Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weather

[krafty]

SINGAPORE – After the prolonged dry spell this year, a water-rationing exercise could be on the cards next year to educate the public on how to save water, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in an exclusive interview with Channel NewsAsia.






By -



December 21




SINGAPORE – After the prolonged dry spell this year, a water-rationing exercise could be on the cards next year to educate the public on how to save water, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in an exclusive interview with Channel NewsAsia.
He said the dry spell and rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weather in the future, which Singapore needs to be prepared for.

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In February, Singapore faced the its driest month in 145 years, which led to blistering weather, parched landscapes as well as an increase in the demand for water.
Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore saw through the period thanks to decades of investment in infrastructure, such as desalination plants, and in technology such as NEWater. Going forward, his ministry is reviewing its current infrastructure of reservoirs and storage capacities, and could roll out more desalination plants.
But water demand needs to be managed. “I’m still contemplating when or how we should embark on a public education campaign, perhaps with a water rationing exercise - not because we are desperately short but because we have to make the point that we do need to be prepared and if we do need to reduce water consumption, how does it affect our daily lives,” said Dr Balakrishnan.
“So that’s something we may need to think about next year and perhaps the best time to do that is precisely at the time when there isn’t a dry spell.”
From June 2015, large commercial water users will have to submit to PUB their plans to use water more efficiently. Dr Balakrishnan said once the companies and the authorities can get a sense of “what works and what does not”, the plan could be rolled out to smaller non-domestic consumers.
The dry spell also brought haze to the region earlier. Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore was spared the brunt of it because of several factors – from favourable wind direction to the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act. Under the Act, errant companies could be fined up to S$2 million should the haze hit “unhealthy levels”.
Turning to another perennial problem, dengue, Dr Balakrishnan warned that the virus could take on a new form. “After having two years of predominantly dengue type 1, we know from past experience, when there is a subsequent serotype switch in a year or two or even three years from now, there is the danger of another rebound epidemic, so dengue will keep us occupied,” he said
“We are also studying the possibility of using a special strain of mosquitoes with Wolbachia infection in order to try to reduce the population of mosquitoes. If we are convinced that it is safe, then it is possible that sometime next year, we can embark on field trials.”
Late this year, the government released the second Sustainable Singapore Blueprint, which charts the environmental vision for the next five years. It includes reducing the reliance on private transportation as well as improving Singapore’s recycling rate. Dr Balakrishnan said food recycling is a key focus going forward, as it currently stands at a lowly 13 per cent.
Globally, the international community is grappling with climate change. Sea levels are projected to rise between about 28cm and 98cm by 2100, which could prove to be catastrophic for countries with coastal, low-lying areas if they are not prepared. To guard against this, reclaimed land in Singapore has to be 2.25m above the highest recorded tide level. Previously, the minimum requirement was 1.25m.
This will affect the land where Changi Airport’s new Terminal 5 will be located. The terminal will be built on an existing plot of reclaimed land measuring some 1,000 hectares. Channel NewsAsia understands parts of the land do not meet the 2.25m criteria. The Ministry of Transport says that will have to be topped up.
“The airport will be safe enough from future sea level rise, but this doesn’t take into account other factors,” said Dr Wong Poh Poh, coordinating lead author of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “What if there were to be an extreme high tide that coincides with storm surges? Anything can happen. You must always remember that tsunamis can happen in this part of the world.”
Dr Wong said solutions can be found in the eco-system. Coral reefs have been found to reduce energy produced by waves by up to 80 per cent and mangroves can be grown to protect shorelines. Dr Wong said ideal locations for mangroves can be in the waters around Pulau Ubin, Pulau Tekong and Singapore’s southern islands. CHANNEL NEWSASIA

 

[Leongsam]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

Global warming is a myth. Don't believe the crap spewed by the PAP.

---

PROVIDING INSIGHT
INTO CLIMATE CHANGE

MYTHS / FACTS
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING
MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate.
FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, warming to 1941, cooling to 1964, warming to 1998 and cooling through 2011. The warming rate from 1964 to 1998 was the same as the previous warming from 1911 to 1941. Satellites, weather balloons and ground stations all show cooling since 2001. The mild warming of 0.6 to 0.8 C over the 20th century is well within the natural variations recorded in the last millennium. The ground station network suffers from an uneven distribution across the globe; the stations are preferentially located in growing urban and industrial areas ("heat islands"), which show substantially higher readings than adjacent rural areas ("land use effects"). Two science teams have shown that correcting the surface temperature record for the effects of urban development would reduce the reported warming trend over land from 1980 by half.
There has been no catastrophic warming recorded.


MYTH 2: The "hockey stick" graph proves that the earth has experienced a steady, very gradual temperature decrease for 1000 years, then recently began a sudden increase.
FACT: Significant changes in climate have continually occurred throughout geologic time. For instance, the Medieval Warm Period, from around 1000 to1200 AD (when the Vikings farmed on Greenland) was followed by a period known as the Little Ice Age. Since the end of the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] Century the "average global temperature" has been rising at the low steady rate mentioned above; although from 1940 – 1970 temperatures actually dropped, leading to a Global Cooling scare.
The "hockey stick", a poster boy of both the UN's IPCC and Canada's Environment Department, ignores historical recorded climatic swings, and has now also been proven to be flawed and statistically unreliable as well. It is a computer construct and a faulty one at that.

MYTH 3: Human produced carbon dioxide has increased over the last 100 years, adding to the Greenhouse effect, thus causing most of the earth's warming of the last 100 years.
FACT: Carbon dioxide levels have indeed changed for various reasons, human and otherwise, just as they have throughout geologic time. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the CO[SUB]2[/SUB] content of the atmosphere has increased. The RATE of growth during this period has also increased from about 0.2% per year to the present rate of about 0.4% per year,which growth rate has now been constant for the past 25 years. However, there is no proof that CO[SUB]2[/SUB] is the main driver of global warming. As measured in ice cores dated over many thousands of years, CO[SUB]2[/SUB] levels move up and down AFTER the temperature has done so, and thus are the RESULT OF, NOT THE CAUSE of warming. Geological field work in recent sediments confirms this causal relationship. There is solid evidence that, as temperatures move up and down naturally and cyclically through solar radiation, orbital and galactic influences, the warming surface layers of the earth's oceans expel more CO[SUB]2[/SUB] as a result.

MYTH 4: CO2 is the most common greenhouse gas.
FACT: Greenhouse gases form about 3% of the atmosphere by volume. They consist of varying amounts, (about 97%) of water vapour and clouds, with the remainder being gases like CO[SUB]2[/SUB], CH[SUB]4[/SUB], Ozone and N[SUB]2[/SUB]O, of which carbon dioxide is the largest amount. Hence, CO[SUB]2[/SUB] constitutes about 0.04% of the atmosphere. While the minor gases are more effective as "greenhouse agents" than water vapour and clouds, the latter are overwhelming the effect by their sheer volume and – in the end – are thought to be responsible for 75% of the "Greenhouse effect". (See here) At current concentrations, a 3% change of water vapour in the atmosphere would have the same effect as a 100% change in CO2.
Those attributing climate change to CO[SUB]2[/SUB] rarely mention these important facts.

MYTH 5: Computer models verify that CO2 increases will cause significant global warming.
FACT: The computer models assume that CO2 is the primary climate driver, and that the Sun has an insignificant effect on climate. Using the output of a model to verify its initial assumption is committing the logical fallacy of circular reasoning. Computer models can be made to roughly match the 20th century temperature rise by adjusting many input parameters and using strong positive feedbacks. They do not "prove" anything. Also, computer models predicting global warming are incapable of properly including the effects of the sun, cosmic rays and the clouds. The sun is a major cause of temperature variation on the earth surface as its received radiation changes all the time, This happens largely in cyclical fashion. The number and the lengths in time of sunspots can be correlated very closely with average temperatures on earth, e.g. the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period. Varying intensity of solar heat radiation affects the surface temperature of the oceans and the currents. Warmer ocean water expels gases, some of which are CO2. Solar radiation interferes with the cosmic ray flux, thus influencing the amount ionized nuclei which control cloud cover.
MYTH 6: The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has proven that man–made CO2 causes global warming.
FACT: In a 1996 report by the UN on global warming, two statements were deleted from the final draft approved and accepted by a panel of scientists. Here they are:
1) “None of the studies cited above has shown clear evidence that we can attribute the observed climate changes to increases in greenhouse gases.”
2) “No study to date has positively attributed all or part of the climate change to man–made causes”
To the present day there is still no scientific proof that man-made CO2 causes significant global warming.

MYTH 7: CO2 is a pollutant.
FACT: This is absolutely not true. Nitrogen forms 80% of our atmosphere. We could not live in 100% nitrogen either. Carbon dioxide is no more a pollutant than nitrogen is. CO2 is essential to life on earth. It is necessary for plant growth since increased CO2 intake as a result of increased atmospheric concentration causes many trees and other plants to grow more vigorously. Unfortunately, the Canadian Government has included CO2 with a number of truly toxic and noxious substances listed by the Environmental Protection Act, only as their means to politically control it.

MYTH 8: Global warming will cause more storms and other weather extremes.
FACT: There is no scientific or statistical evidence whatsoever that supports such claims on a global scale. Regional variations may occur. Growing insurance and infrastructure repair costs, particularly in coastal areas, are sometimes claimed to be the result of increasing frequency and severity of storms, whereas in reality they are a function of increasing population density, escalating development value, and ever more media reporting.

MYTH 9: Receding glaciers and the calving of ice shelves are proof of global warming.
FACT: Glaciers have been receding and growing cyclically for hundreds of years. Recent glacier melting is a consequence of coming out of the very cool period of the Little Ice Age. Ice shelves have been breaking off for centuries. Scientists know of at least 33 periods of glaciers growing and then retreating. It’s normal. Besides, changes to glacier's extent is dependent as much on precipitation as on temperature.

MYTH 10: The earth’s poles are warming; polar ice caps are breaking up and melting and the sea level rising.
FACT: The earth is variable. The Arctic Region had warmed from 1966 to 2005, due to cyclic events in the Pacific Ocean and soot from Asia darkening the ice, but there has been no warming since 2005. Current temperatures are the same as in 1943. The small Palmer Peninsula of Antarctica is getting warmer, while the main Antarctic continent is actually cooling. Ice cap thicknesses in both Greenland and Antarctica are increasing.
Sea level monitoring in the Pacific (Tuvalu) and Indian Oceans (Maldives) has shown no sign of any sea level rise.

- See more at: http://www.friendsofscience.org/index.php?id=3#sthash.3KHneG5J.dpuf

 

[LEGEND]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

Pre empt for price hike. Na Beh Chee Bye! Think Limbeh dunno their Lanjiao pattern! :oIo:

 

[frenchbriefs]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

oh yes another exercise to "educate" the public,is there any exercise that can educate the government on obscene salaries and excessive white elephant projects?

 

[syed putra]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

water level goes up, land acreage goes down, so sinkies can become billionaires by asset value no? Only those that still have homes that is.

 

[krafty]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

boss, how did you remove the deformity in my post? please advise...thxs..

Global warming is a myth. Don't believe the crap spewed by the PAP.
- See more at: http://www.friendsofscience.org/index.php?id=3#sthash.3KHneG5J.dpuf

 

[Leongsam]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

boss, how did you remove the deformity in my post? please advise...thxs..

I have told you a million times over DO NOT copy and paste the various embedded scripts just stick to the HTML code of the message.

You seem to be a very slow learner. If all sinkies are like you, I can well understand why the government has to import talented foreigners.

 

[krafty]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

i checked that there were no scripts, then i post...:o

I have told you a million times over DO NOT copy and paste the various embedded scripts just stick to the HTML code of the message.

You seem to be a very slow learner. If all sinkies are like you, I can well understand why the government has to import talented foreigners.

 

[Leongsam]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

i checked that there were no scripts, then i post...:o

You need to get your eyesight checked too. There were scripts galore in the code you pasted.

 

[krafty]

Re: Prolonged dry spell in 2014, rising sea levels serve as a warning of extreme weat

thxs......:o

You need to get your eyesight checked too. There were scripts galore in the code you pasted.