Archive for the ‘Alarmism’ Category
April 21, 2012
Immediately after this accident it was being touted as the greatest environmental catastrophe of all time. The hyperbole is of course necessary to generate headlines and the “alarmist brigade” who believe that humanity is the worst thing that has ever happened to the earth are quick to pile on the exaggerations. But the earth is rather more resilient than they would like us to believe.
NewsWise reports:
This Friday, April 20, will mark two years since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused vast quantities of crude oil to flow into the Gulf of Mexico.
But despite the size of the spill, “the natural recovery is far greater than what anybody hoped when it happened,” said James Morris, a professor of biology at the University of South Carolina. “The fears of most people – that there would be a catastrophic collapse of the ecosystem in the Gulf – never materialized.” …….
He’s been impressed with the recovery of the area’s ecology.
“The fisheries have come back like gangbusters,” he said. “One of the interesting findings was that after the oil spill, bait fish populations collapsed, and predator populations boomed. The reason was that there was no fishing pressure on the top predators because people stopped fishing after the spill. So the predator fish populations rebounded, and they grazed down their prey.”
“The marshes that I saw actually looked very good,” he added. “And I was taken to the worst by officials who wanted to impress us that the damage was really significant, and that you could still find oil in the marshes. And you can still find oil in the marshes, but the greatest damage to the place where they took us was from the trampling by the reporters, scientists, and agency people tromping around out there looking for damage.”
“There’s some evidence that perhaps there are some lingering problems, but it’s not entirely clear,” Morris said. “For example, there’s ambiguity about whether there’s been an effect on species like dolphins. Some people will remain forever convinced that dolphins are washing up because of this spill, but in a recent report that NOAA just released, the dolphin mortality was unexplainably high leading up to the spill. So before the spill, the dolphin mortality was higher than normal, and it’s been higher than normal since the spill.”
But “alarmism” is based on making predictions of catastrophes to come which will never be put to the test during the lifetime of the forecasters.
Tags:BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, natural recovery, oil spill
Posted in Alarmism, Environment, Oceans | Comments Off on Two years after BP oil spill, natural recovery is much greater than expected
April 18, 2012
Climate models – at best – are gross over-simplifications of the chaotic layer of atmosphere around the earth in which climate and weather manifest themselves. Solar effects, the effects of clouds, of volcanoes, of aerosols, of sulphur compounds, of ocean currents and of the winds can only be crudely modelled. There is no evidence that man-made carbon dioxide has any significant impact on weather or climate. No one really knows when and how ice ages come and go. The models use fudge factors galore and each only represents the imperfect understanding, the prejudices and the biases of the modeller. And yet IPCC and governments have got so caught up in their own smug rhetoric about the science being “settled” that they prefer to believe the model results even when they are “inconsistent with reality”.
P Gosselin reports on a new article by Michael Odenwald in the magazine “Focus” (in German).
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Tags:climate change, climate models, global warming, IPCC, Jochem Marotzke, Max Planck Institute
Posted in Alarmism, Climate | Comments Off on Director of Max Planck Institute admits that climate models are “inconsistent with observations”
April 16, 2012
A settled science? Global warming was going to melt all the Himalayan glaciers by 2035, polar bears were going to be exterminated and emperor penguins populations were going to be devastated. But the climate models are proving to be just the wishful thinking of an alarmist creed.
1. The Guardian: The glaciers flowing between the towering peaks of the Karakoram range on the Pakistan-China border have grown in size in the last decade, according to new research. The impact of climate change on the ice in the greater Himalaya range has been controversial because of an unfounded claim by the United Nations’ climate science panel over the rate of melting in the region. However the melting of vast volumes of ice into the sea in most other parts of the world has been clearly demonstrated. In March, scientists showed that far less ice was being lost across the Himalayas than had been estimated from sparse ground surveys on the remote slopes.
The new study shows that glaciers in one important part of the mountain range are growing. “We provide a detailed glacier-scale evaluation of mass changes in the central Karakoram,” said Julie Gardelle, at CNRS-Université Grenoble, who led the research published in Nature Geoscience on Sunday. …
2. Polar bear populations have never been as large as they are now.
3. Emperor penguin populations are twice the size they were once thought to be.
It is time for the climate brigade and their hangers-on to develop a little humility and acknowledge that the chaotic, turbulent layer around the earth which creates our climate is far from being understood.
Time to ditch some of the models.
Tags:climate change, Glacier, growing glaciers, Himalayas, Karakoram
Posted in Alarmism, Climate | Comments Off on Settled science? Karakoram glaciers, polar bear and emperor penguin numbers are all growing – not disappearing
April 13, 2012
Even with the advent of shale gas, the capital cost of nuclear power plants means that they remain the most economic, viable and safe option for large-scale, base-load power generation for the foreseeable future. And part of the unnecessary time (and cost) associated with building nuclear power plants is primarily due to the obstructionist and delaying tactics of the alarmist lobbies.
A new research paper finds that some of the alarmist scenarios after the Chernobyl accident have been grossly exaggerated. In all likelihood the same strident alarmism evident after Fukushima is also highly exaggerated.
J. T. Smith, N. J. Willey, J. T. Hancock. Low dose ionizing radiation produces too few reactive oxygen species to directly affect antioxidant concentrations in cells. Biology Letters, 2012; DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0150
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Tags:Chernobyl, Environmental science, Fukushima, J. T. Smith, Nuclear power, radiation effects on wildlife
Posted in Alarmism, Energy, Nuclear Power | Comments Off on Another dent in anti-nuclear paranoia as wildlife thrives after Chernobyl
April 6, 2012
The Polargate investigation being conducted by the Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General “is looking into allegations of scientific misconduct related to a 2006 report by wildlife researchers Charles Monnett and Jeffrey Gleason, who described seeing dead polar bears floating in Arctic waters. The apparently drowned bears raised concerns about the effect of melting ice in the Arctic, and they were mentioned in Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth.”
Now NPR reports that new witnesses are being questioned in this 3 year old investigation:
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Tags:Al Gore, Charles Monnett, Inconvenient Truth, Inspector General, National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Polar bear, Polar bear numbers, polargate, polargate investigation
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, scientific misconduct, Wildlife | Comments Off on Polargate investigation questions new witnesses
April 6, 2012
Polar bears near Churchill, Manitoba: Ward Kennan photolibrary
DNA studies have shown that polar bears and brown bears have a common ancestry. The genetic split occurred about 150,000 years ago in the late Pleistocene just before the end of the Pleistocene glaciation known as the Ice Age. They evolved to meet the conditions of the Ice Age and they continue to adapt. In their present form as polar bears they have survived previous interglacials with temperatures greater than we have at present. And far from being endangered and under threat of extinction they continue to adapt their behaviour and to prosper.
New surveys have shown that
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Tags:Arctic, Churchill, global warming, Hudson Bay, Nunavut, Polar bear, Polar bear numbers
Posted in Alarmism, Arctic, Canada, Wind power | 2 Comments »
April 4, 2012
The environmental and conservation movements lost their way when they moved to imposing their vision of the world onto others by fashioning people rather than fashioning a world to suit the needs of people. They started – in a formal sense – perhaps 60 – 70 years ago with the best of motives but became heavily politicised through the 80’s and since then have been more concerned about moulding people to fit their world view rather than serving the needs of human development. The environment – in some idealised and pristine form – even without man has been priorotised instead of being the surroundings to meet the needs of humans. Biodiversity has been made into a false god and human development has been condemned as a demon. Alarmism has been used as the vehicle for imposing change.
An article in Breakthrough Journal is causing a few waves. This essay is full of “common sense” but what makes it noteworthy is that its authors – Peter Kareiva, Robert Lalasz and Michelle Marvier – are all senior figures in The Nature Conservancy. Common sense from the environmental and conservations “movements” has been sadly absent in recent times.The essay is posted at the Breakthrough Journal and the Journal’s publicity states:
“By its own measures, conservation is failing. Biodiversity on Earth continues its rapid decline. We continue to lose forests in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. There are so few wild tigers and apes that they will be lost forever if current trends continue. Simply put, we are losing many more special places and species than we’re saving.”
So begins a searing indictment by the unlikeliest of sources: Peter Kareiva, chief scientist of The Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest conservation organization. …. Conservationists need to work with development, not condemn it as leading to the end of nature. In truth, nature’s resilience has been overlooked, its fragility “grossly overstated.” Areas blasted by nuclear radiation are bio-diverse. Forest cover is rising in the Northern Hemisphere even as it declines globally. ….
And it’s time to stop prioritizing being alone over being with others.
The essay itself is well worth reading and selected extracts are reproduced below:
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Tags:Anthropocene, Biodiversity, Conservation movement, Environmentalism, Nature Conservancy, Peter Kareiva
Posted in Alarmism, Biodiversity, Conservation, Development, Environment | Comments Off on Conservation movement’s focus is anachronistic and counterproductive – Peter Kareiva, Chief Scientist of the The Nature Conservancy.
March 31, 2012
I shall not be trying to switch off today. But I shall not either be trying to maximise my electricity consumption in some futile gesture to protest against the even more idiotic gesture that is Earthhour. I shall be as normal as possible.
The hype around Earthhour on 31st March each year is not just irritating – it demonstrates for me the intellectual bankruptcy that is now enveloping the environmentalists and conservationists and the eco-fascists. It is a tale told by idiots and full of sound and fury and signifying – nothing.
If it was a just a meaningless gesture it would not be as bad as it is. It actually denies all that humankind has achieved and promotes a view of what the future should be which not only do I not share but is one which celebrates the lack of electricity. It condemns humankind to return to a bleak world of hunger and death and misery. That may be a future which the lack of electricity could cause but it is not a future I would choose or glorify.
This post by Ross McKitrick is pretty close to how I see things:
Earth Hour: A Dissent
by Ross McKitrick
Ross McKitrick, Professor of Economics, University of Guelph, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ross McKitrick, Professor of Economics, University of Guelph, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 2009 I was asked by a journalist for my thoughts on the importance of Earth Hour.
Here is my response.
I abhor Earth Hour. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century. Every material social advance in the 20th century depended on the proliferation of inexpensive and reliable electricity.
Giving women the freedom to work outside the home depended on the availability of electrical appliances that free up time from domestic chores. Getting children out of menial labour and into schools depended on the same thing, as well as the ability to provide safe indoor lighting for reading.
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Tags:Alarmism, Earth, Earth Hour, Earthhour, Ross McKitrick
Posted in Alarmism, Development, Ethics, Evolution | Comments Off on Earthhour is not for me – It is a tale told by idiots..
March 13, 2012
Another idiot paper from a supposed Professor of Philosophy at New York University who claims that “human engineering deserves further consideration in the debate about climate change”.
He gets paid for producing this drivel.
Human Engineering and Climate Change by S. MATTHEW LIAO (NEW YORK UNIVERSITY), ANDERS SANDBERG (OXFORD), and REBECCA ROACHE (OXFORD)
The Atlantic carries a long interview with the idiot philosopher (whose ego is revelling in the publicity):
… the paper suggests that parents could make use of genetic engineering or hormone therapy in order to birth smaller, less resource-intensive children.
In your paper you suggest that some human engineering solutions may actually be liberty enhancing. How so?
Liao: That’s right. It’s been suggested that, given the seriousness of climate change, we ought to adopt something like China’s one child policy. There was a group of doctors in Britain who recently advocated a two-child maximum. But at the end of the day those are crude prescriptions—what we really care about is some kind of fixed allocation of greenhouse gas emissions per family. If that’s the case, given certain fixed allocations of greenhouse gas emissions, human engineering could give families the choice between two medium sized children, or three small sized children. From our perspective that would be more liberty enhancing than a policy that says “you can only have one or two children.” A family might want a really good basketball player, and so they could use human engineering to have one really large child.
Indeed! A family may wish to ensure that they don’t produce idiot children – large or small. Human engineering to breed out the possibility of producing idiot professors of philosophy could be more productive for the human race.
Tags:climate change, Climate eugenics, idiot philosopher, MATTHEW LIAO, New York University
Posted in Academic misconduct, Alarmism, Philosophy | 1 Comment »
February 26, 2012
Fakegate enriches language!
gleick, n, a vain and inept person
to gleick, v, to forge ineptly
Peter was a gleick, Peter is a gleick, Peter will always be a gleick.
Peter gleicked, Peter is gleicking, Peter will gleick.
It trips of the tongue very nicely.
Fakegate and Peter Gleick’s inept (but “heroic”) escapades are the source of much amusement over at Climate Audit. One reader, a Dr. UK has found a very apposite quotation from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Bottom (wearing the head of an ass): Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.
Titania:Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
But there are many contenders for the role of Titania! Monbiot and Laden lead the list.
To gleick, or not to gleick ..
Peter (soliloquy):
To gleick, or not to gleick, that is the question:
Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Heartland,
Or to take Fakes against a Sea of Truths,
And by publishing end them:
(with apologies to WS)
Tags:Climate Audit, climate change, ethics, Fakegate, global warming, Heartland Institute, Laden, Monbiot, Peter Gleick
Posted in Academic misconduct, Alarmism, Corruption, Ethics, scientific misconduct | 1 Comment »
The k2p blog 