I may just divert to Toronto from Chicago and pay this writer a visit so I can tell him to his face what an idiot he is, or have my two new Canadian friends, Guy and Stuart, do it for me. He deserves it. How do the publishers of this newspaper reconcile printing such blatant idiocy based on what the writer calls “weeks old” science? How does such a headline get published? At first I thought maybe it was just the copy editor at fault, making a dumb headline, but then I read this in the body of the story:
Over 4.5 billion people could die from Global Warming related causes by 2012, as planet Earth accelarates [sic] into a greed-driven horrific catastrophe.
6.7 billion people in the world today, and 4.5 billion will die in less than two years due to a temperature rise that will be less in magnitude than our regularly experienced variance? There’s a link at the end, feel free to sound off. We need to remind this newspaper of this in 2012 – Anthony
Over 4.5 Billion people could die from Global Warming-related causes by 2012
Hydrate hypothesis illuminates growing climate change alarm
Compiled by John Stokes
A recent scientific theory called the “hydrate hypothesis” says that historical global warming cycles have been caused by a feedback loop, where melting permafrost methane clathrates (also known as “hydrates”) spur local global warming, leading to further melting of clathrates and bacterial growth.
In other words, like western Siberia, the 400 billion tons of methane in permafrost hydrate will gradually melt, and the released methane will speed the melting. The effect of even a couple of billion tons of methane being emitted into the atmosphere each year would be catastrophic.
The “hydrate hypothesis” (if validated) spells the rapid onset of runaway catastrophic global warming. In fact, you should remember this moment when you learned about this feedback loop-it is an existencial turning point in your life.
By the way, the “hydrate hypothesis” is a weeks old scientific theory, and is only now being discussed by global warming scientists. I suggest you Google the term.
Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing the Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to when we will pass the tipping point and be helpless to stop the runaway Global Warming.
There are enormous quantities of methane trapped in permafrost and under the oceans in ice-like structures called clathrates. The methane in Arctic permafrost clathrates is estimated at 400 billion tons.
Methane is more than 20 times as strong a greenhouse gas as CO2, and the atmosphere currently contains about 3.5 billion tons of the gas.
The highest temperature increase from global warming is occurring in the arctic regions-an area rich in these unstable clathrates. Simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) show that over half the permafrost will thaw by 2050, and as much as 90 percent by 2100.
…
Western Siberia is heating up faster than anywhere else in the world, having experienced a rise of some 3C in the past 40 years. The west Siberian peat bog could hold some 70 billion tonnes of methane. Local atmospheric levels of methane on the Siberian shelf are now 25 times higher than global concentrations.
…
Runaway Global Warming promises to literally burn-up agricultural areas into dust worldwide by 2012, causing global famine, anarchy, diseases, and war on a global scale as military powers including the U.S., Russia, and China, fight for control of the Earth’s remaining resources.
Over 4.5 billion people could die from Global Warming related causes by 2012, as planet Earth accelarates into a greed-driven horrific catastrophe.
…
Make comments about this article in The Canadian Blog.
[DON’T VISIT – AV PROGRAMS REPORT AS “ATTACK PAGE”]
Full story here
Contact page for The Canadian here
==========================================
UPDATE: To further illustrate just how bad this newspaper is, they have what appears to be a current date for the story right above the headline:
Yet when you look at the footer:
The automatic current date inserter gives the false impression of fresh news. It certainly fooled me and other readers. It appears this is an old article from 2007, still no less stupid, and to be proven false within 18 months. Readers that are visiting the blog page link provided by The Canadian are reporting AV software saying it to be an “attack site”. I’ve verified this, Visiting not recommended. Just make a date in your appointment calendar to drop a line to the editors (assuming this paper is still in existence in 2012) to remind them you and 4.5 billion other people aren’t dead. – A
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Sorry, I should have said, “dissolved methane instability”, not “clathrate instability”.
Can we assume women and children hit hardest?
I admire the true beauty of such alarmist headlines.
The message is simple, we only have a few years to act NOW to stop global warming NOW or we will all be in deep deep trouble SOON.
But, according to the IPCC we already have many decades of warming to come. Due to the excess CO2 staying in the atmosphere for a hundred years with effects that last much longer, even if we shut down civilization NOW we’d still have perhaps a thousand years of increasing global temperatures until the rise tapered off and stopped.
Net result: We are heading into the deep deep brown stuff NOW and there’s nothing we can do NOW to stop it. So why do anything to fight it? Stock up the pantry and the armory, keep your family close, and wait for the Apocalypse to come about. You’ll be able to do something productive THEN.
” kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
May 18, 2010 at 4:35 am
DANGER! DANGER!
Google News finally found something named “The Canadian” which it identifies as a blog. The URL is lecanadian.com, […]”
Thanks – under http://lecanadian.com/category/global-warming/ , they have the immortal words of compadre Hugo Chavez, proposing some kind of alternative to capitalism. Scroll a little down the page to find it. I didn’t understand yet how it’s supposed to work but it’s a nice challenge so i’m trying to wrap my head around it. I always wondered how they’d like to do things.
YES! People should be wary if they want to comment at that site –
http://safebrowsing.clients.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?client=Firefox&hl=en-US&site=http://www.blog.agoracosmopolitan.com/?p=56
This, if true, would fulfill the dreams of the “Club of Rome”. “Call all your CEO´s and tell them to drill for calthrates everywhere!”
http://www.green-agenda.com/globalrevolution.html
I risked the “attack site ” with an iPad, of course with no ill effects and left several suggestions for stories about even worse things that “could” happen sooner. Hopefully more hilarity ensues.
” DirkH says:
[…]
I always wondered how they’d like to do things.”
Ok… they propose gardening. No really. Apparently Cuba has resorted to collective gardening against food shortages. Which leaves me a little disappointed; i expected some great plan or economical system and all they have is gardening. I mean even capitalists have gardens, at least the ones that like to. It’s the 21st century and all the left has to offer is… gardening?
Minor correction to Anthony’s headline: “Most idiotic global warming headline ever–so far”
Just let us tax you to death, give up your freedom and we’ll reduce your standard of living to a feudal state (at a slight increase in price of course), and we’ll make it all go away, (somehow!). This is right up there with the “Nigerian Royalty” scams. “Send me your PIN number so I can wire you $50M”
“Stupid is as stupid does”, I’ve heard that somewhere before. As “Alan the Brit” so rightly points out, not only is there no proof for these assumptions, there is no “cure” offered with any plausible chance of success should they be proven correct. Call me old fashioned, but I’ll take my chances. All this is is another scam to institute a global tax and gain even more control over all our existences. I’ll say one thing though, they never quit. They see a profit here and they’re going for it.
This the “Calthrate Gun Hypothesis”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis
There are a lot of “Calthrate Guns” roaming around in Texas ranches, however they are charged by the frontside and shot by the rearside.
But according to our friend Vukcevic the other way round is true: Canada is warming up and Siberia is cooling down:
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/NFC1.htm
I find Word press’s choice of advertising hilarious. I mean here on this page of a site, where we are debunking the warmists…(that’s my nice word for them)
Word press has placed a google ad for Al Gores conspiracy web site. ahh my tummy hurts I was laughing so hard on that one.
You are my hero Mr. Watts.
Seems to me a lot of American readers should be forwarding a copy of this “military intelligence” to their congressman so they know what is going to happen in 2010 ….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2004/feb/22/usnews.theobserver1
Britain will be cancelling the Olympics then?
Now here is some real alarmism!
It is safe to leave comments on this site.
We should all take heart in the fact that the brain trust at RC still believes that “CO2 is plenty to be frightened of, while methane is frosting on the cake”.
I suppose if one has a weight problem one might be frightened about frosting.
This is great lol. I like how when I try to link to The Canadian Blog comment section, it gets flagged as malware by firefox lol.
How can a ‘hypothesis’ be at the same time a ‘scientific theory’? Illiteracy on a grand scale.
I think the “hydrate hypothesis” was covered by SF writer John Barnes in “Mother of Storms” about 10 years ago.
Instead of fighting it, maybe we should go with the flow. We could have a competition for diabolical Global Warming announcements. The winner(s) would be decided by the degree of absurdity multiplied by the amount of media uptake.
I wondered whether these idiotarians were serious. Then I noticed that at the bottom of the page there were links to other posts:
Previous Post: « Doctor alleges plans underway to “Microchip” Newborns in U.S. and Europe
Next Post: Global Warming becomes the world’s top security problem »
Yep! Seriously brain-damaged, true believers all!
I also liked this line:
“Bibliographic reference courtesy of Brad Arnold who has an extensive resrarch background on Global Warming.”
There IS no bibliographic reference, and I really wonder exactly what’s involved in obtaining an “extensive resrarch background on Global Warming” since we have conclusively been shown that there IS no research involved in the global warming crusade.
John answers email at the agoracosmopolite address on the website. His reply was not encouraging but you, might offer alternative articles.
David, UK says:
May 18, 2010 at 4:16 am
“With 400 billion tons of methane in the atmosphere, I think warming would be the least of our worries. Think of the smell!”
David, thinking of the smell of methane would be akin to thinking of the tremendous danger from Saddam’s WMD; there is, and was none.
artwest says:
May 18, 2010 at 7:16 am
“The Observer in 2004, unquestioningly quoting the Pentagon, also has other gems:”
artwest, what’s wrong with unquestioningly quoting the Pentagon? Unquestioningly quoting the Bush administration and the Pentagon was very popular in 2002. The now much reviled NYT wasn’t reviled, for doing just that, in 2002, and nor was all the rest of the US and British media, which did exactly the same.
The selective skepticism displayed here is very dismaying; so is the rotten spelling, which occurs even in posts criticising others of spelling errors. Oh and also the promiscuous aposrophising(neologism, by me, just now). Too many here are of the school “I sees a s(as a suffix)and I aposrophises it”(Apologies to the Coen brothers.)
OK enough fun at the expense of morons(a very accepted activity here today, as always).
Reminder to self, as well as others: Be nice to morons, they can’t help the way they are. Nobody designed hirself(third person singular, hermaphrodite, personal pronoun)*.
* Wiktionary