From Scripps:
Vatican Science Panel Calls Attention to the Threat of Glacial Melt
Pontifical Academy of Sciences working group of leading scientists to present report to Pope Benedict XVI
Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego
A panel of some of the world’s leading climate and glacier scientists co-chaired by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego researcher issued a report today commissioned by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences citing the moral imperative before society to properly address climate change.
The co-authors of “Fate of Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene” list numerous examples of glacial decline around the world and the evidence linking that decline to human-caused changes in climate and air pollution. The threat to the ways of life of people dependent upon glaciers and snow packs for water supplies compels immediate action to mitigate the effects of climate change and to adapt to what changes are happening now and are projected to happen in the future.
V. Ramanathan
“We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink as we are aware that, if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us,” the authors write in a declaration prefacing the report. “The believers among us ask God to grant us this wish.”
Scripps Climate and Atmospheric Scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan co-chaired the working group with Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen, formerly affiliated with Scripps and Lennart Bengtsson, former head of the European weather forecasting center. The group also included Nobel Laureate Carlo Rubbia, former director general of the CERN Laboratory. Among the rest of the 24 authors are Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University, Wilfried Haeberli from Switzerland, Georg Kaser from Austria and Anil Kulkarni from India, considered among the world’s foremost experts on glacial change. Former Scripps Director Charles Kennel and Scripps Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry Lynn Russell are also members of the working group.
“The widespread loss of snow and ice in the mountain glaciers is one of the most visible changes attributable to global climate change. The disintegration of many small glaciers in the Himalayas is most disturbing to me since this region serves as the water tower of Asia and since both the greenhouse gases and air pollutants like soot and ozone contribute to the melting,” said Ramanathan, who has been a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences since 2004.
Report authors met at the Vatican from April 2 to April 4, 2011 under the invitation of Chancellor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo of the pontifical academy. The report was issued by the Vatican today and will be presented to Pope Benedict XVI.
Though scientists usually refrain from proposing action, Ramanathan said the circumstances warranted advancing suggestions from the working group. The authors recommend pursuit of three measures: immediate reduction of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, reduction of concentrations of warming air pollutants such as soot, ozone, methane and hydroflurocarbons by up to 50 percent, and preparation to adapt to climate changes that society will not be able to mitigate.
Main Rongbuk Glacier on Mount Everest in 1921 and 2007. It experienced average vertical glacier loss of 101 meters (331 feet) between 1921 and 2008. Photo credits: (1921) Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society, (2007) Courtesy of Glacier Works.
The report title refers to the term coined by Crutzen to describe what is considered a new geologic epoch that began when the impacts of mankind on the planet became a major factor in environmental and climate changes.
“The recent changes observed in glacial behavior are due to a complex mix of causal factors that include greenhouse gas forcing together with large scale emissions of dark soot particles and dust in ‘brown clouds’, and the associated changes in regional atmospheric energy and moisture content, all of which result in significant warming at higher altitudes, not least in the Himalayas,” the authors write.
“Changes of mountain glaciers all around the world are rapid and impacts are expected to be detrimental, particularly in the high mountains of South America and Asia,” said Kaser, of the Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics at the University of Innsbruck. “Yet, our understanding about glacier changes in these regions is still limited and ambitious and joint efforts are required to respond to these problems. With its report, the pontifical academy contributes considerably to raising awareness.”
“Glaciers are one of our most visible evidences of global climate change,” added Thompson. “They integrate many climate variables in the Earth system. Their loss is readily apparent and they have no political agenda. Glaciers remind us of the stunning beauty of nature and in turn the urgency of doing everything in our power to protect it.”
The authors conclude: “We appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay, effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change on communi¬ties and ecosystems, including mountain glaciers and their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home. By acting now, in the spirit of common but differentiated responsibility, we accept our duty to one another and to the stewardship of a planet blessed with the gift of life.”
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Gordon Bennet! They’re getting desperate now.
Here endeth the serman on mount Everest.
My Sainted Aunt!
I just knew this had to happen.
Who needs science when you have a religion.
It always bothers the heck out of me when churches, especially the mother of all churches, the Catholic church, get involved in politics. Their commission was, is, and always will be to preach the Gospel. That’s all. And it’s the only thing that they do well. I wish they’d just stick to it. When they get involved in politics, “social justice”, or science, to name a few, it always works against them in the end.
Pontifical Academy of Sciences working group 1632:
“The idea that the Sun is central to the cosmos, and has an effect on the Earth is heretical, ridiculous, and we shall imprison the man advocating this theory for life without remission or medical attention.”
Pontifical Academy of Sciences working group 2011:
“The recent changes observed in glacial behavior are due to a complex mix of causal factors that include greenhouse gas forcing together with large scale emissions of dark soot particles and dust in ‘brown clouds’, and the associated changes in regional atmospheric energy and moisture content, all of which result in significant warming”
“If anyone tries to say it’s the sun, then they should remember how we deal with people like that” they added.
I’m not religious, but I’m pretty sure Jesus said something along the lines of “the birds don’t worry about where they’re next meal comes from, and neither should you. Instead place your faith in God, and He will provide”, except of coarse he put it far more eloquently.
Following this reasoning, it seems like those of faith wouldn’t try to fix climate change, but instead have faith that God will protect those of his children He wishes to protect.
“We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink “.
No one can argue with that. That is one of the worst drawbacks of the CAGW scaremongering because too much farmland now grows crops for ethanol production.
The next lines are a worry though. They start to call for social justice and sustainability. These are weasel words for socialist control. Social justice means a small group think they can decide better than the courts or parliament. Sustainability is the term used to put the power o decision into the hands of the same small group because they decide what is sustainable and what is not.
Nice to see they are worried about water supplies. I would have thought the record snowfalls, that the warmists said were a weather feature of the past, would assist glaciers.
It is noted that they have returned to the glacier scares that have been proven false in the past. Yet they admit that their knowledge is limited, which is as close as you can find to a warmist acknowledging he is guessing.
They make the usual claim that CO2 is responsible but this time include other carbon derivatives plus ozone. In other words , they acknowledge that carbo dioxide taxes and Emissions Trading Schemes are a failure. They refuse to acknowledge the Clean Air Acts in place throughout the developed world that have had significant successes over air pollution and acid rains.
In fact, carefully read, this is an admission that this whole scare is false,that this is coming straight out of the alarmist text book. However if the point is that we should be storing more water for irrigation and health and wellbeing of people then this will be a good document. The productivity Commission in Australia found that not storing water and thereby forcing rationing of water had a very bad effect on productivity. Not only from a maintenance of buildings and machinery but also from the high stress a lack of water causes.
They have no proof other than computer models that are no more than tarot by 1 and 0.
Glaciers are useless. What’s wrong with rivers and lakes? Stupid Pontiffs and CAGWists!
As global warming is a competing religion to Christianity, with its own (global warming) hell, its own high priests, even its own indulgences, one has to ask why the Catholic church is getting in bed with the devil?
… or perhaps it can be explained by the way the Catholic church has always converted pagans … by taken over their main icons as its own!
Soot, maybe.
CO2 – never in a million years.
But, hey, the new religion needs Pontifical Benediction. Yay! And we all go to heaven. And the Vatican gets a royalty.
The disintegration of many small glaciers in the Himalayas is most disturbing to me since this region serves as the water tower of Asia
The melting of the glaciers will not reduce the amount of water flowing down the mountains. It will still snow in winter and melt in summer. No more can flow down the rivers than falls as precipitation in the first place.
The only way that water flow will be reduced is if 1) precipitation declines, which is not shown, or 2) the glaciers start to grow, as that means precipitation will be trapped.
Of all the alarmist non-issues, the idea that melting glaciers will reduce the water that flows into rivers is quite possibly the worst. If anything it is the reverse that is true.
the proof will be in the soot pudding. if that gets lost in the CO2 impetus, this will have been just another waste of time
Cardinal Pell did not sign off on it from the new Aussie office in the Holy See
Why is anyone surprised? Aren’t we used to Climate Scientists pontificating?
The Vatican endorsing an alternate religion? Strange days.
Thank God I’m an Atheist.
Tallbloke got there before me.
Awesome, Catholicism and paganism rolled into one religion. For a limited time only, worship Jesus and the climate to double your chances of getting into heaven.
Surely nothing more than a mish-mash of unsubstantiated assertions concerning unremarkable natural climatic variation that is in no way unprecedented. Perhaps a less charitable view – the hierarchy of one religion trying to win over the believers of another?
But in fairness I must commend as a notable exception Australia’s own Archbishop George Pell, leader of the Catholic Church in this country. Pell maintains his sceptical viewpoint despite the apparent acquiescence of his theological brethren to “the consensus”.
To ‘address climate change’ presupposes that it is caused by human activity, and it is reasonable to postulate that the more humans there are, the greater the human activity.
So one way to reduce the human effect on climate would be to restrict the number of humans and a key step in that would be artificial contraception for those who want it.
Over to you, hypocrites of the Vatican.
I must say that I am a bit disappointed with this post.
The lead title – “The Vatican gets involved in climate change,” suggested one thing.
The subtitle – “Vatican Science Panel Calls Attention to the Threat of Glacial Melt,” tells the story.
Neither Vatican nor the Church have made any pronouncements on these issues. The Pope is entitled to be advised. Agree or disagree with this particular advice doesn’t mean he won’t receive other advice.
Now we have Papal Proof that CO2 causes warming. So who is doing the cooling?
No more burning of incense/candles would reduce airborne particles, and allowing use of condoms to reduce unplanned demand would set examples to start with. High places like the Vatican would be ideal for siting a wind turbine, in fact the roofs of all catholic cathedrals could help contribute to clean energy.
The Catholic Church… Forever stuck on the side of anti-science.
It seems almost quant how they would jump on the bandwagon just at the time the wheels are coming off and newer science is showing the many deficits of the CO2 centric model. Right after Charles Manson and OBL. Hmm.
They seem to have quite a bit backwards in the article. The “peace and justice” (I assume they mean the new code word for socialism, which is ‘social justice’) that they talk about is not related to water supplies. Its a result of stable government and a healthy economy, in part, but mostly it comes from annual rainfall and not glaciers.
I just love how these people deliver ‘complete’ solutions to complex problems – signed sealed delivered and ready for governments around the world to approve. Or force on their citizens as the case may be. Ignoring that even if it were true, China would quickly fill any drop in CO2 in short order.
We know that glaciers have been in retreat since the end of the Little Ice Age. What is the difference today? Is soot a more dominant factor that co2? Something else?