For some time now, in fact for several decades now, we've known that panic-mongering was a stock in trade of the climate change shouters. The specifics vary, from a new ice age threatening to freeze Boston, New York, and possibly Miami, to the planet's atmosphere actually catching fire and incinerating all life. Global cooling, global warming, and when they can't decide on which, it morphs into "climate change." And, yes, I'll insert my standard scientific disclaimer: Yes, the Earth's climate changes; it always has and it always will, and through the vast majority of the planet's 4.6 billion-year history, it's been warmer than it is now - sometimes a lot warmer.
Back to the climate panic-mongers. One of their more common claims is that small island nations are, due to rising ocean levels (a moving target) are about to descend into Davey Jones' locker. There's just one problem with their claims, and my British friend would describe them thusly: They're bollocks.
Climate Realism's H. Sterling Burnett has details - and numbers.
The Independent posted an article claiming multiple small island nations are sinking into the sea, threatening the cease existing as nations, leaving their populations adrift. Data shows this is simply false. Amid modest sea level rise, the island nations that The Independent discusses have increased in size, population, and prosperity amid modest climate change. No real data shows that the oceans are about to swamp these countries.
“Small island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Maldives and Marshall Islands are particularly vulnerable to climate change,” claims The Independent in its story, “These countries are sinking into the sea. What happens when they disappear forever?” “Rising seas, stronger storms, freshwater shortages and damaged infrastructure all threaten their ability to support life.
There's just one problem: It just ain't so. Part of the issue is that, as my friend and colleague Bob Hoge recently informed us, the sea-level rises aren't anywhere near where the climate scolds claim they are.
Read More: Wait, What? Climate Scientist Says Sea Level Rising at Nowhere Near the Level They Claim
The other problem is that these islands aren't subsiding. In fact, some of them are growing. There's this thing called accretion, where ocean-borne sands are deposited on beaches. That's not the case everywhere; if you've ever been to the lovely Hawaiian beaches at Waikiki and made your way through the sleeping vagrants to the warm blue Pacific, you're walking on sand imported for that beach. But in places like the Maldives, more favorable currents are depositing sand, and the islands are growing.
Climate at a Glance: Islands and Sea Level Rise cites multiple peer-reviewed reports debunking previous claims that islands such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Maldives, and the Marshall Islands are losing surface area. In fact, due to a growth in height, accretion along their coasts as they add sand, or both, each of these nations have expanded. For example, one recent peer-reviewed study found eight of Tuvalu’s nine large coral atolls have grown in size during recent decades, and 75 percent of the island nation’s 101 smaller reef islands have increased as well.
These are islands that were supposed to be underwater by now, if you had listened to the scolds' claims from 30 or 40 year ago. But they aren't.
Concerning the Maldives, whereas 30 years ago, the Canberra Times claimed all 1196 islands that comprise the Maldives could be completely underwater by now. Not only are all 1196 islands still there, but the Maldives population has doubled during the past 20 years. People are flocking to the Maldives islands, not fleeing them. The Maldives are absorbing political refugees, not spawning climate refugees.
The Maldives alone have seen a dramatic rise in population, although it has leveled off over the last couple of years. 40 years ago, when the climate change crowd first started yapping about rising oceans, the Maldives had a population of 190,169. 30 years ago, when the "Canberra Times" piece was published, the number was 256,649. Today? The most recent number available is 529,676.
Read More: Claims of Climate Scolds Aside, Petroleum Makes Everyone's Lives Better
A look at the numbers speaks volumes. The climate scolds, when it comes to places like the Maldives, are attempting a monumental blowing of smoke into a certain orifice of the reading public.
But this is the biggest indicator:
In the face of growing populations and tourism, each of the island nations purported by The Independent to be threatened with climate change induced erasure and dissolution have expanded infrastructure and seen long-term, large-scale investments on their islands in recent years. They have new hotels, water development, tourism centers, and public buildings and roads.
At a 2019 climate conference in Bonn, Germany, for example, Kiribati’s President, Anote Tong, said, “Climate change is indeed a serious problem, but we don’t believe that Kiribati will sink like the Titanic ship.” In the same video feed, Tong noted that foreign investors were in the process of developing “5-star eco-friendly resorts that would promote world-class diving, fishing and surfing experiences” on currently uninhabited islands.
As the old saying goes, follow the money. These foreign investors aren't investing billions in these places without due diligence, and part of that due diligence has to be a scrupulous analysis as to whether or not their new investments are going to be turned into weird-looking artificial reefs in the next few decades. But, as we have seen, time and again, the numbers put out by the climate scolds just simply do not add up. That only makes sense when you remember one thing: Their motivation. It's not about the Earth. It's not about the climate. It's not about the environment that most of the scolds don't live in or even visit. It's not about people in faraway tropical islands. It's about control, and it's about eliminating capitalism - eliminating liberty.
Remember that, and it all makes sense.
That's why the scolds are so often reluctant to show their original data when they make their claims. A hard look, an analytical, dispassionate look at the facts and figures proves them wrong, every time.
Yes, the Earth's climate is changing. It's been warming slightly, with dips and spikes, since the end of the Wisconsinan glaciation. Yes, human activities have some influence on that change. But the facts are plain: We don't understand the global climate anywhere near as well as we would have to to make panicky predictions, and when set against the scale of the planet, our activities aren't making enough difference to justify eliminating our modern technological lifestyles - let alone surrendering our liberty.
As I am fond of pointing out, these are facts.
