David Archibald writes” From some sort of parallel universe, this is part of a speech given by the Chief of Army, as in Australia’s army.
Campbell appears to be completely duped by the weather-doctors — not the kind of gullible guy you’d put in charge of heavy machinery (and y’know, national security):
For the first time in mankind’s history our planet may become unsuitable for habitation in many of the places where large populations presently live. The Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University (ANU) asserts; changes would be irreversible on the time scale of human civilisation and would dramatically change the planet as we know it.
This is an unprecedented problem – the global population and its actions are bumping up hard against the capacity of the planet to sustain us in the present form.
He appears to have done no minutes of cross-checking, just swallowed the academics and paparazzi opinions holus. Why fight the climate? Campbell’s reasoning amounts to saying that the US is doing climate stuff (Jo notes they were then, but they won’t be soon.). It’s not too good when the head of your army hasn’t figured out the big secret that half the US voters have. (ASIO — where are you?)
Campbell tells us the Commander of the Royal Fijian Forces thinks it’s worth doing, and so do a bunch of academics (though they can’t predict rainfall, drought, floods, sea ice, humidity, clouds, or much else. — Those references here).
If Campbell was a real leader, the one our army and nation deserves, he’d pop in and ask some of the top engineers and IT-guys in the ADF for a second opinion. If the climate was such a no-brainer threat, those brains would be the first to get it, instead, two thirds (or probably more now) are skeptics. Real scientists can spot the bluff when fake scientists rabbit on about consensuses, use tricks to hide declines, and find hot-spots they never said were missing. Not only does Campbell drink that kool-aid, he believes the economic models too — citing GDP predictions for 2100.
As it happens the speech was made in September, but nobody, except a guy called Anthony Bergin, noticed for three months. Bergin lavishly praised it in The Australian, and suggested our jets might run on eucalyptus oil. Seriously. “Scientists are close to using eucalyptus trees to develop renewable jet fuel.” Righto…
Tony Thomas found depressing news for the eucalyptus-powered-jets:
“ANU researcher Dr Carston Kulheim suggests: “If we could plant 20 million hectares of eucalyptus species worldwide, which is currently the same amount that is planted for pulp and paper, we would be able to produce enough jet fuel for five per cent of the aviation industry.””
But at least 5% of the RAAF will be flying something anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and antibacterial.
Commenters at The Australian were 99% unfooled:
Justin Next there will be environmentally friendly bombs,..give us a break,…
Colin: What utter drivel, Anthony Bergin. I did 39 years in uniform and I’ve never heard such rubbish in my life.
Brian: Just goes to prove how deeply “group think” has permeated the body politic. Memo to ruling class ….. GW/CC is a myth and its OK to be a “denier”. The proletariat now realise the green-emperor has no clothes which is just one of the reasons Trump is US President and not Hilary
Ian: Shouldn’t defence be focusing on gay marriage, domestic violence and ethical investing? Make you wonder what on earth its priorities are.
Tony Thomas expanded a lot more on the military-against-the-climate theme in Quadrant a couple of weeks ago.
Obama declines to bomb an ISIS convoy because burning trucks will boost CO2 emissions … Australia’s defence wallahs fret about rising seas and drowning air bases … alarmist ratbaggery distorts strategy and budgets. Military effectiveness has a new enemy: the climate-scam crowd.
— read it all at Warmism’s Martial Plan.
More of the Campbell speech below:
Lieutenant General Angus Campbell DSC, AM, opening address to the 2016 Chief of Army’s Exercise:
Unstable planet
The third order problem I will address is that of an unstable planet. The instability I refer to is global. It is being caused by climate change associated with global warming.
I note Colonel Sapenafa Motufaga, the Commander Land Forces – Royal Fijian Military Forces, has agreed to speak to us in more depth about this serious issue in our plenary on, ‘The Indo-Pacific region in a global context’.
We don’t actually know for certain where the problem of climate change will take us. Much will depend on how correct some of the assumptions in our models are, and how effective are any mitigation and adaptation strategies we develop, and actually implement. But for military organisations that excel in long term planning and harnessing great resource, and which will be expected to assist in some way, these questions are immediately relevant.
Professor Janette Lindesay, from the ANU, highlights aspects of the problem. Globally, 2015 was the warmest year on record since modern record-keeping began in 1880. It was Australia’s fifth warmest. April 2016 was the warmest April month on record globally (and also in Australia). It was the 12th consecutive warmest April on record.
The cost of inaction on climate change is estimated as a 23% decrease in global GDP by 2100. By way of contrast, the cost of action is estimated as a 1.6% decrease by 2050. Of note, the decrease in GDP will be inequitable. The impact will be greater in warmer countries.
The top 10 most-at-risk countries with exposure to sea level rise by 2100 are all in the Indo-Pacific, where over 138 million people are at risk. Additionally, over 500,000 people from the small Pacific and Indian Ocean island states will be impacted as island states may well become uninhabitable between 2050 and 2100.
Writing for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in November 2014, former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Admiral Chris Barrie, summarised the concern for Armed Forces; Military forces around the globe perceive climate change as a threat multiplier because its impacts can undermine individual and societal well-being. Climate change will affect the availability of food, water and energy, which become basic insecurities, as well as fostering migratory movements forced on people by sea level rise and the greater frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. These pressures have the potential to lead to conflict.
Alarmingly, but I fear correctly, Professor Will Steffen from the Australian National University went as far as labelling climate change as ‘the ultimate threat multiplier’. A title sure to grab an Army Chief’s attention!
Armed forces have their role to play in response to climate change. This clearly goes beyond measures necessary to adopt ‘best practice’ in the environmental management of our estate, infrastructure, and energy needs; which we should do. As weather events intensify we can reasonably expect to see the increasing use of Defence assets in support of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations.
The scale of climate change problems, their unpredictability, and the level of support required from land forces are key issues for us to better understand.
Blah Blah Blah.
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UPDATE: For first time visitors. Here’s why Angus Campbell is a fool for speaking out on a topic he has done no personal investigation of: five minutes on google with an open find would turn up hundreds of peer reviewed references, as listed at these links.
- A recent good summary of the state of the evidence
- Posts here tagged “Evidence”
- Man Made Global Warming disproved.
- Evidence demonstrating solar influence
- Original research on this site about the failures of climate models and how to correct model architecture as well as model the climate using solar parameters.