Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Activist Sherpa's views preferred over peer reviewed science

From the cutting room floor at The Australian...


Dear Editor,
Chris Roylance (Letters, 29/2) finds some irony in Des Moore's call for an independent inquiry into the science of climate change by citing the claims of a sherpa. While first hand experience and anecdotal evidence of decreasing snowfall at the top of the world are worth considering, recent satellite data has revealed  "the world's greatest snowcapped peaks lost no ice at all over the past 10 years (Highest peaks have cut no ice in past 10 years, 10/2/12). Claims that Mt Everest is becoming more treacherous to climb are also little difficult to believe when this newspaper reported just 2 years ago that "An estimated 200 people reached the summit on Sunday, the busiest day, when 13-year-old American Jordan Romero became the youngest person ever to climb Everest, tackling the mountain from the quieter north side." (Climate change ups Everest danger, 26/5/2010). Interesting the same sherpa Chris Roylance relies on to rebuke Des Moore, featured in that story too, making the same claims about missing ice after making a record 20th ascent of the world's highest peak; a record your report yesterday indicates he has since broken (Mount Everest perilous as snows vanish, 28/2). Yes the ironies are there for all to see. But that believers in a climate catastrophe now rely on the anecdotal claims of an activist sherpa over the evidence offered by peer reviewed science is the greatest irony of all. 

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Cherry Picking the News

Cherry Picking the weather: anyone can do it:

The IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. (Presentation Slideshow, p.8).


The Little Skeptic

Links to newspaper articles all from the first decade of the 20th century:
Agriculture: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/63863482
Energy: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12281781
Water: http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1900-01-01/1909-12-31?contenttype=article&basicsearch=drought africa&anysearch=drought africa&frontpage=false&sortorder=score
Public Health: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/24841602
Tourism: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/69918661
Transportation: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/56724650

Saturday, February 4, 2012

A warped view


This letter left on the cutting room floor at The Age...

Dear Editor,
If Clive Hamilton and others on the loony left are so concerned about Gina Rinehart influencing editorial direction at Fairfax (Mining in a new vein, 2/2), perhaps they should dig deep into their own pockets, put their combined money where their mouth is, and get Clive a seat on the board. However, given that no one on the loony left has any entrepreneurial nous, relying as they do on government handouts of one sort or another, perhaps Clive can just organise a suspension of democracy, ban Gina from Fairfax and in the process stop anyone else from thinking anything that conflicts with Hamilton's own warped world view.