Heavy Rains in UK

[bikeseamus]

 I've been reading about the rain over there. I do hope you guys are OK. Record droughts AND rains over here, depending upon location. We have a whole new World of 21st Century Climate.

[Steffan]

I am increasingly unsure of that. These are the worst floods in 60 years which is another way of saying that they are not as bad as ones we had here 60years ago. Droughts...well I grew up in Australia and there are droughts and then there are droughts. I begin to wonder if one can see a pattern if one is looking for it.

[GB500nz]

The climate modellers actually predicted flooding there and more droughts in Oz, but their predictions were a lot more conservative than the actualities. We've had two "100-year" floods in Northland in 3 months. And it's certain to get worse, since they didn't factor in the increased open water in the Arctic or the melting of the permafrost that's going on. Oh, well . . .

[bikeseamus]

    Hotter and hotter over here, and it comes looking for you, or just arrived no matter what you were looking for. Farther north, everything is melting. Record heat, record droughts.

[Martin Giddings]

This summer has seen a larger quantity of rain then usual in the UK, but in recent years we have had far better summers then ever before, in the 60's and 70's we didn't seem to have summers it seemed to never stop raining (apart from 1976).
In the past when we have had Worldwide severe weather we have blamed the El Ninho effect, now it is all global warming, what will the next unprovable theory be? 

[bikeseamus]

     Global warming isn't a theory. Every single weather phenomenom either can or cannot be assigned to it, but the warming is a fact, as are the records and melting that prove it. Theory will lie in how dramatic and how quick the repurcussions hit, and exactly what form they take.

   We have been burning everything from sod to wood to tar to tumbleweeds for thousands of years, but the oil and natural gas really did it, especially with millions of vehicles running it 24/7 for a hundred years or so.

    Now we are going to use corn to feed our machines over here.  Food to fuel conversions.  I would say we are too stupid to survive in the long run, but we did have our run. Multiplying like lemmings will be corrected, as will the fouling of our own air and water and bed. Troubled sleep in that bed.    We didn't keep the sustainable balance,so mother nature will do it for us.  She's the boss, so to speak, and the oil companies will continue to spend millions lying about it while making billions from it all.     Too bad, but oh well.

 

          The occasional volcano adds to it as well

[Steve Lake]

Went to alaska a couple of years ago..........absolutely wonderful place, stayed in a hotel next to a glacier for a couple of nights in the wrangel national park.

Well, i say next to the glacier...it was once...glacier has now receded up the valley, at an ever increasing rate looking at the history of it

went to see many other glaciers as well, all suffering the same fate

it really was depressing.......and i helped make it worse.....by flying there!!!

you're right Bill...we're too bluddy stupid to last too much longer

[boze]

Hmmm, to be honest im not convinced. Scientists have proven that the earth has been warming up and cooling down for millions of years and i firmly believe that the global warming issues we have are simply a part of that. I also believe to a degree that our governments know this and that its yet another scare tactic to make us look to our governments for help.

A nation in fear is a nation under control.


*puts his tin foil hat back on and hides in the basement*

Damo

[bikeseamus]

Over here, the government denies the problem and threatens its own scientists for speaking the truth about it.

   The oil companies own the US Government,so no one looks to them for solutions. They're a big part of the problem.

  All things being equal, billions of people burning up oxygen faster than plants can regenerate it and millions of vehicles heating things up as they burn oxygen will make a significant contribution to the warming problem. You can assign percentages to various causes for the problem if you want.....that's fine.

  I think the largest obstruction to warming is that no one has figured out a way to make billions by slowing  it down.

   Meanwhile the oil companies are posting record profits and the G8, Russian, Chinese, Indian, and American Governments coordinate exactly nothing while we all chew up rainforests, develop wetlands and drill for more like there is no tomorrow.

   Mother Nature will solve the problem in her traditional and time honored manner. Famine, war and disease. Too many rats in the cage.

[Martin Giddings]

While I am told to recycle, China has 20 years before it even considers the issue, is there any point in my effort?

While we can't stop killing each other our Governments are too pre-occupied. Once international peace breaks out then we can all work together for a solution (there I go again-dreaming).

The bottom line is would you sacrifice your Thumper for pedals?

Cardboard recycling is one thing, but I'm keeping/using the Thumper.   

[mav617]

I'm with Damo on this - it's a natural phenomenon as are Sun spots and shifts in the Earths magnetic field. I'm not saying that I don't support all efforts to reduce Greenhouse gases, but I likewise don't subscribe to the view that humanity is a virus killing the planet.

[Steffan]

I think the thing is, when the ratchet only works one way and when all the incentives to do the "right thing" are disincentives which are fiscally to the advantage of government at the expense of the tax payer. When doing the "right thing " is always more expensive and the powers that be seem to be selective in their commitment to the environment then it is difficult not to have a high index of suspicion when they tell us things which lay the ground for even further fiscal exploitation.

If GW is a natural phenomenon then there is no tax milage in it, but if you can argue that it is caused by single cylinder motorcycles then you have an opportunity to raise further revenue.

As far as shitty weather goes if that was what you were looking for then a small island in the north atlantic between the gulf stream and the Artic circle would be a prime candidate irrespective of whether or not the planet was getting warmer. A little perspective when it comes to the attribution of specific weather events would perhaps add a some credence to the whole climate debate.

[guest27]

And as the Ostriches buried their heads in the sand Gaia came up behind them and gave them what they deserved.

Governments are late adopters of global warming, the data and the evidence for a pertabation  (bugger 16 different spellings and all wrong) in the stable system is there for all to see - well those who bother looking.  It is true we have had warming and cooling cycles before and we have had higher and lower CO2 before - by we I mean us here on the third rock - BUT there is clarity in the evidence that WE (mankind) has been making a negative impact for years.  It is funny - the awareness of the environment and what is causing the issues is greater in India and China than in the West.

Natural cycle or not (and it is a not - we are already in the warm interglacial) things are about to start getting uncomfortable for us. 

Now how long did it take for average global temperatures to rise thus signalling the end of the last glacial period - and how much did that global average rise?

R