WUWT commenter Cal65 from Hawaii burns away all of the irrelevancy of posturing and pronouncements and gets to the core truth of what the Durban climate deal is really all about. He writes:
The UN plan will shift wealth from the first world’s poor to the third world’s rich without making any difference in climate control.
Don’t believe that? All one has to do is look at the whiny grifters known as the Maldives, who are building airports like crazy to handle the increased tourist trade…
11 new airports to be constructed in Maldives
The Government is working to construct 11 new regional airports in 11 regions and work is under way to complete them as soon as possible, said Minister of Communication and Civil Aviation Mahmoud Razi. Razi who is among the newest three cabinet ministers appointed by President Mohamed Nasheed in June said so answering questions in the People’s Majlis Razi said regional airports will be constructed in Shaviyani, Noonu, Raa, Baa, Lhaviyani, Alifu Dhaalu, Dhaalu, Gaafu Alifu, Gaafu Dhaalu and Gnaviyani atolls.
…while at the same time wailing “please save us” [from rising sea levels].
With the cry “mic check!” a large crowd of activists took over the COP17 international climate negotiations taking place in Durban, South Africa. “Listen to the people, not the polluters,” they cried, before repeating a plea from the delegation of the small island nation of the Maldives: “Please save us.” The occupiers were also addressed by Greenpeace International president Kumi Naidoo. After sitting down and refusing to move, the occupiers were escorted out by security.
…
The real issue is spelled out clearly by weak minded regurgative reporter Laura Flanders of The Nation without so much as a thought given to what is really going on.
That’s not acceptable to the people of the Maldives. And they’re not the only ones. “Climate change is a matter of justice,” Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu of the global Council of Elders declared on the eve of the Durban meeting.
“The richest countries caused the problem, but it is the world’s poorest who are already suffering from its effects. In Durban, the international community must commit to righting that wrong.”
It’s not justice, its called a “shakedown”.
Recall that the Maldives is the same country that pulled this sort of stupid publicity stunt before Copenhagen COP15:
Let’s tally up the FAIL on these boneheads.
From TV New Zealand:
An Auckland University researcher has offered new hope to the myriad small island nations in the Pacific which have loudly complained their low-lying atolls will drown as global warming boosts sea levels.
Geographer Associate Professor Paul Kench has measured 27 islands where local sea levels have risen 120mm – an average of 2mm a year – over the past 60 years, and found that just four had diminished in size.
Working with Arthur Webb at the Fiji-based South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission, Kench used historical aerial photographs and high-resolution satellite images to study changes in the land area of the islands.
They found that the remaining 23 had either stayed the same or grown bigger, according to the research published in a scientific journal, Global and Planetary Change.
“It has been thought that as the sea level goes up, islands will sit there and drown,” Prof Kench told the New Scientist. “But they won’t.
“The sea level will go up and the island will start responding.
2. The Maldives can’t take a joke (Delingpole’s satire omitting Maldives from new map with higher sea levels causes the government to respond)
3. Willis explains how Floating Islands work, and he should know, he spent a lot of time working on one. He also explains why CO2 isn’t an issue. He writes:
Does increased CO2 cause increased sea level rise?
Short answer, data to date says no. There has been no acceleration the rate of sea level rise. Sea level has been rising for centuries. But the rate of the rise has not changed a whole lot. Both tidal stations and satellites show no increase in the historic rate of sea level rise, in either the short or long term. Fig. 1 shows the most recent satellite data.
Figure 1. Change of sea level over time. Radar data from the TOPEX satellite. The light blue line is sea level with monthly anomalies removed. The interval between data points is usually ten days. The gray line is the 1993-2004 linear trend projected to the end of the timeline. Gaussian average using a 71-point filter. Photo taken at Taunovo Bay Resort, Fiji.
Up until about the end of 2004, there was little change in the rate of sea level rise. Since then the rise has slowed down. The average (dark blue line) does not stray far from the trend (black line) up until 1994. Since then, it is well below the projected trend (gray line). We were supposed to be seeing some kind of big acceleration in the sea level rise caused by increased CO2. Instead, we are seeing a decrease in the rate of sea level rise. So the first claim, that increasing CO2 will cause increased rates of sea level rise, is not supported by the evidence.
Note that I am not saying anything about the future. The rate of sea level rise might go up again. What we can say, however, is that there is no hint of acceleration in the record, only deceleration. The claim of CO2 induced sea level rise is false to date.
4. The sea level is actually dropping now:
Source: http://sealevel.colorado.edu/files/2011_rel3/sl_ns_global.png
Of course that is the highly adjusted Colorado SL data. Let’s look at others.
Here’s a composite of measures, note the Envisat in yellow, nearly flat then falling:
Source: http://www.aviso.oceanobs.com/fileadmin/images/news/indic/msl/MSL_Serie_ALL_Global_IB_RWT_GIA_Adjust.png
5. Lorne Gunter: Global warming is the least of Tuvalu’s worries
Swedish geologist and physicist Nils-Axel Mörner, formerly chairman of INQUA, the International Commission on Sea Level Change, has studied real-world sea levels for nearly 40 years. Rather than relying mostly on computer models, as most climate scientists do, Dr. Morner has concentrated on using satellites, photographs and detailed measurement records to determine whether the oceans are rising, falling or remaining pretty much the same.
“The sea is not rising,” he has told anyone who will listen. ”It hasn’t risen in 50 years.” What’s more, if it rises in the 21st Century, it will be by ”not more than 10cm (four inches), with an uncertainty of plus or minus 10cm.” That’s pretty much the same prediction as that derived by the other real-world measurers, Houston and Dean.
…
Two American experts on coastal construction and sea-level — James Houston, director emeritus of engineering research and development for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Robert Dean, professor emeritus of civil and coastal engineering at the University of Florida — examined decades worth of data from all the tidal monitors around the U.S. and determined earlier this year that “worldwide-temperature increase has not produced acceleration of global sea level over the past 100 years.” indeed, the rate at which oceans have been rising has “possibly decelerated for at least the last 80 years.”
6. If sea level is such a big problem, why is the Maldives government allowing new development?
“Only 6 luxurious beachfront private residences will be built at both the sunrise and sunset sides of this magical island, Soneva Fushi Resort.”
…
The Republic of Maldives in the Indian Ocean, home to some of the world’s finest white sand beaches and exceptional marine life, has to date never allowed ownership of private real estate to foreigners. Soneva Fushi by Six Senses will be among the very first to offer this privilege.
Source: http://www.ilre.com/maldives-luxury-real-estate.html
And this just isn’t an isolated event, it’s part of the official policy for tourism:
The Ministry of Tourism embarked on an ambitious expansion of the tourism industry with 37 new islands opened for bidding in the period 2004-2006. The first round of developments was announced in 2004, with 11 islands being opened for bidding.
All this while they were simultaneously squalling about “inundation” by the sea.
7. And again, if sea level rise were really a problem, why would the Maldives government allow this?
11 new airports to be constructed in Maldives
The Government is working to construct 11 new regional airports in 11 regions and work is under way to complete them as soon as possible, said Minister of Communication and Civil Aviation Mahmoud Razi. Razi who is among the newest three cabinet ministers appointed by President Mohamed Nasheed in June said so answering questions in the People’s Majlis Razi said regional airports will be constructed in Shaviyani, Noonu, Raa, Baa, Lhaviyani, Alifu Dhaalu, Dhaalu, Gaafu Alifu, Gaafu Dhaalu and Gnaviyani atolls.
Oh, wait, I know… to serve the government approved “ambitious expansion of the tourism industry” in #6
8. So why all the government sanctioned pronouncements about sea level/CO2 ??
Follow the money at the Copenhagen and Cancun climate talks
The accord promised $30bn (£19bn) in aid for the poorest nations hit by global warming they had not caused. Within two weeks of Copenhagen, the Maldives foreign minister, Ahmed Shaheed, wrote to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, expressing eagerness to back it.
30 billion? Heck, that’s 10 times more than the gross domestic product of the whole country! They’ll say anything to get their hands on that.
| Maldives GDP (PPP) | 2010 estimate | |
| – | Total | $2.734 billion[7] |
| – | Per capita | $8,541[7] |
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives
==========================================
So since the Maldives is fond of making grand pronouncements about how climate change is going to hurt them/kill them make them climate refugees or other such silliness, let me make a pronouncement of my own based on the available data shown above.
Anything coming out of the mouths of Maldives officials related to climate, CO2, or sea level is pure bullshit.
The only purpose of it is to continue to paint Maldives as a victim, so they’ll get some of that climate cash promised by the fools that attend these climate conferences. Meanwhile, they continue to expand their travel industry, build new resorts, build new airports, and promote tourism while laughing all the way to the bank.
Thinking people should cross the Maldives off their vacation possibilities list. I have, I refuse to go there, even if offered a free trip, because these grifters are playing victims at the expense of taxpayers everywhere.
The Maldives shakedown is only slightly more sophisticated than a Nigerian email scam.
I see a bubble in the Maldives future…
Hugh Pepper says:
December 11, 2011 at 11:24 am
So, this information is contained in their sales pitch, right? Buy a vacation home here so that we can use the income to move away pronto?
And the eleven new airports are temporary? What does a temporary airport look like? Are the air controllers sitting in a tree?
Hugh, if you would be so kind as to explain the rapid contruction plans for ELEVEN Maldivean airports in the context of this crisis, both in terms of Maldives’ imminent inundation as well as lowering humankind’s carbon footprint.
“A physicist says:
December 11, 2011 at 11:19 am
These islands are made entirely of sand derived from the surrounding coral reefs, and they typically have a maximum elevation of 2-3 meters.”
Then you should apply the precautionary principle and evacuate them all. Any decent tsunami will obliterate them and all human life on them. Now how does slow sea level rise stack up against that risk?
I really despise the way the sat data is conflated. This isn’t proper. It shouldn’t be done. The measurements aren’t the same. Pretending that the satellites show continuity is just plain wrong.
http://suyts.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/alarmist-owes-me-a-keyboard/
Different recording devices, recording different measurements, all lined up as if it is some version of reality. The all show different rates of rise and different rates of lowering in the last 3-7 years. http://suyts.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/image19.png
Philip Stott: The Basic Truth About Durban
http://www.thegwpf.org/opinion-pros-a-cons/4532-philip-stott-the-basic-truth-about-durban.html
Considering the government, or would that be the religion, as they are interchangeable, of the Maldives, I can only hope that sea levels will continue to rise. Perhaps accelerate in their rise.
As I know that is not happening, more’s the pity.
But that’s just me…
@KPO
“If the real intention is to devolve power to the UN, to limit sovereignty, again what’s in it for the present players? I find myself somewhat stumped, and to extend this line of thinking, one almost always strays into the ridiculed and “out of bounds” territory of conspiracy.”
You are thinking along the same lines as me. I have been trying for ages to work out what motivates so many of the players in this insanity.
The WWF/Greenpeace motives are fairly clear. The politicians, the “scientists” likewise. The NGO gravy train is pretty obvious. There is a whole raft of companies taking advantage of the green scam (its just a marketing message, after all). The poor downtrodden climate victims, who will benefit from the reparations being extorted from the rest of us.
But anyone with any understanding of science, or history, outside of this bunch, must be able to see that it is just a gigantic bubble, continually pumped up, which will finally burst, having taken 100’s of billions out of genuine added value activities, to support the scam.
How much longer is it going to take before the rest of the world wakes up? When will we have some viable political party to vote for, to take action to end this insanity? The longer it goes on for, the bigger the backlash when the bubble is seen for what it really is. If bankers are vilified now, it will be nothing compared with the hatred which will be directed towards the worst perpetrators, of this, the biggest fraud imaginable.
It is worse than a conspiracy, more pervasive than a religion. It is mass hysteria on an unbelievable scale. A hundred years from now this episode will be viewed with incredulity by our successors, in just the same way that people cannot now believe how the population of Europe tolerated 60,000 deaths in a SINGLE day of fighting in the Somme. The ruling classes needed to be swept away then, just as they do now.
“The UN plan will shift wealth from the first world’s poor to the third world’s rich without making any difference in climate control.”
But it will greatly benefit the world’s poor through the “trickle down mechanism.” Rich people in the third world have a long history of trickling down upon their poor.
/s
“…the Outer Island economies are not even based on money, but rather upon a more nuanced system of social obligations.”
aah, don’t you just love them noble savages.
It is about the facilitation of the smaller countries charging the larger countries rent for the atmosphere.
ALL economics is “trickle down”. Whenever I have money and I use it for something, some of my wealth “trickles” to someone else. If I become profitable and open a plant and hire people, that profit has now “trickled” into that town.
Money “trickles” and whoever does not believe that has no understanding of economics. What these people are doing is “directing” that trickle. Some of it going into their own pockets, and some if it going to realize their global socialist dream of everyone being equal in poverty.
This issue is as big as it is due to one single person: David Fenton. David Fenton and George Soros (Fenton’s money man) should be brought up on charges of crimes against humanity. Fenton is the PR and marketing of the scare, Soros (and other guilty rich socialists like Theresa Heinz) are the money behind it. They need to be jailed and THEIR wealth taken and redistributed but instead they profit from all of this through their “green” investments created by this very hysteria they have helped create.
But Fenton is the man who needs to go to prison.
jorgekafkazar says:
December 11, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Right. Rich men can afford additional wives.
WAKE UP says:
December 11, 2011 at 1:04 pm
“…the Outer Island economies are not even based on money, but rather upon a more nuanced system of social obligations.”
aah, don’t you just love them noble savages.”
————–
This is actually great because “nuanced… social obligations” is all they will (hopefully) get.
They should be thrilled with this outcome at Durban.
They can carry on living in perfect harmony with nature, like they are now. Yes, so noble.
I wonder if the Climastrologists will be crying into their beer tonight now that their sterling efforts to save us all from the physics defying effects their voodoo “science” ascribes to CO2 have been delayed yet again?
This time it was Brazil, South Africa, India and China sailing to the rescue in Durban, though there seems no reason to suspect that this was anything other than self interest on their part, rather than recognition that the settled consensus “science” of CAGW and “robust” climate models built upon it smell so strongly of bullshit for very good reasons.
They know full well that if binding targets had been passed, whilst they might get a free ride at first, once the “developed” countries had been Carbon taxed to oblivion, they the “developing” countries would inevitably be next in line on the sacrificial altar.
By 2015 or 2020 hopefully the world of Science will have woken up to the damage being inflicted by the voodoo outpourings of Climastrologists in league with the emotive siren songs of the Ecovangelists.
So there may be good reason to raise a glass to Brazil, South Africa, India and China to thank them, even if they did it for the wrong reasons. Cheers!
Warmistas on the move;
http://www.michaelmusgrove.com/tech/why-arent-you-better/attachment/lemmings/
@A physicist says:
December 11, 2011 at 11:19 am
and
@Hugh Pepper says:
December 11, 2011 at 11:24 am
I’m pretty sure Willis Eschenbach wrote a very interesting article here concerning the health of reefs such as those in the areas you are concerned with. He pointed out how certain human actions in fact are very detrimental to the health and continued growth of the reefs and the generation of the coral sand that keeps them above sea level. Perhaps these nuanced social networkers should read this and get real busy studying what maintains their little bits of paradise and making sure that their destructive actions are minimized or terminated.
However, if the underlying edifice (typically a volcanic mount) is no longer being heated, once it begins to cool, it will simply sink back into the mantle as the mound becomes more dense. The corals are then in a race for life. Many geologic sections suggest they actually can stay up with this natural subsidence for great lengths of time. That’s where human intervention becomes important. If we do things right, the reef will support them. If not, man the life boats. It’s their island; learn how to keep it alive rather than hooking for repatriated money that isn’t going to materialize.
Hugh Pepper says:
December 11, 2011 at 11:24 am
As you should know the Maldives is really 1100 islands.
I bet you didn’t know that until you conjured up your condescending parroting of the meme. Of course, this includes the crystal-ball quotes of the Druids who know the future despite the obvious fact that NOBODY has been able to predict it with any accuracy. So, once again, we are happy to be informed by you. Like the original quote, the west’s poor will pay the third world’s corrupt rich power brokers. And your blessed statistics will continue to happen, like it or not. My question is, what are YOU doing to save the world?
This is the funniest thing that I’ve read for ages. Developing all these “waterfront” projects whilst at the same time screaming for funds to save themselves from future “drowning”.
Gold. Pure unadulterated gold.
The Maldives don’t have to worry about sinking – not when they’re busy building up Thilafushi. Any climate refugees can just move to this island Paradise.
Well, they WERE building up Thilafushi until a few days ago:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16072020
re posts by: Tony B (another one) says: December 11, 2011 at 12:30 pm
I should also have said: Awesome quote by Cal65, and thanks Anthony for bring it to our attention!
@A physicist and @Hugh Pepper
Ancedotal islander memories, while not to be ignored, carry little weight – anecdotal data of this nature have been proven time and again to far too often be flawed. This is why science, when the scientific method is properly applied and actual measurements are taken is so incredibly useful and why we’ve had such incredible advancements over the past one or two hundred years.
I seem to recall that there have been one or more studies which actually measured island land area changes over time, where the actual measurements were available online. If so, good chance that this data for the outer islands could be found rather than basing your comments on anecdotes and such.
I also have to suspect that just as they do along continental seacoasts, natural forces must also influence the amount of sand deposited or removed along those outer islands. Many locations with awesome sand beaches long ago discovered that what the sea deposits, the sea can just as easily remove. Man’s attempts to stop beach erosion in order to protect _____ (fill in the blank with one of the options: financial investments in the area, natural beauty, tourist hotspot…. etc.) with the best engineering plans of the day were found to often have the opposite effect, much to the chagrin of those involved and at the cost of huge sums of money. Currents shift, seafloor and/or land areas subside or uplift, plant or animal activities or populations change with a very complex interaction resulting, major storms occur – all sorts of things go into the equation that are far beyond just sea level changes.
son of mulder says:
December 11, 2011 at 11:51 am
Then you should apply the precautionary principle and evacuate them all. Any decent tsunami will obliterate them and all human life on them.
And yet the 2004 tsunami didn’t.