Jolly Hockey Sticks

Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

The world’s most infamous hockey stick was probably the graph produced for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1998. The purpose of the graph was to show how global temperatures had changed over time and what had caused these  changes. Over the last millennium, the graph showed a steady but gentle increase in temperature until about 1900 when the graph showed a sharp increase. It is this graph which has been influential in the public perception of Anthropogenic Global Warming – the idea that the Earth is getting warmer and that this is the fault of human industrial activity.

It would certainly appear to be the case that the world has warmed up slightly since 1900. This should not really be a surprise. The mean temperature of the Earth has clearly fluctuated over time. For example, there is a phenomenon known as the Medieval Warm Period. This was a period in the Middle Ages when there seemed to be greater temperatures than today. Areas of Northern England, such as the environs of York, were able to support vineyards which they are not easily able to do today. This Medieval Warm Period should show up on the graph as a dome; yet, the graph shows a straight line over the last millennium, up to 1990. If the graph is so inaccurate for the period 1200 through 1600, how can it be trusted for the 20th Century? Indeed, many leading scientists have criticized all parts of the graph, suggesting that the data does not support this alarmist graph.

It is fortunate that the Bible reminds us that there will be no major changes to global climate until God brings the world to an end.

Thank You Lord, that while Earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Lawson, N. (2008), An Appeal to Reason, (Duckworth), pp. 17-21. Image: Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 Generic.