Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for September 6, 2008

Meteorology Bureau Running Training Course in Propaganda?

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The UK Meteorology Bureau is running a training course on climate change, but not just any course. According to the flyer you don’t need any prior scientific training and you will learn how to “dispel sceptism”. 

Climate change — what you need to know

A seminar for professionals 2008

The scientific evidence is overwhelming — our climate is changing. These changes will affect all organisations – commercial and governmental, local and international.

To plan effectively for the future, influencers and decision-makers need to understand how the climate will change and how this may impact their organisation. This one-day seminar from the Met Office will equip you with the knowledge of climate change you need to:

Make the best decisions for your organisation, so that the plans you make today safeguard your future success in a changing climate.

Using the latest research from the world-leading Met Office Hadley Centre – the authoritative voice on climate change – this seminar builds an understanding of why and how our climate is changing and the likely impacts. Focusing on how we can plan for the future, this seminar also explores some of the options available for organisations to reduce (mitigate) and prepare for (adapt to) climate change.

What you’ll learn

By the end of the seminar, you will:

  • understand why and how our climate is changing and the likely impacts;
  • be equipped to dispel scepticism about climate change in your organisation and ensure your colleagues’ engagement;
  • know the steps you need to take to factor climate change into the decisions you make for your organisation.

Who should attend

This seminar is designed for professionals in the public and private sectors. It’s particularly appropriate for those with responsibility for, or interest in, planning, projects and policies. No prior scientific training is required.

I find it extraordinary that an institution that purports to be about science, a bureau of meteorology, would seek to “dispel sceptism”. 

Science is the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experimentation.  Science is about inquiry and is best undertaken by those who are inquisitive, prepared to question, to doubt, to ruthlessly follow the evidence.  

That the UK Meteorology Bureau, a place of science, is concerned with “dispelling sceptism” is a worrying sign.  Indeed without scepticism, can education be more than propaganda?

Polar Bears Move When Climate Changes: A Note from Nichole Hoskin

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THIRTY years ago polar bear experts were discussing ‘climatic fluctuations’ rather than climate change, and the effect this can have on polar bear distribution in the Arctic.  In fact, Christian Vibe, the Greenland representative on the Polar Bear Specialist Group, was more focused on how climatic fluctuations affected distribution, than abundance.  His observations back then, for example polar bears drowning in scattered drift ice, are similar to what is being observed now.  But back then such incidences were not considered unusual or causing long term decline in polar bear numbers.

At the 2nd Working Meeting of the Polar Bear Specialist Group, in 1970, Dr Vibe said:

“The ecological conditions of the Arctic have changed as a result of this alteration of the climate. Some high Arctic regions get colder winters and less open water in summer. The productivity of the sea decreases in the Arctic and in regions nearer the Atlantic. The ringed seal moves to the areas of higher productivity, and the polar bear follows the seal.

This is the situation today in Northwest as well as in Northeast and Southeast Greenland. All other animals in Greenland, in the sea as well as on land, are affected by the same climatical fluctuations, which are reflected in a regular shift between Arctic and Atlantic conditions (or Continental and Atlantic) over a period of 56 to 66 years; they are more marked every second time the period culminates. The climatic situation of today, with intense movements in the drift ice in summer, is very similar to that 110-120 years ago. For the polar bear, especially in East Greenland, that means unstable living conditions, more roaming, and probably greater loss of animals by drowning in scattered drift ice off South Greenland.

Under the Atlantic conditions of forty years ago [1930], the drift ice from the Polar Basin kept moving throughout the winter and melted at high latitudes in summer. The situation for the polar bear was quite the opposite to that today [1970]. It then had to go ashore early in summer at high latitudes –and fewer got lost.

Alternatively, we could say that the polar bear probably was more numerous 30-40 years ago – as all Arctic animals were – but the Arctic-Continental climate of today has forced it south to regions with unstable drift ice conditions and within the range of man.” (pgs 20-21)

In this extract from Dr Vibe, written in 1970, he notes the negative effects of colder Arctic winters and less open water in summer. He explains that polar bears in the late 1960s were moving southwards to unstable sea conditions, with the possibility that more polar bears were dying.  However, Dr Vibe also noted that polar bears adapt to climatic fluctuations in the Arctic by moving to the areas with more of their primary prey, ringed seals, as ringed seals move to more suitable habitats. 

This note was sent to me by Nichole Hoskin from the Blue Moutains in Australia.