Despair? Oh yes, you can call it Despair.
The UK beats winter temperature record again
The UK has broken the record for its warmest winter day for the second consecutive day, with a temperature of 21.2°C in Kew Gardens, London.
Monday was the first time temperatures of over 20C had been reported in winter, breaking a record that had stood since 1998.
It means parts of Britain have been hotter than destinations such as Ibiza.
Last February, temperatures in the UK plunged as low as -11.7C at South Farnborough, Hampshire.
Temperatures broke the previous day’s record of 20.6C in two other places, the Met Office said.
So ran the BBC headlines this week.
Further on in the report
Dr Friedericke Otto, acting director of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University, said people were right to ask themselves whether the record temperatures were being driven by climate change.
“I am very confident to say that there’s an element of climate change in these warm temperatures,” she said.
This where I begin to despair because here we have two establishments reporting on a weather phenomena along with one German climatologist who hints that its climate change but at least has the fairness not seen in many climate scientists to hint that it could be down to something else. That hint is where she says weather systems.
Of course, Green MP Caroline Lucas had to get in on the act, its joyful news to Green ears when in winter we have a warm spell when we should be wrapping up in thick clothes to keep out the freezing weather. There was a big song and dance about the new record temperature set at Kew this week, 21.2C or 70F.
We are told that summerlike temperatures at this time of year are unheard of. Caroline Lucas even ludicrously said, “it’s impossible to shake the feeling that this isn’t right,” while Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill described these record-breaking temperatures as “exceptional”. Weather and climate are not the same. Weather refers to the day-to-day conditions, while climate is information amassed from data collected over a standard period of 30 years that provides the overarching weather pattern of a region.
And while experts cannot link one weather event to climate change, viewed in light of other recent climate reports it is hard not to consider these high temperatures as part of a warming trend that could see the earth about one degree warmer than it used to be.
Green MP Caroline Lucus then went on to link the warm weather to concerns over “climate breakdown” and called on the government to “wake up to this crisis”.
Yet all these renowned people eminent climate scientists, reporters, MP (cough cough) all failed to mention one very crucial piece of evidence. this evidence actually explains why we are seeing such warm weather in February when we should be seeing very cold weather. NOT once did these people mention the El Niño phenomena that can have major implications for weather patterns across the globe. During El Niño years, more rain falls in the Southwestern and Southeastern United States, while the North experiences much drier and warmer weather. and guess which country is in the North. That's right the country experiencing warm dry weather, the UK.
Funny that none of them mentioned that piece of news isn't it although one did hint there was something else responsible.
It's also funny that these people did not mention that little gem that the Met knew about.
Meanwhile, this little gem popped up. My bet none of you saw it
BBC Retract Fake IPPR Extreme Weather Claims
MARCH 1, 2019
The BBC has been forced to retract their fake claims about extreme weather.
This what they wrote
Politicians and policymakers have failed to grasp the gravity of the environmental crisis facing the Earth, a report claims.
The think-tank IPPR says human impacts have reached a critical stage and threaten to destabilise society and the global economy.
Scientists warn of a potentially deadly combination of factors.
These include climate change, mass loss of species, topsoil erosion, forest felling and acidifying oceans.
The report from the centre-left Institute for Public Policy Research says these factors are “driving a complex, dynamic process of environmental destabilisation that has reached critical levels.
“This destabilisation is occurring at speeds unprecedented in human history and, in some cases, over billions of years.”
The IPPR warns that the window of opportunity to avoid catastrophic outcomes is rapidly closing.
The authors urge three shifts in political understanding: on the scale and pace of environmental breakdown; the implications for societies; and the subsequent need for transformative change.
They say since 2005, the number of floods across the world has increased by 15 times, extreme temperature events by 20 times, and wildfires seven-fold.
At least climate change features in policy discussions, they say — but other vitally important impacts barely figure.
What issues are being underplayed?
- Topsoil is being lost 10 to 40 times faster than it is being replenished by natural processes
- Since the mid-20th Century, 30% of the world’s arable land has become unproductive due to erosion
- 95% of the Earth’s land areas could become degraded by 2050
These matters are close to home for British politicians, the authors argue, with the average population sizes of the most threatened species in the UK having decreased by two-thirds since 1970.
The UK is described as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.
Some 2.2 million tonnes of UK topsoil is eroded annually, and over 17% of arable land shows signs of erosion.
Nearly 85% of fertile peat topsoil in East Anglia has been lost since 1850, with the remainder at risk of being lost over next 30–60 years.
The IPPR says many scientists believe we have entered a new era of rapid environmental change.
The report warns: “We define this as the ‘age of environmental breakdown’ to better highlight the severity of the scale, pace and implications of environmental destabilisation resulting from aggregate human activity.”
Paul Homewood of Not A Lot Of People Know That, refuted these claims and sent in a formal complaint to the BBC.
In his own words, this is what happened
They first tried to fob me off:
Thank you for contacting us about the BBC News Website.
We understand you found the article entitled ‘Environment in multiple crises — report’ contains inaccurate information.
We appreciate your comments however as outlined in the article it is made clear that this information had come from the think-tank IPPR. The article gives context to the political leaning of the think thank as well as highlighting the research undertaken and the findings as well as reaction from numerous experts including Simon Lewis, Professor of Global Change Science at University College London and Harriet Bulkeley, a geography professor at Durham University as well as the government.
Overall we felt the findings of this report were in the public interest and editorially justified, we are careful to check and report the facts surrounding any debate, examine relevant arguments, and offer detailed analysis. We believe that by doing this our audience can then make up their own minds.
We always aim for due impartiality, and hear from all sides of a debate over time.
He refused to accept this and strongly pointed out that Harrabin had a duty to challenge statements which were, at least, contestable.
The BBC has now folded and accepted that the IPPR claim was totally incorrect, as per their email to him,
Has he says.
In good Soviet fashion, the incorrect statement has now been removed from the website, and there is this rather meaningless correction added:
As is always the case, nobody will pay the slightest attention to the new version, and the lie has gone around the world and back in the meantime.
As you see this is how it works. Tell a big lie, hope no one notices, Green zealots and Warmegedinists spread the word Green MPs further spread the word and if anyone notices first try to fob them off then if threatened take the story down with an apology, and alter it a little bit and snigger in the background knowing your job is done as no one will notice .
Yes, I despair, who wouldn't when they get down to the nitty-gritty of what these charlatans are saying. They knowingly are writing lies knowing that people like Lucas will go along with those lies and spread them.
We won't stop it but like Paul Homewood, we should all be vigilant to what they are saying and if need be refute what they are saying if it's not true
