Hello dear readers, I hope you’re all wearing your sunglasses because today we’re exploring the latest outrageous claim in the ever-expanding climate change blame game: It’s making us blind!
Our friends up in the Great White North, specifically some researchers from the University of Toronto, have been poring over data from 1.7 million seniors across the US, and have come to the revolutionary conclusion that living in warmer regions is linked with higher chances of severe vision impairment.
Now, before we all start packing our bags and moving to Alaska, let’s take a moment to appreciate the absurdity of this new revelation.
To put it simply, the scientists found that folks residing in states with average temperatures above 60F, think Florida, Texas, and Georgia, are up to 50 percent more likely to suffer serious vision problems than those huddled in their igloos in the frigid regions of New York and Maine.
If you live in the slightly chillier climates of Virginia, Kentucky, and California, with temperatures between 55 and 59.99F, you can still expect a 24% uptick in eye problems. And if you reside in places that hit the Goldilocks zone of 50 to 54.99F, well, you’re still 14 percent more likely to have vision problems.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Is it the tropical drinks causing these problems? Perhaps it’s the excess of beach volleyball causing sand-in-eye incidents? Or maybe it’s the squinting at the sun glinting off the ocean waves?
But no! According to our trusty scientists, this may be due to…wait for it… climate change! Because, as we all know, there’s nothing that climate change can’t be blamed for.
The researchers, with their scholarly caution, admit that their study is “observational” and therefore, cannot definitively prove that warmer temperatures are leading to vision problems. They assure us that further research is needed (of course it is, we need more grant money!).
Despite this glaring caveat, they still go on to suggest a plethora of theories on how warmer weather might be upping the risk of vision issues. Increased exposure to ultraviolet light, higher chances of catching an eye-infecting fungus, and more pollutants in the air due to the heat are among the culprits on their list.
With each passing day, it seems climate change is gifted with a new superpower. And if this trend continues, I wouldn’t be surprised if we soon find out that climate change is also responsible for lost car keys and mismatched socks.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for taking care of our planet, but these increasingly wild climate change accusations continue to strain credulity far past the breaking point. Maybe it’s time to take a step back, don our sunglasses, and view these findings with a bit of skepticism, wouldn’t you agree?
I can’t wait for the next enlightening revelation. In the meantime, stay cool or risk becoming blind, I guess?
HT/Cam_S, Lee
So what’s the average age in Florida? Older people might have sight problems, you say? And Georgia has a rather extensive diabetes problem with increases in glaucoma and eye problems, you say? But it’s definitively ‘climate change’ is it? Right.
Wanking.
Well, that was what John Harvey Kellogg blamed for most ills. To be inhibited with his brother’s cornflakes.
I believe that Kellogg never meant for the flakes to be eaten, rather that mattresses in the dorms were to be filled with them so that any nefarious nocturnal activities would become audible enabling the shaming of the perpetrators. That might be apochryphal though.
Crumbs!
Statement or confession?
I had to have glasses as a teenager. I blame climate change.
It’s happening in China too???
Pull the other one.
Absolutely, Climate Change leads to Elder Climate Migration to the South east coast where the Climate is Warmer.
So CC must also be responsible for increasing dementia thereby Losing Car Keys and other general forgetfulness… It’s all part of aging
Ultra violet is one Sun related thing, but they claim CO2 is the driver of temperatures. Obviously – if as they say it has nothing to do with the Sun – the paper is abject nonsense
I started to laugh but then I had to cry over the gross stupidity that abounds today.
I read in an article today that some celebrity or other was wearing ‘see-through sunglasses’ I kid you not. Beats wearing a blindfold I suppose!
At least it’s the Loonies paying rubbish researchers for rubbish research. What a wast!
Can braille be added to this forum just in case mass blindness hits us all?
This is a Canadian study? Has anybody considered they make this shit up to keep their population from moving somewhere warmer and with more sunshine?
The researchers have been blinded to the real causes of global warming.
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
You need not look very long at real data to realize that alarmists are selling lies.
Climate change causes……climate change, and every other bad thing, ever. No discussion or dissent is warranted or allowed. The science is settled.
“”We examined the sources of variance in the prevalence of cataract and its different types, and identified age as a responsible factor in the prevalence of any cataract, cortical cataract, nuclear cataract, and PSC of cataract, WHO region in the prevalence of any cataract, and study year in the prevalence of nuclear cataract.””
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41433-020-0806-3
These authors didn’t think of climate change – fools.
Why is this news?
Some 38 years ago, “anomalous” springtime reductions in the concentration of ozone in the stratosphere over the South Pole were noted.
(ref: https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/publication/the-ozone-layer/ )
Subsequently, seasonal reductions in ozone concentrations in the stratosphere over the North Pole were discovered.
(ref: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220707141840.htm#)
In turn, shortly thereafter the whole world was sent into a tizzy over claims that these worsening “ozone holes” would increase ground level UV intensity over most of the planet, directly leading to “blindness” in insects such as honeybees and, at least, a striking increase of cataracts and skin cancer in humans.
Of course, decreasing ozone concentrations over the Earth’s poles MUST be the result of “climate change” (hah!). . . even if via human releases of CFC’s and halons*.
*Yeah, there’s scientific debate about the ozone reduction over the North Pole being due to mankind’s release of ozone depleting gases or being more directly due to a “polar vortex” weather pattern. As always, the science on this is far from being settled.
Now who didn’t see that coming?
Groan
Thank you for posting that comment before me, Paul.
Regards,
Bob
Somebody had to do it.
Who said that?
Global Warming will also lead to more skin cancer. If we look at skin cancer rates, we find that the warmer the location in the US, the more skin cancer there is. This is obviously due to the higher temperatures in Florida (for instance) compared to Minnesota. So the warmer it gets, the more skin cancer there will be.
Obvious, really, when you think about it. However, there is good news too. The warmer it gets, the less vitamin D deficiency there will be….
The Nick Stokes school of ‘science’…….
Well, at least Michel sees an upside- Stokes never does.
Yes, that was the point I was trying to make.
The Nick Stokes school of ‘the science’…….
Michel has a valid point i.m.o.
The warmer the conditions, the more skin is uncovered for longer periods, and it’s that exposure that prompts melanoma.
Yeah. And more older people in warmer places.
The potential for vitamin D production is not related to temperature except in that less skin is generally exposed in cold weather. However, for some large portion of the population where mind washing has been successful, exposure to the sun through a sun block lotion assures little to no vitamin D production.
And some of us have a Vitamin D deficiency that needs medication and were quite irate when, during the Covid panic, all the people without a deficiency bought it all up leaving none left for us wot needed it. Rant over!
Oh dear, I should have put in a <sarc> tag!
What I ntended with the vitamin D remark was to show that if you use the same silly argument as the researchers used on eye damage, you’d also conclude that vitamin D deficiency would fall. And you would also conclude that skin cancer would rise. But there is no reason either should (assuming same behavior) since both are a function of amount and kind of sun exposure, not warmth, and that is a function of latitude.
The article fallacy is confusing effects of warmth with effects of intensity of sun in a given location. There may be small effects from increased warmth, people spending more time outside for instance in previously cold places. But the real driver of sun health effects, such as on the eyes, is latitude which determines sun intensity. That and social customs around managing exposure to sun. And latitude doesn’t change when it gets a bit warmer.
You really do quite have to admire climate science though, and this little nugget.
It’s such a perfectly self fulfilling prophecy in that all those things, blindness. lost keys, cancer, wanking UV Ozone and other holes are all caused by overconsumption of sugar.
But then, CliSci to the rescue, ever greater consumption of sugar (plant derived sustenance and there’s nothing much else in them) is to be The Saviour for us all from the horrors of Climate Change.
While sugar created the horror in the first place.
It’s soooo fantastically circular and watertight – there is no escape.
You now understand what potential Stepford Wives went through and how they felt..
So, I couldn’t interest you in a deep-fried Mars bar…..
Me, me, me!!!!!!!
I hope you get diabetes!
That’s a bit mean.
I didn’t know one could wank UV Ozone and other holes.
Interesting……🤣
Well I’ve always thought that when it comes to climate scientists and politicians, it’s the blind leading the blind and now I know why!
Does that mean that the climate change is actually caused by can’t C O 2?
O U 2?
Effects of Solar Radiation on the Eyes
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9709587/
Conclusions
There are a variety of eye conditions that have been connected to UVR exposure. Short-term exposure to UVR has been shown to cause photokeratitis and photo retinitis. In contrast, long-term exposure to UVR has been shown to cause CDK, cataracts, pterygium, SCC of the cornea and conjunctiva, and cancers of the eyelids. The evidence supporting these claims is quite compelling. Conditions such as pinguecula, age-related macular degeneration, and melanoma of the eyeball are examples of eye diseases that may or may not have a link to UVR radiation. Because the destructive effects of UV radiation are cumulative, it is important to protect the eyes of young persons, who are more sensitive to the effects of ultraviolet light. This is because young individuals are more likely to be exposed to ultraviolet light. Despite appearances to the contrary, the amount of UV radiation that reaches the eyes does not decrease when there is cloudy weather present. The eyes are exposed to ultraviolet radiation around the clock every day of the year. Protecting oneself from the Sun may be accomplished in various ways, including using proper clothing, hats, glasses, or contact lenses that filter UV radiation.
++++++++++++++++
.Or moving north to Canada where the power of the sun is diminished!
Solar Energy and Latitude
https://k12.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Science_and_Technology/Earth_Science/10%3A_Atmospheric_Processes/10.15%3A_Solar_Energy_and_Latitude
Now we have a great reason to justify Bill Gates and others with retarded ideas for blocking out the sun.
No matter the law of photosynthesis with CO2 and solar radiation being key elements driving plant growth and global food production.
If we blocked solar radiation, we could have a world with less people, more skinny people….and they would have better vision too (-:
The above, i.e. cloudy conditions, largely applies to UVA which is quite penetrating. UVB is atmosphere absorbed much more than UVA so markedly decreases when moving away from the equator as sunlight must travel through more atmosphere to reach the surface.
I have wondered if the obsessive increase in wearing sunglasses and staying out of the sun when at its peak is related the increase in mood disorders. Sure very small diurnal shifts in light levels can drive the circadian rhythm, but exposure to bright light probably has significant biological effects.
Just last week my eye doctor recommended lowering my thermostat instead of getting glasses. Saved some money but I keep running stop signs.
Keep in mind this “study” is from Toronto which is geographically part of Canada but reflects the views of normal Canadians the same way Washington DC reflects the views of normal Americans. Please don’t blame the rest of us for Toronto.
Climate change causes self-professed climate scientists to become totally deranged.
No cure to be found in the peer-reviewed literature.
Imagine that: states that get more intense sun light and UV have more vision problems! I’m shocked. Shocked! Also wear your sunscreen and sunglasses or pay the price lol
The “canary in the coal mine” for this new CAGW situation will be the polar bears going blind the soonest of all, i.e. “arctic warming up 2x faster than everywhere else” or whatever the current talking point is. Assuming Greenpeace is genuinely into recycling, they simply need to dust off their old 1992-era scare tactic statement about polar bears going blind from ozone depletion and change a few words.
Michael Shellenberger should add this to his “Woke Religion- a Taxonomy” chart.
https://boghossian.substack.com/p/woke-religion-a-taxonomy
Warming doesn’t necessarily mean sunnier. It is slightly warmer here in Woke-achusetts but also with more rain- so more clouds. All I know is my garden, lawn, trees and shrubs never were so happy.
What morons … they look at blindness data (???) as a function of climate based upon latitude – a static condition – and blame higher incidences of vision problems on “climate change” which is by definition not a static condition.
I can easily posit an alternative explanation for more vision problems down south … age. People up north migrate to the sun belt to retire because the bitter winters up north are literally killing them (along with the high taxes that kill your retirement nest eggs).
And it is a fact that seniors experience much higher frequencies of vision ailments, particularly cataracts, glaucoma, and illnesses resulting from exposure to both UV and environmental contaminants, which exposures correlate to total lifetime exposure. The longer you live, the greater the cumulative exposure, the greater the effect.
That’s why here in south Florida where I live, there are booming industries involved in treating age-related ailments, from cataracts to hip replacements to plastic surgery on wrinkles and sags. Ditto in other southern tier states like the Carolinas, Georgia, Texas, and Arizona.
These knuckleheads persist in ignoring the fact that correlation is not causation.
Well why not – Ancel Keys provided such an effectice pseudoscientific blueprint.
Could it relate to that old adage about non so blind as those who refuse to see? Mind controlled into group think means good vision is an impediment?
Climate Change® is all things to all people at all times, but all bad.
This continuous “climate change” propaganda is making gullible, uneducated people blind to reality.
There are a lot of gullible uneducated people..
That is the real problem
Al Gore 1992 “Earth in the Balance” page 85.
“We too are affected by ultraviolet radiation. The best-known consequences include skin cancer and cataracts, both of which are increasingly common, especially in areas of the Southern hemisphere such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Patagonia. In Queensland, in northeastern Australia, for example, more than 75 percent of all its citizens who have reached the age of sixty-five now have some form of skin cancer, and children are required by law to wear large hats and neck scarves to and from school to protect against ultraviolet radiation. In Patagonia, hunters now report finding blind rabbits, fishermen catch blind salmon.”
Around 1992 I was trying to find evidence of measurements of incoming UV flux in various countries. I found not enough to allow any useful deduction. But Al Gore wrote what he did.
Geoff S
The only thing causing Greens to go blind is their unhealthy obsession with climate porn
“Climate Change Now Causes… Wait for it… Blindness!”
Hmmm … I can’t see that.