Essay by Eric Worrall

“A single repetition is enough to nudge recipients towards acceptance of the repeated claim, even when their attitudes are aligned with climate science”

Repeating climate denial claims makes them seem more credible, Australian-led study finds

Even those who are concerned about climate crisis were influenced by false claims, showing how ‘insidious’ repetition is, researcher says

Petra Stock Thu 8 Aug 2024 04.00 AEST

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The study’s lead author, Mary Jiang, from the Australian National University, said: “The findings show how powerful and insidious repetition is and how it can influence people’s assessment of truth.”

Published in the academic journal Plos One, the study said people were more likely to judge a statement as probably true if they had encountered it before, a behaviour psychologists called the “illusory truth effect”.

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“A single repetition is enough to nudge recipients towards acceptance of the repeated claim, even when their attitudes are aligned with climate science, and they can correctly identify the claim as being counter-attitudinal,” the paper states.

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An example of a science-based claim was that “climate change models can make accurate predictions”, Jiang said. A sceptical claim might challenge the accuracy of climate science or suggest a conspiracy.

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“Media are crucial in all of this because the science is settled … We know what the issues are and we know what needs to be done in response and we know the timeframe,” she said.

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The paper concluded: “Do not repeat false information. Instead, repeat what is true and enhance its familiarity.”

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/08/repeating-climate-denial-claims-makes-them-seem-more-credible-australian-led-study-finds

The abstract of the study. The researchers used a sample size of 100 volunteers, whittled down to 52 after post processing, so obviously it is solid science.

Repetition increases belief in climate-skeptical claims, even for climate science endorsers

Abstract

Does repeated exposure to climate-skeptic claims influence their acceptance as true, even among climate science endorsers? Research with general knowledge claims shows that repeated exposure to a claim increases its perceived truth when it is encountered again. However, motivated cognition research suggests that people primarily endorse what they already believe. Across two experiments, climate science endorsers were more likely to believe claims that were consistent with their prior beliefs, but repeated exposure increased perceptions of truth for climate-science and climate-skeptic claims to a similar extent. Even counter-attitudinal claims benefit from previous exposure, highlighting the insidious effect of repetition.

Read more: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0307294

You naughty unbelievers, if you all stopped repeating claims that climate models are trash, that lots of scientists don’t think Michael Mann is a climate hero, that Biden’s energy policies aren’t working, more people would believe.

The study authors stop short of calling for outright censorship, but “Media are crucial in all of this because the science is settled … We know … what needs to be done in response and we know the timeframe“.

Perhaps believers should organise morning Gaea worship sessions, where everyone chants “The climate models are accurate, all climate claims are correct” for 10 minutes every day, to counter the impact of all those insidious climate skeptic messages.

By Vijay Jayaraj

Iron deficiency — and the anemia it causes — remains a persistent global health issue that can only be exacerbated by a war on meat waged by climate alarmists, whose hostility to animal protein is a manifestation of an anti-human ideology.

Growing up in South Asia, I observed a dietary practice in India where moderate consumption of red meat was prescribed by doctors for individuals with severe anemia, especially women during pregnancy. According to the World Health Organization, more than 40% of children and pregnant women in India and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa are anemic.

The most common symptom of anemia is persistent fatigue, a product of the inability of iron-starved red blood cells to adequately supply oxygen to the body. The cardiovascular system is stressed significantly by the condition.

Studies in 204 countries between 1990 and 2019 show that the most prevalent cause of iron deficiency is a dietary lack of heme iron, a form of the element found in meat.

“Meat is acknowledged as a vital iron source due to its heme iron content, which is more readily absorbed than non-heme iron from plants,” reports an article published in the U.K., where anemia is said to be a long-standing problem for the elderly, teenage girls and women of child-bearing age. Meat’s heme iron also boosts the absorption of non-heme iron from foods eaten during the same meal, according to research.

Cooked beef has the highest heme iron content, followed by lamb, pork and chicken.

According 2021 data from the Institute for Health Metric and Evaluation, anemia rates were worst in Western sub-Saharan Africa, where 47% of the population suffered from the condition. Other severely affected regions were South Asia and Central sub-Saharan Africa, both with incidence rates of about 36%.  Conversely, the incidence of anemia was less then 7% in North America, Western Europe and Australasia, where the consumption of red meat was higher.

However, red meat, especially beef, gets no love from the climate obsessed, who claim that methane, a byproduct of a cow’s digestion, threatens to warm the atmosphere to dangerous levels — an alarm that has no scientific basis.

The evidence is overwhelming that the climate scare is supported by a gross exaggeration of the warming potential of methane as well as that of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, the last being a critical plant food without which no life could exist.

Even some of those concerned about a manmade climate emergency acknowledge that methane emissions from animal husbandry are not a significant factor. Yet, that didn’t stop the governing council of certain Melbourne suburbs to encourage a switch to “plant-based diets” to avert a “looming climate and ecological crisis.”

“There is substantial evidence to suggest that the emissions associated with current dietary patterns—particularly the high and increasing rate of consumption of animal products—are likely to make it impossible to limit global heating,” warned the Yarra City Council in an 81-page document.

The hot air passed by even the largest herd of cattle could not be more offensive than that produced by such poppycock.

Atmospheric methane has a short lifespan of just 12 years. Through a natural process, it is converted to carbon dioxide, which is utilized as plant food by way of photosynthesis. Eventually, methane emitted by cows circulates back to them in the form of grass and other forage. The warming effect of any additions of the gas — whether from animals, decaying vegetation or industrial activity — is so small as to be undetectable.

Human civilization took many centuries to perfect the art of agriculture and animal husbandry to the point that enough iron-rich food can be produced for a world of 8 billion people. Having accomplished this remarkable feat, some would impose a meatless dystopia of malnutrition in response to a non-existent climate crisis.

This is, of course, intolerable.

This commentary was first published at BizPac Review on July 20, 2024.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, U.K., and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, U.K.

Essay by Eric Worrall

Apparently the problem is not that some Pakistani men are cowardly wife beaters, the problem is climate change.

How climate change affects youth mental health in Pakistan

Aug 8, 2024
Henna Hundal
Sikander Bizenjo
Manager, External Engagements, Engro

• In 2024, Pakistan has faced devastating floods and extreme heat, hindering its recovery from existing climate crisis-related disasters.
• While the economic and physical health impacts of climate change are clear, Pakistan’s population is also experiencing the often overlooked mental health ramifications.
• How can a growing sense of climate anxiety or “eco-anxiety” in locals be addressed?

Pakistan is facing an onslaught of climate disasters. Since record floods in 2022 that affected 33 million residents and caused more than $15 billion in damages, the country has contended with several new crises that have hampered a sustained recovery.

In February 2024, flash floods further upended lives and livelihoods in the southwestern coastal region of Gwadar – the heart of a billion-dollar investment under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The summer of 2024 has been marked by searing heat with thousands of Pakistanis succumbing to heatstroke and inundating healthcare facilities.

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Several of the women we spoke to suggested that climate events tend to disrupt community networks that are critical for Pakistani women’s social support, in turn heightening feelings of isolation and anxiety. Not to mention, these disasters can potentially expose them to additive traumatic circumstances, consistent with reporting that early marriages and intimate partner violence surge during times of climate change-driven instability.

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Read more: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/08/climate-change-pakistan-mental-health-eco-anxiety/

The evidence that climate change is playing a role in Pakistan floods is less than conclusive.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

New study reveals the influence of natural climate drivers on extreme monsoons in Pakistan

• A new study by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory looks at the influence of natural climate variability on extreme flooding in Pakistan.
• The study analyzed over 40 years of data and found that natural climate variability accounts for over 70% of observed monsoon variability and extremes in Pakistan during the 21st century, with climate change potentially adding to their severity.

A new study by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory looks at some of the influences that could be driving the increasingly severe weather over Pakistan. 

Published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, the study analyzed over 40 years of data and found that natural climate variability, which includes factors such as sea surface temperature and jet stream anomalies, accounts for over 70% of observed monsoon variability and extremes in Pakistan during the 21st century — with climate change potentially adding to their severity.

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Although natural climate variability can explain more than 70% of the precipitation variability over Pakistan, Ashfaq explained that climate change may still play an indirect role. The increased variabilities in jet stream and sea surface temperatures and co-occurrence of multiple forcings may be caused by climate change. Additionally, more atmospheric moisture caused by warmer global temperatures can lead to heavier rainfall, especially when combined with other dynamic forcings. However, further research is necessary to fully understand the impact of climate change on monsoons in Pakistan.

“The link between climate change and extreme weather should be carefully evaluated,” Ashfaq said. “Climate change may have an indirect role in shaping the changes in the characteristics of identified forcings, but they’re all part of naturally occurring variability in the atmosphere and the oceans.”

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Read more: https://www.ornl.gov/news/new-study-reveals-influence-natural-climate-drivers-extreme-monsoons-pakistan

The abstract of the study;

Published: 21 September 2023

The influence of natural variability on extreme monsoons in Pakistan

• Moetasim Ashfaq, 
• Nathaniel Johnson, 
• Fred Kucharski, 
• Noah S. Diffenbaugh, 
• Muhammad Adnan Abid, 
• Matthew F. Horan, 
• Deepti Singh, 
• Salil Mahajan, 
• Subimal Ghosh, 
• Auroop R. Ganguly, 
• Katherine J. Evans & 
• Shafiqul Islam 

Abstract

The monsoons in Pakistan have been exceptionally harsh in recent decades, resulting in extraordinary drought conditions and record flooding events. The changing characteristics of extreme events are widely attributed to climate change. However, given this region’s long history of floods and droughts, the role of natural climate variability cannot be rejected without a careful diagnosis. Here, we examine how oceanic and atmospheric variability has contributed to unusual precipitation distributions in West South Asia. Variations in sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific and northern Arabian Sea, and internal atmospheric variability related to the circumglobal teleconnection pattern and the subtropical westerly jet stream, explain more than 70% of monthly summer precipitation variability in the 21st century. Several of these forcings have co-occurred with record strength during episodes of extreme monsoons, which have exacerbated the overall effect. Climate change may have contributed to increased variability and the in-phase co-occurrences of the identified mechanisms, but further research is required to confirm any such connection.

Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-023-00462-8

If the flood events are likely natural, or even if there is a threat from climate change, the real question is, what can be done about the floods?

There is evidence that Pakistan could do a lot more to alleviate the damage from floods.

What does colonialism have to do with climate change?

Sep 9, 2022

John Letzing
Digital Editor, Strategic Intelligence, World Economic Forum

Minji Sung
Data Visuals and Content Specialist, Strategic Intelligence, World Economic Forum

Flooding in Pakistan has revived interest in the relationship between the colonial past and the present climate crisis. 

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When flooding amplified by climate change began to submerge nearly a third of Pakistan recently, a remnant of the country’s colonial past stood between the deluge and hundreds of thousands of people: the Sukkur Barrage.

It wasn’t certain that the 90-year-old diversion dam, a onetime engineering triumph designed by local British rulers but since cited for safety issues and described as “decrepit”, would endure – making it a potentially fatal burden and a symbol of the corrosive impact of colonialism on much of the world.

The dam held, despite Pakistan’s “monsoon on steroids”. Other outcomes have been less fortunate. A German non-profit’s list of the 10 countries most affected by climate change-related extreme weather events during the first two decades of this century includes eight former colonies (one isn’t technically a country, and remains a US territory sometimes described as a colony).

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The British Raj, which included present-day Pakistan, is far from the only historical example of an exploitative colonial presence.

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One means of addressing the disparity might be through reparations. 

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Read more: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/colonialism-climate-change-pakistan-floods/

Given the barrage has been largely neglected in the 75 years since the fall of the British Raj, it is a testament to the remarkable workmanship of the British imperial age that the barrage held back part of the 2022 floods.

Perhaps if Pakistani politicians and officials stopped stealing all the infrastructure money, and spent a decent amount of cash on flood control measures, they wouldn’t have to rely on historic monuments to mitigate the devastation caused by likely entirely natural flood events. Bonus points if Pakistan makes a bigger effort to address cultural acceptance of child marriages, kidnapping, rape and domestic abuse of women, instead of blaming the problem on climate change.