"To all intents and purposes the Arctic will be ice free in a decade. I do find the implications of this happening in my lifetime quite shocking."Okay, so according to Pen Hadow, and giving him a few months leeway, the whole place will be fucked by the New Year 2020. Goodoh, not because I want it fucked but because I like greenies to make nice hard predictions that we can hold them to later on. So let's see where Hadow's prediction fits in with others like it:
- "Imminently" - loss of world's coral reefs - David Attenborough ('world’s tropical reefs face ‘imminent destruction’ unless CO2 levels are slashed')
- Late 2013 - ice free Arctic - Al Gore (North Pole will be ice free in five years')
- Dec 2016 - the whole world and everything all fucked up beyond repair - the Prince of Wails and the 100 months* mob
- Late 2019 - ice free Arctic - Pen Hadow (see above)
- Late 2029 - loss of Great Barrier Reef - marine scientist Charlie Veron ('global warming will destroy the World Heritage site within just 20 years')
So there you have it - according to the consensus, which my dictionary says means a general agreement, the science ('settled' remember') predicts disaster in 4 years/20 years/7 years/kinda now-ish/10 years. And I have friends, relations and colleagues still asking why I don't take it seriously. How the fuck am I supposed to take it seriously? Not only has the so-called consensus on this settled science failed to predict the period of cooling over the last decade or so, or adequately explain why it happened or agree on how long it will last, but some of the consensus can't agree.....
* It's occurred to me for the first time that it may be a typo and these guys actually think that the world will be saved by 100 moths. Presumably they're giant supermoths who will flutter around the sun and block some of the energy reaching our poor scorched planet. Or something. I'm not sure it's much crazier to be honest.
UPDATE: Watts Up With That has ten reasons not to trust the data produced by the Caitlin Ice Survey led by Pen Hadow.