Archives for August 31, 2008

According to a recent paper** published in the journal Nature, only a dramatic fall in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are able to explain the transition from the mostly ice-free Greenland of three million years ago, to the ice-covered Greenland of today.

I am not convinced, but anyway, the paper begs the question, why did the purported elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations fall to levels similar to the pre-industrial era?

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** Late Pliocene Greenland glaciation controlled by a decline in atmospheric CO2 levels, Nature 454, 1102-1105 (28 August 2008), by Daniel J. Lunt, Gavin L. Foster, Alan M. Haywood and & Emma J. Stone.

Read the University of Bristol media release here.

In today’s UK Telegraph Christopher Booker has commented:

“As the estimated cost of measures proposed by politicians to ‘combat global warming’ soars ever higher – such as the International Energy Council’s $45 trillion – ‘fighting climate change’ has become the single most expensive item on the world’s political agenda.

“As Senators Obama and McCain vie with the leaders of the European Union to promise 50, 60, even 80 per cent cuts in ‘carbon emissions’, it is clear that to realise even half their imaginary targets would necessitate a dramatic change in how we all live, and a drastic reduction in living standards.

“All this makes it rather important to know just why our politicians have come to believe that global warming is the most serious challenge confronting mankind, and just how reliable is the evidence for the theory on which their policies are based…

Read more here.

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The ‘consensus’ on climate change is a catastrophe in itself
By Christopher Brooker, Telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 31/08/2008