From the “photo fraud on a large scale” department comes this exercise in bullshit (yes, that’s the right word, sorry if I offended your delicate senses) from some “artistic” greens as pointed out by Steve Goddard, and as pushed as some sort of significant event (to fake a satellite shot) over at Joe Romm’s blog. Here’s the ground level photo of the event:
I’ll have to hand it to him, McKibben was able to get a bunch of people to go out and stand in a ditch holding up blue cards and tarps for a photo op to fool a satellite, which is something I’d expect North Korea or Iraq to do.
But, McKibben, as usual with many “artists”, such as the Santa Fe Art Institute who provided the flash mob, is working in the abstract. He’s doing this to “save the planet”, so the ends justifies the means. Here’s the resulting satellite image of their event from Digital Globe, who they duped into donating (according to them) a half million dollars in satellite time:
I put the annotation on it to make sure you don’t get it confused with the “WUWT flash flood mob” that I staged from my spare bedroom this afternoon:
For all of McKibben’s manipulation of some weak minded people standing in a dry river bed holding up blue cards and tarps to fake out a satellite image, I’ll point out I can achieve the very same effect right here with Google Earth (35.660090° -106.016311°, rotated about 90° clockwise) and a paint program without wasting anyone’s time or emitting tons of CO2 to transport people to the event or having them respirate on-site.
From the Santa Fe Art Institute:
What? They are inviting 5000 people to drive from Santa Fe and park at the Mall? How does that fit it with reducing CO2? Oh wait, carpooling, yeah that’s the ticket. Over 1000 people actually showed up (so they say, an enterprising person could click the very top image and select the highest res photo and actually count people) out of the 5000 expected, so at least they succeeded in reduce that carbon footprint a bit.
Well, I daresay I came up with a nearly identical and artful result, and my carbon footprint was a mere fraction of what 350.org duped these 1000+ people into doing.
Then there’s this statement in the invitation:
Human-induced climate change is well-studied and documented and is a result, in large part, of burning of fossil fuels. Major impacts on human health in New Mexico have already been observed and, as warming progresses, they will likely increase. Some of the most profound changes are concerned with water, which is certainly scarce and precious here already. Because New Mexico relies heavily on snowpack for its snow-fed rivers, water stress will endanger ecosystems, economies, physical and mental health.
But, as Steve Goddard points out, that claim from these, plus the caption from Romm in the top photo is, well…BS. Goddard writes:
I worked one summer in the 1980s as a wilderness ranger in the mountains above Santa Fe and have some familiarity with the drainage. The river has been dammed above the city since 1881. There isn’t any water in the river bed because it all gets diverted to the city, Indian casinos and golf courses. National Geographic describes the problem.
Santa Fe suffers from chronic water extraction that leaves its bed a dry ditch for most of the year. “Everybody can agree that a healthy, flowing Santa Fe River is good for the community of Santa Fe,” Fahlund said.
“I think that the governor and the mayor are both solidly behind this, and I think that they are going to put some water back in the river. But it’s a matter of the timing and the permanence of that.”
The city’s growing water needs have drained the Santa Fe’s flow at the expense of dams and wells
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070418-ten-rivers.html
Santa Fe had their second snowiest winter in the forty year WRCC record last year, and five of the top ten years have been in the last decade.
All you have to do is look at Google Earth, just east and west of Santa Fe, to see where all the water from snowmelt ended up:
And as Steve Goddard suggests, this video from Penn and Teller pretty well sums up the premise of 350.org: [warning: adult language, f-bombs]
here’s part 2
Anyone remember the days of old when the communist hippies went like but we have to drain otherwise we get diseases due to all that stagnate water and them evil stinking methane producing bogs and what not, plus we WILL need all the clean water we can get in the future due the future clean water problems, et cetera et al yada yada yada?
This is what happens, drainage problems, and now they can’t blame the drainage because then they’d have to blame themselves. This is why we don’t have any bogturtles left where I live, due to crazy we-have-no-clue-what-will-happen-but-since-we-believe-we-are-right-we-are-right-communist-hippies. On the note, anyone heard anyone else but a environazi not wanting to clean up 50 year old chemical spills only because it has a calculated <1% of getting worse and therefor the crap is left out in the woods because people don't live around there anyhow . . . and that's how important nature are to them hippies. Nature to the hippies is just a friggin romanticized ideal of an idea nothing else, but everyone who thinks nature ought to be healthy to be able to produce has to be looked up to save the planet. Pfft!
Talking of bullshit, I’m waiting for the NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice Extent to spike up once the Cancun shindig finshes.
It’s little miracles like that which make life interesting.
History will look back on these people with amusement, and wonder what possessed a large portion of humanity to fall into such a degregated frame of mind. The illusion that they belong to special group with a goal to save the world and humanity from itself, puts them in the class of useful idiots.
An opportunity presents itself here for ration people to make the work of historians easier and more fun. The leaders of the alarmist cause have been quick to catagorise non believers even to the point of calling people criminals.
Diving scores are rated on their degree of difficulty, perhaps we can start separating these people by listing them with their degree of stupidity. The pecking order of the useful idiots and the leaders could thus be noted and the task of historians made with more clarity. [ Sarc on or off?]
“”””” rw says:
November 22, 2010 at 12:00 pm
I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that supposedly enlightened minds of the Left are so inclined to participate in primitive rituals like this one. I’m not sure why, but my intuition tells me that this is a reflection of something very basic to this particular cast of mind. (It seems to involve both narcissism and magical thinking.) “””””
I assume that you are not familiar with the “Burning Man” festival that takes place every year out in the desert in Nevada; it’s a ritual of the same order.
Actually it’s not that original. Back in the years following WW-II, the natives of New Guinea (Papua) decided that all the aeroplanes (American and Japanese) that were buzzing around during those battles must be some sort of gods; so they started erecting stick models of aeroplanes on perches evidently trying to lure the gods back ot bless their hunting or gathering or whatever.
They have about the same intelligence level as the Burning Man ritualists; maybe more, since they have survived all manner of calamities.
All McKibben’s followers have to do is look at the ENSO, PDO, NAO, Indian Dipole and various other ocean oscillations to see how predictable periods of drought and floods have been, are, and will continue to be all around the world, including NM. No magic here. No “Mann”-made gw. Just ocean oscillations, brought to you by the Sun, Moon and planets!
George E. Smith says:
November 22, 2010
Back in the years following WW-II, the natives of New Guinea (Papua) decided that all the aeroplanes (American and Japanese) that were buzzing around during those battles must be some sort of gods; so they started erecting stick models of aeroplanes on perches evidently trying to lure the gods back ot bless their hunting or gathering or whatever.
This form of worship by South Pacific islanders is called “Cargo Cult.” From WiKi:
“Cargo cult activity in the Pacific region increased significantly during and immediately after World War II, when the residents of these regions observed the Japanese and American combatants bringing in large amounts of material. When the war ended, the military bases closed and the flow of goods and materials ceased. In an attempt to attract further deliveries of goods, followers of the cults engaged in ritualistic practices such as building crude imitation landing strips, aircraft and radio equipment, and mimicking the behaviour that they had observed of the military personnel operating them.”
Do suppose the warmists will become their own form of Cargo Cult when the billions in grant largesse eventually peters out?
I will never know why people feign shock and outrage over people like Bernie Madoff. We get to see his kind working in the open daily with these kinds of rip-offs. The only difference is that Madoff promised something tangible in return (more money), while these clowns only promise “peace of mind”.
I wonder how much their piece of mind costs? Not much.
While I disagree with the 350.org flash flood’s political goals, I still have to say that being part of that would be really cool. I love finding my house and work and other things in satellite photos on Google Earth. It would be really cool to be able to point to an event like this and see myself, or at least know that I was there.
Thanks for the satellite photo! I am a Northern New Mexico local (thankfully not a Santa Fe resident – shudder) and my first reaction on seeing this event reported in the Albuquerque Journal North Edition was “Hmmm. I wonder if they could actually be seen from space.”
The Journal North reported “about 500 participants” and included quotes from participants who came from Taos (70 miles north of SF) and Albuquerque (60 miles south of SF). Let’s hope they traveled using pixie dust and wishful thinking.
The Santa Fe New Mexican, more sympathetically, reported “over 1000” participants at the event. Deliciously: “Many youth turned out for the event. Some even drove from The University of New Mexico [Albuquerque Campus]. Rhiannon Frazier, 18, found out about the event in her sustainability class at UNM, and decided to participate because the issue is important to her.”
As a small factual point, as another commenter has also mentioned, your second photo of a reservoir is Cochiti Lake, which is located on the Rio Grande. The Santa Fe River actually drains (such as it is) into the Rio Grande just below the dam. So snowmelt from the Santa Fe watershed does *not* fill Cochiti Reservoir.
Duped! It was a really fun party. A perfect blue sky afternoon for a wonderful spectacle of old and young, marimba band, punk band, New Orleans style 2nd line band, mariachis, Buffalo dancers and drummers, Japanese film crew, 1200 people making some theater, helicopter film crew and a cage of filmmakers shooting from a crane.
It was fun. Guerrilla art and a satellite view of how small we really are. So glad I made it.
McKibben seems to be surrounded by some sour grapes types. Global change is real. You can smirk and guffaw and call artists idiots. If we cut our use of carbon energies we could clean up Mexico City, LA…god have you seen the satellite pictures of that mess? It is real.
“”””” Sally Blakemore says:
November 23, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Duped! It was a really fun party. A perfect blue sky afternoon for a wonderful spectacle of old and young, marimba band, punk band, New Orleans style 2nd line band, mariachis, Buffalo dancers and drummers, Japanese film crew, 1200 people making some theater, helicopter film crew and a cage of filmmakers shooting from a crane. “””””
Well Sally, I’m glad you had a good time. I’m sorry that you missed getting stoned at Woodstock; but I’m glad you made the river party.
Looking at that picture of your efforts, I would venture that it would be a good place to go fly casting in that river for rattlesnakes. I’ve caught a Moray eel on a fly rod; and that was a royal mess as the thing wound itself into a ball around my line, so we had a hard time getting it off the hook. I presume that a diamond back would get quite pissed off, if you tossed it a kangaroo rat fly, and it took the bait.
You know I’ve been watching global change for the best part of a century now; and yes it is very real; but we still had useful idiots back when I was trying to get an education.
I do like New Mexico though; but somebody needs to ask the water board to turn the spigot back on for a better picture; I assume y’alls can swim !
So 1200 people eh ? how do you figure that, do you count the feet and divide by four ? I can see 200 of them; I guess the rest are hiding under the dada junk.