Old Holborn: Violence in the name of the Planet

I spent a good while having informed and constructive debates with some of the protesters. Some are genuinely concerned for the planet, some were fruitbats, some were just simply ecoloons. Of course, to them, I was an evil heretic, a "denier", a BNP nutjob, a Tory.

Their argument was always the same. We must save the planet. My argument was always the same. Prove the existence of your new god, explain how you intend to stop the climate changing (something it has done for 4 billion years) and don't ask me for a penny until you have ALL the answers. After all, mankind has been here in fluctuating climates for the last 2 million years and survived them all.

Breaking - Russian heat wave due to dramatic changes in solar activity – forecaster Piers Corbyn | Solar Cycle 25

This year Russia was hit by a record-breaking heat wave that led to wildfires which killed dozens and left thousands homeless. Weather forecaster Piers Corbyn says this is a result of weather cycles, not global warming.

AD: ‘Extreme Weather’? Not Yet! by Guest: Dennis T. Avery, 8/22/10

But Indur neglected one aspect of extreme weather events - the “little ice ages.” They are the flip side of the 1500-year warming cycle. The last one began in 1300 AD and ended in 1850, recent enough that many of our great-grandparents had to cope. We don’t know when the next one will come, perhaps not for another 300 years - but when it does, “Look out!”

As an example, civilizations collapsed around the world, simultaneously, 4200 years ago - in southern Green, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, and China. The nomads on the Asian steppes gave up their seasonal farming, put their huts on wheels, and simply followed their herds seeking ever-scarcer grass. This massive drought - driven by a “little ice age” - lasted 300 years!

Egypt had more food security through its early history than anyplace else, but it collapsed in famine and political chaos three times between 4200 and 1000 BC - all of them during “little ice ages.” The Nile floods were also far below normal during the cold Dark Ages (450-950 AD) and during our recent Little Ice Age.

Letter - The Truth About Climate - NYTimes.com

It really doesn’t matter how many Republican naysayers, or how many kept scientists from the coal, oil and electric power industries, continue to deny global warming. The greenhouse effect doesn’t care; it’s out there and will keep getting worse until we decide it is indeed real, and we finally begin to save our planet.

Unless, as is very likely, it’s already too late.

Ron Bonn
San Diego, Aug. 15, 2010

The writer is a former science producer for network evening newscasts.