Michael Bastasch | Energy Editor 2:48 PM 11/19/2018 | Energy
The New York Times suggested future global warming would be worse than the plagues unleashed on Egypt in the Bible’s Old Testament.
“In Exodus, the plagues came one at a time. In the future, climate crises might arrive in packs,” The NYT’s climate team tweeted Monday, promoting an article about a global warming study.
In Exodus, the plagues came one at a time. In the future, climate crises might arrive in packs. https://t.co/j0oTDdUDIs
— NYT Climate (@nytclimate) November 19, 2018
In the book of Exodus, God unleashed 10 plagues upon Egypt until the pharaoh agreed to Moses’ demand he let the enslaved Israelites leave. The plagues included locusts, turning water into blood and death to first-born Egyptian sons.
The NYT’s Twitter account was promoting an article published Monday on a study that claimed “some tropical coastal areas of the planet, like the Atlantic coast of South and Central America, could be hit by as many as six crises at a time” by 2100.
Lead author Camilo Mora and 22 fellow researchers found claim to have found “traceable evidence for 467 pathways by which human health, water, food, economy, infrastructure and security have been recently impacted by climate hazards,” including heat waves, droughts and storms.

Mora’s study claims “the world’s population will be exposed concurrently to the equivalent of the largest magnitude in one of these hazards if emissions are aggressively reduced,” but “three if they are not.”
Mora told The NYT it’s “like a terror movie that is real.” (RELATED: Jerry Brown Is ‘Not Correct’ About California Wildfires, Scientist Says)
The study’s alarming claims are only made possible with the help of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s controversial “business as usual” scenario.
RCP8.5 is the IPCC’s “nightmare” scenario where warming reaches more than 8 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. It’s with this scenario, and pretty much only this scenario, that scientists are able to make alarming future projections about natural disasters.
However, scientists are becoming increasingly skeptical of using RCP8.5 as a “business as usual” scenario.
Two University of British Columbia scientists published a study in 2017 calling into question scientists’ use of RCP 8.5. The scientists found that RCP 8.5 modeled a future in which historical trends reverse, and the world switches to using more coal.
This “indicates RCP8.5 and other ‘business-as-usual scenarios’ consistent with high CO2 forcing from vast future coal combustion are exceptionally unlikely,” they wrote in their study.
This isn’t the first time TheNYT has alluded to the Bible when it comes to global warming. A June 2017 NYT article likened a collapse of Antarctica’s ice sheet to the story of Noah’s ark.
“In the Epic of Gilgamesh, waters so overwhelm the mortals that the gods grow frightened, too,” reporter Justin Gillis wrote. “In India’s version, Lord Vishnu warns a man to take refuge in a boat, carrying seeds. In the Bible, God orders Noah to carry two of every living creature on his ark.”
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In contrast to the New York Times, it’s good to hear the voice of reason about climate prospects coming from the White House, roughly paraphrased: “Sure the climate has changed, and maybe we’ve had something to do with it. But it’ll change back.”
“recently impacted by climate hazards,” including heat waves, droughts and storms.” As if these events never or infrequently happened before. Get real. Even if you could, statistically, show that these events occur more often, it is still not POSITIVE proof global warming is the cause.
Jumping the shark happened long ago.
I would set up a competition for the most unlikely disaster caused by Global Warming, if John Brignell hadn’t already cornered the market in apocalyptic predictions. Actually, The Day After Tomorrow is a pretty good example of overkill….
I wonder if this article was on the same page that reported record low temperatures in Providence, Rhode Island; Buffalo, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; and Bangor, Maine?
467 pathways
Cold is likely in the >400 section, but I’m not interested.
Ah yeah the fear of a good plague was always the favourite for religions when it wasn’t going so well, next we will have true climate believer baptisms. Unfortunately usually a bit after that it all goes to mush and everyone dies and we get to sing songs of praise.
Just putting it out there that COP24 is next week so all pagans need to put the sign above the door.
I think ‘six impossible things before breakfast’ from Lewis Carroll is more accurate rather than a Bible quotation.
J Ritchie and H Dowlatabadi find IPCC’s RCP 8.5 to be highly unlikely – based on the actual amount of economically recoverable coal gas and oil available. See
The 1,000 GtC Coal Question: Are Cases of High Future Coal Combustion Plausible?
http://www.rff.org/files/document/file/RFF-DP-16-45.pdf
and Related Articles
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=related:k75RJg6-mJQJ:scholar.google.com/&scioq=1000+ton+8.5+rcp+ritchie&hl=en&as_sdt=0,15
The bogus RCP 8.5 scenario is physically impossible no matter how much CO2 we emit yet the Summary for Policymakers considers this the most likely outcome if we do nothing. Certainly this obsessive fear of CO2 is detrimental to the free world, and there can be no doubt that acting irrationally to mitigate what’s otherwise impossible is far more harmful to mankind and the planet then doing nothing at all.
Here’s my niece and nephews in Maine enjoying the arctic blast with a golf cart and ski’s
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LxeJokuR7OI
I am always surprised how few people seem to look at the “burning globe” image often seen in global warming propaganda and news pieces and don’t see that global warming is affirming Revelation. The world will end in fire and according to these scientists, we’re almost there. Scientific evidence of the validity of Revelation or a mere coincidence?
(Yes, I am being sarcastic with the last sentence. It’s just amazing people don’t seem to see the connection.)
But when that time comes that heat ain’t going to be Man-made.
Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming is literally a prophecy with a pretense of scientific integrity. It is a myth based on speculation and evidence outside of the near-frame, where it cannot be observed, reproduced, and the conclusions are inferred.
I’m surprised no one has (or maybe they have) compared our coming Catastroclimate to Dante’s Inferno and the 9 Circles of Hell, calling it the 10th Circle of Hell. Seeing as how they’ve now gone completely crackers, and no longer seem to care how idiotic they sound.
Cultural approprtion seems to have been engaged in by the authors trying to support their premise. Maybe next time, instead of talking about when Vishnu as a fish gave advice, they’ll regale us with other secrets; no, not about being a polygamist who sent wives to places.
As a tortoise, Vihnu used that shell to hold up the mountain that churned the Sea of Milk. Hairs dislodged off the tortoise came ashore to become the sharp bladed grass “kusha/kusa” (Eragrostis/Poa cynosroides). Now, all that churning was to get an immortlity drink for a few potential gods.
I’m not naming names but some, they know who they are, spilled a bit of that nectar on that sharp grass; which imbued that grass with portent. So all the original post’s refered to thinkers need to do is buy pairs of Kush sandals to avoid personal catastrophy – but if they click the heels
together 3 times they will be guilty of cultural appropriation.
And of course, man has NO ABILITY to decrease the imagined effects of these future scenarios because we just helplessly stand there letting mosquitoes eat us, sea levels cover us, and migrating termites (running from the climate change) eat our houses. We are just as helpless as the ancient Egyptians.
But in truth, every decade we advance towards better construction and engineering, better medicine, and better pest control ALL because we are an advanced energy-consumption based society.
I often wonder if these rag-papers take themselves seriously? Or are they just laughing at their own stories behind closed doors?
Catastrophe is always good for clicks. As in, “Made ya Look.” Once you’ve clicked, they’ve got what they wanted.
So now they want to throw the bible at us!
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.”
It doesn’t seem that many people in the USA are paying attention to the NYT.
The Wikipedia page for “Newspaper of record” lists two such for the USA, namely the New York Times and The Washington Post.
The category [Newspapers of record (by reputation)] typically consists of those newspapers that are considered to meet higher standards of journalism than most print media, including editorial independence and attention to accuracy, and are usually renowned internationally.
Numbers of papers actually sold, and where, would be interesting. I’ve seen (some time ago) that in the USA, the Wall Street Journal has 2X the circulation of the NYT, and 4X that of the Washington Post. Even so, only the WSJ has a circulation of over 1,000,000.
There are about 330,000,000 citizens. Take away the 80 M under 20, then divide by 2.5 for household size, and get about 100,000,000. (Yes, I know the issues with these assumptions.) So very roughly, the NYT directly reaches ½ of 1% of the population with its print edition.
I’ll guess there is a high proportion of NYT readers in the states of NY, Conn, NJ, Mass, & VA. Likewise for the WSJ, but more dispersed to the rest of the USA.
With that in mind, I find plagues of locusts, floods, blood, and the Epic of Gilagmesh to be fun reading.
Reminds me of Noah’s Ark and the two Lions: Was this a NYT idea!?
Socialism (dictatorships in plain view, hiding in the form of populist take-overs of the political system) and the things man can do to his fellow man are far, far, far worse than anything the Nature can dish up.
The periods and nations of 20th Century socialism proves that point beyond any reasonable doubt.
World population 2000 years ago was about 300M it is now about 7.5Bn. 2000 years ago average life expectancy was 35 years now it is about 82 years. The benefits of technological development and the industrial revolution are clear as measured by sustained life and the associated increase of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Biblical plagues, both literal and the plague of primitivism and having no carbon economy are clear for 2000 years ago compared to today. A clear exposition from Climate Catastrophists as to how our continued emission of CO2 will reduce us to worse than 2000 years ago would be an interesting fictional read.
The Plagues were the result of the eruption of Thera-Santorini in 1600 BC. Moses confirms this when he throws ash from a fire into the sky, where it settled as small dust across all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 9:8). A better description of the long-range fallout from the Thera eruption would be hard to find.
Plus this nationwide ash-fall was linked to: darkness for three days; air too thick to breathen; a large tsunami (waters parting); and to a pillar of fire and smoke. How did the ancient scribes know that all these diverse events are linked to a maritime eruption??
Quite clearly this has to be an eye-witness account of the eruption of Thera, which caused the Israelite Exodus (and the Hyksos Exodus, which happened at the same time).
Ralph
ralfellis,
The explosion of Thera and the “parting of the sea” only makes sense if “… the Israelites’ path took them north to the coast and that the “sea” they crossed was part of Lake Sirbonis, an arm or bay of the Mediterranean, after the crossing of which they turned south into the Sinai Peninsula.”
Identity of “The Sea” ?
Seems this is a debate with no end.
They crossed the Reed Sea, not thr Red Sea. The Reed sea runs against rhe Mediterranean coast.
R
Seems you did not read what I wrote nor what the link said.
Oh well.
The Book of Revelation and Exodus are more believable and science-based than Global Warming / Climate Change.
Yet global warming is better for humans than the coming Ice Age will be for humans.
NY Times on arctic ice 1922 https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/oKoYBWUuiK9lJmKqlimp1tiM1gBWwljjcxsc5dybdAD
I swear, these numbskulls must sit up all night trying to come up with worse and worse scenarios. Before long they’ll have another one much worse than this, and then another….and another…and..
Art
It’s nothing new for the NYT or any of many other so called “news media”.
https://realclimatescience.com/2017/11/evaluating-mans-impact-on-manhattan-sea-level/
There will always be those that never grew up and fear monsters under their bed and must have a light on to sleep at night and there will always be those that will feed the anxiety needs of that segment.
Meanwhile in Canada, we are experiencing record cold temperature for this time of the year!
I can’t wait for global warming
And you don’t mind sharing it either.
Here is a timely story from the past. The Chico ER news site has this story out today, …https://www.chicoer.com/2018/11/23/paradise-camp-fire-is-deadliest-u-s-wildfire-in-100-years-eerily-similar-to-1918-inferno-that-killed-453/