I'm not at all sure what to make of this report just out in the Guardian. Apparently, the Indian Environment Ministry has just issued a report (here in PDF) saying that they see no signal of a climate effect of greenhouse gas emissions on the retreat of Indian glaciers:I guess it's easier to take big economics risks when you work in the Faculty Lounge (or western governments). Places struggling to raise hundreds of millions of people out of poverty seem to want stronger evidence.The report is noteworthy because it contradicts the 2007 report of the IPCC:Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, released the controversial report in Delhi, saying it would "challenge the conventional wisdom" about melting ice in the mountains. . .
Today Ramesh denied any such risk existed: "There is no conclusive scientific evidence to link global warming with what is happening in the Himalayan glaciers." The minister added although some glaciers are receding they were doing so at a rate that was not "historically alarming".
Two years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN agency which evaluates the risk from global warming, warned the glaciers were receding faster than in any other part of the world and could "disappear altogether by 2035 if not sooner".
Imagine that.
I am strongly skeptical about AGW myself, but of all the items I've seen lately that question AGW, this is probably among the least credible or trustworthy.
ReplyDelete1) India's government has a vested interest in denying the existence of AGW, just as much as Barry Lackwit's minions have a vested interest in affirming it.
2) Whenever any politician "questions" current scientific theories/hypotheses, I flash back to a certain Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, who was rightly subjected to worldwide scorn for accepting and acting on Duesberg's nutball idea that AIDS is caused by drug abuse, not by HIV. Politicians are not credible sources on scientific topics. Neither is anything that has been through the hands of a government bureaucrat.
Haven't you heard the latest? India and China are to be allowed to continue their polluting ways. Only the western nations should fall under these rules because we prospered at the expense of third world nations.
ReplyDeleteMore PC horse shit.
Wolfwalker, I agree that India's response is driven by politics. The whole problem with the AGW "debate" is that it's not owned by the scientists, but by the politicians.
ReplyDeleteTOTWTYTR, you need to work harder at channeling your inner western/white/male guilt. Just sayin' ...
Sorry BP, no white male guilt here. No giveaways either. Let people earn what they get, not be given handouts like pets. I know who the real racists are, and it's not me.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be so cranky, but the PC thing is finally getting to me.