Warmists Take the Hardest Hits

Why can’t the global-warming catastrophe industry convince the public that the scare underwriting its meal ticket is real? Even the CSIRO’s  annual survey last year  showed that 53% of Australians reject the official story. And even on the CSIRO’s figures, Aussies rank climate fourteenth out of sixteen concerns overall, and we rate it only seventh out of eight even among environmental concerns. In Britain, more of the same, with a new survey showing those who describe themselves “very concerned” about climate change falling to 18%, down from 44% in 2005.

Partly to blame is that dratted 18-year halt to global warming, even as man-made CO2 continues to pour into the skies. But my theory is that the global warming industry has made itself so ridiculous over the past 30 years, so hyperventilatingly ludicrous, by predicting ever-more-dire catastrophes by the year 20XX.  But then year 20XX   comes and goes and life continues as normal.

Take the The Guardian ‘s corker of a scoop in 2004, when it obtained a secret and suppressed Pentagon report on ‘climate wars’ intended for an unimpressed President George W Bush. As The Guardian breathlessly reported,

“…major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020 [editor: because the Gulf Stream will have stopped flowing]. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

‘Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,’ concludes the Pentagon analysis. ‘Once again, warfare would define human life…’

An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is ‘plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately’, they conclude. As early as next year [2005] widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.”

The report went on to predict “catastrophic” energy shortages by 2020 (current oil price: about US$45 per barrel). The authors in 2004 thought it was possibly too late even then to prevent such disasters.  “It could start tomorrow and we would not know for another five years [2009],’ they said.

Some sane bloggers, e.g. Anthony Watts of WUWT, have always enjoyed compiling amusing lists of dud warming-catastrophe predictions. But a new blog entrant is specialising in the genre and, by sorting and classifying, turns the scare-a-minute soothsaying into spectacular entertainment.

One sub-genre on the site specialises in which particular countries or places have variously been spruiked as most likely to suffer most when Gaia cranks up the thermostat and takes her revenge. Australia, of course, will be hardest hit by climate change.  If you live in Perth, well, Perth will be hardest hit by climate change, perhaps becoming a ghost metropolis, as climate comedian Tim Flannery puts it.

But Australia is not alone. Pick a country, any country, say Malta or Bulgaria, and you’ll be sure someone has claimed the ‘settled science’ is in no doubt that, yes, Malta or Bulgaria will be hardest hit by climate change. Alternatively, if your country is thought to have a chance of surviving climate change, it will become a lifeboat state flooded by teeming millions of climate refugees. For example, see here and here.

So keep a straight face as you read below, courtesy of climatechangepredictions.org

Mr Dunlop, who’s now with the Association for the study of Peak Oil and Gas, says Australia will be one of the hardest hit by a rise in global temperatures.”We’re one of the driest continents on the earth and the effects on Australia will be more severe than elsewhere.” — ABC News, May 2013

Australia’s top intelligence agency believes south-east Asia will be the region worst affected by climate change by 2030, with decreased water flows from the Himalayan glaciers triggering a ‘cascade of economic, social and political consequences’. The dire outlook was provided by the deputy director of the Office of National Assessments, Heather Smith, in a confidential discussion on the national security implications of climate change with US embassy officials. — Sydney Morning Herald, Dec 2010

The effects of climate change will impact more severely on the economy of Papua New Guinea than on any other in the Pacific, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank. — ABC News, Nov 2013

Research reports that Bangladesh is one of the hardest hit nations by the impacts of climate change. — UK climate4classrooms.org website

There seems to be consensus in the developed world that Africa will be the hardest hit or most affected region, due to anthropogenic climate change. — YouLead Collective, a young generation of climate leaders, Nov 2014

Vietnam is likely to be among the countries hardest hit by climate change, mainly through rising sea levels and changes in rainfall and temperatures. — International Food Policy Research Institute, 2010

Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim stated today that “The Small Island Developing States are among the hardest hit by climate change.”  — as reported by the Norwegian media, Nov 2011

Maldives’ economy hardest hit by climate change: Asian Development Bank. The Maldives is the most at-risk country in South Asia from climate change impacts, said the report titled ‘Assessing the costs of climate change and adaptation in South Asia.’ — Minivan News, Aug 2014


According to the latest data modelling, climate change is likely to have the strongest impact on Scandinavian countries such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden — planetearthherald.com

Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece are the countries that would be worst affected by global warming, according to a European Union report. The EC Joint Research Commission (JRC) report, released on Wednesday, takes into account four significantly sensitive factors: agriculture, river flooding, coastal systems and tourism. — Sofia News Agency, Nov 2009

The economies of southern Europe and the Mediterranean, including Malta, are forecast to suffer the most adverse effects of climate change, according to a new report drawn up by the European Environment Agency. — Primo-europe.eu, July 2010

Climate change is faster and more severe in the Arctic than in most of the rest of the world. The Arctic is warming at a rate of almost twice the global average — panda.org

China’s Poor Farmers Hit Hardest by Climate Change. Declan Conway, a University of East Anglia researcher who has studied climate change’s affect on China’s farmers, told Reuters that people in remote communities in China’s poorer regions are particularly exposed to climate hazards. — Circle Of Blue, Dec 2012

Report: Middle East, African Countries to Be Hardest Hit by Climate Change — CommonDrams.org, Dec 2012

Googling “hardest hit by climate change” is endless fun. For example, cuddly koalas, those really-cute Clownfish and pretty staghorn corals are all going to be “hardest hit by climate change”. For some reason, redback spiders, warthogs and piranhas never make the cut as top climate-threatened species.

But that’s an article for another day.

Tony Thomas blogs at tthomas061.wordpress.com