Global warming to cause Y17 tril damage to Japan annually: study

Saturday 30th May, 05:36 AM JST

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realist at 01:18 PM JST - 30th May

Mike T Not sure what you mean by the "city population" of Tokyo. The popultaion of Tokyo is supposedly over 12 million souls, and greater Tokyo, over 40 million. As to this load of baloney from the nutty environment professors in Ibaraki, they have obviously got on the current Al Gore bandwagon. There is just another insane prohecy of doom and gloom by people who have top justify their existance and keep themselves in employment by scaremongering and producing this rubbish. I do not believe in the philosophy of "Global Warming" becuase when we examine the history of this planet we see natural cycles of climate change, every few hundred or thousand years. Nothing to get excited about. God is in control of the Planet and the Universe He made. Bad things happen here because of the greed and sin of mankind, but the ultimate control is with the Creator of the Universe.
MikeT at 01:38 PM JST - 30th May

Realist, guess it depends how we define our geographic areas, old Tokyo "City", Tokyo Prefecture, or the "Greater Tokyo Area." In the case of Tokyo Prefecture, the additional 4 million people, would only need the ostrich to leave his head in the sand an extra 2 weeks... The most urgent issue we face, is not the impact of heat stoke the Prof. talks about from a 1 or 2 oC rise over xx years, it is the strain on water; air, food, energy reserves, by adding the equivalent of a Tokyo Prefecture of 12 million people every 6 weeks.
Starviking at 01:58 PM JST - 30th May

@realist

As to this load of baloney from the nutty environment professors in Ibaraki, they have obviously got on the current Al Gore bandwagon.

Yup, strange isn't it - all these professors agreeing on AGW. They must either be being paid off by an enormous worldwide conspiracy which controls every reputable university in the world - or maybe they're right.

I do not believe in the philosophy of "Global Warming" becuase when we examine the history of this planet we see natural cycles of climate change, every few hundred or thousand years.

Those are because of changes in the orbit of the Earth - Milankovitch cycles. We are 50,000 years away from being affected by the next Milankovitch cycle - our current change is not part of any cycle, it's due to greenhouse gasses.

Nothing to get excited about. God is in control of the Planet and the Universe He made.

And yet God appointed us as the stewards of the Earth, and made a universe based on science...
goodDonkey at 04:39 PM JST - 30th May

realist said:

Nothing to get excited about. God is in control of the Planet and the Universe He made. Bad things happen here because of the greed and sin of mankind, but the ultimate control is with the Creator of the Universe.

Get a grip!

bammboohat said:

Forget about the inconvenient fact that most scientists who DON'T make their living pushing government swelling propaganda believe that this whole global warming myth is nothing more than junk logic science pushing a political agenda.

Wolfpack said:

Global warming is a pitiful joke on humanity and Japan is ... [blah, blah, blah]

Republican's Record on the Environment

No such thing as acid rain. Just believe in god and it will go away.

Lake Erie isn't dead it is just sleeping. god will wake it up when he is good and ready.

DDT was god's way of making it easier for Bald Eagle chicks to peck their way through the shell.

The Republicans fought against carbon monoxide restrictions on vehicles saying why should the fish be the one's having all the fun with the PCBs we allowed in the water.

Oil Slicks were god's way of giving water foul the greased back look that all the Republicans had in the '70's and '80's.

Nothing wrong with a little mercury in the fish; just think of it as a thermometer that will tell you when it is fully cooked.

Speaking of Republicans with greased back hair, when Ronald (I never dyed my hair with shoe polish) Reagan saw a baby pelican with a plastic ring around its neck strangling he noticed the other five holes were empty. He said, "Can I get a six pack of those for the White House lawn."

Yeah, Japan should be listening to the Republican conservatives on advise for the environment. They may not like things that are science-y but they can call god down to fix whatever is wrong whenever needed.
bonym at 05:19 PM JST - 30th May

Typical of japantoday posters like gooddonkey here to get the issues all screwed up. Global warming is a very real phenomenon, but its not being caused by man ! Lets not mix the two. However if such was the case Japan would be hard pressed to explain its absolute and complete failure to reach its Kyoto protocol targets. The main mystery being, how the hell did Japans co2 readings actually increase during the target dates for the protocol. Especially when japan has spent the last decade closing domestic factories and moving them over seas ! Throw in high gas prices that forced many drivers to take mass transit and the fact that domestic spending has crippled a lot of distribution networks... non of it makes sense. Japan should have been easily able to reach its targets. Any answers out there ?
Starviking at 05:40 PM JST - 30th May

@bonym

Global warming is a very real phenomenon, but its not being caused by man !

Care to expand on that point?
MikeT at 05:50 PM JST - 30th May

bonym - were your comments based on any research?

"The main mystery being, how the hell did Japans co2 readings actually increase during the target dates for the protocol"

Just for starters, the worlds largest nuclear power station, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant was closed for almost two years due to the Niigata earthquake, so TEPCO switched to fossil fuel power generation. If you do some quick research it does make sense.
bonym at 06:35 PM JST - 30th May

MikeT, there are thousands of greater minds out there that have documented their findings for the past 10-15 years. Al Gore is flat wrong ! As for this,

"TEPCO switched to fossil fuel power generation"

The Kyoto protocol was initiated in December of 1997 and put into full force in 2005. Japan has had anywhere between 12 and 5 years to address its co2 emissions. Shutting down one nuclear power plant for 2 years during this time would hardly explain the additional tons of co2 gasses that Japan has leaked into the atmosphere. And like I said, considering how many auto manufacturers and parts suppliers for various goods for consumer electronic goods have been shipped overseas well, Japan's increased co2 readings, as much as 9% by respectable organizations, is a real mystery bordering on deception that needs to be fully investigated.
bakabaka at 07:00 PM JST - 30th May

Bonym.... there are plenty of simple answers, but you're not going to believe them....
MikeT at 07:20 PM JST - 30th May

Bonym - assuming you don't believe the Nikkei is in on the conspiracy, this is quote from their newspaper about 3 weeks ago: "...In addition, the reactor's return will help Japan's efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Because the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station accounts for 17% of the total power generation capacity of all Japanese nuclear power plants, its shutdown and the subsequent switch to fossil fuel power plants pushed up CO2 emissions dramatically. The plant's shutdown is attributed to 70% of the 33.6 million ton increase in Japan's overall CO2 emissions in fiscal 2007. Some estimates suggest that a return to full-scale operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant will reduce Japan's CO2 emissions by roughly 30 million tons annually."
bonym at 07:20 PM JST - 30th May

Bakabaka... try me. As far as I know there has never been an indepth explanation as to why Japan's co2 numbers actually increased during the designated Kyoto Protocol time period. This leads me to believe that Japans numbers are, and have been, much worse than they are willing to admit. I have personally witnessed mass open field burnings in northern Japan that would make North American farmers shutter. As for the various ports around the country... smog just belches out the smoke stacks as ships idle for hours in the bays. FYI the air quality in Chibas port is 5x's worse than downtown Tokyo ! Time for Japan to come clean and openly discuss it's failures towards its international obligations.
bonym at 07:35 PM JST - 30th May

MikeT. The Nikkei is a domestic rag that gets its government info via the Kishaclub route. Show me an outside source, one thats not comprimised.

And starviking... not sure exactly what you wrote but from the snippet, LOL ! Touche !
bonym at 07:46 PM JST - 30th May

"So if you were trying to say that the sun is the problem you're wrong"

Really ? Fact, there have been fewer sun spots in 7 out of the 9 solar cycles in the last century and according to the national weather service in the US,

"What's really fascinating, though, is that this quiet sun coincides with the dimmest sun scientists have ever recorded, and a low in solar wind pressure. The lull in solar irradiance is only a tiny percentage below normal, but it is something to watch if our sun continues to dim. And the slowing of the solar wind actually began several years ago. But the confluence of changes has solar scientists on the run looking for links and explanations."
Starviking at 08:37 PM JST - 30th May

On the subject of sunspots - they're really a red herring, it is the Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) that has to be watched - which as you point out will be something to watch. However, TSI has not changed significantly over the past 30 years of satellite observations - whilst global warming has.
sydenham at 01:13 AM JST - 31st May

fine, yes, we're all going to hell in a hand basket, all right. but what about the beech trees?