Hot Air carries good comment on the Maldives’ latest efforts to extort money from wealthy westerners, prompted by President Mohammed Nasheed’s urging of Australia to get ready to receive them. Fat chance.
Straight after he made his appeal, Nasheed went to a ceremony to mark the building of a new airport. Which was strange if he believes it will soon be drowned under flooding seas.
Hot Air repeats part of a letter Nils-Axel Mörner wrote to Nasheed in October 2009 setting out the facts of the non-rise in sea levels. Always interesting to be reminded of the facts. Anyone here from the MSM? I must say that the SMH coverage linked above appears nicely neutral. Good work, them.
Of course, the Maldives continue to be famous as one of the most exotic (read expensive) vacation destinations in the world. You should see the fancy habitats that wealthy corporations have funded on some of the 1200 coral atolls. They are genuinely splendid.
The Maldives contains an enormous variety of these imaginative, luxurious holiday retreats. Just Google “Maldives resorts” and go to Images. They’re very attractive. Hard-nosed businessmen don’t build expensive infrastructure like this if they hear they will be destroyed soon. No, they don’t, Petunia, they refuse point-blank. Why? Because it’s a waste of money.
But if Australia tells Nasheed to go away because his country’s not in danger, it’s a public admission that their ETS and carbon tax are unnecessary, so they can’t do that. So it becomes a series of messy political games.
Main thing to remember: coral atolls are still here, even after the last ice age shrank sea levels to about 120 metres* below normal before restoring them to their present height.
If the atolls can do that, they’ll keep up with a rise of half a metre by 2100, though it’s likely it will be much less than that.
*The Auckland Harbour Bridge handrail is about 40 metres above the water, yet the fall usually kills people who jump off there. And the ice age took sea levels down three times that. It’s fair to say that, for a coral atoll, it’s a disruption.
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Great surf in the Maldives; I went there in 1998; the locals had never heard of AGW then; it’s just a giant scam; follow the money.
OT but does anyone know the latest about the action against NIWA’s temperature record? The last I heard there was an amended SOC in July 2011.
Yes, an ASOC was filed in August 2011 to add a request that the replacement 7SS (arising from the ‘Review”) be quashed, along with its predecessor.
NIWA filed a non-responsive Defence, with bald denials alone. The plaintiff sought better particulars, but with scant success. NIWA continues to claim support from BoM but won’t let anybody see BoM’s reports.
The heavy lifting is about to start. The Coalition needs to file all its affidavits by 20 January, and NIWA will have until late February to respond. We should then belatedly discover what the real defence is (if any). The case will then be set down for trial.
Barry do you have discovery there?
We did on the first go-round, Val, if that helps.
for legal enthusiasts you can read the amended SOC plus relevant correspondence http://nzclimatescience.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=14&Itemid=47
The last 2 letters under the heading ‘latest developments’ are worth reading for what they epitomise
Thanks, Val. It reminds me I should pull some of that stuff together here for comment and easy access.
Richard I think the letter from Mace to the coalition of 29 August 2011 takes the meaning of the words ‘sub judice’ to a whole new level but I’d be interested to hear Barry’s views
Thank you Barry and val; it looks as though NZCSC has been fair and reasonable in its conduct while not receiving reciprocity from NIWA. I hope NZCSC has deep pockets to see this through.
Deep pockets? No, it doesn’t. However our counsel get paid, I don’t see it coming from the coalition.