Is there really a climate emergency? IPCC scientists might get out of it, and that’s not the case for climate science in general | Opinion

Jacob Hoegacker says the final word on climate change is far from being said. According to him, the IPCC has always been very concerning in previous reports.

Jesse Claver wants to declare a climate emergency in the Netherlands. He is in good company. The UN chief also talks about “code red”, while the KNMI weather factor misses any change in the weather to underscore the severity of the climate problem.

The United Nations Climate Panel (IPCC) has now managed to convince the entire community that there is catastrophic climate change caused by humans. The science is out, no more doubt. Climate change is due to the emission of greenhouse gases CO2 from burning fossil fuels.

Over the past 30 years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a series of doomsday messages, each time before a new climate summit. This is also the case a few weeks before the conference in Glasgow. No wonder everyone panics.

Science and politics go hand in hand

It is a misconception to think that science will come out. At the IPCC, science and policy go hand in hand. Scientists hired by the IPCC may be abroad, but this is by no means the case for climate science in general. The last word has not yet been said on the subject. However, let’s leave this discussion in place with the scholars.

The question now is whether there really is an emergency. Is the climate really bad or is the situation being pushed too hard? Let’s test it.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change publishes a new climate report approximately every five years. The sixth report was recently published. When assessing, it appears that the IPCC has always been very alarming in previous reports. The actual evolution of temperature appears to lag behind the expected evolution of temperature each time. Even though we live in a warm period (not unique by the way), the warming is less catastrophic than suggested.

More snow than 2012

Another example. Weatherman Reinier van den Berg predicted in 2012 that the Arctic would be completely ice-free by summer 2015. Since then, the opposite has been shown to be true. In 2015, there was more summer ice than in 2012. In the past 10 years, there has been slight growth and ice volume has almost returned to the normal range. The same applies to Antarctica.

Just before the turn of the century, a group of polar bear scientists predicted that within a few decades, roughly now, the number of polar bears would have perished, from about 25,000 to 8,000. The only polar bear emaciated on an ice floe has become a symbol of the intergovernmental body on climate change. the climate. It appeared everywhere. You don’t hear anything about the polar bear anymore, it’s no wonder the population hasn’t shrunk but rather grown to nearly 30,000 copies. Polar bears don’t want to cooperate either.

The list of highly exaggerated reports is almost endless, whether it’s hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, sea-level rise, (unflooded) atolls, and too many to mention. Well, another one then.

All glaciers are still there

Ten years ago, signs were placed everywhere in Glacier National Park in the United States warning tourists that the glaciers would be completely gone by 2020. The signs were recently removed. All glaciers are still there. The event has been cancelled.

It may be due to the heat from global warming, but panic balloons are all exploding in the faces of the prophets of doom.

Make no mistake about it, we live in a warm period against which we have to arm ourselves. However, do not panic. Fear is a bad advisor. Don’t let Joe think crazy.

Jacob Hoegacker is a resident of Ten Boer and a former GasTerra employee