Judge for yourself: http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm Go on, have a laugh! We need one after the last 24 hours.

Since the topic of global warming came up at the BA public meeting last evening, I thought it would be fair game to present the other side. Click on the link at the bottom of the page for access to the rest of the site if you're interested.

There is only one conclusion to be drawn from all of this: man-made global warming is a fiction created by elitists who want to order us about. I finish by quoting Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic, one of the few politicians in Europe with any "bottle":
"The issue of global warming is more about social than natural sciences and more about man and his freedom than about tenths of a degree Celsius changes in average global temperature.

"As a witness to today's worldwide debate on climate change, I suggest the following:
-  Small climate changes do not demand far-reaching restrictive measures
- Any suppression of freedom and democracy should be avoided
-  Instead of organising people from above, let us allow everyone to live as he wants
- Let us resist the politicisation of science and oppose the term "scientific consensus", which is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority
- Instead of speaking about "the environment", let us be attentive to it in our personal behaviour
- Let us be humble but confident in the spontaneous evolution of human society. Let us trust its rationality and not try to slow it down or divert it in any direction
-  Let us not scare ourselves with catastrophic forecasts, or use them to defend and promote irrational interventions in human lives."
Amen to that
Paul

I liked the links.

The growth industry called climate change might be soundly based. On the other hand it might be an elaborate con. Do you believe that going by train, having an electric car or recycling your rubbish is going to reverse it?

How about the limited fossil fuel reserves and the desire of our government to have you accept the inevitability of nuclear power.

It is my judgement that we are being too unquestioning and simplistic.

There is one major flaw in the whole hypothesis and that is the behaviour of the currents in our Oceans and particularly the Pacific.

The meteorological perspective is much more persuasive and we should not overlook the changes in the earths magnetic field as a potential contributory factor.

Quite so, Pops. You might like to see this too:
http://www.abd.org.uk/green_myths.htm

See particularly items 3 - 6 regarding CO2, and the last one from Mencken - says exactly what I said in my opening post!

Regards
Paul

The rest of that site is just as interesting.

How do you fight the accepted consensus, though, in a world that thinks reality is Big Brother?

I found this posted elsewhere, and thought it worthy of this thread.

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

Kate Ravilious
for National Geographic News

February 28, 2007
Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent
climate changes have a natural-and not a human-induced-cause, according to
one scientist's controversial theory.

Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of
climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere. (Get an overview: "Global Warming Fast Facts".)

Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.

In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed
that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been
diminishing for three summers in a row.

Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo
Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the
current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.

"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars,"
he said.

Solar Cycles

Abdussamatov believes that changes in the sun's heat output can account for
almost all the climate changes we see on both planets.

Mars and Earth, for instance, have experienced periodic ice ages throughout
their histories.

"Man-made greenhouse warming has made a small contribution to the warming
seen on Earth in recent years, but it cannot compete with the increase in
solar irradiance," Abdussamatov said.

By studying fluctuations in the warmth of the sun, Abdussamatov believes he
can see a pattern that fits with the ups and downs in climate we see on
Earth and Mars.

Abdussamatov's work, however, has not been well received by other climate
scientists.

"His views are completely at odds with the mainstream scientific opinion,"
said Colin Wilson, a planetary physicist at England's Oxford University.

"And they contradict the extensive evidence presented in the most recent
IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report."

Amato Evan, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
added that "the idea just isn't supported by the theory or by the
observations."

Planets' Wobbles

The conventional theory is that climate changes on Mars can be explained
primarily by small alterations in the planet's orbit and tilt, not by
changes in the sun.

"Wobbles in the orbit of Mars are the main cause of its climate change in
the current era," Oxford's Wilson explained. (Related: "Don't Blame Sun for
Global Warming, Study Says" [September 13, 2006].)

All planets experience a few wobbles as they make their journey around the
sun. Earth's wobbles are known as Milankovitch cycles and occur on time
scales of between 20,000 and 100,000 years.

These fluctuations change the tilt of Earth's axis and its distance from the
sun and are thought to be responsible for the waxing and waning of ice ages
on Earth.

Mars and Earth wobble in different ways, and most scientists think it is
pure coincidence that both planets are between ice ages right now.

"Mars has no [large] moon, which makes its wobbles much larger, and hence
the swings in climate are greater too," Wilson said.

No Greenhouse

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block in Abdussamatov's theory is his
dismissal of the greenhouse effect, in which atmospheric gases such as
carbon dioxide help keep heat trapped near the planet's surface.

He claims that carbon dioxide has only a small influence on Mars.

But "without the greenhouse effect there would be very little, if any, life
on Earth, since our planet would pretty much be a big ball of ice," said
Evan, of the University of Wisconsin.

Most scientists now fear that the massive amount of carbon dioxide humans
are pumping into the air will lead to a catastrophic rise in Earth's
temperatures, dramatically raising sea levels as glaciers melt and leading
to extreme weather worldwide.

Abdussamatov remains contrarian, however, suggesting that the sun holds
something quite different in store.

"The solar irradiance began to drop in the 1990s, and a minimum will be
reached by approximately 2040," Abdussamatov said. "It will cause a steep
cooling of the climate on Earth in 15 to 20 years."

-- © 1996-2008 National Geographic Society

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars- warming.html

Wind farms. Are they a wind up?

Check out this article. Again it's a North American one, but it's mainly about the UK and co-written by a Brit.
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=012308A

HT, you're nowt but a panic merchant.

For I have news this night of debate in Bruxelles which will undoubtedly set the cure for all these global heat troubles.

We are saved. The relief is almost overwhelming.

Yes, finally folks, Yurp is being so brave as to examine the possibility of outlawing your patio heater.

Let us give thanks for Belgium and for the Euro-Twits.

Peasemold

Here's a pearl of wisdom, from the forthcoming book by Alexander Cockburn called "A short history of Fear".

"Here in the West, the so-called "war on global warming" is reminiscent of medieval madness. You can now buy Indulgences to offset your carbon guilt. If you fly, you give an extra 10 quid to British Airways; BA hands it on to some non-profit carbon-offsetting company which sticks the money in its pocket and goes off for lunch. This kind of behaviour is demented." Er, yes.

You can read the rest of the review here: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/reviewofbooks_p rintable/4357/