Weather Eye: Paul Simons
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Channel 4’s television programme The Great Global Warming Swindle last Thursday argued that climate change is caused by the Sun, not carbon dioxide.
The idea is that the Sun’s activity fluctuates, and when it grows stronger than usual the global temperatures on Earth rise. An important plank in this theory came in 1893, when the English astronomer Edward Maunder noted a dip in the Sun’s activity during the late 1600s and early 1700s. He found there were few sunspots on the surface of the Sun, with fewer solar storms erupting into space. On Earth, this caused far fewer incidents of the northern lights, the aurora borealis.
The dip in solar activity also seemed to match a bout of particularly cold weather. Savage winters regularly froze rivers and miserable summers ruined crops, and it seemed clear that the quiet Sun was driving this wretched weather. Or was it? In fact, the climate at this time was blowing hot and cold. For instance, 1666 is best known in England not for cold weather but for a year-long drought and scorching summer that led to the Great Fire of London in September that year.
On the other hand, the 1690s were so desperately cold that failed harvests led to famine and a drop in population numbers across much of northern Europe because of death and emigration.
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For those interested in a sound rebuttal to "...Swindle" please see http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/1174/81/ . Certainly the producers of Swindle have the right to present thier point of view, but it is also necessary, before you assume that they have been presenting the unblemished truth, to see if there are points on which they have deliberately misinformed. Check the rebuttal information, then make your choice
Michael Zalar, St Paul, MN
The programme was very well put together and point by point dismembered the green house gas arguments. The scientists have had litterally a field day spending the research money. The real science is out there if you are prepared to look for it. C02 is the building block of what we are made of so stop panicking; there is only 0.05% of it in the atmosphere. Polution in general however I am for reducing it as far as practicable but in balance with our human needs. We do seem to have a significant global histeria about climate change - the climate has always changed driven by long term changes in the sun and sea temperatures which take about 800 years to be affected.
We should change the funding distribution methods to take control away from Politicians and give it back to University Professors and academics who have proven scientific credentials and who will compete with each other to find the truth for the sake of science not some politically driven suedo fast track rubish.
Gordon Sim, Glasgow,
What confusses me is that the World Climate has always changed?....Oil and Gas in Russia and Alaska means that once this area was TROPICAL....Coal in UK Poland and USA mean those areas were also Tropical at some time in the past?... Yet we know those areas also had an Ice Age?
...So what cause that?...Why do Politicians think we mere Mortals can influence Climate Change?...Its nonsense and only gives the unsolicited "Do Gooders" another forum to stand on and LECTURE the REST of US... and of course
it also gives Governments an opportunity to tax us even more to re-plenish the coffers THEY waste.
Phil, Satffs, England
Let's hope that this programme was only the first of many to challenge the "greehouse gas group". Temperatures have fluctuated throughout history and will continue to do so. There is certainly some warming going on at the moment but it is arrogant of man to think he can stop it. Sea level may well rise - c. 10,000 years ago you could walk to France on Dry land. We should be planning what to do about that rather than kidding ourselves that we can stop it. Many millions of people are at risk.
Gerry Yates, Keighley, UK
the media are loving this
all the usual pseudo science and alarmism
any chance of reasoned arguement on the tv
no
Alan Senior, preston, lancs
Man made global warming is a load of hot air. What influence did man have to end the last ice age ? The greens would argue it was because of stone age camp fires. They would have placed a tax on firewood and held weekly scarifices to appease the god of global warming. How silly of me to think that the greens have started a new religion. Thank god I am a non-believer.
Pravin, UK,
I think that it is safe to say that our weather and climate are dynamic systems with a large number of factors involved: including the sun, air pressure, air flows, water flows, cloud cover, diurnal patterns, pollution, volcanic activity, particles, chemicals.
I am aware that there have been meteorological changes over the last 50 years in the UK.
I accept that the action of humans en masse has increased the concentrations of particles and chemicals in the atmosphere and may have impacted on these dynamic systems.
But surely the changes are best seen as aspects of long term dynamism.
Kelvyn Richards, Trikala, Greece