Transcript IS GLOBAL WARMING A THREAT?

IS GLOBAL WARMING A
THREAT?
Or is it just hot air?
www.friendsofscience.org
GLOBAL WARMING DOOM AND GLOOM
CIRCA 1990
According to the U.N., some environmental activists, and
even some governments, the greatest threat facing
mankind is global warming. The earth is warming at an
unprecedented rate and will soon become unlivable, sea
levels will rise, crops will fail, weather will become wild
and unpredictable.
GLOBAL COOLING DOOM AND GLOOM
CIRCA 1975
“There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun
to change dramatically…with serious political implications for just about
every nation on earth.”
- Newsweek April 28, 1975
Present climate is “highly abnormal…[There is] a finite possibility that a
serious worldwide cooling could befall the earth within the next hundred
years.”
- National Academy of Sciences, 1975
“If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder
for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder by
the year 2000….This is about twice what it would take to put us in an
ice age.”
- Kenneth E. F. Watt on air pollution and global cooling, Earth Day 1970
WHAT HAPPENED?
GLOBAL WARMING MYTH #1
The earth has had stable temperatures for a long time,
and the 20th century has seen a dramatic rise in
temperature, in the shape of a hockey stick.
GLOBAL WARMING FACT
#1
The math behind the hockey stick shaped graph has been proven
wrong by Canadian statisticians Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick.
Here are 4 graphs. One is the global warming hockey stick used by the
UN and governments around the world to justify Kyoto, the other ones
use the same computer program, with COMPLETELY RANDOM data.
Which one is which?
http://www.climate2003.com/
GLOBAL WARMING MYTH #2
The 1990’s were the hottest years ever recorded on
earth, and this was caused by human greenhouse
gas emissions.
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/warming/
http://www.ipcc.ch/present/graphics.htm
Global Warming Fact #2
Why then, did the global temperature of the earth decline from 1940 to the
late 1970’s (causing the global cooling scare)? During which time the
human emissions of CO2 were increasing like crazy (due to increased
industrialization after WWII).
The Earth is actually coming out of a cold period, known as the Little Ice
Age. Global climate has been colder than present. It has also been warmer
– and that warmth had nothing to do with man-made CO2.
Last Ice
Age
Little Ice
Age
Medieval Warm
Period
Present Day
Temperatures over the last 18,000 years
Source: http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/fall04/atmo336/lectures/sec5/holocene.html
Global Warming Myth #3
The consensus of world scientists is that
humanity is causing significant climate change.
“The overwhelming majority of scientific experts, whilst recognizing that
scientific uncertainties exist, nonetheless believe that human-induced
climate change is already occurring and that future change is
inevitable.”
- Robert T. Watson, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) in November, 2000
“The consensus is that global warming is real, that it's happening and
that we humans -- with our cars, and especially our power plants,
burning coal, oil and gas, and releasing carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere -- are partly or mostly or entirely responsible.”
– Eugene Robinson. “Ignoring the Smoke.” Washington Post, February
4, 2005, P.A17
Global Warming Fact #3
There is no consensus!
Oregon Global Warming Petition - Signed by more than
17,100 basic and applied American scientists, two-thirds
with advanced degrees
- Urges the United States government to reject the global warming agreement
that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals
http://www.oism.org/pproject/
Heidelberg Appeal – States there is no scientific
evidence for man-made global warming
- Started in 1992, it has now been signed by more than 4000 scientists from
around the world
http://www.sepp.org/heidelberg_appeal.html
Global Warming Myth #4
Global Warming will be disastrous for the
environment and human society
“Warming is bringing unpredictable changes. Melting glaciers
and precipitation are causing some rivers to overflow…
Diseases are spreading. Some crops grow faster while others
see yields slashed by disease and drought. Clashes over
dwindling water resources may cause conflicts…
Thermal expansion of the oceans, combined with melting ice on
land, is also raising sea levels. In this century, human activity
could trigger an irreversible melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
This would condemn the world to a rise in sea level of six
meters - enough to flood land occupied by billions of people.”
- Fred Pearce, New Scientist Magazine
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/
Global Warming Fact #4
Dr. Tim Patterson, Professor of earth sciences
(Paleoclimatology) at Carleton University, and climate historian
Hubert H. Lamb demonstrate that during warm periods
civilization flourished and weather was more moderate. In cold
periods, there was more drought, famine, wars and disease.
“Between 900 and 1300 A.D., the Earth warmed 1 to
2°C…approximately what climate models now predict for the
21st century. This warming resulted in one of the most favorable
periods in history. Food production surged due to mild winters
and longer growing seasons. Primary agricultural regions had
fewer droughts and floods… When Erik the Red was exiled from
Iceland for murder in 980 AD, he was fortunate that his
banishment coincided with this unusually warm climatic period.
Open sea-lanes allowed him to make his way to a wholly new
and, at the time, reasonably hospitable land - calling it
“Greenland”…
Source: http://www.envirotruth.org/myth4.cfm
Global Warming Myth #5
Extreme weather events will become more and
more common as the world warms. This can
already be seen with the increase of drought,
floods, forest fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and
tsunamis.
“Extreme weather threatens Canadian ecosystems, security and health, and
imposes severe costs on key sectors of our economy…The cost of weatherrelated disasters in Canada increased significantly during the 1990s. A number
of sectors in the Canadian economy — including forestry, agriculture and
fisheries — can be easily devastated by climate change-induced weather
disasters.” – Government of Canada, Project Green – Moving Forward on
Climate Change, 2005
Economic costs of great natural disasters (US$billion), 1950-2000.
Source: Munich Re 2001
Global Warming Fact #5
Could the increased costs be due to people building structures in extreme
weather prone areas such as floodplains and tornado alleys, and not due
to increased extreme weather events?
Dr. Madhav Khandekar, a meteorologist with 25 years experience at Environment Canada,
has showed that extreme weather events (heat waves, floods, winter blizzards,
thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes) are not currently increasing anywhere in Canada. "Extreme
weather events are definitely on the decline over the last 40 years," concludes Dr.
Khandekar.
According to Dr. John Christy, Professor and Director, Earth System Science Center at the
University of Alabama, the frequency of hurricanes, thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes have
not increased in recent years either. Weather just seems unusual and dangerous these days
because of media focus. If the planet warms, the temperature differential between the
Earth's poles and equatorial regions will drop, resulting in weather that is even more tranquil.
Hurricane Frequency, 1940 - 2000
Source: http://www.envirotruth.org/myth5.cfm; Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine
Global Warming Myth #6
Alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal,
and hydrogen cells can soon be significant
contributors to the energy needs of the human
population.
Global Warming Fact #6
Environmentalists tell us that we can break the fossil fuel habit by
massively expanding our use of "clean" wind and solar power to provide
much of Canada's power needs. Unfortunately, this is hopelessly
impractical. Both of these energy sources are far too diffuse and
intermittent to ever provide more than a small fraction of the energy needs
of any major industrialized nation, let alone vast, northern countries like
Canada and United States. The problems of diffuseness and intermittency
are ones that can never be completely overcome, no matter how much
research and development is done in the field.
"To produce an average of 1000 MW, the power produced by any large conventional (coal,
oil, nuclear, gas) power plant, would require about 833 square kilometers of wind turbines.
That's the area of a mile-wide swath of land extending from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Multiply that by about 30 and you have California's electricity.” - Dr. Howard C. Hayden,
Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut
Consider that in 2001 there was a total global installed capacity of eight gigawatts (GW) of
geothermal power, 25 GW of wind power and negligible photovoltaic solar power. Even
assuming the wind blows all the time, geothermal, wind and photovoltaic add up to only one
quarter of one per cent of worldwide primary energy production. To replace fossil fuels, you
would need to increase all these renewables by a staggering 33,000 per cent!
Source: http://www.envirotruth.org/myth9.cfm
Global Warming Myth #7
Kyoto will reduce air pollution and will save lives.
Climate change is already killing 150,000 people a year.
- Greenpeace
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/?CFID=2026069&CFTOKEN=33577989
“Climate change is likely to have wide-ranging and mostly adverse
impacts on human health, with significant loss of life”
– David Suzuki Foundation
Last, J., Trouton, K., and Pengelly, D. 1998. Taking Our Breath Away: The Health Effects of Air
Pollution and Climate Change. Vancouver: David Suzuki Foundation.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/healthFULL.pdf
Global Warming Fact #7
Kyoto is about greenhouse gases only. Kyoto only
addresses carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide,
hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur
hexafluoride. It does not address any SOX or NOX
particulate matter, nor does it address ozone, the main
cause of smog. Thus, Kyoto will not reduce atmospheric
pollution, it will only attempt to reduce the amount of CO2
emitted by human activities. The irony is that CO2 is
required by all primary life (plants) to grow. Without it, there
would be no plant or animal life on earth.
To Help Fight Kyoto:
1) Write letters to your elected government officials, as well as to
the editor of your local newspaper and the media, and contribute
to websites and blogs as well as other avenues of
communication, that you don’t want Kyoto implemented, and
you want a real solution to real pollution, which CO2 is not.
2) Visit the Friends of Science at www.friendsofscience.org often,
to keep up to date and join us in fighting against the abuse of
science and promotion of hysteria.