Guest essay by Jim Steele
Director emeritus Sierra Nevada Field Campus, San Francisco State University and author of Landscapes & Cycles: An Environmentalist’s Journey to Climate Skepticism
Historically political failures seek scapegoats. Now such failures are commonly fed to uncritical thinkers and paranoid doomsayers as “global warming tragedies”.
A recent Siberian anthrax outbreak has reportedly killed ~2,000 reindeer and one child and is now being fed to a gullible public as evidence of global warming, as well as an example of the climate change plagues yet to come.
Despite the fact that early 20th century Siberian anthrax outbreaks had killed more than a million reindeer, earning anthrax the nickname the Siberian Plague, climate doomsayers are shamelessly blaming global warming for the reemergence of anthrax in Yamal.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/anthrax-outbreak-1.3707132
(Perhaps due to racism or lack of permafrost, climate alarmists ignore Zimbabwe’s 1978 anthrax outbreak affecting over 10,000 humans!)
Global warming alarmists similarly attempted to erroneously blame global warming for the extinction of the Golden Toad and other amphibians, when in reality the pet trade and researchers were spreading a novel chytrid fungus against which New World amphibians had not immunity.
http://landscapesandcycles.net/contrasting-good-and-bad-science–disease–climate.html
Blaming global warming stalled efforts by amphibian experts to prevent the chytrid’s spread, and inhibited captive breeding efforts that could have saved many now extinct species. I can only hope that similar climate change paranoia does not prevent more scientific interventions by more realistic epidemiologists.
Below are 3 more parsimonious explanations for the recent anthrax episode in Siberia.
#1 Alternative explanation: Reduced Vaccinations
In the early 20th century the USSR initiated a widespread vaccination program to end Anthrax (aka the Siberia Plague) to prevent historical epidemics that had devastated humans and reindeer during much colder times. However anthrax vaccinations are only good for one year and must be renewed every year. But such programs are costly.
Thus as reindeer deaths approached zero due to vaccinations, the Russian government deemed the situation under control and the vaccination program was curtailed. But according to Yamal’s governor, a horrible mistake was made. “Russia continued vaccinating the neighboring regions, such as Yurga, Komi, and Nenets, but for some reason it was decided that Yamal, with the largest herds in the world, did not need to vaccinate its reindeer.”
Should anyone be surprised by the re-emergence of anthrax back to pre-vaccination historical levels in the Yamal region?
https://rbth.com/longreads/siberian_plague/
#2 Alternative explanation: Overgrazing
Anthrax is a bacterium that naturally lives in the soil. Overgrazing increases contact with the bacteria and contribute to outbreaks.
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/16563/canadian-anthrax-outbreak-worst-on-record
Scientists report, “Anthrax outbreaks often occur following heavy rains, which can push long-hidden spores into new, more accessible grazing locations, or drought, when animals graze closer to the contaminated soil.”
Likewise in the recent Russian outbreak scientists bemoaned, “The excess reindeer population is another problem. More than 700,000 reindeer live in the Yamal region – 44 percent of Russia’s total herd. Scientists say that the region’s pastures are big enough only for 100-150,000 animals.
#3 Alternative explanation: Fallout from “secret” Russian bioweapons facilities
Despite signing the 1972 agreement to end bioweapon production, the government of the Soviet Union had an active bioweapons program that included the production of hundreds of tons of weapons-grade anthrax after this period. On 2 April 1979, some of the over one million people living in Sverdlovsk (now called Ekaterinburg, Russia), about 850 miles east of Moscow, were exposed to an accidental release of anthrax from a biological weapons complex located near there. At least 94 people were infected, of whom at least 68 died.
Extensive cleanup, vaccinations, and medical interventions managed to save about 30 of the victims. Extensive cover-ups and destruction of records by the KGB continued from 1979 until Russian President Boris Yeltsin admitted this anthrax accident in 1992.
To support the cover-up story, Soviet medical and legal journals published articles about an outbreak in livestock that caused GI anthrax
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthrax
At a summit meeting with President George Bush in February 1992, Yeltsin told Bush that he agreed with U.S. accusations regarding Soviet violation of the 1972 biological weapons convention, that the Sverdlovsk incident was the result of an accident at a Soviet biological warfare installation, and promised to clean up this problem. In a May 27th interview, Yeltsin publicly revealed what he had told Bush in private:
“We are still deceiving you, Mr. Bush. We promised to eliminate bacteriological weapons. But some of our experts did everything possible to prevent me from learning the truth. It was not easy, but I outfoxed them. I caught them red-handed. I found two test sites. They are inoculating tracts of land with anthrax, allowing wild animals to go there and observing them…”
http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB61/
I remain flabbergasted by the narrow-minded gullibility and blindness of global warming alarmists who attribute climate change to anthrax. Despite hundreds of years of documented natural anthrax outbreaks, and despite undeniable evidence of Russian bioweaponry development of anthrax and its careless disposal, alarmists now believe any recent anthrax outbreaks must be due to global warming.
Jim Steele is author of Landscapes & Cycles: An Environmentalist’s Journey to Climate Skepticism
You’re right.
Aww.. Here I was thinking global warming killed anthrax.. [snif]
My apologies for a hastily written reversed phrase. Indeed it should have read “attriibute the anthrax outbreak to climate change”
Only four alternative hypotheses? I am reasonably sure the commenters on this site will come up with more.
#4 Recent warming has indeed defrosted some land that has remained frozen since 1941 outbreak. That proves that it was AT LEAST AS WARM in 1941 in Yamal as it is today.
Even while citing such evidence as being linked to “global warming” ( while regional may be a more justifiable claim ) they fail too see what it implies: the current warming is not exceptional and it was just as warm in the middle of the last century before CO2 emissions are claimed to have been a major influence.
It’s like Viking farms in Greenland emerging from the ice, it shows temperatures were at least as warm back then.
Greg, brilliant!
Agreed
A Russian journalist said reports of anthrax outbreaks are timed for impact on the government budgetary cycle.
https://rclutz.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/anthrax-russia-global-warming/
Some of the new diseases entered the atmosphere through biological research with open end though they say it is closed end.
Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy
The global warming alarmists have always amazed me with how fixated they are on “their” truth. I can only think that they are somehow handed some kind of award or reward for believing the way they do, so that they are besotted and think themselves superior for “knowing” what they think they know. It therefore becomes the all-important ticket to the elite club – They think they know, therefore they are (valuable/important/the-best-of-the-best/whatever-toots-their-horn)..
Another item to add to the ever growing list of things that have been claimed to have been caused by global warming:
http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm
A complete list of things caused by global warming
Apologies for a temporary delay in updating the dead link list
AIDS, Afghan poppies destroyed, African holocaust, aged deaths, poppies more potent, Africa devastated, Africa in conflict, African aid threatened, aggressive weeds, Air France crash, air pockets, air pressure changes, airport farewells virtual, airport malaria, Agulhas current, Alaskan towns slowly destroyed, Al Qaeda and Taliban Being Helped, allergy increase, allergy season longer, alligators in the Thames, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), anaphylactic reactions to bee stings, ancient forests dramatically changed, animals head for the hills, animals shrink, Antarctic grass flourishes, Antarctic ice grows, Antarctic ice shrinks, Antarctic sea life at risk, anxiety treatment, algal blooms, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Arctic in bloom, Arctic ice free, Arctic ice melt faster, Arctic lakes disappear, Arctic tundra lost, Arctic warming (not), a rose by any other name smells of nothing, asteroid strike risk, asthma, Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, atmospheric circulation modified, attack of the killer jellyfish, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, Baghdad snow, Bahrain under water, bananas grow, barbarisation, bats decline, beer and bread prices to soar, beer better, beer worse, beetle infestation, beef shortage, bet for $10,000, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billion homeless, billions face risk, billions of deaths, bird loss accelerating, bird populations dying, bird strikes, bird visitors drop, birds confused, birds decline (Wales), birds driven north, birds face longer migrations, birds on long migrations threatened, birds return early, birds shrink(Aus), birds shrink (USA), bittern boom ends, blackbirds stop singing, blackbirds threatened, Black Hawk down, blizzards, blood contaminated, blue mussels return, borders redrawn, bluetongue, brains shrink, brewers droop, bridge collapse (Minneapolis), Britain one big city, Britain Siberian, Britain’s bananas, British monsoon, brothels struggle, brown Ireland, bubonic plague, Buddhist temple threatened, building collapse, building season extension, bushfires, butterflies move north, butterflies reeling, butterfly saved, carbon crimes, caribou decline, Cambodian sex trade fuelled, camel deaths, cancer, cancer deaths in England, cannibalism, cataracts, cats more amorous, caterpillar biomass shift, cave paintings threatened, chagas disease, childhood insomnia, children’s mental health, chocolate shortage, Cholera, circumcision in decline, cirrus disappearance, civil unrest, cloud increase, clownfish get lost, coast beauty spots lost, cockroach migration, cod go south, coffee threatened, coffee berry borer, coffee berry disease, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells, cold spells (Australia), colder waters (Long Island), cold wave (India), cold weather (world), cold winters, computer models, conferences, conflict, conflict with Russia, consumers foot the bill, coral bleaching, coral fish suffer, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink, coral reefs twilight, cost of trillions, cougar attacks, crabgrass menace, cradle of civilisation threatened, creatures move uphill, crime increase, crocodile sex, crocodiles driven from water, crops devastated, crop failures increase, cross-breeding, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, cryptococcal disease, curriculum change, cyclones (Australia), damselflies forced back to UK, danger to kid’s health, Darfur, Dartford Warbler plague, daylight increase, deadly virus outbreaks, death rate increase (US), death rate drop, deaths to reach 6 million, decades of progress at risk, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, depression, desert advance, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, dig sites threatened, disasters, diseases move north, diving reefs closed, dog disease, dozen deadly diseases – or not, drought, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt, dust doubles, earlier pollen season, Earth axis tilt, Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth crumbling, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth light dimming, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth spins faster, Earth to explode, earth upside down, earthquakes, earthquakes redux, El Niño intensification, end of the world as we know it, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis, English villages lost, equality threatened, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing, eutrophication, everyplace hit hardest, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (apes, human, civilisation, koalas, lizards, logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly, cod, penguins, pikas, polar bears, possums, walrus, tigers, toads, turtles, pandas, penguins, plants, ladybirds, rhinoceros, salmon, trout, wild flowers, woodlice, a million species, half of all animal and plant species, mountain species, not polar bears, barrier reef, leaches, salamanders, tropical insects, flowers) experts muzzled, extreme changes to California, fading fall foliage, famine, farmers benefit, farmers go under, farm output boost, farming soil decline, fashion disaster, fever, figurehead sacked, fir cone bonanza, fires fanned in Nepal, fish bigger, fish catches drop, fish downsize, fish deaf, fish feminised, fish get lost, fish head north, fish lopsided, fish shrinking, fish stocks at risk, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, flesh eating disease, flies on Everest, flood patterns change, floods, floods of beaches and cities, flood of migrants, flood preparation for crisis, flora dispersed, Florida economic decline, flowers in peril, flowers wilt, flying squirrels move up, fog increase in San Francisco, fog decrease in San Francisco, food poisoning, food prices rise, food prices soar, food production increased, food safety affected, food security threat (SA), football team migration, forest decline, forest expansion, foundations threatened, foundations increase grants, frog with extra heads, frosts, frostbite, frost damage increased, fungi fruitful, fungi invasion, fungi rot the world, games change, Garden of Eden wilts, geese decline in Hampshire, genetic changes, genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, geysers imperiled, giant icebergs (Australia), giant icebergs (Arctic), giant oysters invade, giant pythons invade, giant squid migrate, gingerbread houses collapse, glacial earthquakes, glacial retreat, glacier grows (California), glaciers on Snowden, glacier wrapped, glass melts, global cooling, glowing clouds, golf course to drown, golf Masters wrecked, grain output drop (China), grain output stagnating (India), grandstanding, grasslands wetter, gravity shift, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, great tits cope, greening of the North, Grey whales lose weight, Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, haggis threatened, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, health affected, health of children harmed, health risks, health risks (even more), heart deaths, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes (Australia), heat waves, hedgehogs bald, hibernation affected, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, homeless 50 million, home runs, hornets, human development faces unprecedented reversal, human fertility reduced, human health risk, human race oblivion, human rights violations, hurricanes, hurricane reduction, hurricanes fewer, hurricanes more intense, hurricanes not, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths, hyphthermia deaths, ice age, ice hockey extinct, ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, icebergs, ice sheet tipping point, illegal immigration, illness and death, inclement weather, India drowning, infrastructure failure (Canada), indigestion, industry threatened, infectious diseases, inflation in China, insect explosion, insect invasion, insurance premium rises, Inuit displacement, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, invasion of alien worms, invasion of Antarctic aliens, invasion of Asian carp, invasion of cane toads, invasion of caterpillars, invasion of cats, invasion of crabg
rass, invasion of herons, invasion of jellyfish, invasion of king crabs, invasion of lampreys, invasion of midges, invasion of pine beetles, invasion of rats (China), invasion of slugs, island disappears, islands sinking, Italy robbed of pasta, itchier poison ivy, Japan’s cherry blossom threatened, jellyfish explosion, jets fall from sky, Kew Gardens taxed, kidney stones, killer cornflakes, killing us, kitten boom, koalas leaves inedible, koalas under threat, krill decline, lake empties, lake shrinking and growing, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, large trees decline, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful, lawyers’ income increased (surprise surprise!), lawyers want more, legionnaires’ surge, lives lost, lizards super intelligent, lives saved, lobsters grow, Loch Ness monster dead, locust plagues suppressed, low oxygen zones threaten sea life, lush growth in rain forests, Lyme disease, Major vegetation shifts, Malaria, Malaria decline, malnutrition, mammoth dung melt, mammoth ivory bonanza, manatees battle, mango harvest fails, Maple production advanced, Maple syrup shortage, marmots fatter, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, Meaching (end of the world), Meat eating to stop, Mediterranean rises, megacryometeors, Melanoma, Melanoma decline, mental health decline, mental illness, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, methane runaway, melting permafrost, Mexican climate migrant flood, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migratory birds huge losses, microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, milk production lost, minorities hit, monkeys at risk, monkeys on the move, Mont Blanc grows, monuments imperiled, moose dying, more bad air days, more research needed, mortality increased, mosquitoes adapting, mountain (Everest) shrinking, mountaineers fears, mountains break up, mountains green and flowering, mountains taller, mortality lower, Mubarak fall, murder rate increase, musk ox decline, Myanmar cyclone, narwhals at risk, narwhals suffocate, National Parks damaged, National security implications, native wildlife overwhelmed, natural disasters quadruple, neurological diseases, new islands, next ice age, NFL threatened, Nile delta damaged, noctilucent clouds, no effect in India, Northwest Passage opened, nuclear plants bloom, oaks dying, oaks move north, obesity, oblivion, ocean acidification, ocean acidification faster, ocean dead spots, ocean dead zones unleashed, ocean deserts expand, ocean salt extremes, ocean oxygen crisis, ocean waves speed up, Olympic Games to end, opera house to be destroyed, outdoor hockey threatened, owls turn brown, oxygen depletion zones, oyster herpes, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise, peat bogs problem, peat bogs no problem, penguin chicks frozen, penguin chicks smaller, penguins in the dark, penguin populations devastated, penguins replaced by jellyfish, penguins sex lives affected, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, pets in danger, phenology shifts, pines decline, pirate population decrease, pirates run rampant, plankton blooms, plankton plummeting, plankton wiped out, plants lose protein, plants march north, plants move uphill, polar bears aggressive, polar bears cannibalistic, polar bears deaf, polar bears drowning, polar bears fewer cubs, polar tours scrapped, pollination halved, porpoise astray, profits collapse, psychiatric illness, psychological effects, puffin decline, pushes poor women into prostitution, rabid bats, radars taken out, rail network threatened, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rainforest destruction, rape wave, refugees, reindeer endangered, reindeer larger, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, respiratory diseases worsen, rice less fragrant, rice production fall, rice threatened, rice yields crash, rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, river flow impacted, river rerouted, rivers raised, road accidents, roads wear out, robins rampant, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, rooftop bars, Ross river disease, Russia under pressure, salinity reduction, salinity increase, Salmonella, salmon stronger, sardine run unpredictable, satellites accelerate, Schmallenberg virus, school closures, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, sea snot, seals mating more, seismic activity, sewer bills rise, severe thunderstorms, sex change, sexual dysfunction, sexual promiscuity, shark attacks, sharks booming, sharks hybridise, sharks moving north, sheep change colour, sheep shrink, shop closures, short-nosed dogs endangered, shrimp sex problems, shrinking ponds, shrinking sheep, shrinking shrine, Sidney Opera House wiped out, ski resorts threatened, slavery, skinks impacted, slow death, smaller brains, smog, snowfall decrease, snowfall increase, snowfall heavy, snow thicker, soaring food prices, societal collapse, soil change, soil subsidence, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, soybean crop to drop, space junk increase, space problem, spectacular orchids, spider danger in UK, spider bites to increase, spiders getting bigger, spiders invade Scotland, squid aggressive giants, squid larger, squid population explosion, squid tamed, squirrels reproduce earlier, starfish sperm eaten by parasites, stingray invasion, storm damage costs rise, storms wetter, stratospheric cooling, street crime to increase, subsidence, suicide, sunset displaced, swordfish in the Baltic, Tabasco tragedy, taxes, tea flavour change, tectonic plate movement, teenage prostitution, terrorists (India), thatched cottages at risk, threat to peace, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tigers eat people, tigers drown, tomatoes rot, tornado outbreak, tourism increase, toxic bacteria, toxic seaweed, trade barriers, trade winds weakened, traffic jams, transport snarl, transportation threatened, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed, tree growth faster, trees grow too fast, trees in trouble, trees less colourful, trees more colourful, trees lush, trees on Antarctica, treelines change, tropics expansion, tropopause raised, truffle shortage, truffles down, truffles increase, turtles crash, turtle feminised, turtles lay earlier, UFO sightings, UK coastal impact, UK Katrina, vampire bats, Venice flooded, volcanic eruptions, volcanoes awakened in Iceland, walnuts threatened, walrus pups orphaned, walrus stampede, walruses come ashore, wars over water, wars sparked, wars threaten billions, wasps, water bills double, water shortage to increase vegetarianism, wave of natural disasters, waves bigger, weather out of its mind, weather patterns awry, weather patterns last longer, Western aid cancelled out, West Nile fever, whale beachings, whales lose weight, whales move north, whales wiped out, wheat rust in Syria, wheat yields crushed in Australia, wild boars thrive, wildfires, wind shift, wind reduced, winds stronger, winds weaker, wine – Australian baked, , wine industry damage (California), wine industry disaster (US), wine – more English, wine – no more French , wine – England too hot, wine -German boon, wine passé (Napa), wine – Scotland best, wine stronger, winters in Britain colder, winter in Britain dead, witchcraft executions, wolverine decline, wolverines vanish, wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, women cheat on vacation, workers laid off, World at war, World War 4, Yellow fever, zebra mussel threat, zoonotic diseases.
and all on 0.006 deg C per year!
Advice of any omissions (with sources) or broken links is welcome at warmlist@numberwatch.co.uk
Note: All links were live at time of posting. Inevitably some will disappear, particularly from Yahoo News.
Thanks to correspondents for additional entries; especially, as always, Our Man in Puerto Rico. Also, thanks to “Scraperguy” for the script to form the following:
The dead link collection
Acne, Africa hit hardest, African summer frost, agricultural land increase, Alaska reshaped, anxiety, Arctic tundra to burn, atmospheric defiance, bananas destroyed, beer shortage, bird distributions change, blizzards, boredom, brain eating amoebae, business opportunities, business risks, British gardens change, budget increases, cardiac arrest, cataracts, challenges and opportunities, cloud stripping, cremation to end, damages equivalent to $200 billion, dermatitis, desert life threatened, diarrhoea, disappearance of coastal cities, Dolomites collapse, drought in distant regions, drowning people, early marriages, early spring, Earth spinning out of control, Earth wobbling, evolution accelerating, extinctions (bats, pigmy possums, koalas, turtles, orang-utan, elephants, tigers, gorillas, whales, frogs,) fainting, fish catches rise, flames stoked, footpath erosion, glacial growth, global dimming, god melts, Gore omnipresence, Great Lakes drop, harmful algae, hazardous waste sites breached, high court debates, HIV epidemic, human health improvement, ice shelf collapse, jet stream drifts north, lake and stream productivity decline, lightning related insurance claims, little response in the atmosphere, lost $350 billion, Lyme disease, marine dead zone, Maple production advanced, mental illness (Alberta), migration difficult (birds), mountains melting, mudslides, oceans noisier, oyster diseases, ozone loss, Pacific dead zone, plankton destabilised, plankton loss, plant viruses, polar bears starve, psychosocial disturbances, popcorn rise, rainfall reduction, riches, rivers dry up, rockfalls, ruins ruined, skin cancer, smelt down, snowfall reduction, stick insects, stormwater drains stressed, teenage drinking, terrorism, tree beetle attacks, trees could return to Antarctic, tree growth increased, tsunamis, tundra plant life boost, uprooted – 6 million, Vampire moths, violin decline, walrus displaced, war, war between US and Canada, water scarcity (20% of increase), water stress, water supply unreliability, weeds, white Christmas dream ends, wine – harm to Australian industry, World bankruptcy, World-famous places threatened, World in crisis, World in flames,
Thank you RAH. This list has amazed me from the start – it’s a real OMG moment when one sees it for the first time. A lot of effort has gone into compiling it and keeping it up to date and it is staggering. Again, thank you.
Yes, its amazing that they used to run folks out of town who tried to sell snake oil that cured a long list of things.
Now, we elect them.
Caligula Jones, agreed. Another of the things I find so surprising about all this is where’s the outrage? Everyone’s been hoodwinked, dumbed-down, doped up on additives and poisons in the food chain and kept hypnotized in front of their television sets – yet it’s not holding. People have stopped believing. The core true believers now need rent-a-mobs and trolls have to pretend to be more than one person.
The anger is slow in coming, but it is coming. The huge array of nonsense stories of many, many supposed catastrophes in so many areas is a weight all of its own. It’s not a straw that will break the camel’s back but mountains of straws!
Now it’s anthrax.
By the way, Jim Steele, thank you for an excellent article.
I have come to equate the moniker “Environmentalist”
with “Social Justice Warrior”. They are just 2 sides of the same counterfeit coin.
Anthrax occasionally rears it’s head in farm land, from West Australia in 1994, it was found near Walpole.
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/livestock-biosecurity/anthrax
First found in NSW in the 19th Century: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/52312/Anthrax.pdf
yeah, and scrapie in sheep leading to foot n mouth in SA and Vic in 1800s n earlier 1900 years.
that would have come out from UK n Scotland with first settlers
I believe that certain old game and cattle transport trails in usa keep the odd outbreak of anthrax alive in usa also, not sure what states think oregon or montana? from memory, its a long time since I read it.
Yamal, was that not where Dr. Mann got his data for the “hockey stick” graph? I would blame Dr Mann.
Another option. Hides, trading hides and drums and other animal skins is referred to by the CDC.
http://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/specificgroups/animal-workers/hides-drums.html
Option 2 looks most likely to be the cause of the outbreak killing so many animals
Please stop confusing us all with facts, Jim!
Eric holthaus claims he was even more scared after “talking to scientists”. 😀
The “diseases trapped in ice” is a decades old scare story. Val Kilmer was in an awful movie about such some years ago.
Maybe Holthaus’ “scientist” was the director of that movie
In my time, we had
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_from_Another_World
1951 in black and white
🙂 yay were’nt the old movies soooo goood even when they were bad:-)
there was this one about Ants..not giant ones
clever ones
they munched into people, opening segment showed a hand in a field with little holes in the palm..
anyone know what pic that was???
We have to invent possible secret Russian bio war experiments rather than accept the temperatures have been high, the permafrost is melting and that corpses from past out breaks have thawed?
This is a well known vector for anthrax in the region and all Russian news reports ascribe the outbreak to contamination from this sort.
http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/8482/16451?trendmd-shared=1
Thank you for admitting that it used to be warmer, that the permafrost exists where it once did not. Henceforth, you can stop whining about global warming.
It’s not “possible” or “secret”. The existence of such weapons is well known, and the fact that some are unaccounted for is also well known and documented. While it’s not the most likely scenario, it’s like saying “this guy was eaten by an aligator” in Florida. It’s not an everyday occurrence, but it’s far from fantasy. That being said, I think the essay would be stronger without that section due to your very reaction.
The drop in vaccinations is far and away the most likely cause, likely exacerbated by overpopulation. Trying to find a patient zero from a disease native to the region is looking for a needle in a haystack.
However, even the frozen graves suggestion doesn’t say anything about global warming. After all, it is weather.
Direct quote from Boris Yeltsin …
How does that translate into “We have to invent possible secret Russian bio war experiments …” in your mind?
Only a closed mind can be perfectly comfortable ignoring well-documented historical facts and replacing them with hysterical, wild-eyed global warming speculation.
Regarding your flabbergastedness, (if that is a word), surely the aim of the alarmists is to spresd alarm everywhere at every opportunity.
I suppose they have to do something to occupy themselves, otherwise they might have to go and find a real job, although at the moment I can’t think of anything suitable for them to do.
The British tested Anthrax bombs in the usual testing ground (Scottish Highlands an Islands) in 1942. Wikipedia covers the story quite well.
Gruinard Island
What’s really interesting that a virulent strain was used and that the island was eventually decontaminated.
The island has been used as sheep grazing since.
Evidence of global warming is that as the decades march on, I seem to get more fluff in my navel.
I guess that is proof enough, Olaf. You need to write that up and submit it to Nature. ;o)
+100
Guess I’ll just dig out the fluff and post it to them.. 😉
Um, how did a 75 year old carcass end up causing a recent Yamal outbreak? Are they trying to tell us that the permafrost increased after 1940?
I know, I know…It’s worse than they thought even if they never thought.
You see, the melting carcass is a proof of global warming, but the freezing carcass is some anecdotal evidence for local fluctuation.
There, I fixed it for you! /sarc.
(frankly I do believe in some warming, what I dont believe is eager anecdotal DAGW attribution of random events)
“We promised to eliminate bacteriological weapons. But some of our experts did everything possible to prevent me from learning the truth.”
No different here, as the black “intelligence” establishments are essentially an untouchable separate government. Congress once asked an “intelligence” expert just how many sub agencies existed in that area and his reply was that they are so secret that “only God knows”. Then there is this that would indicate that those secret services may have more to do with “running” the country than supposed:
Jesse Ventura, the governor of Minnesota at the time, soon after being elected, said 23 CIA agents were waiting for him in a basement conference room. He claimed the agents’ questions focused how he campaigned for office, or as Ventura writes “how had the independent wrestler candidate pulled this off?” CIA Spokesman George Little confirmed the event in a written statement, but said that “on occasion CIA officers meet with senior state government officials, as they did in this case, to discuss issues of mutual interest.” although a senate intelligence committee member had never heard of this happening.
Considering, I would be very surprised if the Russians had really fully cleaned this up….
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2008/01/03/jessecia
Once humans create a witch, it gets blamed for everything.
How some can lie about issues and get away with it is beyond me! Don’t they realize that the public has access to information today that wasn’t available just a few years ago.
Manipulators of every stripe believe they are superior of mind and the rest of us are dumb. What they don’t see, and refuse to look at, is that we are waking up. They examine other ways of shouting “Wolf! Wolf!” whereas perhaps they ought to be scouting out ways to an exit point and getting their passports in order.
Trouble is, information has little to do with it. Belief trumps science every time in the human psyche. Most people have neither the time nor inclination to dig into the science, including the headline climate “scientists”.
We had an outbreak of anthrax in southern Sweden this summer, undoubtedly due to the fact that we haven’t had any permafrost here for 11,000 years.
And no, the primary source of the outbreak hasn’t been located, and no the vector is unknown, possibly moose or insects?
It has been very dry (but not particularly warm), so one rather plausible theory is that overgrazing have caused animals to ingest infected soil. Note that anthrax spores are known to be able to survive for very long periods in soil without any permafrost.
Livestock On-Farm Biosecurity Information Guide
Livestock diseases, including anthrax, are constantly monitored. These diseases are nothing new.
http://www.ontlpc.ca/pdfs/downloads/olpc-livestock_web.pdf
Can cause much harm to humans and animals.
Plenty of online information about this subject but something urbanites probably know little or nothing about them. So makes for sensational reporting.
Biosecurity is about preventing and or controlling diseases.
Army War Museum, Oct.25, 2012
War Surgery, 1914-18
Scroll down to:
Heavy bacterial contamination of soil.
http://www.nam.ac.uk/whats-on/lunchtime-lectures/video-archive/war-surgery-1914-18
When soil is disturbed or exposed, infections from soil borne pathogens can occur.
This information goes back 100 years. Nothing new about these kinds of soil borne infections happening.
It’s been a tough week for reindeer. In Norway over 300 were killed in a lightning strike. Or maybe multiple.
http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/57c436845124c99c73acf3ee-800/ap-lightning-strike-kills-more-than-300-reindeer-in-norway.jpg
http://www.livescience.com/55916-why-reindeer-killed-by-lightning.html