…on the brink of an ice age.
A Sunday, January 11, 2009 article in the Soviet era surviving newspaper PRAVDA (meaning “The Truth”) was headlined “Earth on the Brink of an Ice Age.” Gregory F. Fegel writes the long and complex article justifying the headline. If you want to read the entire article click the link but I’ll summarize it as follows:
There is “a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science… indicating that the warm, 12,000 year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years.
Fegel includes evidence from ice cores, ocean sediment cores, the geologic record, and studies of ancient plant and animal populations all demonstrate a regular cyclic pattern of Ice Age glacial maximums which each last about 100,000 years, separated by intervening warm interglacials, each lasting about 12,000 years.
Historically this cycling has been notices since the mid-19th century. Since the late 1970s, that “Milankovich Theory” has remained the predominant theory to account for Ice Age causation among climate scientists, and hence the Milankovich theory is always described in textbooks of climatology and in encyclopaedia articles about the Ice Ages.
During the 1970s the famous American astronomer Carl Sagan and other scientists began promoting the theory that ‘greenhouse gasses’ such as carbon dioxide, or CO2, produced by human industries could lead to catastrophic global warming. Since the 1970s the theory of ‘anthropogenic global warming’ (AGW) has with the help of D- science student Al Gore has become accepted fact by most of the academic establishment, and their acceptance of AGW has inspired a global movement to encourage governments to make pivotal changes to prevent the worsening of AGW.
The central piece of evidence that is cited in support of the AGW theory is the famous ‘hockey stick’ graph which was presented by Al Gore in his 2006 film “An Inconvenient Truth.” The ‘hockey stick’ graph shows an acute upward spike in global temperatures which began during the 1970s and continued through the winter of 2006/07. However, this warming trend was interrupted when the winter of 2007/8 delivered the deepest snow cover to the Northern Hemisphere since 1966 and the coldest temperatures since 2001. It now appears that the current Northern Hemisphere winter of 2008/09 will equal or surpass the winter of 2007/08 for both snow depth and cold.
Fegel says the AGW theory is flawed and presents a mind numbing array of science to justify his conclusion.
Key to his argument is “that global CO2 levels rise and fall in response to the global temperature is because cold water is capable of retaining more CO2 than warm water. That is why carbonated beverages lose their carbonation, or CO2, when stored in a warm environment. We store our carbonated soft drinks, wine, and beer in a cool place to prevent them from losing their ‘fizz’, which is a feature of their carbonation, or CO2 content.”
AGW proponents now routinely argue that it is the long term trend that counts, and while that trend will fluctuate the long term record belies AGW theorist reliance “on
data that is drawn from a ridiculously narrow span of time and it demonstrates a wanton disregard for the ‘big picture’ of long-term climate change.”
AGW proponents can be hysterical that that was then and this is now. Others effectively argue that carbon dioxide is not the cause at all but a convenient scape goat to be used as excuse for a global reorganization and redistribution. He concludes “While concern over the dubious threat of Anthropogenic Global Warming continues to distract the attention of people throughout the world, the very real threat of the approaching and inevitable Ice Age, which will render large parts of the Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable, is being foolishly ignored.”
Skeptics of Russia’s – via its official printing press PRAVDA — purposes in opposing AGW has more to do with peddling its copious natural gas reserves to the highest bidders in Europe, and using those proceeds to fund its renaissance to super power status. As cynical as that may be or not it is becoming increasingly evident AGW has far too much of a political agenda subscribed by a legion of academics with their collective heads buried in the public grant trough to be trusted. It is helpful to notice that most feed on from its left side too.
Email This Post
- 
Print This Post
-
Comment by Jason Blanchard on 13 January 2009:
One thing is certain….while warming could be inconvenient….Cooling would be a global killer.
Jason Blanchards last blog post..Just Stand There and Scream
Comment by Eli Rabett on 14 January 2009:
Gregory Fegel has made more noise recently, being the denialist of the day. However, it is important to note that his prediction of an imminent ice age is rubbish. Based on Milankovitch cycles if this was to occur it would have happened about 800 years ago, and we missed the on ramp. The AR4 Paleoclimate chapter (Ch 4) says
Of yes, the IPCC does not ignore paleoclimate, it features it. More deconstruction at Rabett Run
Eli Rabetts last blog post..