Althouse: The U.N.'s "inherently ludicrous" prediction that the Himalayan glaciers will disappear by 2035.

January 17, 2010

The U.N.'s "inherently ludicrous" prediction that the Himalayan glaciers will disappear by 2035.

"Even a small glacier such as the Dokriani glacier is up to 120 metres [394ft] thick. A big one would be several hundred metres thick and tens of kilometres long. The average is 300 metres thick so to melt one even at 5 metres a year would take 60 years. That is a lot faster than anything we are seeing now so the idea of losing it all by 2035 is unrealistically high."

36 comments:

HKatz said...: Why must you insist on facts? The facts are unimportant. Having the correct set of thoughts - that's important.; 1/17/10, 6:57 AM
vbspurs said...: From the article:

"Syed Hasnain, a little-known Indian scientist then based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. [...]

Hasnain has since admitted that the claim was "speculation" and was not supported by any formal research."

The eco-green-liberal movement today, in a nutshell.

Cheers,
Victoria; 1/17/10, 7:03 AM
The Drill SGT said...: Or beating AllenS to it:

They are just f'ing making it up as they go along.; 1/17/10, 7:06 AM
AllenS said...: My God! They were making things up? Will Algore ever leave his mansion? Will Algore ever go on Letterman again, and tell us that we've already had the debate? That it's a done deal?; 1/17/10, 7:18 AM
joewxman said...: And dont forget boys and girls. The poles will be ice free by 2013. Going to be a nice trick since the ice sheet stopped retreating in 2006 and has been increasing since.; 1/17/10, 7:43 AM
traditionalguy said...: The Martha Coakley attitude towards the rights of Anthony Amerault to keep his life, liberty and property are same as the UN's attitude towards my rights as an American citizen to keep my life, liberty and property. That attitude in a word is word is EXPENDABLE. That was also King George's attitude to the colonists rights to keep their life, liberty and property in 1776. Therefore Obama is a fifth columnist working for the UN Governance thieves and murderers and is impeachable on those grounds alone. Their speculative political use of false "Science" is an act of war. The Democrats are at war with the USA. We will see what happens next when Pelosi, Reid and Obama start legislating as if CO2 is a pollutant, which every thinking person knows is a totally false accusation. IMO Coakley is history and so are the Democrats.; 1/17/10, 7:51 AM
lucid said...: This is what happens when you give people an economic and career interest in a particular politcal position--you get politicized versions of "truth." (Same thing has happened with race thanks to all those who, because of affirmative action and other race-based policies, now have a heavily vested financial and career interest in making accusations of racism against anyone they can. It's all become ludicrous.); 1/17/10, 7:53 AM
Pastafarian said...: joe, at this point, I'm concerned that those ice sheets will just keep on going. We're on the warm end of things right now, historically speaking, and we've been due for a downturn in temperature.

If people thought global warming would be a disaster, just wait til they see what global cooling will bring. There are people all over the world that live on grain grown in Canada and in the Great Plains of the US, and shortening the growing season in those places is going to starve those people. It's not like global cooling would open up any new arable land, like global warming would have.; 1/17/10, 7:53 AM
AllenS said...: Watching tv over the past couple of weeks, was a show that claimed the Sahara Desert about 6,000 years ago (IIRC), had a lot of vegetation. So, if it gets really cold, maybe that will be a land of plenty. Or, maybe not.; 1/17/10, 8:00 AM
rhhardin said...: We're 5 million years overdue for an asteroid collision, so that could happen any day.

real audio discovery channel report.; 1/17/10, 8:09 AM
Anonymous said...: Professor Murari Lal, who oversaw the chapter on glaciers in the IPCC report, said he would recommend that the claim about glaciers be dropped: "If Hasnain says officially that he never asserted this, or that it is a wrong presumption, than I will recommend that the assertion about Himalayan glaciers be removed from future IPCC assessments."

But if he stands by it, what the hell, we'll take his word for it.

Utterly damning. Someone higher up at the IPCC is going to have to replace this bozo if the organization is to salvage any credibility at all.; 1/17/10, 8:25 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: More nonsense from a useless, inept, and corrupt organization.; 1/17/10, 8:32 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: By the way, what's so fucking wonderful about glaciers anyway?; 1/17/10, 8:33 AM
The Drill SGT said...: Maguro said...
By the way, what's so fucking wonderful about glaciers anyway?

They are a better long term water storage device than snow pack. Snow melt feeds those big Indian rivers that sustain like on an otherwise arid plain.

Glaciers smooth out the annual ups and downs of snowfall in the mountains.; 1/17/10, 8:38 AM
knox said...: Will Algore ever leave his mansion?

I just hope all this falls apart before he dies so he can experience the shame. The well-deserved shame.; 1/17/10, 8:46 AM
AllenS said...: Those Himalayan glaciers provide fresh water to three countries, China, Pakistan and India. All three have nukes.; 1/17/10, 8:47 AM
bagoh20 said...: Lately, Global warming enthusiasts have been resorting to the redefinition that anything that happens is GW. For example, Rachel Maddow recently said that global warming now means any extreme weather. If that is the case, how can any policy or human activity be used to combat it? You can't possibly use the same methods to cool the planet as warm it.

My intellectual superiors are just advancing too fast for me to keep up. Just when I was starting to understand and trust logic, they've moved beyond it to something I can't begin to comprehend. They must be right because they make a lot of money for saying it.; 1/17/10, 9:20 AM
Roger J. said...: I suspect we havent heard from the usual AGW suspects is they are freezing their ignorant asses off in the cold.; 1/17/10, 9:24 AM
bagoh20 said...: "We're 5 million years overdue for an asteroid collision, so that could happen any day."

I often think about this. How it could happen this week ending everything: History, literature, science, culture, American Idol - all gone as if they never happened. We never happened. It gives me hope.

WV: "mancide" - swear to god.; 1/17/10, 9:26 AM
bagoh20 said...: "The Martha Coakley attitude towards the rights of Anthony Amerault to keep his life, liberty and property are same as the UN's attitude towards my rights"

It is very similar to the hysteria back in the 80's about repressed memory. Many know how ridiculous and dangerous it is, but they can't stop the train and just have to watch the crash.

At least the train is slowing slightly. Imagine how it would be barreling along if not for the "accident" of climategate.

Salem witch trials, snake oil, biblical Armageddon, overpopulation, global cooling, repressed memory, AGW. We keep doing this crap over and over. It's the same foolishness - just getting bigger each time.

I do buy overpopulation as a problem, because the more of us there are, the more of us that fall for this crap.

Crack Emcee has his work cut out for him.; 1/17/10, 9:38 AM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Rachel Maddow recently said that global warming now means any extreme weather.

Yes, she did.

So if it gets extrmely cold - we have another mini "Ice Age" - that is due to, all together....global warming.

I think the weight of the evidence - or the evidence that scientists have accumulated - indicates that warming has occurred over the past century and that human activity has caused at least some of that.

From there, it's a crapshoot.; 1/17/10, 9:42 AM
bagoh20 said...: The AGW argument needs to overcome 3 big facts for me:

1) The planet has been much warmer in the past than it is today.

2) CO2 levels have been much higher than today and almost always following not preceding warming spells.

3) The data, if not screwed with, indicates no significant warming. The computer models being relied on seem unable to "predict" the recent climate and therefore are clearly wrong, by definition.

Actually #1 is enough by itself.

As to policy: It is clear (from experience and even the estimates of successful implementation) that even if AGW was real that humans could do nothing about it through laws and treaties.

So, no Mom, it does not grow hair on your palms and I think you just don't like me doing it, cause it's yucky.; 1/17/10, 9:56 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I, too, hope Al Gore lives long enough to know the majority of people regard him as a buffoon, hypocrite, charlatan and an all-around dope.; 1/17/10, 10:02 AM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: 1) The planet has been much warmer in the past than it is today.

Yes, but the causes of the previous warmer could be factors/events other than CO2 or greenhouse gases or human activity.

Obviously, it had to be something else, i.e., not human activity.

My understanding is that we've not been able to find the "hotspots" in the atmosphere where this increased heat is being trapped. If more greenhouse gases prevent more heat from radiating off the ground and into space, then there should be "spots" in the atmosphere where that heat is increasing or collecting.

Apparently, they can't find it.

And it's about here where the discussion turns into a geekfest.; 1/17/10, 10:07 AM
Anonymous said...: The "science" behind AGW is melting a lot faster than the glaciers.; 1/17/10, 10:13 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: Folks you just do not understand. The global warming hysteria is manufactured. It is true robber baron capitalism.

Hundreds of billions of dollars stand to be made off of this Ponzi scheme. This is nothing more than an international effort to enrich a small number of people- Al Gore included.

Most of us are just jealous because we did not think of it first.; 1/17/10, 10:19 AM
Rialby said...: I was just going to post that Maddow quote and then realized Bag had already posted it. The Left believes that anything they say will be taken as fact because they have SCIENCE on their side. You cannot question science, therefore the glaciers will melt when we say they will and tsunamis/earthquakes/hurricanes can all be attributed to climate change. When will this nonsense end?; 1/17/10, 10:36 AM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: So where is the disclaimer noted at 7:03 this morning that this was based on speculation?

All predictions are speculative. Doesn't mean people aren't allowed to do it.; 1/17/10, 10:39 AM
joewxman said...: It has been my view from the beginning that this is about the transfer of money and rights. Global warming or cooling or climate change or whatever you want to call its the means. They tell the lie long enough and it becomes pseudo truth.

The earth warmed with the peak in 1998. The earth has been cooling ever since. The ice sheets lag this to some degree much like the coldest part of the winter is 4 -6 weeks after the shortest day..they stopped shrinking in 2005 and have been expanding since 2006.

The left has science on their side..science is their God and to question it is Blasphemey! The left are all thermodynamics experts; its something they are born with. Their God comes complete with hacked emails and fudged data.

btw in the interests of disclosure im a meteorologist not a climatologist.; 1/17/10, 10:43 AM
Anonymous said...: "The speculation is settled!" --Al Gore, An Inconvenient Speculation; 1/17/10, 11:38 AM
bagoh20 said...: These hoaxes prevail and spread because a lot of little creeps all over the place plug into it to make a buck or get noticed. If you look at any of them, you see people writing books, getting grants, getting interviewed and having little followings. The scams all have that quality. AGW has outstripped them all by going beyond that to an organized intergovernmental and cultural phenomenon.

I expect we will not learn from this one either and eventually we will perish from one of these. We will be destroyed by stupidity, fear, and greed. The whole herd will run off a cliff some day.

Surprisingly, being skeptical is still considered by some to be stupid. Coakley is still pointing out Brown's skepticism on AGW as if it some kind of deficit. That is embarrassing, which is perfectly Coakleyesqe; 1/17/10, 12:36 PM
Fen said...: So where is the disclaimer noted at 7:03 this morning that this was based on speculation?

The source of the prediction claims it was speculation. The issue is how the UN and its Climate Scammers used it.; 1/17/10, 1:45 PM
vbspurs said...: It's taking me a long time to pronounce 'glaciers' like Americans do, but now I don't even blink. I case of interest, this is how we pronounce it. French-wise.

"Glah-see-uhs" not "Glay-shurs".; 1/17/10, 2:55 PM
traditionalguy said...: On NPR this morning their political analyst said Obama was not yet seen as a success by the liberals because he "has not yet controlled rhe climate". That was funny.; 1/17/10, 4:30 PM
mariner said...: Victoria!

You admit, in public, to speaking like zee French?!; 1/17/10, 6:03 PM
sonicfrog said...: Utterly damning. Someone higher up at the IPCC is going to have to replace this bozo if the organization is to salvage any credibility at all.

Uhm, all the higher ups are of the same bozo-ish ilk. Why do you think this guy got the job?; 1/18/10, 10:30 AM