Golf charlie

This might get through captcha without links.

The geographical distribution of tree species tends to follow average temperature contours. If rainfall or some other factor were the dominant influence on tree growth, then they would follow that contour.

Golf Charlie: "I have the honesty to admit that I was fooled by Mann's Hockey Stick".

Ditto for me, but my guru was David Attenborough, c2005. He was the voiceover man on a TV show which portrayed a fictional family going about its business. As they heated their house and drove to school, little black cubes wafting out of the chimney and exhaust pipe portrayed how these folk were damaging the environment. I bought this... this..... TOSH! In the news were items such as "The railway line to Penzance is now closed more often than a few years ago due to rising sea levels" and, in the Independent newspaper "A photo of the polecap: say bye-bye, it's dissapearing fast. This was on the front page. Scary stuff!!!

I believed this twaddle, and embarked on a search for an engineering solution. I read about a mineral called Serpentine, a silicate which in nature reacts slowly with CO2, growing a skin and becoming a carbonate. Trips to Anglesey and then Lands End to gather samples (one type of Serpentine is Lizardite, form Lizard Point). Pestle and mortar to pulverise the stuff and thus increase surface area of the rock. Buying CO2 from pub suppliers. Home made pressure vessel. Precision lab scales. Attempts to prove the principle of mineral sequestration of CO2. If it worked at home then a pilot plant would be the next step, sequestering kilos or tonnes of atmospheric CO2. If successful then full scale industrial plant(s) might reverse that annual rise in CO2 PPM.

Unfortunately the home experimentation flopped, with no measurable rise in the mass of the input silicate, and there it ended.

I subsequently went in search of data corroborating the claims of rising seas, rising temperatures, disappearing 'cryosphere'. 'Taint so.

The most useful lesson I learned is this: An expert out of his field is a mere layman, and David Attenborough's unquestionable expertise in making nature programmes is no indication of any expertise in other areas. His views on plumbing, macroeconomics, Assyrian archeology and climate are no more valid than those of the next man.

I can get a test blog through captch, but not a comment. Suggestions?

Teating.

Captcha has been blocking me again.

Oct 31, 2018 at 10:29 AM | Entropic man

You seem to have failed, preferring failed theories to actual data and results.

I have the honesty to admit that I was fooled by Mann's Hockey Stick. My broad education, knowledge and experience turned into nagging doubts. I started doing my own research on the internet in 2009. Why are you still stuck up about Mann's Stick?

With your knowledge of biology, why are you still convinced that temperature is the only factor governing growth rings in trees?

Get. Not 'actual v reality - 'modelled v reality'

@MH @GC @EM When it comes to being well read this ex-Grammar-grub likes to place his confidence in the likes of Paul Homewood over a retired biology teacher pushing a theory. I looked up Levelised costs at NALOPKT and found this post which says, in summary:

Renewable lobby groups are continually allowed to get away with the claim that onshore wind and solar are the cheapest generating options.

And as the paper points out, no allowance is made for other costs incurred because of renewable energy, such as standby capacity and extra grid infrastructure.

EM: I see you refer to RCP8.5 to support your claim. Would that be the same model that produces this chart of actual v reality?