Guest essay by Jim Steele, Director emeritus Sierra Nevada Field Campus, San Francisco State University and author of Landscapes & Cycles: An Environmentalist’s Journey to Climate Skepticism
Its hard to tell if we are witnessing mass climate hysteria, or just loathsome fear mongering to promote a political agenda, but it is oh so predictable, and oh so sickening. Every weather event and every tragedy is now due rising CO2. To paraphrase Dr. Viner, “natural storms and earthquakes are now just a thing of the past”. With the help of a few alarmist scientists, the media bombards us with the meme that “Everything is caused by rising CO2.” Today the Seth Bornstein prize for yellow climate journalism goes to Newsweek.
Last August they tried to infect our psyche’s suggesting the horrific Ebola outbreak was a function of rising CO2 writing, “Ebola and Climate Change: Are Humans Responsible for the Severity of the Current Outbreak?”
This March they hawked the notion that the brutalities of the War in Syria are due to global warming firing off that “Climate Change Helped Create Conditions for War in Syria, Study Suggests.”
Now with tragic deaths from the earthquake-caused avalanche in Nepal, not even the ground we walk on is safe from the devastating effects of climate change, as Newsweek blathers “More Fatal Earthquakes to Come, Warn Climate Change Scientists”
“Climate change may play a critical role in triggering certain faults in certain places where they could kill a hell of a lot of people,” says Professor McGuire. Some of his colleagues suspect the process may already have started. “
Be Afraid!
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The public are not as stupid as these Newsweek Goebbels-clones imagine. They will realise, and are already realising, the truth that Karl Popper discovered when he turned his attention to Marxism. That is, that a theory that explains everything is the same as a theory that explains nothing.
Disgraceful indeed. Two things:
i) the effect is at most third order, practically unmeasurable.
ii) the effect is neutral. It causes change; it is as likely to suppress tectonic movement as encourage it.
These two things show that the article is “lying for Gaia.”
The whole climate change movement is simply another front for Communism and one world government. They’re not even trying to hide it any more.
“At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.”
doowleb,
And it all comes from tools like Christiana Figueres of the UN Borg:
http://moonbattery.com/graphics/Dr-Smith_Christiana-Figueres.jpg
[For the young’uns here, that’s the evil Dr. Smith in the upper left of the picture, from the old Lost In Space series.]
Hey, I had that shirt too:
?oh=f54c6911944ace4cb0a4659d2ec40eaa&oe=55E1AEC9
Cool shirt. Very cool! *cough*
Hey, I was seven! *sniff*
That is what seven year olds were wearing in the Summer of Love. My little sister was much mre mod, anyone can see.
Besides, I do not believe I was out clothes shopping for myself in those days.
In those days, I was honestly expecting to be getting a call from the Astronaut Academy any day. I can remember field trips where they showed us how to put on space suits, strap into the chair, brace for launch…seriously.
They were telling us that we would all be going into space before long.
Buncha liars!
S’pose some things have not changed much
menicholas,
I thought I was being groomed to be an astronaut, too. The nuns kept telling my parents I was taking up space in school.
This all reminds me of a 2011 paper called “The Psychology of Climate Change Communication: A Guide for Scientists, Journalists, Educators, Political Aides, and the Interested Public” put out by CRED at Columbia University. It dovetails with the Next Generation Science Standards pushing students to interpret through themes and concepts instead of a built up body of known facts. Ultimately both tie to the behavioral and social science concept that false beliefs grounded in emotion are just as influential on likely behavior as what is true. Manipulative themes like this though can supposedly change the future by altering present behaviors.
From these media reports to the Pope’s Encyclical to Ban Ki-Moon’s Dignity for All by 2030 to K-12 education ‘reforms’, everything is pushing the same way once accurately understood.
Would this be the same public that voted for Obama? Twice?
And is there any hope they will change?
Remember that Obama kept pretty quiet about Climate Change BEFORE the election. Back then he was all for clean coal and natural gas being a part of our energy production. I was only after he was assured a second term (and no longer had reelection to consider) that the truth came out. He knew the public in general wouldn’t get behind all this ‘De-Industrialization’ bull, as the midterms showed.
schitzree:
Maybe it was just the media that kept quiet. Obama didn’t.
Obama has been beating the drum of climate change threat to humanity and promoting counterproductive government action since 2005. (Remember 2009, when the $6 billion “cash for clunkers” program hurt poor people while increasing “carbon pollution?”)
Here’s a list of his courageous statements in support of saving the planet:
http://climatesilence.org/data/
Through executive action, Obama has created “climate change action” groups in every major executive department, enforcing conformance and purveying exaggerations and outright lies to the public.
@MarkW: Did they vote for Obama? “Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything.” —J. Stalin
Back in ’04, a local precinct with electronic voting returned a value of negative 23 million (plus or minus a few) on a local issue. This was clearly computer error. And yet, we can only say it was computer error because the number is ridiculous. What about numbers that looked reasonable — how do we know any of those were not computer error, merely errors with non-ridiculous values?
After that event failed to trigger a recount of all electronic results, I have not believed any vote count. They tell me to vote because “every vote counts”, and then completely ignore evidence of error, as if to say, “Who cares?”
I would have left a one word reply, but common decency prevents me from doing so!
Someone coined the term “Climate Bollocks” which describes this kind of crap perfectly.
Or crap.
The problem in here: rainfall triggers earthquakes, but it is not the reason for them. Now if scientists learn to detect the triggers, that means better preparedness to earthquakes, but it is clear that no amount of CO2 mitigation can stop earthquakes in Nepal.
The sooner the earthquake comes, the less devastating it becomes.
The epicenter for this earthquake was 20 miles down. I doubt rainfall had anything to do with it.
The straw on camel’s back is just a straw. Trigger is a trigger, it does not need to be the root cause.
Half an inch of rain, vs 20 miles of rock?
‘Twas a butterfly what done it.
The warmists declared some awhile back that the time for civility is past.
Perhaps we need to take them up on it.
at first i thought it was going to be satire, as insensitive as that might be right now.
written by Alex Renton,, whose previous Newsweek piece was headlined: “Forget Whisky, Scots Are Producing a New Tipple: Tea” 21 March 2015, so this is surely his LinkedIn:
LinkedIn: Alex Renton
Independent Media Production Professional
Location Edinburgh, UK
PreviousAvaaz.org, The Independent, London Evening Standard, Oxfam
Summary
Newspaper journalist – The Times, Guardian, Observer, Daily Mail.
Specialties: development and aid, food policy, food culture, food history, humanitarian response, food and health, food industry,
Campaign Director, Avaaz.org 2011-2012
am an award-winning journalist (2010: Food journalist of the year; runner-up Amnesty award for work on human rights) . I work predominantly on food policy and culture, and on development issues around the world.
My work appears in the Times, Guardian, Observer, Daily Mail and Prospect magazine.
Reporter, features editor, media and advocacy coordinator
The Independent, London Evening Standard, Oxfam 1987-2004
https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/alex-renton/5/90b/208
how anyone can take the MSM seriously, i don’t know.
“Food policy.” Amen.
This month’s Nat Geo (May 2015, p 12), in a continuing series on food (their desire to have World Government take control of food***), says that due to warming, wheat production in Russia could “decrease up to 15 percent within five years.”
I don’t think they care what they say. They will dismiss any challenge to their orthodoxy. Saving the world means never having to say you are sorry.
*** As well as World Government taking over water supply, housing, transportation – actually, everything.
A degree or two of warming will lengthen the growing season in Russia, and put millions of acres that are currently to cold to farm into production.
Then there’s the well known fact that enhanced CO2 increases crop yields.
For those fields at the southern end of the growing zone, if it’s too warm for wheat, shift to growing something else.
“advocacy coordinator” – says it all.
The stupid is strong in these, the farce is with them…….
+1
Of course, If the earthquake had occurred in another 20 years, there would have been no ice to create an avalanche. 🙂
True, true but does that mean we need to speed up global warming to save lives?
I’ll include the /sarc tag, though.
If UCL’s Professor Bill McGuire truly believes that CO2 causes earthquakes, perhaps it’s time he resign his professorship. Please get a job in a field that might benefit mankind such as a sanitation engineer or a rickshaw driver…Regards – JPP
…..but would you really feel safe with him driving you around in a rickshaw??!! He needs locking up out of harms way ….
“Its hard to tell if we are witnessing mass climate hysteria, or just loathsome fear mongering”
Not that hard. Loathsome fear mongering is where the careers are.
We are witnessing both of them, and an outright d3n1al is also present, no doubt.
This is one of the worse (worst?) cases of Gaeaphobia I’ve seen.
Some otherwise intelligent human beings believe they are so evil, they spend their lives absolutely sure Mother Gaea will raise up to get her revenge on them.
Although, some never recover from it, many with proper treatment can return to productive careers.
But then, some people are really, really dumb.
As insane as it is the headline is now in the public mind. That is the catastrophe, cynical journalists and underinformed readers.
This year seems to be an unending tsunami of climate bollocks and now that Il Papa has signed up the circus is complete. We, the climate rationalists, bark but the caravan of collective climate insanity moves on. What a terrifying world of highly motivated ignorance is laying itself out before us.
The unending tsunami is due to CO2 and the upcoming Paris vacation for 10,000 free-loaders. It’s going to be a good year for hookers in Paris.
“It’s going to be a good year for hookers in Paris.”
————
I don’t think so – they’re gonna have a whole lotta competition…
Thank you to “Pat” for the information you provided concerning the so-called “writer” named Alex Renton: his article is ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL.
His name is now on my list.
He will now be asked to declare (and pay back) the amount of money(s) he receives from the UK government office, the so-called Dept. of Energy and Climate Change and any of its’ QUANGO offices and agencies in respect of his article.
The same declaration will also be requested of McGuire, the “professor” at University College London whose writings (“Climate change may play a critical role in triggering certain faults in certain places where they could kill a hell of a lot of people,” says Professor McGuire.) are extremely misleading.
Thanks to Mr. Watts and his people at WUWT we are kept informed of these atrocious writings: they are all funded by government and the UN Gravy Train thieves.
The money paid by the UK government to the UN Gravy Train thieves must be stopped.
The writings Renton and McGuire are ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL.
[SNIP ok konrad, that does it, I have been tolerant, but with this ugly comment, advocating not just dersion, but also assault, you are banned from WUWT – Anthony Watts ]
The reverse is more justified
Every conceivable major problem is caused by climate alarmism.
The lamestream snooze media continue to gleefully dig their own graves with this sort of pap. Amazing.
Thanks Jim, too true, unfortunately.
How did McGuire become a “professor”?
Professor of what?
Crap?
The only thing surprising is that it took them a whole three days to capitalize on this.
Please, News-weak. It belongs in the same canary cage as Non-Scientific American.
Whatchoo got against canaries, Doug/
Climate porn?
As one commenter on Newsweek observes, “criminal level exaggeration”.
A junction of two plates that has over time elevated the highest mountains on the planet.
Strong and very shallow quake. It is easy to see why most of these buildings collapsed, and yet a surprising number intact or only superficially damaged. It can be done. But $1 billion a day being spent on the climate fantasy.
Some people have no shame
Blaming every catastrophe on something that involves self-blame is not a very big leap from making sacrifices to the gods to prevent them.
We have gone full circle.
Imran,
Sir, it is no distance at all.
And the sacrificees, those that will be sacrificed, are many of the poor, especially the old and poor [in UK winters, they have a choice of heating OR eating, since power prices have risen to support ‘renewable energy’ – bird shredders, bird fryers, hydro is banned(!), and a bit of solar . . . . in England, and points north and cloudier]; much of the Third World, who are to be denied power at all, since the coal-powered stations they need are denied to them – they must have renewable immediately; and anyone with an independent mind, whose children – if I remember the video aright – are to have their heads exploded.
Oh and nukes – even the new-fangled ones – are anathema, worse than d3n1al1sts.
And the truly demonstrable Gods of the Climate will bring down derision, or, worse, carp, on the heads of the ‘doubters’.
See, also,
doowleb
April 29, 2015 at 6:35 am
{Very near the top, above] – that, I think, is +shedloads & shedloads
Auto
I can understand the effect.
It is coupled to a wast interest in the “Climate change” and money that is found to any cause that might have a negative effect on humans.
So, two tectonic plates weighing billions of tons have been moving towards each other for billions of years, folding the overlying rocks into the Himalayas with the highest being over 29,000 feet. The cause of this is AGW ? Desperate, deluded idiots looking desperately for ways to maintain the scam which provides them with food clothing and a roof over their head which is more than the poor souls in Nepal have.
Well, actually the plates have been moving about for billions of years. However the Himalayas were formed about 60 million years ago as the Indian subcontinent slammed into Asia. A process which is still ongoing. One would naturally expect to see earthquakes in the region today. CO2 has nothing to do with. Prof. McGuire is patently WRONG!
Gilbert, thank you, I stand corrected.
I am surprised that someone with this standard of education actually peddles this drivel.
Antony if you don’t object I would like to send this article to http://climatechangepredictions.org/
where it most certainly will receive a wider audience!
Earthquakes and climate change – an interview with Prof Bill McGuire
http://www.baytvliverpool.com/vod/?vid=HBV4f9ff372b86f1
Then there is this catchy tune: CO2 Does Everything!
I watched the baytvliverpool clip featuring “Professor” McGuire. What a bloody loon.
Frankly, I think the people responsible for this sort of brainless, alarmist filth are about on a moral par with the creeps from man-boy love association type outfits.
Seriously, do these people actually read their own alarmism?
I ask because as I read the quote, I started to feel a little embarrassed that such a learned person could say something as stupid.
This piece of twittery alone should move another umpteen thousand back from the dark side and into the realms of commonsense.
A quick glance at the comments show that people simply are not wearing these rediculous opportunistic alarmism after farts.
Educated beyond his intelligence.
‘such a learned person”
Credendialed, not educated.
Obviously I can’t type – so sue me. 🙁
It’s not premeditated fear mongering or mass hysteria. Outlets, like Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, … are now on a par with TMZ. They have immature editorial staffs, they think news needs to be “cutting edge.” They buy into narratives before they look for the facts. Newhouse, Murrow, Pulitzer are looking at it from the beyond and cringing violently.