PUBLISHED: 19:45 EST, 9 January 2013 | UPDATED: 02:56 EST, 10 January 2013
Was there ever a government quango quite so useless as the Met Office?
From its infamous ‘barbecue summer’ washout of 2009 to the snowbound winter it failed to predict in 2010 and the recent forecast-defying floods, our £200 million-a-year official weather forecaster has become a national joke.
But of all its recent embarrassments, none come close to matching the Met Office’s latest one.
Without fanfare — apparently in the desperate hope no one would notice — it has finally conceded what other scientists have known for ages: there is no evidence that ‘global warming’ is happening.
Needless to say the UK Met Office published a detailed rebuttal. One of the comments that I spotted following that rebuttal was this lovely one from MD Dalgleish:
The Daily Mail does not let the facts get in the way of a story! Nothing new there, they’ve been doing that since before the war. What baffles me is why so many people buy this paper.
Quite so!
It would all be a bit of a laugh if it were not for what follows.
Last Friday, Naked Capitalism, the fabulous blog run by Yves Smith published in her set of links this item, “Climate change set to make America hotter, drier and more disaster-prone.” Newly living here in Southern Oregon, that obviously caught my eye!
The item referred to a detailed account in the British Guardian newspaper by Suzanne Goldenberg, the newspaper’s US Environment Correspondent.
Climate change set to make America hotter, drier and more disaster-prone
Draft report from NCA makes clear link between climate change and extreme weather as groups urge Obama to take action
The report says steps taken by Obama to reduce emissions are ‘not close to sufficient’ to prevent the most severe consequences of climate change. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP
Future generations of Americans can expect to spend 25 days a year sweltering in temperatures above 100F (38C), with climate change on course to turn the country into a hotter, drier, and more disaster-prone place.
The National Climate Assessment, released in draft form on Friday , provided the fullest picture to date of the real-time effects of climate change on US life, and the most likely consequences for the future.
The 1,000-page report, the work of the more than 300 government scientists and outside experts, was unequivocal on the human causes of climate change, and on the links between climate change and extreme weather.
“Climate change is already affecting the American people,” the draft report said. “Certain types of weather events have become more frequent and/or intense including heat waves, heavy downpours and in some regions floods and drought. Sea level is rising, oceans are becoming more acidic, and glaciers and Arctic sea ice are melting.”
Here’s a pithy question for Mr. James Delingpole of The Daily Mail, “Which part of this sentence are you having trouble with – The 1,000-page report, the work of the more than 300 government scientists and outside experts, was unequivocal on the human causes of climate change, and on the links between climate change and extreme weather.?” [my emphasis]
Suzanne goes on to say:
The report will be open for public comment on Monday.
Environmental groups said they hoped the report would provide Barack Obama with the scientific evidence to push for measures that would slow or halt the rate of climate change – sparing the country some of the worst effects.
The report states clearly that the steps taken by Obama so far to reduce emissions are “not close to sufficient” to prevent the most severe consequences of climate change.
“As climate change and its impacts are becoming more prevalent, Americans face choices,” the report said. “Beyond the next few decades, the amount of climate change will still largely be determined by the choices society makes about emissions. Lower emissions mean less future warming and less severe impacts. Higher emissions would mean more warming and more severe impacts.”
As the report made clear: no place in America had gone untouched by climate change. Nowhere would be entirely immune from the effects of future climate change.
One might argue that it won’t be very long before no sane person on this planet would swallow that crap from The Daily Mail. But when we get to that stage of every person being aware of the forces at work upon our fair planet it will be a tad too late.
The only home we have.
That’s why this report is to be encouraged, nay embraced. Of all the nations in the world, the one that should be setting the lead is the United States of America. As the banner on that globalchange.gov website proclaims: Thirteen Agencies, One Vision: Empower the Nation with Global Change Science
So go and read the report. For your sake and all our sakes.
Because the more informed you and I are, the better the chances of real political leadership taking place in this fine nation.
Download Chapters of the NCADAC DraftClimate Assessment Report!
Download the Full Report (warning, 147Mb. Very large file)Between chapters, there are some page numbers that are not used. This is intentional and does not reflect missing pages.or download each chapter separately:
Delingpile is an idiot. Sadly, too many people don’t realise this. If his employers do, they’re clearly only looking at the eyeballs (and therefore profit) he generates by his controversial stance, and just underscores that we don’t live in a meritocracy. It really does makes me stop to wonder why I bother getting up to go to work at all when there are people like him in ’employment’ who would have been slung out with the trash long ago if there were any justice in this world. Calls himself a ‘journalist’; what a joke that is… I know bloggers who put out better quality information.
No global warming? The person who wrote this must have been bribed by those coal producers! At the moment, the southern hemisphere is hit by heat waves while northern hemisphere is wreaked by harsh winter. This may cause damage to certain crops again causing price spikes for those affected agricultural products!
Suzanne Goldenberg is right on the money once again, discussing the remarks of departing USGS Director, she notes:
In the case of New Jersey, post-[Hurricane]Sandy flight surveys by the USGS showed substantial damage to the dunes, barrier islands and other geographic features that had shielded coastal communities from the full fury of the storm. In some areas, the coastline lost up to six metres in elevation… ‘US east-coast cities are ‘sitting ducks’ for storms, says top Obama scientist’ (15 Jan 2013)
Thats why I do not read News Papers of any sort.. ..:-)
But we have had global warming before and then Ice-ages, Science can also prove that one.. It is my belief.. Only My own.. that we are within a cycle which has happened upon this planet before regarding the warming up of temps’ around the world.. Our foot-prints however have contributed to that warming process by the pollutants we belch out.. We must be in no doubt that our contribution to it has a huge affect..
How ever I do also think that we are being taxed via Green house taxes which governments have known long in advance of us, that no amount of taxation is going to stop or change that process which is as a planet going through its own natural stages of evolution.
We are how ever affecting our Planet in Mega ways.. by drilling, fracking, oil pollution,Open mining, Cutting down our Rain Forests, chem-trailing/Cloud seeding, by our use of aerosols additives in food.. we are poisoning not only the planet, but ourselves as well..
When we STOP believing in all the Rubbish the Media do print and start acting to save our planet by our own way of being.. and our own Actions.. We must ALL of us OWN up to our own Responsibly in creating a planet fit for our children to grow up in.. that not only means the environment, without which we could not live.. but also by how we conduct ourselves within that environment.. So we need to not only Respect our Planet.. But we need to honour and respect ALL Life and its form…
Until we respect ourselves.. then we are going to see a planet in the decline.. and along with it the extinction of much more wild life and eventually the Human Species.. 😦
Sue, you do well not to read any newspapers but, please, try and get your husband to read a decent paper such as The Independent? With regard to your misconception of the relevance of the Earth’s climate in the geological past, I really don’t know where to start… So, instead I will just finish by saying that all life on Earth is adapted to the way things are now; and humanity is now changing those conditions faster than they have ever changed before.
Hi Martin, it would also take me far too long to explain to you what I know, so I will not even attempt to..or embarrass myself in the process, for I will readily admit to our Human part in acceleration of global warming with our pollutants in the atmosphere. We all of us are part of that change. such is evolution.
As for the News Paper…. I would never presume to tell anyone least of all my husband what he should or shouldn’t read.. He knows only too well my own opinions upon the subject of Mind Control, Ego, and ‘Dis-information’ we are subjected to via the media of all descriptions.
And like most of us upon this Planet.. We have been given Free Will. and Choice..
Unfortunately Many still upon this planet bury their heads and think that the global environment is some-one else’s problem.. When in fact We are each of us Responsible for our environment and our own actions..
Only when we choose to change our attitudes and Perceptions and ways of being,only then do we then change our communities, only then do we change our societies and hopefully one day our world.
And Changes are coming thicker and faster than anyone will think possible..
Change is all part of progress without Change we become static.. People fear change because they hold onto the familiar.. We are all of us guilty of that.
One thing though is that Many people just cannot see is that we are bound with the Earth Mother.. and our emotions and actions also have a direct baring upon this planet..
But like I said in the beginning ‘Knowing’ something internally, instinctively cannot be proven..But you are more than welcome to visit my own blog and see what I am about and leave me your thought which will be most welcome…
Wishing you a very Peaceful Day this Sunday..
with Regards
Sue Dreamwalker
Thanks for the explanation, Sue. Please forgive me if I presumed a little too much but I was concerned by the possibility that you uncritically accepted the Mail on Sunday mantra that global warming has stopped.
No need to apologise Martin….If you read my comment then you would seen I said I don’t know whether this is true or not.. You see I tend not to believe Every Thing I read…
No one knows for certain what’s what in this world my friend, and to presume anything is only a matter of our own opinion and Perception given the data we are given with the knowledge we have gleaned at the time, of which we are all entitled too 🙂
If we all believed the same thing and what we were told it would make for a very Dull World and We are finding out more about our Inner and Outer worlds all the time..
If I could take you back a few hundred years it was also once upon a time believed that the world was flat.. and those who thought otherwise were laughed at..
I am used to laughter,, It is what makes the world go around 🙂
Have a very Peaceful Day… for your own light adds much to the knowledge of the world 🙂
You are very gracious, Sue, but I think you may well yet have to forgive me for being such a zealous exponent of the fallacy of the market place of ideas. I did indeed read your original comment very carefully; and my view is that not all opinions are equally valid. Therefore, you should be able to determine that what the Mail on Sunday says about the Met Office and/or climate change is not true.
Climate change sceptics are not like Galileo: He wanted observational evidence to trump theological dogma; whereas climate “sceptics” are allowing ideological dogma to trump observational evidence. In taking on the Catholic Church, Galileo was fighting against an anti-intellectual and obscurantist Establishment. Climate change sceptics today are not fighting such an Establishment: Whether they realise it or not, they are part of it – many call it the Fossil Fuel Lobby.
In my ignorance Martin, I did not read it… as its this very fact of who said what and where will still not solve the real problems of the world.. And Religion and Politics are too Heavy for me at this time in the day..
I try to live simply…
I follow my heart and for me if we all just cared and respected out Earth Mother that bit more as well as each other, then If we only all did that one thing better, it would go along way to creating a better environment in which we all lived…
Keep up your Good fight… for You make a difference
OK, Sue, thanks. Although my point was that you should not need to read it in order to know it’s rubbish, I will stop this debate now and go and ‘meditate’ on something else. 🙂
P.S. Most of our pollutants in the atmosphere are actually cooling the planet down. Therefore, bringing industrial pollution under better control (where it is currently not so) will be yet another positive feedback mechanism that will cause warming to accelerate in the near future. If you are feeling strong, see Pendantry’s blog: http://pendantry.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/flipping-the-coin/
P.P.S. How I wish my ex-Wife had the same attitude as you (and had not presumed to tell me what to do all the time). I do not think her new fiancee knows what he is letting himself in for (and I would never dare to presume to tell him as his favourite book may be The Taming of the Shrew).
Sue and Martin, it is just a shade after 6am here. Cleo, as usual, thumped my shoulder with her paws wanting to be let out. I slid back into bed, turned on the ‘Kindle’ and read your wonderful exchange. Thank you both.
Learning from Dogs 
If anyone wants to know why James Delingole (i.e. primarily of The Daily Telegraph and his own blog; but also occasionally given space in The Spectator magazine and others) is having trouble interpreting scientific documents, it is because – as he has admitted himself – he does not read them. See also:
http://lackofenvironment.wordpress.com/background/ and
http://lackofenvironment.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/worlds-biggest-watermelon-found-in-washington-dc/
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Thanks Martin. Seems to be an admission of Delingpole that should be more widely known.
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Indeed. Thanks for facilitating its spread…
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Delingpile is an idiot. Sadly, too many people don’t realise this. If his employers do, they’re clearly only looking at the eyeballs (and therefore profit) he generates by his controversial stance, and just underscores that we don’t live in a meritocracy. It really does makes me stop to wonder why I bother getting up to go to work at all when there are people like him in ’employment’ who would have been slung out with the trash long ago if there were any justice in this world. Calls himself a ‘journalist’; what a joke that is… I know bloggers who put out better quality information.
PS thanks for the very informative post.
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I should like to echo Pendantry’s final remark!
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I think your reference to profit hits the nail squarely on the head. Thanks for the feedback.
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No global warming? The person who wrote this must have been bribed by those coal producers! At the moment, the southern hemisphere is hit by heat waves while northern hemisphere is wreaked by harsh winter. This may cause damage to certain crops again causing price spikes for those affected agricultural products!
LikeLike
You voice what millions across the planet know to be the truth.
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Suzanne Goldenberg is right on the money once again, discussing the remarks of departing USGS Director, she notes:
In the case of New Jersey, post-[Hurricane]Sandy flight surveys by the USGS showed substantial damage to the dunes, barrier islands and other geographic features that had shielded coastal communities from the full fury of the storm. In some areas, the coastline lost up to six metres in elevation…
‘US east-coast cities are ‘sitting ducks’ for storms, says top Obama scientist’ (15 Jan 2013)
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Thanks Martin. I do sense that this year is going to be a critical turning point, as I shall be penning in a post out tomorrow. Paul
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Thats why I do not read News Papers of any sort.. ..:-)
But we have had global warming before and then Ice-ages, Science can also prove that one.. It is my belief.. Only My own.. that we are within a cycle which has happened upon this planet before regarding the warming up of temps’ around the world.. Our foot-prints however have contributed to that warming process by the pollutants we belch out.. We must be in no doubt that our contribution to it has a huge affect..
How ever I do also think that we are being taxed via Green house taxes which governments have known long in advance of us, that no amount of taxation is going to stop or change that process which is as a planet going through its own natural stages of evolution.
We are how ever affecting our Planet in Mega ways.. by drilling, fracking, oil pollution,Open mining, Cutting down our Rain Forests, chem-trailing/Cloud seeding, by our use of aerosols additives in food.. we are poisoning not only the planet, but ourselves as well..
When we STOP believing in all the Rubbish the Media do print and start acting to save our planet by our own way of being.. and our own Actions.. We must ALL of us OWN up to our own Responsibly in creating a planet fit for our children to grow up in.. that not only means the environment, without which we could not live.. but also by how we conduct ourselves within that environment.. So we need to not only Respect our Planet.. But we need to honour and respect ALL Life and its form…
Until we respect ourselves.. then we are going to see a planet in the decline.. and along with it the extinction of much more wild life and eventually the Human Species.. 😦
~Sue
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Indeed, I think we are now well beyond doubt that humans are making a huge and critically different affect to previous planetary causes and cycles.
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Sue, you do well not to read any newspapers but, please, try and get your husband to read a decent paper such as The Independent? With regard to your misconception of the relevance of the Earth’s climate in the geological past, I really don’t know where to start… So, instead I will just finish by saying that all life on Earth is adapted to the way things are now; and humanity is now changing those conditions faster than they have ever changed before.
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Thanks Martin. You must have read my mind because I thought you were the best person to reply to Sue.
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Sorry it took me so long!
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Hi Martin, it would also take me far too long to explain to you what I know, so I will not even attempt to..or embarrass myself in the process, for I will readily admit to our Human part in acceleration of global warming with our pollutants in the atmosphere. We all of us are part of that change. such is evolution.
As for the News Paper…. I would never presume to tell anyone least of all my husband what he should or shouldn’t read.. He knows only too well my own opinions upon the subject of Mind Control, Ego, and ‘Dis-information’ we are subjected to via the media of all descriptions.
And like most of us upon this Planet.. We have been given Free Will. and Choice..
Unfortunately Many still upon this planet bury their heads and think that the global environment is some-one else’s problem.. When in fact We are each of us Responsible for our environment and our own actions..
Only when we choose to change our attitudes and Perceptions and ways of being,only then do we then change our communities, only then do we change our societies and hopefully one day our world.
And Changes are coming thicker and faster than anyone will think possible..
Change is all part of progress without Change we become static.. People fear change because they hold onto the familiar.. We are all of us guilty of that.
One thing though is that Many people just cannot see is that we are bound with the Earth Mother.. and our emotions and actions also have a direct baring upon this planet..
But like I said in the beginning ‘Knowing’ something internally, instinctively cannot be proven..But you are more than welcome to visit my own blog and see what I am about and leave me your thought which will be most welcome…
Wishing you a very Peaceful Day this Sunday..
with Regards
Sue Dreamwalker
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Thanks for the explanation, Sue. Please forgive me if I presumed a little too much but I was concerned by the possibility that you uncritically accepted the Mail on Sunday mantra that global warming has stopped.
LikeLike
No need to apologise Martin….If you read my comment then you would seen I said I don’t know whether this is true or not.. You see I tend not to believe Every Thing I read…
No one knows for certain what’s what in this world my friend, and to presume anything is only a matter of our own opinion and Perception given the data we are given with the knowledge we have gleaned at the time, of which we are all entitled too 🙂
If we all believed the same thing and what we were told it would make for a very Dull World and We are finding out more about our Inner and Outer worlds all the time..
If I could take you back a few hundred years it was also once upon a time believed that the world was flat.. and those who thought otherwise were laughed at..
I am used to laughter,, It is what makes the world go around 🙂
Have a very Peaceful Day… for your own light adds much to the knowledge of the world 🙂
LikeLike
You are very gracious, Sue, but I think you may well yet have to forgive me for being such a zealous exponent of the fallacy of the market place of ideas. I did indeed read your original comment very carefully; and my view is that not all opinions are equally valid. Therefore, you should be able to determine that what the Mail on Sunday says about the Met Office and/or climate change is not true.
Climate change sceptics are not like Galileo: He wanted observational evidence to trump theological dogma; whereas climate “sceptics” are allowing ideological dogma to trump observational evidence. In taking on the Catholic Church, Galileo was fighting against an anti-intellectual and obscurantist Establishment. Climate change sceptics today are not fighting such an Establishment: Whether they realise it or not, they are part of it – many call it the Fossil Fuel Lobby.
LikeLike
In my ignorance Martin, I did not read it… as its this very fact of who said what and where will still not solve the real problems of the world.. And Religion and Politics are too Heavy for me at this time in the day..
I try to live simply…
I follow my heart and for me if we all just cared and respected out Earth Mother that bit more as well as each other, then If we only all did that one thing better, it would go along way to creating a better environment in which we all lived…
Keep up your Good fight… for You make a difference
LikeLike
OK, Sue, thanks. Although my point was that you should not need to read it in order to know it’s rubbish, I will stop this debate now and go and ‘meditate’ on something else. 🙂
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P.S. Most of our pollutants in the atmosphere are actually cooling the planet down. Therefore, bringing industrial pollution under better control (where it is currently not so) will be yet another positive feedback mechanism that will cause warming to accelerate in the near future. If you are feeling strong, see Pendantry’s blog: http://pendantry.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/flipping-the-coin/
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P.P.S. How I wish my ex-Wife had the same attitude as you (and had not presumed to tell me what to do all the time). I do not think her new fiancee knows what he is letting himself in for (and I would never dare to presume to tell him as his favourite book may be The Taming of the Shrew).
LikeLike
Sue and Martin, it is just a shade after 6am here. Cleo, as usual, thumped my shoulder with her paws wanting to be let out. I slid back into bed, turned on the ‘Kindle’ and read your wonderful exchange. Thank you both.
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