excalibur
Diamond Member
- Mar 19, 2015
- 28,491
- 57,617
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Same BS over, and over, and over, and ...
nypost.com
...
Press accounts were similarly Chicken Little-esque. If developed nations donāt phase out oil and gas and give $100 billion in āclimate financing,ā Paul Behrens, professor in environmental change, told Politico that āthe only fact about the future I can declare with certainty is that the world as we know it is coming to an end.ā
If it all sounds slightly familiar, consider this news story from 1972:
7
āWe have ten years to stop the catastrophe,ā said the UNās environmental protection boss. Thatās one of the headlines collected by Bjorn Lomberg, author of āFalse Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.ā
Lomberg notes that, for more than 50 years, the United Nations and the media have regularly predicted weāre on the verge of calamity. And they always seem to forget about the last warning.
In 1982, after the catastrophe failed to materialize, the New York Times covered the second UN conference on the environment, which opened āamid gloomā:
7
The piece quotes Mostafa K. Tolba, executive director of the United Nations environmental program, as saying that if things arenāt fixed by the turn of the century ā the year 2000 ā the world would face āan environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible, as any nuclear holocaust.āā
In 1989, a senior UN environmental official shaved a year off that dire prediction, saying that if we didnāt fix climate change by 1999, we would have āGlobal disaster, nations wiped off the face of the earth, crop failuresā:
7
Tolba was back in 1990 to say that āWe shall win ā or lose ā the climate struggle in the first years of the 1990s.ā
7
The 1990s passed without the arrival of the End Times (unless you count Vanilla Ice), but that only turned up the volume. In 2004, the Guardian newspaper said a āsecret reportā from the Pentagon to President George W. Bush said climate change would ādestroy us.ā
7
Among the predictions:
* Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas
* Britain is plunged into a āSiberianā climate by 2020
* Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world
The Guardian described this as āhumiliating to the Bush administrationā because they werenāt doing enough to tackle climate change. No word on whether the Pentagon or the Guardian are humiliated now that itās 2021 and Britain is still experiencing summer.
But then, another dire prediction came and went in the meantime. In 2007, Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN climate panel, said, āIf there is no action before 2012, thatās too lateā:
7
That year did bring disaster in the form of the movie ā2012,ā but besides John Cusackās career, the rest of us survived.
But donāt fret, the goalposts have been moved again. As of 2019, the UN said āonly 11 years left to prevent irreversible damage from climate changeā:
7
...
Press accounts were similarly Chicken Little-esque. If developed nations donāt phase out oil and gas and give $100 billion in āclimate financing,ā Paul Behrens, professor in environmental change, told Politico that āthe only fact about the future I can declare with certainty is that the world as we know it is coming to an end.ā
If it all sounds slightly familiar, consider this news story from 1972:
7 āWe have ten years to stop the catastrophe,ā said the UNās environmental protection boss. Thatās one of the headlines collected by Bjorn Lomberg, author of āFalse Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.ā
Lomberg notes that, for more than 50 years, the United Nations and the media have regularly predicted weāre on the verge of calamity. And they always seem to forget about the last warning.
In 1982, after the catastrophe failed to materialize, the New York Times covered the second UN conference on the environment, which opened āamid gloomā:
7 The piece quotes Mostafa K. Tolba, executive director of the United Nations environmental program, as saying that if things arenāt fixed by the turn of the century ā the year 2000 ā the world would face āan environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible, as any nuclear holocaust.āā
In 1989, a senior UN environmental official shaved a year off that dire prediction, saying that if we didnāt fix climate change by 1999, we would have āGlobal disaster, nations wiped off the face of the earth, crop failuresā:
7 Tolba was back in 1990 to say that āWe shall win ā or lose ā the climate struggle in the first years of the 1990s.ā
7 The 1990s passed without the arrival of the End Times (unless you count Vanilla Ice), but that only turned up the volume. In 2004, the Guardian newspaper said a āsecret reportā from the Pentagon to President George W. Bush said climate change would ādestroy us.ā
7 Among the predictions:
* Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas
* Britain is plunged into a āSiberianā climate by 2020
* Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world
The Guardian described this as āhumiliating to the Bush administrationā because they werenāt doing enough to tackle climate change. No word on whether the Pentagon or the Guardian are humiliated now that itās 2021 and Britain is still experiencing summer.
But then, another dire prediction came and went in the meantime. In 2007, Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN climate panel, said, āIf there is no action before 2012, thatās too lateā:
7 That year did bring disaster in the form of the movie ā2012,ā but besides John Cusackās career, the rest of us survived.
But donāt fret, the goalposts have been moved again. As of 2019, the UN said āonly 11 years left to prevent irreversible damage from climate changeā:
7 ...
50 years of predictions that the climate apocalypse is nigh
For the past two weeks in Glasgow, Scotland, world leaders have gathered at COP 26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to listen to the same message: Disaster is just around the corner.
nypost.com
