Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Stick it in your backyard

Oh, look. Apparently we're all going to die of climate. Again. "News at JAMA" have just reported on a recent "analysis" which found that extreme weather, infectious diseases and air pollution (air pollution?) due to climate change will pose a growing health risk, which will be most pronounced in the south-eastern United States. Quick, someone tell Jimmy Buffett.

Wondering what this "analysis" was, I clicked the link provided and was taken to the web site of some activist collective named the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and a page entitled "Climate Change Threatens Health." with the bi-line "Serious threats where you live and what to do about them". Which just didn't seem right. Clearly what was missing, apart from science and an actual analysis, was some of these !!!!!. There, thats better. Still unable to find an actual scientific study, it appears after further scrutiny that the analysis referred to is actually a map of the United States which allows you to see in handy image form exactly how threatened by Dengue you will be "in your own backyard."!!!!!! Emphasis mine.

Good 'ole Dengue. Its always getting trotted out as the next great climate thing. Sadly, it ain't all that. In fact, if you refer to great entomological minds, such as Dr. Paul "You're so hot, lets do a field study together on a beach in the Caribbean" Reiter, or a WHO publication from 1989 a.k.a "Before the world went completely mental", it turns out the mosquito most implicated in dengue spread is a big fan of human settlements:
The peri-domestic, highly anthropophilic Aedes aegypti is the principal vector of all the serotypes and the sole vector in the New World and Australia

In other words, it's expansion of the urban environment, not climate change, that increases the vector distribution. The same publication shows the dramatic decline in A. aegypti distribution between the years 1930 and 1980.*

Such a shame that much vaunted JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, is getting its breaking medical news from an NGO infomercial. I expect the next News at JAMA story will be on a recent analysis of exactly how many times its weight in water a Shamwow can actually absorb (!!!!!). Or maybe they could elect Dr. Ho to the editorial board. (Hes a "caring doctor".)

I'm not even sure how deep in the climate alarmism funding pie the NRDC has sunk its fingers, but it didn't take too long to work out they aren't exactly about balance in the scientific debate. Their founding director appears to also be the Pew Oceans commissioner. Enough said. Well, if "enough" means "partisan-extremist-behemoth-that-seeks-to-destroy-the-livelihoods-of-fishermen-across-the-globe-and-dictate-to-other-sovereign-nations-that-they-must-lock-up-their-marine-resources-in-green-zones-so-a-few-rich-nobs-from-the-US-can-feel-better-about-their-oil-inheritances." Gasp. Then enough said.

*Many people assume the reduction in mosquito borne disease during that time was probably due to DDT, but thats because they haven't seen this:

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