Up to our necks in it

Raiding the Mikko files for a reflection on climate alarmism which might be funny if it wasn't true..
 AL GORE told us sea levels could rise seven metres “in the near future”, then an ex-environment minister Peter Garrett gave us the good oil, it could be six metres.

So I suppose we should be grateful more recent reports have pegged the rise at 1.1 metres over the next 90 years.

Great, if one of them is part right, instead of walking the dogs a few hundred metres to the beach, we should be able to dive into the surf off the front deck of our home. But the news is not good if you happen to own one of the million dollar-plus properties just behind the dunes.

According to the images regularly flooding our TV, learning to dog paddle would be a good idea if you can’t already swim. Take this:

“The Federal Government’s new Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts (CCRAC) Report says up to 250,000 Australian homes are at risk of inundation by the turn of the century. The findings are based on a sea level rise of up to 1.1 metres by 2100, and more extreme weather events. As a result, more than $60 billion worth of residential property faces flooding. In addition 120 ports, 1,800 bridges, power stations, water treatment plants and airports close to the coastline are also under threat. ..” Did I mention this CCRAC (love that acronym) estimate was more a “guesstimate” worst-case scenario based on computer modeling; obviously not the same as  the play stations Peter Garett and Al Gore  relied on. But it was  used to try to push the “urgent need” to adopt an ETS  in the lead-up to the abortive Copenhagen climate change conference almost three years. Did they really expect us to believe we would either be treading water or fried to a crisp if we at least waited to see what moves were made by the big hitters in the climate debate?

Turned out a frozen fizzer in any case but now history and a hung parliament have given us the carbon tax we were promised we would never have under Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Even the most ardent supporters have to admit  our forced cost of living rises won’t  lower world temperatures in any measurable way.

Far from the “science being settled,”  thousands of prominent international scientists  have signed a petition denying our CO2 emissions are driving climate change. The ranks of “sceptics” are growing as many Australians see it as a scam, including  some  SMS textsters: “Combet thinks Curtis Island is going to be under water soon Hmm… wet LNG… scared of this,” and, “Credible evidence that CO2 causes global warming is like finding WMD’s in Afganistan!”

But heed this warning,  all you damned sceptics: “… As all the ice at the two poles melt, a stupendous volume of water will be released. Fish will swim in Buckingham Palace … the Sahara Desert will be a great inland sea … New York will be marked by taller skyscrapers … the climate will be as when dinosaurs roamed the earth…”

Yeah, right. It’s not from The Day After Tomorrow or another Nobel Prize winning Al Gore science fiction epic.  This alarmist piece published in the respected New York Times is dated - May 15, 1932.

Better book those swimming lessons but keep the toes out of Gladstone Harbour.