Published: Wednesday, 1st July, 2009 12:39pm
Candidate downplays global warming
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"Global Warming" is being exaggerated to benefit the self-interest of some at the expense of British tax-payers and British jobs.
This was said by Westminster Conservative candidate Philip Lardner at the local party"s annual garden party in Largs.
Primary School head teacher Mr Lardner highlighted recent scientific evidence to back his long held position that it was exaggerated.
Speaking at the event he commented: 'Today, at the height of summer, it"s only around 17°C, and despite the failure of their computer-modelled predictions to date, the Met Office again this week predicted impending carbon-induced "Global Warming" doom in 50 years" time.'
'The role of the sun"s activity in affecting temperatures on earth has been established for many years but continues to be ignored by climate alarmists. The weak sun in the 17th century coincided with the so-called "Little Ice Age" and throughout the 20th century the sun has been unusually active, with five of the most intense solar cycles occurring in the last 50 years. This could most likely explain the recent higher temperatures on Earth.'
He added:'British and American scientists have shown that over the past five years temperatures have been on a clear downward trend, despite increasing levels of carbon dioxide. The most likely explanation is that temperatures on earth are dictated more by the level of energy output from the sun - which is now in an extended "quiet" period - than simply by levels of atmospheric CO2.'
Full story in the Largs News of July 1.
Have your say. .
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Paul
Unregistered User
Jul 1 09 12:55
Comment: 3409
Mr Lardner is a Sun worshipper?!
One has to note that there has been a lot of media coverage about dishonesty amongst politicians!
Either he is deliberately misleading people or he has failed to read any science on the subject. In the last year alone there have been at least 4 research reports from various institutions around the world that clearly show the suns changes have had a very weak influence on any warming. Here are the references (Of course being a potential politician, Mr Lardner can just use anecdotal evidence):
Testing the proposed causal link between cosmic rays and cloud cover
T Sloan et al 2008 Environ. Res. Lett. 3 024001 (6pp) doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/3/2/024001
Lean, J.L., and D.H. Rind, 2008: How natural and anthropogenic influences alter global and regional surface temperatures: 1889 to 2006. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L18701, doi:10.1029/2008GL034864.
Study Challenges Cosmic Ray–Climate Link
Richard A. Kerr
Science 1 May 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5927, pp. 576 - 577
DOI: 10.1126/science.324_576b
Solar activity and the mean global temperaturernA D Erlykin et al 2009 Environ. Res. Lett. 4 014006 (5pp) doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/4/1/014006
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Nick
Unregistered User
Jul 1 09 13:26
Comment: 3414
Paul wrote: "Either he is deliberately misleading people or he has failed to read any science on the subject."
Er. maybe YOU need to read the science and cease to be so dogmatic in your views. How about this for starters?
Published 30 June2009.
"Evidence for a solar signature in 20th-century temperature" by Jean-Louis Le Mouel, Vincent Courtillot, Elena Blanter, Mikhail Shnirman
"We conclude that significant solar forcing is present in temperature disturbances in the areas we analyzed and conjecture that this should be a global feature."
http://anhonestclimatedebate.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/evidence-for-a-solar-signature-in-20th-century-temperature/
The science isn't settled.
That may be a very inconvenient truth for you, but it is the current scientific situation.
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James
Unregistered User
Jul 1 09 17:29
Comment: 3417
Philip Lardner is right to question the global warming hysteria, and it's refreshing to see a politician speak his view on this and depart from the politically correct activist agenda.
World temperatures have not risen at all over the last ten years, and the scaremongers failed to predict this.
The latest evidence for the effects of the sun being important is published in Geophysical Research Letters, by Eichler et al,
commented on at the WUWT blog.
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Mike
Unregistered User
Jul 1 09 23:46
Comment: 3422
Global temperature this century has been cooling at a rate of -1.2C/century according to official met office data yet still the global warmers try deny this fact. The climate has always varied naturally, and the warming at the end of the 20th century was normal in both the speed and the scale of that change.
The only thing that has changed is the hysteria.
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Roger Helmer MEP
Unregistered User
Jul 2 09 06:29
Comment: 3425
Paul says that Philip Lardner has not read the sceince, and he goes on to quote some standard alarmist reports. On the contrary, what distinguishes Philip is that he HAS read the science, and avoided the propaganda. Paul might like to note that a group of highly distinguished US scientists -- from MIT, Princeton, University of California and other prestigious institutions -- have just written an open letter to Congress pointing out that science does not support climate alarmism, and that the temperature changes we see are entirely consistent with well-established long-term natural climate cycles. See their letter at http://climatedepot.com/a/1745/Scientists-Write-Open-Letter-to-Congress-You-Are-Being-Deceived-About-Global-Warming--Earth-has-been-cooling-for-ten-years
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Paul
Unregistered User
Jul 2 09 09:56
Comment: 3428
Dear Nick,
Your link is to a blog that is not peer reviewed it is not a science publication. There are also blogs about UFOs, they to are not science publications.
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Paul
Unregistered User
Jul 2 09 10:01
Comment: 3429
BTW 'Nick' Since you imply the science is not settled, why are you supporting Philip Lardner? who clearly from the article suggests it is!
If you are so unsure about the science then I suggest you don't defend those that think it is.
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Paul
Unregistered User
Jul 2 09 10:06
Comment: 3430
Dear Mr Helmer said:
"On the contrary, what distinguishes Philip is that he HAS read the science, and avoided the propaganda."
Where exactly is your evidence that he has.
I have posted details of 4 peer reviewed research reports (not blogs) that he obviously hasn't read.
So you seem to be mistaken. Maybe you would like to retract your statement! Or are you just going to leave it as a piece of political propaganda?
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Paul
Unregistered User
Jul 2 09 10:28
Comment: 3431
Dear James, yes well, keep shooting your own feet!
You said:
"The latest evidence for the effects of the sun being important is published in Geophysical Research Letters, by Eichler et al,"
Well if we actually go to the report that you have half heartedly referenced: Temperature response in the Altai region lags solar forcing by Eichler et al (http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2008GL035930.shtml)
The authors of the research clearly say that solar forcing is not responsible for current warming in the region that the report refers to. They have stated that as expected, before the 2Oth century, warming was not doing to GHG emissions.
In fact what their report clearly shows is that GHG emissions are now responsible for current warming.
BTW thanks for adding another report to my list, very useful!
To quote Anja Eichler:
"While changes in the solar activity were a main driver of temperature variations in the pre-industrial period, the temperatures in the Altai have shown a much higher rate of increase than that of solar activity during the past 150 years. The strong increase in the industrial period, however, correlates with the increase in the concentration of the greenhouse gas CO2 over this time."
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Einstein
Unregistered User
Jul 7 09 00:03
Comment: 3509
There is nothing wrong with cleaning up our environment and the impulse to do so should be applauded and technological innovations welcomed.
However, the western political elite are using this vehicle to fatten the tax coffers while creating a pseudo-religion through hysteria and propaganda the use of which could extend far beyond mere monetary gain.
Anyone interested in an alternate viewpoint from, as GW proponents say, "global warming deniers" (note the language used) should take a look at a documentary called "The Great Global Warming Swindle".
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Einstein
Unregistered User
Jul 8 09 02:17
Comment: 3519
Link to documentary;
The Great Global Warming Swindle;
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=288952680655100870
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Doug
Unregistered User
Jul 11 09 09:26
Comment: 3576
The level of Mr. Lardner's scientific argument, at least as reported, is poor. Using a summer day temperature of 17 C to argue against the risk of climate change due to enormous and growing emissions of CO2 may be acceptable logic for a politician, but shouldn't we expect better from a teacher? And it is nonsense to say that the role of solar variations is being ignored by the "climate alarmists". The earlier responses show clearly that is a very active area of research: but Mr. Lardner, in the same breath, seems to want to have us ignore all the science concerning the role of CO2. Interesting.
There is a problem: we should to face up to it and do something about it. But of course it is much easier to stick our heads in the sand.
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