These floods may only be the start

10:40am Saturday 29th September 2012 in Letters By Reader's letter

York in flood – well, we have not seen anything yet, because the possible explanation for this recent chaos lies at the other side of the world.

A steaming mass of vegetation that we know of as the Amazon rain forest is the lungs of our planet, yet it is rapidly disappearing due to the blinkered pursuit of profit.

Although according to the conservation group RAISG this tide is slowly turning due to conservation efforts, this is too little too late.

Our total reliance upon using fossil fuels further compounds and accelerates this global disaster yet to come.

Our species is slowly becoming aware of delicate Earth balances that have dire consequences when thrown off sync, and you only have to see NASA images of our crumbling ice shelves to realise something is clearly wrong.

Although we are slowly trying to address these issues, this may be far too late to prevent Britain from experiencing future floods and extreme weather conditions that we all are seeing recently.

Urgent action is required now, but I feel that only when flood water enters the House of Commons will a remedy be sought, and that may be sooner than experts have predicted.

Future Yorkies should invest in warmer clothing and a decent pair of wellingtons.

Phil Shepherdson, Chantry Close, Woodthorpe , York.

Comments(15)

pedalling paul says...
10:53am Sat 29 Sep 12

The Kevin Costner film "Waterworld" may ultimately prove to have been prophetic.
I'll fit floats on my bike, just in case.....turn myself into Paddlling Pedalling Paul.

Report this post »

ColdAsChristmas says...
4:37pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Paul, I'm certain there would be a lot of people attaching lead sinkers to your bike if such a situation was to occur!
Phil, why you would want to invest in warmer clothing when we are supposed to be experiencing global warming I'm not sure, maybe it's not warming after all. I take your point with regard to rain forests, although I do know of one Amazon mining company that replaces all the removed trees before moving to another location. This is not ideal but at least it leaves a recoverable situation.
As for the use of fossil fuels; man made CO2 only represents around 16 parts per million in the atmosphere and that in the greater scheme of things is nothing.
So, why did we get all this rain? Any meteorologist will explain that it was a large tropical storm heading North that met with the jet stream. The warmer air held the water and as soon as it met out cooler air, yes cooler air the water was released in the form of rain. This was the worst for thirty years. What happened then, much the same thing and did not need a tiny amounts of man made CO2 either.

Report this post »

yorkshirelad says...
4:50pm Sun 30 Sep 12

Climate change deniers are truly frightening. Although, of course there is scientific debate, the overwhelming consensus is that climate change is largely caused by man-made CO2 emissions.

I'd rather crucial opinions on the future of the planet come from the majority in the international scientific community than the extreme views of Jeremy Clarkson, Melanie Phillips of the Daily Mail and assorted US-based extremist groups with vested interests.

The letter writer is absolutely right - we need urgent action and to err on the side of caution.

Report this post »

Friedrich Hayek says...
8:23pm Sun 30 Sep 12

I'm not prepared to buy some wellies, some warmer clothing or not build my house on a flood plain.

Something more drastic must be done.

I propose we brand another trace gas as evil. Nitrogen dioxide perhaps.

In a while we'll shorten it to just plain old nitrogen so people know we mean business.

Welcome to the First Church of Environmentology. The white zone is for loading and unloading only.

Report this post »

ColdAsChristmas says...
8:48pm Sun 30 Sep 12

Yorkshirelad: If you did a tiny bit of research you would know that there are indeed thousands of scientists who are sceptical of the man made global warming hypothesis. Check out Professors Richard Linzden and Bob Carter for example. Professor David Bellamy never worked for the BBC again after he commented that global warming was 'poppycock!' Climategate should have warned you of the PAL review system where the alarmist led CRU would only review alarmists papers. So, what do you expect?
95% of Earths greenhouse gas effect is water vapour, naturally occurring and yet this is not included in any of the models used to predict warming. These models don't even consider solar output fluctuations and yet we are gambling £Billions on their accuracy!.
No longer do you hear scare stories that the Oceans are becoming acidic since it has been proven that they are all alkaline with not much difference between them. There were scare stories in the USA over some record high July temperatures while failing to report an even higher number of record low temperatures. 1934 remains the hottest Summer in the USA and 1976 in the UK. On the other hand, the coldest winters in both cases were recorded not that long since! Warming anyone?

Report this post »

PinzaC55 says...
9:10pm Sun 30 Sep 12

We're all DOOMED Captain Mannering!

Report this post »

yorkshirelad says...
10:05pm Sun 30 Sep 12

See 'Scientific opinion on climate change' on Wikipedia for an outline of the scientific concensus. It's completely overwhelming.

I trust scientific opinion more than the conspiracy theorists down at the dog & duck!

Report this post »

Magicman! says...
4:04am Mon 1 Oct 12

oh yet more "we're killing our planet with CO2" rubbish. CO2 levels were higher in roman times than they are now, the antartic ice shelf is INCREASING now, when Al Gore and his crackpot cronies invented global warming their climate models left out the carbon-absorbing effects of photosynthesis (which is like turning on the tap in the bath and then screaming that the house will flood, ignoring the open plug hole), and new climate models show that even in worst case scenario the global sea levels will struggle to even rise by more than 1 inch (which means your sandcastle moat at scarborough will fill up quicker but that's about it), the americans spread news of impending doom just about 5 years before they build a station in alaska that reverses the direction of the earths magnetic field - and given how long it takes for planning permission, contracts to be signed, all the beaurocracy to be cleared, and then the actual building, 5 years before completion will have been the time the blueprints for such a station will have been conceived - then consider that since this station was finished and became operational in late 2007 we have not had one good summer. Add to this the fact that the americans are leading the way in insulting those who doubt climate change, throwing out new insults every week such as inferring climate skeptics are the sort of people who favour slavery, or are retards who believe 9/11 was a government-led self-attack conspiracy, or who are people to simply be hated - and you have to ask yourself WHY are the americans so vociferously trying to silence those who doubt global warming? or should I correct that and say 'climate change', because originally it was called global warming until everybody in the UK responded with "oh good it'll get warmer, about time too" followed that winter when snow came with "well so much for global warming", so the scientists decided to make up some stories and say our country would just so happen to get more of the weather we don't like.
I'm not Poirot, but there is something awfully suspicious going on about this whole affair. I don't own a car so you can't tell me I'm saying this because I don't like people saying "don't drive"... I am saying this because I have looked at all the evidence on both sides time and again and keep coming to the conclusion that it is all a man-made lie fabricated for means of population control and extra revenue, both aspects which the americans excel at.

Report this post »

The Great Buda says...
9:26am Mon 1 Oct 12

Oh dear, I see the flat-earthers have been making fools of themselvs again.

Report this post »

Firedrake says...
9:29am Mon 1 Oct 12

Paul - have you ever been to Ely? They really do have "Aquabikes" there -yes, with proper pedals and handle bars! Great fun they look, too. £5.00 per half hour.

Report this post »

Ichabod76 says...
10:13am Mon 1 Oct 12

The Great Buda wrote:
Oh dear, I see the flat-earthers have been making fools of themselvs again.
Convincing argument you have there

Report this post »

ColdAsChristmas says...
3:00pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Ichabod76, my thoughts entirely. Magicman like me have looked at this and can only see the scam of a tax on fresh air that makes governments and a few people coining in colossal wealth while we, including Buda pay for it.
When the Earth was an ice ball, CO2 levels (No man made then) were 330,000 parts per million. The cause for the ice was a weak Sun and yet the climate models we will be bankrupted by don't consider solar or water vapour, the natural greenhouse effect of 95%.
Once again, CO2 represents a little over 3% of the atmosphere at current levels and around 4% of that is the alleged catastrophic man made element. It simply does not stack up, unless you are counting the money from Green tax and Carbon trading!
CO2 is a natural trace gas essential to life. As a part of the photosynthesis process, plants take in CO2 and turn it into oxygen we need and yet the first thing Obama did, not universal health care but declare CO2 a pollutant. He has to pay back his sponsors I guess. Professor David Bellamy probably knows more about photosynthesis and how vegetation works than most but as soon as he was quoted that CO2 causing global warming was 'poppycock' he never worked for the BBC again. Many scientists who value their job have to keep quiet about this global warming issue for fear of their livelihood. Politics, schools and the media have been hijacked since Algore declared 'the time for debate is over.' Thank goodness for the Press where we can have this debate. Why was it that only Peter Lilley read the Impact Statement for the deadly Ed Miliband 2008 Climate Act that makes it clear that the cost is many times the benefits of action to prevent a problem we don't have. How long before people wake up to the fact we have been conned.
I welcome Owen C for his updated comments?
Now the analogue TV system has been turned off and you all had to buy new equipment, the government will be selling spectrum 4G communications using the now vacant airwaves. Yes you paid for it and you won't see a penny of it to pay for your new mainly Chinese equipment and just think where 20% VAT on that lot was blown!

Report this post »

Ichabod76 says...
3:45pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Hi ColdAsChristmas you state that the Co2 in the atmosphere is 3%
I can only assume that this is a typo,
in fact it is an even smaller amount

0.039% is the amount in the earth's atmosphere.

The atmosphere contains approximately:
nitrogen-78%
Oxygen- 21%
Other gases - 1% - This includes water vapour, carbon dioxide and argon.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere makes up 0.039% (all %'s are by volume).

its also interesting to note that the first 50% of increased Co2 levels caused more than 90% of the so called warming
why didn't the second 50% of increased Co2 cause as much warming if not more ? seen as its such a dangerous greenhouse gas.

Report this post »

Omega Point says...
10:11pm Mon 1 Oct 12

If

Report this post »

ColdAsChristmas says...
11:56pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Ichabod76, yes thanks for that. What I meant was as a % of all greenhouse gases. The actual figure according to Dr S Fred Singer is 3.618% for total CO2. The man made element is a mere 4% of that, totally insignificant.
Thanks again for pointing out my error, been a long day.

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree