Dick Reaney: It's madness, madness, madness, there is no climate emergency

Climate Change is normal and natural and has gone on for millions of years without any help from the human race. The scaremongering now going on by the media, politicians and climate alarmists, is so utterly misguided to be nothing but tragic. That we have an End of the World scenario is even more ridiculous. It is a regress back to the past and has the stamp of Dark Age soothsayers and witchcraft on it.

The rhetoric is at such bizarre levels that the greenwashing by the media and government is truly taking us down the road of reduced living standards, if not to a disaster for the country, the economy, and the farming community whom we rely on so much.What is being painted by Labour, National, and the Greens is totally without common sense or scientific reasoning. It is all based on a false premise of pseudo-science which is totally without foundation. The fact that they have signed in for the Nett Zero Carbon legislation is a blind man’s approach to persuasion. The ACT Party have not done this and are the only ones who have looked at the science and realised it cannot be achieved. What’s more it’s extremely important that it does not happen. We need carbon dioxide to live and survive and every plant in the botanical kingdom needs it for photosynthesis. A process that leads to the release of oxygen into the atmosphere, which is life sustaining for animals and humans.

The tragedy is that Labour, National and the Greens have all fully bought into it.

Remember NO climate scientist has given any guarantee to any government, that curbing Greenhouse Gas Emissions will work!!! Introducing climate emission’s legislation to reduce carbon dioxide and methane to bring down global temperature, stop severe weather events, change the climate are all foolhardy measures that will achieve absolutely nothing.

The climate scientists do not know all the answers, and hence will not give any guarantee.

Although they say the science is settled! In fact the science is never settled, scientific knowledge is doubling every seven years and is impossible for it to ever be settled.

But they still claim we must stop warming to 1.5ºC or we will burn up and the end of the world will be nigh. It is quite naïve, in fact it is quite arrogant to think mankind can control climate. The gigantic forces of nature are vast and nowhere near understood and way beyond our control.

The scientists say they are sure of their science. If this were true then why not give an assurance to the government? This seems quite reasonable as governments around the World are in for; not Millions but Trillions of dollars as they follow the scientists recommendations. Naturally they want to know that the measures they take will work.

The current government is committing the biggest mistake of its existence and greater than any previous government, in terms of cost, devastation of the economy, hardship, loss of rights and democracy, crippling the farming community, and a sure way of making the poor even poorer.

So - Let’s get some facts on the table:

- There is NO Climate Emergency – There never has been, there isn’t one now, and it’s highly unlikely that there will ever be one in the future. The climate will go on changing without the slightest regard for mankind.

- Making a target of Zero Carbon is utterly ridiculous. In fact it defies common scientific sense. We desperately need Carbon Dioxide, it is the gas that supports all life on this Planet. Every single plant in the Botanical Kingdom requires carbon dioxide to undertake photosynthesis to survive. It is vital plant food. Without carbon dioxide we would not exist. It shows how little our politicians know about the chemistry of metabolism.

- Levels of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere are ”dangerously low” at around 400 parts per million. If levels drop to below 200 parts per million, plants will not grow and many will die out. Only once in the last 650 Million years have they been as low as they are now.

- The basic hypothesis, claimed by the climate alarmists that “rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere will cause Global warming” is utterly flawed. Scientifically there is absolutely no empirical connection that this is the case. It is a flawed hypothesis that the scientists are desperate to prove, and in doing so tolerate no alternative view. In fact they are vociferous in denouncing any criticism. Instead of debating the issue, as a respected scientist would, they go over the top to kill any contrary proposal. This is bizarre, If they were right, why would you not let the science speak for itself. They can’t and they know it..

- Back in the 19th century levels of CO2 were low, around 280 ppm and vegetation on the fringes of survival were retreating and dying. Witnessed by the expansion of the Sahara, the Calahari, and Atacarma deserts.

- Carbon dioxide is a very weak green house gas and is almost completely saturated after the first 80ppm in the atmosphere, so its radiative potency is lost and cannot retain any further heat. This means it is an ineffectual GHG, no matter how much more carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere, it makes no impact on raising temperature. Any further heat is NOT trapped but lost to space, and indeed is lost to space all the time.

- There is no problem with Global warming. It stopped in 1998. The last few years of Global cooling have erased nearly 23 years off a projected temperature increase.

- The hypothesis that human activity can create global warming is extraordinary because it is contrary to validated knowledge from Solar Physics, Astronomy, History, Archaeology and Geology.

- The claim that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have dramatically increased from human activity from fossil fuels and land, is false. Natural Carbon Dioxide emissions account for 97% of all carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Mankind just 3%.

- There has been ice on Earth for less than 20% of time. Over most of our history World temperatures were around 20 - 22ºC. Today, they are 12-14ºC. When the temperatures were 20-22C the dinosaurs existed and were cold blooded. Why? Because at those temperatures metabolism occurred without needing to be warm blooded.

- From 1975 the cooling period came to an end and temperatures began to rise again, until 1998. For the last 23 years global temperatures have plateaued. Oh yes they have.!!

-The recent claim by Melissa Fleming (the U.N. Secretary for Global Communications) on climate change, “That We Own The Science” is about as stupid as you can get. NO-ONE ‘owns’ the science and her refusal to accept any view contrary to the IPCC, is not a scientific approach. In science you debate findings and you question, question, question, that is how science is done. You do NOT trust the science. (Even Charlie Brown knows that). Flemings move to suppress any climate view that deviates from the U.N. position is an authoritarian desire that they really want to control us!!!!

- We are currently in an ice age that began around 39 Million years ago. The current interglacial began 15,000 years ago and peaked between 8,000 – 4,000 years before present. Or 6,000 – 2,000 years BC. Known as the Holocene Optimum. We are now towards the end of our Interglacial so we can expect much greater volatility and extremes of weather patterns in the future. Why? History tells us so.

- Carbon Dioxide emissions increased during the second world war and for the following 20 years, yet the world was in a period of cooling. By the 1960s human emissions of CO2 did begin to drop as nations encouraged their populations to switch from coal to electricity to eliminate the famous ‘smogs’ that occurred over many European cities. But the cooling period lasted until 1975, with 1963 (after much debate) being the coldest year of the 20th century. It certainly was the coldest year in Great Britain;-

(Weather Scientist Sam Jones reports - It was 1963 that had the distinction of being the coldest year for more than 200 years – cold enough, in fact in winter, for the sea to freeze in places. Blizzards buried parts of Wales and south-west England in snow drifts 6 metres deep, blocked roads and railways and turned villages into isolated islands. Animals died in their fields because farmers could not reach them through the snow. In mid-January, the temperature in Scotland, plunged to -22.2ᵒC.)

- Carbon Dioxide is a tasteless, odourless, colourless gas – YOU can’t see it!! So all those smoke stakes the media love showing us of steam pouring out, claiming pollution, global warming and any nasty thing they can think of; are literally deceiving us with a gross falsehood. (To the media; learn some science before you print the next smoking chimney.)

- In the past Carbon Dioxide levels have ranged from 4,000ppm to 7,000ppm, even in the middle of an ice age. There was no planetary burn out, there was no climate emergency, but plants did grow and the forests thrived on the rich food supply of Carbon Dioxide. By contrast, today’s doomsayers claim the 0.04% carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is a pollutant and the catastrophe it is causing, by excessive global warming is just ahead of us.

- Neither carbon dioxide nor methane are important greenhouse gases. In fact they are such minor gases; in the atmosphere they are deemed to be at trace gas level. Carbon Dioxide is 0.04% and methane 0.0017% of the atmosphere. The biggest and by far the most powerful greenhouse gas is water vapour. This is very conveniently forgotten and discarded by the media. The climate ‘alarmists’ choose not to mention it.

- Carbon dioxide is continually being removed from the atmosphere by the Oceans and Vegetation. The Oceans are the biggest sump for carbon dioxide. Growing Trees help, but well-watered and fertilized grass is one of the best terrestrial means for uptake of Carbon Dioxide. What is not well known is that modern grasses have adapted to change and store 91% of their carbon dioxide in the ground!! There is of course a definitive number of carbon atoms in grass eaten by sheep, cattle and deer etc which are transformed into the growing animal by way of bones, liquid, meat, skin and other internal organs. Hence the sequestered carbon into beef saves the planet.!!!!

- Volcanic eruptions are another source of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The amount of carbon dioxide (among other things) spewed out by a volcano can be astronomical. It depends on the size of the volcanic eruption and the length of time it erupts. Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted for over a year and put out more carbon dioxide than mankind has, in his entire existence on Earth. The recent Tongan eruption (Jan 14th 2022) is still going on and giving us those colourful sunrise afterglows. So far the carbon dioxide emissions are significant. In ten months a billion tons of carbon dioxide have been emitted. New Zealand puts up around 34 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. Of this, 33 million is by natural processes and 1 million is from human (and livestock) emissions. This means it would take 5 million people a thousand years to match what the Tongan volcano has emitted in ten months. Can mankind really control the Climate??

- How ludicrous is it, for the government to curb emissions, to the extent of destabilising our economy, crippling our farmers, drastically reducing our standard of living, increasing inflation way beyond anyone’s reach, and making the poor even poorer. The question must be asked. Why? When one volcano can come along and blow it all away?

- Green Activists are the left field in our society. They preach clean green living. It is anything but. Demanding we should give up our petrol cars for EV’s. That carbon dioxide is a pollutant and we must stop it. They have all these high minded ideas of Climate Activism which will cost millions of dollars, probably billions, but they don’t want to pay for them. So they want to tax the so called ‘rich’ with excess profit taxes, wealth taxes, high personal tax to fund their dead end programmes. But the true irony of the green lobby is that while they want you to follow their advice, they don’t see the same rules applying to them. They jet off around the World in fossil fuel aircraft burning millions of litres to just go to a meeting – the title hypocrite has a new meaning. Climate Activism really has nothing to do with Climate or the environment – its implementation will kill people.

- The world’s climate is controlled by the gigantic forces of nature. They are Global, The Sun, The Solar System,(The Planets) and forces beyond our Solar System; Cosmic Rays. All of these forces are constantly changing. None are static, not even the Sun. Hence the constant changing of climate which results in the world’s changing weather patterns. Lets be clear here. Greenhouse Gases do NOT cause extreme weather. There is no scientific connection to justify such a claim. What’s happening today with the weather has all happened before – Look at Past; the history books are full of disasters and extreme weather events. They are nothing new. The difference today is the world’s population; is now 8 billion people. So any extreme weather will have greater impact, particularly in low lying areas or coastal regions. Floods, Hurricanes, Loss of Life, Cyclones, Tornadoes, Wind and Rain Cyclones, Fire, and Snow Storms, Loss of Vegetation leading to starvation and death. etc, are all events we must learn to live with. If we don’t learn to adapt then history has shown, species become extinct!

- Professor Endersbee, a former dean of engineering and pro-vice chancellor at Monash University claims it is highly probable that increased electromagnetic radiation of the Sun is responsible for any global warming, not GHG’s.

- So far the IPCC has been wrong on all its projections of climate!!

1. No 50 million climate refugees by 2010, as they forecast in 2005. Zero in fact.

2. No increase in rate of sea level rise.

3 Artic ice is still there, and not melting away.

4 Antarctic ice is growing to the tune of 45 Billion tons per year. (European Satellite)

5 Extreme weather events, world-wide are NOT increasing.

6 Forest fires, world-wide are NOT increasing

7 Yes – the planet has been slowly warming, (in fits and starts) as its only 172 years since we came out of the Little Ice Age in 1850. (That rise has been just 0.8°C).

8 Hurricanes are NOT increasing.

- Sea levels are essentially unchanged. See caption below for 99 years, at Palm Beach:

- They say with climate if you want to know the future look at the past. So lets look at the past. In the early 1400’s at the beginning of the Little Ice Age there were several great North Sea Storms. On August 9th 1413 a great southerly storm at extreme low tide buried the town of FORVIE, near Aberdeen in north-eastern Scotland under a thirty meter sand dune. So great was the flooding that more than 100,000 people are said to have died in the storm. This is similar to the Dutch storm of 1362 – The “Grote Mandrenke”. If this had happened today we know where the blame would be placed. Any rational thinking person today realises that back then Greenhouse gases had nothing to do with it. THE SAME APPLIES TODAY. Nothing has changed, a North Sea Storm of the same proportions could occur again today.

- Scientific knowledge is determined by the scientific method, through which theoretical predictions are validated or rejected by observations. If the theoretical predictions do not work, the theory is rejected. That’s real science. Scientific knowledge is not determined by government-controlled opinions, consensus, peer review, or theoretical model simulations that do not work. Those are false science. This brief applies the scientific method to the government’s Climate Change Commission document and the technical document for the Reduction of Emissions.  Both are scientifically corrupted and thus must be thrown out.

It is of the utmost lunacy for any move towards Nett Zero Carbon to continue. If the politicians continue to enforce it, there will certainly be an ‘end’ of the World scenario, as we know it. The total irony will be that Climate Change had nothing to do with it.  Just our stupidity.!

Dr Dick Reaney PGCAS(Cant), BDS(Otago), D.Orth.RCS(London), MRACDS(Aust), FICD, who has studied Climate and Paleoclimatology for 40 years with numerous expeditions to the Antarctic, the North Pole, and the Himalayas, was awarded a Visiting Scholarship to Scott Polar Research Institute in 2005 by Cambridge University.