Be Alert! Concerning the Climate, only Scripture is Correct
Genesis 8:22
"While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease."
Job 37:9
"Out of the south comes the storm,
And out of the north the cold.
Job 38:22-23
"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
Which I have reserved for the time of distress,
For the day of war and battle?
Romans 8:22
For we know that the whole creation groans and
suffers the pains of childbirth together until
now.
Luke 21:25-26
"There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and
on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at
the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting
from fear and the expectation of the things which are
coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens
will be shaken.
Nahum 1:3
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty
unpunished.
In whirlwind and storm is His way,
And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
Psalms 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should
change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the
sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
Selah.
The Earth is Polluted by Sin
Much of our planet seems to be in the process of a
sudden and rude awakening of 'old man winter' as for
weeks the headlines have been filled with numerous
accounts of record cold and record snowfalls in
various places.
After a year of non-stop "Global-Warming" hype from
the world governments and it's partner in the press it
is a bit of a comedy to watch especially when reading
an article such as number five below. It was in Disko
Bay, Greenland that US Senators held their 'urgent
summit' and choice photo op on Global Warning this
past summer, however it now appears that
their 'poster child' has now frozen over for the first time
in ten years.
The ridiculous path these people have gone down -
some genuinely led astray by following only a little
over one hundred years of reliable record keeping
while others just caught up in the glamour and hype of
the latest pop culture social cause - should be
obvious to anyone with some common sense and
some basic understanding of science.
However, all that matters is what the word of God
says.
The Bible emphatically declares in Genesis 8:22 that
as long at the earth remains it will continue to have
seasons. That means that although there may be (as
most likely have been in the past) micro-climatic
changes occurring on a regularly basis and even
larger scale macro-climatic changes over the
centuries (as recorded in history, such as the "Little
Ice Age") - there will not be any sort of global change
on the scale that the establishment media,
educational establishment and political/corporate
governing marriage wishes you to believe as long as
this current heaven and earth remains.
That said, the Bible also declares that the heavens
and the earth will be shaken and that the whole
creation will groan with birth pangs eagerly waiting for
the sons of God to be revealed, that is for the return of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection and
rapture of His saints. The physical appearance of the
earth is sure to change too as mountains split in two;
others fall into the sea and rivers change course.
However, we will have day and night, summer and
winter, cold and heat.
Scripture teaches us that since the fall, man's sin has
polluted the earth, but never has man polluted the
earth to the extreme he does today. This pollution
goes way beyond that which most people normally
think of such as the many physical pollutants that now
poison our environment and involves all sin and
perversions of man, which is the real source of the
greed that fuels the more visible pollutions.
Let us be alert to the truth that man's sin and the sin of
the nations are the only real source of pollution in
God's creation. There is also only one solution for the
clean up as well, and that is the washing in the blood
of the Lamb, Yeshua the Messiah for the cleansing of
sin.
BE/\LERT!
Scott Brisk
1) Transformational Education and the Global Warming Fantasy
EDUCATION WATCH - By Allen Quist - January 4, 2007
In early 2007 the government of the United Kingdom
sent copies of Al Gore's global warming DVD, An
Inconvenient Truth, to all secondary schools in
England, Wales and Scotland. This action was part of
a nationwide "Sustainable Schools Year of Action"
which had been launched in 2006.
Showing the Gore DVD in UK public schools was
challenged in the courts, however, on the basis that
the schools are legally forbidden to promote partisan
political views and that UK schools are required, when
dealing with political issues, to provide a balanced
presentation of opposing views.
Presiding court judge, Michael Burton, ruled that the
Gore film contains numerous errors made in "the
context of alarmism and exaggeration." As a
consequence, said Judge Burton, the film could be
shown only on the condition that it be accompanied by
guidance notes to balance Gore's "one-sided" views
in order to point out that the film's "apocalyptic vision"
was not an impartial analysis of climate
change.
At the same time, however, Gore's movie of "alarmism
and exaggerations" has been shown, and continues
to be shown, in countless American schools-shown to
children at all grade levels not just high school-and
shown without any warning labels
whatsoever.
In this way our school children are being subjected to
a massive propaganda campaign of the global
warming fanatics. Such programs are not intended to
educate our children but rather to indoctrinate them
with the attitudes, values and beliefs of the
leftists.
The UK distribution of the Gore DVD was part of
a "sustainable development" education program.
Citizens worldwide need to become informed about
what "sustainable development" actually means. It is
not about conservation or genuine environmental
protection. It is really about ideology and politics; it
means indoctrination programs in our schools-not
geared to protect our environment but only intended to
advocate the agenda of the big government global
leftists.
The Earth Charter clarifies what the term "sustainable
development" means in our world
(www.earthcharter.org). The Earth Charter indicates
that "sustainable development" means legalized
abortion, gay rights, eliminating the right to bear arms,
promotion of New Age/Pantheism, advocating global
government and using our education system to
indoctrinate children in all the political attitudes,
values and beliefs mentioned above.
The Earth Charter is the common statement of faith
agreed to by the major environmental groups
worldwide and by the UN. The Earth Charter calls on
all nations to carry out education for sustainable
development (as the Charter defines the
term).
Education for "sustainable development" is part of
the "transformational education" that now dominates
America's education system. Well-known education
theorist Shirley McCune, in her article
called "Restructuring Education," said:
Our society has undergone profound economic,
demographic and social transformation-a
transformation that impacts virtually every aspect of
our individual and collective lives.
McCune says that education also must
be "transformational" in nature; that is, education must
focus on changing the attitudes, values and beliefs of
the child to match the worldview of the radicals.
Education is no longer about learning the knowledge
and skills necessary for a free society.
Because our children are being indoctrinated into
radical environmentalism, they do not learn the new
information that contradicts the global warming
fantasy. For example, over the past few years several
ancient maps have been discovered that picture
Antarctica ice-free at least in part. One such map,
drawn by well-known French map-maker Oronteus
Finaeus in 1531 is pictured as follows:
There is no serious question about the authenticity of
this map. It pictures the globe from the perspective of
the Antarctic South Pole, long before Antarctica was
supposedly discovered. It also clearly shows South
America, Southern Africa and Madagascar. The
coastline of Antarctica is pictured as being ice-free
with inlets, bays, rivers and mountain ranges. The
map is extraordinarily accurate. In all likelihood,
people were living on Antarctica at the time the source-
maps for the Finaeus map were drawn. (Two other
recently discovered ancient maps also show all these
features.)
What do such maps tell us? They demonstrate that at
the time some of the source-maps were drawn,
around 500 B.C., Antarctica was at least partially ice-
free and people were sailing there and exploring the
continent extensively. They were also making maps
that were highly accurate. They were additionally
exploring South America-long before the time of
Columbus.
This is exciting stuff-the kind of information that makes
education in world history absolutely fascinating. But
our children will never learn any of this in school. Why
not? Because it contradicts the global warming
fantasy. When the Finaeus source-maps were drawn,
the earth was obviously much warmer than it is today.
The earth was substantially warmer long before any
fossil fuels were being used to any significant extent,
long before people were releasing carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere. This means that global temperature
change results from something other than carbon
dioxide.
The chart below reveals other important information
our children will never learn in school. The chart,
based on well-known information from the UN's panel
on climate change, reveals that the Earth's climate
was about 4 degrees Celsius warmer 1,000 years
ago than it is today. Once again, this warm period took
place before we were burning fossil fuels. This warm
period one thousand years ago was the time when
the Vikings settled Greenland (which they
called "Greenland" because it was green, at least
close to the coast, not ice-covered as it is today.) It
was also the time when the Vikings sailed to North
America which they could accomplish in the warmer
climate of that time.
If carbon dioxide is not the cause of global warming,
then what is? The following chart, from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, reveals that
sun spot activity is the real cause of global warming.
Notice the close correlation between sun activity and
global temperature. Sun activity is the primary reason
the globe has experienced far warmer, and colder,
periods in the past as compared to today, as revealed
in the following chart:
As is obvious from the chart, global temperature
variation is primarily the result of sun activity. This
cause-effect relationship explains why global
temperatures have varied far more in the past, long
before human beings burned fossil fuels, than in the
past several hundred years. Once again, this is
important information our children will never learn in
school the reason being it contradicts the global
warming fraud. Our children are not being educated,
they are being indoctrinated. They are being subjected
to transformational education-propaganda intended to
mold their attitudes, beliefs and values to match that
of the radical left.
When will our nation wake up to the truth of
transformational education? Our children are being
indoctrinated, not educated. This is the real battle for
freedom of our time. It is the battle for freedom of this
generation. Millions of brave Americans have risked
their lives, and given their lives, for our freedom. Why
are we now willing to give that freedom away?
*
* For more information on the battle for freedom in our
schools, see the author's book: America's Schools:
The Battleground for Freedom, EdWatch, 2005.
2) Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age
RUSSIAN NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY (RIA
Novosti) - January 22, 2008
ST. PETERSBURG - Temperatures on Earth have
stabilized in the past decade, and the planet should
brace itself for a new Ice Age rather than global
warming, a Russian scientist said in an interview with
RIA Novosti Tuesday.
"Russian and foreign research data confirm that
global temperatures in 2007 were practically similar to
those in 2006, and, in general, identical to 1998-2006
temperatures, which, basically, means that the Earth
passed the peak of global warming in 1998-2005,"
said Khabibullo Abdusamatov, head of a space
research lab at the Pulkovo observatory in St.
Petersburg.
According to the scientist, the concentration of carbon
dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has risen more
than 4% in the past decade, but global warming has
practically stopped. It confirms the theory of "solar"
impact on changes in the Earth's climate, because the
amount of solar energy reaching the planet has
drastically decreased during the same period, the
scientist said.
Had global temperatures directly responded to
concentrations of "greenhouse" gases in the
atmosphere, they would have risen by at least 0.1
Celsius in the past ten years, however, it never
happened, he said.
"A year ago, many meteorologists predicted that
higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
would make the year 2007 the hottest in the last
decade, but, fortunately, these predictions did not
become reality," Abdusamatov said.
He also said that in 2008, global temperatures would
drop slightly, rather than rise, due to unprecedentedly
low solar radiation in the past 30 years, and would
continue decreasing even if industrial emissions of
carbon dioxide reach record levels.
By 2041, solar activity will reach its minimum
according to a 200-year cycle, and a deep cooling
period will hit the Earth approximately in 2055-2060. It
will last for about 45-65 years, the scientist added.
"By the mid-21st century the planet will face another
Little Ice Age, similar to the Maunder Minimum,
because the amount of solar radiation hitting the Earth
has been constantly decreasing since the 1990s and
will reach its minimum approximately in 2041," he
said.
The Maunder Minimum occurred between 1645 and
1715, when only about 50 spots appeared on the Sun,
as opposed to the typical 40,000-50,000 spots.
It coincided with the middle and coldest part of the so
called Little Ice Age, during which Europe and North
America were subjected to bitterly cold winters.
"However, the thermal inertia of the world's oceans
and seas will delay a 'deep cooling' of the planet, and
the new Ice Age will begin sometime during 2055-
2060, probably lasting for several decades,"
Abdusamatov said.
Therefore, the Earth must brace itself for a growing ice
cap, rather than rising waters in global oceans
caused by ice melting.
Mankind will face serious economic, social, and
demographic consequences of the coming Ice Age
because it will directly affect more than 80% of the
earth's population, the scientist concluded.
3) A cold spell soon to replace global warming
RUSSIAN NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY (RIA
Novosti) - Opinion & Analysis By Oleg Sorokhtin -
January 3, 2008
MOSCOW - Stock up on fur coats and felt boots! This
is my paradoxical advice to the warm world.
Earth is now at the peak of one of its passing warm
spells. It started in the 17th century when there was no
industrial influence on the climate to speak of and no
such thing as the hothouse effect. The current
warming is evidently a natural process and utterly
independent of hothouse gases.
The real reasons for climate changes are uneven
solar radiation, terrestrial precession (that is, axis
gyration), instability of oceanic currents, regular
salinity fluctuations of the Arctic Ocean surface waters,
etc. There is another, principal reason-solar activity
and luminosity. The greater they are the warmer is our
climate.
Astrophysics knows two solar activity cycles, of 11 and
200 years. Both are caused by changes in the radius
and area of the irradiating solar surface. The latest
data, obtained by Habibullah Abdusamatov, head of
the Pulkovo Observatory space research laboratory,
say that Earth has passed the peak of its warmer
period, and a fairly cold spell will set in quite soon, by
2012. Real cold will come when solar activity reaches
its minimum, by 2041, and will last for 50-60 years or
even longer.
This is my point, which environmentalists hotly
dispute as they cling to the hothouse theory. As we
know, hothouse gases, in particular, nitrogen
peroxide, warm up the atmosphere by keeping heat
close to the ground. Advanced in the late 19th century
by Svante A. Arrhenius, a Swedish physical chemist
and Nobel Prize winner, this theory is taken for
granted to this day and has not undergone any
serious check.
It determines decisions and instruments of major
international organizations-in particular, the Kyoto
Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change. Signed by 150 countries, it
exemplifies the impact of scientific delusion on big
politics and economics. The authors and enthusiasts
of the Kyoto Protocol based their assumptions on an
erroneous idea. As a result, developed countries
waste huge amounts of money to fight industrial
pollution of the atmosphere. What if it is a Don
Quixote's duel with the windmill?
Hothouse gases may not be to blame for global
warming. At any rate, there is no scientific evidence to
their guilt. The classic hothouse effect scenario is too
simple to be true. As things really are, much more
sophisticated processes are on in the atmosphere,
especially in its dense layer. For instance, heat is not
so much radiated in space as carried by air currents-
an entirely different mechanism, which cannot cause
global warming.
The temperature of the troposphere, the lowest and
densest portion of the atmosphere, does not depend
on the concentration of greenhouse gas emissions-a
point proved theoretically and empirically. True,
probes of Antarctic ice shield, taken with bore
specimens in the vicinity of the Russian research
station Vostok, show that there are close links
between atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide
and temperature changes. Here, however, we cannot
be quite sure which is the cause and which the effect.
Temperature fluctuations always run somewhat
ahead of carbon dioxide concentration changes. This
means that warming is primary. The ocean is the
greatest carbon dioxide depository, with
concentrations 60-90 times larger than in the
atmosphere. When the ocean's surface warms up, it
produces the "champagne effect." Compare a foamy
spurt out of a warm bottle with wine pouring smoothly
when served properly cold.
Likewise, warm ocean water exudes greater amounts
of carbonic acid, which evaporates to add to industrial
pollution-a factor we cannot deny. However, man-
caused pollution is negligible here. If industrial
pollution with carbon dioxide keeps at its present-day
5-7 billion metric tons a year, it will not change global
temperatures up to the year 2100. The change will be
too small for humans to feel even if the concentration
of greenhouse gas emissions doubles.
Carbon dioxide cannot be bad for the climate. On the
contrary, it is food for plants, and so is beneficial to life
on Earth. Bearing out this point was the Green
Revolution-the phenomenal global increase in farm
yields in the mid-20th century. Numerous experiments
also prove a direct proportion between harvest and
carbon dioxide concentration in the air.
Carbon dioxide has quite a different pernicious
influence-not on the climate but on synoptic activity. It
absorbs infrared radiation. When tropospheric air is
warm enough for complete absorption, radiation
energy passes into gas fluctuations. Gas expands
and dissolves to send warm air up to the
stratosphere, where it clashes with cold currents
coming down. With no noticeable temperature
changes, synoptic activity skyrockets to whip up
cyclones and anticyclones. Hence we get hurricanes,
storms, tornados and other natural disasters, whose
intensity largely depends on carbon dioxide
concentration. In this sense, reducing its
concentration in the air will have a positive effect.
Carbon dioxide is not to blame for global climate
change. Solar activity is many times more powerful
than the energy produced by the whole of humankind.
Man's influence on nature is a drop in the
ocean.
Earth is unlikely to ever face a temperature disaster.
Of all the planets in the solar system, only Earth has
an atmosphere beneficial to life. There are many
factors that account for development of life on Earth:
Sun is a calm star, Earth is located an optimum
distance from it, it has the Moon as a massive
satellite, and many others. Earth owes its friendly
climate also to dynamic feedback between biotic and
atmospheric evolution.
The principal among those diverse links is Earth's
reflective power, which regulates its temperature. A
warm period, as the present, increases oceanic
evaporation to produce a great amount of clouds,
which filter solar radiation and so bring heat down.
Things take the contrary turn in a cold period.
What can't be cured must be endured. It is wise to
accept the natural course of things. We have no
reason to panic about allegations that ice in the Arctic
Ocean is thawing rapidly and will soon vanish
altogether. As it really is, scientists say the Arctic and
Antarctic ice shields are growing. Physical and
mathematical calculations predict a new Ice Age. It will
come in 100,000 years, at the earliest, and will be
much worse than the previous. Europe will be ice-
bound, with glaciers reaching south of Moscow.
Meanwhile, Europeans can rest assured. The Gulf
Stream will change its course only if some evil magic
robs it of power to reach the north-but Mother Nature is
unlikely to do that.
Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, Merited Scientist of Russia and
fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, is
staff researcher of the Oceanology Institute.
The opinions expressed in this article are the
author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA
Novosti.
4) Russians Brace For The Big Chill
AHN MEDIA CORP (ALL HEADLINE NEWS) - By
Jupiter Kalambakal - January 16, 2008
Moscow, Russia - Russians are bracing for
temperatures of as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius
(minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit) in Siberia as Russia's
emergencies ministry warns on Wednesday of its
impending dangers in the coming weeks.
Government agencies were placed on high alert,
reports AFP. The ministry ordered local administration
officials to prepare for the extreme chill expected to
last until Jan. 21.
The ministry warned that the unusually cold weather
could kill, cause frost-bite, conk heaters and cut
electricity to homes, disrupt transport, increase the
rate of car accidents and even destroy buildings
across Siberia.
The freezing temperatures have already caused
overloading of electricity grids and power interruptions
in the regions of Irkutsk and Tomsk because of
overused heaters in homes. Two people have already
died and more than 30 others hospitalized with forst-
bite in Irkutsk, reports AFP citing state media.
Bloomberg reports that worst hit will be the Siberian
region of Evenkiya, while neighbor Georgia, whose
climate is subtropical, already plunged to as low as
minus 35 degrees Celsius. Lake Paliastomi in the
western Georgia froze for the first time in 50 years,
reports Rustavi-2 television.
Average temperatures in large Siberian cities in
January usually range between minus 15 degrees
Celsius and minus 39 degrees Celsius, according to
data from weatherbase.com. Schools have been
closed down in at least four regions because of the
cold.
5) Ice returns as Greenland temps plummet
THE COPENHAGEN POST [CPHPost/Sandal] -
January 16, 2008
Residents insist Greenland's freezing temperatures
don't mean global warming has been called off.
While the rest of Europe is debating the prospects of
global warming during an unseasonably mild winter,
a brutal cold snap is raging across the semi-
autonomous nation of Greenland.
On Disko Bay in western Greenland, where a number
of prominent world leaders have visited in recent
years to get a first-hand impression of climate
change, temperatures have dropped so drastically
that the water has frozen over for the first time in a
decade.
'The ice is up to 50cm thick,' said Henrik Matthiesen,
an employee at Denmark's Meteorological Institute
who has also sailed the Greenlandic coastline for the
Royal Arctic Line. 'We've had loads of northerly winds
since Christmas which has made the area miserably
cold.'
Matthiesen suggested the cold weather marked a
return to the frigid temperatures common a decade
ago.
Temperatures plunged to -25°C earlier this month,
clogging the bay with ice and making shipping
impossible for small crafts, according to Anthon
Frederiksen, the mayor of the town of Ilulissat, where
Disko Bay is located.
'On the other hand, it's an advantage for fishermen
who rely on dogsleds for transportation,' Frederiksen
said.
The mayor cautioned against thinking that the freezing
temperature indicated that global warming claims
were overblown. He noted that a nearby glacier had
retracted more in the past two decades than in
recorded history.
'We Greenlanders have acclimated to changing
conditions over the past 1100 years,' said
Frederiksen. 'Temperatures change at regular
intervals.'
Although Greenland's capital, Nuuk, and much of the
island saw temperatures drop below -25° C
yesterday, milder temperatures appeared to be on the
way in the near future.
6) Arab world shivers in unusual cold snap
Jordan's airport shut down by ice, other nations shiver as well
ASSOCIATED PRESS - January 22, 2008
AMMAN, Jordan - The lone de-icing machine at
Jordan's busy international airport worked frantically
on Tuesday to clear planes for take off when a freak
snowstorm blanketed this small desert country in a
cold snap that has the whole region
shivering.
Temperatures have plunged throughout the Middle
East, dusting cities with unfamiliar snowfalls and
sending residences scurrying for their blankets and
jackets to cope with the near freezing temperatures in
many places.
While streets in the Jordanian capital, Amman, were
icy and dangerous and traffic immediately clogged,
farmers have welcomed the much needed
precipitation in the midst of an unusually dry winter
that has damaged crops and sent food prices
soaring. The desert kingdom depends heavily on
winter rains for its agriculture. - - -
Worst cold front since 1964
Meteorologists in the region are calling it the worst
cold front since 1964 and attributing it to a high
pressure zone in northern Europe that is forcing cold
air into the Middle East.
The 10-day old cold front has also destroyed fruits and
vegetables in the Jordan Valley, compounding worries
that food prices will jump higher amid concerns about
skyrocketing fuel prices as the government removes
subsidies on basic commodities.
In neighboring Syria, the dry winter had originally
prompted President Bashar Assad to call for
nationwide prayers for rain, but on Tuesday
Damascus received its own blanket of snow, its first
this winter.
The cold snap has caused extensive damage to the
country's crops, the official Syrian news agency, SANA,
reported, but relief could be in sight with forecasts of
rain for Wednesday.
In normally sunny Egypt, rain and the near-freezing
temperatures have shocked residents, many
describing it as the coldest winter in years.
'Roads are crazy'
"It's definitely much colder than ever before," said
Mohammed Ahmed, a shivering delivery driver who
had to pilot his moped through Cairo's rain-slicked
streets on Tuesday. "I'm drinking a lot of coffee and
espresso to keep warm and alert because the roads
are crazy."
The streets of normally arid Cairo, perched on the
edge of the Sahara Desert, have no drains and the
cold rain has created pools of standing water,
bringing the city's already torturous traffic to a honking
standstill. - - -
Temperatures in Baghdad were even colder with the
mercury dipping below freezing Tuesday morning, an
increasingly common occurrence this month in a city
whose average January temperatures are normally 13
Celsius (55 Fahrenheit). Snow even fell briefly for the
first time in living memory in Baghdad on Jan.
11.
The cold has residents huddling around their
kerosene heaters, even as worries mount about fuel
shortages that could add to the battered populace's
worries. - - - -
Also
Misery for millions as temperatures plummet
across the Middle East
The Scotsman - By Michael Theodoulou - January 18,
2008
THE Middle East is shivering amid exceptionally low
temperatures that have left at least ten people dead in
Saudi Arabia alone and killed countless livestock and
damaged crops across a region usually associated
with sun-baked deserts.
Some have had cause to cheer. Children in several
countries have been enjoying days of fun after icy
temperatures forced the closure of schools. And snow
has fallen in Baghdad for the first time in living
memory.
But the severe cold snap, caused by a weather
system spawned in Siberia, has mostly brought
misery. Faulty gas heaters have claimed the lives of
about 90 people in Iran where temperatures have
plummeted in places to -24C.
Shortages of gas in the Islamic Republic, which has
the world's largest reserves after Russia, have led to
outspoken criticism of President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's government and triggered a diplomatic
spat with neighbouring Turkmenistan over top-up gas
supplies.
In Afghanistan, more than 100 people and 35,000
cattle have perished because of freezing weather in
recent days. Rare torrential downpours in Dubai in
mid-week flooded many streets and caused hundreds
of traffic accidents that claimed the lives of two
people.
There was also snow in mountainous areas of the
United Arab Emirates, where few shops bother to sell
heaters.
Meteorologists in the region differ on whether climate
change is causing the freak weather. Experts in
Baghdad believe it is to blame; those in Jordan
disagree.
Temperatures in Saudi Arabia reached their lowest
point in 30 years this week, plunging to -2C in the
capital, Riyadh, and to -6C in mountainous regions
blanketed by snow.
"Kingdom finds itself in icebox," declared the Arab
News in a front-page headline. The daily told of an 18-
year-old Saudi student who died when her heart
stopped because of the severe cold as she made her
way to school.
Two foreign workers died after inhaling smoke from
firewood, while another two were burned to death
when their wood fire set their tent ablaze.
King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler, has ordered
emergency relief supplies for those left in need by the
weather.
7) Rare snowstorm hits the Middle East
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Ian Deitch - January 30,
2008
JERUSALEM - A rare snowstorm swept the Middle
East on Wednesday, blanketing parts of the Holy Land
in white, shutting schools and sending excited
children into the streets for snowball fights.
The weather in Jerusalem topped local newscasts,
eclipsing a government report on Israel's 2006 war in
Lebanon.
Men in long Arab robes pelted each other with
snowballs in the Jordanian capital, Amman, and the
West Bank city of Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian
government, came to a standstill.
"I'm originally from Gaza where snow never falls," said
Bothaina Smairi, 28, who was out in Ramallah taking
photographs. "The white snow is covering the old
world and I feel like I am in a new world where
everything is white, clean, and beautiful."
Jerusalem's Old City was coated in white. A few ultra-
Orthodox Jews, wearing plastic bags over their hats to
keep them dry, prayed at the Western Wall, Judaism's
holiest site.
Snow falls in Jerusalem once or twice each winter, but
temperatures rarely drop low enough for it to stick. The
Israeli weather service said up to 8 inches of snow fell
in the city.
By late morning, the snow changed to rain, turning the
city into a slushy mess. But forecasters said
temperatures were expected to drop, and the snow
would continue through Thursday morning.
Heavy snow also was reported in the Golan Heights
and the northern Israeli town of Safed, and throughout
the West Bank.
In Ramallah, residents were surprised to see snow
when they awoke. For some, it was their first
time.
"I am just astonished with the snow. When I saw the
snow this morning, I felt happy, my heart was
laughing," said Mary Zabaro, 17.
In Amman, where a foot of snow fell, children used
inflatable tubes as sleds. Some roads were
temporarily closed.
Snow covered most mountain villages and blocked
roads in Lebanon. The storm disrupted power
supplies in most Lebanese towns and villages,
exacerbating existing power cuts. Parts of the Beirut-
Damascus highway were closed.
Temperatures in Syria dipped below freezing and
snow blanketed the hills overlooking the capital,
Damascus.
8) Millions still stranded in China despite transport resuming
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - February 1, 2008
China's gridlocked transport system rumbled back to
life Friday but millions of angry travellers remained
stranded all around the country, unable to return home
for annual holidays.
Passengers began to flow out of airports, train
stations and bus depots but it was nowhere near
enough to clear a massive backlog of travellers
stranded for days after the worst winter in five decades
hit at the busiest time of year.
The Lunar New Year, China's biggest annual holiday,
begins on February 7 and the government said 180
million people head home to be with their families in
what is thought to be the largest annual human
migration in the world.
On Friday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao returned to
badly hit Hunan province for the second time this
week and again berated officials to step up efforts to
clear roads and get electricity back on line. - - -
Weeks of heavy snow and icy conditions have caused
7.5 billion dollars' worth of damage, Zhu Hongren, an
official with China's main economic policy agency, told
a press conference.
"Such a disaster has been unprecedented in terms of
the large scale and the large areas affected. We are in
a tough battle to ensure the safety of people and
property and ensure economic stability," said Zhu,
who is coordinating several ministries on response
efforts. - - -
The China Meteorological Administration said several
of the worst affected provinces in central, eastern and
southern China were in for further snowstorms and
freezing rain this weekend. - - -
Continued road disruptions were also expected as
persistent freezing rain confounded efforts to de-ice
highways, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The government also faces the challenge of restoring
food and energy supplies to large areas at a time
when output typically falls due to the holidays.
Damage to crops across several provinces has
further stoked already high food prices -- a sensitive
topic for the government due to inflation's potential for
triggering unrest in China.
Zhu and other officials deflected suggestions that the
government was insufficiently prepared, implying
there was no way to get ready for such ferocious
weather. - - -
President Hu Jintao visited a coal mine in northern
Shanxi province late Thursday, urging miners to
increase production to head off the country's worst
power crisis in memory.
Officials said Friday the number of train cars used to
carry coal to power plants would be raised to an all-
time high of 40,000 per day amid reports the nation's
stockpile of coal for power generation had dropped to
a six-day supply.
The transport chaos has strangled distribution of coal,
the source of three-quarters of China's energy,
causing blackouts in 17 provinces, according to
reports.
The weather has led to the evacuation of 1.76 million
people, killed dozens, and affected at least 105 million
people in the country of 1.3 billion, according to official
figures.
The freak weather has even blanketed the arid
Taklamakan desert in far-western China with snow,
Xinhua said.
"Never before had the whole desert been covered," it
said, quoting local meteorological officials.
Also
Heavy snow in China causes deaths and
damage
REUTERS [Thomson-Reuters] - By Jason Subler -
January 21, 2008
BEIJING - Cold weather and heavy snow have struck
unusually large swathes of central and eastern China,
causing fatal accidents, bringing down power lines
and destroying crops.
Eleven people were killed when an overloaded bus
overturned on a snow-covered highway in eastern
China, police said on Monday, bringing the death toll
from weather-related accidents over the weekend to at
least 25.
The accident happened in Anhui province on Sunday
when the bus carrying 72 people, 21 more than
allowed, overturned in the city of Mingguang. Fifty-one
people were injured.
In the central province of Hubei, 10 people were killed,
including one crushed under a collapsed gas-station
roof in Wuhan, the provincial capital, the China Daily
said.
It did not say how the other nine died.
Six people were killed in Hubei and Anhui in houses
collapsing under snow, the Xinhua news agency said
on Monday, adding that more than 10 million people in
the two provinces had been "affected" by the
snow.
A major power line that carries electricity from the
Three Gorges dam to Shanghai was damaged by the
snow, and over 450 workers were rushing to repair it,
Xinhua said.
Crops covering at least 557,300 hectares (2,151 sq
miles) and more than 11,300 houses had been
destroyed, bringing direct economic losses in the two
provinces to more than 1.8 billion yuan ($249
million).
About 300,000 passengers in Wuhan, the capital of
Hubei, were forced to change travel plans as more
than 1,000 km (600 miles) of highway in the region
were closed on Saturday due to the snow.
The National Meteorological Centre on Sunday issued
an orange alert, the second highest on a scale of five,
for more heavy snow in central and eastern parts of
the country.
The State Council, or cabinet, on Monday issued an
emergency order to local authorities telling them to
ensure safe transportation, promptly fix disrupted
utilities and make sure that there is an ample supply
of food in affected areas.
($1=7.241 yuan)
Storm-hit China calls for 'faith'
Read Full Report
Posted on the Be Alert! Weblog
9) Flights, trains cancelled as snow hits Tokyo
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - February 3, 2008
TOKYO - Dozens of flights and trains were cancelled
Sunday as snow blanketed Tokyo and its vicinities,
with more than 170 people injured in weather-related
accidents, officials and news reports said.
Japanese airlines cancelled more than 140 domestic
flights, mainly to or from Tokyo's Haneda airport,
where one of the three runways was temporarily
closed as snow disturbed the guidance system,
officials said.
Several train services in the capital were also
cancelled, while Shinkansen bullet trains were
delayed, train company officials said. Highways were
closed at many points in Tokyo and its environs as
three centimetres (more than an inch) of snow fell in
the capital.
At least 53 people were sent to hospital in snow-
related incidents in Tokyo, said a spokesman for the
Tokyo Fire Department.
"Most of them were injured after they slipped and fell
on snow-covered pavements. Several broke legs or
arms," the spokesman said.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the number of
injuries totalled 173, including 23 serious casualties,
in the capital and its surrounding areas, while 715 car
and other snow-related accidents were reported to
local police.
Snowfalls, the heaviest in the capital this winter, also
hampered weekend sports events.
Organisers of the Oume Marathon, scheduled to take
place in Tokyo on Sunday morning, decided to cancel
the 59th annual race for the first time in 12 years
because the course was covered with snow.
Two rugby matches in the nation's top league were
called off, while all the horse races at Tokyo
Racecourse were cancelled. Several outside
attractions were also cancelled at Tokyo Disney
Land.
A further three centimetres of snow is forecast in
downtown Tokyo by late Sunday, while much heavier
snowfalls are expected in mountain areas north of the
capital, the Japan Meteorological Agency
said.
In Nagano, north of Tokyo, two skiers remained
unconscious on Sunday after they were engulfed in an
avalanche at a ski resort in central Japan following
heavy snow, police said.
United States not to be left out - See these
reports on the Blog
Storm Makes Drivers Slip, Fliers Wait
Read Full
Report
Snowstorm Blankets Midwest, Heads
East
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Carla K. Johnson -
February 1, 2008
CHICAGO - Heavy, wet snow made for treacherous
roads and delayed commutes Friday as a huge winter
storm that stretched from Texas to the Great Lakes
blanketed the nation's midsection. - - -
The snow fell at the rate of an inch an hour at times in
some locations, the National Weather Service said. - -
-
The storm pounded areas of the Midwest still
rebounding from storms earlier in the week that
spawned a mix of snow, brutal cold, tornadoes and
hail. - - - -
Read Full
Report
10) Czech president calls EU climate measures 'tragic mistake'
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - January 31, 2008
Right-wing Czech President Vaclav Klaus slammed
the EU's sweeping new measures to fight climate
change as a "tragic mistake" in an interview with a
German newspaper on Thursday.
"I believe that our government and others will stand up
against these bureaucratic ideas," Klaus told the
Handelsblatt business daily.
"This package is without doubt a tragic mistake, a
misunderstanding of nature and an unnecessary
limitation of human activity," the outspoken
Eurosceptic leader added.
"For me it is almost a tragedy."
Klaus has previously compared German Chancellor
Angela Merkel's pro-environmental platform to Soviet-
era centralised planning and described evidence of
global warming as bogus.
He said the measures presented by the European
Commission would threaten economic growth and
limit personal freedom.
The energy blueprint is designed to cut carbon dioxide
emissions by 20 percent by 2020, compared to 1990
levels, by setting targets for industry.
It also stipulates that the use of renewable energies
like biomass, wind and solar power have to make up
20 percent of all energy forms by 2020.
The European Union aims to enact the new
measures by the spring of 2009.
The Czech Republic is due to hold the rotating EU
presidency for the first half of 2009, followed by
Sweden.
The Czech parliament will next week begin to elect a
new president as Klaus's term expires in March. He
faces a challenge from Czech-American professor
Jan Svejnar.
Also
Antarctic volcanoes identified as a possible culprit
in glacier melting
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE [NYTimes
Group/Sulzberger] - By Kenneth Chang - January 20,
2008
Another factor might be contributing to the thinning of
some of the Antarctica's glaciers: volcanoes.
In an article published Sunday on the Web site of the
journal Nature Geoscience, Hugh Corr and David
Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey report the
identification of a layer of volcanic ash and glass
shards frozen within an ice sheet in western
Antarctica.
"This is the first time we have seen a volcano beneath
the ice sheet punch a hole through the ice sheet" in
Antarctica, Vaughan said.
Volcanic heat could still be melting ice to water and
contributing to thinning and speeding up of the Pine
Island glacier, which passes nearby, but Vaughan
said he doubted that it could be affecting other
glaciers in western Antarctica, which have also
thinned in recent years. Most glaciologists, including
Vaughan, say that warmer ocean water is the primary
cause of thinning.
Volcanically, Antarctica is a fairly quiet place. But
sometime around 325 B.C., the researchers said, a
hidden and still active volcano erupted, puncturing
several hundred yards of ice above it. Ash and shards
from the volcano carried through the air and settled
onto the surrounding landscape. That layer is now out
of sight, hidden beneath the snows that fell during the
next 2,300 years.
Still, the layer showed up clearly in airborne radar
surveys conducted over the region in 2004 and 2005
by American and British scientists. The reflected radio
waves over an elliptical area about 110 miles, or 176
kilometers, wide were so strong that earlier radar
surveys had mistakenly identified it as bedrock. Better
radar techniques now can detect a second echo from
the actual bedrock farther down.
The thickness of ice above the ash layer provided an
estimate of the date of the eruption: 207 B.C., give or
take 240 years. "It's probably within Alexander the
Great's lifetime, but not more precise than that,"
Vaughan said.
Read Full Report
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BE ALERT!
Is part of Moriel Ministries, the teaching ministry of J.
Jacob Prasch & Friends.
Various alerts and press releases are sent out
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the body of Christ to help keep you looking up for our
soon and coming King, Jesus Christ.
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