Climate Change Predictions from T Flannery reviewed by A Bolt (the Sun)

[Chimo]

It pays to check out Tim Flannery's predictions about climate change:
Andrew Bolt-- Sun





Tim Flannery has had years of practice trying to terrify us into thinking human-made climate change will destroy Earth, says Andrew Bolt.

TIM Flannery has just been hired by the Gillard Government to scare us stupid, and I can't think of a better man for the job.
This Alarmist of the Year is worth every bit of the $180,000 salary he'll get as part-time chairman of the Government's new Climate Commission.

His job is simple: to advise us that we really, truly have to accept, say, the new tax on carbon dioxide emissions that this Government threatens to impose.
This kind of work is just up the dark alley of Flannery, author of The Weather Makers, that bible of booga booga.
He's had years of practice trying to terrify us into thinking our exhausts are turning the world into a fireball that will wipe out civilisation, melt polar ice caps and drown entire cities under hot seas.
Small problem, though: after so many years of hearing Flannery's predictions, we're now able to see if some of the scariest have actually panned out.
And we're also able to see if people who bet real money on his advice have cleaned up or been cleaned out.
So before we buy a great green tax from Flannery, whose real expertise is actually in mammology, it may pay to check his record.

Ready?

In 2005, Flannery predicted Sydney 's dams could be dry in as little as two years because global warming was drying up the rains, leaving the city "facing extreme difficulties with water".
Check Sydney 's dam levels today: 73 per cent. Hmm. Not a good start.

In 2008, Flannery said: "The water problem is so severe for Adelaide that it may run out of water by early 2009."
Check Adelaide 's water storage levels today: 77 per cent.

In 2007, Flannery predicted cities such as Brisbane would never again have dam-filling rains, as global warming had caused "a 20 per cent decrease in rainfall in some areas" and made the soil too hot, "so even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and river systems ... ".
Check the Murray-Darling system today: in flood. Check Brisbane 's dam levels: 100 per cent full.

All this may seem funny, but some politicians, voters and investors have taken this kind of warming alarmism very seriously and made expensive decisions in the belief it was sound. So let's check on them, too.

In 2007, Flannery predicted global warming would so dry our continent that desalination plants were needed to save three of our biggest cities from disaster. As he put it: "Over the past 50 years, southern Australia has lost about 20 per cent of its rainfall, and one cause is almost certainly global warming ."In Adelaide , Sydney and Brisbane , water supplies are so low they need desalinated water urgently, possibly in as little as 18 months."

One premier, Queensland 's Peter Beattie, took such predictions - made by other warming alarmists, too - so seriously that he spent more than $1 billion of taxpayers' money on a desalination plant, saying "it is only prudent to assume at this stage that lower-than-usual rainfalls could eventuate".

But check that desalination plant today: mothballed indefinitely, now that the rains have returned. (Incidentally, notice how many of Flannery's big predictions date from 2007? That was the year warming alarmism reached its most hysterical pitch and Flannery was named Australian of the Year.)

Back to another tip Flannery gave in that year of warming terror. In 2007, he warned that "the social licence of coal to operate is rapidly being withdrawn globally" by governments worried by the warming allegedly caused by burning the stuff.We should switch to "green" power instead, said Flannery, who recommended geothermal - pumping water on to hot rocks deep underground to create steam. "There are hot rocks in South Australia that potentially have enough embedded energy in them to run Australia's economy for the best part of a century," he said.

"The technology to extract that energy and turn it into electricity is relatively straightforward."Flannery repeatedly promoted this "straightforward" technology, and in 2009, the Rudd government awarded $90 million to Geodynamics to build a geothermal power plant in the Cooper Basin , the very area Flannery recommended. Coincidentally, Flannery has for years been a Geodynamics shareholder, a vested interest he sometimes declares.

Time to check on how that business tip went. Answer: erk.
The technology Flannery said was "relatively straighforward" wasn't. One of Geodynamics' five wells at Innamincka collapsed in an explosion that damaged two others. All had to be plugged with cement.The project has now been hit by the kind of floods Flannery didn't predict in a warming world, with Geodynamics announcing work had been further "delayed following extensive local rainfall in the Cooper Basin region". The technological and financing difficulties mean there is no certainty now that a commercial-scale plant will ever get built, let alone prove viable, so it's no surprise the company's share price has almost halved in four months.

Never mind, here comes Flannery with his latest scares and you-beaut fix.

His job as Climate Commission chief, says Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, is to "provide an authoritative, independent source of information on climate change to the Australian community" and "build the consensus about reducing Australia 's carbon pollution". That, translated, means selling us whatever scheme the Government cooks up to tax carbon dioxide, doing to the economy what the floods have done to Flannery's hot-rocks investment.

See why I say Flannery is the right man for this job? Who better to teach us how little we really know about global warming and how much it may cost to panic?

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Incidentally he [Tim Flannery] is on $3,600 a week of our taxpayers money for working just three days a week making up more garbage.

[Coodgee]

Edit: no longer in the mood to alienate myself with half the members here.

[TimiBoy]

It really saddens me that this community might want to align itself with the morons and simpletons who deny the science of climate change.

Aha. And you therefore think Tim Flannery is right then? In, perhaps, an alternative Green Universe?

I find it fascinating that a person of your obvious moral fortitude would jump on here and, instead of refuting Chimo's post with some well considered and referenced discussion to the contrary, you simply call him a moron and a simpleton. I don't know how it is where you come from, but here, when people do that, they cop a smack in the nose. Way to push your agenda, Mate!

Tim

[TimiBoy]

Edit: no longer in the mood to alienate myself with half the members here.

Yeah right. Damage done, buddy.

Signed, your favourite moronic simpleton, Tim

[Angla]

It really saddens me that we (the electorate) have to put up with what we didn't vote for. All we seem to be able to do in the face of these F(*&%$s is to try and shine the light on them so that they may be seen for the sharletans they really are.

Saddened
Chris

[darkside]

Tim,

I tend to favour justified debate as opposed to name calling as well. I am happy to hear other peoples opinions , and could even be swayed, but I am not going to be swayed by simple derogatory name calling either.

Darkside.

[Coodgee]

I apologise for my choice of words. It was wrong of me. Everyone has the right to an opinion without being called names. I'll try to think before I post in future.

[Chimo]

Tim Flannery certainly does have opinions, so does Andrew Bolt and so too do I and you too can also have one. Who said diversity of view was a bad thing?

Cheers
Chimo

[Steeler]

I have even been able to come to grips with the fact you have not one but two white ones hanging off that transom, hows that for tolerance and respecting your rights.

And as for you Timiboy i want to see you as the next Australian Labor Prime Minister ok !!!!.

Sorry just thought I'd lighten things up.

[Bazzawookooka]

Hey guys,

Thanks for voicing your opinions and thoughts - I find it very useful to hear them and add to my knowledge on the subject.

A pretty mature response from Coodgee too I thought - well done.

I would like to pose a question though - Has there really been 'debate' over climate change and carbon emissions??? I hear debate mentioned a lot, but can't really recall any real or serious debate - not by the definition I learned at school anyway.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Steve

[goat boy]

I would like to pose a question though - Has there really been 'debate' over climate change and carbon emissions??? I hear debate mentioned a lot, but can't really recall any real or serious debate - not by the definition I learned at school anyway.

It's all handled rather religious like. You either believe and will blindly bow and do whatever the crusaders say to do; or your shouted down as a moron, heretic, redneck etc etc. It makes me laugh, how long has there been that joke about government one day taxing the very air we breathe...well? ummm? isn't that in motion to happen right now?

[Andrew M]

An email just sent to me puts it all in perspective.

Professor Ian Plimercould not have said it better!

If you've read his book you will agree, this is a good summary.

Are you sitting down?

Okay, here's the bombshell. The volcanic eruption in Iceland, since its first spewing of volcanic ash has, in just FOUR DAYS, NEGATED EVERY SINGLE EFFORT you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet – all of you.




Of course you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress – it’s that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow, and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans, and all animal life.









I know, it's very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of: driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kid's "The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV an d s peedboat, vacationing at home instead of abroad, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your 50 cents light bulbs with $10.00 light bulbs...well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the tubes in just four days.









The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in just four days - yes - FOUR DAYS ONLY by that volcano in Iceland, has totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud any one time - EVERY DAY.









I don't really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in its entire YEARS on earth. Yes folks, Mt Pinatubo was active for over one year – think about it.









Of course I shouldn't spoil this touchy-feely tree-hugging moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keep happening, despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.









And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud but the fact of the matter is that the brush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years. And it happens every year.







Just remember that your government just tried to impose a whopping new carbon tax on you on the basis of the bogus “human-caused” climate change scenario.







Hey, isn’t it interesting how they don’t mention “Global Warming” any more, but just “Climate Change” - you know why? It’s because the planet has COOLED by 0.7 degrees in the past century and these global warming bull artists got caught with their pants down.







And just keep in mind that you might yet have an Emissions Trading Scheme – that whopping new tax – imposed on you, that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer. It won’t stop any volcanoes from erupting, that’s for sure.







But hey, relax, give the world a hug and have a nice day!







PS: I wonder if Iceland is buying carbon offsets?

Cheers Andrew

[Steeler]

In that case we need to double the carbon tax rate and reduction target to offset the volcanic event.

Just kidding Timiboy i thought it was about time i gave you another good wind up.

[PinHead]

Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano is emitting between 150,000 and 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per day, a figure placing it in the same emissions league as a small-to-medium European economy, experts said on Monday.
Assuming the composition of gas to be the same as in an earlier eruption on an adjacent volcano, "the CO2 flux of Eyjafjoell would be 150,000 tonnes per day," Colin Macpherson, an Earth scientist at Britain's University of Durham, said in an email.
Patrick Allard of the Paris Institute for Global Physics (IPGP) gave what he described as a "top range" estimate of 300,000 tonnes per day.
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Both insisted that these were only approximate estimates.
Extrapolated over a year, the emissions would place the volcano 47th to 75th in the world table of emitters on a country-by-country basis, according to a database at the World Resources Institute (WRI), which tracks environment and sustainable development.
A 47th ranking would place it above Austria, Belarus, Portugal, Ireland, Finland, Bulgaria, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland, according to this list, which relates to 2005.
Experts stressed that the volcano contributed just a tiny amount - less than a third of one percentage point - of global emissions of greenhouse gases.
Total emissions by six heat-trapping gases in 2005 were more than 36 thousand million tonnes (36 gigatonnes) as measured in CO2, according to the WRI index.
"It's not of any significance compared to the anthropogenic [manmade] budget," said Kjetil Toerseth, director of regional and global pollution at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.
Specialists cautioned those who believe the eruption is good for climate change as carbon-emitting jetliners are unable to take to the skies.
According to the European Environment Agency (EAA), daily emissions from the aviation sector in the 27 nations of the European Union are around 440,000 tonnes per day.
Not all of this is saved because of the volcanic eruption, said the sources.
Firstly, some airports in southern Europe have remained open for traffic.
In addition, carbon is emitted when passengers stranded by air travel use the train, bus, car or ferry as an alternative.
And many flights in, to and from Europe are merely being deferred until the crisis is over.
"Whether the emissions occur now or three weeks from now does not change things fundamentally," said Herve Le Treut, a French climatologist.
"Another point is that these emissions are of long duration. CO2 is dangerous because it stays in the atmosphere for about a hundred years. Its short-term effect is not the big problem."

[Mike Delisser]

An email just sent to me puts it all in perspective

It's a hoax email Andrew.
Cheers
Mike

Doh! I just saw PinHead beat me to it.