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IS IT HAPPENING ? * IS IT OUR FAULT ? * IS IT ALL HYPE ?

It seems that you cannot watch a TV news programme today without some reference to Climate Change or Global Warming. It's become like a war chant, 'climate change this', 'global warming that'. Seemingly everything is due to climate change. The daft phrase 'war on climate change' is often spouted by ill advised, bandwagon jumping, politicians. The take is not only on a changing climate, but that it is ALL down to man, not some, but all, hence the often used acronym, AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming). How often these days do you hear that such and such weather event is 'increasing proof' of the effects of global warming, or that certain species exitistence are threatened by the warming planet ? What is actually happening ?

Firstly, let me say, I am not going to go into an indepth scientifc study here. I will only post my thoughts, and I will leave it to you to follow the links provided from both sides of the camp, for you to read and make up your own mind as to what to take on board and ultimately decide which side of the fence you fall..

I am a sceptic of AGW. However, I'm not sceptical that the planet has been in a warming trend. I am, however, sceptical of the claims that the current warming is due to man through the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that we are contributing to the atmosphere.

The planet has indeed been warming. The 2006 global temperature was about 0.4°C higher than the 1961-90 mean, (Generally, 30 year averages are used to determine climate and anomolies are based against these means). However, the official data from the Hadley Centre shows there has been no increase in warming since 1998. Infact, the global mean has been lower than the 1998 figure. I'm sure many of you who hear the headlines and scaremongering would be surprised of this.

But, I hear you cry, how can you be sceptical? There is consensus, all the scientists say that we are to blame and that CO2 is the cause. We need to remember that science does not work by consensus. Science is made up of theories. These theories are either accepted or not, by many or by few. Even if 100,000 scientists say that they are 99.9% certain that a theory is correct, and only 1 says it is not, this is still not proof. Science isn't a democracy. Proof can only exist within pure mathematics.

The main thrust of the GW mantra is from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC is a scientific body that was set up to determine the effects of climate change caused by, guess what, yes, human activity. The organisation exists entirely to publish results of research into AGW, therefore is it not unsurprising that everything that comes out from the IPCC, totally blames man for the current warming and that devastating consequences are going to happen. You see, no AGW, no further IPCC, and therefore no further funding for all those scientists.

* THIS IS STILL IN DRAFT * THIS WILL BE UPDATED IN DUE COURSE *

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30/1/2008 - THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION - SOME DATA WILL NOT BE UPDATED - SOME LINKS MAY NOT WORK