Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Climate & Climate Change

Scaring Children with AGW

By

Folks,

 

Please shake your head with me in wonderment at the continuation of a pernicious technique that was pioneered (I think) by Oxfam last year. Why do we give access to our schools to these people?

 

 http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Wwf-Canada-970669.html

 http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14881/

 

And I suppose that it is just a coincidence that these two ventures should be launched in the same week on opposite sides of the Pacific, with their closing dates timed to ensure press attention in the lead up to Copenhagen.

 

Meanwhile, you will also doubtless be interested to hear that the summit of Everest is now being affected by global warming, leading to another WWF-led publicity stunt:

 

 http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200904051451.htm

 

What does an organisation have to do these days to become banned by the government?

 

It’s going to be a long six months until Copenhagen.

 

Cathy

Wilkins Ice Shelf Collapse

By

GIVEN it is still really cold at the Antarctic, is it really very scientific to blame global warming for the likely collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf? How good is the evidence supporting this hypothesis as the possible cause of the possible shelf collapse, as opposed to say ice growth generating internal stress or undersea volcanic activity?

Given Uncertainty of Sea-level Rise, Don’t Stop Development Now

By

IS it fair to take away the development potential of real estate because sea levels may rise by up to 0.8 m over the next 100 years? 

According to a recent presentation by Barrister and Practising Planner, Clem Newton-Brown, at the Planning Institute of Australia Annual Conference, last year’s decision by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to refuse development of low lying land in Toora over one kilometre from the sea, due to the potential for inundation by rising sea levels in the future, has implications for the development of all low lying coastal land in Victoria. 

Indeed, the Victorian State Government has now set a level of 80cm as the predicted sea level rise over the next 100 years and planners have been directed to apply this prediction to future planning applications.  

[Read more…] about Given Uncertainty of Sea-level Rise, Don’t Stop Development Now

AGW Activists Wishing for Warmer Weather

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THEY went to the Arctic lamenting global warming, but ever since they got there they have been wishing for warmer weather.

I have been feeling sorry for the three Brits who set off for the North Pole in February.  I’m all for adventurers pushing themselves to their absolute limits but after pulling a 1,000 kg sledge all day, image having to crawling into “a frozen sleeping bag” on “a raft of sea ice” knowing there is a polar bear nearby.  I guess there is always a percentage of us that feel the need to suffer for the common good.

Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and photographer Martin Hartley were dropped somewhere in Canada at the end of February to pull their fully laden sledges more than 1,000 kilometres to the North Pole.  The objective of the adventure is to measure ice thickness and draw attention to the issue of global warming.  I suspect that the latter objective, drawing attention to global warming, is why the team includes the photographer. 

Called the Catlin Expedition, it has run into unusually cold weather with a dip in Arctic temperatures over the last couple of months, but apparently temperatures are now recovering along with the spirits of the adventurers. 

Given the team set off concerned the planet was overheating, they could perhaps be a little happier about the recent unusually cold weather.  

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Notes

Arctic diary: Explorers’ ice quest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7897392.stm

Graph from Anthony Watts, http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/04/bad-news-for-catlin-expedition-satellite-data-shows-arctic-cooling-in-feb-march/ .  Click on the image for a better/larger view.