TELLING IT LIKE IT IS !

There was yet another recently released report casting doubt on the impacts of global warming – specifically whether or not the historically low water levels in the Great Lakes were caused by human activities. Green Groups frequently cited the lower levels as a result of human activity and a portent of things to come. Henry Payne at Planet Gore offered an assortment of news stories to claim this …

• April, 2003, Detroit News: “A group of scientists predicted that global warming will wreak havoc on the Great Lakes region . . . the largest single concentration of fresh water in the world.”
• October, 2003, Detroit Free Press: “The idea that warming has benefits may be a particularly tough sell to Michiganders already disturbed by what happens when the Great Lakes drop near historic lows.”
• April, 2007, Detroit News: “Data from a new United Nations report on climate change … strengthens scientific opinion that Michigan will see other dramatic effects in the coming decades: lower Great Lakes water levels, a dramatically receding Lake St. Clair. … “
• May, 2008, Detroit News: “A report released by an environmental group warns that unless Congress acts to curb global warming, Great Lakes water levels will drop up to 3 feet; beaches will close more often, and fish and animal populations will decline.”

It turns out these warnings and reports were wrong …

• A steady drop in water levels in Lake Michigan/Huron over the first half of this decade resulted from natural causes, not man-made ones, according to U.S. and Canadian researchers, noting that the past 18 months of rising waters could be an indication the lakes are headed back to normal levels.
• Researchers working for the International Joint Commission this week released the findings of a two-year study on the St. Clair River and the amount of water running through it out of Lake Michigan/Huron. The study was launched to answer questions by lake shore residents who had watched the steady drop of water levels in recent years.
• The study found that Mother Nature has been behind the changes under way in the last eight years. “It’s not ongoing; it has definitely stabilized,” said Ted Yuzyk, the Canadian co-chair of the study board, who added the changes have reversed in the last 18 to 24 months. “And it’s not human driven. This is more natural.”

This was a two-year comprehensive study with no political bias except to find the truth. Sadly, and predictably, green groups were up in arms over it.

The commission is not calling for any corrective action in the Lake Huron-St. Clair River now, which is not sitting well with members of the Canadian environmental group GBA Foundation … that funded its own study in 2004 to put the blame on human activity, and in reality was a conflict of interest.

“The fact that this report completely dismisses such an enormous increase in outflow and recommends that nothing be done about it is very disturbing,” said Roy Schatz, GBA’s founding president, in a press release when they didn’t get their own way with their warped research to twist the truth.

The report does not completely dismiss the enormous increase in outflow. Instead, it attributes it to a natural cause, using scientific evidence and the effects of this evidence’s impact, as opposed to manmade global warming.

For science to work properly, it needs to be allowed to be wrong, so that scientists can learn from their mistakes. The problem with the Radical Green Movement is that it can’t ever allow for the possibility that it could be wrong. The whole movement is based on the necessity of immediate action. Then when they are proved wrong it leaves them little choice but to attack and belittle deniers; which is as unscientific a response as there is … but one that is consistently utilized.