Agence France Presse has published a whopper about Global Warming, titled "Climate refugees -- the growing army without a name", in which we get the claims of a UN Climate Committee that "50 million" will be homeless because of Global Warming "by 2010". But the report is so filled with could be's, might be's and the ever popular "some experts say" that it is hard to take the claims seriously. It is, in fact, downright impossible to believe a word in the report unless you suspend all faculties of disbelief and merely accept as a matter of faith that they "could be" right. Of course, that is the nub of the Globaloney debate in the first place; the willing suspension of disbelief.
The first paragraph of this report sets a dichotomy that the rest of the report tries hard to refute with their "expert" testimony.
Global warming could create tens of millions of climate refugees, although numbers are hard to predict with accuracy and the definition itself is open to debate, experts say.
"Experts say", do they? Yet, even as the claims that our mean 'ol Globaloney could create all these refugees the report admits it is "hard to predict with accuracy". Then how do we take them seriously? Could our "experts" be any more disingenuous?
Just about every paragraph is so filled with qualifiers that it is hard to know where facts begin and fantasy reigns. The next two paragraphs don't work to solidify real facts any better than the self-contradictory first one.
"According to some estimates, there are already almost as many environmentally displaced people on the planet as traditional refugees," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"As the impacts of climate change strike home, the numbers are likely to rise considerably, possibly as high as 50 million by 2010," de Boer said on Friday on the sidelines of a meeting in Brussels of the UN's top climate panel.
In our first three short paragraphs alone we find one "could", one "some" and one "likely", not to mention one "hard to predict with accuracy" and one "according to some estimates", qualifying the claims as not grounded in provable fact.
We are presented with not one salient fact in a piece that abounds with fearmongering and arm waving. Of course the UN wants ever more power and money to "solve" the problem that they cannot even quantify, naturally.
The most ridiculous part of the article uses Hurricane Katrina to justify their absurd refugee claims.
By some yardstick, it could also apply to the tens of thousands who fled New Orleans in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, they say.
Some scientists, though, say there is no long-term evidence yet for declaring Katrina to have been a storm intensified by global warming, rather than a natural, extremely violent event.
"By some yardstick"... now that was a howler.
Another amusing quote was by one Thomas Downing, director of the Stockholm Environment Institute at Oxford, who said "Not all will be permanent refugees..." What, exactly is a "permanent refugee", anyway? At some point aren't they just called immigrants? How can you be a "permanent refugee"? When someone leaves their home as a refugee for what ever reason do they forever more just wander the Earth never to settle again?
What tosh.
Even our renowned "experts" cannot seem to agree what the term "environmental refugee" means. As the report nears its end a disagreement is extent.
...A major report on the impact of global warming released by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at the Brussels meeting avoided the term "refugee" entirely, referring instead to "environmental migrants."
..."Estimates of the number of people who may become environmental migrants are at best guesswork," the report said, citing several uncertainties: migrations that are often temporary or seasonal, while motivations are complex and can include the desire to escape from poverty.
..."The UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) doesn't want people to talk about climate refugees," UNFCCC spokesman John Hay said. "They would prefer that the term 'refugee' apply to politics only."
In other words, they got nuthin' but a political agenda. In this case, they don''t even have Al Gore's vaunted "consensus"!
What they do have, however, is what my neighborhood pals when I was a child used to call "shoulda', coulda' woulda's". Nothing but a bunch of claims, but not a single concrete fact is to be had.
But like all Globaloney zealots, fear is all they need to wring out of their flock of true believers more money for ever more "studies" and increasing support to legitimize the UN panels and committees that will result in ever more political power for the those who claim to be the "experts". Truly a self-perpetuating scheme they have there.
And, obviously, they can count on the AFP to lend them a hand.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Defining an environmental refugee
April 8, 2007 - 07:25 ET by nkviking75It would seem that an environmental refugee might be: People who fled New Orleans (most of whom have probably settled somewhere by now); a family whose home is flattened by a tornado; a family whose roof collapsed under the weight of a huge snowfall; a family whose home was burned down by lightning; a family whose home was destroyed in a flood; a family whose home was destroyed when a car slid on ice on a curve and slammed into it; etc., etc., etc. After all, any bad weather apparently can be blamed on global warming.
My dog's doghouse was ruined
April 8, 2007 - 07:40 ET by Warner Todd HustonMy dog's doghouse was ruined by the snow this year. Does that make him an "environmental refugee" too??
Gosh!
Am I now classified a refugee
April 8, 2007 - 10:12 ET by danboAm I now classified a refugee? I had to leave the day before Katrina. And returned home the day after katrina.
The advantage. Being without power for a little over a week. I didn't hear most of the bad news coverage about us.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” H.L. Mencken
And the other bonus for lea
April 8, 2007 - 10:18 ET by sarcasmoAnd the other bonus for leaving early was that your government probably didn't take your guns & leave you defenseless at some checkpoint. (OTOH, that kind of encounter tends to quickly & magically convert conservatives into libertarians, so maybe it's NOT a bonus for me!)
JMR
Sorry Sarc. If my memory is c
April 8, 2007 - 10:35 ET by danboSorry Sarc. If my memory is correct. Only Orleans tried to take away the guns. St Tammany parish and here in Mississippi there was no such attempt. People knew they had to band together for the common good. Including protection. Probably part of why everyone is way ahead of New Orleans in recovery.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” H.L. Mencken
Oh, don't be sorry, be glad
April 8, 2007 - 10:38 ET by sarcasmoOh, don't be sorry, be glad you live in a nicer place than that. Just keep in mind, it happened in our country...
JMR
That's why I stopped voting f
April 8, 2007 - 11:18 ET by danboThat's why I stopped voting for democRATS. Even though I don't own a gun. They want to control peoples lives. And the AGW BS is an attempt to control our lives.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” H.L. Mencken
They have a socialist program to sell.
April 8, 2007 - 08:45 ET by RJHaving no firm, quantifiable data never stops these GW scare mongers. They have a socialist program to sell.
In a recent front page, top-of-the-fold scare story, the Hartford Courant (sister paper to the Washington Post) screamed that we're all economically doomed if action isn't taken. IPCC economists are now drafting the wording of the latest alarmist report, which will claim dire economic consequences just around the corner. Of course, this ignores that the Warmists' takeover of the world economy is most likely to do JUST that.
But deep into the article there's this from an IPCC economist who is pushing for a Carbon Tax: "You're right! We don't know exactly how much warming the planet will experience over the next century. We are not precicely sure how local climates will change....We cannot guarantee that our fears about potentially dangerous climate change are justified....but you cannot be sure that they are not."
What? Wreck the world's economy because of an ADMITTEDLY unproven fear?
"Did we think Kyoto would [reduce global warming] when we signed it? . . . Hell no!" -Al Gore
More Global Warning
April 8, 2007 - 08:45 ET by pbthinkerThere is little doubt this report, regardless of what is being said, is all politics. There is little concrete evidence that CO2 is causing temperature rise and the measures taken, so far, will change little temperature rise in the future. What is the purpose of this? I think the nail was hit on the head when you state the true purpose of this is to get more money for studies and to provide governments an excuse to put taxes in place which will do little to change what's happening.
People can agree on what is black and what is white. It's when we get into what shade of gray we have that the discussion gets tricky. There's a lot of gray in this report so should we spend Trillions of dollars before we have more black and white?
Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
No doubt the Irish who came t
April 8, 2007 - 09:38 ET byNo doubt the Irish who came to the US during the "potato(e) famine" will be considered as GW refugees
Agence France-Presse maybe on
April 8, 2007 - 10:07 ET by ucAgence France-Presse maybe onto something and they may have good science with them >>>> If Al Gore has his way, and Hillary also, the economy is likely to tank causing possibly a depression what with the dire speaches from such thus leading to atleast half price french wine.
To fight all this new depression more wine will be consumed (from black market as well) more people will become addicted to this new level of consumption and thus near 50 million could loose their homes and yet the globe might not even be a degree warmer.
And to boot: Depression should last longer than previous ones due to priorities on Global warming keeping new jobs from being allowed to be created since such would keep green house gases from getting lowered enough for Democrats to maintain any advantage.
Don't woorrry about these 50
April 8, 2007 - 12:59 ET by ucDon't woorrry about these 50 million though - Hillary's universal health care plan has just been found to be the real cause of this 50 million homeless as that they all realized that free room and board at all the health care facilities was a fine excuse to keep to consumption.
No end of depression in sight though, though depression's causes now understood better: Hillary's health care plan got approved just before she siezed all the oil companies profits and now can't save face by giving them back and continues to spend them to hinder any future profits in their industry.
Who is John Galt?
I recently read an abbreviate
April 8, 2007 - 10:17 ET by ahusserI recently read an abbreviated version of the Czech President's letter to the house select committee on the environment and commerce.in reference to AGW.
http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2007/03/28/be-afraid.php
His argument is that AGW is not about science, or logic or reason. It is radical politics (started with the Green Party in Europe) and an offshoot of Marxism. These true believers are experts at scare tactics and propaganda they have money and bogus science and the MSM on their side with their celebrity minions in Hollywood. Their ruthlessness and single mindedness to get their philosophy and agenda accepted are hard to overcome. The MSM goes along with them for whatever reason and already the politicians are acting to implement policies because they want to be seen as doing something "for the earth and for the children" with unknown and unintended consequences. Political insanity can last a long time and be very costly and deadly in its extremes. The name of the game is not saving the earth but control of governments and people. This is a political movement plain and simple using pseudo-science as a means to its end.
From your link:What I am real
April 8, 2007 - 10:59 ET by danboFrom your link:
On many occasions we've seen sceptics and warmers debate. The sceptics usually win. The tactic Greenpeace and other environmentlist groups has been to avoid debate. But to politicize. Claiming consensus when there is none. And shutting down discussion. They know they can't win otherwise.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” H.L. Mencken
and each small step of govern
April 8, 2007 - 11:03 ET byand each small step of government control moves us further away from a free society, How do you eat an elephant?
AFP, being based in a country
April 8, 2007 - 11:20 ET by UnsaneAFP, being based in a country which is failing and rotting before our eyes, would obviously be advocates of global warming/climate change. They MUST see America's economy shackled.
We have to keep in mind that France is in such horiffic shape that they are repeatedly making deals with multiple devils just to squeeze out another dime/Franc/Euro. Hence, that explains why they will sell weapons to ANYBODY (they have been pushing the EU to lift its weapons embargo on China), why they sold agricultural products on the cheap to the Soviet Union back in the 1980s (I still would love to know where that ship that sank off of Belgium was going with uranium hexafluoride...its next stop was Riga), and why they were most recently doing everything in their power to break the sanctions against Saddam Hussein's Iraq before they began to flagrantly do so.
"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???." - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)
This just in...
April 8, 2007 - 11:55 ET by Gary HallThis just in... According to BBAFP News, new dire predictions about man-made global warming. A new "consensus" study has determined that global warming will cause brain cells to be re-aligned; resulting in in our more reasoned gray matter being converted into white matter (associated with having difficulty separating truth from fiction) in the brain , i.e., conservatives will become more liberal, thereafter finding it difficult to make sense.
Wait.. just now, a breaking story. It appears that Al Gore is about to make an announcement:
Neanderthal News
April 8, 2007 - 13:17 ET by misterbillFellow troglodytes, I am afraid that we now face the rapid advance of glaciers. We will have to move by the tens of thousands. A great many of us will have to give up our mountain top homes. There is an upside--fewer of our friends will wind up as appetizers for T-Rex. He will become extinct, because, quite like our Stone Democrats, he is not smart enough to move where he will not freeze. We will also be moving into the territory of a sub-human species known as homo sapiens or conservatives. We will, of course , triumph with our socailistic form of government versus their capitalistic society.
The editors of this carving remind you that we warned you, if you kept burning wood fires you would cause Global Freezing since you shielded the earth from the sun's rays. When we get to sapiens land we will use oil as our primary source of heat. Good luck to all.
PS Som eof our community has noticed a new species of bear which is all white in color. They seem to enjoy walking on the glaciers that are covering our homeland.
This is absolutely wrong.If
April 8, 2007 - 14:17 ET by JDWThis is absolutely wrong.
If anyone knows what's going on with gore warming it's gore. And according to him Earth has about 8.5yrs left before gore warming destroys us.
JDW
News media: Scoreboard for terrorists
If you are going to whine about spelling... get a life
Agence France Presse
April 8, 2007 - 21:26 ET by pocomocoHow wonderful! Agence France Presse, being so accurate in their past reporting of international significance, should be able to give us the names of the 50 million people so that they can arrange for New Orleans busses, FEMA trailers, and UN limos to soften the blow.
From another poster :Let's go
April 8, 2007 - 23:32 ET by stanleygoodspeedFrom another poster :
Let's go to our coverage in Juneau, Alaska ...
Tom, we understand global warming has taken a drastic turn for the worse where you are. Can you elaborate?
I sure can, Bill. Right now global warming devastation has affected the whole state ... we have record snowfall from the Aleutians to Anchorage to Point Barrow to Fairbanks all the way down south to us here in Juneau ... where the temperature is 70 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. Global warming is hitting us particularly hard this year, Bill.
That's terrible news, Tom ... we're all going to have to work just a little bit harder to reduce our CO2 emissions ... we could all sure start breathing a whole lot less ... or we could double the carbon dioxide tax in the 5 states that haven't outlawed it - that'll bring some relief to you guys up there!
Maybe ... maybe not, Bill ... what we really need is to triple the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. Hold on, Bill ... I have a developing situation here ... Bill, I'm going to have to sign off because my left big toe just froze solid and fell off. DAMN YOU GLOBAL WARMING!!!
I want to see these global warming nutjobs doing their reports from Northern Canada, Siberia, or Antarctica ... reporting in the midst of a sub-zero snowstorm would add some balance to their bias.
I'm perplexed about environme
April 9, 2007 - 11:00 ET by dscottI'm perplexed about environmental refugees, on one hand all those New Yorkers coming here to Florida are driving up the real estate prices making things more expensive, on the other hand they're driving up the real estate prices allows me to sell a home at a glorious profit.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius