Public inquiry into Island Plan begins
Wednesday 22nd September 2010, 2:57PM BST.
Mark Forskitt and Nick Palmer at the inquiry yesterday. Picture: Matthew Hotton (01056928)
A DISAGREEMENT about climate change dominated the first day of an independent public inquiry into the draft Island Plan.
The Island Plan, which will form planning policy in Jersey for the next ten years, will be debated by the States next year.
But first the ideas contained in the draft Island Plan are being discussed during a three-week independent examination of the document, involving interested groups and people who have previously commented about the plans on line.
At yesterday’s opening session, participants had to ‘agree to disagree’ over their views on climate change. Senator Sarah Ferguson said that the ‘woolly fluff’ about climate change should be taken out of the draft Island Plan.
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This is true about climate change, I have noticed it is getting cooler every year, i can’t wait for the snow to come back in full force over the winter again.
Never believe the hype when an American Politician Who brings up Global warming whilst trying to sell a book on global warming! He hasnt said anymore on the issue over the past year! hmmmm how strange.
Just like there will never be boom or bust in the British economy! then came the biggest recession on record!
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Oh dear, the flat earthers are active again, must be the same moon phase that pulls water to Jersey from the Pyrenees.
As for Woolly, as the Wolly mammoth and the Woolly Rhinocerous that once live in Jersey what they think – sorry you can’t beacuse they became extinct due to a raidly changing climate. Why not get out and use your eyes to see the evidence – the tree stumps in the beach at St Ouens, the perched beaches in the south west, clear evidence that sea levels were once much lower and much higher than the present day.
Human activity is accelerating climate chnage by putting gases into the atmosphere that trap the suns warmth. the rate of change is faster than at any time in the known record and is taking us into global temperatures that have never been experienced in the history of the human species.
As for Comment one ” i have noticed it is getting cooler”, how did you measure this? you certainly didn’t bother to look at the published climate data for Jersey published by the Met Department, or the Iternational data that show that 8 out of the ten hottest years on record have happened in the last decade. Hardly getting cooler is it?
Sorry fot the rant but it incenses me when public representastives who should know better spout misinformation gleaned from discredited commentators and their websites. Lets hope that the Public Inspector gives this submision the short shrift it deserves.
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I would say never count your climate change chickens before they are hatched!
Carbon dioxide has a significant role in the absorption of infra red radiation in the atmosphere.
We have and are currently increasing the level of this gas as a proportion of our atmosphere by our industrial processes.
It will affect the climate and other things but the degree to which it will do so is very hard to guess. If the affect is benign, neutral or catastrophic then we will just have to live or die with it.
Putting the gas in the atmosphere is easy, taking it out is impossible.
We have put more than enough in to get the experiment going and results will take 50 years or so, so it will be really exciting for our grandchildren!
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1 (Helen)
Some people obviously know a lot about climate change, others such as yourself and senator Ferguson do not.
Maybe Senator Ferguson is right in her thoughts but to be so certain on such a view is not wise. Most top academics such as Steven Hawking tend to be confident that man made climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to human civilization in the near future.
If this surely it is best to plan for the worst?
Sea Levels are currently rising at 3mm per year and this figure is predicted to increase significantly, does the island Plan take in to account the money for the sea wall / dyke round St Clements?
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@ 2 – I think you’ll find it is cattle “activity”, to a greater degree, rather than human activity, putting more gases into the atmosphere. If only we could teach them some manners and stop them belching!
I suppose you can blame our greater consumption of red meat – so perhaps we should all switch to chicken or fish? I can’t condone going veggie, as I’m sure that will only increase our personal “gas” production!
You also mention 8 out of 10 years have been the hottest on record. How far back to the records go? Can we be certain that there were not hotter periods before then and if so, what caused them, as I presume it was before we had all these factories and cars?
Unfortunately with global warming, there is a lot of sensationalism, as proven with some very incorrect predictions coming to light recently.
I’m sure we are having some effect, but is it a disastrous effect? No one can say for sure and only time will prove one way or another.
Should the Island Plan take into account the possible effects. Well, it would depend on what evidence/predictions they are basing it on…
Should we also believe the Mayans and plan for the end of the world in 2012…?
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So there is no need to worry !!!!!!!
~99.5% of involved scientists are wrong ! – The razor sharp mind of our very own Sarah Ferguson has cut through all the woolly fluff – Man made climate change is not happening -what a relief, I have been so worried !
Thank you for opening our eyes with your impressive intellect and devastating common sense.
We have all seen the evidence -Advancing glaciers -Ice shelves the size of small countries re-joining the ice caps – Polar bears romping through Florida………….
If you can’t find the evidence you can make it up.
psssst…. smoking does not cause cancer does it ?
Methinks the ‘woolly fluff’ might be between someone’s ears.
Have a cigarette (or two) Sarah -bizarrely it could save countless lives and species.
A few years ago the UN estimated that about 300 MILLION (additional) people were at risk of starvation as a result of climate change – Since then the analysis has only got more worrying.
Luckily the UN and IPCC have misinterpreted and misrepresented the evidence and are wrong – What a relief, The worlds leading scientists and their supercomputers crumble under such devastating analysis. Remind us, Mrs.Ferguson, where did you get your doctorate & professorship ?
I don’t like to be unkind but available evidence would suggest that Mrs.Ferguson has never missed a meal in her life.
I like healthy considered scepticism -but some people should really know better !
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I always thought climate change was brought about by global warming – the two are linked but the effects very different which could mean colder winters?? Anyway – Just off to fill my V8 Range Rover with filthy unleaded.
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Our Jersey summers in the past few years have been getting shorter.Remember those glorious warm August days, which lasted until around the 2nd of September.Now for several years they seem to end in the middle of August or even earlier, when that unmistakable cold wind arrives and the evenings change from warm to chilly.With so much media led alarmist coverage into global warming, I am inclined to agree with the caution expressed by Senator Ferguson.
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“Our Jersey summers in the past few years have been getting shorter.Remember those glorious warm August days, which lasted until around the 2nd of September.”
That is really anecdotal evidence and does not stand for much.
I could quote the fact that for the last few years the daffodils were coming up earlier and earlier, in 2009 they were really all over for Easter and Mother’s Day, and that the leaves are remaining on the trees for longer each autumn.
The only really valid approach is to look at average temperatures in a number of locations over a period of decades and even this is subject to fluctuations due to the jet stream, El Nino events, etc.
There is substantial losses of ice in the Arctic such that large multinational companies are planning on drilling for more oil and gas at latitudes that were regarded as impossible a few decades ago due to the ice pack.
Once again anecdotal evidence but backed with hundreds of millions of dollars!
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