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 | | From: | James | | Subject: | U.N.: No 'natural' disasters? | | Date: | Sat, 22 Jan 2005 13:52:47 -0500 |
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U.N.: No 'natural' disasters?
JunkScience.com / FoxNews.com
By Steven Milloy
January 21, 2005
The United Nations is trying to blame natural disasters on, of all things,
people. President Bush, however, is standing in its way.
The U.N. is holding its second-ever "World Conference on Disaster Reduction"
this week in Kobe, Japan. Scheduled for the 10th anniversary of the deadly
January 1995 earthquake in Kobe and following in the wake of the Indian
Ocean tsunami, you might think that the conference's focus would be "natural
disasters."
But the first indication that this isn't necessarily the case comes when you
compare the titles of the current and previous U.N. disaster conferences.
The title of the U.N.'s first disaster conference, held in 1994, was the
"World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction," which, incidentally,
occurred during the U.N.-proclaimed "International Decade for Natural
Disaster Reduction" (1990-1999).
Natural disasters, as far as the U.N. is concerned anyway, apparently are no
longer "natural."
Behind the "1984"-like de-natural-ization of the disaster conference is, of
course, the ongoing effort by the U.N. - a leading promoter of the unproven
notion that humans are significantly altering global climate for the worse -
to be able to blame people, as opposed to Nature, for deadly and costly
occurrences such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves and the like.
And the particular people that the U.N. would most like to pin the blame for
global warming on would be deep-pocket Americans, American businesses and
the American government. As the global warming alarmist community likes to
point out, the U.S. is the largest single contributor to the alleged global
warming, emitting 25 percent of all greenhouse gases while possessing only 4
percent of the world's population.
Toward the goal of blaming the U.S. for what used to be considered "natural
disasters" in order to eventually extract financial compensation, the U.N.
conference's draft action plan is riddled with references to climate change
[read, "U.S.-made climate change"] as causing or contributing to
"disasters."
The Bush administration rightly opposes the U.N.'s effort to de-naturalize
disasters and has requested that the document's references to climate change
be removed. But U.N. officials oppose such changes.
"I hope there will be a global recognition of climate change causing more
natural disasters," said Jan Egeland, U.N. undersecretary-general for
humanitarian affairs.
Weather disasters like hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, cold snaps,
ice storms always have, and always will plague man. As far as we know, they
are entirely natural occurrences. There is absolutely no credible evidence
that humans - much less Americans in particular - have had have any
discernible impact on the frequency and severity of - dare I say it? -
natural disasters.
Given the media's new habit of linking virtually any extreme or unusual
weather with global warming, some scientists now even feel compelled to go
out of their way to reaffirm that global warming isn't causing natural
disasters, as in the case of the string of hurricanes that hit south Florida
last summer.
The U.N. dramatizes the need for its "action plan" by claiming that:
economic damages resulting from "disasters" have increased from about 1,500
disasters costing $200 billion during the 1970s to 6,000 disasters costing
$700 billion during the 1990s; and the number of people "threatened" by
"disasters" has increased from about 750 million people in the 1970s to
about 2.5 billion people in the 1990s.
I don't know how accurate those estimates may be, but to the extent that
natural disasters do wreak more economic havoc and threaten more people now
than 30 years ago, that is most likely due to all the upscale development
that has spread during that time to coastal regions and other areas more
vulnerable to the whims of Mother Nature.
Participating in the U.N. conference is the German insurance company Munich
Re, which issued a report "Megacities - Megarisks: Trends and challenges for
insurance and risk management," bemoaning the alleged impacts of global
warming and other "disasters" on insurers.
Munich Re claims, for example, that the urban heat island effect - the
modern-day phenomenon where cities are warmer than surrounding rural areas
due to increased heat trapping by concrete and asphalt - amplifies the
effect of global warming to increase the number of deaths caused by
heatwaves.
Despite any intuitive appeal, this assertion is unfounded since there is no
scientific evidence that global warming - which involves a hypothesized
few-degree rise in global temperatures over the course of a century - has
anything to do with summer heatwaves - which involve sudden dramatic,
short-term shifts in local temperature.
Weather, after all, is not climate.
The end-game of the insurance industry, like that of the U.N. , is to be
able to blame natural disasters on global warming so that it also can
eventually seek compensation for its losses from U.S. businesses and
taxpayers.
Insurers, apparently, are more than happy to accept premiums for writing
risky policies, but not too happy when Mother Nature and policyholders force
them to make good on claims.
http://globalwarming.org/article.php?uid=892
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| | From: | owl | | Subject: | Re: U.N.: No 'natural' disasters? | | Date: | Sat, 22 Jan 2005 14:50:01 -0500 |
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| On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 13:52:47 -0500, "James" wrote:
>
>U.N.: No 'natural' disasters?
>
>JunkScience.com / FoxNews.com
>By Steven Milloy
>January 21, 2005
>
>
>
>The United Nations is trying to blame natural disasters on, of all things,
>people. President Bush, however, is standing in its way.
>
>
>The U.N. is holding its second-ever "World Conference on Disaster Reduction"
>this week in Kobe, Japan. Scheduled for the 10th anniversary of the deadly
>January 1995 earthquake in Kobe and following in the wake of the Indian
>Ocean tsunami, you might think that the conference's focus would be "natural
>disasters."
>
>
>
>But the first indication that this isn't necessarily the case comes when you
>compare the titles of the current and previous U.N. disaster conferences.
>
>
>
>The title of the U.N.'s first disaster conference, held in 1994, was the
>"World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction," which, incidentally,
>occurred during the U.N.-proclaimed "International Decade for Natural
>Disaster Reduction" (1990-1999).
>
>
>
>Natural disasters, as far as the U.N. is concerned anyway, apparently are no
>longer "natural."
>
>
>
>Behind the "1984"-like de-natural-ization of the disaster conference is, of
>course, the ongoing effort by the U.N. - a leading promoter of the unproven
>notion that humans are significantly altering global climate for the worse -
>to be able to blame people, as opposed to Nature, for deadly and costly
>occurrences such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves and the like.
>
>
>
>And the particular people that the U.N. would most like to pin the blame for
>global warming on would be deep-pocket Americans, American businesses and
>the American government. As the global warming alarmist community likes to
>point out, the U.S. is the largest single contributor to the alleged global
>warming, emitting 25 percent of all greenhouse gases while possessing only 4
>percent of the world's population.
>
>
>
>Toward the goal of blaming the U.S. for what used to be considered "natural
>disasters" in order to eventually extract financial compensation, the U.N.
>conference's draft action plan is riddled with references to climate change
>[read, "U.S.-made climate change"] as causing or contributing to
> "disasters."
>
>
>
>The Bush administration rightly opposes the U.N.'s effort to de-naturalize
>disasters and has requested that the document's references to climate change
>be removed. But U.N. officials oppose such changes.
>
>
>
>"I hope there will be a global recognition of climate change causing more
>natural disasters," said Jan Egeland, U.N. undersecretary-general for
>humanitarian affairs.
>
>
>
>Weather disasters like hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, cold snaps,
>ice storms always have, and always will plague man. As far as we know, they
>are entirely natural occurrences. There is absolutely no credible evidence
>that humans - much less Americans in particular - have had have any
>discernible impact on the frequency and severity of - dare I say it? -
>natural disasters.
>
>
>
>Given the media's new habit of linking virtually any extreme or unusual
>weather with global warming, some scientists now even feel compelled to go
>out of their way to reaffirm that global warming isn't causing natural
>disasters, as in the case of the string of hurricanes that hit south Florida
>last summer.
>
>
>
>The U.N. dramatizes the need for its "action plan" by claiming that:
>economic damages resulting from "disasters" have increased from about 1,500
>disasters costing $200 billion during the 1970s to 6,000 disasters costing
>$700 billion during the 1990s; and the number of people "threatened" by
>"disasters" has increased from about 750 million people in the 1970s to
>about 2.5 billion people in the 1990s.
>
>
>
>I don't know how accurate those estimates may be, but to the extent that
>natural disasters do wreak more economic havoc and threaten more people now
>than 30 years ago, that is most likely due to all the upscale development
>that has spread during that time to coastal regions and other areas more
>vulnerable to the whims of Mother Nature.
>
>
>
>Participating in the U.N. conference is the German insurance company Munich
>Re, which issued a report "Megacities - Megarisks: Trends and challenges for
>insurance and risk management," bemoaning the alleged impacts of global
>warming and other "disasters" on insurers.
>
>
>
>Munich Re claims, for example, that the urban heat island effect - the
>modern-day phenomenon where cities are warmer than surrounding rural areas
>due to increased heat trapping by concrete and asphalt - amplifies the
>effect of global warming to increase the number of deaths caused by
>heatwaves.
>
>
>
>Despite any intuitive appeal, this assertion is unfounded since there is no
>scientific evidence that global warming - which involves a hypothesized
>few-degree rise in global temperatures over the course of a century - has
>anything to do with summer heatwaves - which involve sudden dramatic,
>short-term shifts in local temperature.
>
>
>
>Weather, after all, is not climate.
>
>
>
>The end-game of the insurance industry, like that of the U.N. , is to be
>able to blame natural disasters on global warming so that it also can
>eventually seek compensation for its losses from U.S. businesses and
>taxpayers.
>
>
>
>Insurers, apparently, are more than happy to accept premiums for writing
>risky policies, but not too happy when Mother Nature and policyholders force
>them to make good on claims.
>
>
>
>http://globalwarming.org/article.php?uid=892
>
>
Article not worth the mouse-wear & electricty - $.02
Combo write n post that lamely ties a lack of understanding about Risk
and Impact Reduction to Saint George Bus - $.01
James doing more harm than help to naturalists by posting this as a
discredit GW activists - Priceless
|
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| | From: | James | | Subject: | Re: U.N.: No 'natural' disasters? | | Date: | Sat, 22 Jan 2005 20:30:22 -0500 |
|
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|
"owl" wrote in message
news:47b5v0tnmklmpmift4k8qppc5445tr94iv@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 13:52:47 -0500, "James" wrote:
>
> >
> >U.N.: No 'natural' disasters?
> >
> >JunkScience.com / FoxNews.com
> >By Steven Milloy
> >January 21, 2005
> >
> >
> >
> >The United Nations is trying to blame natural disasters on, of all
things,
> >people. President Bush, however, is standing in its way.
> >
> >
> >The U.N. is holding its second-ever "World Conference on Disaster
Reduction"
> >this week in Kobe, Japan. Scheduled for the 10th anniversary of the
deadly
> >January 1995 earthquake in Kobe and following in the wake of the Indian
> >Ocean tsunami, you might think that the conference's focus would be
"natural
> >disasters."
> >
> >
> >
> >But the first indication that this isn't necessarily the case comes when
you
> >compare the titles of the current and previous U.N. disaster conferences.
> >
> >
> >
> >The title of the U.N.'s first disaster conference, held in 1994, was the
> >"World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction," which, incidentally,
> >occurred during the U.N.-proclaimed "International Decade for Natural
> >Disaster Reduction" (1990-1999).
> >
> >
> >
> >Natural disasters, as far as the U.N. is concerned anyway, apparently are
no
> >longer "natural."
> >
> >
> >
> >Behind the "1984"-like de-natural-ization of the disaster conference is,
of
> >course, the ongoing effort by the U.N. - a leading promoter of the
unproven
> >notion that humans are significantly altering global climate for the
worse -
> >to be able to blame people, as opposed to Nature, for deadly and costly
> >occurrences such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves and the
like.
> >
> >
> >
> >And the particular people that the U.N. would most like to pin the blame
for
> >global warming on would be deep-pocket Americans, American businesses and
> >the American government. As the global warming alarmist community likes
to
> >point out, the U.S. is the largest single contributor to the alleged
global
> >warming, emitting 25 percent of all greenhouse gases while possessing
only 4
> >percent of the world's population.
> >
> >
> >
> >Toward the goal of blaming the U.S. for what used to be considered
"natural
> >disasters" in order to eventually extract financial compensation, the
U.N.
> >conference's draft action plan is riddled with references to climate
change
> >[read, "U.S.-made climate change"] as causing or contributing to
> > "disasters."
> >
> >
> >
> >The Bush administration rightly opposes the U.N.'s effort to
de-naturalize
> >disasters and has requested that the document's references to climate
change
> >be removed. But U.N. officials oppose such changes.
> >
> >
> >
> >"I hope there will be a global recognition of climate change causing more
> >natural disasters," said Jan Egeland, U.N. undersecretary-general for
> >humanitarian affairs.
> >
> >
> >
> >Weather disasters like hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, cold
snaps,
> >ice storms always have, and always will plague man. As far as we know,
they
> >are entirely natural occurrences. There is absolutely no credible
evidence
> >that humans - much less Americans in particular - have had have any
> >discernible impact on the frequency and severity of - dare I say it? -
> >natural disasters.
> >
> >
> >
> >Given the media's new habit of linking virtually any extreme or unusual
> >weather with global warming, some scientists now even feel compelled to
go
> >out of their way to reaffirm that global warming isn't causing natural
> >disasters, as in the case of the string of hurricanes that hit south
Florida
> >last summer.
> >
> >
> >
> >The U.N. dramatizes the need for its "action plan" by claiming that:
> >economic damages resulting from "disasters" have increased from about
1,500
> >disasters costing $200 billion during the 1970s to 6,000 disasters
costing
> >$700 billion during the 1990s; and the number of people "threatened" by
> >"disasters" has increased from about 750 million people in the 1970s to
> >about 2.5 billion people in the 1990s.
> >
> >
> >
> >I don't know how accurate those estimates may be, but to the extent that
> >natural disasters do wreak more economic havoc and threaten more people
now
> >than 30 years ago, that is most likely due to all the upscale development
> >that has spread during that time to coastal regions and other areas more
> >vulnerable to the whims of Mother Nature.
> >
> >
> >
> >Participating in the U.N. conference is the German insurance company
Munich
> >Re, which issued a report "Megacities - Megarisks: Trends and challenges
for
> >insurance and risk management," bemoaning the alleged impacts of global
> >warming and other "disasters" on insurers.
> >
> >
> >
> >Munich Re claims, for example, that the urban heat island effect - the
> >modern-day phenomenon where cities are warmer than surrounding rural
areas
> >due to increased heat trapping by concrete and asphalt - amplifies the
> >effect of global warming to increase the number of deaths caused by
> >heatwaves.
> >
> >
> >
> >Despite any intuitive appeal, this assertion is unfounded since there is
no
> >scientific evidence that global warming - which involves a hypothesized
> >few-degree rise in global temperatures over the course of a century - has
> >anything to do with summer heatwaves - which involve sudden dramatic,
> >short-term shifts in local temperature.
> >
> >
> >
> >Weather, after all, is not climate.
> >
> >
> >
> >The end-game of the insurance industry, like that of the U.N. , is to be
> >able to blame natural disasters on global warming so that it also can
> >eventually seek compensation for its losses from U.S. businesses and
> >taxpayers.
> >
> >
> >
> >Insurers, apparently, are more than happy to accept premiums for writing
> >risky policies, but not too happy when Mother Nature and policyholders
force
> >them to make good on claims.
> >
> >
> >
> >http://globalwarming.org/article.php?uid=892
> >
> >
>
>
> Article not worth the mouse-wear & electricty - $.02
>
> Combo write n post that lamely ties a lack of understanding about Risk
> and Impact Reduction to Saint George Bus - $.01
>
> James doing more harm than help to naturalists by posting this as a
> discredit GW activists - Priceless
>
Owl response $ 0.0
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| | From: | Coby Beck | | Subject: | Re: No 'natural' disasters? | | Date: | Sun, 23 Jan 2005 03:59:30 GMT |
|
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| "James" wrote in message
news:bixId.1056$w7.759@fe61.usenetserver.com...
> The United Nations is trying to blame natural disasters on, of all things,
> people. President Bush, however, is standing in its way.
Interestingly enough, not one word of this article supports this
introductory assertion!
> The U.N. is holding its second-ever "World Conference on Disaster
> Reduction"
> this week in Kobe, Japan. Scheduled for the 10th anniversary of the deadly
> January 1995 earthquake in Kobe and following in the wake of the Indian
> Ocean tsunami, you might think that the conference's focus would be
> "natural
> disasters."
Well, personally I think it makes sense to expand the scope from merely
natural disasters, to natural and human induced disasters. And aside from
dissapointed "expectations", what is the problem with this?
> Natural disasters, as far as the U.N. is concerned anyway, apparently are
> no
> longer "natural."
This does not follow at all. It is just misrepresentation of the UN.
> And the particular people that the U.N. would most like to pin the blame
> for
> global warming on would be deep-pocket Americans, American businesses and
> the American government. As the global warming alarmist community likes to
> point out, the U.S. is the largest single contributor to the alleged
> global
> warming, emitting 25 percent of all greenhouse gases while possessing only
> 4
> percent of the world's population.
What is "alleged" about it? Surely even Fox News admits there is a warming,
anthropogenic or no.
> Given the media's new habit of linking virtually any extreme or unusual
> weather with global warming, some scientists now even feel compelled to go
> out of their way to reaffirm that global warming isn't causing natural
> disasters, as in the case of the string of hurricanes that hit south
> Florida
> last summer.
I think this is another example of the "liberal media" myth. Though this
was the fashion several years ago, i think that since the science has become
more solid and (more importantly) political action has been put on the
table, there has been a marked reduction in the mentions of GW along with
weather related news.
This is anecdotal, but I just recently saw MSNBC (I think?) interviewing a
climate expert, I think from NASA. The line of questioning was primarily
asking if the tsunami was related to all the extreme weather at this
particular time, is the earth in trouble and stuff like that. The
conversation was only about how earthquakes have nothing to do with climate.
And then when turning to the mudslides due to extreme rainfall in
California, a normal palce to ask if that is a sign of climate changes, the
interviewer only asked if the tsunami had anything to do with it...It was
striking in its vapidity.
> The U.N. dramatizes the need for its "action plan" by claiming that:
> economic damages resulting from "disasters" have increased from about
> 1,500
> disasters costing $200 billion during the 1970s to 6,000 disasters costing
> $700 billion during the 1990s; and the number of people "threatened" by
> "disasters" has increased from about 750 million people in the 1970s to
> about 2.5 billion people in the 1990s.
>
> I don't know how accurate those estimates may be, but to the extent that
> natural disasters do wreak more economic havoc and threaten more people
> now
> than 30 years ago, that is most likely due to all the upscale development
> that has spread during that time to coastal regions and other areas more
> vulnerable to the whims of Mother Nature.
Now this is a rather amusing. Some interesting statistics are presented and
this twit freely admits he has not even bothered to check them out and
instead presents a completely speculative spin on "what it probably means"
> this assertion is unfounded since there is no
> scientific evidence
Watch for this nice attack which will be unleashed with a vengence as the
budget cuts to climate monitoring become deeper and deeper.
> global warming - which involves a hypothesized
> few-degree rise in global temperatures over the course of a century - has
> anything to do with summer heatwaves - which involve sudden dramatic,
> short-term shifts in local temperature.
> Weather, after all, is not climate.
The logical fallacy here being: A is not B therefore A is not affected by B.
> The end-game of the insurance industry, like that of the U.N. , is to be
> able to blame natural disasters on global warming so that it also can
> eventually seek compensation for its losses from U.S. businesses and
> taxpayers.
The battle of the Titans! The Insurance Industry struggles against the Oil
Industry. Too bad we will all be trampled...
--
Coby Beck
(remove #\Space "coby 101 @ big pond . com")
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