Bush fires were not caused by global warming
Last Updated: February 17. 2009 9:30AM UAE / February 17. 2009 5:30AM GMT



A fire engine flees out-of-control flames from a bushfire in Bunyip State Forest, 125km west of Melbourne. Some observers blame the current drought on global warming, others on low temperatures in the Indian Ocean. AP Photo
I congratulate the bravery of Phil Painter in his letter Balance on global warming (Feb 16) for daring to express what many might consider heretical views on the subject of man-made global warming. It has long puzzled me that eminent scientists (and less eminent politicians) have been prophesying global catastrophe based on an almost insignificant increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. The current figures show that in the past 50 or so years, carbon dioxide as a percentage of the total atmosphere has increased by little more than 0.01 per cent. The longer term forecasts estimate a 0.03 per cent increase by midcentury. Is the earth really so fragile that a 0.03 per cent difference will cause climactic cataclysm? Somehow I think not.
I find it particularly troubling that the global warming lobby so eagerly jumps on a tragedy such as the recent wildfires in Australia to use as an awful warning of what is to come. The fact is that the current drought in the southern half of Australia that created the conditions for the fires to start and to spread, is being caused by an unusually large volume of cold water currently sitting in the southern Indian Ocean. As a consequence, the westerly air-flows that cross Australia instead of being warm and moist have been clear and dry. Result: no rain and higher land temperatures. It’s worth noting that the last time such a dramatic shift in the Indian Ocean oscillation (as it’s known) was observed was in the 1940s – and was followed by 25 years of quite severe global cooling that had climate scientists warning that the planet was on the edge of another Ice Age.