Chief Alarmist
UPDATE: Check out the comments, which put Steffen and his alarmist spoutings in their proper place.
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A bob each way from Will Steffen, the Gillard government’s chief alarmist:
Climate change is influencing more than just droughts, as the recent CSIRO-Bureau of Meteorology State of the Climate 2012 report clearly outlines.
Temperatures over land and in the oceans continue to increase rapidly, sea levels are rising and extremely hot days have become more common. But it is the recent period of very wet, cool weather bringing floods to many parts of Australia that has grabbed the most attention in the past few months.
The Climate Commission’s report on the science behind southeast Australia’s wet, cool summer provides the broader, long-term perspective needed to understand the significance of the big wet.
…
This emerging pattern of long-term drying across southern Australia, exacerbated by hot days and weeks and periodically interrupted by very intense rainfall and flooding, comes as no surprise to climate scientists. It is entirely consistent with what we expect from a changing climate. (source)
Despite the fact that temperatures have slowed in the last decade (if you look at satellite records rather than corrupted and unreliable surface records), sea levels are rising more slowly (and have not accelerated), Steffen continues to claim that any weather event is “consistent with climate change”. My letter to The Australian editor sets out my response:
Sir,
Perhaps Will Steffen (opinion, 19 March 2012) would kindly inform us what weather pattern would not be “consistent with climate change”. The truth is that the theory of anthropogenic climate change, as stated by Steffen, is an unfalsifiable hypothesis, where any event, be it floods, droughts, higher temperatures, lower temperatures, more cyclones, fewer cyclones, is consistent with climate change. Such a hypothesis cannot be disproved by empirical observations, and therefore isn’t science at all.
Yours faithfully,
Editor, ACM
And if you want another belly laugh, read this pile of tripe in The Age.
Australian Climate Madness 
more stupidity
Nice. Pretty much what I wrote in the comments section but I doubt they will be publishing comments. I notice that very few of the warmistas allow comments on their articles in the Australian. I think they are a little thin skinned.
Admin,you may have already sen this though someone should give that guy this information of Australia’s history from settlement.
The Brisbane Courier Friday 11 October 1889
THE PREDICTED DROUGHT. Australian weather statistics 1782 – 1889.
” In order to throw some additional light on the above question, I will furnish a few condensed Australian weather statistics of the last 107 years, and if anyone can found a positive forecast on them he is welcome to do so ; all that I can see in them is the simple fact that floods and droughts alternate out here with “lucid intervals” of ordinary settled and moderately wet or dry weather.
Captain Cook in 1770 says little about the weather. Dampier in 1690 or thereabouts was equally silent.
Captain Matthew Flinders reports drought and bush fires from 1782 to 1792.
There was a great drought in 1797 for 100 miles round where Melbourne now stands ; 1799 to 1806 were very wet years, and in 1806 the floods culminated by a rise of 101 ft. at Windsor, on the Hawkesbury River.
The crops were destroyed, wheat rose to 80s. a bushel, and a famine prevailed.
The excessive rain kept on till 1810, but 1811 cut it short, and was so dry that water was worth 8d. per bucketful in Sydney.
This drought was sharp but short, and there was plenty of increasing rain for years afterwards, till in 1820 the Hunter River rose 37ft.
Ten years now elapsed without any more floods, and it was so dry from 1826 to 1829 that water at last became worth 4d. a gallon in Sydney. 1830 saw the first flood for ten years.
Ordinary weather followed till 1837, but 1838 and 1839 saw the champion drought of the century. Stock were all but exterminated. The Murrumbidgee is a great river, 150ft. wide, 60ft. deep, and overflows its banks, like the Nile, when the head snows melt, for five miles on each side to a depth of 3ft. This gives a volume of water equal to a river of 1450 ft. wide and 120 ft. deep, and besides this it fills a group of lakes each from seven to eighteen miles in diameter.
Yet this great river dried up so thoroughly in 1839 that the fish died and putrefied at the bottom of it.
I make no comments on what such a drought now would do to Queensland, and I am at present only going for dry facts and bald statistics.
1841 broke up this drought with the champion flood of Queensland; the Bremer River rose 70ft., and the Brisbane bar not being then dredged, there was no quick “get away” for the water, and it filled the lower story of the commissariat stores here, and Ipswich was very short of rations for some days.
Moderate rain carried the colony of Now South Wales (then the only one) on till 1849, when dry weather began and lasted till May, 1851.
The scattered bush fires of Victoria got ” boxed” into one mighty whole on 6th February, 1851 (” Black Thursday “), before a southerly hurricane which sent smoke and leaves across Bass Straits.
1852 brought a flood that swept Gundagai away and drowned the inhabitants ; 1853 saw great overflows of the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, and Darling rivers, but not from local rain ; 1854 was dry; 1855 and 1856, ordinary weather; 1857 was a flood year, with three months ceaseless rain from February to May.
Settled weather lasted till 1863, which, with 1864, both gave heavy flood. The weather settled again till 1873 (bar a small drought up North in 1866), which, with 1875, was very wet, and gave a flood each.
Settled weather again carne, with a small local flood in 1879-80 ; 1882 very wet: 1883 to 1886 very dry; 1887 very wet; 1888 very dry; 1889 moderately wet.
Here we have 107 years of statistics, and who can discern from them the rule that guides the weather ? A matter which enters so largely into our health and comfort, happiness and prosperity, that I hope to be excused for thus dwelling upon it. ……
N. Bartley The Brisbane Courier 1889 ”
and
Reports of Drought by our Early Settlers.
Governor Arthur Phillip 1791
Governor Arthur Phillip wrote the following to the Colonial Secretary, the Right Honourable W. W. Grenville on 4 March 1791:
The Tank Stream Sydney (10)
“From June until the present time so little rain has fallen that most of the runs of water in the different parts of the harbour have been dried up for several months, and the run which supplies this settlement is greatly reduced, but still sufficient for all culinary purposes… I do not think it probable that so dry a season often occurs. Our crops of corn have suffered greatly from the dry weather.”
On 5 November 1791, the governor of this colony, Arthur Phillip, reported that the normally perennial ‘Tank Stream’ river flowing into Sydney Harbour had been dry for “some months”.
It did not flow again until 1794. Phillip marks the start of the droughts in July 1790; no rain had fallen by August 1791 **
During the drought in 1814 Governor Macquarie had to import food to avoid what he called:
“the heavy calamity of very great scarcity, both of animal feed and of grain, if not in an actual famine.”
http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/droughthistory.html#1
Now knowing this it goes to show what our families of the past put up with.With the technology we have now,know wonder we survive better!
And in the 80’s, “they” predicted a soon coming ice age!
Here is someone else living in ‘Opposite Land’. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/making-heretics-of-scientists-casts-a-shadow-20120318-1vdp4.html
Once again – comments section closed.
Just had a thought,UN is behind this and uses governments of the world to push it as we are seeing but some are turning away as we are seeing.Now MAYBE the UN will decide that governments are not changing or getting the people on board therefore the UN takes full control ie global government??
How do you argue the unarguable?
‘Real’ science is about debate … not a closed shop!
these ‘scientists’ should be standing on street corners next to the religious fanatics wearing ‘Repent NOW: The End Is Nigh’ sandwich boards
Only today I was thinking Obama is a climate criminal with his remarks that Chicago is warm today trying to push his AGW agenda without mentioning The sickening words Climate Change. Turns out that Chicago has been warmer or as warm 10 times or so since 1900. In Australia your Labor/green are the real thugs and criminals. How the hell can we prosecute these guys, their crimes are crimes against humanity with the pain and suffering they have inflicted!!
I only just read the Steffen opinion article in The Australian (about 4.00PM) and then waded throught the 100 comments. The only one which wasn’t scathing of Steffen and his mates was one which said (in effect) “but what if he is right, shouldn’t we be worried?”
I wonder if anyone made any comments supportive of Steffen. It would be nice to think not.
Correct me if I am wrong but “More floods and more droughts” Would this be called having an each way bet???????.
there is also a claim there would be more atlantic hurricanes…shame reality just isn’t keeping up with computer predictions…
I would like this alarmist green avenger to state where exactly temperatures are continuing to rise rapidly. Presumably he is talking about planet earth. But where?
He failed to mention increased rate of growth of facial and other hair….
[snip]
I think they’re howling particularly loudly at the moment because public opinion is swinging against them. They don’t realize that the more alarmist nonsense they squeal the faster the belief in Global Warming fades amongst the general populace!
Absolutely heart warming reading the comments. Seems like I was too late to add my own. This one made me laugh though:
Matt Posted at 6:48 AM Today
I don’t believe you.
Comment 21 of 108
I wish I could get paid his salary to make unfasifiable alramist claims. Nice work if you can get it.
As everyone reading this knows, it’s just more of the same old bulldust. Surely their 15 minutes of fame must be close to being expired. As my sister (a medical surgeon) said when I commented that global warming is crap, “But we have to do something!” That’s the public empathy that these alarmists are feeding: the guilt trips that people are on for feeling like they are contributing to the loss of habitat and pollution through their consumption.