More Signs of the Apocalypse
(Posted by John Goetz)
From the Belfast Telegraph, Sunday, 31 August 2008:
Expert called in amid fears for O’ Connell Bridge
Concerns are being expressed about the future of Dublin’s O’Connell Bridge.
An independent expert has been called in to examine the landmark over fears it is falling apart because of global warming.
Dublin City Council insists the bridge is structurally sound after routine repairs last week.
The National Conservation and Heritage Group believe higher tides caused by climate change are eroding the bridge’s structure and may have dangerously weakened its foundations.
What is interesting is that there does not seem to be a news story or report anywhere that describes how the tides have changed, or who the supposed expert is that made the assertion. It must be true because the newspaper said so, right?
I tried searching for the National Conservation and Heritage Group (NCHG) website and could not find it. The closest I got was the Northern California Hummer Group. I am guessing the two organizations do not have a lot in common.
Must be that rise of 2 mm in sea level. Raise the alarm! Head for the hills! The tides are rising because of global warming!
It’s the fault of all those obese people; they eat too much, they breathe too much, they’re weighing down the bridge.
A Dogpile search of this group yielded a hit on a Boston.com article on Aug. 31, stating that Damien Cassidy is the Chair of the group, consisting mainly of high-ranking politicians. The Boston.com article is entitled “Concern Raised Over Stability of O’Connell Bridge”.
[…] Source: wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com Tags: global warming, Science Related Posts […]
One suspects their expert suffers from the Irish condition known as: “Too much of the creature taken.” Many Irish are wont to exagerate “a wee bit” under that condition, generally induced by more than one “wee dram”.
We obviously need to send a large check to Ireland and also to this wonderful organization. We are truly sorry that we have damaged your old bridge.
There must be a list of AGW “experts” that can can be called upon, with the stipulation that they remain anonymous, to put the “official” AGW stamp on any story. Convenient. No muss, no fuss. It’s money in the bank.
OT.
For the continental United States, the snow cover is .7% today, yesterday it was .2%. It will be interesting to watch this as the fall and winter progresses.
http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/
You can see other dates within their dataset at this same site.
I guess this needs an alarmist headline:
SNOW COVER TRIPLES!!
Will they get government money for the repairs if the ‘expert’ agrees? Something tells me that’s the real reason.
http://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/climate-change-a-manufactured-consensus-follow-the-money-baby/
Bruce is probably right – Money in the bank.
Sigh… another scaremongering story… I’m sure everyone is overdosed on these apocalyptic tales and yawning with boredom. If a bridge can’t withstand a rise of only several millimeters of tide it doesn’t deserve to remain standing.
Silly me. I thought tides were caused by the moon. AGW has made the moon’s pull on the earth stronger? That’s scary.
If they really meant sea level, and 2mm rise causes damage, I’d sue the contractor, or at least the maintenance crew.
A bit OT, but in 30Aug08 ScienceNews, the cover story is that volcanic eruptions may trigger global cooling. Article is here (you may need to register):
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/35245/title/Disaster_Goes_Global
Curiously, nothing about the recent Alaskan volcanoes. May have been too recent for publication.
This group may be a one-man show:
http://www.archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=6677
What aggravates and angers me is the automatic implication that AGW is the cause for global warming/climate change. AGW has morphed into a synonym for climate change and/or global warming. The AGW premise is independent of the climate change/global warming argument.
Bruce, if it is indeed a one-man show, I find it quite alarming that this person’s opinion was picked up by several news organizations.
The Irish are well-known for telling tall tales.
Sometimes I wonder how many of these AGW stories get a run when some over-earnest young journalist gets his or her leg pulled.
According to the excellent Numberwatch:
http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm
the Minneapolis bridge collapse was also blamed on global warming.
Are we sure the suddenly acidified ocean isn’t eating away the foundations?
Oh, just another bridge. Gosh, what a relief.
Thought some irreparable harm had come to Guinness. Like its yeast cultures had mutated, or something.
Rascally headline grabber.
I know this is off-topic, but it’s certainly worth a mention :
Climate ‘hockey stick’ is revived
And another one:
Scenarios for possible climate changes in Germany to the year 2100.
It’s a Google translation, so it’s a bit rough.
I find it extraordinary that several news organizations picked up this unsubstantiated solo drivel and previously ignored the Nongovermental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) report.
I tried searching for the National Conservation and Heritage Group (NCHG) website and could not find it.
I found a link to someone asking the same question dated Jan 2008 under architectural planning. Not really sure if the question was answered. However a post by Lotts on 29 JAN 9:17 AM (6th post) yielded the name Damien Cassidy. I found the following document from the (Irish?) National Roads Authority with the name and address and an objection on page 8,
http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/TollingDocumentation/file,14180,en.doc
Mr. Damien Cassidy
The National Conservation and Heritage Group
26 Westmoreland Street
Dublin 2
Also found this article and quote:
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2007/03/25/story22033.asp
I think poster Lotts may have it right that this is a one person army. damien Cassidy seems to be the only spokesman for the group.
Bit short on time today. I’ll see what I can do later,
HTH
Not a one-man-band:
“Damien Cassidy, a solicitor and NCHG chairman, said he noticed a fracture after council officials completed restoration of a balustrade and several pillars last week.” …… “Mr Cassidy, who makes up the NCHG with former Dublin mayor Maurice Ahern, MEP Eoin Ryan and TDs Joe Costello and Chris Andrews, said authorities were ignoring the impact of rising water levels.”
Full story in Monday’s Irish Independent:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/oconnell-bridge-is-falling-down-due-to-global-warming-1466723.html
Mike86 (08:27:24) :
I think the eruption started a week or so before, but it hadn’t made it made it into the press, the first I heard of it was here. The SN article came out the same day as Anthony’s post.
BTW, I sent SN a note last night suggesting it’s time for a new article on the sun and mentioned the spotless month (as we understand it) & the Livingston/Penn observations.
Rising seas around British coasts? Treat with some suspicion. Here in the UK we are treated to climate propaganda by the BBC on almost a daily basis. One of the things that is often trotted out is the number of times that London’s Thames Barrier has had to be shut because of “rising seas threatening London”. This is used as a gauge of “rapidly rising sea levels” for global warming. Hmm, only thing is what they DON’T tell you. The Thames River Barrier is now subject to different operating rules, and is often closed to retain water in the Thames River. This has the effect of greatly increasing the number of times that it’s closed compared to once or twice a year when it was first constructed in 1982. Also, it’s been reported that it is sometimes closed as a matter of routine checking. But again, these closures are all recorded as actual closures. The Environment Agency that monitors this barrier have tried to separate the figures, but only came up with differing sets of numbers to different enquiries! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive? (Sir Walter Scott)
Uncivil Servant:
Steve McIntyre’s already given Mann’s latest climate gymnastics a thumbs down.
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=3501
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=3504
As someone living in Ireland I can confirm that the political establishment (includes small Irish Green party in government) has been pushing the “Climate Change ” agenda very strongly over last year or so. Taxpayers money has been channelled into TV advertising campaigns to learn about your carbon footprint; websites such as http://www.change.ie (check out the “facts page”); Research organisations such as Icarus (http://icarus.nuim.ie/) which seems to be populated by Geography Post Grads (Last time I was in College – Geography was in the Arts Department but these guys are now our futurology experts); To offset your carbon footprint you can buy carbon indulgences from http://www.gco2.ie. Then you have got http://www.stopclimatechaos.ie – which has coralled the charity/NGOs (who also receive large Gov cheques) into an umbrella group to worry about the third world….The thing is we have had one of coolest, wettest summers on record but their predictions are for drier/sunnier summers (in east/south of country); But fear not – a guy from Met office said on radio that the heavy local downpours were consistent with the climate change models…I just wonder what sort of summer if any would not be consistent with the models.
Hmm.
Reading the Irish Independent article more-than-somewhat suggests the headline writer has taken an opportunity to quote out of context. In fact maybe the ‘quote’ is made up from other comments.
It would be interesting to understand his or her motive for so doing.
There is an 18 year moon cycle in its orbit that takes it from wobbling 18 degrees north and south of the equator to 23 degrees north and south of the equator. Last year saw the moon reach the “standing point” of 23 degrees north and south.
In Ireland when the moon is 23 deg North of the equator (every 28 days) it’s higher overhead and closer physically, so the gravitational force that creates the sea’s tides is greater and you get King tides.
So yes, the tides have been rising for the last 9 years (to 2007) but will now recede for 9 years!
Proof of this can be seen by looking at tide tables for last year, 1998 and 1989 as this lunar “wobble” is all included in calculations for tidal heights and times.
Then of course there is the question of whether or not the land is sinking relative to the sea or not.
Ever been on one of those training courses where you have to pass a message down a conduit of people to see what comes out at the other end only to discover that within four re-tellings the message is changed to complete garbage?
This seems to be an example.
Here is the quote form the Irish Independent newspaper:
” Mr Cassidy, who makes up the NCHG with former Dublin mayor Maurice Ahern, MEP Eoin Ryan and TDs Joe Costello and Chris Andrews, said authorities were ignoring the impact of rising water levels.
“The water is hitting the bridge at high tide. It should not be hitting the bridge, it should be going under it,” he said.
“It looks like they are closing their eyes to global warming and flood risks.” ”
So you’re a conservationist (and Solicitor) and you want to make as many links as possible to give yourself the maximum opportunities to make a comment. You’re commenting on water levels and looking ahead a few decades. Everything is fair game.
This results in the headline
“O’Connell Bridge ‘is falling down due to global warming’ “.
Tenuous at best based on the article.
The story gets picked up in Belfast (possibly on the basis of the Dublin article) and becomes as quoted at the top of the post: (quoted again as a reminder to save going back to look.)
“Concerns are being expressed about the future of Dublin’s O’Connell Bridge.
An independent expert has been called in to examine the landmark over fears it is falling apart because of global warming.
Dublin City Council insists the bridge is structurally sound after routine repairs last week.
The National Conservation and Heritage Group believe higher tides caused by climate change are eroding the bridge’s structure and may have dangerously weakened its foundations.”
Two more interpretive story hops and we should be seeing reports of Eire sinking beneath the waves – except for Bono who will have built an Ark and will be sailing it to Africa in an attempt to save Kilimanjaro.
Since global cooling is also now being blamed on carbon (see Big chill a symptom of climate chaos)… perhaps they’re now blaming the falling sea level in recent years on global warming?
David Corcoran (14:37:09
perhaps they’re now blaming the falling sea level in recent years on global warming?
Why not, they are blaming snow on global warming.
As has been suggested, it would only be a matter of time before cooling events would be blamed on AGW:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24275400-2,00.html
Much of Dublin city center and dock lands were once an estuary which has since been built up and is not much above sea level. If a very high tide and storm surge occurred together it could cause flooding but i am not aware of that ever happening. Cant imagine how that would effect o Connell bridge though. Anyway if sea levels were to rise Dublin could construct a barrier like London. In Ireland Cork city is far more vulnerable so its good that sea levels are going nowhere in the real world.
I live on the south coast of Ireland where you can see the full effect of the ocean. Despite being quite far north it has not snowed here in almost two decades. In the 1960s 70s 80s there was some snow and frequent frost. If the theory that ocean currents go in cycles of 2 or 3 decades is correct then it should be getting colder in a few years.
We are having a very wet summer here, same thing happened 50 years ago.
Living in Italy, ( no green politicians, they got kicked out ) we have a city that is called Venice, (you heard of it ? ) which is at times flooded by the sea, first records of flooding in the 1300 year old city were nearly 1,000 years ago, the Acqua Alta (high tide) being the only recorded cause for the cities flooding, +85cm will bring water into St Mark’s Square through the storm drains, with exceptionally high tides (100cm + ) up to 15% of the city will be affected. In 1966 the worst recorded flood, 1.94cm. Today it’s business as usual, and water levels are not changing even with the extra weight of millions of tourists.