Comments on: Nutty Story of the Day: “Global Warming” is Killing the Penguins in Antarctica

By: Tenuc

Tenuc — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:00:15 +0000

Yet another risible example of the world’s media doing what they have been told to do by their owners.

If the case is closed on AGW, why are scientists who offer contrary evidence ostricised from their community and immediately accused of being in league with the devil – e.g. any oil company – and have their career’s blighted?

There are plenty of other valid theories as to what drives climate change, with man-made carbon dioxide being only a very small part of the equation. The world has been through many periods of dramatic climate changes in its long history, all effectively achieved without the influence of man.

Lets stop spending billions of dollars in a futile attempt to reduce the amount of carbon we produce and start spending the money on finding out about the real drivers of climate, so we can develop good predictions of what is going to happen and, if possible, prepare to mitigate any negative effects.

By: Carsten Arnholm, Norway

Carsten Arnholm, Norway — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:50:59 +0000

Here is a slightly off topic report from the Norwegian weather service (with my translation to english below) about the Arctic ice cover status:

http://www.yr.no/ver-nytt/1.6147517

More ice than normal around Svalbard
========================

Several scientists had expected little ice in the Arctic, but the status for july is that there is more ice around Svalbard than normal.

Therese Gruehagen
Asle Hella

The thickness of the ice is varying, and two ships recently got stuck north of Spitsbergen.
http://fiskeribladetfiskaren.no/default.asp?side=101&lesmer=8322

Not all that unusual
============
The Ice Service at the weather report centre for northern Norway has compared the ice cover in july with what it was in 1980. When one looks at the period from 1980 and up until today, most years have had normal ice cover with open waters around the north coast of Spitsbergen towards the northern inlet Hinlopen, and with ice along the coast of Nordaustlandet and in the southern Hinlopen.

- But lots of ice around Spitsbergen is not all that unusual. Similar ice conditions as this year also happened in 1980, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003, says the head of the Ice Service in Tromsø, Nick Hughes.

Years with very little or very much ice
* In 1984 and 2002 there was very little ice, that means ice was only found only along parts of the Nordaustlandet coast.
* In 2006 there was exceptionally little ice, and open waters around the whole Svalbard group of islands.
* Years with very much ice in southern parts of Svalbard includes 1982, 1993 aqnd 2004, that is approximately once per decade.

By: Negative Working Capital

Negative Working Capital — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:19:44 +0000

Nutty story alert !

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/29468/

Global Warming is causing more homeless kittens !!!

(I wish I were kidding)

-nwc

By: J.Hansford.

J.Hansford. — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:10:44 +0000

Probably too many penguins….. Not enough tucker. Don’t go blaming fishing either… Fish cycle too.

Once again something natural, in the hands of the media, becomes a climate catastrophe.

By: blenjar

blenjar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:50:31 +0000

This global warming is going pretty fast..now Antarctica??

By: mplimasol

mplimasol — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:47:41 +0000

haha, thanks for the laugh. i needed that today, especially after, in recent weeks, hearing so many liberal environmentalist hippies bitch about how the whole damn planet is going to turn into a sea of magma because we use air conditioners and cars. really? get over yourselves and got hug a tree, for god’s sake, but quit ruining the politics of MY country.

By: thatoneblogger

thatoneblogger — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:43:04 +0000

I don’t really believe in global warming 0.0 It’s funny how even though global warming is just a theory and there are so many controversial stuff to it that most people believe that global warming is truly real. Well, I could argue against that, depending on what your perception of “global warming” is.

By: ChrisM

ChrisM — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:15:16 +0000

Way back (like 1982-83) I was in a deep field party in Antactica. One of the jobs we did was count the Adelie penguins in the colonies around Inexpressible Island. From the work I did there, I can see lots wrong in the article.
Most penguin chicks die. The adults usually lay two eggs, but after hatching, generally only feed the bigger one. The predation by skuas is significant, as well as those who die because their parents get eaten by orcas or leopard seals. The birds don’t go in the water until they have lost all their down. Towards the end of the season, all the adults just abandon the nesting site. Those birds that haven’t got all their adult plumage just die on the beach (one sees them pacing backwards and forwards waiting for their parents or their feathers) so the water edge is littered in carcases, that don’t rot. I’d estimate the actual survival rate eggs to 1 year old would be less than 25%. Even so, the Adelie is one of the most common penguins with massive colonies across Antarctica. I believe their main diet is krill so overfishing shouldn’t directly affect them.There are a lot more threatened penguin species than Adelies.
I’d put the story down to another junk science beat-up.

By: Mike C

Mike C — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:36:50 +0000

“How long does it take the Emperor Penguins to make their trek to/from the group to feed ?
The distance can be anywhere from 60 to 250 km depending on ice extension, and it takes them an average of a week, one way. Add to this a week to fish and replenish their fat supply so it can take them a good month to do the round trip. If the ice extends particularly far that year, the long turn around times increase the mortality among the chicks who cannot be fed enough in time. ”

http://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/PenguinFAQ.html#Where

Imagine that, global warming good for Penguins and they repopulate, then when you have a cold year like this year the excess dies off

By: Vincent Guerrini

Vincent Guerrini — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:12:14 +0000

NH artic ice nowhere near last years melt looks more like 1980 (when satellite pics started)
http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=07&fd=20&fy=2007&sm=07&sd=20&sy=2008

By: Terry

Terry — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:14:18 +0000

I wonder what the learned biologist thinks happens to the penguins when they go for a swim in the sea. Perhaps seawater has some magic anti-wetting agent in it that we have not yet discovered.

By: F Rasmin

F Rasmin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:01:38 +0000

Never forget that Britain is a ‘democracy’, and every reader of the Mirror has a vote equal to that of every reader of The Times. I would think that when it comes to level of IQ, who would you target if you wished the government to hear a message?

By: Steve S

Steve S — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:56:11 +0000

Apparently the Mirror did’nt realize this little piece from the BBC was meant in jest:

By: swampie

swampie — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:52:37 +0000

Hmmm. When bodies of dead cold water birds/mammals happen to wash up on the beach here in Florida, we’re told it is due to “global warming”.

So they’re coming to Florida for refuge from the warm polar regions. All righty, then.

By: alexjc38

alexjc38 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:33:21 +0000

An Inconvenient Truth alarmed us all with the heart-wrenchingly realistic drowning polar bear cartoon. Maybe An Inconvenient Truth II will alarm us with an equally heart-wrenching cartoon of rained-on penguin chicks.