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Economist warns of global warming for China

This is much more detailed than is normal in these notes, but the writer is so appalled by the nonsense being written about global warming the he feels it should appear for the record.

One of what we are assured on spurious evidence is the world’s top authorities on climate change has warned carbon emissions per person in parts of China were higher than in some developed countries. Our illustration shows him clad for the heat wave that is to come.
Nicholas Stern, the British author of a review on climate change, told students in Beijing’s People’s University that 13 Chinese provinces, regions and cities had higher per capita emissions than France. Six also overtook Britain.
He said, "There are many parts of China where emissions intensity and emissions per capita are looking much like some of the richer countries in Europe." He did not say, although perhaps he should have, that the emissions were mainly caused manufacturing goods for these other countries. In a sense they have pushed, although not intentionally, their emission problems off shore.
Stern warned that if the world continued to emit around the same levels of greenhouse gases every year, there was a 50% chance temperatures would rise more than five degrees Celsius (nine degrees Fahrenheit) within 100 years.
He gave no scientific basis for that forecast. He also said a rise of  "five degrees Celsius has not been seen on this planet for 30 million years  —  we as humans have been here for only 200,000 years." Which is utter and provable nonsense. 
When people celebrate Christmas, they do so with snow and robins because Charles Dickens wrote the Christmas Carol in 1843 as a remembrance of his youth  —- he was born in 1812. It snowed on Christmas day every year of his life until he was 19  —  and then never did so again.

In earlier years the Thames froze over and large fairs were held on it. Yet, when the Romans invaded Britain the climate was much warmer. 

But let us nail down some facts. Go to the World Weather Report and you will find the official figures for Kyoto which shows warnings of global warming to be, at the very least, questionable.
The dates come from information in old diaries and chronicles regarding cherry blossom festivals held in Kyoto.

The dates are then converted into March temperatures using statistical methods, and the temperatures appear in the figure as well. As case can certainly be made warming over the past 200 years, and global warming advocates might be thrilled to see warming since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

However, Mikami states “The results indicate warmer periods during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries (in the Medieval Warm Period) and relatively colder periods during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries (the ‘Little Ice Age’) with large year-to-year variability”. 


When viewed over the past 1,000 years, there is certainly (a) little unusual about the recent warming, (b) no apparent correlation between atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and temperature variations in Kyoto, and (c) a possibility that the recent warming was induced by the urban heat island of the growing city.
So who is this Nicholas Stern with his warnings such as: "This would result in extended, serious global conflict?"
He is not a climatologist. He has had no training in that area. He was an economist until a few years ago working for  —  and not getting on with  —  Gordon Brown. He is not a climatologist and yet he issues these desperate warnings which are backed up by very selective data.
Based on Stern’s calculations, emissions per person worldwide would have to fall to two tons by 2050 to minimise the risk of a dangerous rise in temperature.

Currently, according to Stern, China emits six tons per person, the European Union emits an average of 12, and the United States 25. Indeed, and where did Stern acquire the expertise to interpret these figures. From a committee. Not, as far as one can ascertain, from an expert group of climatologists. They might have given the wrong answer.

AFP reported Nicholas Stone, described by AFP as a noted economist, said he was confident China would lead on climate change action.
He said, "China will use its leadership. . . to explain to the developed world what their obligations are, and China will support developing countries as a whole." Thus spake a politician.
Indeed, but perhaps he would also like to name the climatologists he consulted in coming to his world-shaking conclusions.

Bah! Humbug!

 

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