RE: Eric Alexander's reference to Anthony Weeden being like an 'ostrich' in his views about global warming.


I HAVE been called many things in my life but never an ostrich.

Surely, Eric Alexander can see that if I was suffering from the ostrich syndrome (head in the sand) I would be up there marching with the eco-crusaders, not reviewing the hard scientific date about climate change.

It is virtually impossible to correlate proven scientific date with the anecdotal evidence that Eric Alexander submits from watching a solitary daffodil flower.

He may be watching an early flowering variety and to produce any acceptable scientific evidence he would have had to watch the same daffodil for at least 30 years recording the climatic conditions, the location, soil conditions etc.

It is a proven fact that the human memory is extremely unreliable and cannot be relied upon and since Eric Alexander is quoting from memory, his correlation of global warming with a daffodil flowering early is highly suspect.

A look at climate change since 1900 will, hopefully, help Eric to understand the warming and cooling of the past 109 years.

From 1900 to 1920 average global temperatures remained unchanged, i.e. no warming.

From 1920 to 1940, temperatures rose 0.4 degrees C. From 1940 to 1975, there was cooling of 0.2 degrees C.

This period is known as “the little cooling”.

The summers of the 1960s were the coldest of the 20th century and the two coldest winters 1947 and 1963 occurred during this period.

From 1976 to 1998 the climate warmed again by 0.5 degrees C.

Since 1998 the climate has been cooling with 2008 being the second coldest year of the 21st century.

Most of the warming of the late 20th century has now been cancelled out.

During the last quarter of the 20th century there were abnormally high levels of solar activity (sun spots) which, since the turn of the century has gone into decline.

This winter so far, the December average temperature was 0.7 degrees C below the 1961-90 average, January 1.0 degree C below the average and February, so far, is a massive 3.9 degrees C below average. Indications are that this winter will be the coldest in 30 years.

Contrary to what the media wrongly report, the incidence and severity of hurricanes has not increased in the past 100 years.

The polar ice cap increased 30% in 2008 and if the current global cooling continues soon the glaciers will stop receding and start growing again as they have done many times in the climatic history of this planet.

Anthony Weedon
Bockmer End,
Nr Marlow