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.
As a Catholic, I actually take exception to the credence given to Fr. Hezel as being “wise”. Unfortunately many Jesuits have fallen into the trap of being “trendy” and modernist. That fact that the man is a priest does not make him a credible source of information.
If Fr. Hezel was to be credible, then he would need to have the appropriate degrees in things like geology and oceanography etc. etc. The mere fact of being a priest is not sufficient credential to be considered any kind of authority.
Priests can be in error when it comes to things outside of their areas of expertise. I have known some that tend to believe the fairy stories about globull warming being man made…and a whole lot of other things that are not in fact correct.
How’s this for a simple solution:
Have the UN Declare the Maldives a Climate Heritage Site. BUY it for a couple of $Billion and “relocate to save” the population to, oh, Islamabad…. Then issue free “Global Warming Study Groups” tickets to “Climate Change Deniers” requiring that they spend 2 weeks, all expenses paid, at the “reeducation resorts” with mandatory daily exposure to the ocean each day so they can learn to observe sea level rise first hand… This is to be repeated each year until they admit the sea is rising…
It would likely cost less, and I’d sign up for the camps. It would likely take me a long time to change my mind about sea level rise though…
The rate of sea level rise has reduced since late 2005. There is no acceleration of sea level rise.
This stems from:
1. Greenhouse gas emissions will heat the planet (according to models, no observation of that).
2. Heating the planet will melt Greenland (no observations of that either. Some variation but no trend)
3. Melting Greenland will raise the sea levels. (yes it would but is all based on #1 which is speculation).
So one must first buy into the speculation in #1 above to even be worried about CO2 emissions.
I was going to say how much does anyone want to bet they will now find a new way to “adjust” sea level measurements but they already did that a few weeks ago. But they are going to have to come up with a new, new way once the trend starts downward. They can absolutely not afford to see a downward trend in global sea level.
Crosspatch, NASA satellite data confirm your claim [;… with a caveat:
It seems to me that rational skeptics needs a “Plan B”, just in case the NASA satellites, Father Hezel, and the climate change science community, all turn out to be right.
Crosspatch, what might be your personal “Plan B”, if it turns out the NASA science is right?
If the
sciencespeculation is right, Plan B is this: Relax, take a chill pill, and don’t worry. The long term trend is only ≈3 mm in nine years, per the linked NASA chart. That’s a couple inches a century. Nothing to worry about, we can easily handle it, no problem.And note that the short term trend is still down, not up, no matter how they try to spin it. The sea level rise scare is just another failed CAGW prediction within a universe of failed CAGW predictions. So far, the ‘climate change science community’ [whatever that means] has been 100% wrong. Even a broken clock beats their record.
Hmmm … so its kinda like the Pre-war Planning for Post-war Iraq, eh?
Yah know, Smokey, rational skepticism has got to do better than that.
ap,
Iraq = sea level rise?? That’s not even comparing apples and oranges, that’s apples and artichokes.
Lie down on the nice doctor’s couch, and come up with some more free asscociations. Maybe take a Rorschach test. Then the nice doctor will prescribe some thorazine and you can dream about Fr Hezel, the faith-based climatologist.☺
@ur momisugly A physicist
The size of the islands is not in dispute, nor are the dire impacts of coastal erosion, but these facts do not alter the reality that the direct human impact on geomorphic processes, even on tiny islands, outweighs the potential impact of your imagined anthropogenic sea level rise.
Eric, the people who live on these islands are technologically and scientifically sophisticated — rather more so than the general American public in my experience — and their personal knowledge of natural history is unsurpassed. This is because every island has inhabitants who have traveled in the outer world, and several of the larger islands have a satellite-dish internet connection (even though these same islands lack physicians, police, banks, or stores), and yet at the same time every individual breadfruit tree and coconut tree has a history, known to all, that extends back fifty years and more — including the distance of that individual tree from the shoreline.
I encountered no climate-change skeptics in any of the men’s huts on any island, where in long conversations these matters are discussed every evening. What these islanders see around them matches perfectly with what the climate-change science tells them; in comparison, the American public is deeply and often willfully ignorant of both natural history and basic science, and in consequence of this ignorance, is too-easily misled.
Roy, P. and J. Connell. 1990. “Extracts from “Greenhouse”! the impact of sea level rise on low coral islands in the South Pacific”.
Did Canada leave the Kyoto Protocol yesterday?
If so, why did their representative vote with the warmistas?
I am no supporter of leftie David Cameron but his use of the UK veto re the EU’s EMU fiasco was the correct thing to do. France & Germany are hell bent on destroying the financial centre of London and repatriating all of that business to Paris & Frankfurt.
The EU’s proposed financial transactions tax would have (deliberately) hit London hardest, because of the size of the City’s market, and would have raised 35%+ of the entire EU fund that will be set up. The effect would have been to cripple London’s financial competitiveness.
That’s only the start: today the French have been threatening the UK that they’ll find a way to cripple the City anyway – and take the business for themselves.
The EU is a Franco-Germanic entity designed solely to line their pockets at everyone else’s expense. In addition, there is the burning desire to create The United States of Europe of which the euro was a part in that plan; unfortunately, it was doomed from the start as I & many like me said at the time.
There is only one place for the UK to be – outside the EU but in a similar EU trading arrangement to Norway & Switzerland (though without the annual fee!).
Apologies for derail.
if the maldives are so marginal and the livable land is so little and cramped, then where did they get the asphalt/concrete/hard stuff they needed to make the runway itself???
or are they going to blow the money from the construction bonds and disappear into the dark?
Eric Huxter,
You are right. The islands are subject to tectonic subsidence and have been affected by past clear cutting of trees that kept erosion at bay. Mangroves are now being planted to try and halt the erosion, which has nothing to do with human CO2 emissions. The islands are only 1 – 1.5 metres above sea level. But with sea levels naturally rising only a couple of inches per century, the inhabitants don’t have much to worry about. They are just pawns in the alarmists’ false propaganda efforts.
“a physicist” posts a citation stating that the six Carteret islands would be submerged “by 2015”. I challenged a physicist to put his money where his mouth is. I even gave him an extra year. But as we see he is tap dancing fast, trying to change the subject.
a physicist can either admit that he doesn’t have any confidence in the prediction he posted, or he can put up a kilobuck for my designated charity. That’s all the wiggle-room he has, because he overstepped badly in posting the religious prediction that the six Carteret islands will be submerged “by 2015” – only three years from now.