Comments on: A Schneid look at Aitkin

By: Graham Young

Graham Young — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:00:55 +0000

Patrick, it’s relevant only if the damage is due to global warming. Katrina was not especially severe, it did the damage because it was a direct hit. So he’s trying to have his cake and eat it too by invoking Katrina and then crossing his fingers by pointing out it had nothing to do with global warming.
I see you’re using John Quiggin’s technique of trying to divert attention from a serious issue by starting a skirmish on a non-existent one. The big issue here is why he is distorting and exaggerating the projections. If you’re going to rely on projections, then at least represent them correctly.
The historical record suggests that the projections may be wrong anyway, because proxy data from the 18th Century say colder seas, but more cyclones http://ff.org/centers/csspp/library/co2weekly/20070525/20070525_02.pdf.

By: Patrick B

Patrick B — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:14:06 +0000

“If it wasn’t due to global warming, why is it in there?”
Man, you must have the education of a year 3 student. The quote says the “latter of which is not specifically due to global warming”.
Now Graham sit up and pay attention and stop playing with Jen. Now what in the following sentence is the “latter”:
“We’ve seen intensification of hurricanes and the destruction of New Orleans”
Is it
a) “intensification of hurricanes”
b) “destruction of New Orleans”
c) None of the above because both of them don’t exist or if they do I’m not responsible.

By: Graham Young

Graham Young — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:18:36 +0000

Yes, one of the things that Don Aitkin said – running out of oil is a bigger problem than burning it. And you might have noticed that if you want to read about peak oil in Australia, OLO is about the only place you can.
Schneider ignores most of what Aitkin says and puts words into his mouth to boot.

By: ronda jambe

ronda jambe — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:11:21 +0000

Graham, I think the evidence is clear enough that we are altering the climate. In any case, we’re running out of oil, so we must move to a low carbon economy anyway.
Besides that, we have too many people and too much pollution, also urgent problems that are entwined with global warming.