Manipulation of public perceptions
|
Not by Fire but by Ice THE NEXT ICE AGE - NOW! |
|
|
Discover
What Killed the Dinosaurs . . . and Why it Could Soon Kill Us |
|
| BACK TO HOME PAGE | |
|
.. . Manipulation of public perceptions By Dr. Tim Ball While the media raised alarms over Arctic ice melt, they did not report that Antarctic winter sea ice extent was the greatest on record. _____________________________ |
|
|
. 4 Dec 07 - Most people know very little about the natural world and how it works. This lack of knowledge is easily exploited and coupled with fear makes it an even more powerful manipulative tool. Arctic ice conditions are a perfect example. In 2005 we heard that an area of Arctic ice the size Texas melted more than in 2004. Horrors! Catastrophe! The polar bears will be dead very soon. But what is the reality? Well this melt is well within natural variability and a very small portion of the total annual melt. Every single summer approximately 10 million square kilometers of ice melts in about 3 months. This is an area equal to the United States. Texas is approximately 681,089 square kilometers or 6.8% of the total land area. Suddenly it is not so dramatic. The same scare technique was used in the 1970s. We were told, "The ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere increased by 12 percent in 1971 - an increase equal to the combined are of England, Italy, and France. This added ice has remained." While the media raised alarms over Arctic ice melt, they did not report that Antarctic winter sea ice extent was the greatest on record. Of course, all this ice is in the water, so when it melts sea level
doesn’t change. So the ice is not disappearing. Annual melt and
refreeze is large, and current situations are well within normal
numbers.
|
| |