The coming winter: Dropping temperatures and economic freeze
Throughout history, humans have cautioned each other to prepare for winter, both literally and figuratively. Harsh climates can be very dangerous, and hard times fall on us all. Globally, that warning can again be given literally as temperatures are dropping – winter is coming!
The latest temperature records indicate a massive drop in the global temperature levels during the past two months, helped by the receding El Niño and the fast-approaching La Niña. In fact, the 2-month drop of 0.37Ëš C (0.67Ëš F) in global average temperature May-June was the second largest in 37 years of recorded history.
If the approaching La Niña is strong, it will drive the temperature further downward.
And this recent drop in global temperature levels only reiterates the importance of relying on accurate satellite-based temperature measurements for our assessment of climate change.
These current real-world temperature levels are already lower than the faulty computer model temperature projections used by the IPCC to guide global energy and developmental policies.
The computer models were proven to be inaccurate when they failed to reflect the absence of warming during the past 18 years. Most media largely ignored that, and they and other climate alarmists, becoming more and more desperate, will also likely keep this recent drop in temperature under the radar.
The climate alarmists have been in denial mode regarding the models’ failure. Instead of admitting the truth, they propagate hysteria among the masses, including the emotional myth of melting ice triggering a housing crisis for polar bears in the Arctic.
It is disturbing that the Paris agreement on climate change was based on faulty models that remain far detached from real-world temperature changes. Alarmists use these models to put the brakes on development plans for poor countries, whose energy security is hugely dependent on conventional and abundant energy sources, like coal. The economically powerful West is coercing developing nations to make the unaffordable transition from fossil to renewable energy.
Among the minnows in Paris were countries like India that were prepared for battle. India had financial demands for making the undesirable transition from high-energy/low-cost fossil fuels to low-energy/high-cost renewables. In its elaborate Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) submitted at the Paris climate conference, India demanded at least $2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices) between now and 2030. It insists that it cannot achieve its climate change mitigation targets without developed nations providing the money. But the developed nations have committed only $100 billion per year to be shared among all developing nations. Obviously, the fund won’t meet India’s demand.
This financial ambiguity has now been further complicated by Britain’s leaving the European Union. It is not just the British economy that is feeling the pressure. The powerhouses of the European empire are already planning to modify their commitments on reducing carbon dioxide emission levels, and some are beginning to favor coal over renewables. The United States has also been in deep trouble over its climate policy and commitments made in Paris.
The rulers in Brussels and other European capitals are starting to see the handwriting on the wall. Their people will suffer more and more if they continue these ridiculous, high-cost energy policies that do nothing for the environment.
The U.S. is following in Europe’s footsteps as fast as the Obama administration can push it there, and Americans will feel the pinch. For now, those who dictate global energy and economic policies still listen to the siren call of global warming alarmism, but they must begin abandoning decisions based on unrealistic and highly misleading computer climate models.
Because, after all, winter is coming.
Vijay Jayaraj (M.S., Environmental Science, University of East Anglia, England), research associate for developing countries for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, lives in Udumalpet, India.