Via email press release:
A new paper at SPPI looks at the history of extreme weather events.
The on-going claims of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming have been ramped up again lately because of the opportunities presented by the heat wave in Russia and the floods in Pakistan, which are also being claimed as attributable to anthropogenic CO2. If the amount spent on global warming were to be diverted to mitigating and preventing the worst effects of natural disasters, then the desperate plight of the people of Pakistan would be relieved more quickly.
The paper can be downloaded here: http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/extreme_weather_extreme_claims.html
The Author, Dennis Ambler, concludes:
Extreme Weather – The Blame Game
The Aztecs had sophisticated irrigation systems and “astrolonomical” observatories, (apparently a mix of astrology and astronomy), to attempt to predict the weather and reservoirs. But the unseasonal frosts and cold, followed by severe, prolonged drought, may have taken them to the brink of collapse. Once the climate became more benign again, they praised their gods with human sacrifice.
“When rainfall and agriculture had resumed, the Aztecs responded by massively increasing the number of human sacrifices to their rain god Tlaloc. It is thought that hundreds of thousands of people were sacrificed.”
In the Little Ice Age, witchcraft was blamed for the devastating climate:
Fagan’s The Little Ice Age (Basic Books, 2000):
“Witchcraft accusations soared, as people accused their neighbors of fabricating bad weather…. Sixty-three women were burned to death as witches in the small town of Wisensteig in Germany in 1563 at a time of intense debate over the authority of God over the weather.”
“Almost invariably, a frenzy of prosecutions coincided with the coldest and most difficult years of the Little Ice Age, when people demanded the eradication of the witches they held responsible for their misfortunes.”
These days we don’t blame witchcraft for the weather, instead we blame it on our emissions of carbon dioxide, describing it as a pollutant that must be controlled by Government taxes and vilifying anyone who dares to challenge the orthodoxy.
We ignore thousands of years of climate evidence, in favour of an agenda based upon a century and a half of sometimes distorted and often-disputed temperature records, coming out of a known Little Ice Age and we call it “Science”.
Have we really left the Dark Ages behind?
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gryposaurus says
This is not a scientific look at the actual reason for LIA or why it is different now. The increase in solar activity that ended the LIA has leveled several times, most recently in the 1950′s. Saying that we are “coming out” of LIA is not a skeptical look at the situation. It’s a nice tag line to repeat and make sense to those who don’t know the reality, but it is not science. At some point people should challenge this assertion; it’s easily debunked as nonsense.
***************
Going into the LIA [Maunder Minimum ] the atmosphere cooled about .5 to .7 ° C. During that time the thermometer was invented and records began to be kept.
Rapid warming was observed 3 times since then and 2 of these times CO2 could not have been the cause. [1860-1880 , 1910-40 and 1975-1998] The warming rates and duration are similar in all three. What is special about the third ? Nothing !
.
These periods of warming coincide with alignment of the PDO, and ADO and happen every 60 + years. No big surprise there ?
.
When the sun returned and the alarmists beloved “feedbacks” kicked in the planet recovered the lost .7 ° C. [Or did you think that feedbacks only applied to CO2 induced warming ?]
Superimposed upon this slow warming there is a 60 year sign wave caused by the PDO and ADO which were in positive cycle during the last 3 warming periods. Coincidence ? I don’t think so.
Blaming the entire .7 ° C. warming since the LIA on CO2 is not logical.
In the early and middle part of the 20th century, it was thought all problems could be solved by properly applying science. In the late part of the 20th century, science was blamed for many of our problems and a new age view of science replaced the time tested science we depended on for years. We are now paying the price because these new age scientist are respected more than the real scientist who understand how things work and have the solutions that will solve todays problems. Critical thinking is looked down upon by the majority because they lack the ability having instead learning the emotional feel good way of thinking. Talking to these people is almost worthless because they counter a logical thought with an emotional response. Our main hope is to educate their children, the same tactic that was used on the current generation to teach them new age science.
AGW is to science what Jim Jones is to religion. CRU and friends have proven that AGW is religion, politics, something else, but not science. To deny AGW is to deny astrology.
Is there anyway to box the inline ads? I just learned my diet is killing me, and I like my diet.
In the Little Ice Age, witchcraft was blamed for the devastating climate:
I thought it was the evil elder sister who insulted the twelve seasons.
Want to know when did all this began?
“Imagine” (The Beatles)
Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
David L. says:
September 30, 2010 at 4:42 am
How can anyone believe that there were no extreme weather events prior to the industrial revolution? Has anyone heard of Noah and his Ark? The bible is full of natural disasters. Ancient peoples were obsessed about them and wrote about them. Back then they blamed them on God, the devil, sins of man, etc. Now we blame it on humans in the form of CO2.
CAGW is the new Revelations.
“Have disaster losses increased due to anthropogenic climate change?” I think that the operative word here is “losses” which undoubtedly increased simply due to the greater number of people and their insane push to live on the coasts and in flood plains or at the foot of volcanoes. Due to ACC? Not likely.
One thing is currently happening faster than previously imagined:
The call to sacrifice the economy before the weather gods turn angry again.
Bring forth the prisoners.
Agribusiness – check.
Refineries – check.
Drilling – check.
Mining – check.
Jobs – check.
Homes – check.
Business loans – check.
Power Generation – check.
Prepare the Tax Dragon.
Let the ceremony begin.
The persistent of religious beliefs, belief in astrology and other superstitions plus the enormous success of any TV programme which deals with the supernatural as fact or fiction shows that we have not progressed as a species from the times of the hunter- gatherers.
When humans don’t understand something they invent explanations to ease their anxiety.
netdr2
—-Blaming the entire .7 ° C. warming since the LIA on CO2 is not logical.—-
No one blames the entire change on CO2. There were several factors at the beginning of the twentieth century, ie increase in solar activity, decrease in volcanic ash in stratosphere, and increasing land use. In the 40’s – 70’s there was an increase in human aerosol emissions and then a reduction in solar activity. After, the 80’s, aerosols were decreased dramatically. CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions are the most likely climate drivers only in last 30-40 years, NOT the case since the end of LIA.
From the IPCC:
[snip – personal attack ~mod]
Next Guardian blog:
Can I practice human sacrifice and still be green?
Patrick Davies>
“Apparently, some ~120 species (Plants, animals etc etc) recorded to be extinct in the past, have, magically, been found alive in a recent report!”
Easily rectified, where’s my shot-gun?
richard telford says:
September 30, 2010 at 2:09 am
“Comparing science with burning witches and human sacrifice? This must mark a new high point in this site’s continued vilification of science and scientists.”
Since blaming extreme weather events on increased atmospheric CO2 is only wild speculation and not really science, it actually is a fair comparison.
richard telford says:
September 30, 2010 at 2:09 am
Comparing science with burning witches and human sacrifice? This must mark a new high point in this site’s continued vilification of science and scientists. I know Watts didn’t write this vile slur, but by repeating it without comment, he shares some responsibility for it.
========================================================
Did not the scientists at UEA/CRU behave exactly as the witch doctors of old ??
Didn’t they have a bag of secret tricks (homogenized data), made predictions of the future that the “tribe” relied upon.
Didn’t this bag of secret “tricks” elevate them to a position of power greater than their chief, and told the chief what to do. IPCC, guide for policy makers !!
Once we knew what was in the bag of tricks (FOI), the jig was up !
Richard, none so blind as those who won’t see.
I said above, nothing changes, only the names.
So….
Let’s we know Al is not a virgin…but Captain Canada from BC probably is.
Juraj V,
Thanks for the great information on blocking events. Is stalled high pressure a blocking event? I lived in St. Louis, MO from 1971 through 1995. The greatest suffering that I experienced at the hands of extreme weather was caused by stalled high pressure fronts. They caused the temperatures to soar and to stay high overnight.
Enneagram says:
September 30, 2010 at 11:15 am
Back in the day, one of my sons was required to sing “Imagine” for a second-grade “Happy Holidays” event. Unbeknownst to us, he raised a fuss at school because the song praises communism and atheism. We had no idea where that came from. Today, in high school, he is happy, well-adjusted, and repeats by rote the mantras of AGW, Multiculturalism, Obamacare, and whatever else the teacher unions are promoting.
Wow, this title takes on a new level of meaning with the ‘extreme’ video posted above.
Chris in Queensland says:
September 30, 2010 at 3:18 pm
You mention UEA/CRU. Well, if you go to:
http://www.eastangliaemails.com/emails.php?eid=974
and put Telford in the search box, it turns out that a “Richard Telford” was in
Mr. K. Briffa’s contact list (Filename: 1098294574.txt).
Is it possible that the contributor at September 30, 2010 at 2:09 am is a Climegate person of interest?
In the middle ages, you could buy a piece of paper from a priest and do penence. As a result your sins were forgiven.
In the 21st century, you can buy a piece of paper from Al Gore and do penence. And as a result your sins are forgiven.
I don’t see the difference.
NASA – The Fall of the Maya: “They Did it to Themselves”
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/06oct_maya.htm?list1100868
I wonder how much this type of deforestation drought was also going on with the Aztecs?
Patrick Davis wrote, “Like the Aztecs, The Moche, in what is now Peru, suffered the same fate. The local climate changed. Must have been all those SUV’s and patio heaters belching Co2 and destroying the planet. *sigh*”
I think this may have been the same logic my sister used when I was a toddler (and she 4 years old). I was learning walk and managed to fall down a lot. My sister came along and pushed me. When called on it by our parents she argued, “Eric falls down all the time on his own. My pushing had nothing to do with it.”
Sorry Patrick. Just because climate changed in the past doesn’t mean our actions today are not causing it to change now.
Weather Astronomers/astrologers; Babylonians, Chaldean, Classic Greek, Neolithic stone circle builders in Britain, Tycho Brae, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton etc. The very ancient 7 circuit labyrinth found worldwide, is a rudimentary rain calendar, mapping the heliocentric cycles of Jupiter, Mars, Earth and Venus over 44.75yrs.