Where is Bill from?

We aren’t quite sure what planet Bill is from or what planet Bill thinks he is visiting. It seems he comes from a planet where the weather is controlled by CO2. In Bill’s World CO2 has magical properties which allow it to trap heat and raise the temperature of the planet and overheat the atmosphere to cause extreme weather phenomena like hurricanes, drought, heat waves and melting Arctic ice. Apparently, on his planet the appearance of these phenomena all in one year are the harbinger of worse to come if we don’t reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2 to below 350 ppm. Bill has been sent to warn us to repent before it is too late. He certainly knows how to raise the alarm and fan the hysteria. Some people scare easy and are ready to play follow the leader. Some of us recognize that Bill is not from this planet because our memories have not been wiped clear of the knowledge of past instances of the events that frighten Bill and his followers. Hysteria identifies itself when it collides with reality.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts -- Bertrand Russell h/t Greenie Watch

Hurricanes are not pleasant but they have appeared before and sometimes have been far more deadly than contemporary occurrences. They have also been more frequent in the past. Modern ones may cause more property damage because there are more of us living in at risk areas than in times gone by.
The same is true of droughts and heat waves. The melting Arctic has been a concern of scientists back in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s and into the 60s and 70s. It seems we have always been threatened with a deluge from melting glaciers and ice caps. Since the ‘experts’ on Arctic melting have been wrong for so long it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the experts still don’t know what they are talking about. Much about climate change on Earth remains a mystery.

But Bill comes from a world in which the inhabitants suffer from tunnel vision and can only see observations which support their narrative. They have a spiel and select events that can be spun to support it. In McKibbenland there is a consensus that CO2 is Satan and the oil companies are his servants.

Bertrand Russell knew about consensus: "The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.” h/t Greenie Watch

Bill is a man on a mission. He has claimed the moral high road without any doubt of both the righteousness and correctness of his beliefs. It is difficult for him to understand why others wouldn’t agree with his vision. Given the emotional investment that Bill has in trumpeting his hatred of oil companies, their profits, CO2 and the impending destruction of the Earth it will be impossible for him to entertain any doubts about cause. It is with certainty and conviction that he speaks. No possibility of error can be entertained and should CAGW turn out to be a false alarm as many of us know it to be no admission of error will be forthcoming. Like a flat earther Bill will continue to maintain that he is right just as Paul Ehrlich continues to think his prognostications of the past did in fact come true. But the UK still exists as it did in 1970. It did not disappear under ice in 2000. Trends change especially if they are cyclical. Predictions of disaster tend to fall by the wayside of human ignorance. New scares arise to replace the old ones. Some humans, it appears, like to frighten themselves. Perhaps this accounts for horror movies.

On Bill’s Planet - shall we call it Deimos - as CO2 concentration in its atmosphere rose so did the temperature. This had to be stopped or the Demons would have been roasted. Fortunately for us, Earth’s atmosphere does not work that way. Temperatures have been flat for the last 16 years even as our fossil fuel burning has continued unabated. NOAA even looked at the relationship and found no correlation with monthly variations in temperature and CO2 emissions. Phew! Human fricassee we won’t have to be.

In the Arctic region of Deimos CO2 caused it to warm faster than anywhere else on the planet and the sea ice melted in the summer. The Demons were worried that the polar ice cap would also melt and sea levels would rise and flood their coastal cities. So they reduced their CO2 emissions and saved the ice. Unlike Earth, Deimos also had the same problem at its South Polar region. Bill has been sent to warn us of that danger. When we understand where Bill has come from we can appreciate his hysteria over the issue. But the Earth is not Deimos.

Even though the Arctic sea ice melted to a record low this summer(2012) the region has apparently returned to its normal chilly self as evidenced by the cold air that the heat trapping CO2 molecules sent our way by pushing the jet stream down into West Virginia and Maryland. The below normal temperatures for early November that arrived with extra-tropical cyclone Sandy dropped snow in these areas and the ski season got an early start. The Arctic summer warmth dissipated as it always does. No heat accumulation. What was that about an overheated Arctic? This planet seems to vent its excess heat.

Bill was very concerned about the summer heat wave in the eastern US and the drought in the US Midwest and the effect that it had on corn prices. Since Bill is not from here perhaps he was unaware that our government has mandated that we mix ethanol (made from corn) into our gasoline. That’s right Bill. We grow food to burn in our vehicles. Whose bright idea was that? Must have been a politician from the corn belt. If we had diverted the corn into food perhaps the price of corn would not have undergone such a steep rise. Not to worry, Bill. 

And Bill did you know that with all the record temperatures set in summer 2012 not one new State record was established? Does this suggest that it has been warmer in the past? See the 1930s.

Perhaps the weather event that had Bill most upset was the appearance of extra-tropical cyclone Sandy and the destruction it brought to New England at the New York and New Jersey coastlines. The storm surge was exacerbated by the full moon at high tide. The coastlines had not been prepared for such an occurrence. Should State governments be liable?

As unwelcome as extreme weather events are to people and as destructive as they are when they hit heavily populated areas most of us understand that they are acts of Nature and that they will continue to occur in the future as they have in the past. If they occur at lower levels of CO2 and at higher levels of CO2 then could the correct conclusion be that CO2 has nothing to do with their appearance? Hurricane frequency and energy have been on the decrease as have most other instances of nasty weather. Perhaps we owe CO2 an apology.

Bill doesn’t see the good news in the trends because his tunnel vision affliction only allows the passage of alarming news. This is a concern to those of us who are worried about Bill. We don’t like to see him so anxious. Perhaps his close friends can effect an intervention and take him to an AA - Apocalyptic Anxiety - meeting.

Hello, my name is Bill and I am an Alarmaholic. I am afraid of an invisible trace gas essential to life on Earth. My addiction to BS - Bad Science - is raising my anxiety level to unmanageable proportions.

Is it healthy to be so worried about the weather all the time?