My first question when I read this headline was:
With Passover Approaching, a Plague of Locusts Descends Upon Egypt
“how long before somebody tries to blame this on global warming, today’s universal one-size-fits-all bogeyman?”
The answer is: 30 seconds, as it is already in the article itself.
From The Atlantic Wire, bold mine:
Conflicting reports aside, Moamen insists that the government has everything under control. “Egyptian armed forces and the border guards are attempting to fight the swarm with the means at their disposal,” the agriculture minister said. “I ask the families living in the locust-plagued areas not to burn tires. This does not chase away the locusts, but only causes damage and could ignite large scale fires that would cost in lives.” Also, that smoke isn’t doing Egypt’s grandchildren any favors. Scientists anticipate that, as global warming worsens, plagues like this will also get worse.
Here is the referenced article from Nature:
Global warming may worsen locust swarms
Ancient records link a hotter climate to more damaging infestations.
Jane Qiu
Warmer weather in China has been linked to worse locust outbreaks.Kazuyoshi Nomachi / Science Photo Library
Analysis of Chinese historical records stretching back for over a thousand years show that locust outbreaks are more likely to occur in warmer and drier weather, especially in the country’s northern provinces, researchers say.
“The results are an alarm bell for yet another serious consequence of climate change,” says Ge Quansheng, deputy director of the Beijing-based Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who was not involved with the study.
The findings, by climate researcher Yu Ge and her colleagues at the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Jiangsu province, are published in the Journal of Geophysical Research1.
==============================================================
Of course there were periods of warmer and drier climate in Egypt during the time of the Pharaoh and the plagues, but don’t let that fact get in the way of a good disaster story.
The 10 plagues as they appear in the Bible are listed below with actual articles connecting global warming to the plague item following in parenthesis:
- Water, which turned to blood and killed all fish and other aquatic life (global warming increases soil erosion due to drought and windswept soil which increases river silt. Aswan High Dam in Egypt is already feeling the effects)
- Frogs (Exodus 8:1–8:15) (Once it was found that global warming didn’t actually mutate/kill frogs, now it is helping frog populations thanks to less severe winters)
- Lice (Exodus 8:16–19) (Head lice increase due to warming enhanced lice egg cycle)
- Flies or [5] wild animals (Exodus 8:20–30) (Fly population set to double with global warming)
- Disease on livestock (Exodus 9:1–7) (Farm Animal Disease to Increase With Climate Change, Scientists Say)
- Incurable boils (Exodus 9:8–12) (Global Warming: Causing Acne and Other Skin Disorders)
- Hail and thunder (Exodus 9:13–35) (The latest meme: Extreme weather caused by global warming)
- Locusts (Exodus 10:1–20) (The article above and from FAO: Climate change and Desert Locust)
- Darkness (Exodus 10:21–29) (Darker atmosphere due to soot increases global warming, but look for a reversal soon, because according to
scripturespeer reviewed science, CO2 is the real cause. ) - Death of the first-born of all Egyptian humans and animals. To be saved, the Israelites had to place the blood of a lamb on the front door of their houses. (Exodus 11, Exodus 12) (Kofi Annan says Global Warming causes 300,000 deaths a year now and Climate Change Deaths Could Total 100 Million By 2030 If World Fails To Act)
I think in the case of global warming and plague #10, the chosen ones will have to nail up a hockey stick over their door so that death passes them over.
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Global Warming is the George W. Bush of the scientific world…what sins can’t be laid at its feet?
Quick correction.
“10.Death of the first-born of all Egyptian humans…”
Should be first born MALES.
biblical?
http://blogs.24.com/henryp/2013/03/01/where-is-your-faith/
Snarkiness times ten… I like it!
I wonder if global warming increases snarkiness?
Lol! Superb Anthony!
Perhaps all climate change papers should start with the words “Woe unto you, my brethren, for it shall come to pass….”
About a decade ago, a researcher working in Israel noted that it was particularly cold in those parts around years 15 – 30. The Sea of Galilee may have had some surface ice occasionally. That may explain the “walking on water” story. The researcher was excoriated by some believers, but I let him know that several proxy data sets and reconstructions supported the notion.
Also, if one were to overlay Bishop Usher’s Chart of World History on Fairbridge’s sea level curve, we notice several things. In addition to the cold period mentioned in the previous paragraph, there was a sudden cooling about the time Adam and Eve supposedly left the Garden (according to Usher). This suggests that, after eating the special fruit, the couple did not don clothings because there were suddenly ashamed. Rather they got cold. If they left the Garden, it may have been to look for warmer climes, or it is also possible that the Garden disappeared around them as the climate went suddenly colder and dryer.
Well, they will have trouble using the “unprecedented” meme, at least.
This is where the Warmists routinely skewer themselves. In desperately trying to find an alarm bell that triggers irrational fear in the public , of late they have resorted to historical events. The obvious rejoinder that these events were long before the current run up of CO2 defeats the argument. The fact that humanity has weathered these alarming events defeats the fear.
It is also worth mentioning that this is another case of pitting climatology against another science, here entomology, without any understanding of either. As the UN official noted, the behavior of locusts is quite well understood and in fact has been for many years. It does not make much sense to extrapolate an annual event into something that will be even more common, say yearly, because of warming. It is doing quite well on its own, thank you. LOL
Do they even bother to mention the 17-year reproductive cycle?
@mojo These are desert locusts, not 17 year cicadas. Completely different life cycles.
Here’s a line to the walking on ice notion with a link to the pdf:
http://news.cnet.com/Did-the-Sea-of-Galilee-ice-over-2%2C000-years-ago/2008-11395_3-6060618.html
Jenn, “GWB”? Hmmmm…..the “OCD” of the climate de-bait (Onerous Climate Disruption).
I am worried about the unprecedented increase of sinkholes. First in Florida, and now in China. There must be a link to CO2 and climate change. Can someone connect the dots?
link for #5 (livestock disease) incorrect. Perhaps you intended this?
[yes – link fixed thanks -mod]
Dave,
“I wonder if global warming increases snarkiness?”
Why not, if you believe the alarmists, global warming causes everything.
pat says: “This is where the Warmists routinely skewer themselves. In desperately trying to find an alarm bell that triggers irrational fear in the public , …”
Pat, you fundamentally mistake what happens here. A journalist is given a pretty daft story “lots of locusts”. They are told by their editor to fill a certain space with that story — and doubtless half a dozen other ones.
What do they do? Do they fly out to the spot, interview people and read up on locusts so as to fill the article with well sourced facts …. or do they make up a supposed connection with global warming which (they think) no one can deny which enables them to pad out the story with very little effort.
Oh dear, I better consult the Biblical Weather Channel!
It occurs to me while reading this post that the Pastafarians have known for years that there is a direct historical relationship between the decline of pirates and rise of global warming. Could it be that the lack of warming over the last 16 years could be the result of the rise in believers in His Noodly Goodness?
Grasshoppers on steroids= locusts
BTW Adam’s garden was a Global Greenhouse.
That is why it was so productive. x-(];{)
Alfred
Well, if you’re looking for something to study and funding too it makes sense to choose something that’s not going to rock the boat. Poor scientists, I wonder how they feel once they’ve sold their souls.
So Obama (“I am not a dictator “) will part the rising seas and lead us to the promise land. Vanquishing the CO2 blanket. Where is Linus when you need him.
Just wait until the plague of haemorrhoids starts in… panic will spread everywhere.
Great piece from Lawrence Solomon in the Financial Post: ” Not easy being green”
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2013/02/28/lawrence-solomon-not-easy-being-green/
Locusts are always found where it’s warm, never where it’s cold, so it must be true!
Of course everything we do is caused by Global Warming. Without a sun to warm us, Earth would be a frozen ball with narry a human. The real question is what humans have to do with it, especially if there was enough Global Warming in biblical times (sans SUVs, etc.) to have the same plagues they say it’s getting warm enough to have again.
These scientists are demonstrating a complete lack of logical thought.
During the last half hour of BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme this morning, there was an item about the walls that surround the town of Ludlow in Britain. Parts of these walls, which have stood for hundreds of years, are in a bad way, and two sections collapsed during February
Mr Collin Richards, head of conservation and archaeology for Shropshire, is in no doubt as to the cause, saying “ … the climate change that has affected them over the last couple of years has wreaked so much damage.”
Just think. If there had been climate change in biblical times, Joshua could have brought down the walls of Jericho without the trumpets!