Go sell off your Western Civ books, while there’s still a niche market:
People affected by worsening storms, heatwaves and floods could soon be able to sue the oil and power companies they blame for global warming, a leading climate expert has said.
Myles Allen, a physicist at Oxford University, said a breakthrough that allows scientists to judge the role man-made climate change played in extreme weather events could see a rush to the courts over the next decade.
He said: “We are starting to get to the point that when an adverse weather event occurs we can quantify how much more likely it was made by human activity. And people adversely affected by climate change today are in a position to document and quantify their losses. This is going to be hugely important.”
Allen’s team has used the new technique to work out whether global warming worsened the UK floods in autumn 2000, which inundated 10,000 properties, disrupted power supplies and led to train services being cancelled, motorways closed and 11,000 people evacuated from their homes – at a total cost of £1bn.
He would not comment on the results before publication, but said people affected by floods could “potentially” use a positive finding to begin legal action.
The technique involves running two computer models to simulate the conditions that led to extreme weather events. One model includes human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases, the second assumes the industrial revolution never happened and that carbon levels in the atmosphere have not increased over the last century. Comparing the results pins down the impact of man-made global warming. “As the science has evolved this is now possible, it’s just a question of computing power,” he said.
Allen and his colleagues previously demonstrated that man-made warming at least doubled the risk of heatwaves such as the 2003 event that killed 27,000 people across Europe. No legal action resulted, but Allen said that was partly because most of the deaths were in France, where the legal system makes such cases difficult.
At least this means Obama won’t have to tax the “windfall profits” they won’t be making as the global market for oil continues to soften.
Apparently unrelated:
2008 will be coolest year of the decade
Global average for 2008 should come in close to 14.3C, but cooler temperature is not evidence that global warming is slowing, say climate scientists
Aren’t trains, motorways, and houses part of the industrial revolution, i.e., contributors to global warming? We are the global warmers we have been waiting for!
Everyone will be a lot happier when there are no power plants, Mossberg.
Without power plants, they’ll be glad the globe is warming, especially in England!
IOW, the only thing wrong with Fallen Angels as prophecy is that there won’t be any astronauts.
Regards,
Ric
Why don’t these global warmalists just come right out and say what they mean? The implication is that man-made GW is hurting Mother Earth and harming humankind; well, if that’s true then look no farther than the numbers.
And put in a call for Malthus’ ghost.
It should be interesting watching them run their computer models without any electricity.
worsened the UK floods in autumn 2000, which inundated 10,000 properties
I think the heirs of the residents of the former borough of Dunwich should sue GM. Damn those SUVs!
For global warming public relations to really take off, millions and millions of people must be killed by it. So what we really need is a flash-population explosion so that there is a person per every square yard. Then bring on the AGW, because it’ll kill so many more, thereby making it more alarming and in turn more serious. And then maybe we’ll all try to lend a hand in getting this earth-killing population under control.
Speaking of, weren’t we supposed to be approaching the Soylent Green stage about now?
Isn’t it about time Bangladesh had an AGW induced disaster? Wow, I almost wrote natural disaster, but I guess those aren’t possible anymore after the industrial revolution.
I can’t wait for the benefit concert.
Hey, a little cilantro, thai chili peppers, etc., it may be a gourmet meal. Thank God for the food channel!
weren’t we supposed to be approaching the Soylent Green stage about now?
Ooh that reminds me. I need to pick up some guacamole.
That Giada DeLaurentis sure looks tasty.
I’m more of a Rachel Ray man, Pablo. She’s a lot more meaty and succulent.
I’d pull pork for either of them.
“We are starting to get to the point that when an adverse weather event occurs we can quantify how much more likely it was made by human activity.”
100% pure Bovine excrement. Can you say “closely coupled chaotic system?”
“We are starting to get to the point that when an adverse weather event occurs we can quantify how much more likely it was made by human activity.
Naw, the smart money’s still on all those butterflies which are supposed to cause tornados and such by fluttering their widdle wings.
Of course, we’re also going to have to indict the banks that loaned those companies the money to make payroll and such. They’re complicit, too.
17 J. Peden: Is it just me or does “Climate Change Science” sound more and more like Haitian Voodoo every day?
Collectibles, c2030:
“Where’s the Beef” bumper stickers.
VHS copies of episodes of Roseanne.
Global warmingia (books, bumper stickers, press releases, etc.)
Key-chain ornaments that say “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” when pressed.
This was bound to happen. The fight against global warming was never going to get off the ground until they found some way to get the lawyers on board.
Is it just me or does “Climate Change Science†sound more and more like Haitian Voodoo every day?
Or “Creation Science”.
Can they develop a computer model that shows how much most people’s lives sucked before the Industrial Revolution? I’m sure that would come in handy in court cases. The defendants would have a choice: a) accept that fact that your property was damaged by a weather event that the government has spent 1 billion pounds rectifying, or b)operate on the presumption that you’ve already died of a headcold at age 30 and that your widow and children are living in abject squalor after being evicted from the farm you never even dreamt of actually owning.
Why blame the Industrial Revolution? Start measuring from when mankind started using fire, and sue every selfish greedy bastard who ever lit a match. Not many deep pockets, but there sure are a lot of ’em.