Honey, the Global Warming shrunk our kids

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

shrunk-kidsAnother day, another bizarre claim about global warming – this time a study which claims that global warming is making our children shorter.

According to a study performed by scientists from [Johns] Hopkins University and Bloomberg School of Medicine;

“El Niño is responsible for natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks worldwide. During the 1997–1998 El Niño, northern Peru endured extreme rainfall and flooding. Since short stature may occur as a result of undernutrition or repeated infections during childhood, both of which are highly prevalent during natural disasters, we sought to determine if the 1997–1998 El Niño had an adverse effect on stature and body composition a decade later. In 2008–2009, we measured height, weight, and bioimpedance in a random sample of 2,095 children born between 1991 and 2001 in Tumbes, Peru.

Results

Height-for-age increased by 0.09 SD/year of birth between 1991 and 1997 (P < 0.001), indicating overall improvements in health over time in the study area; however, this rate fell to 0.04 SD/year of birth during and shortly after El Niño, less than half the rate prior to El Niño (P = 0.046). Height shortfalls were even greater in children residing in households most likely to be flooded after El Niño. Any improvement over time was completely blunted and became negative in children living in households with flood likelihoods of ≥7% (P = 0.001). In the subset of 912 children with bioimpedance measurements, those born after the onset of El Niño had less lean mass (P < 0.001), whereas fat mass was unaffected (P = 0.48).

Conclusions

”Children born during and after 1997–1998 El Niño were on average shorter and had less lean mass for their age and sex than expected had El Niño not occurred. The effects of El Niño on health are long lasting and, given its cyclical nature, may continue to negatively impact future generations.”

The study: http://www.climatechangeresponses.com/content/1/1/7

Of course, if Peru had a modern, rich, industrial economy, perhaps the Peruvian people could afford enough food, so they wouldn’t suffer nutritional shortages when floodwater messed up the household cabbage patch. But this would require evil infusions of large scale commercial investment – an unlikely prospect, given the local Peruvian political climate.

 

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garymount
December 1, 2014 3:06 am

Why am I several inches taller than my twin brother ?

Reply to  garymount
December 1, 2014 3:20 am

Are you wearing heels?

The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley
Reply to  M Courtney
December 1, 2014 4:06 am

Only at weekends.

Reply to  M Courtney
December 1, 2014 7:54 pm

… when I go dancing.

Jimbo
Reply to  garymount
December 1, 2014 3:54 am

Diet?

Abstract
….Both men and women grew taller in milk- and potato-producing regions. Women’s heights were significantly reduced by the 1840s potato crisis, tuberculosis prevalence, and illegitimate birth, none of which significantly affected men’s heights….
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014498300907435

Tom in Florida
Reply to  Jimbo
December 1, 2014 5:26 am

I was rather small at the age of 14 so, wanting to be taller, I binged on extra milk and meat for about 4 years. I ended up at 6′ 1″ while all my brothers are around 5′ 10″. But then I more resemble my mother’s side of the family (German/Irish) while my shorter brothers more resemble my father’s side (Italian). Diet/genetics?

Reply to  garymount
December 1, 2014 10:40 am

because he is shorter than you….. 🙂

asybot
Reply to  dmacleo
December 1, 2014 10:28 pm

thanks dma lol. ( and also the Heels on weekends etc!) and to a later post by humourme , you didn’t.

Auto
Reply to  garymount
December 1, 2014 2:09 pm

An interesting study, but – I suggest – one that may not have captured all the variables. Local diseases: check. But . . .
Parental stature?
Political constraints?
Local migration, perhaps?
I am sure that other effects might be espoused.
Doesn’t make this bad [I’ve not reviewed the full paper] but the abstract does raise queries . . . . . . .
Might this be – “Send more grant money”? Maybe not.
May be not.
Auto.

hunter
December 1, 2014 3:20 am

Actually, the Abstract does not appear to blame global warming. Unless our climate obsessed friends now blame CO2 for El Nino’s. Which also would mean CO2 can travel back in time, since they have occurred for as long as the Pacific ocean has had its present geographic shape. I guess this is a question for Bob Tisdale, but could the case be made that El Nino events have actually weakened the past decade or so?

Jimbo
Reply to  hunter
December 1, 2014 4:04 am

Hunter,
See the paper’s conclusion HERE. They blame “Some investigators”.

Some investigators hypothesize that global warming will translate into more frequent El Niño episodes [50],[51] heightening the urgency of the global health issues consequential to weather events accompanying El Niño.
http://www.climatechangeresponses.com/content/1/1/7

hunter
Reply to  Jimbo
December 1, 2014 7:19 am

Well of course there is the acknowledgmenent of the CO2 devil……..

Mickey Reno
Reply to  Jimbo
December 1, 2014 7:54 am

The existence of the sentence “Some investigators hypothesize…” in the conclusion section can only be read as an editorial endorsement of those hypotheses, or even of the elevation of those hypotheses to theories.
Given that, the chain of implied causation here is simply amazing. Global warming causes more El Ninos. More El Ninos cause more Peruvian floods. More Peruvian floods cause increased malnutrition and disease. More malnutrition and disease causes Peruvian children to not grow quite as fast.
So, better water storage that could mitigate both floods and droughts is the answer? Let’s not forget about Peruvian children during non-El Nino drought years. Surely they could suffer malnutrition if crops are inhibited by drought, too, no? And what about in a perfect weather year, when an outbreak of some childhood disease bends the curve in a year they didn’t study? Omigod! We need better Peruvian doctors and nurses! We need a bigger Peruvian Child Protective Services budget!
Then the conclusion states “…it is imperative that we continue to explore the extent to which they [those slightly shorter Peruvian children] are affected to design prevention strategies and target aid and relief during future El Niño episodes.” Well, clearly the researchers want more money. But what prevention strategies are they talking about? More international trade in food stuffs? Carbon dioxide emission reductions? Better levees, dams and irrigation systems in Peru?
We need to reduce the funding to the NIH and NSF so that taxpayer money isn’t wasted on this kind of bulls**t science.

humourme
December 1, 2014 3:24 am

This paper doesnt say Global Warming shrunk kids. It says that El Nino did. The statistical tests look pretty reasonable and the causation makes sense. The link to global warming is quite tentative (” Some investigators hypothesize that global warming will translate into more frequent El Niño episodes” in the conclusion) and ends by saying we should do more to combat the effects of bad weather on poor children. It does the sceptic camp no good to brand such anodyne analysis and prescriptions as alarmist.

Jimbo
Reply to  humourme
December 1, 2014 4:08 am

humourme,
do you know what made El Ninos stronger in the past?

Crispin in Waterloo
Reply to  humourme
December 1, 2014 4:42 am

Humourme:
So they are advocating coping rather than ‘preventing’. That’s very sensible. One could as well make the same argument showing cold crop seasons reduce the availability of food with the same effect. Very reasonable. Real science. Who know food affected health??
The only thing I see wrong with the test is the statement that El Nino is a ‘cycle’. The idea that El Ninos will become more frequent is interesting. I wonder if they have some indication that they were less frequent during the Little Ice Age and more frequent during the MWP.

icouldnthelpit
Reply to  Crispin in Waterloo
December 1, 2014 5:34 am

[Wasted effort by a banned sockpuppet. Comment DELETED. -mod]

icouldnthelpit
Reply to  humourme
December 1, 2014 5:31 am

[Wasted effort by a banned sockpuppet. Comment DELETED. -mod]

climatologist
Reply to  humourme
December 1, 2014 7:59 am

There have always been and always will be el Ninos. Why the excitement?

Reply to  humourme
December 1, 2014 8:02 am

To me, this is the insidious part of the “global warming/climate change” advocacy.
The paper may not say “global warming” or even state “climate change”, but anything that happens in the world of weather gets an implied link to the “climate change” meme. If something is linked to “climate change” then it is linked to “global warming” which is linked to CAGW by C02. Doesn’t matter if it is a subtle linking or out right blatant, the inferred connection is there.
Another part of the insidiousness – a claim that the North Pole will be ice free for the first time in 50 million years goes around the world while the correction stating that it is a very normal occurrence that has happened numerous times in the past gets hidden in the back page of the newspaper.

Reply to  humourme
December 1, 2014 10:15 am

Since El Nino has been around well before that region was “settled” it is interesting that after the 98 one the growth rate should have dropped. If there is a real relationship rather then just coincidence. Did this one cause more associated misery then usual?
Diet would come to mind first and if crops failed after the event for some time then it is possible that growth is affected of course, but why this time and not at other times also? Did they cut down on hormone levels in meat around that time?
Perhaps the growth rate of Peruvian children accelerates after the age of 10-12 compared to the average growth rate from baby to adulthood. The before El Nino versus after El Nino 98 ages.
Boys in particular have this spurt from 14/15 on. Anything known about that for that region.
Looks like cherry picking results so we can go back to the funding board as there “could” be an AGW related issue here. To be sure we need a test that runs for at least 30 years. Which would mean that my job is secure till retirement, thank you sir/madam.

Auto
Reply to  outtheback
December 1, 2014 2:16 pm

outheback
“Which would mean that my job is secure till retirement, thank you sir/madam.”
Thank you.
I agree that – potentially – thus could be an outcome.
I am sure science is above money-grubbing of the sort suggested.
Isn’t it?
Auto

Thomas Englert
Reply to  humourme
December 1, 2014 10:41 am

How does this study explain the reduction in lean mass while at the same time body fat is not reduced significantly?
It seems to me that you have to be ingesting excess calories in order to maintain body fat given no change in physical activity. Is the El Nino causing a reduction in dietary protein, or does it cause increased laziness?

Thomas Englert
Reply to  humourme
December 1, 2014 10:42 am

How does this study explain the reduction in lean mass while at the same time body fat is not reduced significantly?
It seems to me that you have to be ingesting excess calories in order to maintain body fat given no change in physical activity. Is the El Nino causing a reduction in dietary protein, or does it cause increased laziness?

Thomas Englert
Reply to  Thomas Englert
December 1, 2014 10:44 am

Why does my comment appear twice when I only posted once?

Jimbo
December 1, 2014 3:26 am

Poverty makes you more likely to suffer from ill health and nutritional effects. Doh!
Same could be said for the cold.

Abstract – 2004
New Light on the “Dark Ages”
The Remarkably Tall Stature of Northern European Men during the Medieval Era
Richard H. Steckel
Based on a modest sample of skeletons from northern Europe, average heights fell from 173.4 centimeters in the early Middle Ages to a low of roughly 167 centimeters during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Taking the data at face value, this decline of approximately 6.4 centimeters substantially exceeds any prolonged downturns found during industrialization in several countries that have been studied. Significantly, recovery to levels achieved in the early Middle Ages was not attained until the early twentieth century. It is plausible to link the decline in average height to climate deterioration; growing inequality; urbanization and the expansion of trade and commerce, which facilitated the spread of diseases; fluctuations in population size that impinged on nutritional status; the global spread of diseases associated with European expansion and colonization; and conflicts or wars over state building or religion. Because it is reasonable to believe that greater exposure to pathogens accompanied urbanization and industrialization, and there is evidence of climate moderation, increasing efficiency in agriculture, and greater interregional and international trade in foodstuffs, it is plausible to link the reversal of the long-term height decline with dietary improvements.
http://ssh.dukejournals.org/content/28/2/211.short

Crispin in Waterloo
Reply to  Jimbo
December 1, 2014 4:47 am

They have not considered the effect of warfare on height. Napoleon famously reduced the average height of French men by 5 centimetres in just over a decade by conscripting every tall strapping young man and killing them in the battles or frozen wastes of Russia.
As we the Hip and Yip know from the 60’s, war is not good for children and other living things.

Samuel C Cogar
Reply to  Crispin in Waterloo
December 1, 2014 6:47 am

Yup, and the US is on track for a reduction in “average height” by the next census …. given the fact that that 20+- million new “shorty” illegal immigrants will then be “citizenized”.

DirkH
Reply to  Crispin in Waterloo
December 1, 2014 8:58 am

Crispin in Waterloo
December 1, 2014 at 4:47 am
“They have not considered the effect of warfare on height. ”
That’s a nice way to describe the swinging action of a Zweihänder sword.

Stephen Richards
Reply to  Jimbo
December 1, 2014 5:04 am

Yet another stupidly useless waste of taxpayer’s money. When will this sçàt stop ?

December 1, 2014 3:28 am

We have more natural disasters here Oz than almost anywhere in the world. Since moving here I have noticed far more people taller than me than anywhere else I have been, and I’ve been a lot of places. I am 192cm / 6′ 2″.
Obviously natural disasters cause taller people!

Mike T
Reply to  Jer0me
December 1, 2014 3:38 am

Jerome, if you are 192cm tall you are closer to 6’4”. Before I shrank, I was 191cm rounded to 6’3”. Alas, tall people have more to lose as age affects their spine so now I’m back to a measly 189cm. As for people shrinking due to the Little Ice Age, this appears to be borne out by the height of doorframes in Middle Ages homes in UK, which were a real chore for a visitor from Oz like me.

Jimbo
December 1, 2014 3:28 am

El Nino must have made Peruvian children into dwarfs back in the day. Oh the horror!

Abstract – August 2000
Thierry Corrège et al
Evidence for stronger El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Events in a Mid-Holocene massive coral
We present a 47-year-long record of sea surface temperature (SST) derived from Sr/Ca and U/Ca analysis of a massive Porites coral which grew at ~ 4150 calendar years before present (B.P.) in Vanuatu (southwest tropical Pacific Ocean). Mean SST is similar in both the modern instrumental record and paleorecord, and both exhibit El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) frequency SST oscillations. However, several strong decadal-frequency cooling events and a marked modulation of the seasonal SST cycle, with power at both ENSO and decadal frequencies, are observed in the paleorecord, which are unprecedented in the modern record.
Paleoceanography – Volume 15, Issue 4, pages 465–470, August 2000
http://tinyurl.com/ob443sz
———————
Nature Article – March 2003
Kim M. Cobb et al
El Niño/Southern Oscillation and tropical Pacific climate during the last millennium
…..The most intense ENSO activity within the reconstruction occurred during the mid-seventeenth century. Taken together, the coral data imply that the majority of ENSO variability over the last millennium may have arisen from dynamics internal to the ENSO system itself.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v424/n6946/abs/nature01779.html

johann wundersamer
Reply to  Jimbo
December 2, 2014 2:55 am

jimbo: Your ability to research the internet for adequate data.
but more: filter the threads topic for basic informations required.
Astounding. Thanks for documenting real ground.
Hans

December 1, 2014 3:35 am

When will it ever end. Height and weight depends on diet, breeding and such. Men from Kentucky couldn’t fight in the Civil War for the Drought in the early 1800s cause diseases and many lost their teeth to things like Scurvy, Discintary and such.
Thus, they lost their teeth which made things even worst for to be in the Civil War, one had to bite off the pre-measured gunpowder packets for their muskets. Thus Kentucky sat out the war.
When the US entered the first World War, some were captured and placed amongst the local population in a propaganda photo. It backfired. Do to inbreeding of white European races in the USA and better Diet, the US soldiers stood at least 12 to 18 inches taller than the local inbred German population.
To blame this on climate change is just another example of poor research, assumptions and of course, conclusions.
Show them to the door.
Paul Pierett

Ed
Reply to  Paul Pierett
December 1, 2014 7:56 am

That’s quite a difference, Paul. So compared to our 6-footers, the German men averaged 4’6″ to 5′ tall?

DirkH
Reply to  Ed
December 1, 2014 9:07 am

Last 3 generations here in Germany saw big gains in height, so yes, Germans around 1914 probably were pretty short on average.
Germany at that time had a population explosion, and, being densely populated, the Reich was running out of arable land – crops at that time had a much lower yield, and a lot of land was needed for feedstock.
So the Reich set up the Ukraine as a future grain source – ca. 1905 – ; and later, Hitler fantasized of Lebensraum im Osten, planning to colonize the slawic lands to the East with German settlers – undeterred by the fact they were already inhabited by someone else.
In the age before international trade with mega ships, food supply was a serious issue even for an upcoming industrial powerhouse like the Reich in 1914.

Dave Ward
December 1, 2014 3:42 am

But at least the world will smell nicer:
Could global warming make our flowers smell nine times sweeter?

Jimbo
December 1, 2014 3:44 am

Here is another tall story Or is that short?

Abstract
….Results showed that a greater number of older children were being buried at the later medieval sites and that the skeletal growth profiles of the medieval urban and rural children did not differ significantly. A comparison of the growth profiles of St. Helen-on-the-Walls (urban) and Spitalfields (industrial) showed that the Spitalfields children were up to 3 cm shorter than their later medieval counterparts….
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.10126/abstract

richard
December 1, 2014 3:45 am

Japanese population started to increase in height when they included a western diet.

The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley
Reply to  richard
December 1, 2014 4:10 am

Here in Britain, we are seeing young boys grow taller and young girls have bigger boobs. You can’t help but notice it…that boys are taller, I mean.

RH
Reply to  The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley
December 1, 2014 11:25 am

I thought that was due to the hormones in milk….the boobs I mean.

Bruce Cobb
December 1, 2014 3:45 am

The paper doesn’t specifically blame “global warming”, but it doesn’t need to. Notice the site is called “Climate Change Responses”. “Climate Change”, of course is shorthand for “manmade climate change”.

Climate Change Responses is an open access interdisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing exceptional research on ecological and evolutionary responses to climate change. The journal is especially interested in publishing ground-breaking work linking responses to environmental change across levels of biological organization, from individuals to ecosystems, and with an emphasis on species interactions.

December 1, 2014 3:48 am

Those of us who have seen a couple of 6 foot tall 14 year olds consume a large chicken, cooked for the whole family, will consider global warming a blessing.

Steve (Paris)
Reply to  Fernando Leanme
December 1, 2014 8:11 am

I have one of those at home too. Just a hair away from being taller than me, to his delight

asybot
Reply to  Steve (Paris)
December 1, 2014 10:41 pm

A couple of 6′ 14 year olds devouring one chicken, wow you are lucky I have ONE 14 year old 5’10” do that!

Jimbo
December 1, 2014 3:55 am

Look chaps this WUWT post on El Nino was a way for the authors to get quick funding. Just the hint of global warming makes their lives easier. Who can blame them. Here is their conclusion:

CONCLUSION
If adverse weather events affect a significant portion of young children of a country, then they have the potential to adversely affect the future of a community as a whole. Some investigators hypothesize that global warming will translate into more frequent El Niño episodes [50],[51] heightening the urgency of the global health issues consequential to weather events accompanying El Niño. Because children and those in lower SES levels are most vulnerable to the health and economic impacts of disasters [52], including those induced by El Niño, it is imperative that we continue to explore the extent to which they are affected to design prevention strategies and target aid and relief during future El Niño episodes.
http://www.climatechangeresponses.com/content/1/1/7

I have already shown how El Ninos were stronger in the past with less that 350ppm. So it might do the same again without any help from man.

Paper – June 2004
Helen V. McGregor
Western Pacific coral δ18O records of anomalous Holocene variability in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation
…..Our results show that the ENSO system has the potential for more extreme variability than that observed in the modern instrumental record. The reduced El Niño frequency and amplitude during the mid-Holocene, and a shift to strong El Niño events at 2.5-1.7 ka, is similar to the pattern observed in modeling and paleo-lake studies. However, the coral records for 2.5–1.7 ka show evidence for El Niño events more severe than the 1997-1998 event, and longer than the multi-year 1991–1994 event……
Geophysical Research Letters Vol 31, L11204,
doi:10.1029/2004GL019972
http://business.uow.edu.au/sydney-bschool/content/groups/public/@web/@sci/@eesc/documents/doc/uow057057.pdf
———————
Abstract – August 2000
Thierry Corrège et al
Evidence for stronger El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Events in a Mid-Holocene massive coral
We present a 47-year-long record of sea surface temperature (SST) derived from Sr/Ca and U/Ca analysis of a massive Porites coral which grew at ~ 4150 calendar years before present (B.P.) in Vanuatu (southwest tropical Pacific Ocean). Mean SST is similar in both the modern instrumental record and paleorecord, and both exhibit El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) frequency SST oscillations. However, several strong decadal-frequency cooling events and a marked modulation of the seasonal SST cycle, with power at both ENSO and decadal frequencies, are observed in the paleorecord, which are unprecedented in the modern record.
Paleoceanography – Volume 15, Issue 4, pages 465–470, August 2000
http://tinyurl.com/ob443sz
———————
Nature Article – March 2003
Kim M. Cobb et al
El Niño/Southern Oscillation and tropical Pacific climate during the last millennium
…..The most intense ENSO activity within the reconstruction occurred during the mid-seventeenth century. Taken together, the coral data imply that the majority of ENSO variability over the last millennium may have arisen from dynamics internal to the ENSO system itself.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v424/n6946/abs/nature01779.html
———————
Abstract – 11 Sep 2004
Bert Rein et al
A major Holocene ENSO anomaly during the Medieval period
Here, we present a high resolution marine El Niño flood record from Peru. A period of extreme drought without strong flooding occurred from A.D. 800–1250. Anomalous precipitation patterns characterized the entire Indo-Pacific ENSO domain, with dry events in the northern Arabian Sea and the mid-latitudes of both Americas, coinciding with wet periods in the Atlantic Cariaco Basin…..
Geophysical Research Letters – Volume 31, Issue 17, September 2004
DOI: 10.1029/2004GL020161

toorightmate
December 1, 2014 4:04 am

This finding is DIASTROUS:
for John Hopkins University and for Bloomberg School of Medicine.
Both institutions have now achieved ZERO credibility.

December 1, 2014 4:11 am

If it makes people shorter, then let’s start polluting away! Because it is not working by any stretch of the imagination.

David A
December 1, 2014 4:17 am

El Nino, La nina, at this point, “what difference does it make, I am still growing taller then my hair.

The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley
December 1, 2014 4:20 am
Jimbo
Reply to  The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley
December 1, 2014 4:38 am

The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley,
Is it just a coincidence that the BBC article is about UN climate negotiators meeting in Peru?
Here is the dire effect of global warming since the end of the Little Ice Age.

Paper
Global Warming and Secular Increase in Height
The relationship between human physical stature and climate at the end of the 17th century is examined and the argument is advanced that a circa 5 cm increase in the height of French adult men was brought about by the end of the “Little Ice Age”…….
http://econhist.userweb.mwn.de/globalwarming.pdf

asybot
Reply to  Jimbo
December 1, 2014 10:44 pm

In good old French fashion they finally didn’t have to “carry” the weight.

Editor
December 1, 2014 4:30 am

How does this compare with the dinosaurs who go bigger when the climate was warmer? I am 5′ 10″ my father was 5′ 6″ my son (who was born in 1995) is 6′ 2″
The only stunted development AGW is responsible for is the minds of the “scientists” who continually peddle this rubbish!

Tim
December 1, 2014 4:36 am

You have just got to wonder who is footing the bills for all these ‘determined outcome’ studies.

The Iconoclast
Reply to  Tim
December 1, 2014 4:42 am

They ain’t spendin’ their own money.

Chip Javert
Reply to  Tim
December 1, 2014 2:12 pm

…and they don’t have any adult supervision

Otteryd
December 1, 2014 4:51 am

I swear I saw a report in my paper (Telegraph – I get it for the crossword)that before too long, we will all be sort of brown coloured, the men having longer …. Erm …. Appendages and women having more “perky” ….. Erm …. thingies. I am sure it must have been peer-reviewed, but I fear I cannot give chapter and verse. Could have been Leviticus?

Dawtgtomis
Reply to  Otteryd
December 1, 2014 7:34 am

Tanning booths, appliances and cosmetic surgeries… I’d better call my broker and invest.

December 1, 2014 4:53 am

Reblogged this on gottadobetterthanthis and commented:

A good indicator that global warming is simply alarmism is the fact that it is said to be responsible for everything. While the statement here isn’t actually blaming global warming, it does pretend warmth caused during El Nino causes people to be shorter. Perhaps these people need some fossil fuel so they can run air conditioners. More importantly, they need petrol and a strong economy (and protected property rights and general freedoms) in order to be able to overall better their lives. Then they will be equipped to deal with mother nature as they see fit.
In general, global warming is blamed for most everything. http://dailysignal.com/2009/11/17/global-warming-ate-my-homework-100-things-blamed-on-global-warming/
Note, measured global warming is less than our ability to reliably measure temperature. Here is a more updated list with a note indicating how much warming there is on an average annual basis. http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/globalwarming2.html

Dawtgtomis
Reply to  Lonnie E. Schubert
December 1, 2014 7:21 am

This article is another example of acedemia looking right past policy and blaming nature for folks struggling in the third world.

Dawtgtomis
Reply to  Dawtgtomis
December 1, 2014 7:23 am

oops… academia

pat
December 1, 2014 5:01 am

and wouldn’t you know, right on schedule for Lima!
UN climate talks begin as global temperatures break records
BBC News-2 minutes ago
NOAA: 2014 is shaping up as hottest year on record
CNN – ‎Nov 30, 2014‎
Australia has hottest spring on record as temperatures soar
BBC News – ‎2 hours ago‎
Australia sweats over extreme hot weather
BBC News – ‎14 hours ago‎

Tim
Reply to  pat
December 1, 2014 6:04 am

CNN and BBC. Factual, trusted and fearless broadcasting as always. Fighting the good fight against global governance and anti-democracy elites attempting to dominate our civilization and subjugate our sovereignty. Gotta love ‘em.

sunderlandsteve
Reply to  pat
December 1, 2014 6:45 am

Once again this idea that we should be surprised that the warmest years are at the back end of a warming trend. If I were to save £100 per month for a year then reduced it to 1p per month for each consequent month every month would have a record balance, the rate at which the balance was increasing would have dropped enormously however. One might even say the rate of increase was statistically insignificant 😉

Billy Liar
Reply to  pat
December 1, 2014 7:19 am

They’re getting the announcements in before December takes the shine off the records.

December 1, 2014 5:22 am

“Some investigators hypothesize that global warming will translate into more frequent El Niño episodes..”
More frequent El Nino decreases the upper OHC causing longer term cooling. El Nino is a negative feedback (with a large overshoot) to low solar plasma forcing, and cooling from stratospheric volcanic aerosol events.

Admad
December 1, 2014 5:54 am

I’m 5 foot 10. I’m sure my 20 y.o. son (6 foot 3) would agree with this cr4p if stopped laughing long enough. As would his 19 y.o. best friend (6 foot 6). Lols.

David L. Hagen
December 1, 2014 6:12 am

Or the meme “Global warming has “obviously” increased average life expectancy in developed countries by ten years from 1950 to 2007″!
Correlation is NOT causation!
Contrast the change in life expectancy with dietary changes since the end of World War II
Change in average life expectancy in major developed countries
Similarly consider Japanese stature since 1950

Since 1870 there has been a secular change in the stature of the Japanese from roughly 5 feet tall in 1880 to the modern height in 1980 of roughly 5 feet 5 inches (that is averaging men and women). It is safe to say that little if any of this change in stature is due to a change in allele frequency. The rather obvious conclusion is that this change in stature is due to a change in diet from a largely starch (rice) based diet in the 1800’s to a modern diet rich in proteins and vegetables.

kenw
December 1, 2014 6:26 am

bring it on. Tall folks are inefficient, require more resources, bigger vehicles, heftier aircraft seats, more leg room and more food.
The dinosaurs were 1st……and it continues….

Bruce Cobb
December 1, 2014 6:44 am

“Climate Change” (manmade, of course) is the ultimate scapegoat for all things bad. It’s really no fifferent than how the gods being angry, or witches were blamed for bad things. Even haggis is “threatened”. Some might say good riddance, but still, it’s “threatened”.

John F. Hultquist
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
December 1, 2014 5:45 pm

Thanks for the “haggis” link. You had me worried. I notice part of the prize for winning the haggis eating contest is a bottle of whiskey – that being about the only thing not (yet) on the ‘warmlist’. Life is good.

patrick healy
December 1, 2014 6:47 am

Never mind about the relative length of our various appendages.
The really serious item on the block is the impending end of the world
Over at http://www.joannova.com.au the past aus chief scientist(?) Says the world will end on Thursday.
I hope you are not doing aIsything important like me such as golfing.

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  patrick healy
December 1, 2014 6:55 am

You left off the “e” in joanne: http://joannenova.com.au/

tom s
December 1, 2014 7:01 am

Sickening idiocy.

tom s
December 1, 2014 7:06 am

Food, protein. Yep, they help make bigger people. That’ll be $67.

Dawtgtomis
December 1, 2014 7:08 am

Their conclusion smells of ‘post hoc, ergo propter hoc’ argument

Billy Liar
December 1, 2014 7:16 am

The authors cleverly avoided any reference in the paper to actual heights at all. What is 0.05 SD in real money? Let’s say we’re talking about a 100 cm tall child, let’s also say the SD for children of that height is 5 cm; 0.05 SD is 2.5 mm. Is this the order of magnitude change we are talking about?
I guess I know why real heights are never mentioned in the paper. It all makes good work for the academic to do – whatever its real value to society.

Billy Liar
Reply to  Billy Liar
December 1, 2014 7:22 am

I wonder how they dealt with measurement error?

Robert W Turner
Reply to  Billy Liar
December 1, 2014 8:21 am

Not to mention the children born prior to the EL Nino event are all past puberty and nearly all full grown. The post El Nino children (1998-2001) are ages 13-16 and are just entering the final stages of growth when children often undergo most of their physical development, especially males. They should have consulted a 6th grade science class to design a proper study.

Robert W Turner
Reply to  Robert W Turner
December 1, 2014 8:40 am

Actually the post El Nino children were all pre-puberty at the time of the study, which is even worse. The years just prior to puberty are when people grow the least.

Alx
December 1, 2014 7:33 am

It’s interesting the height is presented in hundredths of Standard deviation. Is it so hard to say height is reduced by x amount of inches or centimeters? Is the statistical bubble so intoxicating and heady that having a relationship with reality is no longer necessary?

…due to the nature of the cross-sectional study design, nutritional measurements (height, weight, and body composition) were taken at only one time point for each child, and therefore, inferences cannot be made regarding the change in height across time at the individual level.

Yep I get it, get some numbers on some stuff, ignore related factors, ignore specific effects since statistical anomalies are more interesting and come up with some random speculation and conclusions.

…we do not have earlier information such as birth weight or any illness history prior to or during the 1997–1998 El Niño episode.

Well why would you need that, it would impede jumping to obvious conclusions. Do we really need statistical evidence to show in poor or un-industrialized areas of the globe, children’s health is negatively impacted during times of natural disaster? I do not see how knowing 0.09 SD/year buys those children anything. I hear war zones are not too good for children either. Let’s get some statistics on that.
Contrary to the myopic, this paper does indeed point fingers at climate change which has nothing to do with the negative impacts of natural disasters on children’s health. Otherwise why put it on a website called “ClimateChangeResponse” and explicitly state investigators tie worsening results to climate change in their conclusion? Rhetorical question, no answer needed.
Meanwhile if Climate change affects human height, then Japan is an example of the enormously positive affect climate change has. Sound ridiculous? Well of course, which is why tying the health impacts of natural disasters to climate change is lampooned here.

Steve Keohane
Reply to  Alx
December 1, 2014 7:51 am

Using Std. Dev. as a measure seems like an odd choice. In manufacturing anything within +/- 2 SD wasn’t worth looking at, we called it normal variation.

Gary Pearse
December 1, 2014 7:33 am

The hard part of science is drawing the conlusions. I see several saying they have done a good job and shouldn’t be put upon by sceptics:
“…to explore the extent to which they are affected to design prevention strategies and target aid and relief during future El Niño episodes.”
Do they actually think it is entirely due to El Nino episodes? It’s due to effects on nutrition due to disasters. Target aid and relief when necessary! They seem unaware that hurricanes are largely spawned during El Ninas and earthquakes, of which Peru has had some of the strongest there are, probably locally, worse than rain.
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/lanina/
” A significant relationship is found between the ENSO cycle and U.S. hurricane losse s, with La Niña years exhibiting much more damage. ”
And the Chimbote and Nasca earthquakes (Feb and Nov 1996) were 7.5 on the Richter scale and were accompanied by substantial damaging Tsunami. Yeah, let’s target all the disasters. Good study as far as it went but still worthy of sceptical criticism.

Jim G
December 1, 2014 7:34 am

I grew 2 inches during my sophomore year in college. Had not grown much at all since freshman year of high school. Beer and Jim Beam was what done it. Kids are smoking too much grass and not drinking enough.

LogosWrench
December 1, 2014 7:41 am

I love the smell of desperation in the morning. It smells like….victory.
Keep the inane studies coming alarmists it’s only making our point.

Curious George
December 1, 2014 7:49 am

Don’t worry. This particular effect of global warming is limited to Peru. To global Peru.

MrBungled
December 1, 2014 7:56 am

A certain popular nat. news network that I tend to watch has a health segment and the doc went on and on yesterday about how gullible warming and the link to testicular cancer and the like is very much the cause. Of course I was sitting there watching with my daughter…sigh. Unsure what disturbed me more the casual talk and direct linkage of global warming and mens private parts or just the fact that the resident doc was so convinced and alarmed of it!

Reply to  MrBungled
December 1, 2014 8:03 am

If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail.
He knows about testicles.
And so he talks of such with respect to the climate.

Resourceguy
December 1, 2014 8:25 am

…and the shrinkage begins at the brain hitting the science-related processes and awareness first.

Dawtgtomis
December 1, 2014 8:30 am

Did I miss the source of their information that natural disasters are increasing I cant really get that from this:
http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/pix/user_images/gav/historical_storms/Simplified_TSER_fiveyr_small.gif
Figure 1: Atlantic tropical storms lasting more than 2 days have not increased in number. Storms lasting less than two days have increased sharply, but this is likely due to better observations. Figure adapted from Landsea, Vecchi, Bengtsson and Knutson (2009, J. Climate)

Dawtgtomis
Reply to  Dawtgtomis
December 1, 2014 8:42 am
Chip Javert
Reply to  Dawtgtomis
December 1, 2014 2:25 pm

ROFLMAO – “…adjusted for missing records…” (AKA: we made this crap up).

tgmccoy
December 1, 2014 8:33 am

That’s it! I am going back to University complete my postgrad studies, and get a grant on my paper: “Male Pattern Baldness-and AGW/Climate change: we’re all going to dieee!!” (But there won’t be any males with hair first muahahah!!)
that sucker ought to be worth a cool half Mil $..

MattN
December 1, 2014 8:34 am

Did they draw this conclusion from a sample size of ONE YEAR (1998)?

Robert W Turner
December 1, 2014 8:37 am

Look at the ages of people in their study group. The pre-El Nino group are ages 23-17 and the post El Nino group is 16-13. They were 18-12 and 11-8 years of age respectively at the time of the study. So one group has entered puberty and has entered or finished the final stages of physical maturity whereas the younger group are still mostly pre-puberty and it just so happens that children grow the least just prior to puberty.
I just completely shredded the results of this study apart in 5 minutes but this passed peer-review? Science is being seriously abused these days.

oeman50
December 1, 2014 8:50 am

So the Watusi’s in equatorial Africa should be a lot shorter?

Jaakko Kateenkorva
December 1, 2014 12:36 pm

Contrary conclusion could be drawn at least in the Netherlands, but also elsewhere http://www.randalolson.com/wp-content/uploads/historical-median-male-height.png.

Bruce Cobb
December 1, 2014 12:44 pm

Wait, I thought that size didn’t matter. So confused.

Dawtgtomis
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
December 1, 2014 9:46 pm

Just measure in centimeters- You’ll get a bigger number.

asybot
Reply to  Dawtgtomis
December 1, 2014 10:54 pm

stop it you two, you are hard on key boards and I prefer to swallow my beer!

ROM
December 1, 2014 2:55 pm

About the only firm conclusion that can be derived from such prat reviewed pseudo science is that due to the internet, an increasingly wide range of the public are becoming aware that a whole section of the science industry has become totally infatuated with it’s own apparent cleverness but is becoming seriously demeaned and debased in the eyes of an increasingly cynical and disillusioned public.

tango
December 1, 2014 3:12 pm

IN australia our kids are getting taller IT must be because we are upside down or maybe eating too many chicken nuggets

Just Steve
Reply to  tango
December 1, 2014 4:43 pm

My high school basketball team starting lineup my junior year: 6’7″(me), 6’6″, 6’5″, 6’3″, 5’11″….from a rural community population 520 (my graduation class…46). Two other small town schools in our conference didn’t have a single player over 6’1″ on their roster, only one of the nine had a player over 6’3″.
Interesting thing, after my class (4 of the 5 starters listed, the 6’6″ player was a senior) our school only produced 2 more kids over 6’1″, which can probably be partially blamed on shrinking class sizes (I’m 58, so that was a while ago).
Too bad I wasn’t schooled in grant mining…..might have gotten a grant to study why our town’s kids were shrinking…..

December 1, 2014 4:27 pm

Don’t they behead people there too?

John F. Hultquist
December 1, 2014 5:30 pm

Just for the record, I am shorter now than I was in 1996. I also have a bit larger girth. Under the “business as usual” scenario of the IPCC it seems, if my model is correct and I live to 2070, I will be about the shape of a soccer ball. For that and my age, I’ll be famous!

Just Steve
Reply to  John F. Hultquist
December 1, 2014 5:35 pm

My wife told me I need to get “in shape”. I told her “round is a shape”.

lee
Reply to  Just Steve
December 1, 2014 9:42 pm

I’m the ‘all-round’ sportsman type.

GregK
December 1, 2014 5:47 pm

Severe rainfall and floods disrupt agricultural production in small rural villages.
Children from these rural villages born during the period of disrupted crops show signs of malnutrition.
And…?

Reply to  GregK
December 1, 2014 6:08 pm

Rainfall effects genetics on a decade scale due to “man made global warming” you see it’s all so crystal clear! why bother going to school.

Matt
December 2, 2014 10:27 am

I just tried to find a Mercedes Benz add that they used in print media about 20 years ago, but I failed.
It pictured a line-up of people of the day and their cars. On the one end, there was a very early model, probably late 1800s (first Benz 1880?) and a dude that looked about 1.50m short (tall?!) in some dorky Charly Chaplin-look-a-like outfit. And so it went on, with every new generation of cars, the car depicted was slightly bigger than the previous model, and so was the driver depicted with it. At the other end of the line up, there was a contemporary Mercedes S class (I believe), and a fairly tall dude to go with it…
The body armours on display in the museum at my local castle are so small, you can’t fit them on a ‘normal’ 12 year old European kid; makes you wonder how they conquered Europe and the rest of it… so arguably, we are too tall anyway.

Louis
December 2, 2014 1:24 pm

What would really shrink our kids would be to give in to the agenda of extreme environmentalists. If they are successful in making the cost of energy skyrocket, restricting land and water use, and forcing us all to become vegan, we will all shrink to the point that most of us will completely disappear.

TRG
December 2, 2014 5:30 pm

It’s some irony that they did a study on height in Peru. If you’ve ever been there, you could not help but notice that people are really, really short.

Johna Till Johnson
December 2, 2014 6:31 pm

Typo: “John” Hopkins University should be “Johns” Hopkins University. Actually The Johns Hopkins University, if you want to be precise.
[Done. Thank you. .mod]