I know mainstream media reporters get a lot of things wrong through ignorance and laziness. But this seems like a tough one to mess up on without being deliberate. The Washington Post headline is After the Pacific Ocean swallows villages and five Solomon Islands, a study blames climate change:
In a recent paper in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the scientists link the destructive sea level rise to anthropogenic — that is, human-caused — climate change. The study marks the first time anyone has concretely analyzed the loss of Solomon Island shoreline in the context of global warming, they say.
…
the sea-level rise observed in this study — at about a fourth to two-fifths of an inch a year — is triple the global average.
Really? So they believe the water just got piled up in the South Pacific? Do they have crap for brains? Or do they just believe their readers do?
So… I read the original paper, Interactions between sea-level rise and wave exposure on reef island dynamics in the Solomon Islands. Abstract:
Low-lying reef islands in the Solomon Islands provide a valuable window into the future impacts of global sea-level rise. Sea-level rise has been predicted to cause widespread erosion and inundation of low-lying atolls in the central Pacific. However, the limited research on reef islands in the western Pacific indicates the majority of shoreline changes and inundation to date result from extreme events, seawalls and inappropriate development rather than sea-level rise alone. Here, we present the first analysis of coastal dynamics from a sea-level rise hotspot in the Solomon Islands. Using time series aerial and satellite imagery from 1947 to 2014 of 33 islands, along with historical insight from local knowledge, we have identified five vegetated reef islands that have vanished over this time period and a further six islands experiencing severe shoreline recession. Shoreline recession at two sites has destroyed villages that have existed since at least 1935, leading to community relocations. Rates of shoreline recession are substantially higher in areas exposed to high wave energy, indicating a synergistic interaction between sea-level rise and waves. Understanding these local factors that increase the susceptibility of islands to coastal erosion is critical to guide adaptation responses for these remote Pacific communities.
Nothing about climate change.
Here is the conclusion of the paper:
This study represents the first assessment of shoreline change from the Solomon Islands, a global sea-level rise hotspot. We have documented five vegetated reef islands (1–5 ha in size) that have recently vanished and a further six islands experiencing severe shoreline recession. Shoreline recession at two sites has destroyed villages that have existed since at least 1935, leading to community relocations. The large range of erosion severity on the islands in this study highlights the critical need to understand the complex interplay between the projected accelerating sea-level rise, other changes in global climate such as winds and waves, and local tectonics, to guide future adaptation planning and minimise social impacts.
The paper mentions concerns about changes in climate which may affect the islands, but they do not attribute the changes they have seen to climate change. And, in fact, the paper mentions something the Washington Post conveniently doesn’t mention (emphasis added):
Change in the twelve islands in Roviana was mixed with six islands growing slightly (<20%) and six islands declining slightly (<20%).
Some islands are growing in size. Apparently that doesn’t fit the narrative so the general public doesn’t need to see it.
My conclusion: The Washington Post is deliberately deceiving the general public and has crap for brains for believing their readers are too stupid or lazy to read the original paper when they even give us a link to the original paper.
AGW and climate change are a pseudo-religion with virtue signaling for the lame brains on the Left. The “science” is so shoddy that I shudder, but Hollywood elites latch on and politicians use it for control over simpletons.
They want to attribute our total destruction to the mere 4% of CO2 made by man’s activities, which are a tiny subset of the minuscule 4% of the atmosphere made up of CO2. All the while, CO2 is a piss poor greenhouse gas and the clouds and solar activity are the big players.
In other words, man’s tiny contribution to a rare and insignificant weak green house gas is what they get all excited about. Pathetic.
Total CO2 in the atmosphere is only about 400 parts per million (0.04%). Not 4%.
Oh manure. My mistake. My failing memory got the best of me. Thanks for the correction.
Yes, atmospheric CO2 is a tiny 0.04% (actually I see 0.038%) and if I have my other factoid straight, man’s contribution to it is only around 4% of that tiny amount. It’s like a pimple on a flea.
So, the point is now even stronger.
Our contribution to a gas that is a very tiny fraction of our atmosphere is insubstantial. The drivers of the green house gas effect necessary for our moderate temperatures is the activity of the sun and the water vapor (i.e. clouds). Man is not the doomsday device for the planet.
Of course snake oil sells and keeps Al Gore fat and happy.
Every field scientist now quotes global warming so they can get funded. Papers push the narative. Goverments push for more funding. Perfect triad of evil?
That was the scenario I envisioned too. I used to work in a government lab. Funding was a constant concern. Deliberate pushing of a research topic in certain directions to increase the odds of getting funding happened all the time.
Which is the one and only purpose behind government (coercive) funding of “science” outside of weapons research.
“Sea-level rise hotspots” eh? That does raise questions. Who’s manipulating Earth’s gravity? Are we going lop-sided somehow? Center of gravity no longer so close to geometric center? Sea water’ll be flinging off into space afore we know it, unless the UN gets more control over industry, resources and the markets? Totalitarianism is our only hope then? So because of weather and geological phenomena, Karl Marx is proven right after all and liberty has to die?
Hot spots.
Remember, Leftists include, without criticism that stupid politician who thought Guam could capsize if too many people lived there.
My question when I read this was, Why only five islands. Sea-level rise hotspots explains it perfectly and scientifically. The Maldives must be making boats after reading about this.
Why choose? It’s deliberate crapception for brains.
You never know; islands could start capsizing any time now, and then you’ll be eating your words. Could be the whole North American continent could capsize, twisting off at Panama and sinking, due to all the lead from American gun owners’ bullets piling up. The NRA (and capitalism) (and white men) will have been responsible, with women and minorities hardest hit.
I bet you could convince some popular entertainer of that. Get him drunk or high and he’ll repeat it in public in front of cameras.
You are on to something. All the lead in our bullets on this side of the planet will most certainly impact gravity waves and distort the shape of the Earth and maybe create a black hole. Then America will capsize. Ha, ha!
Just mail your scientific-looking findings to Leonardo Di Caprio and we will see it on the nightly news.
Plate tectonics result in the slow and inexorable creation and destruction of island archipelagos, with the Hawaiian Islands being a prime example. Islands form over a geologic hot spot, and as the Pacific Plate moves them away towards the bordering plate boundaries, they eventually are inundated – there’s a whole string of seamounts (submerged, flat-topped remnants of extinct volcanoes) trailing away to the east of the now-visible Hawaiian Islands.
Sea level isn’t necessarily rising locally in the Solomons. The perceived rise could very easily be due to plate marginal effects, like subduction. After all, the deepest oceanic trench in the world is also in that vicinity.
It used to be that people were taught about land rising or sinking. For example, I was told as a kid that Norway is rising and Holland is sinking. The reason: ice age — Norway was under a thick layer of ice and was pushed down by that, and when the ice receded it started rising and still is. And since the plate floats on the underlying magma, when one part rises, another part must necessarily sink. That other part is Holland (and other parts of Europe south of the ice line).
Called isostatic rebound. Trust me – I’m a geologist! 🙂
My sister was a journalism major, though that is not what she ended up doing for a living. Based on her assessment at the time, she thought the future of journalism would be bleak, because the quality of her classmates was very very low.
The fact is most journalists are not that smart, nor are they very well educated.