The most alarming aspect of the dissemination of the narrative on climate change, (The Mercury, June 17) is the extent to which it is unscientific and false.
Typifying the narrative is the assertion by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that “the atlas of human suffering would continue to escalate with every fraction of a degree of warming” which would release “a torrent of disasters across the planet.”
Asserting that the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa are being exacerbated by the tardiness of richer nations to curb their carbon footprint, is utter nonsense. Historically, that region is noted for its harsh climate and difficulty in sustaining life.
Likewise, the heat wave in India and Pakistan is a typical and natural precursor of the onset of the monsoon season. Claims that temperatures are exceptional, because of global warming, do not accord with history. The India Meteorological Department report for 2010, notes that temperatures exceeding 45°C are common in the north and northwest during the month of May. Long-period average records dating from 1901 show that the warmest extremes never varied by more than one degree.
Warmer periods have been recorded in the past 2000 years, notably during the late Roman period and between 900 and 1300. During the late medieval period, there was a mini-ice age when the Thames River froze and ice festivals were held. In 1817, the Royal Geographical Society noted the disappearance of ice around the Greenland coast when the planet entered a warming period.
None of those warming periods was the result of fossil fuel exploitation. Yet the IPCC claims that the slight increase of 1,2°C in the past 200 years is man-made and poses “an existential threat” to humanity. The culprit, it claims, is carbon dioxide from fossil fuels.
The falsehood of the claim is borne out by the fact that carbon dioxide makes up 0,04% of the atmosphere or, as a 2013 study revealed, 400 parts per million. Therefore, there is no credibility in the IPCC’s claim that human production of carbon dioxide drives climate change.
Nonetheless, as Princeton scientists William Happer and Harrison Schmitt wrote in the Wall St Journal on May 8, 2013: “Thanks to the demonization of natural and atmospheric gases by advocates of government control of energy production, conventional wisdom about carbon dioxide is that it is a dangerous pollutant. That is simply not the case.”
Contrary to the narrative, carbon dioxide is actually essential for botanical growth. In his 2009 submission to the US Senate, Professor Happer warned that the planet actually faced a carbon dioxide famine because levels needed to be higher. The Occupation Health and Safety Act in the US lists carbon dioxide levels of 400 to 600 parts per million as normal. MIT scientist Richard Lindzen has pointed out that levels of 2000 to 5000 parts per million are considered safe in submarines.
Australian scientist Ian Plimer’s declaration in 2009 that there is no correlation between temperatures and carbon dioxide levels is corroborated by Obama’s former under-secretary for Science, Professor Steven Koonin, who has noted the absence of any significant change in temperatures since 1960.
None of Al Gore’s dire warming predictions has occurred because they were based neither on science nor history. Abandoning fossil fuels promises catastrophic human consequences, but that is a key aspect of the Orwellian agenda to depopulate the planet.
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