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To: Straight Vermonter
For general edification.
71 posted on 01/26/2004 12:29:20 PM PST by Straight Vermonter (06/07/04 - 1000 days since 09/11/01)
Posted on 01/29/2004 2:35:48 AM PST by Always Right
A Cold Greenhouse (27 Jan 04)
It began as an obscure theory from the fringes of scientific thinking on climate, the idea that `global warming' could conspire to plunge Europe and the northeast of North America into a new ice age - and do so within our lifetimes.
The theory basically says that an increasing influx of fresh water into the North Atlantic `could' disrupt the natural sinking of salt water in the Arctic seas off Norway which draws warmer water from the south - the Gulf Stream which warms Europe. With no Gulf Stream, Europe `could' plunge into similar climatic conditions as those of Labrador, Canada, which is on similar latitudes. In other words, global warming could trigger a new ice age in Europe.
And the precedent for this outlandish scenario? 10,700 years ago, such an event did occur - the `Younger Dryas', where humungous floods of fresh water running off the melting ice caps over North America and Europe did freshen the North Atlantic sufficiently to shut down the Gulf Stream for about 300 years. Once these ice caps had melted away, the North Atlantic became sufficiently salty again to allow the Gulf Stream to re-establish itself.
But where will these enormous quantities of fresh water come from today? The industry says, coyly, `more rainfall' - from global warming. This is an absurd proposition because no amount of rain could rival the massive melt-water runoff that occurred during the Younger Dryas. If the Gulf Stream were weakening, there would be an expansion of Arctic sea ice into the high North Atlantic where the Gulf Stream finally sinks to the ocean depths, returning via the ocean floor. But no such ice expansion is taking place. Indeed, some scientists claim that sea ice is shrinking, not expanding, which suggests the Gulf Stream is as strong, or stronger, than ever.
That was the theory, a parasitic adjunct to the broader global warming theory, supported as usual by `models'. Then `Auntie' herself, the BBC, started the process of softening up the public for this new apocalyptic vision with this TV documentary titled `The Big Chill' late last year on how it might all start and unfold. It was scary stuff, especially as the British public are apt to believe the BBC over and above all other media.
The latest contribution now comes from The Independent (UK) with this scare story by their environment editor, Geoffrey Lean. He opens with this dramatic headline - "Global Warming Will Plunge Britain Into New Ice Age 'Within Decades' ", followed by this opening statement: "Britain is likely to be plunged into an ice age within our lifetime by global warming, new research suggests." (Notice how `will' became `is likely to' in succeeding sentences). Yes, it's always some dramatic `new research', from an industry that has only ever prospered from creating public alarm. The usual "much worse than previously thought" is a standard cliché for such stories.
In May this year, new fuel will be added to the fire with the release of the Hollywood blockbuster `The Day After Tomorrow', starring Dennis Quaid as a `climatologist'. Quaid was excellent as the ever-grinning father of girl twins in `The Parent Trap', but his latest movie will see him cast as an environmentalist hero in this latest of a long line of Hollywood disaster movies. The movie will probably be well worth seeing, for the special effects if nothing else, but it is just a movie for entertainment, not be taken seriously.
Now that the scare is on for real, the whole industry is joining the bandwagon like a downhill avalanche, gathering more momentum the longer it lasts. It is a case study, not of climate science, but of a hysterical mass psychology in action among society's more gullible intellectuals and climate scientists who should know better.
It was a fundamental scientific error for the industry to identify individual weather events like heat waves and droughts as being indicators of global warming. Events as diverse as floods in Britain, Australian bush fires, the European heat wave of 2003, Atlantic hurricanes, tornado events, and droughts in Australia and the US have been variously blamed by top industry scientists on `global warming'. They even claim that the climate models predict such events, even though climate models are by definition climate models, not weather models. In other words, they are not even designed to predict weather events, let alone link such events to `global warming'. Example here.
The logical trap in linking weather events to global warming is that cold events (such as the recent Arctic cold wave which swept North America and recently south-eastern Europe and Turkey) which run completely counter to the global warming theory, must also be explained in terms of that theory. That is where this new `ice age' scare is so useful for an industry which spends its whole time (and taxpayers money) dreaming up one global catastrophe scenario after another. By invoking the possibility of `global warming causing an ice age', the industry are now in the position of being able to point to each and every weather event, whether hot or cold, as being evidence of global warming. Heads we win, tails you lose. It has become a closed logical system where the theory is now impervious to any external evidence which may contradict it. And this is an intellectual black hole which climate scientists themselves were not pushed into, but enthusiastically jumped into with scant regard for basic principles of science.
So, don't blame the media - climate science is itself to blame for this absurd situation where an entire science is now impervious to any internal or external evidence which might question the quasi-religion they have embraced. Demonstrated expertise in any complex discipline commands some authority among the non-expert public. But the many errors of this particular science are so gross that they have squandered whatever little authority they did have.
John's last article before his death. John's website was a great resource of information that would quickly point out the lies of the global warming propaganda. I will miss the timely updates and his informative insights.
Tells it like it is.
But, that can't be...there were no Republicans back then..
John was good at cutting through the chase and explaining how the greens manipulated the data. He will be missed.
But were there SUV's back then?
But since the polar ice on Mars is retreating at the same rate as glaciers on Earth, there must be Republicans on the Red Planet.
Bush...Halliburton...Mars..... MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Except the arctic hasn't shown signs of cooling and it is not even clear that the sea ice and icecaps in the arctic are shrinking, and certainly doesn't rival the amount meltage from the glaciers that covered North America. The Younger Dryas period saw about a 7 degree C change in Arctic tempreture, which just isn't happening right now. All this stuff about a new ice age is based on shakey science and is meant to scare the public into supporting global governance to thrawt capitolism.
What's wrong with thrawting capitolism? Aren't you for strangling those a*holes in Congress!
This is my favorite scare theory -- because it could and did happen.
The only place to get the fresh water would be the Greenland Icecap and that is too big to melt all at once.
The fact of the matter is that even though carbon emissions by man have increased dramatically in the last century, Earth manages to absorb most of it.
The oceans are great absorbers of a lot of carbon and carbon 'sinks' such as coral and shellfish account for almost half of it. But where is the other half? Not in the atmosphere...no matter what the Enviro-whackos tell you.
Anyone who fails to find this statement totally outrageous to the point of being comical had better go to the lost and found dept. to check for their brain.
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Ways man has influenced anything:
1.
2
uh . . .
Reminds me of Michael Crichton's recent speech warning about the new religion of environmentalism, and the dangers it posed to freedom and science.
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