Confusion and bad timing only lead to more confusion.
In the November issue of Mother Jones, Rachel Morris tells us the plight of the fourth-smallest nation on our warming planet: Tuvalu is slowly sinking back into the Pacific, and its people are emigrating to Auckland, New Zealand. Morris’ story puts a human face on climate change as she describes the immigrants sleeping on grass mats on the side of the road, unable to survive on the $17,000 most male Tuvaluans eke out.
The moral is there’s more than polar bears at stake when it comes to global warming; entire countries are at risk.
Apparently global warming is real.
Then Climategate happened.
The epicenter of our newest -gate is East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) in England. According to Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal, Climategate concerns “some of the world’s leading climate scientists working in tandem to block freedom of information requests, blackball dissenting scientists, manipulate the peer-review process, and obscure, destroy or massage inconvenient temperature data—facts that were laid bare by last week’s disclosure of thousands of emails from…CRU.”
Apparently global warming is fudged?
Pray tell, why? Stephens reminds us that the scarier the prospect of global warming is, the larger the sums of money that pour in to combat it. Even if we can’t see the enemy.
And the enemy is the raison d’etre for the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen next week. The Conference is bringing together over 100 heads of state to figure out how to cut greenhouse gases, how much to cut, and how to pay for the cuts. Not only should you not expect binding agreements to come out of the conference, you should expect – as the waves of Climategate crash to shores of the Baltic – questioning on the actual threat of global warming.
Bad timing. More confusion. More questions.
The real, central, burning question remains: Will Al Gore have to return his Oscar?
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LtCol said:
As reported in Scientific American the problem is not rising sealevels but a sinking island. The cause is the uncontroled use of groundwater by the population.
Simliarly the dropping of the levels of the Great Lakes is not due to global warming but the rebound of the earth in the area due to the weight ice from the last ice age being removed…some 10000 years ago.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 am
Frank Chadwick said:
I’d be interested in which issue of Scientific American you read that in. Scientific American has consistently warned about the challenge of climate change and rising sea levels, and has specifically mentioned Tuvalu as a source of climate change refugees. As recently as this March it reported, “But while more climate migrants will come from Bangladesh than from any other country, scientists say that from Mozambique to Tuvalu, from Egypt to Vietnam, climate migration will change the face of the world.”
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Frank Chadwick said:
The most interesting thing about the hacked emails is the spin the anti-climate-change lobby has put on them. Nothing in the emails suggests falsification or manipulation of data or any sort of fraud, and use of the term “fudged” is probably itself a little over the top. Instead, scientists traded comments on how to make their results clearer in graphics accompanying publications. So what? It’s not until the comments are blown out of context and inflated into an international conspiracy theory that they even become remotely news-worthy. As has been said many times, effectively all of the “controversy” over climate change is in the popular media — not the scientific community.
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Tracey McCormick said:
Frank-thanks for bringing up some excellent points. I dug a little deeper and came across an article by professor Michel Chossudovsky, who was writing for the Centre for Research on Globalisation, based in Montreal. His original article is titled, “Fixing the Climate Data around the Policy,” and can be found here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16339. You’re right, maybe “fudging” wasn’t the best word, but I don’t know what a good word for “policy first, then data.” The most damning evidence comes in an email from CRU’s Director, Phil Jones, which mentions “Mike’s nature trick of adding real temps…to hide the decline.” Maybe you’re right, maybe they were just trying to make data more accessible to the public.
Whether or not they were deliberately manipulating data or just trying to make it public-friendly is unfortunately not the point. Public policy is often guided by popular opinion rather than needs and facts. Hence the timing of the release of these emails means discussions in Copenhagen will have this spectre of fudged data in the background.
I suspect and hope the truth will out.
December 2nd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Frank Chadwick said:
Tracey – Discussion and sunlight are always good for any process. I agree with some of Chossudovsky’s positions but — ironically — I think his conclusions are hostage to his own pre-conceived preferred policies. As to the meaning of the leaked emails, I found this article (http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/climategate) by Kevin Drum to make a good deal of sense in a no-nonsense sort of way.
My real concern with “climategate” is that the controversy begins with some false assumptions about the body of climate change research. It assumes a couple researchers at East Anglia are avatars for all climate researchers everywhere and it further assumes that the couple of studies the emails deal with are central to the argument for global climate change. Both assumptions are wrong on their face, and without either one of those assumptions this whole business becomes of pretty marginal interest — except to the extent that it gets whipped up into a public furor. As you correctly observe, public perception is critical in any public policy debate.
My fear is that climate change research has just been “Swiftboated.”
December 4th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Btok said:
$10 Billion Dollars per Year and More, For a Fraud! By Btok
I noticed there are not many comments on PM Harper in China! G&M would do well to realize Canadians are interested in results of what is going on about Climategate in Canada! As it has to do with our lives,lifestyle whether or not we are going to be living in a Democracy or under a Dictatorship?
Jim prentice has stated and I PM Harper advocates this as well otherwise Prentice wouldn’t be uttering it,”that Canada will be paying it’s fair share of Carbon Emmissions! To the tune of $10 Billion per year!” Really, we are already $70 Billion in debt thanks to Michael Ignatieff & the Liberals wanting to up the anti to the Canadian debt load on stimulus!
This begs the question of where Jim Prentice plans to dig the $10 Billion per year out of? Did somebody say Tax, Tax and more Tax?
What is so disheartening about that,is the fact that now it has been found that the whole Climate Emissions scam has been found and proven to be Fraudulent as credible Scientests around the world, that were previously locked out of putting their work and findings forth by Jones of East Anglia University and the CRU,previously pushed out of the picture with thier observations and experiment results on Climate Change – found that not only is the earth not heating up, in reality it has been cooling since the 1960’s!
How much more fraudulent can this Scientific Data be? The United Nations and the Globalists are using this false Data at Copenhagen, to transfer our wealth to third world countries? Yet Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Prime Minister Stephen Harper feel so generous with the Canadian Tax payers dollars that they are willing to toss in $10 Billion per year on the “hot air,” that Ban Kai Moon and Pompus PM Gordon Brown and the rest of the Criminal Rogues that are involved in this bogus Carbon Emission, Carbon Trading Treaty! As the Bible says,”A Fool and his money are soon parted”! Email these people at:pm@pm.gc.ca,PrentJ@parl.gc.ca,http://www.gopetition.com/online/32485.html
There are four reasons the UN and IMF, Global Elitist Members Re: Ban Kai Moon ( Who has openly expressed his stong desire for Global Governance ), PM Gordon Brown, Bilderberg Member Henry Kissinger, Senior Bilderberg Member David Rockefeller as well as an unprecedented number of Dictators that run various countries who are members of the United Nations this Copenhagen Treaty that was designed to acquire four goals, the least of them being climate improvment or protection as Lord Moncton has stated!
(1.) To de-industrialize Sovereign Countries ( No Jobs keep you dependant on State ) ( 2.) Take your money and assets – Hence, Fraudulent Carbon Emmissions and Carbon Gases for Carbon Credits and Carbon Taxes! (3.) Take away your property (4.) Take away your Sovereignty and Freedom!
Check out what Government is doing behind your back at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU
http://www.gopetition.com/online/32485.html
December 6th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Tracey McCormick said:
Frank-
It looks as if 56 newspapers around the world are rallying behind the conference in Denmark and calling for action not only from the hithertofore obstructionist United States but developing nations as well.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/06/copenhagen-editorial
The editorial will be published tomorrow in these newspapers; many of them will feature the editorial on the front page.
The press got it right. The question is: Will the politicians?
December 6th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Frank Chadwick said:
Btok — I disagree with just about everything you say, but that’s okay. I think a vigorous exchange of views is essential to getting to the truth and making good policy. I have to say, however, that if your position is based on the certainty that the overwhelming majority of climate scientists in the world are part of a vast evil conspiracy the intent of which is to take your property, take your freedom, take your sovereignty, and in the process de-industrialize the entire world. . . well, that’s a pretty interesting take on things.
December 7th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Btok said:
http://www.infowars.com/globalist-hypocrites-arrive-in-copenhagen-for-summit/
While readying speeches about how the middle class will be forced to lower their living standards, pay higher taxes on all forms of travel, and make personal sacrifices in order to save the planet from the alleged menace of CO2 Copenhagen globalists will be relaxing on the 140 extra private jets that are being forced to drop off attendees in Copenhagen and then fly back to other airports and even other countries just to park due to the lack of spaces.
Elitists will scoff scallops foie gras and sculpted caviar wedges while lecturing the general public about how eating meat is harming the earth.
And while the climate crooks wag their finger at you for having the audacity to own an SUV, they will be running up a bill of over $200 million dollars, and guess who is going to be picking up the tab?
“According to an analysis by the Taxpayer’s Alliance a conservative cost of Copenhagen is £130million.
It includes £6.3million on flights, £20million on hotels and £3.3million on food,reports the Daily Mail.
“The figure also includes the salaries for delegates and the contribution from the Danish government of £37 million. Most of the money will come from taxpayers.” Summits of this size are routinely accompanied by a huge spike in the sex trade in whatever city they happen to be taking place. While servants of the global elite and their masters lecture us about our moral imperatives half of them are out committing adultery on a nightly basis during the same global conferences at which they habitually pose with righteous indignation. Make sure you have plenty of vomit bags on standby the thugs couldn’t care less about the environment they want to tax you out of existence for breathing! http://www.infowars.com/globalist-hypocrites-arrive-in-copenhagen-for-summit/
Check out what Government is doing behind your back at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU
Email Prime Minister Harper of Canada and request he not sign the Copenhagen Treaty causing Canadians to lose our Sovereignty at: pm@pm.gc.ca
December 8th, 2009 at 1:21 am
Isaia Lawaniyasana said:
I do not know whether the data the scientists have is true or not, as I have not seen the data myself.
What I know is that the sea level is rising. I write this from Fiji, south of Tuvalu, and I have seen with my own eyes, houses that have stood for centuries by the sea, now underwater. And for the idiot who claims that the island is sinking because of the use of groundwater, please come visit us…especially Tuvalu. There is no groundwater to be had. It’s a coral atoll, where the only source of water is the rain.
December 9th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Wormsnapper said:
So, even the IPCC, with their exaggeration and spin, can’t manage more than a 2 foot rise in sea levels in 150 years, which is 4mm a year. Prior to this the drop from the previous Ice Age has been at an average rate of 6mm a year (sea 120M deeper 18,000 years ago). And you are saying that houses that have stood for ‘centuries’ are now under water because of AGW caused sea-level rise? Yes, and global warming apparently causes rains of frogs too.
December 23rd, 2009 at 5:30 am
Wormsnapper said:
Sorry, got that the wrong way round: the ‘rise’ since the last Ice Age has been 6mm a year.
December 23rd, 2009 at 5:31 am