Comments on: Blunt on crying wolf

By: Owen McShane

Owen McShane — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:45:43 +0000

For those in a hurry, here is the list of “alarms and excursions” analysed by Green and Armstrong in their paper. Green and Armstrong are not saying there are no correlations or no grounds for concern in any of these cases, but that, in every case, there were extreme but unfounded predictions based on unscientific speculations. Asbestos and lung disease is a good example.
Note that the list does not include Alarms which were not presumed to be caused by us. Hence no bird flu or swine flu.
These are analogies with AGW. For the full papers etc go to my web page ref http://www.rmastudies.org.nz/component/search/Armstrong?ordering=&searchphrase=all

Exhibit 1: Analogies to the alarm over dangerous manmade global warming
Analogy Year
1 Population growth and famine (Malthus) 1798
2 Timber famine economic threat 1865
3 Uncontrolled reproduction and degeneration (Eugenics) 1883
4 Lead in petrol and brain and organ damage 1928
5 Soil erosion agricultural production threat 1934
6 Asbestos and lung disease 1939
7 Fluoride in drinking water health effects 1945
8 DDT and cancer 1962
9 Population growth and famine (Ehrlich) 1968
10 Global cooling; through to 1975 1970
11 Supersonic airliners, the ozone hole, and skin cancer, etc. 1970
12 Environmental tobacco smoke health effects 1971
13 Population growth and famine (Meadows) 1972
14 Industrial production and acid rain 1974
15 Organophosphate pesticide poisoning 1976
16 Electrical wiring and cancer, etc. 1979
17 CFCs, the ozone hole, and skin cancer, etc. 1985
18 Listeria in cheese 1985
19 Radon in homes and lung cancer 1985
20 Salmonella in eggs 1988
21 Environmental toxins and breast cancer 1990
22 Mad cow disease (BSE) 1996
23 Dioxin in Belgian poultry 1999
24 Mercury in fish effect on nervous system development 2004
25 Mercury in childhood inoculations and autism 2005
26 Cell phone towers and cancer, etc. 2008
Note: What was it about 1985?

By: the deity formerly known as nigel6888

the deity formerly known as nigel6888 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:21:57 +0000

Or it was another media beat-up m@tt, because the ‘modern health system’ did exactly what it does with every new flu bug, screams for funding.

fast moving viruses dont respect bureacracy. Swineflu has turned out to be, yes just this years flu variant, and the apocalypse was put off for another season.

Next!

By: m@tt

m@tt — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:46:32 +0000

What happened to swinageddon?

A proactive and swift approach minimised the spread and prevented a fast moving virus from mutating in ideal spread conditions. Without the kind of management we saw, as well as a more modern health system, we avoided a repeat of the 1918 flu pandemic.

But hey, top marks for being an ungrateful prick.

By: Swiftman the infidel

Swiftman the infidel — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:11:18 +0000

For those with an *average* education:

es⋅cha⋅tol⋅o⋅gy
/ˌɛskəˈtɒlədʒi/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [es-kuh-tol-uh-jee]

–noun Theology.
1. any system of doctrines concerning last, or final, matters, as death, the Judgment, the future state, etc.
2. the branch of theology dealing with such matters.
Origin:
1835–45; < Gk éschato(s) last + -logy

By: KiwiGreg

KiwiGreg — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:01:53 +0000

Let’s not forget http://www.amazon.com/Population-Bomb-Paul-R-Ehrlich/dp/1568495870

Scared the crap out of me as a teen.

By: Pita

Pita — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:35:38 +0000

Has anybody else considered the connection between eschatology and scatology with particular reference to creatures of the bovine variety?

By: xy

xy — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:32:23 +0000

This is right up there with ‘well, y2k was obviously never a problem because things didn’t break’ or ‘wearing a seatbelt was stupid because i didn’t crash’.

By: Pete George

Pete George — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:18:34 +0000

A lot of the wolfing (or gross exaggeration) is done by opposition to discredit. Above example illustrates.

And of course the media are exaggeration junkies.

By: Crusader

Crusader — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:01:10 +0000

Wolf! Wolf!

BTW: What ever happened to catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming? Anyone heard the term “tipping point” recently? Weren’t we all supposed to be underwater by now?
What a crock.

By: Pete George

Pete George — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:56:00 +0000

There was apparently a bit of luck with swine flu, it spread widely but they found that many older people, often more susceptible, had immunity via a previous strain up to fifty years or more earlier. We may not always be that lucky. Nor tolerant of inaction when a bad one strikes.

By: Rex Widerstrom

Rex Widerstrom — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:37:01 +0000

Never mind bloody swine flu, when are they going to end the alarmism about bird flu?

If I wanted to bring my beloved parrot home with me I couldn’t, even if I was willing to pay for quarantine and even though it was bred in captivity because somehow or other it might sneeze on a chicken.

By: john.bt

john.bt — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:24:42 +0000

Actually Greg the common or garden flu kills around 400 folk per annum but the swine flu can only do 20. And I found “eschatology” in a Rongotai College dictionary that is about as old as DPF. I will return it one day!

By: Jack5

Jack5 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:20:24 +0000

Someone crying wolf about harmless cocker spaniel pups, the swine flu scare that was scarcely more potent than ordinary flu.
But what does it refer to? Global warming fear mongering? Fears about rising oceans and shrinking glaciers?

Beats me…

By: KiwiGreg

KiwiGreg — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:39:11 +0000

Remember we were all going to die of swine flu, which turned out to just be flu?

By: LauraNorda

LauraNorda — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:37:21 +0000

Fletch, your not the only one. I knew I was thick, but having it confirmed this way is well……..depressing.

By: Fletch

Fletch — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:34:43 +0000

I must be a bit slow or something, cause I don’t get it…..