Patrick Lockerby: October Arctic Ice Update

Patrick provides extensive analysis and nice graphics to keep us informed of Arctic Ice movements.

Dancing at the End of Time

"If you're standing on thin ice you may as well dance."

Steven Cummings, Australian Singer

You have to wonder about the unbounded optimism of our political leaders. At present there is yet another big meeting, this time in Japan, to try and find strategies to prevent the further transformation of the environment. Dreamers, silly little dreamers. Too late, that boat has sailed and was last seen wallowing in the horse latitudes.

Eco transformation is happening now. Even by Greenie logic it must be conceded that we have introduced so much novelty into the "web of life" that we must have irretrievably perturbed the "balance of nature" and so have inexorably set in train processes which will entail a eco-transformation that we will neither be able to predict or control.

Open Systems and Rapid Change - Climate on the edge

This article highlights a major problem with all modelling of climate data. When confronted with an open system like the climate there is an inherent unpredictability that is non-computable. That is, we can never fully anticipate the effects of human behavior upon the climate. We can make reasonable assumptions about what to expect but we never with the certainty we desire. This is becoming all the more important because the failure of Copenhagen to produce binding commitments means that most nations will continue to emit Greenhouse Gases at rates which are guaranteed to further perturb climate dynamics in ways which we can never fully anticipate.