example of a natural phenomenon not caused by human activity which is causing a change in the climate, yet people want to cling onto the idea that climate change is all our fault. If natural phenomena in the past have caused changes in climate that are more drastic than recent changes, it is foolish to write them off as being dwarfed by modern human activity. Anderson's comment about southern ocean CO2 offsetting human strategies for counteracting rising CO2 looks like an excuse to explain the fact that anything we try to reduce the amount of CO2 is not going to work in the face of natural events that are clearly beyond our control. (Ref. climate, atmosphere, gases)
10. IPCC REPORT SUBSTITUTES UNPROVABLE HYPOTHESIS FOR TRUTH claim Japanese scientists, according to article in The Register, 25 Feb 2009. In a report by the Japan Society of Energy and Resources (JSER) three leading Japanese scientists commissioned to report on climate disagreed sharply with the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Evaluation Report, which claims that atmospheric temperatures will continue to rise as a result of man-made emissions. Instead, the Japanese researchers claim recent changes in the earth's climate are driven by natural cycles. Kanya Kusano is Program Director and Group Leader for the Earth Simulator at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology criticised the use of computer models as proof of man-made warming, comparing them to ancient astrology before accurate data was available of movements of sun, moon and planets.
According to Kusano there are too many natural phenomena contributing to the climate that we have not be able measure accurately for long enough to be included in the model, e.g. effects of cosmic rays, changes in sun spots and solar irradiance, formation of aerosols and clouds. Kusano concludes: "[The IPCC's] conclusion that from now on atmospheric temperatures are likely to show a continuous, monotonic increase, should be perceived as an unprovable hypothesis." Shunichi Akasofu, head of the International Arctic Research Center in Alaska, commented, "We should be cautious. IPCC's theory that atmospheric temperature has risen since 2000 in correspondence with CO2 is nothing but a hypothesis. Before anyone noticed, this hypothesis has been substituted for truth... The opinion that great disaster will really happen must be broken."
The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/25/jstor_climate_report_translation/
ED. COM. The popular media and politicians who use the IPCC reports in their warning of impending catastrophes fail to remind the general public that the IPCC predictions are only computer models, and that average world temperature since 1998 has dropped and since 2000 has levelled off. The Japanese scientists remind us that computer models are only as good as the data fed into them, and we don't have enough precise data about many natural phenomena. The solution to this problem is to carry out more research, not promote the computer models which have been proven wrong by a lack of global warming for most of the present decade. (Ref. predictions, weather, meteorology)
11. EARTH UNDERGOING NATURAL CLIMATE SHIFT according to a report in WISN.com, 16 Mar 2009. Scientists at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UMW) have analysed the last century of climate data using a mathematical method named synchronised chaos, that looks at what happens when two or more complex systems move in and out of synchrony. Anastasios Tsonis, one of the researchers, explained: "Imagine that you have four synchronized swimmers and they are not holding hands and they do their program and everything is fine; now, if they begin to hold hands and hold hands tightly, most likely a slight error will destroy the synchronization. Well, we applied the same analogy to climate." He went on to say: "In climate, when this happens, the climate state changes. You go from a cooling regime to a warming regime or a warming regime to a cooling regime. This way we were able to explain all the fluctuations in the global temperature trend in the past century.
The UWM researchers found "the warming trend of the past 30 years has stopped and in fact global temperatures have levelled off since 2001." These results were also reported in an article in Discovery News, 2 Mar 2009, which says: "according to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters, global warming may have hit a speed bump and could go into hiding for decades. Earth's climate continues to confound scientists. Following a 30-year trend of warming, global temperatures have flatlined since 2001 despite rising greenhouse gas concentrations, and a heat surplus that should have cranked up the planetary thermostat."
This led Ken Blanchard to place this article in the South Dakota Politics blog and make the following comments: "Let's review, shall we?
1. There has been no global warming for at least eight years, according to these climate scientists. I gather that this is the
consensus.
2. During that time, man-made greenhouse gases have been increasing.
3. The climate models on which global warming predict an increase in
temperature, contrary to what actually happened. After some other comments, he concluded: "I predict that this study will be completely uninteresting to the mainstream press."
WISN: http://www.wisn.com/weather/18935841/detail.html
Discovery: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/03/02/global-warming-pause.html
South Dakota Politics: http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2009/03/global-warming-on-hold-.html
ED. COM. Ken Blanchard's prediction seems to be true. The mainstream media continues to publish frightening scenarios of man-made global warming destroying the earth, and politicians plan various ways to make people pay for producing carbon dioxide. The most serious issue is that eight years of non-warming have proven the climate models used to justify the fearfulness and taxes to be wrong. The media and politicians need to humble themselves and admit that climate change is part of the present natural order of things in this world because the Creator and Judge of the world said it would be after He judged the world with Noah's flood (Genesis 8:22). Since then there have been times of cold and heat, but the world will continue until the Lord Jesus Christ comes to judge all mankind and make a new earth (Revelation 22 ) where there will be no natural disasters and no fear for those who put their trust in Him. (Ref. weather, atmosphere, meteorology)
12. GLORY BE, IT'S A LONG SOLAR MINIMUM reports ScienceDaily 29 Mar 2009, and NASA 20 and 23 Mar 2009, and 1 Apr 2009. NASA is planning to launch a satellite named Glory, which will carry a Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) - an instrument that measures how much heat is being produced by the sun's rays as they reach the top of the atmosphere. This will add to a number of instruments, including a prototype TIM, that monitors different aspects of solar activity including sunspots, the solar wind and radio emissions. The Glory TIM is much more sensitive than previous instruments that measured solar irradiance. This is important because it only takes a tiny change in solar output to have a profound effect on how much radiation hits the earth. It is estimated that at the depth of a period of very low sunspot activity known as the Maunder minimum in the late seventeenth century, the total solar irradiance only varied by about 0.08 percent over a century. The new instrument will be accurate enough to detect such a change.
Some scientists claim variations in the sun's activity are the main contributor to cycles of global warming and cooling and Glory TIM is coming on board at an interesting time for solar activity. The sunspot cycle is going through an unusually long "solar minimum" with 266 spotless days in 2008 and 78 spotless days for the first three months of 2009. The unusually long runs of spotless days have led the editors of the Space Weather website to add a regular report of the number of spot free days to their daily updates on sunspot number. The last time there was such a low sunspot count was in 1913. 2008 also saw the lowest solar wind measurement since monitoring began in the 1960's and lowest radio emissions since measurements began in the 1950's. However, NASA scientists estimate since the 1970's the amount of solar radiation the sun emitted during times of quiet sunspot activity has increased by nearly 0.05 percent per decade. According to Richard Willson, a researcher affiliated with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University's Earth Institute, "This trend is important because, if sustained over many decades, it could cause significant climate change." He went on to say: "Historical records of solar activity indicate that solar radiation has been increasing since the late 19th century. If a trend, comparable to the one found in this study, persisted throughout the 20th century, it would have provided a significant component of the global warming the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports to have occurred over the past 100 years."
NASA:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0313irradiance.html
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/glory_irradiance.html
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/solar_minimum09.html
For daily updates on sunspots: http://spaceweather.com/
ScienceDaily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090328163643.htm
ED. COM. We do live in an interesting time for solar activity, and it is good to see someone finally admit the sun has a bigger effect on climate than human beings. It will be interesting to see what the combination of low sunspots, solar wind and radio emissions brings about, especially as the warming trend stopped at the start of the 2000's and some scientists are predicting several decades of global cooling. Whatever change occurs, it will be foolish to blame people for it, and arrogant to try to think politicians can change climate by more regulations and taxes. Instead, we should be trusting in the Creator God, for whom the sun is a mere tool in His hands, and who can use climate to bless or judge. (Ref. sunlight, weather, heliosphere)
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GLOBAL
WARMING GOVT ADVISOR CONFESSES science is leaving climate
policies behind, as David Evans reveals in articles
in the Australian, 18 Jan 2008 and ABC "Unleashed"
1 Aug 2008. David Evans was consultant to the Australian
Greenhouse Office from 1999 to 2005 and introduces himself
as "the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting
model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance
with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and
forestry sector." He now claims: "On global
warming, public policy is where the science was in 1998.
Due to new evidence, science has since moved off in
a different direction." When he began his work
with the Greenhouse Office he says "the evidence
that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty
good" but new scientific studies have "seriously
weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main
cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was
pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role
and was not the main cause of the recent global warming."
Evans gives four reasons for changing his mind about
man-made global warming. They are: the failure to find
the "signature of an increased greenhouse effect",
i.e. a hot spot about 10km up in the atmosphere over
the tropics; plenty of evidence that warming has occurred,
but "no observations by anyone that implicate carbon
emissions as a significant cause of the recent global
warming"; satellite temperature measurements indicate
the warming ended in 2001; and ice core data that show
six previous global warmings where the temperature rose
before an increase in carbon dioxide. Evans comments
that this last point "says something important
about which was cause and which was effect." Evans
challenges the politicians who are introducing carbon
taxes and trading schemes in response to the proponents
of man-made global warming with these words: "The
Labor Government is about to deliberately wreck the
economy in order to reduce carbon emissions. If the
reasons later turn out to be bogus, the electorate is
not going to re-elect a Labor government for a long
time. When it comes to light that the carbon scare was
known to be bogus in 2008, the ALP is going to be regarded
as criminally negligent or ideologically stupid for
not having seen through it. And if the Liberals support
the general thrust of their actions, they will be seen
likewise."
Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24036736-7583,00.html
ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2315636.htm
ED. COM. For our non-Australian readers, the ALP is
the Australian Labor Party, a left-leaning party who
are currently in power in Australia. The Liberals are
a conservative political party, currently in opposition.
Evans' warning is more serious than just the electoral
prospects of a few politicians. Because global warming
alarmists such as Al Gore have driven the agenda for
the past decade, people have been led to believe that
man-made global warming is undisputed scientific fact,
and therefore governments have a right to force people
to pay for fixing it up. If people get to know that
governments are taking their money for something they
didn't do, and couldn't change anyway, they will feel
cheated by both scientists and politicians, and become
distrustful of experts and authority figures in general.
This makes people harder to govern, especially in democratic
societies. Democracy only works with the cooperation
of the people. Without cooperation governments have
to resort to coercion. Worse than that - tax which is
unjustified is THEFT AND FRAUD. (Ref. climate, politics,
society)
BIOFUELS
DRIVE MILLIONS TO HUNGER, according to articles in the
Guardian 3 July 2008 and Washington Times 14 Feb 2008.
The charity ActionAid has published a report named "Cereal
Offenders" which claims "the 82% rise in food
commodity prices since 2006 has directly pushed 260
million people into risk of hunger as a result of the
rich world's drive for biofuels." At the same time
Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president warned the
world is entering a "danger zone" caused by
rising food and energy prices. He commented: "What
we are witnessing is not a natural disaster ... it is
a man-made catastrophe. I urge the G8 countries, in
concert with major oil producers, to act now to address
this crisis. This is a test of the global system to
help the most vulnerable and it cannot afford to fail."
According to Benjamin Senauer, a professor of applied
economics at the University of Minnesota, "The
evidence linking biofuel production to rising food prices
can't be ignored. Between the start of 2002 and early
2008, basic global food commodity prices rose by 220%.
The global production of biofuels - ethanol and biodiesel
- rose from less than 8m gallons in 2004 to an estimated
18m gallons in 2008." He went on to write: "Current
research, that I and colleagues are working on, suggests
that 390,000 additional children under the age of five
will die because of this increase in malnutrition due
to biofuels. If current biofuel development trends continue,
child deaths will rise to 475,000, almost one-half million
by 2010." Bob Geldof, who represents a campaign
group named ONE, said: "It is tragic and absurd
that people are still going hungry in the 21st century.
I cannot stand the idea that a food crisis born out
of high energy prices and increasing global prosperity
is starving the super-poor in Africa."
Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.food
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/03/biofuels.usa
Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/feb/14/biofuel-growth-adds-to-hunger/
ED. COM. Bob Geldof (and the Guardian) needs to be reminded
that the main driving force for using cereal crops to
make fuel for machinery, rather than food for people,
is that he and his environmentalist colleagues have
convinced governments and companies that using biofuels
will help stop global warming. He obviously hasn't noticed
that the globe has stopped warming, and rising food
and fuel prices, made worse by carbon taxes and trading,
will not make any difference to carbon emissions, even
if they were the cause of global warming. (Ref. Climate
change, politics)
GLOBAL WARMING THEORY CRACKS UP, according to ScienceShots
9 July 2008. (whole item quoted) "Crash! In one
doomsday scenario, global warming triggers titanic chunks
of ice to break and slide off the Antarctic landmass,
causing sea levels to rise by meters.
The surrounding Antarctic ice shelf has been splitting
over the past 2 decades--but is this a harbinger of
doom or just part of some natural cycle? Researchers
using underwater acoustic sensors originally designed
to detect nuclear explosions have listened to the grinding
and cracking of the ice, and they have now determined
that--at least over the past 7 years--there has been
no increase in Antarctic ice shelf break-up. The results,
reported this week at the Acoustics 2008 meeting in
Paris, France, provide a baseline for the rate of Antarctic
splitting. The question now is whether it will increase
as the temperature rises." ScienceShots: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/science-shots/
ED. COM. Is it "just part of some natural cycle?"
is a good question. As there has been no increase in
ice breaking during a time when the earth seems to have
reached the peak of a warm cycle, has stabilised and
may be cooling, it is reasonable to answer that ice
cracking is a normal, regular occurrence in Antarctica,
and should not be used to scare people into believing
that human industry and farming is going to let loose
an avalanche of killer icebergs and sea level rises
unless they pay carbon taxes. (Ref. climate, ice-cap,
sea-ice)
WHAT ISN'T EVIDENCE FOR GLOBAL WARMING? asks Brett Stephens
in the Wall Street Journal, 1 July 2008. He writes:
"The Arctic ice cap may be thinning, but the extent
of Antarctic sea ice has been expanding for years. At
least as of February, last winter was the Northern Hemisphere's
coldest in decades. In May, German climate modellers
reported in the journal Nature that global warming is
due for a decade-long vacation. But be not afraid, added
the modellers: The inexorable march to apocalypse resumes
in 2020. This last item is, of course, a forecast, not
an empirical observation. But it raises a useful question:
If even slight global cooling remains evidence of global
warming, what isn't evidence of global warming? What
we have here is a non falsifiable hypothesis, logically
indistinguishable from claims for the existence of God.
This doesn't mean God doesn't exist, or that global
warming isn't happening. It does mean it isn't science."
Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121486841811817591.html
ED. COM. Stephen's comment reminds us that it is not
just enough to discuss evidence in controversial issues,
it is also essential to understand the world view, or
pre-suppositions, of people you are trying to communicate
with. The same applies to the creation/evolution issue.
We have asked many of our critics what would be evidence
for creation and they usually insist that there isn't
any, so they refuse to accept any evidence that is offered.
As such they are arguing from faith, not science. (Ref.
philosophy, climate, theology)
CAPTAIN
JAMES COOK uncooks the weather books (From Australian
Courier Mail August 4, 2008 ) More than 6,000 Royal
Navy logs dating from the 1600's have been surveyed
by the UK Meteorological Office and other experts The
Sun newspaper reports http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/.
The ships' logs, of Captain James Cook, Lord Nelson
and thousands more like them who sailed the globe and
recorded weather observations, have revealed that recent
global warming is not so unusual after all..
Maritime
historian Dr Sam Willis said: "From these records,
scientists can build a detailed picture of past weather
and climate".
These on the spot records show the world went through
a similar period of global warming in the 1730's that
could not have been man-made. And freak storms like
the ones experienced recently also occurred in the 1680's
and 1690's which were the coldest decades in what is
known as the Little Ice Age - so could not have been
caused by global warming.
Cook
sailed from Alaska to the Antarctic, and Nelson, who
maintained his ships' logs himself, covered the Arctic,
West Indies, south east Asia and Mediterranean. Geographer
Dr Dennis Wheeler, of Sunderland University, said: "British
archives contain more than 100,000 Royal Navy logbooks
from around 1670 to 1850 alone. They are a stunning
resource. Global warming is a reality, but our data
shows climate science is complex. It is wrong to take
particular events and link them to carbon dioxide emissions."
Evidence from the many logs, which are still being studied,
will be published in respected science journal Climatic
Change.
ED.COM.
Let's just say the old lesson to be learnt again here
is that it is wiser to rely on the records of those
who were there than the opinions of Politicians and
Greens who were not, who proudly and ignorantly believe
they live at the most important time in history and
the observations they make are the only ones that count.
As the writer in the book of Proverbs recorded "there
is nothing new under the sun!" (ref climate, history,
Gore)
"IS
CO2 WARMING THE EARTH?" Dr. Jennifer Marohasy,
a PhD Botanist and senior fellow of the Institute of
Public Affairs stated; "there has been cooling,
if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you
take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures
have plateaued."
"This is not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide
is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels
have been increasing but temperatures have actually
been coming down over the last 10 years." (Ref.
Climate facts to warm to; March 22, 2008 The Australian)
ED.COM. Where is this Debate Heading? Our predictions:
the evidence may show that CO2 is increasing, but it
will also show that CO2 does not determine either temperature
or climate on earth.
CARBON
TRADING ACCORDING TO LONG TERM AUSSIE GEOLOGIST: "Carbon
trading does not reduce carbon emissions - it simply
allows emitters a financial penalty to continue operations
unchanged. This penalty will be passed on to consumers."
From website of geologist Chris Towsey, MSc(Syd) BSc
(Hons) Dip Ed FAusIMM.
AUSSIE
PROFESSOR ON COST OF CLIMATE POLICIES. Prof. Bob Carter,
Environmental Scientist, James Cook University stated:
In one of the more expensive ironies of history, the
expenditure of more than $US 50 billion on research
into global warming since 1990 has failed to demonstrate
any human caused climate trend, let alone a dangerous
one. Yet the expenditure will pale into insignificance
compared with the squandering of money that is going
to accompany the introduction of carbon trading or taxation
system. The cost of thus expiating comfortable middle
class angst are, of course, going to be imposed upon
the poor and underprivileged. (Ref.
Australian Courier Mail June 18 2007 p16)
ED.COM.
If we consumers have caused the problem it is only fair
to tax us to fix it, but if we ordinary voters have
not, then any climate change tax is theft that will
only enrich Government coffers, pay for and enable the
bringing of a one world Govt system a little closer,
and impoverish most of us to the point where our vote
and our voice are financially irrelevant, as well as
achieving nothing in regards to the climate.
FOSSILS
INDICATE WARM ANTARCTICA PAST, reported EurkAlert, 22
July, 2008 and BBC News Online, 23 July, 2008. A team
of researchers from British and American universities
have found "exceptionally well preserved fossils"
of ostracods in Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Mark Williams
of the University of Leicester commented: "We've
got the legs and the mouth parts, and the reproductive
organs; and we can even see micron-scale hairs on the
legs." Ostraocods are tiny shrimp-like creatures
that live throughout the world in marine and freshwater
environments, and occasionally in wet moss. The Dry
Valleys are desolate regions in Artarctica where is
it is too dry and cold for any life. The researchers
found the fossil ostracods, along with fossils of mosses,
diatoms and beetles on the slopes of Mt Boreas, on the
edge of the McKelvey Valley, at latitude 77 degrees
south The farthest south living ostrocods have been
found is about 60 degrees. Mark William also said: "Notwithstanding
the significance of the fossil preservation, the presence
of lake ostracods at this latitude, 77 degrees south,
is also of great note. Present conditions in this Antarctic
region show mean annual temperatures of minus 25 degrees
C. These are impossible conditions to sustain a lake
fauna with ostracods. The fossils therefore show that
there has been a substantial and very intense cooling
of the Antarctic climate after this time interval that
is important for tracking the development of the Antarctic
icesheet - a key factor in understanding the effects
of global warming. The fossil ostracods of the Dry Valleys
signal a high latitude lake viable for animal colonisation
that indicates a dramatic change in the climate of this
region, from tundra conditions 14 million years ago,
to the intensely cold continental interior climate experienced
today."
EurekAlert: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/uol-ufd072108.php
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7519614.stm
ED. COM. These fossils are not the first indications
that Antarctica was once warmer and full of life. Dinosaurs
and coal have been found around Antarctica. The good
preservation of the ostracod fossils, and the climate
change that they indicate, fits well into Biblical history.
As the researchers note, ostracods (and beetles and
mosses) do not live in dry frozen wildernesses, so Antarctica
must have been warmer and wetter in the past. That fits
with the original "very good" world God made,
as described in Genesis. For soft tissue to be preserved
with the fine detail described above, organisms need
to be buried rapidly and deeply so that decay processes
do not destroy the tissue structure. This is exactly
what would happen in a world-wide continent covering
flood, also described in Genesis. Following the flood
the climate changed rapidly for the worse, and the polar
regions became frozen. (Ref.
Invertebrates, crustaceans, climate)
SUMMARY ONLINE of our program Climate Change and Creation
- A really inconvenient truth. See http://www.creationresearch.net
HOME PAGE right scroll down to CLIMATE CHANGE. Our thanks
to Canadian Ian Taylor for the transcription commentary.
COOLING
BY PHYSICISTS ON WARMING as top physics group shows
crack in warming 'consensus'. Physics & Society
Editor Jeffrey Marque says there's a "considerable
presence within the scientific community" of experts
who don't agree with the IPCC's contention human-produced
CO2 emissions likely are the primary cause of global
warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution.
The editor of Physics & Society, a newsletter of
the American Physical Society, says that with his July
issue he wants to kick off a debate concerning one of
the main conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, the IPCC. The IPCC was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize last year along with former Vice President
Al Gore for sounding the alarm about alleged man-made
global warming.
Yesterday, in a speech at Constitution Hall in Washington,
Gore challenged the U.S. to make a "man on the
moon" effort to produce all of the country's electricity
from renewable resources within 10 years. The American
Physical Society represents more than 50,000 physicists.
(July 18, 2008 HEAT OF THE MOMENT C 2008 WorldNetDaily
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70005)
ED.COM. As we travel the world - our observation is
there are few scientists who actually do believe in
Global warming Climate Change as it is preached by Governments,
Greens and Gore-ites, but there are many scientists
who are too scared for their careers to say so
Climate
Change and Creation. Notes and comments by
Ian Taylor. From the DVD of this title by John Mackay
July 2008 ©Copyright Creation Research
Part 1:
Fishy story: Why are
fish harder to catch today? Because natural selection
has produced smarter fish thus proving evolution is
still at work. Of course, it could also be that fishermen
are becoming less smart so it doesn’t prove anything!
Paul wrote that as Christians we should “prove
all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). Here is an
example of a media report by Liam Houlihan that appeared
in the Australian Sydney Herald Sun newspaper, for March
11, 2007: “A leading Muslim cleric has blamed
the [Australian] drought, climate change and pollution
on Australian’s lack of faith in Allah. Radical
sheik Mohammed Omran told followers at his Brunswick
mosque that out-of-control secular scientific values
had caused environmental disaster.” How could
we prove this? Using NASA satellite images superimposed
upon geopolitical maps it becomes obvious that the arid
areas of the world exactly coincide with the Muslim
countries, even to the fine division between Israel
and Jordan/Syria.
Anyone having read or
listened to news reports for the past 20 or 30 years
may recall how the media message has changed. For example,
the lead article in Newsweek for April 25, 1975 was
concerned with “The Cooling World!” while
the lead article in National Geographic for November
1976 (p.576) was titled: “What’s happening
to our Climate?” The article claimed there are
ominous signs that the world’s temperature has
fallen. The US National Science Board are quoted: “During
the last 20-30 years, world temperature has fallen,
irregularly at first but more sharply over the last
decade.” We might be reminded that three decades
later the world’s media and every political party
are pre-occupied with “Global Warming”.
Facts that do not support this latter-day belief are
rarely reported. For example, if Chicago received a
foot of snow in August would the rest of the world hear
about it? Possibly not because the Melbourne area of
Australia received a foot of snow in the middle of their
Summer in December 2006 and North America heard virtually
nothing about it!
A small circulation
newspaper issued in Melbourne, Australia, titled The
Age ran a headline that read “Research Casts Doubt
on Global Warming Theory” in its April 7, 2003
edition. The article began by pointing out that claims
that man-made pollution has caused unprecedented global
warming have been undermined by historical research
that shows the Earth was actually warmer in the Middle
Ages (AD 800-1300) than it is today. Then, from 1300
to 1900, there followed a “little Ice Age”.
Acknowledgement for the source of this information was
attributed to The Review, the publication of a research
team at Harvard University. Their research shows: “that
the world had a medieval warm period between the 9th
and 14th centuries with world temperatures significantly
higher than today’s”. Some examples from
this report:
Iceland: First
settled by Christians from Ireland in the 9th century
then joined in the following century by settlers from
Norway. At that time, hay was the usual crop and used
for flocks and herds for subsistence while rye and other
grains were grown in favoured locations. By the 13th
century ice was beginning to remain year-round as the
world entered the “Little Ice Age”. Between
1695 and 1709 the Icelandic glaciers were advancing
dramatically, destroying farms.
England: When
the Romans invaded England in the 4th century AD, grapes
grew as far north as York; taxes were often paid with
grapes. By the 13th century grapes no longer grew anywhere
in England and the Romans returned to warmer Italy.
London, UK: The
River Thames froze over completely every winter for
over 300 years, beginning about 1600 until 1900; it
has never been frozen since. An oil painting done in
1677 shows the annual Frost Fair held on the frozen
River while there is another done in 1814 by Luke Clenell
titled The Frost Fair - this was one of the last Fairs,
nevertheless, the ice was thick enough to support hundreds
of people.
Norway: From
1710 to 1735 some glaciers were reported to be advancing
at 100 metres per year and had been doing so throughout
the 25 years.
Switzerland:
In 1595 it was reported that the Gietroz glacier had
advanced and dammed the Dranse River and flooded Bagne;
there were 70 deaths.
Eastern Alps:
Between 1670 and 1680 there was a maximum advance by
the glaciers accompanied by a decline in the associated
human population and a corresponding increase in population
in nearby unaffected areas.
France: From
1600 to 1610 there were significant advances of the
Chamonix glacier causing massive floods; three villages
were destroyed and a fourth severely damaged.
This article in The
Age concluded by pointing out: “the records used
by modern climate scientists date from when the Earth
was relatively cold, (i.e. the “Little Ice Age”
from 1300 – 1900) thereby exaggerating the significance
of today’s temperature rise”. The fact is
there have been warm periods and cool periods in Earth’s
history and these are evident from the fossil record.
The Fossil Record
Evidences that Earth’s climate has been significantly
warmer in the past include the following: Red soil in
the Antarctic indication that there was once a hot,
wet climate in this area; fossil palm trees in Washington
State; giant fossil reeds in the UK; the fossil forests
of meta sequoia trees on Axel Heiberg Island –
the nearest land to the North Pole – indicating
a climate here comparable to that of Florida today.
In the past, trees and plants were much larger than
those of today indicating hot, moist climates and a
higher carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere. In
Australia fossil kangaroos five metres tall have been
discovered! The first conclusion we may draw from this
data is that the Earth’s climate changes. Both
colder and hotter, wetter and drier periods have been
recorded in reliable secular human records over the
past 2,500 years. But in 2007 it is evident that it
is only politically acceptable to speak of “global
warming”. Nevertheless, the data shows that Earth’s
climate cycles from cool and dry to warm and wet and,
after several centuries of a “Little Ice Age”,
it is currently entering a warm phase once more.
Organized Reaction
to Global Warming Fears
In the November 3,
2007 issue of The Sunday Telegraph (UK), an article
by Tom Harper claimed: “Scientists who questioned
mankind’s impact on climate change have received
death threats and claimed to have been shunned by the
scientific community. They say the debate on global
warming has been “hijacked” by a powerful
alliance of politicians (Al Gore), scientists and environmentalists
who have stifled all questioning about the true environmental
impact of carbon-dioxide emissions.” Harper took
this quote from Timothy Ball, a former climatology professor
at the University of Winnipeg, Canada, who has received
5 death threats by email. Professor Ball appeared in
“The Great Global Warming Swindle” a Channel
4 (UK) documentary in which several scientists claimed
the theory of man-made global warming had become, “a
religion, forcing alternative explanations to be ignored”.
Prediction by John Mackay:
Governments will not solve global warming but will find
ways to tax it, and by the politics of fear, increase
their power. For example, Billions are being spent on
Bikeways in cities and what of deflatulent pills for
cows?
(Source Note: Professor Arthur Robinson, the president
of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, announced
a petition before the National Press Club on May 19,
2008. It had the signatures of over 31,000 scientists,
including over 9,000 PhDs, who stand against the idea
that global warming is man-made.)
Part 2:
What does God’s
Word say about global warming? The Bible is not a book
of science, nevertheless, it is the words of our Creator
who was there in the beginning, is in charge of history
and knows the destiny of this world. In fact, God seems
to live outside of time because when Moses asked Him
His name He replied it was “I AM”, that
is, eternally existing in the present (Exodus 3:3-14).
The first three chapters of Genesis tell us a number
of things about the world’s climate prior to the
Fall of Man. In the first place, God declared that everything
He had made was very good (Gen 1:31) so when we read
that Adam and Eve were both naked (Gen 2:25) we can
reasonably assume the climate was very good –
warm with no harsh ultra-violet radiation. Moreover,
there was no rain but rather a mist went up from the
earth to water it (Gen 2:5-6). The first mention of
rain is over sixteen centuries later during God’s
promise to Noah regarding the Flood (Gen 7:4); following
this id did rain for 40 days and 40 nights. The first
recorded global wind occurs to dry the Earth just after
the Flood in Genesis 8:1. This is followed by the first
mention of seasons given in God’s post-Flood promise
to man: “While the earth remains, seedtime and
harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and
day and night shall not cease” (Gen 8:22). In
contrast to the empty promises made by political man,
this is surely a comforting promise from our Creator
who does not lie. The Bible is not a thesis but is rather
a record from which we can draw inferences. In the absence
of rain and winds prior to the Flood we may infer that
at that time there were no hurricanes, floods or tsunamis.
The first mention of ice, snow and hail is in Job 6:16
and 38:22-30 while Job also speaks of “drought
and heat” (Job 24:19). Job lived about approximately
2000BC, long after the time of Noah.
Throughout Scripture
we see that God is sovereignly in charge so that our
perception of history is really the outworking of His
plan while the Earth is the stage upon which the preconceived
action takes place. God gave Man a set of rules by which
to live and these rules were for our own good. However,
we are also tested by these rules or laws and there
are a number of passages that warn of the land being
“defiled” as a consequence of disobedience.
For example, Leviticus chapter 18 lists a number of
sexual sins and in verse 25 God warns the Israelites
that by these things, “the land is defiled, therefore
I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and
the land vomits out its inhabitants.” There are
nine other references to Man’s sin causing the
land to be “defiled”. The consequence of
defiling the land is famine and Scripture has over ninety
referenc3es to famine including the famine that sent
the Israelites into Egypt for 400 years. Famine with
sufficient severity, always leads to communicable diseases.
This causes even the good people to leave or be “vomited
out” of the land. The story of Naomi and Ruth,
both virtuous women, will be recalled. The consequences
of disobedience to God’s instructions were, and
still are, climate changes that produce drought, famine,
pestilence and finally eviction.
Part 3:
Any issue that appeals
to the emotions rather than the hard facts of science
should be immediately suspect. The pending extinction
of the polar bears recently claimed by David Attenborough
on British TV is a recent example. The publicity picture
of a polar bear standing on a very small piece of floating
ice – as though it was the lone survivor –
has since been well etched into the public mind. In
his message Attenborough emphasised that it had taken
millions of years for the polar bear to adapt to the
harsh environment of the Arctic. He warned that the
polar bear’s survival depended directly upon responsible
action taken now by humanity while should the inevitable
extinction happen, the bear could never be recovered.
Attenborough repeated the text-book explanation for
the polar bear’s white hair claiming that this
is a camouflage that has evolved to protect the bear
against predators. The truth is the polar bear has no
predators except rifle-toting man, while the bear’s
white hair is not the result of evolution but rather
the loss of genetic information i.e. the black or brown
pigment is no longer produced and the hairs are now
hollow and scatter light. For similar reasons human
hair goes white with age. David Attenborough is a biologist
and should also know that polar bears, brown bears and
even grizzly bears are all part of the bear family and
simply have different species names. Work at zoos show
that all these bears can interbreed and do have fertile
offspring thus by definition are the same species, however,
they have been given different species names for convenience
of classification. By Biblical classification they would
be called the same “kind”. In exactly the
same way the Caucasian, Negro and Asiatic peoples are
demonstrably of the same kind. This means that as long
as there are brown bears and grizzly bears the polar
bear population could easily be retrieved should there
be the need to do so. As Charles Darwin showed with
his pigeon breeding experiments it only takes a few
generations, not millions of years, to produce these
changes.
(Background material
added by Ian Taylor. The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific body tasked to
evaluate the risk of climate change caused by human
activity. The panel was established in 1988 by the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP), two organisations of the
United Nations. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace
Prize with former Vice President of the United States
Al Gore. The IPCC does not carry out research nor does
it monitor climate related phenomena. The IPCC bases
its assessment mainly on peer reviewed and published
scientific literature.
In June of 2008 the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed
listing the polar bear as a threatened species but voices
from the anti global warming forum together with actual
counts of polar bears delayed this decision. The published
figures show that Canada has an estimated 15,000 polar
bears, two-thirds of the global population. Disappearing
summer ice is causing a decline in numbers in some areas
but other regions are stable and in some the population
is rising.)
Creation
Moments, Inc. 1-800-422-4253 June 200
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