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The Environmental Spectator
The Sky Isn’t Falling
Ms. Henny-Penny undergoes a rude awakening.
Henny-Penny’s call came as a surprise. I hadn’t heard from her in months. More surprising was what she had so say:
H-P: I’ve resigned as secretary of The Holy Order of The Sky Is Falling because I’ve learned that it was based on a faulty premise.
Me: That’s breathtaking. What’s happened to change your life.
H-P: Last spring I was promoted to production chief here at the egg ranch. I now oversee all the hens to make sure they meet their daily egg quotas, but I no longer have to meet one myself. That gave me some time to study. I read what skeptical scientists have to say about the long-range effects of the slight average warming of temperatures on Earth over the last century.
Me: What did you conclude?
H-P: That the global warming campaign is based on politics. Many of the delegates to those biennial International Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) conferences are political appointees from governments that want to redistribute income and resources from industrialized countries to ones that aren’t.
Me: What about the scientists who claim the glaciers will melt, the oceans will rise and crops will fail?
H-P: Their dire predictions are based upon computer models which are only as good as the assumptions put into them. When they announce their results, they should say, “If present trends continue thus-and-so may occur,” but they never do. They insist their predictions will come true. Then political appointees in various countries pick up the refrain — along with ecosocialists and gullible media people — and it reverberates around the world.
Me: That refrain has become the theme song of your “pontiff” Al Gore for years now. Have you stopped believing him?
H-P: I now see that my theory that the sky was falling was only that, a theory. In fact, in the years since I first announced it, the sky has not fallen so much as one inch. Al Gore liked the theory and treated is “settled science.” As for “global warming,” his only evidence is that he’s full of hot air.
Me: Aren’t the ecosocialists planning another giant conference?
H-P: Yes, it’s called COP17 and will begin in Durban South Africa on November 28.
Me: The ones in Copenhagen and Cancun were duds. What will they try to do this time?
H-P: The World Wildlife Fund and Oxfam will propose a new global tax of $25 a ton on all shipping. They say it will curtail carbon emissions. The real purpose is to ratchet down the world’s industrial production.
Venezuela and five other leftist-led Western Hemisphere nations will propose a worldwide tax on all financial transactions, and they want “Mother Earth” to have rights as if the planet were a person.
About the Author
Peter Hannaford was closely associated for a number of years with the late President Reagan, beginning in the California Governor’s office. His latest book is Presidential Retreats.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (24) | Leave a comment
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Pecos Pete| 10.12.11 @ 6:23AM
Occupy Durban.
Someday these nuts will find something else to raise Cain about. OOPS.
Lawrence of Arabia| 10.12.11 @ 9:32AM
Henny-Penny neglects to mention that she has inoperable, terminable brain cancer. The poor thing can't tell day from night.
Please pray for Henny-Penny and all the other sick and shutins in our midst. They're so out of touch. A "thinking about you" card might cheer them up.
As for global warming and its dire effects, its a reality AmSpec refuses to acknowledge.
Tim the Enchanter| 10.12.11 @ 2:17PM
Sorry, sport... we've been cooling off since 1993. Your wishcasting about "global warming" does not make it a reality.
Reality Check| 10.18.11 @ 2:14PM
Tim,
Actually, the warming trend hasn't backed off. Multiple independent sources show that.
And since 1998, surface temps have varied because of heat exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean. But overall, 2005 and 2010 are tied for the hottest years on record, according to global record.
There's no denying it, warming is still happening.
Here's a good explanation of it all, along with peer reviewed science to back it:
http://goo.gl/XquTZ
Thanks for listening.
Dan Hirsch| 10.12.11 @ 3:40PM
Larry,
Remember that your namesake character convinced himself that he was something he actually was not....
Here're a couple of questions for you, Mr. Arabia:
1. When did you first hear that global warming was raising the ocean levels? I heard it in 2000.
2. How far were they going to rise and how soon? They swore it was 30 feet, oops, they meant 3 feet in a hundred years.
3. How much have the oceans risen since 2000? Exactly no feet.
4. Shouldn't we have seen something by now? Hmm.
By the way, I believe that in the late '90's Sean Penn and many other global warming EXPERTS told us that the oceans will be dead in "10 years." Two days ago I visited the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle. I saw several bottlenose dolphins, all very much alive and very much in the ocean.
5. Last question for you, Larry, What is the longest time you've sat in a bar beneath the "Free Beer Tomorrow" sign? BE honest, how long? Come on. 'Fess up.
Sheesh. This is what it takes to straighten out the confusion of these poor AGW-faithful.
DTOM
Reality Check| 10.18.11 @ 2:33PM
Dan,
Sea level isn't the only measure. There are many independent lines of evidence supporting warming and climate change (http://goo.gl/tlRMc).
In regards to your statements about exaggerated sea level rise, you refer to tidal measurements. But trends are calculated using other measures, such as sediment cores, tidal gauges and satellite measurements, since the height of coastal landmarks vary due to tectonic shift.
The long-term measurements dating back to the 19th century shows that not only is sea-level rising, but the rate of rise is increasing as well.
Here's more on the subject along with the cited papers and measurement sources: http://goo.gl/rIAy0.
Thanks for listening. And where's the free beer??
Alan Brooks | 10.12.11 @ 6:11PM
Hannaford's book is "Reagan's Roots"?
hmmm, somewhat of a mediocre title. Alliteration is fine, but only if used prudently. Not a bad title, but at first glance the title appears to refer to a garden Reagan tended out at the Reagan Ranch-- or perhaps a reference to Reagan's Midwestern roots combined with an agricultural reference:
the roots of Midwestern plants growing on the prairie?
Well, maybe not a bad title...
john dubose| 10.12.11 @ 7:48AM
The non-scientist left leaning journalists who dominate news reporting hardly reported and apparently did not see the signifigance of the recent experiments at CERN regarding simulated cosmic rays generating water droplets in moisture saturated air.
The climate models that predict global warming due to CO2 could well have left out that effect. If so, it would hit the core of the APG hypothesis.
Why ?
Because the idea is that more CO2 >> a little more heat >> more H2O vapor >> more heating >> positive feedback.
But extra clouds would break that feedback effect as clouds reflect sunlight and cool the earth. This is very good news unless you have a political agenda to stomp out the burning of fossil fuels or are seeking research funds to study the issue.
It means that we probably do not really have the capacity to do anything major about the climate.
Reality Check| 10.18.11 @ 4:25PM
John,
Interesting point about the clouds reflecting sunlight. The reality is that reflected radiation keeps the upper atmosphere cool, but trapped radiation maintains a higher surface temperature. The Greenhouse effect is standard physics and has been proven by observation.
More here:
http://goo.gl/zFT8S
In regards to the cosmic rays - cycles have been constant over the past 50 years, and there is no long-term correlation between sun activity and water levels. There's a great outline that explains 2 particular water correlation studies here: http://goo.gl/LkX3A.
Thanks for listening.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.12.11 @ 8:35AM
Peter,
sadly, the sky has already fallen. Our national oil and gas production is one fifth of what it should be.
Our nuke plant development is twenty years late.
We have been screwed and tattooed by the eco liars.
Kevin| 10.12.11 @ 8:42AM
I googled "organizations opposed to the ecosocialist agenda". There were no listing of any such groups in at least the first 10 pages and only 4 or 5 articles taking a negative view of eco-socialism. Of course that's typical of Google.
John Navratil| 10.12.11 @ 9:16AM
James Hansen has finally broken cover and said that the "contrarians" are winning this battle. Why? Because they employ communications professionals while physicists aren't very good at getting their message out. Not to worry though, Mother Nature is telling the world what iy needs to hear in places like Texas, says he.
I don't think these guys have had any trouble getting their message out. It isn't the messenger, it's the message.
Petronius| 10.12.11 @ 9:43AM
The real message the ecosocialists are sending is, "give up trying to prosper. We won't let you." Their goal is control over attitudes, appetites, and consumption of all who are not in their camp. If you're one of them, you can have all you want. Ask Redford and Turner. They'll tell you.
Frekki| 10.12.11 @ 11:28AM
If the middle and lower classes of Americans take seriously the power of their votes, the politics of Global Warming will die. If they ever figure out how badly these eco-nuts have damaged their livelihoods, the idiot eco-left will have their heads held underwater for 5 minutes.
Tim the Enchanter| 10.12.11 @ 2:19PM
Make it 10... just to be sure.
Drunken Sailor| 10.12.11 @ 2:33PM
Then cut off their heads. It's the best way to kill a zombie.
Aquanomics| 10.12.11 @ 11:28AM
True science is never settled. If it's settled, it isn't science.
PaulyD| 10.12.11 @ 4:21PM
I think we're talking about the wrong fowl here. It's CHICKEN LITTLE who thought the sky was falling.
The HENNY PENNY story refers to the entrepeneurial chicken who wouldn't share the fruits of her labor with deadbeats.
Ron| 10.12.11 @ 4:35PM
Geophysical evidence (such as rock formations and the strata) indicate the earth has had periods of warming and cooling for, basically, ever.
It is not any worse or better than it has been.
And also to Mr. Arabia...What university did Algore graduate from in any of the biological or physical sciences again? Please. refresh my memory, because he is the instigator of all of this, to the point that some of the so-called "experts' fabricated data and outright lied about the effects...
Rick Z| 10.12.11 @ 6:10PM
1 - Albert Gore refuses to debate the Global Warming issue. ...
2 - There is no direct proof of Global Warming; it is only projections of Computer Models.
3 - These Computer Models cannot take the data collected through December, 2000 and accurately forecast the next 10 years (2001-2010). Their longer range forecasts are even more suspect.
4 - The basic temperature data, archived by the Climate Research Unit of East Anglia University (UK) .... why, it is missing .... only the 'adjusted' data remains on file.
Hardly seems that the AGW theory is proven.
Marc Jeric| 10.13.11 @ 3:19PM
This global warming conspiracy needs to be put in perspective to be properly understood. This far-left attack by government-paid drones started in the 1970′s with the global cooling scam: we should disarm our nuclear bombers and fill them with soot to be spread over the poles and so prevent those new glaciers from descending south and crushing the New York skyscrapers to dust. When that did not work the same fakers invented the global warming hoax in the 1990′s; we should nationalize all industries and organize a UN-sponsored world socialist government based on “social justice” with the fakers in charge. What with 12 years of substantial cooling the fakers switched to the climate change flimflam in the 2000′s; so whatever happens we should…see above under the global warming hoax. And now we are faced with the cap & trade power grab – but the aim is the same as above. Our socialists, marxists, communists, Hollywood stars, university professors in social and political “sciences”, and environmentalists are all clamoring for action while spurring President Obama ("Tomorrow the oceans will stop rising and the planet will start healing") and his 35 czars/komissars to undertake immediate measures to save the planet – with the same aims as described above.
In the meantime our Mian Stream Media are unanimous in spreading this criminal propaganda daily; the ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, the NY Times, the Washington Post, etc. drive this drivel daily. What is totally ignored are the detailed descriptions of faked data, skewed computer programs, politically revised conclusions by the UN-sponsored far-left clique of biased scientists – all government-paid drones that no private enterprise would hire. Another thing ignored is the “Global Warming Petition” (see Internet) where 31,487 independent US scientists (including 9,029 of them with PhD degrees) dispute decisively the findings of the UN-sponsored panel; also ignored is the “Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change” (see also Internet) where a smaller number of competent world scientists, about 712, including 142 pure climatologists, state the same – i.e., that the man-caused catastrophic global warming is a farce. The books by Christopher Horner, Robert Carter, and AW Montford describing the lies, fakes, phony data, opposite conclusions, redacting by UN political hacks, reverse graphs, etc., have exposed this far-left propaganda in painful detail.
In the case of the above mentioned Petition, several "environmentalists" had submitted phony names with phony credentials in order to sabotage that effort. It took several years of painstaking and expensive effort (we contributed a lot of private money for that) to clean up the list from those saboteurs and verify all academic and professional data of the signatories.
To put this whole conspiracy in terms of numbers, let me say that the projected world-threatening increase of carbon dioxide of 100 ppm (parts per million) by the end of this century would increase the termal absorptivity of the atmosphere by one-eighth of one percent; that is the definition of something totally negligible. On the other hand the sun cycles of cooling and heating are thousands of times more powerful with regard to the carbon dioxide in the air; when the sun is cold the oceans absorb many millions of tons of it; and when the sun heats up the oceans release the carbon dioxide in quantities thousands of times bigger than anything the mankind could produce. To illustrate this point in more accessible terms to somebody who who is not a climatologist or a scientist or an engineer; the argument of catastrophic anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming issued by our panic driven socialist/marxist government-paid hacks is like saying that a burp of a lonely wolf in Alaska will transform Florida into a Sahara-like desert - immediately!
As for that bloviating gasbag Al Gore and for Dr. Mann who inverted cause and effect in his "studies" - they should be brought to the The International Court in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity.
Marc Jeric (signatory of both documents referenced above; MS, PhD)
POST American| 10.13.11 @ 11:33PM
-------------------BOTTOM LINE-----------------------
AS Cadmium/ Barium and Aluminum oxide
CHEM-trails go into their 12th year, and are
NOW mixing awesomely with the fallout from
FUKISHIMA and saturating North America
----------THE SKY REALLY IS FALLING!
----------HUAC meets NUREMBERG 2012----------
graduate school personal state | 11.15.11 @ 12:32AM
The eedbacks is a major cause of uncertainty and concern about global warming.[citation needed] A wide range of potential feedback process exist, such as Arctic methane release and ice albedo feedback. Consequentially, potential tipping points may exist, which may have the potential to cause abrupt climate change. Thanks a lot.