This is a bonus Climate Craziness of the Week. It seemed that while Climategate was raging, we saw an end to bizarre claims such as this. Now they seem to have resumed again as we saw in yesterday’s story claiming global warming causes more violence. What’s hilarious about this story is that is cites one environmental fear (AGW) and uses another even more feared solution (genetic modification) to save the flowers from AGW. This assumes they need saving. Reading the story, I wonder; maybe public transportation for the pollinators will help?
Excerpt From Asiaone News
Flowers Losing Scent Due to Climate Change
KUALA LUMPUR: A rose may stop smelling like a rose.
This is the concern of environmentalists as flowers are losing their scent due to climate change and air pollution. And their fragrance may be lost forever.
Science and Technology Professor Emeritus at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Dr Abdul Latif Mohamad, said genetically modified flowers might be the way out.
Climate change is also the reason Kuala Lumpur City Hall is increasingly turning to shady trees, because flowers which previously formed the centrepiece of its beautification programme have been wilting fast.
Datuk Bandar Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail said City Hall used to spend RM1.5 million ($635,100) a month to plant and maintain flowers in the city, but the contractor’s services were terminated in March last year.
City Hall has taken over the planting, opting for bou-gainvillea and the tropical shrubs, Ixora, for their durability and cheaper cost.
Under the previous arrangement, some of the small flowers cost RM3.50 per seedling.
“It was getting too costly to beautify the city. Flowers were dying fast,” he said, adding that City Hall would continue to plant shady trees more suited for soaking up the increasing pollution and coping with global warming.
Latif said UKM might have offered plausible reasons as to why some pollinators were not spreading flower seeds, a pattern caused by the missing “scent trail” with scent tissues burning easily due to global warming.
“The aroma producing chemical compounds in flowers dry up faster now compared with before.”
The only way out, he said, was to genetically modify the flowers so that the effects would not be permanent and the future generation would not be robbed of nature’s beauty.
“The act is almost like producing essential oils. Scientists add on certain chemicals for stronger scent.”
He said scents in flowers last longer in colder climate as plants can hold on to their essential oils longer.
“The flowers may still have strong scents in colder climate. But locally, we fear this might be lost forever.”
With flowers emitting lesser scent, the insects and butterflies are travelling further and longer to get a share of nectar.
Latif said birds and insects were heading towards hilly areas and deeper into the jungles where the weather is cooler.
He related an incident in Sungai Siput, Perak, where the farmers failed to get fruits from their orchards.
Upon investigation, Latif’s team discovered that the flowers were no longer pollinating after dust from a hill blast blocked the growth of stigmas.
He said Malaysians could no longer rely on nature to heal itself without the help of science.
…
Read the whole mess at Asiaone News
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Commenter John in GA who made the tip writes:
Note that there’s no mention of any application of that “scientific method” thing — some professor at a Malaysian university simply declared it to be true, and so verily it is. Look for this new AGW “fact” to appear in your kids’ textbooks next year.
The article also states that Kuala Lumpur has had to take somewhat drastic measures, eliminating the planting of flowers in public areas because they were “dying too fast”. In fact, he says, “The aroma producing chemical compounds in flowers dry up faster now compared with before.” Really? When was “before”? A hundred years ago? Two months ago? And how did he establish that chemical compounds are drying up faster due to warming? With a controlled experiment? No mention of that. If his scientific method follows the Gore/IPCC model, it probably went something like this: “Hmm, flowers aren’t doing so well. Couldn’t be soil quality, amount of water, quality of seed stock, or anything like that. No, the only plausible explanation is that the planet is getting hotter, because if there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that tropical flowers don’t like warmth. And we know that global warming is caused by CO2 emissions. Therefore, man-made global warming is killing off flowers, and with them, birds, bees, and farmers. Call the press.”
Then there’s this:
“Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Mahmod said recently the extreme weather change might affect the life span of trees as a result of lighter or heavier rain.
‘We should look at how trees can be mutated so that they will not be destroyed.'”
I love it — straight from whimsical hypothesis to policy recommendation! No need to bother with troublesome experiments or any of that stuff. In the brave new world of AGW, it goes like this: “Hey, it might be possible that changes in temperature will cause changes in rainfall, and if that happens, then perhaps that would adversely affect trees. Let’s start genetically mutating trees to compensate.”
“OK, but you said that AGW might cause *more* or *less* rainfall. Which condition should we try to genetically adjust for?”
Now if genetic engineering could make a rose that smells like bacon… they might have something!
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/how-far-would-parents-go-to-ease-their-dying-childs-pain/article1490889/?service=mobile&page=1
Allergies linked to global warming
Global warming could mean more sniffles and congestion for hay-fever sufferers.
Researchers at Genoa University charted the length of pollen seasons, as well as the amount of air-borne pollen, around the northern Italian town of Bordighera from 1981 to 2007.
“We observed that the progressive increase of the average temperature has prolonged the duration of pollen seasons of some plants and, consequently, the overall pollen load,” one of the researchers, Walter Canonica, said in a statement.
“Longer pollen seasons and high levels of pollen can certainly exacerbate symptoms for people with allergic rhinitis and for those who previously had minimal symptoms,” commented Estelle Levetin of the University of Tulsa.
The findings were presented this week in New Orleans at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
And if loss of scent weren’t enough, the Globe and Mail [http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/how-far-would-parents-go-to-ease-their-dying-childs-pain/article1490889/?service=mobile&page=1] informs us:
“Allergies linked to global warming
“Global warming could mean more sniffles and congestion for hay-fever sufferers.
“Researchers at Genoa University charted the length of pollen seasons, as well as the amount of air-borne pollen, around the northern Italian town of Bordighera from 1981 to 2007.
“‘We observed that the progressive increase of the average temperature has prolonged the duration of pollen seasons of some plants and, consequently, the overall pollen load,’ one of the researchers, Walter Canonica, said in a statement.”
“Longer pollen seasons and high levels of pollen can certainly exacerbate symptoms for people with allergic rhinitis and for those who previously had minimal symptoms,” commented Estelle Levetin of the University of Tulsa.
The findings were presented this week in New Orleans at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
IanM
Further evidence Global Warming alarmists are losing their minds due to Mann-made Climate Change.
What was it that Einstein said ….. ?
“There are 2 things that are possibly infinite – the Universe and Human Stupidity ….. and I’m not sure about the Universe”
This is completely nuts. The sooner the world is covered with plastic flowers the better.
The alarmists are really are slow learners aren’t they? This kind of garbage worked in 2001. It doesn’t work in 2010.
What a load of BS.
Malaysia has plenty of cheap oil and is well known for heavy use of air conditioning (refrigerative) – with doors left open for the cool air to spill out.
You can do that when energy is cheap.
This reaks of Monsanto.
Guys,
You should know by now that any mention of climate change in any study is an automatic funding grant.
No matter how obviously unscientific or wild the claim is.
Perhaps they should feed and water the flowers. Yes, that might help.
In Singapore many city roadsides are fringed with a shrub with pink new leaf growth, similar to aglaonema. We asked a cabbie with limited English what they were and after some thought he replied “I think here that we call them ‘assorted shrubs’.”
The level of comprehension of the cabbie seems similar to the author of the lead paper here. But it’s not his fault, he was not trained on Botany; nor in global warming.
Global Warming turned me into a Newt. I’ll need compensation to get better, though.
Nothing smells sweeter than my four o’clock flowers on a warm Florida summer evening. Sorry about your roses.
There seems to be of late a decoupling between what people worry about and what their senses tell them. This past winter has been extraordinarily cold and snowy where most people live yet they read how the winter of ’09-’10 is “the warmest ever”. Your senses tell you it’s really cold and miserable while what you read speaks “warmest ever” to your intellect.
Cognitive dissonance is when what you sense and what you believe are at odds. It causes great stress to the psyche to simultaneously harbor two mutually contradictory beliefs. I have two suggestions for relieving the conflict:
1) Discard what your senses tell you or discard the contradictory belief. This is an unsatisfactory solution for people who incorporate global warming as an article of faith. Discarding the offending belief works for those who are intellectually flexible enough to discern the limitations of any scientific theory. The truly faithful are left with the unpalatable option of ignoring their senses.
2) Consider anthropogenic global warming as a real but humanly insensible entity. Have it exist in a spiritual realm where it cannot be measured or sensed but still commanding devotion and sacrifice. You can then go about your sensate life in harmony with reality while still paying homage to global warming.
You can then live a low carbon-footprint lifestyle, lament the absence of fragrant flowers and ice in the arctic, despair of shrinking sheep and glaciers and fear for rising sea-levels and human violence because of global warming. It’s all real on a spiritual level then and it doesn’t interfere with your everyday existence.:-)
Flowers Losing Scent Due to Climate Change
Remember when ‘scientists’ somewhere said breathing causes cancer and everyone that heard it just wanted to chuckle? This is just as silly and it hurts belief in global warming.
Thank you alarmist ‘scientists’. 🙂
If you think this headline is crazy try this one:
Snorting Cocaine Causes Global Warming
Great Britain’s Mirror reports that the government’s Home Affairs Select Committee was “horrified to learn” that lines of cocaine snorted at London club causes the equivalent of a four square meters loss of rainforest.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2796232/snorting_cocaine_causes_global_warming.html
Imran (17:48:17) :
What was it that Einstein said ….. ?
“There are 2 things that are possibly infinite – the Universe and Human Stupidity ….. and I’m not sure about the Universe”
I think this is how it goes:
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
Not that the minor difference is anything or that this quote is the correct way—but I just wanted it repeated for this headline. 😉
Amino Acids in Meteorites (21:23:44) :
Well I am horrified that the government’s Home Affairs Select Committee snorts that much cocaine, to be honest.
And I wonder if lines of cocaine snorted outside a London club are just as bad for Global Warming?
As for the ‘Mirror’ reporting it, that is great irony…..
Actually, the loss of scent from flowers is well known among horticulturalists, it is due to breeding, where breeders breed for visual appeal, this tends to breed scent out of a line. Seems you can have scent, or big beautiful flowers, but not both.
“A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose?”
(But, “The nose knows where the nose goes.”)
personal anecdote.. we have some lilac bushes had them for 30 odd years, some years,they smell stronger than others. Theres a variation in smell. Last year was a very strong year, year before wasnt as strong.
this is subjective, (btw usually by this time of year the lilacs will have a fair few leaves,but they are still budsat the moment.
last november I spent a couple of weeks in KL and visited the Malaysian Forestry Research Institute on the outskirts of the city at the foot of some hills, an interesting place, picked up some books in dendrology and timber & tree identification.
what used to be an isolated area distant from the city is now part of the city, and certainly affected by KL’s UHI effect which is signifigant.
This city looks more like Los Angeles every day 2million cars a day flow in to the city on 8 lane motorways that ring the city. 4-500 new cars a day being registered, and the city growing fast.
The smog matches LA as well. Thats why the roses dont smell, they dont get enough sunlight to release the fragrence. In any event most of the roses are grown in the Cameron Highlands 4 – 6000 ft above sea level.
The downtown area is a vat mass of concrete, my guess is that pollution has more to do with trees and plants growth habits that climate change, although the UHI in the central area around the twin towers is signifigant.
I’m waiting for the day when the alien abduction “scientists” work out that they too can get funding for their “science” if they suggest that aliens may be affected.
Headline: Alien abductions reduced by xx% yet further proof that …
Mike Lorrey (22:21:59) : “Actually, the loss of scent from flowers is well known among horticulturalists, it is due to breeding, where breeders breed for visual appeal, this tends to breed scent out of a line. Seems you can have scent, or big beautiful flowers, but not both”.
IMHO, this is not correct. One can select for more than one property at a time. Rose breeders are aware of the need for perfume as well as bloom size and beauty.
In 1836 a new yellow rose from Tehran, Rose foetida persiana, came to Europe. There had been many, many attempts to breed yellow into other roses, for a century, all over the world. All had failed. Then one M. Pernet-Ducher of Lyon began crossing in 1883 and in 1893 a visitor to his glasshouse noted a single bloom with petal shades of the long-sought orange-yellow, apricot, bright red and salmon. This rose was the breakthrough. Named “Soleil d’Or”, it is the ancestor of roses with those shades. The original yellow partner smells awful. The modern descendents can be delightfully perfumed. (From Harkness, P. “The Photographic Encyclopedia of Roses”).
Yep, you can select for both.
I have some yellow flowered camellia species from south China. Do you think I can get the yellow colour to move to more conventional camellias? Nope, not yet. There have probably been over 2 million crosses worldwide, result nil. But, it will happen one day. Nature can be obstinate.
Like climate change, it needs detailed understanding and experimentation, plus an element of chance.