Slush Pile: Global Warming is Dangerous

2007 Slush Pile

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Global Warming is Dangerous

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Global Warming Expedition cancelled due to severe cold

I submit this for the "Honorable Mention" hopefully they will have better luck next time.

A couple of explorers who had planned an expedition to the North Pole to highlight the effects of global warming to school groups had to abandon their mission when they encountered severe cold and frostbite!

The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, on Saturday called off what was intended to be a 530-mile trek across the Arctic Ocean after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment.

"Ann said losing toes and going forward at all costs was never part of the journey," said Ann Atwood, who helped organize the expedition.

Then there was the cold - quite a bit colder, Atwood said, then Bancroft and Arnesen had expected. One night they measured the temperature inside their tent at 58 degrees below zero, and outside temperatures were exceeding 100 below zero at times, Atwood said.

"My first reaction when they called to say there were calling it off was that they just sounded really, really cold," Atwood said.

The explorers had planned to call in regular updates to school groups by satellite phone, and had planned online posts with photographic evidence of global warming.

They were experiencing temperatures that weren't expected with global warming," Atwood said. "But one of the things we see with global warming is unpredictability."

Ahh yes so global warming doesn't cause warm temperature in the artic, but rather unpredictable weather. First I've heard of it

As Luboš Motl puts it

They were clearly not far from their Darwin Awards that are given to the people whose death measurably increases the genetic quality of the mankind because the dead people demonstrate unusual stupidity that leads to their death.

Every person whose IQ exceeds the women's IQ at least by 40 points knows that the amount of "trend" warming - if we can talk about it at all - is so tiny that it can hardly be measured by accurate devices - about 1 degree Fahrenheit per century - and it can surely influence nothing qualitative whatsoever about the experience at the North Pole where the temperature is frequently 100 degrees below the convenient temperatures in our apartments.

No sane person could have ever detected any "global warming signs" in his or her lifetime. The corresponding changes are tiny, completely negligible in comparison with the natural weather fluctuations and local climate variations, and can only be seen if you measure the temperatures very accurately and average them very carefully. And even if you are a scientist who does so, the interpretation is very unclear.

posted by Jonathan Lowe @ 12:56 AM

1 comments

1 Comments: At 12:10 PM, Barking Toad said...

I'm disappointed they didn't get the chance to don their wet suits and swim with the drowning polar bears.

Gaia would have been pleased the bears had a meal.

Yes, yes, we know that one period in time does not make for a convincing argument for or against global warming, but there is just so much humor to be found in this news report. It seems the 530 mile arctic trek by the duo of Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnese had to be cut short as Bancroft had developed frostbite on three of her toes. Seems that in their lust to capture global warming and the vanishing of the arctic circle, they encountered outside temperatures of 100 degrees below zero… No, ya think? Did they actually believe they were going to, in the early part of March, catch a few rays of sun on the beach? See some more unmitigated calving? Take a dip? To wit, and more incredibly: “In contrast to Bancroft’s 1986 trek across the Arctic with fellow Minnesota explorer Will Steger, this time she and Arnesen were prepared to don body suits and swim through areas where polar ice has melted.” I mean…please. This pushes the limits of sanity, people. From that statement alone, I would seriously question if these people had any idea what exactly the climate IS at the North Pole, but Bancroft did this once before, in 1986. The last quote just about sums it up: “They were experiencing temperatures that weren’t expected with global warming,” Atwood said. “But one of the things we see with global warming is unpredictability.”

Oh yeah…of course! That explains it all! Tell me now. Who are the real “deniers”?

Can't these Global Warming fruitcakes EVER get anything right? Al Gore (where did he get his meteorology degree again?) keeps getting his speeches that point out Global Warming, cancelled due to ice and snow. He takes limousines and 747s to venues where he tells people to save fuel and pollute less. And now some people trying to trek across the Arctic to stress the planet is getting warmer, find hundred-degree-below-zero temps, have their batteries and hot-water bottles freeze, and get frostbite so severe they cancel the entire trek.

I think the Lord is trying to tell these people something. Alas, they stopped listening to Him a long time ago.

--------------------------------------

Frostbite ends Bancroft-Arnesen trek - Yahoo! News

Frostbite ends Bancroft-Arnesen trek

by PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer

Mon Mar 12, 5:28 PM ET

MINNEAPOLIS - A North Pole expedition meant to bring attention to global warming was called off after one of the explorers got frostbite. The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, on Saturday called off what was intended to be a 530-mile trek across the Arctic Ocean after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment.

"Ann said losing toes and going forward at all costs was never part of the journey," said Ann Atwood, who helped organize the expedition.

On Monday, the pair was at Canada's Ward Hunt Island, awaiting a plane to take them to Resolute, Canada, where they were to return to Minneapolis later this week.

Bancroft, 51, became the first woman to cross the North Pole on a 1986 expedition. She and Arnesen, 53, of Oslo, Norway, were the first women to ski across Antarctica in 2001.

But the latest trek got off to a bad start. The day they set off from Ward Hunt Island, a plane landing near the women hit their gear, punching a hole in Bancroft's sled and damaging one of Arnesen's snowshoes.

They repaired the snowshoe with binding from a ski, but Atwood said the patch job created pressure on Arnesen's left foot, which led to blisters that then turned into frostbite.

Then there was the cold — quite a bit colder, Atwood said, then Bancroft and Arnesen had expected. One night they measured the temperature inside their tent at 58 degrees below zero, and outside temperatures were exceeding 100 below zero at times, Atwood said.

"My first reaction when they called to say there were calling it off was that they just sounded really, really cold," Atwood said.

She said Bancroft and Arnesen were applying hot water bottles to Arnesen's foot every night, but had to wake up periodically because the bottles froze.

The explorers had planned to call in regular updates to school groups by satellite phone, and had planned online posts with photographic evidence of global warming.

Atwood said there was some irony that a trip to call attention to global warming was scuttled in part by extreme cold temperatures.

"They were experiencing temperatures that weren't expected with global warming," Atwood said.

Heh. From their website. Quote

Daily updates will teach about a variety of topics; eg. Arctic weather, sea ice, currents and the impact of Arctic climate change on the rest of the globe. Activities for students include GPS tracking, Measure your Carbon Footprint, Count Your Toes (new) and Ask a Scientist net meetings.

Wonder what her husband thinks about all this?

Why wasn't Al Gore and Laurie David there with a sequel “A Real Inconvenient Truth”?

Though hopefully they cannot or will not reproduce I worry about all the innocent children they attempt to influence.

Submitted on 05/21/2007

Submitted by: Sean Michaels
Reference: by PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 12, 5:28 PM ET

>> Moderator Scores <<

Shadow said:
Definitely Toss: Other
its the same story with opinion repeated over and over... neither woman died as far as i can tell.

Graham said:
Definitely Toss: Other
I'm not sure of the point of this. It's not likely that these folks deliberately went out in unsuitable weather.

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2007 Slush Pile

Global Warming is Dangerous

2007 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance