It’s Truly Labour Day

Are we labouring under a curse?

Or is this just a blip in the universe?

What are we to make of all this?

Can a Higher Being do something, please?

Sojourned on a planet we called our own,

While bitten by a virus we’ve never known,

We’ll have to show that we are really worthy

By taking full charge of our own destiny.

CLIMATE CHANGE / GLOBAL WARMING - WHAT'S THAT?

Opinion

Let's try to take Joe Biden's assertion that "climate change" is "the existential threat of our time" seriously. According to climate change believers, they wish to convince the world of 3 things:

(1) The current warming trend of mean global temperatures is unprecedented and soon will become irreversible; and this will lead to dangerous weather extremes and the end of the world.

(2) This trend is solely caused by man's burning of fossil fuels emitting too much CO2 which raises global temperature through its greenhouse effect. No other factor is involved.

(3) The solution to this crisis is for the world to strive to limit the rise in global temperature to less than 1.5*C above pre-industrial levels by halving carbon emissions by 2030 and then to "net zero" by 2050.

Let me humbly submit that all 3 assertions are false or do not make any logical or scientific sense.

(1) Our current temperature or temperature trend is unremarkable. The mean global temperature in 1880 was 13.8*C and is estimated to be 15*C in 2020 which is a rise of 1.2*C already, but in absolute temperature terms, these temperatures are much cooler than any air-conditioned room today. So, unsurprisingly, there had been absolutely no evidence of increase in trends of weather extremes or disasters; and most people are going about their business without a thought about doomsday which is purportedly just around the corner.

Also. perhaps, it would be more objective if we look at longer-term records. Since mankind is only 200,000 years-old, to be objective, we should look at the mean global temperature record over the last 400,000 years. This showed temperature differences of up to 12*C between peaks and troughs every 100,000 years in accordance with the Milankovich cycles. So, a 1.2*C rise is actually nothing!

If we go back even further, we will see that mean global temperature 500 million years ago was 35*C, more than double that in 2020, but 35*C is nothing to shout about because that can frequently be the afternoon temperature in sunny Singapore here and to us it is "normal" since time immemorial. Also, if we got here in 2021 because the planet was not destroyed 500 million years ago, why should we worry about that now if the temperature has more than halved in the intervening period?

(2) If the contribution of man-made CO2 (through the burning of fossil fuels) to total global CO2 emissions is only 4.4% and CO2 residence time in the atmosphere is only 4 years, how can man-made CO2 be the control knob of global temperature, especially when CO2 from any source is responsible for only 4.2% of the total greenhouse effect of all greenhouse gases?

(3) 15.3*C mean global temperature is no magic number and it is difficult to fathom how or why we will cease to exist if that number is breached. In any case, we are already at 15*C. So, are we going to spend perhaps more than $100 trillion over the next 79 years just to prevent the rise of another meaningless 0.3*C, especially when nothing bad is going to happen??

The Club of Stink Kong and Notzilla

Joining the Club you ought to be,

Even if your fault you can’t see.

Sign the contract that ain’t pretty,

Even though you can’t afford its fee.

Give up your gold to feed Stink Kong

Even as Notzilla’s gas and fire is all wrong.

While the little big people play along,

We can only sing this sad quiet song.

Though many will lose their gain,

Isn’t it time now to stop the feign?

While the second is being ordained,

Let’s redefine the first arrangement again.