Global Warming Science - www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarming
Kiribati
[last update: 2011/02/17]
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NPR - Two Faiths Collide
[http://www.npr.org/2011/02/16/133650679/climate-change-and-faith-collide-in-kiribati]
Map from the NPR article:
From the article: “So concerns about climate change are felt very acutely here. Though estimates are rough, scientists predict average sea levels could rise as much as 3 feet by the end of the century owing to global warming.”
Note that “climate change” is not what’s being felt, it is “concerns”.
Sea levels could rise as much as 3 feet by the end of the century. No realistic range is given (or indication of how “rough” the estimates are, just an extreme. “Kiribatian President Anote Tong said the rising sea could "ultimately lead to the demise of island countries like Kiribati." According to Tong, it could happen within 50 years.”
The Australian government operates a sea level station in Kiribati. The following figure shows the last available report (through mid-2009) showing sea level anomalies for 1993 through June 2009. [http://www-cluster.bom.gov.au/ntc/IDO60102/IDO60102.2009_1.pdf] Each grid line is 0.1 m on the vertical scale with the zero being the line above which positive anomalies are colored red and negative anomalies, blue.
Note that the 1998 El Nino caused a sea level drop of almost 25 cm (10 inches).
Of course, the above is only 17 years of data (the only data available). But NPR claims 3 feet by 2100. That would require a rise as indicated below.
NPR didn’t mention that the islands of Kiribati have actually been increasing in size – they instead refer to it as “A Sinking Nation”.
But the UK’s Telegraph reported:
“Scientists have been surprised by the findings, which show that some islands have grown by almost one-third over the past 60 years. Among the island chains to have increased in land area are Tuvalu and neighbouring Kiribati … In Kiribati, the three of the most densely populated islands, Betio, Bairiki and Nanikai, also grew by between 12.5 and 30 per cent. … "Eighty per cent of the islands we've looked at have either remained about the same or, in fact, got larger.” "We've now got evidence the physical foundations of these islands will still be there in 100 years," he told New Scientist magazine. “It has long been thought that as the sea level goes up, islands will sit there and drown. But they won't," Professor Kench said.”
NPR has links to several other articles on Kiribati – none of which mention the studies showing that coral atolls actually grow as the sea rises, but all of them repeat the global warming mantra.
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Collision of Faiths
NPR: “"Saying we're going to be under the water, that I don't believe," Tito [former Kiribati President] says."Because people belong to God, and God is not so silly to allow people to perish just like that." Tito is not alone in his views. Of the more than 90,000 people counted in Kiribati's last census, a mere 23 said they did not belong to a church. … As a result, many are torn between what they hear from scientists and what they read in the Bible.”
NPR considers belief in the Bible incompatible with accepting global warming alarmism. But NPR’s belief in the imminent demise of these islands while ignoring the actual science smacks of that competing religion – environmentalism.
NPR is reminiscent of Tiny Tim as he sings “The ice caps are melting …the tide is rushing in … all the world is drowning to wash away the sin” (forerunner of the green religion).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DEoOdcYKbc
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