Greenhouse Effect Disproved in 1909

I was re-reading the essay by Dr Gerhard Gerlich and Ralf D. Tscheuschner and found this account of an experiment R.W. Wood conducted in 1909 that disproved the claim about greenhouses being hotter because they trapped radiation.

There appears to be a widespread belief that the comparatively high temperature produced within a closed space covered with glass, exposed to solar radiation, results from a transformation of wave-length, that is, that the heat waves from the Sun, which are able to penetrate the glass, fall upon the walls of the enclosure and raise its temperature: the heat energy is re-emitted by the walls in the form of much longer waves, which are unable to penetrate the glass, the greenhouse acting as a radiation trap.

I have always felt some doubt as to whether this action played any very large part in the elevation of temperature. It appeared much more probable that the part played by the glass was the prevention of the escape of the warm air heated by the ground within the enclosure. If we open the doors of a greenhouse on a cold windy day, the trapping of radiation appears to lose much of its efficacy.

As a matter of fact I am of the opinon that a greenhouse made of a glass transparent to waves of every possible length would show a temperature nearly, if not quite, as high as that observed in a glass house. The transparent screen allows the solar radiation to warm the ground, and the ground in turn warms the air, but only the limited amount within the enclosure. In the "open", the ground is continually brought into contact with cold air by convection currents.

To test the matter I constructed two enclosures of dead black cardboard, one covered with a glass plate, the other with a plate of rock-salt of equal thickness. The bulb of a thermometer was inserted in each enclosure and the whole packed in cotton, with the exception of the transparent plates which were exposed. When exposed to sunlight the temperature rose gradually to 65 C, the enclosure covered with the salt plate keeping a little ahead of the other, owing to the fact that transmitted the longer waves from the Sun, which were stopped by the glass.

In order to eliminate this action the sunlight was first passed through a glass plate. There was now scarcely a difference of one degree between the temperatures of the two enclosures. The maximum temperature reached was about 55 C. From what we know about the distribution of energy in the spectrum of the radiation emitted by a body at 55 C, it is clear that the rock-salt plate is capable of transmitting practically all of it,while the glass plate stops it entirely. This shows us that the loss of temperature of the ground by radiation is very small in comparison to the loss by convection, in other words that we gain very little from the circumstance that the radiation is trapped.

Is it therefore necessary to pay attention to trapped radiation in deducing the temperature of a planet as affected by its atmosphere? The solar rays penetrate the atmosphere. warm the ground which in turn warms the atmosphere by contact and by convection currents. The heat received is thus stored up in the atmosphere, remaining there on account of the very low radiating power of a gas. It seems to me very doubtful if the atmosphere is warmed to any great extent by absorbing the radiation from the ground even under the most favorable conditions.

Originally published in the Philosophical magazine , 1909, vol 17, p319-320.

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UN CLIMATE CONFERENCES AND MANIC DEPRESSION: CLINICAL SYMPTOMS

Will the U.N. Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) [COP 13/MOP 3, Bali, Indonesia, December 3-14] follow the now well-established pattern of manic-depression that has characterised nearly all such previous mass meetings, including those in The Hague (2000), in Marrakesh, Morocco (2001), in Edinburgh around the G8 Summit (2005), in Montreal (2005), and in Nairobi, Kenya (2006)?

First, key figures will work hard, through the media, to try to lower public expectations - e.g., "This is only about producing a `road map', or timetable, for future negotiations"; "It is just about putting a process in motion rather than taking any substantive decisions."

Then, for the first few days of the Conference nothing much obvious will happen, and there is little for the hordes of environmental reporters to report. Things only start to get `hot' when governments finally let loose their senior figures to `finalise' the key issues during the last three days [for example, the UK will be sending three gunboats to Bali, namely HMS Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, his junior minister, HMS Phil Woolas, and jolly old HMS Sir Nicholas Stern ("For it is he!")].

Then, if things go to plan, the 'meeting' will be reported as "slow and difficult", or even "failing" (as, classically, at Montreal in 2005), with participants walking out, or raising "impossible" issues. "Why do the developing countries keep on insisting that we should carry all the burden and pay for everything?" Ultimately, the `meeting' then extends into the early hours of the morning after the day on which it is meant to have closed, the chair and host nation using every trick in the moral-blackmail book to achieve something for the record and for home consumption.

Finally, a relatively bland agreement is cobbled together at the very last minute. Thousands of participants and journalists emerge from their fierce-small-world euphoric, tears are shed, and the "success" of the meeting is over-hyped and over-spun - "The world can breathe again!"; "We are saved!"; "Real progress has been made!"

Eventually, in the cold light of day, euphoria turns quite quickly to angst and to bitterness as it becomes increasingly obvious that little-to-nothing has really been achieved and that nobody will act on what has been agreed in any case.

The euphoric high is inexorably followed by a long depression - until, that is, the next migration and Conference of 15,000 souls [COP 14, by the way, will be in Pozna?, Poland, from 1-12 December, 2008. Just thought you would like to know].

Medical Symptoms?

If you examine carefully the symptoms exhibited during and after these repeated 'meeting patterns', while analysing in detail the changing media language involved, it becomes obvious that `global warming' hype is leading to clinically-identifiable symptoms closely associated with those presented in `mass psychogenic illness', or `mass sociogenic illness'.

The following two medical papers explain these syndromes, with detailed examples: (a) `Mass psychogenic illness: role of the individual physician' [American Family Physician (2000) 62: 2649-53,2655-6], and (b) `Mass psychogenic illness: a case report and overview' [Psychiatric Times, April 2000, XVII, 4]. Here is a key passage from (a):

"Mass psychogenic illness is characterized by symptoms, occurring among a group of persons with shared beliefs regarding those symptoms, that suggest organic illness but have no identifiable environmental cause and little clinical or laboratory evidence of disease. Mass psychogenic illness typically affects adolescents or children, groups under stress and females disproportionately more than males. Symptoms often follow an environmental trigger or illness in an index case. They can spread rapidly by apparent visual transmission, may be aggravated by a prominent emergency or media response, and frequently resolve after patients are separated from each other and removed from the environment in which the outbreak began. Physicians should consider this diagnosis when faced with a cluster of unexplained acute illness."

Fascinatingly, such mass hysteria can spread rapidly to those who are distant from any original `event'; in such cases, the response is known as `mass hysteria by proxy'. One outbreak of `mass hysteria by proxy', for example, has been documented, in which anxiety transmitted among parents led to reports of serious symptoms in students.

`Global warming' hysteria appears to be a classic example of `mass psychogenic illness', which is triggered and fed by the regular world meetings mentioned above, but which is then transmitted globally through a 24-hour media and Green pressure groups as `mass hysteria by proxy'.

This is hardly surprising, as taking the temperature of the Earth every second of every day, and then reporting it uncritically and apocalyptically via 24-hour-rolling news, constitutes a perfect trigger for folk with a predisposition to hypochondria, or, in this case, to ecochondria. Manic-depression, or bipolar-disorder, then begins to exhibit itself, both in the individual and in the media.

The truth is, therefore, a serious one: 'global warming' hype is bad for your health. Yes, Green hype can be clinically damaging.

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A BLAST OF HOT AIR AT BALI'S CLIMATE CONFERENCE

It's not the waste that rankles so much as the hypocrisy. Some 15,000 politicians, officials, quangocrats and assorted busybodies are descending on Bali for a jamboree that will produce more than 100,000 tons of CO2 emissions. The purpose of their trip? To discuss how to reduce CO2 emissions.

We wonder whether there would be so many observers and hangers-on if the venue were, say, Duesseldorf. For many of those attending have no direct involvement in the talks. For example, 19 MEPs, accompanied by advisers and staff, are in Bali, staying at a luxurious spa hotel. Not only will their fares, meals and accommodation be paid for by the rest of us, but they will also claim a further 95 pounds per day.

Our purpose is not just to mock the attendees. No, we have a deeper objection. The Bali summit represents much of what is wrong with the green movement, in that it elevates intentions over results. The supposedly ethical aims of the conference are presumed to render irrelevant the pollution engendered by its delegates. Euro-MPs, and politicians generally, often behave this way. When Indonesia was devastated by the 2004 tsunami, MEPs cheerfully voted millions of their constituents' euros in aid. But when it was suggested that they might contribute a single day's attendance allowance - around 190 pounds - to the relief effort, they were horrified. They demand green taxation, yet many of them fly to Strasbourg by the most environmentally unfriendly routes, thereby pocketing higher mileage allowances.

The Kyoto agenda is not principally about affecting climate change. Even if we accept all its proponents' figures, we would succeed in reducing the projected temperature rise by just 0.3F over the next century (at a cost of an almost unbelievable 3 trillion pounds). No, the Bali meeting is not really about doing anything. It is about feeling smug; and getting paid for it.

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U.N. scam shows Marxism at heart of warming movement

By PHIL VALENTINE

Apparently, I hit a nerve with a column I wrote a couple of weeks ago on global warming. Many of you took umbrage with my daring to connect the global warming movement to Marxism. Don't get me wrong. I do not believe everyone involved in the global warming movement subscribes to Karl Marx's philosophy. However, make no mistake about it. Those at the epicenter of this movement have ulterior motives, many of them socialist or even Marxist. What I wrote that caused such a fuss was that global warming is being used as a template to rob from the rich nations and give to the poor ones.

Right on cue, the United Nations issued a report last week that made my point. The headline from The Associated Press: "Poor will need $86b from rich to cope, UN says." Ah, here we go. The report says the rich nations will need to cough up $86 billion per year by 2015 to "strengthen the capacity of vulnerable people." Half the money, ostensibly, would go toward "climate-proofing" developing nations' infrastructure, whatever that means, while the other half would help the poor cope with related risks. Of course, the ambiguity is on purpose. You and I know that the bulk of this money will be skimmed off by tinhorn dictators, the same rabble that runs the U.N.

The report was conveniently released just a week before the world's nations gather in Bali to hammer out yet another Kyoto-style climate treaty. This will be another attempt to shame the developed world into turning over their hard-earned gold and silver to the rest of the world. "In Bali, we are going to very seriously discuss the price rich countries have to pay so that poorer countries can preserve their forests," said Brazil's leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Ironically, Brazil is one of the world's biggest emitters of so-called greenhouse gases. They're mowing down the rain forest to beat the band, and now they and the United Nations want us to pay them to stop destroying it. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

The Bali bailout comes at a time when the Energy Information Administration reports that U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are actually down 1.5 percent. Don't count on that getting much press at the conference. We're also coming off a tame hurricane season, despite the loud rantings from the global-warming crowd that this would be one of the worst seasons on record. Al Gore said in September 2005, "Now, the scientific community is warning us that the average hurricane will continue to get stronger because of global warming." We're coming off two relatively tame hurricane seasons in a row. Where are all these stronger hurricanes Gore was warning about? Does that mean he's now willing to admit he was wrong? Probably not.

Actually, the only hurricane-force winds clocked in these parts came from the wake of Al Gore's automobile. According to a report by NewsChannel5, ole Spotted Al was clocked doing a not-so-fuel-efficient 95 mph last year. At least, he'll be able to speed in style. The Tennessean's own Beverly Keel reported that Mr. Gore was spotted purchasing a Lexus LS 600h, their new hybrid model. According to a New York Times review, Al's new ride gets a whopping 21 mpg - 1 mpg less than the non-hybrid version. Atta way to save the planet, Al. Maybe there's an opening for you at the U.N.

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Another "consensus" scientist

If Georgia writer Richard Noone knew what he was talking about, he'd be dead, and you'd be dead, and the Earth would be one large ice ball hurtling through space. Sometimes failure is the greatest revenge. Today, Noone is living in Bayonet Point, Fla., having survived - along with the rest of us - his forecast in the book, "5/5/2000 Ice: The Ultimate Disaster" that, on Friday, May 5, 2000, the earth's poles would shift and millions would die as the planet was plunged into another ice age.

His theory - the result of years of research, and more than a few giant intuitive leaps - made Noone semi-famous at the turn of the millennium when prognosticators of what will happen next were darlings of a mass media always looking for a fresh hook. He appeared on "Oprah" and CNN and explained how the catastrophe was predicted in encoded inscriptions in the Great Pyramid of Giza and would be set in motion on May 5 by an extraordinary alignment of the planets. That alignment would exert such a gravitational pull the ice caps would be torn loose and continents would shift so that people standing in Georgia would find themselves suddenly whipped at 200 miles an hour to another part of the planet such as Nicaragua.

As far-fetched as that sounded then - and now - Noone still sticks by the research that went into his book, first published in 1982. "The overwhelming majority of articles in my bibliography were from the world's prestigious science journals, such as Scientific American, Smithsonian and Science," he says. "It's not like I quoted some mythical evangelist like Jimbo Billy Euripides."

He might as well have. Back then, by the time his forecast doomsday was about to roll around, Noone conceded his prediction was probably wrong and joked to a reporter that, for all he knew, when May 5 hit "I'll celebrate Cinco de Mayo." He says now, 7 1/2 later, he feels a bit redeemed because of the growing acceptance of the theory of global warming, which he also talked about in his book. At age 63 - 30 years after he went from an Atlanta wig and jewelry importer, to futurist author who wrote the first draft of his book in longhand - he's suddenly in the company of another global weather doom prognosticator: former Vice President and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore. If Gore hasn't read "Ice," he ought to, says Noone. "The articles in my book are a handy reference for anybody writing on global warming and what we may soon experience," he says.

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