Comments on: Climate change and the Big Ask http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2006/10/climate-change-and-big-ask.htm Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:02:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: jon http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2006/10/climate-change-and-big-ask.htm/comment-page-1#comment-116 jon Thu, 12 Oct 2006 12:23:00 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=862#comment-116 The statistics on hurricanes and typhoons are probably the weakest evidence of all - for instance, sea surface temperatures in the hurricane spawning region and hurricane intensities were both on a declining trend from the 1940's to the 1990's during a period of increasing atmospheric CO2.<br/><br/>Al Gore's selecton of statistics is highly biased in other areas too. The net amount of frozen water in the Antarctic is currently increasing as the amount of snow accumulating in the centre outweighs that being lost at the fringe therefore undermining his scare stories about imminent flooding of Florida etc<br/><br/>It is an observable fact that CO2 levels have been increasing and that we have had some recent very small increases in average world temperatures - but great care must be taken in establishing causes and effect and in making predictions about future climactic conditions.<br/><br/>The greatest care must be taken not to let this argument be overtaken by political opportunism. The statistics on hurricanes and typhoons are probably the weakest evidence of all – for instance, sea surface temperatures in the hurricane spawning region and hurricane intensities were both on a declining trend from the 1940′s to the 1990′s during a period of increasing atmospheric CO2.

Al Gore’s selecton of statistics is highly biased in other areas too. The net amount of frozen water in the Antarctic is currently increasing as the amount of snow accumulating in the centre outweighs that being lost at the fringe therefore undermining his scare stories about imminent flooding of Florida etc

It is an observable fact that CO2 levels have been increasing and that we have had some recent very small increases in average world temperatures – but great care must be taken in establishing causes and effect and in making predictions about future climactic conditions.

The greatest care must be taken not to let this argument be overtaken by political opportunism.

]]> By: David http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2006/10/climate-change-and-big-ask.htm/comment-page-1#comment-115 David Wed, 11 Oct 2006 07:28:00 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=862#comment-115 I also saw the Al Gore film, and it didn't look like poor science to me. Sure, there were some theatrics and personal propaganda thrown in, but the underlying argument and evidence presented looked pretty strong to me.<br/><br/>The threat may not be immediate - but it does *not* look fanciful, and even if it's 50-100 years away rather than 5-10, I agree whole heartedly with Gore that it demands a response now. And it is reasonable to suspect that there is already a degree of increased risk of climate-related disasters - the statistics on hurricanes and typhoons demonstrate that amply.<br/><br/>I'd be delighted to hear a valid rebuttal of what Gore is saying. Simply labelling it as a bandwagon and presenting no contrary evidence does not constitute a robust rebuttal. I also saw the Al Gore film, and it didn’t look like poor science to me. Sure, there were some theatrics and personal propaganda thrown in, but the underlying argument and evidence presented looked pretty strong to me.

The threat may not be immediate – but it does *not* look fanciful, and even if it’s 50-100 years away rather than 5-10, I agree whole heartedly with Gore that it demands a response now. And it is reasonable to suspect that there is already a degree of increased risk of climate-related disasters – the statistics on hurricanes and typhoons demonstrate that amply.

I’d be delighted to hear a valid rebuttal of what Gore is saying. Simply labelling it as a bandwagon and presenting no contrary evidence does not constitute a robust rebuttal.

]]> By: jon http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2006/10/climate-change-and-big-ask.htm/comment-page-1#comment-114 jon Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:10:00 +0000 http://localhost/wp28/?p=862#comment-114 I'm afraid that Al Gore's film was good cinema but poor science. Politicians seem all too ready to jump on to the 'climate change' bandwagon and there is a real risk that people become misled and policies become irrational.<br/>It is reasonable to limit harmful emissions but only because this can be seen to be a worthy aim in itself - not because of spurious scares about global warming and climate change. <br/>Only by having a rational and truly scientific approach to these issues can appropriate policies be defined which make environmental and economic sense.<br/>The claim that climate change from man's CO2 emissions is not only the greatest threat to the planet but also an immediate one over a timescale of a few years is fanciful and dangerously misleading as a basis for defining government policy.<br/>Please let us have a measure of common sense applied. I’m afraid that Al Gore’s film was good cinema but poor science. Politicians seem all too ready to jump on to the ‘climate change’ bandwagon and there is a real risk that people become misled and policies become irrational.
It is reasonable to limit harmful emissions but only because this can be seen to be a worthy aim in itself – not because of spurious scares about global warming and climate change.
Only by having a rational and truly scientific approach to these issues can appropriate policies be defined which make environmental and economic sense.
The claim that climate change from man’s CO2 emissions is not only the greatest threat to the planet but also an immediate one over a timescale of a few years is fanciful and dangerously misleading as a basis for defining government policy.
Please let us have a measure of common sense applied.

]]>