Malthusians at work in Australia
The Victoria, AU Herald Sun has
a nice writeup on ten climate predictions that have failed grandly:
Top 10 dud predictions
Global warming preachers have had a shocking 2008. So many of their predictions this year went splat.
Here's their problem: they've been scaring us for so long that it's now possible to check if things are turning out as hot as they warned.
And good news! I bring you Christmas cheer - the top 10 warming predictions to hit the wall this year.
Read, so you can end 2008 with optimism, knowing this Christmas won't be the last for you, the planet or even the polar bears.
1. OUR CITIES WILL DIE OF THIRST
Tim Flannery, an expert in bones, has made a fortune from books and lectures warning that we face global warming doom. He scared us so well that we last year made him Australian of the Year.
In March, Flannery said: "The water problem is so severe for Adelaide that it may run out of water by early 2009."
In fact, Adelaide's reservoirs are now 75 per cent full, just weeks from 2009.
In June last year, Flannery warned Brisbane's "water supplies are so low they need desalinated water urgently, possibly in as little as 18 months".
In fact, 18 months later, its dams are 46 per cent full after Brisbane's wettest spring in 27 years.
In 2005, Flannery predicted Sydney's dams could be dry in just two years.
In fact, three years later its dams are 63 per cent full, not least because June last year was its wettest since 1951.
In 2004, Flannery said global warming would cause such droughts that "there is a fair chance Perth will be the 21st century's first ghost metropolis".
In fact, Perth now has the lowest water restrictions of any state capital, thanks to its desalination plant and dams that are 40 per cent full after the city's wettest November in 17 years.
And nine more, just as good. I have written before about Malthusians. (
here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here and
here).
They make for great and catchy headlines: "OMFG We're all gonna die!!!" but when you sit down and wait for these things to transpire, the never do. Mankind is resourceful and new technologies are always evolving, new resources are being found and the result is that the doom and gloom Cassandras are never, ever right in their predictions.
Unfortunately, that doesn't stop them and in the computer age, they say that their model was off but it's been tweaked and, yep, disaster is looming.
Posted by DaveH at December 19, 2008 3:37 PM