Egg on Their Faces: The Maldives Still Above the Waves 30 Years After Environmentalist Prediction
Image via Shutterstock, a plane descending on the Maldives islands.
On
September 26, 2018, all 1,196 Maldives Islands will be under water, or
so our environmentalist betters told us in 1988. Next week, the Maldives
will go "poof," just like Atlantis. Here's the thing — the islands are
actually getting bigger, and the climate alarmists have egg on their
faces.
Daniel Turner, president of the pro-energy group Power the Future, had some fun
with this prediction. "THIS IS NOT A JOKE. STOP LAUGHING. We have 7
days to rescue all the people and the living creatures. Call Noah and
have him build another Ark. Bring out the Coast Guard. Send all the
boogie boards and floaties you can find for the Maldives is going down
in 7, 6, 5, 4..."
Turner
doesn't really believe that the Maldives will sink below the waves next
week. Anything is possible, but the best science is very much in favor
of the Maldives' future as islands, not sunken lands.
"The
earth is alive and it changes and it moves," Daniel Turner told PJ
Media on Friday. "It’s just a little bit presumptuous that mankind can
change it and controls it."
He
noted that there are a "tremendous number of factors" influencing
global climate, and outlandish predictions almost always turn out to be
false.
Turner noted Paul
Ehrlich's infamous predication "that England will not exist in the year
2000." He joked that Queen Elizabeth II, "age 92, is fighting to outlive
Mr. Ehrlich, age 86, just so she can get one last chuckle."
England is still here, and the Maldives are still here. As for the dire prediction, it was first published on September 26, 1988. The brief report, sent by Agence France-Presse (AFP) and published in Australia's The Canberra Times, made a specific prediction.
"A
gradual rise in average sea level is threatening to completely cover
this Indian Ocean nation of 1196 small islands within the next 30 years,
according to authorities," the report warned. "The environmental
Affairs Director, Mr Hussein Shihab, said an estimated rise of 20 to 30
centimeters in the next 20 to 40 years could be 'catastrophic' for most
of the islands, which were no more than a mere above sea level."
The
prediction got even worse, however. "But the end of the Maldives and
its 200,000 people could come sooner if drinking water supplies dry up
by 1992, as predicted," the report stated.
The year 1992 came
and went, but the people of the Maldives did not die of thirst.
September 26 is about four days away, and the islands show no signs of
sinking.
In fact, National Geographic's Kennedy Warne
reported in 2015 that the islands are growing, not shrinking. Warne
spoke with New Zealand coastal geomorphologist Paul Kench at the
University of Auckland's School of Environment. Kench worked along with
colleagues in Australia and Fiji to study reef islands and rising sea
levels.
"They found that
reef islands change shape and move around in response to shifting
sediments, and that many of them are growing in size, not shrinking, as
sea level inches upward," Warne reported. "The implication is that many
islands — especially less developed ones with few permanent structures —
may cope with rising seas well into the next century."
Tragically,
the more built up these islands are, the less likely they are to grow
naturally. That said, it is simply not the case that rising sea levels
will wash away the Maldives — and certainly not in the next four days.
Daniel
Turner himself recalled two areas where the sea level has not
noticeably risen in recent years. He did not suggest this was a
scientific study to prove that sea levels are not rising, but the
experiences are interesting.
"My
parents would point to this spot where you could jump off the deck and
into the ocean, when they were kids," Turner told PJ Media. Rockaway
Beach "is now probably 500 feet long and it grows about ten feet a year,
every year." That beach was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but
the fact remains — the land has increased, not decreased, in recent
years.
Similarly, the Power
the Future president recalled, "I lived in Italy. St. Mark's Square has
been flooding for 800 years, and the level's been pretty much exactly
where it's always been for 800 years. I don't see how this sea level
rise is happening.
Daniel Turner accused climate alarmists of making "these outlandish claims to scare people, to force policy change."
"When
it comes to the energy industry, one of the reasons it's constantly
under attack by the Left is philosophical," Turner suggested. "They do
not like private industry," due to their "quasi-socialist beliefs."
The
problem is, socialism ruins the free market, and the energy industry in
particular. "All socialist countries nationalize their energy
industry," he noted. He pointed to Venezuela, which has the third
largest oil reserves, but is plagued by gas shortages.
Similarly,
"California imports about 30 percent of its electricity because it
cannot meet its mandates of renewable electricity." The state imports
energy from Oregon, "which burns coal." In such cases, "all you're doing
is burning those fossil fuels somewhere else."
However, the
"ultimate proof" about the "fallacy of the climate change argument"
isn't any failed prediction or political agenda, Turner suggested.
Instead, this proof involves how climate alarmists live their lives.
Daniel
Turner mentioned the lavish lifestyles of Michael Bloomberg, Tom
Steyer, and Al Gore, who own (and keep the lights on at) multiple
houses, fly across the country on private jets, and enjoy a high life
powered by fossil fuels. Turner did not begrudge them their lavish
lifestyles, but he did attack the hypocrisy.
"They don't live green lives, but they want government to impose green mandates," the Power the Future president quipped.
Despite
all this — the failed predictions, the political edge, the hypocrisy —
so many people reject skeptics as if they were the crazy ones. "When we
point out inconsistencies, we're told we 'don't believe in science,'"
Daniel Turner explained. "There's nothing more unscientific than the
need to have 'belief' in science."
As
for the Maldives, Turner plans to console them for their loss — or,
should the environmentalists be wrong, which is of course impossible,
congratulate them for surviving. Luckily, the country has an embassy in
Washington, D.C., near where Turner is based.
"I'm
probably going to bring flowers or balloons to the embassy in D.C. and
congratulate them for surviving," Turner told PJ Media. Now that would
be a sight to see.
