Dear Editor,

I am commenting on the article titled, "Experts meet in The Bahamas for Climate Change Conference", of September 22, 2011. I should tell you that, as explained on our Web site at http://tinyurl.com/3fokcep, “Since its formation in 2007, ICSC has been funded and supported exclusively by private individuals in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States and Canada. We have never received financial support from corporations, foundations or government.”

Minister of Education, the Hon. Desmond Bannister, needs to understand that, if the world warms due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures at high latitudes are forecast to rise most, reducing the difference between arctic and tropical temperatures. Since this differential drives weather, we should see weaker mid latitude cyclones in a warmer world and so less weather extremes, not more.

It is not accurate to blame human activities for current weather extremes either. The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change report (NIPCC – see www.nipccreport.com) released on August 29, concluded “…the data reveal there have not been any significant warming-induced increases in extreme weather events.” The NIPCC showed that this was the case whether the event being studied was precipitation, floods, drought, storms, hurricanes, fire or other weather-related events.

Besides increasing extreme weather events that people always notice, it is also important notice decreasing trends. For example, we are now near a 30 year low in worldwide accumulated cyclone energy”* (“hurricanes” in the North Atlantic), something that was not supposed to be happening if the forecasts of climate models were correct.

Instead of futilely trying to stop extreme weather events from happening, we need to make serious preparations for whatever natures throws at us next.

Sincerely,

Tom Harris, B. Eng., M. Eng. (Mech – thermo-fluids)
Executive Director
International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC)
P.O. Box 23013
Ottawa, Ontario K2A 4E2
Canada