Climatastrophe
Information on climate change to help create a greener world
Climatastrophe
Information on climate change to help create a greener world
Climate Change and a Convenient Untruth - Part 5
Is Australia's present drought a sign of global warming?
The world-wide controversy over the warming of the earth and the causes has led the author to research this phenomena and give his thoughts about the shortcomings of the evidence in support. He also has an interest in more down to earth issues such as how to lose weight and the increasing popularity of satellite TV.
In our examination of the international controversy that is climate change and global warming, we've looked at the positions of both parties - the Scaremongers who fully support the theory, and the Idealists who want more concrete evidence. However in Australia much of the so-called support for the 'Yes' case is based on distorted information, untruths, and naked lies.
Australia has always been at the mercy of Nature
Of all the countries in the western world, Australia is the one that suffers most from the vagaries of the weather. At any one time, part of the country experiences drought. At the moment large parts of inland Australia on the Pacific side of the country are experiencing this problem whilst other areas are enjoying more favorable conditions.
The Scaremongers believe the present drought is the worst ever - it may be the worst in living memory, but it's not the worst since European civilization started in 1788. The Federation drought of 1895 to 1903 is considered to be the one that caused the most damage to the economy and life in general.
The farming community in rural Australia accept drought as a normal aspect of life. Since the 1860s there have been 9 periods of major and prolonged drought covering large areas of the country, excluding the current situation. In addition there has been 6 droughts during this period covering smaller regions of the country.
During the periods of pre-European settlement, that is pre-1788, when industrial pollution could not have caused greenhouse gases and therefore affected climate change, droughts were just as prevalent. Examination of rings on trees and coral support this view. In fact examination of a piece of coral taken from the Barrier Reef in northern Australia shows that there was a drought in that region lasting 20 years from 1660.
Drought is a regular feature of Australian life
However, in spite of the overwhelming evidence that droughts are a regular occurrence of Australian farming life, the media still push the line that the present drought is caused by global warming. Even the saner and more responsible parts of the press insist that Australia's current predicament is being exacerbated by the government's late signing of the Kyoto agreement.
Just more unsupported distortions of the truth from the people who are happiest when they're dispelling doom and gloom.
Droughts in Australia are caused by, and have always been caused by, the activity of the El Nino Southern Oscillation - ELSO. This is a complex weather pattern that influences climatic conditions throughout the Pacific region. This phenomenon only became known in the late 70s and although much more work needs to be done to understand its complexity, weather scientists are now able to determine the influence it has on countries bordering the south Pacific fairly accurately.
The average Australian now believes drought is caused by climate change
However, the average man in the street now believes changes in climatic conditions in Australia are caused by global warming, rather than the more likely affect of the ELSO. Aided by the local media who attribute every unusual circumstance to world-wide global warming, from the increase in bush-fires to the desalination problems of the River Murray to the decline in coral growth on the Great Barrier Reef, the gullible public blindly follow what they've been told.
So successful are the Scaremongers in Australia that 2 out of 3 people writing letters to the press and web sites vigorously support the concept of man-made global warming. In actual fact, Australia's last Federal election, in November 2007, was won by the party most vocal in supporting this theory. A gullible public were frightened into voting for a party that claimed to be able to play God.
As an indication of the untruths and down right lies coming from the Australian Scaremongers camp, consider this gem - taken from the very best Joseph Goebbels propaganda manual:
ýbut in 2007 our Prime Minister still finds it hard to accept the possible existence of a human driven climate change.
Taken from http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/droughthistory.html
So what this web site, and other similar ones, is saying is that every climatic disaster that's occurred in the last 50 to 100 years has been caused by man-made climate change, but they don't know what caused climatic disasters before that.
Quite plain and simple, an increase in greenhouse gases by the burning of fossil fuels, allegedly causing climate change cannot be proven or supported by the sparse facts presented by its gullible supporters. Hysteria outweighs credible facts.
This is the fifth part of an attempt to put some balance into the ongoing international controversy that is the theory of man-made climate change.