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There have been many arguments both for and against the World Culture Festival 2016 being conducted on the Yamuna plains. The National Green Tribunal alleges that the event has destroyed the river and the environment.Let us go through a detailed analysis of the various important claims put out by the National Green Tribunal’s (to be referred as NGT hereafter) Expert Committee alleging damage to the Yamuna Floodplains post the World Culture Festival, 2016 conducted by the Art of Living Foundation.I would like to present before the readers a statistically unbiased and scientifically backed representation of this case which is currently sub-judice.Land Description:Before we go further, it is essential that we first geographically define the area over which the World Culture Festival was conducted (From 11th March –13th March 2016)The land parcel is a finite piece of land over the Yamuna floodplain bound by the DND Flyover to its South; Barapulla Drain to its North;River Yamuna to its East and Ring Road to its West.Area ~ 25 hectaresCan be located on WGS (World Geodetic System) 84 coordinates 24 deg 34’55’’N and 77 deg 16’43’’EHere is the detailed image categorically bifurcating the various land sites w.r.t it’s usage for the event(Source: Google Earth, 15th of March ,2016)2. It is very essential to draw the following conclusions from the above satellite images:3-Permanently ramps existed since 2008 (Having bituminous pavement,with potholes and degenerating bituminous overlay).7-Area marked by the purple region previously had mounts of construction waste (malba) solid waste,which has been cleared for the WCF 2016 event by the Art of Living foundation at its own expense.8-Unpaved earthen road running parallel to the Barapullah drain,which is in existence at least since the year 2000,used for vehicles and earth-movers engaged in drain cleaning and slit removal in this section of Barapullah drain.The temporary installations and the make-shift stage are also clearly visible from the satellite imagery.Fig 1:Permanent Ramp 1 having bituminous pavement existed at least since Jan 2008Fig 2:Permanent Ramp 2 having bituminous pavement existed at least since Jan 2008Now, let us go and categorically visit each claim made by the NGTClaim 1: No permission sought from the NGT by the Art of Living Foundation before the eventFacts:The entire site belongs to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA)Firstly,the NGT is a court,a tribunal and an autonomous institute, not a government agency to give permissions.Here is the official permission letter sought by the Art of Living (Vyakti Vikas Kendra India-Trust of the foundation) to use the land site for the event and it no where states that prior permission from the NGT needs to be sought.As you can see, the permission letter is approved by the Honorable L.G. of Delhi and duly signed by the Office of the Chief Engineer (E.P.)Mr.D.P.Singh of the DDA on 15th of December 2015.Apart from this, the Art of Living organization had taken permission from 20 various organizations and competent authorities (Government Bodies)The entire list of the government bodies is elucidated below:Central Public Works DepartmentDelhi Development AuthorityDelhi Fire ServiceDelhi Jal BoardDelhi PoliceDelhi Pollution Control CommitteeDelhi Traffic PoliceDepartment of Irrigation and Flood ControlDistrict Disaster Management AuthorityEast Delhi Municipal CorporationIndian ArmyIrrigation DepartmentMinistry of Environment and ForestsMinistry of External AffairsMinistry of Home AffairsNew Okhla Industrial Development AuthorityPublic Works Department-DelhiPublic Works Department-UPSouth Delhi Municipal CorporationUttar Pradesh Government2. Claim 2: Alleging the presence of wetlands on the eventFacts:To understand this point, we need to first comprehend the difference between a wetland and a floodplain.According to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands ,signed in 1971 (Iran) wetlands are defined as: "areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres"(The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Number of Contracting Parties: 169)There are currently 26 Ramar sites in India which are enlisted below:Ashtamudi Wetland,KeralaBhoj Wetland,Madhya ParadeshChandertal Wetland,Himachal PradeshChilika Lake,OrissaDeepor Beel,AssamEast Calcutta Wetlands,West BengalHarike Lake,PunjabHokera Wetland,Jammu and KashmirKanjili,PunjabKeoladeo National Park,RajasthanKolleru Lake,Andhra PradeshLoktak Lake,ManipurNalsarovar,GujaratPoint Calimere Wildlife and Bird Santuary,Tamil NaduPong Dam Lake,Himachal PradeshRenuka Wetland,Himachal PradeshRopar,PunjabRudrasagar Lake,West Tripura DistrictSambhar Lake,RajasthanSasthamkotta Lake,KeralaSurinsar-Mansar Lake,Jammu and KashmirTsomoriri,Jammu and KashmirUpper Ganga River,Uttar PradeshVembanad-Kol Wetland,KeralaWular Lake,Jammu and KashmirBhitarkanika Mangroves,OrissaSo, according to the Ramsar sites (India being a signatory of the Ramsar convention) , the World Culture Festival venue does not come under the wetland category.Wetlands come under Ecologically Sensitive Zones are are protected areas by the government.Now,let us analyse the land area with respect to the Survey of India (The Survey of India is India's central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying) mapsHere is the Annexure -1B Portion of 1:25000 Scale Detailed Map of Delhi, published by the Survey of India in the year 1985,Under the direction of Major General Girish Chandra Aggarwal, Surveyor General of India; Titled-’Delhi Guide Map,Third Edition 1985′The map clearly depicts the WCF 2016 event site as an extremely flat “Point Bar” (floodplain deposit) without existence of any wetland or enclosed waterbody. The flatness of this land parcel is to the extent that contour indicating difference in height of the order of 100cm is also non-existent throughout the area.Another important point for record in this map is the existence of natural path of ‘Kushak River – Barapullah Drain’ prior to straightening of its channel traversing straight into River Yamuna and filling of its original channel. The map also depicts the situation prior to construction of Guide Bank and DND Flyway.Looking at the National Wetland Atlas (Published in March 2011 by the Space Application Centre,ISRO,Ahmedabad),it fails to indentify a single wetland on the event site.According to the National Geographic Society, floodplains are defined as “A flood plain (or floodplain) is a generally flat area of land next to a river or stream. It stretches from the banks of the river to the outer edges of the valley”A Floodplain does not require jurisdictions of the environmental authorities that a wetland does.Floodplains have a rich history of interacting with the society for civilizations to flourish.The first great civilizations all grew up in river valleys. The oldest, 3300 to 2500 BCE, was along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East; the name given to that civilization, Mesopotamia, means "land between the rivers". The Nile valley in Egypt had been home to agricultural settlements as early as 5500 BCE, but the growth of Egypt as a civilization began around 3100 BCE. A third civilization grew up along the Indus River around 2600 BCE, in parts of what are now India and Pakistan. The fourth great river civilization emerged around 1700 BCE along the Yellow River in China, also known as the Huang-He River Civilization.Many towns have been built across floodplains because of easy access to fresh water,the fertility of floodplain land for farming,cheap transportation, via rivers and railroads, which often followed rivers and ease of development of flat land.Large cultural and religious gatherings taking place on various floodplains across India like the Kumbh Mela and the Maramon Convention.The World Culture Festival venue was thus a floodplain and not a wetland as claimed by the Expert Committee of the NGT.3. Claim 3: Destroying the natural flow of the river YamunaFacts:A comparison of river morphology has been conducted on satellite images for the period between 22nd of December 2000 till 10th of May 2016.Fluvial Geo-morphology of the river (i.e. land form related to the river) and its floodplain (over which the event was organized) indicates continuity of a pattern in channel dimension, sedimentation,bank deposition,bank erosion and flow of the river.On a careful examinations of images between 26th August 2015(month of monsoon in Delhi) to 10th May 2016(Pre-Monsoon Dry Summer Season) no abnormality in the pattern of flow;channel dimension;riverbed;or morphology of both the banks has been noticed.Further,examination by ground verification in a series of field studies found no scientific acceptance of the above mentioned claim by the NGTHere are the satellite images taken that show the continuity of pattern of the river flow:Pic 1: 26th August 2015 (Post-monsoon)Pic 2: 29th October 2015 (Post-monsoon)Pic 3: 23rd November 2015 (Post-monsoon)Pic 4: 15th of December 2015 (Post-monsoon)Pic 5: 27th of February 2016 (Preparation for the event in progress;stage scaffoldings under construction)Pic 6: 15th of March 2016 (Post WCF, Pre-Monsoon)Pic 7: 25th of May 2016 (Depicting the entire area utilized by the World Culture Festival 2016,now evacuated,cleared and all the temporary installations removed)And as I write this answer now (13 th of May 2017, 15:39 hr), I have taken the snapshots from Google Earth of the venue and it is as it was before the event.The above images tell us that there is no change whatsoever in the natural river course of the Yamuna. This again proves the Expert Committee’s claims as false and unscientific.Selection Bias by the Expert Committee members?In the report,the expert committee have replied upon a singular satellite image for the event as opposed to a larger sample size covering pre-monsoon and post monsoon images for 15–20 years despite its availability to the public on Google Earth.The Expert Committee compared the satellite images of the venue dated 5th of Sept 2015 (Peak monsoon season) with that of a mid summer picture of March 2016, post the event (Summer pre-monsoon)It doesn’t take an Einstein to realize that such a comparison cannot be done in the first place.The Expert Committee is basically trying to attribute the negative effect of the lack of rain to the World Culture Festival !4. Claim 4: Destroying the reeds,grasses,natural vegetation on the river bed and the venueFacts:High pollution in the River Yamuna has led to a situation where dissolved oxygen tends to zero (often less than 1), high load of suspended particulate matter, high turbidity almost blocks the sunlight penetration in the water within few centimeters of vertical depth etc.All of the above factors collectively create a situation where no macro flora could grow or anchored within the riverbed of the Yamuna.Reeds and grasses could only grow beyond the riverbed in the riparian zone of the floodplain.The images of the last 15 years,indicate that the floodplain around the venue had some strips and patches of reeds. Those patches have been compared with the images after the event and on a comparison of images, no change in area covered by reeds has been observed.Riparian reeds along the Barapullah drain and small patches behind and in front of the guide bank (near the bridge of DND flyway) are unaltered before , during and the period post the event.Also the number of trees before and after the event were counted using high risk satellite images and they were found to be the same.Pic 1: Regrowth of grasses on over the location where once the stage was raised (17th of April 2016)Pic 2: State of grasses on the event venue (17th of April 2016)Pic 3: Undisturbed riparian reeds along the abandoned channel in front of the Guide Bank (17th of April 2016)Pic 4: Undisturbed riparian reeds along the Barapullah Drain (17th of April 2016)Also, another important to note that the Expert Committee of the NGT accused the Art of Living Foundation for bringing in and dumping the malba (construction debris) and flattening the malba thereby destroying the flood plain.Firstly, as shown by the satellite images of the land parcel furnished earlier, the purple area indicates the unsolicited construction debris that existed since the year 2000.Trucks were seen emptying tonnes of malba on a daily basis when the Art of Living began preparation for the event (circa December 2015)Once the land was allotted to the foundation, the Art of Living sent out a letter the the DDA citing these concerns about the existing construction dump.To which, the DDA didn’t remove the debris whereas told the Art of Living Foundation to remove the malba at its own cost !Here, is the invoice of the contractor ,who was given the duty to remove the debris from the venue site ,under the instructions the Art of Living Foundation (Cost borne by the Art of Living Foundation !)This is how the site appeared before the event:So, why did the NGT falsely accuse the foundation wherein no cementing/foundation work of any sort was undertaken for the event?5. Claim 5: Disturbed the aquatic life of the riverFacts:The river Yamuna (Delhi stretch) is nearly devoid of fish species due to extremely low level ( ~0) dissolved oxygen in the river water.Let us analyze the water quality of the river Yamuna first.Referring to the “Water Quality Status of Yamuna River” report by the Central Pollution and Control Board (erstwhile Ministry of Environment and Forests,Government of India),here is the longitudinal profile of the dissolved oxygen.(Report foreword by V. Rajagopalan, Chairman-CPCB)(Notice the graph points near Nizamuddin Bridge ,Agra Canal)The report goes out further to state that“ In Yamuna River low BOD and low DO was observed more oftenly may be due to consumption of oxygen by settled sludge in the riverbed.”(Ref 3.13, page No.42)Other key notations from the report are listed below:“The sources contributing pollution are both point & non-point type. Urban agglomeration at NCT – Delhi is the major contributor of pollution in the Yamuna River followed by Agra and Mathura. About 85% of the total pollution in the river is contributed by domestic sources. The condition of river deteriorate further due to abstraction of significant amount of river water, leaving almost no fresh water in the river, which is essential to maintain the assimilation capacity of the river.”“In the critically, polluted stretch of Yamuna river from Delhi to Chambal confluence, there was significant fluctuations in dissolved oxygen level from Nil to well above saturation level. This reflects presence of organic pollution load and persistence of eutrophic conditions in the river.”“Bacteriological contamination is significantly high in the entire Yamuna River stretch. Total Coliforms are generally well above the prescribed water quality standard even sometimes at Yamunotri also. The microbiological analysis confirms that the bacteriological contamination was predominantly contributed by human beings.”Here are the longitudinal profiles of the Total and Faecal Coliforms in Yamuna River :Not to forget the drains opening up in the Delhi stretch.“Najafgarh drain of NCT – Delhi is the biggest polluter of River Yamuna, which contributes about 26% (year 2001) to 33% 22 (year 2000) of total BOD load and 48% (year 2003) to 52% (year 2001) of total discharge that joins Yamuna river and canal at Delhi by various drains. There are 70 sub drains that join main Najafgarh Drain. The study indicated that the total BOD load received by Najafgarh Drain through sub-drains was 136 TPD, whereas the BOD load at the terminal end of the Najafgarh Drain was 83 TPD only. This reduction may be contributed by biodegradation, deposition of setllable material at the bottom and diversion of drain water for irrigation etc”.“ River Yamuna receives significantly high amount of organic matter, which is generally, originates from domestic sources. For biodegradation, this organic waste requires oxygen, causing significant depletion of dissolved oxygen in river water. The oxygen depletion not only affects biotic community of the river but also affects its self-purification capacity. This problem is critical in the river stretch between Delhi and confluences of river with Chambal. In Delhi stretch, the load of organic matter is so high that it consumes the entire dissolved oxygen available in river water.”Presenting another latest report by the Central Pollution Control Board titled “Water quality status of in Delhi stretch of Yamuna River”Exhibit 1: Water quality of river Yamuna river in terms of Dissolved Oxygen (DO)The above graph clearly shows that the standard DO should be~4–5 whereas near the Nizamuddin bridge and Okhla region it below 1.Exhibit 2: Water quality of river Yamuna in terms of Total ColiformThe report also throws light on the discharge of various drains in the river Yamuna.“There are twenty one major wastewater drains in NCT-Delhi, out of which 18 drains join Yamuna River and rest joins Agra/Gurgaon canal.All the drains join Yamuna River downstream of Wazirabad barrage.These drains are being monitored regularly on monthly basis.The range of total BOD Load of 18 drains join Yamuna river was 105 TPD (August, 2015) to 229 TPD (January, 2016).Total discharge of these drains was varied from 29 m3/s (May, 2016 to 43 m3/s (August, 2014).The collective average of these drains for the year 2015 and 2016 in terms of discharge was about 34.8 m3/s and 34.3 m3/s respectively whereas, BOD load average for these two years was 164 Tons/day (TPD) and 178 Tons/day respectively.Based on the Discharge and BOD load of 18 drains Najafgarh drain was the biggest polluter of Yamuna River followed by Shahdara drain. These two drains alone contributes about 74% of total Bod load and 82% of total discharge of the 18 major drains that join Yamuna river at Delhi.”Exhibit 3: Discharge of major drains joins Yamuna River at DelhiLastly, I wish to produce a report titled “ Restoration and Conservation of River Yamuna” authored by the NGT Expert Committee members itself in the year 2012–13(Authors Prof. C.R.Babu, Prof.A.K.Gosain, Prof.Brij Gopal-All being expert members of the NGT)The report categorically states that“the loss of life supporting potential of the river is the major concern to the public, the Government and the courts”“the flowing water, the river bed, the floodplain forest and grassland ecosystems are locally extinct”Here is a snapshot of the same :The report also states that:“The Delhi urban stretch of 22 km in the downstream of Wazirabad barrage upto Okhla barrage (Section III) is critically polluted and dry weather flow is almost the treated and untreated sewage from 22 drains and the fresh water flow from upstream or lateral connection and it is perhaps one of the most polluted river stretches in the country with zero DO and over 30 mg/l BOD levels”Whereas, the same committee members in its final report slamming the Art of Living state the following:How could the World Culture Festival destroy something that according to the same committee members didn’t even exist in the first place.Why is the Art of Living blamed selectively for the pollution of the river Yamuna over the past decades?Isn’t this nothing but sheer hypocrisy?From the above data, following points to be noted:Yamuna river (Delhi stretch)is a dead river with almost zero dissolved oxygen, high amounts of pollutants and no fresh water. How can aquatic life survive under these chemically harsh conditions?The discharge of major drains in the Delhi stretch of the river along with industrial effluents and the pollution levels of Yamuna is alarming.Why does the NGT put the blame on the Art of Living Foundation which has done zero damage to the floodplains and the river?What has NGT done to curb the industrial and human pollution which are harming the river Yamuna?There is a strong judgmental bias in the current NGT report Vs the Art of Living and Others6. Claim 6: Alleging compaction and leveling of the floodplainFacts:Before going to analyse the charges of compaction, it is quintessential that we first define the nature of the land where the event was conducted.According to the report “Environmental flow for monsoon rivers in India-The Yamuna river as a case study”, the Yamuna floodplains has alluvial sandy soil (Reference: Rao, S.V.N., Kumar, S., Shekhar, S., Sinha, S.K. & Manju, S. 2007. Optimal pumping from Skimming Wells from the Yamuna river flood plain in north India. Hydrogeology Journal 15: 1157-1167)According to one of the Expert Committee member-Prof.A.K.Gosain’s earlier published research paper titled- “A new scheme for large-scale natural water storage in the floodplains: the Delhi Yamuna floodplains as a case study”, the author says “the river has been bringing sand from the mountains and depositing it along its basin, forming the floodplains. This accumulated sandy layer exists to an average of depth of 40 m”The report earlier furnished in claim 5 by the expert committee members itself (Can be found here) states that the floodplain near the river Yamuna has “sand and gravel”.Hence, it is a well established fact that the floodplain has sandy soil ! So, can sandy soil be compacted ?Now,given the above data, let us go through some scientific studies about sand compaction and verify the allegations by the NGT.For a confirmatory statement on the extent and exact reason of consolidation and/ or compaction in qualitative and quantitative terms, laboratory test of undisturbed soil samples from the land parcel will be required.By comparing the current soil density with the previous records of soil density over the land parcel,the difference could be worked out.But conducting such a test of unconfined sand/sandy soil appears almost impossible due to the established principles of soil mechanics.Referring to the established principles of soil mechanics and geo-technical engineering from the widely accepted and used textbook for soil mechanics by Prof.V.N.S.Murthy tiled “A Text Book of Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering” let us go through the pressure-void ratio curves of sandIn the above curve, it is clearly evident that “ more than 90 % of the compression has taken place within a period of less than 2 minutes. The time lag is largely frictional. The compression is about the same whether the sand is dry or saturated”.“The amount of compression even under high load intensity is not quite significant as can be seen from the curves.”It is obvious that the natural consolidation of this land parcel would have taken place in the geological past immediately after the deposition with some movement of animals and humans over it.It appears from the final report that the expert committee didn’t conduct any geo-technical analysis and not a single report was attached as an annexure to their claim.Verbally saying that they went there and saw the top soil layer become a thick crust is not evidence. There are tests that are legally permitted in the courts of law which the expert committee doesn’t seem to have done.The WCF area occupied ~ 25 hectares of land out of the total 9300 hectares of the floodplain (Approximately 0.26 %)So to exert the high pressure for land compaction it would require numerous heavy weight rollers (which apparently weren’t used by the organizers).Furthermore, the curve for dense sand in ‘Void ratio v/s pressure in kg/sq.cm’ indicates that dense sand (as deposited by the Yamuna and Ganga) does not show noticeable changes with increase in pressure.It is an undeniable fact that this land parcel has been under agricultural practices since decades (if not centuries).Agricultural practices; tilling (harrowing); movement of farms equipment and agricultural machinery; movement of dumpers for unabated dumping of construction waste for years and then the movement for trucks and dumpers for removal of the same has already shaped the consolidation and /or compaction of this land parcel ages before the event of the World Culture Festival 2016 was organized.Moreover, it is important to note that the entire stage for the event was supported by a series of iron scaffolding with raft footing (shown in the figure below)An Engineering Marvel ?Nothing was anchored in the natural stratum to hold the stage, overall the stage had a floating foundation. Can’t believe? have a look at this :Pics: The stage was made of thousands of such scaffolding rods in lattice structure spread across 7.5 acre (stage area)Pic: Scaffolding structure (showing the highest level) used for construction of the stage ; photographed during the removal of the stage.Pic: Steel plate rod used for distribution of the load, without any anchorage in the ground; photographed during the removal of the stage.The stage had negligible impact on the ground. Overall the stage was a floating stage and the impact of a floating stage on sandy soil is insignificant. For the record, no cement foundation was done as can be seen from the pictures.Trivia: The physics behind this stage bears a strong visual analogy with a yogi sleeping on a bed of nails. As a matter of fact, this ancient technique used by hathayogis in India has been a source of inspiration for the design of this stage !Pic: The concept of “Yogi Nail Bed” used as an inspiration for the WCF stage is based on the principle of uniform distribution of weight over a large surface area, therefore the overall impact is extremely low or negligible.Finally, the only court permissible test to determine compaction of soil is the CBR Test (California Bearing Ratio Test). It involves taking soil samples before and after the event and then applying the test. Since the expert committee did not collect any soil samples before and after the event to come up with the alleged 13 cr damage,the Art of Living Foundation themselves requested the NGT to conduct the CBR test at the venue, and the application was duly rejected !Here is the permission letter made by the Art of Living Foundation to the NGT (which was disposed off by the NGT !)The Chairman of the Expert Committee of the NGT Mrs.Shashi Shekhar (IAS) (Ministry of Water Resouces, Govt. of India)even goes out to the extent of saying the compensation of 120 cr put forth on the Art of Living foundation as ad-hoc and unscientific and not based on any scientific assessments. The Chairman does not even endorse the compensation.Also, it is important to see whether the NGT conducted any scientific studies before quantifying the damage if any ?It would be very astounding for the reader to realize that no such thing was done. Only a mere “visual inspection” was conducted by the Expert Committee members of the NGT at the venue on the 6th of June 2016(Singular visit).And no scientific evidence and data samples have been provided by the NGT Expert Committee in the Court of Law.That’s like going to a doctor who after just glancing at your direction hands you a list of ailments he assesses that you suffer from and proceeds to slap you with a fat bill for your future treatments !It is surprising to believe that the Chairman of the Expert Committee Mr.Shashi Shekhar has distanced himself from the committee’s recommendations. The Chairman’s signature is also missing from the final report. And only 4 out the 7 Expert Committee members have signed the final report !7. Claim 7: Going from ecological “restoration” to ecological “rehabilitation” of the floodplainFacts:Throughout the first report, the Expert Committee members of the NGT have used the term “restoration” and in the final report they use the word “rehablitation”Why the sudden switch?Because, the NGT Expert Committee cannot prove any damage that was done to the floodplain and the environment by the event.In their final report this is what they state:It is not possible for the ‘Expert Committee’ to assess the ecological status of the site before and after the event? This was their primary job in the first place !Also, the committee points out that it is extremely difficult to assess the costs of environment damage and degradation accurately because“it requires substantial time, human and other resources to collect detailed quantitative information on the nature, extend and magnitude of various activities listed earlier for restoration”That’s a clever way of saying that they cannot prove the damage quantitatively and qualitatively and hence the question of restoration is redundant.They also go on to state that “estimation of the costs of restoration requires the preparation of a Detailed Project Report that may take several months to a year besides financial resources.”Who can buy that argument? Why was the Expert Panel commissioned in the first place?Moreover, the Expert Committee states that it has now decided to “REHABILITATE THE IMPACTED SITE”.The NGT’s proposed plan includes creating a bio diversity park, two large water bodies, three tier planting of vegetation,and establishing new sewage treatment plants,etcLet’s put things into perspective, firstly, the Committee says that it cannot prove any damage scientifically. Consequently they cannot assign costs to restore damage. Hence, they wish to switch the narrative from being a “restoration cost” to “rehabilitation cost”. And moreover, they wish to build a utopian biodiversity park for which the Art of Living should bear the cost ! (Slow claps !) Wait, I am not yet done !In order to build this dream park, the Expert Committee has submitted a ‘Budget’ for building this park. The budget lists ‘Salaries and Consultancies’ as a cost component to monitor and supervise the construction. This cost component totals up to 7 CRORE RUPEES ! Here is their estimations !That’s not all friends. The NGT Expert Committee even goes on record to state that “rehabilitation” will take a period of 10 years and the expert committee members have nominated themselves to undertake this project as “Consultants”(Indeed a very sly way of pocketing the 7 crore!)In the final analysis,the expert committee members in their final report state that they are unable to differentiate the activities required to restore the floodplain and the activities to undo the alleged damage due to the event. That is a very clever way of saying that they cannot differentiate the damage done to the floodplain before the event and the damage done by the event.As this article says,“The Art of Living case will go down as a test for environment activism in the country. The nation expects the NGT will gather enough courage to call the bluff of the committee and go by the merits of the case”.References:http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/55a9380047b2199a9155d5bdc775c0fb/Final_Report_NGT-Yamuna_Restoration%2B(11-4-2014).pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-287594179https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1306/1306.2709.pdfhttp://www.cpcb.nic.in/newitems/11.pdfDelhi Development AuthorityTextbook of Soil Mechanics and Foundation EngineeringGoogle Earth – Google EarthNational Green TribunalHomepage | Ramsarflood plainCentral Pollution Control Board :::https://www.artofliving.org/in-en/newsroom/press-statement/independent-environmentalist-statement-ngt-reporthttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/2edvol3d.pdfWill NGT call the Yamuna expert panel's bluff?Written by:Soham D’SouzaBachelors in Chemical Technology-Institute of Chemical Technology (former UDCT) , MumbaiMumbai

In 1955 the Urania Book, claiming to be sponsored by the Divine world, was published. In it geophysical details of the Garden of Eden were described. Years later, a reader, Robert Sarmast, conducted an underwater voyage to check out the information in the Urania Book. The geophysical details were confirmed as described. The enclosed is a report from another person who reviewed the details and findings:Bates, R. S.-Proposed Interpretation of the 2004 & 2006 First Eden Expeditions-07/29/13Proposed Interpretation of Certain Results from the 2004 & 2006 First Eden ExpeditionsbyCommodore Robert Stanley BatesBy way of a preliminary statement, the purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of certain discoveries during the 2004 and 2006 expeditions as they pertain to The Urantia Book. It is not the purpose of this paper to examine the merits of the thesis put forth by Robert Sarmast in his publications of The Discovery of Atlantis – The Startling case for the Island of Cyprus published in 2004 and the expanded edition in 2006. Sarmast used 50 points from Plato’s works of Timaeus and Critias to make his case that the First Garden of Eden, as described in The Urantia Book was, because of the extraordinary prehistoric civilization that existed there, an excellent candidate for the lost city of Atlantis. It is not my wish to challenge that thesis, but to answer the question as to whether or not those two voyages substantiated, in any way, the description of the First Garden of Eden as found in The Urantia Book. (Urantia is the name of the Earth). It was, indeed, that location that brought Sarmast to the eastern Mediterranean Sea and to him, we owe a great debt of gratitude for his extraordinary efforts in organizing those expeditions. This paper also recognizes the desirability to suggest positive results to those who sacrificed for, worked for and contributed to those voyages. It must also be stated that I am neither a marine geologist nor a marine archeologist, although I have sailed on a number of voyages as captain for research vessels chartered for scientific explorations of similar types and I have a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree. Having been the expedition leader of the 2004 Expedition and the History Channel consultant during the 2006 Expedition, it is my intention to reexamine the data from these two voyages, from one point of view, and propose an interpretation of that data. In the following, the pictures of the sonar scans accurately depict the area with an exaggerated height, but the photographs are for illustration purposes only and have no connection with the actual site or the mission. It should also be stated that my confidentiality agreement with First Source Enterprises, LLC has long expired; three years being the specified period from signing.According to a paper by Dr. John K. Hall; “The Levantine Basin is traditionally thedeep basin at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. . . The region hosts the junction of three plates, whose interaction has produced complex structures. Because of its relative remoteness, and the uneasy relationships between the seven national entities along its littoral, the area was not easy to investigate. However, the probing since the 1970s has© Batek Marine Publishing 2014 - Page 1 – (Revision 2)Bates, R. S.-Proposed Interpretation of the 2004 & 2006 First Eden Expeditions-07/29/13shown that the basin is filled with a great quantity of sediments (12km or more), and thatthe nature of its underpinnings is not simple.”He goes on to write: “Many investigators have studied the area. Some have returned again and again to this problematic place. Most propose models for its origins and history based on the findings of the particular tools employed, whether they be bathymetry, gravity, magnetics, seismic reflection, seismic refraction, teleseismic investigations, or submarine geology based on coring, drilling, and dredging. Theregion’s recent history also seems to beckon. From the pioneering study of our colleagueYa’akov Petrovitch Malovitskiy (1978) who proposed on the basis of seismic investigations that the Levantine Basin was a sunken continent, we advance to recent extrapolations (http://www.discoverofatlantis.com – Sarmast, 2003) regarding the ‘finding’ ofAtlantis at depths of ~1500m between the West Tartus Ridge and the Gelendzhik Rise,based upon computer analysis of the Strakhov’s multibeam soundings.” The R/V ACADEMIK STRAKHOV is a Russian research vessel.The location of the First Garden of Eden in The Urantia Book is described as follows (P.823 - §2): “. . .a long narrow peninsula--almost an island--projecting westward from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.” It went on to say (P.823 - §4): “ThisMediterranean peninsula had a salubrious climate and an equable temperature; this stabilized weather was due to the encircling mountains and to the fact that this area wasvirtually an island in an inland sea.” Further on it describes (P.823 - §5): “The coast lineof this land mass was considerably elevated, and the neck connecting with the mainland was only twenty-seven miles wide at the narrowest point. The great river that watered the Garden came down from the higher lands of the peninsula and flowed east through the peninsular neck to the mainland and thence across the lowlands of Mesopotamia to the sea beyond. It was fed by four tributaries which took origin in the coastal hills of the Edenic peninsula, and these are the ‘four heads’ of the river which ‘went out of Eden,’and which later became confused with the branches of the rivers surrounding the second garden.” – (that emptied into the Arabian Gulf). After that site was chosen to be the original Garden (P.824 - §1): “The first task was the building of the brick wall across the neck of the peninsula. This once completed, the real work of landscape beautification and home building could proceed unhindered.” And (P.824 - §2); “A zoological gardenwas created by building a smaller wall just outside the main wall; the intervening space, occupied by all manner of wild beasts, served as an additional defense against hostile attacks. This menagerie was organized in twelve grand divisions, and walled paths led between these groups to the twelve gates of the Garden, the river and its adjacent pastures occupying the central area.”© Batek Marine Publishing 2014 - Page 2 – (Revision 2)Bates, R. S.-Proposed Interpretation of the 2004 & 2006 First Eden Expeditions-07/29/13In July of 2004, through a contact that Robert Sarmast made with a principal investigator from the Institut Francais de Recherché pour L’Exploitation de la Mer(IFREMER), definitive data was requested for an area fifteen (15) nm (nautical miles) square around a central mound which was certainly a good candidate for the Temple Mount. The request specified coordinates for an area of exploration, centered on coordinates 34°51' N,035°01' E and bounded by the approximate coordinates (34°58.5’N, 34°51.9'E), (34°58.5’N, 35°10.2'E), (34°43.5'N, 35°10.2'E), (34°43.5'N, 34°51.9'E). The data requested represented a portion of the data taken from the bathymetric multibeam sonar survey by the French Research Vessel R/V LE SUROîT during a voyage from October 29 to November 15, 2003. On September 1, 2004, the requested data was received from IFREMER and it was forwarded to Patrick Lowry of The Scotia Group,Dallas, Texas who returned three dimensional (3-D) graphic modeling software apparently supporting RobertSarmast’s claim of the existence of man- made structures in an area bounded bythe coordinates (34°49.6’N, 34°58.8'E), (34°49.9’N, 35°01.2'E), (34°49.0'N,35°01.0'E) and (34°48.0'N, 34°59.9'E). The 3-D graphic display of the data in that area, (the picture to the left is looking eastward and the elevation is magnified by a factor of 10 for greater definition), provided imagery appearingto be a 3700 meter long wall-like structures to the north and a 2800 meter long, by 500- 800 meter wide, natural irregular tabular mount of about 110 meters in height, to the south. Also in evidence were trench-like ducts leading off the mount on the northeast and northwest side. At first, Patrick Lowery thought the ridges at the foot of the mount may have been a slump – the accumulation of material from a mudslide off the side of the mount – but the 2006 Expedition dispelled that idea and provided an excellent cross- sectional look at one of the ridges.The layout of the garden was given in The Urantia Book: (P.824 - §5) “At the center of the Edenic peninsula was the exquisite stone temple of the Universal Father, the sacred shrine of the Garden. To the north the administrative headquarters was established; to the south were built the homes for the workers and their families; to the west was provided the allotment of ground for the proposed schools of the educational system of the expected Son, while in the ‘east of Eden’ were built the domiciles intended for the promised Son and his immediate offspring. The architectural plans for Eden provided homes and abundant land for one million human beings.”In addition to the layout of a central mount and its environs, an area that appeared to be a quarry-like site was also observed. In a position north-north-east of the central mount there is a square, two sides of which were apparently dug into a hillside. It has some of the features characteristic of a quarry for stone or brick material with its flat floor© Batek Marine Publishing 2014 - Page 3 – (Revision 2)Bates, R. S.-Proposed Interpretation of the 2004 & 2006 First Eden Expeditions-07/29/13and with sides that appear to be chiseled out. As with many other quarries, there even appears to be an unfinished assemblage of stacked blocks in the box at the far right of the figure. An examination by side scan sonar or a sub-bottom profiler (SBP) would benecessary to verify the nature of this site, but the existence of a quarry and the nearly linear, regular, ridges in the IFERMER scans are very suggestive of an advanced peoples working this area well over 10,000 years to possibly 40,000 years ago. Certainly a quarry of some sort would be needed for the building of roads, walls, edifices and conduits for irrigation and refuse that are reported to have been constructed in The Urantia Book.Information from the IFREMER multibeam sonar scans provided excellent orientation, enabling a much closer look at the linear ridges and the mount with side scan sonar during the expedition in November of 2004. Details of the two ridges joined at the base of the mount were major benefits of that expedition. With much present-day data missing from this archeological site, The Urantia Book provides details of the initial layout and the eventual prehistoric demise of First Eden. The side scan sonar during the 2004 expedition produced more accurate measurements of the outer ridges showing a uniform width of approximately 30 meters and a declining height from 10 meters to the surface, moving from west to east. No other formations in the entire area resembled those at the base of the mount. With the peninsula now lowered to 1600 meters below sea level, the question arises as to the processes that occurred during the inundation of the plain and the decimation of ordinary stone, brick and wooden structures. Modeling developed by the Scotia Group from the IFREMER data, suggests that the rectangular valley, where the mount is centrally located, was slowly engulfed by the rising waters that filled the Mediterranean. The Urantia Book describes the end of Eden in the following narrative (P.826 - §6): “. . . for almost four thousand years after Adam left the Garden when, in connection with the violent activity of (P.827 - §0) the surrounding volcanoes and the submergence of the Sicilian land bridge to Africa, the eastern floor of the Mediterranean Sea sank, carrying down beneath the waters the whole of the Edenic peninsula. Concomitant with this vast submergence the coast line of the eastern Mediterranean was greatly elevated. And this was the end of the most beautiful natural creation that Urantia has ever harbored. The sinking was not sudden, several hundred years being required completely to submerge the entire peninsula.” From that description, it is difficult to imagine the magnitude of the extraordinary subterranean forces that must have been present below the surface during that epoch.The infrastructure of the First Garden was well planned for its success. It is well known now that diseases of all descriptions are the result of unsanitary conditions, and with a million workers in the First Garden, it was a great benefit to keep the workforce healthy and strong. The Urantia Book relates that health was a big concern (P.825 - §1):© Batek Marine Publishing 2014 - Page 4 – (Revision 2)Bates, R. S.-Proposed Interpretation of the 2004 & 2006 First Eden Expeditions-07/29/13“The sanitary arrangements of the Garden were far in advance of anything that had been attempted theretofore on Urantia. The drinking water of Eden was kept wholesome by the strict observance of the sanitary regulations designed to conserve its purity.” Further(P.825 - §2): “Before the later establishment of a sewage-disposal system the Edenites practiced the scrupulous burial of all waste or decomposing material.” Such a subsequent sewage-disposal system would have to meet some general specifications. It could not have been an open ditch or canal system for at least two reasons. First, its stench and impurities would be unacceptable, possibly tainting the drinking water and infecting the populace. Second, it would leach into the gardens where food was being grown for the inhabitants. Food and decorative plants grown with human waste fertilizers can cause sicknesses that are unremitting and unbearable. Having been a victim of such produce from Oman during the Gulf War, I am personally aware of the effects. That being said, the sewage and other waste products would have to be safely transported out of the First Garden by a closed system. No small engineering feat, The Urantia Book describes (P.825 - §2): “Before the disruption of the Adamic regime a covered brick-conduit disposal system had been constructed which ran beneath the walls and emptied into the river of Eden almost a mile beyond the outer or lesser wall of the Garden.”The construction of such a conduit disposal system required very sophisticated engineering. In order to prepare for building a subterranean or surface covered brick- conduit from inside the Garden, flowing to a place one mile beyond the outer wall, no less than 90 miles long, meant that an adequate trench and footing had to be created. The trench would have to be of sufficient depth and width to accommodate the brick structure below the surface with working room for its construction. At first glance, it would probably look as if they were building a canal, but unlike a canal, it would have to be constructed with a sufficient gradient to permit the flow of refuse from its origins to outside the Garden. It is reasonable to think that the grade along its path would be close to the gradient associated with the Great River. The width and depth of the this canal-like ditch would be uniform, and one canonly imagine the primitive way that earth wasremoved to create such a major undertaking. Withoutthe use of machinery, it would most probably fall tohumans and pack animals to transport the excavatedmaterial to a dumping ground and return the buildingmaterials to the construction site. The significantpoint is that there would be just enough etching of theearth’s crust by the trenches, of uniform width anddepth, to invite a release of those subterranean forcesin a uniform upwelling along sections of the excavation until the energy subsided. With© Batek Marine Publishing 2014 - Page 5 – (Revision 2)Bates, R. S.-Proposed Interpretation of the 2004 & 2006 First Eden Expeditions-07/29/13the force of the eruption dissipating east of the mount, or with the gradient of the conduit descending toward the Garden walls, the remainder of the conduit would finally remain underground.Once the canal-like ditches were in progress, the fabrication of bricks, whether chiseled out of a quarry or manufactured near where the material was mined, was necessary to build the enclosed covered disposal conduit. The bricks would have to be transported to the building site, again, probably with pack animals. Such a project required skills that were not present elsewhere on the planet in that age and the conduit might have looked like a present day metropolitan sewersystem. The picture of the one in Osaka, Japan (above, left) may conjure up an image of how the system in the First Garden may have looked.Like veins popping out on an arm with a tourniquet, the two apparent branches of the system, now visible on the basin’s surface, come together in a “Y” formation at thebase of the mount. The direction of the ridges and the “Y” formation is at an accommodating angle for the effluent to flow easily eastward toward the Garden walls and beyond. During the process of the sinking of the floor and the heaving upward ofmaterial through the trenches that etched the surface, it is speculated that the brick-lined tunnel may have been crushed, yet leaving the brick material whose densityand weight were greater than that of the surrounding dirt.The second expedition in 2006 made use of a sub- bottom profiler (SBP), an instrument that uses echo sounding, like sonar, to map the strata for about 30 meters below the surface. As shown, one such trace of the underlying bottom, in way of the main ridge, provided the results that would be expected were the ridges the result of an upward thrust of the disposal brick conduit in way of the uniformly cut trenches. Patrick Lowery of the Scotia Group drew the lines of continuity in the strata representing how the subterranean up- welling of material acted. His work showed, how in one stratum, well below the silt accumulation of 30,000 years, there was a significant anomaly that would be expected if material of heavier weight and greater density were thrust through the etched channels in the earth’s© Batek Marine Publishing 2014 - Page 6 – (Revision 2)Bates, R. S.-Proposed Interpretation of the 2004 & 2006 First Eden Expeditions-07/29/13surface. The heavier conduit material would have caused a downward deflection of that particular stratum as is the case in the profile returned from the ridge nearest to the bottom of the central mount. Whether or not this anomaly is consistent throughout the entire length of the ridges remains to be seen. The expedition in 2006 was fraught with disappointment, including the absence of an SBP scan of the more northern most ridge when the software simply stopped working until the SBP had cleared that ridge, leavinga big gap in the data.Nevertheless, had the strata below the downward deflection been examined at the time of the 2006 Expedition, a pattern suggesting the reason for the deflection may have been apparent. As depicted in the second illustration, by adding the obvious strata lines below the deflected stratum drawn by Patrick Lowery, a tantalizing image appears that supports the proposed interpretation that it was the covered brick conduit. If this conjecture is true, the additional brighter lines show the location, size and implied resistance to the upthrust ata reasonable distance below the top of the silt-covered ridge.The Urantia Book relates that (P.826 - §4) “When the plans of the Material Son went astray, Adam and his family were not permitted to carry the core of the tree away from the Garden. When the Nodites invaded Eden, . . they lacked that endowment which acted as a complement to the fruit of the tree. They became enraged at their inability to benefit from the tree of life, and in connection with one of their internal wars, the temple and the tree were both destroyed by fire; only the stone wall stood until the Garden was subsequently submerged.” As a result, it seems that a case can be made for the existence of the remains of the covered brick conduit. It was written about sufficiently, so as to subtly eliminate any other possible structures. No walls, other than the brick wall and outer wall and those connecting the 12 gates at the entrance to the Garden, and no aqueducts, except for irrigation ditches, are mentioned. Although the lower Nodites decimated the Garden buildings, there would be no point, or capability, to make the effort to disassemble the 90 miles or more of covered conduit. Even if they destroyed it in place, the remaining material would permit a similar effective resistance to the upthrust. The nature of the images from the IFERMER scans and the cross sectional images from the SBP in 2006 alone, seems to be sufficient for a prima facie case for the existence of the conduit.© Batek Marine Publishing 2014 - Page 7 – (Revision 2)Bates, R. S.-Proposed Interpretation of the 2004 & 2006 First Eden Expeditions-07/29/13In conclusion, the history of the Levantine Basin suggests that its appearance has greatly changed since the days of Adam and Eve. However, the possibility of a remaining artifact such as the covered conduit system has great plausibility because of its size, mass and construction. It is also quite plausible that more of the system remains unseen below the surface and eventually could lead to the expected location of the walls at the Garden entrance. If this proposed interpretation is correct, the ridges, with their linear regularity and uniqueness, their size and direction and the telltale strata certainly provide an exciting and satisfying conclusion to both expeditions, in that it all conforms nicely to what was predicted in The Urantia Book.© Batek Marine Publishing 2014 - Page 8 – (Revision 2)

Not wind and solar as the Alarmists believe. After more than 5 trillion wasted on subsidies these renewables have yet to reach 1 % of world wide energy consumption. Also Co2 continues to rise but this does not matter as there is no evidence our carbon footprint has any impact on the climate. This claim is pseudo science and a hoax.Think about what we learned in high school about the importance of photosynthesis the elixir of plant life.– CO2 is integral to the Carbon Cycle of Life, as such CO2 is a necessary requirement for Carbon Based Life Forms. CO2 feeds life and is the source of organic carbon whence it was extracted through photosynthesis by plants and phytoplankton. More atmospheric CO2 feeds more life.– Theory that atmospheric CO2 (0.04%) causes the Earth’s surface to warm by reflecting the energy emitted by the Earth’s surface. This Theory has no Laws, Axioms, Postulates, nor formulae because we are unable to measure this purported physical property of ‘greenhouse gases’ in the real world. We can’t even measure this property on Mars with an atmosphere of 95% CO2. This theory is used to promote the idea that less atmospheric CO2 helps life.Fortunately the public are increasingly put off by foolish unproven climate hysteria blaming industry for a warming climate and now for a cooling climate. Recent elections in Australia, Canada and Holland all reject the alarmist fear mongering. The public are not duped by fudged data and far fetched exaggerated predictions about sea levels, polar bears and glacier ice.No climate for change: How Scott Morrison used Labor's policies against them as Americans hail 'the Trump effect' after pollsters' catastrophic blunderScott Morrison’s ‘miracle’ election win has been cheered by US conservatives and compared to Donald Trump’s surprise 2016 presidential win.The Coalition won despite 55 Newspolls in a row predicting they would lose – echoing how the US president rose to power against pollsters’ predictions in 2016.The Liberal campaign had emphasized the cost of Labor’s climate change policies – which included reducing carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030.And while Labor campaigned against the controversial Adani mine, the Coalition focused on the jobs boost of the new development.On Saturday night, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Labor’s stance on climate had cost them the election.After Bill Shorten failed to secure votes in Queensland the Liberal Party elder said Labor did not reassure voters about job security.‘When they saw a Labor Party prepared to destroy jobs in the name of climate ideology in relation to the Adani mine, they said: “That’s not for Queensland”‘, he said.On Sunday morning American TV news channel Fox News labeled Mr. Morrison’s win as ‘a stunning victory’.American political activist Pamela Geller meanwhile trumpeted ‘the people are taking back their countries from the totalitarian left’.‘SHOCKING Australia Election Results: Australia’s Conservative Party Seizes Stunning Win: The Trump effect. Polls were wrong…. again,’ Ms. Geller, founder of The Geller Report and president of Stop Islamisation of America, wrote on Twitter.US news site Axios told readers the election result indicates ‘Australia will continue to closely resemble the Trump administration’s positioning on climate change’.‘Climate advocates had said this election would be a referendum on the current leadership’s positions on climate change,’ Ms. Harder wrote.‘The results suggest that either voter don’t care as much about the issue compared to others or they prefer less aggressive measures, as the current leadership is pursuing.’The New York Times described how ‘the conservative victory also adds Australia to a growing list of countries that have shifted rightward through the politics of grievance, including Brazil, Hungary, and Italy.‘Mr. Morrison’s pitch mixed smiles and scaremongering, warning older voters and rural voters in particular that a government of the left would leave them behind and favor condescending elites.’James Grant Matkin, vancouver, Canada,Great result showing the Australian public are not duped by the fake climate crisis advanced by media and lefty politicians. Temperatures are declining from low solar activity. Alarmist science demonizing coal and Co2 is wrong. CO2 increase lags, not leads warming, Rise in temperatures and CO2 follow each other closely in climate change. This recent Bohr institute study confirms a 200 year lag, and aligns perfectly with natural warming since the end of the Maunder Minimum and the Little Ice Age.How Scott Morrison Used Labor's Climate Policies Against ThemHow ScoMo used Labor's policies against themCo2 LAGS TEMPERATURE CHANGE NOT PRECEDE ITEasterbrook, 2016“CO2 makes up only a tiny portion of the atmosphere (0.040%) and constitutes only 3.6% of the greenhouse effect. The atmospheric content of CO2 has increased only 0.008% since emissions began to soar after 1945. Such a tiny increment of increase in CO2 cannot cause the 10°F increase in temperature predicted by CO2 advocates. Computer climate modelers build into their models a high water vapor component, which they claim is due to increased atmospheric water vapor caused by very small warming from CO2, and since water vapor makes up 90–95% of the greenhouse effect, they claim the result will be warming. The problem is that atmospheric water vapor has actually declined since 1948, not increased as demanded by climate models. If CO2 causes global warming, then CO2 should always precede warming when the Earth’s climate warms up after an ice age. However, in all cases, CO2 lags warming by ∼800 years. Shorter time spans show the same thing—warming always precedes an increase in CO2 and therefore it cannot be the cause of the warming.”In an El Nino year, Water vapour is 4% of the atmosphere can rise to 5% and CO2 from 0.39 to 0.42. Human made CO2 would remain about the same in that year. .Co2 is the air we breath out at 35,000 ppm with every breath. It is necessary for life on the planet through the process of photosynthesis converting radiant energy to chemical.Figure 2.3: Photosynthesis: In the process of photosynthesis, plants convert radiant energy from the sun into chemical energy in the form of glucose - or sugar.Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere enters the plant leaf through stomata, i.e., minuteepidermal pores in the leaves and stem of plants which facilitate the transfer of various gases and water vapor.The entire process can be explained by a single chemical formula.6CO2+12H2O + Light → C6H12O6+ 6O2+ 6H2OWater (6H2O) + carbon dioxide (6 CO2) + sunlight (radiant energy) = glucose (C6H12O6) + Oxygen (6O2).Credit: Energy Explained Penn State University.Photosynthesis is the transformation of radiant energy to chemical energy.Plants take in water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight and turn them into glucose and oxygen. Called photosynthesis, one of the results of this process is that carbon dioxide is removed from the air. It is nature's process for returning carbon from the atmosphere to the earth.The "fossil fuels" we use today (oil, coal, and natural gas) are all formed from plants and animals that died millions of years ago and were fossilized. When we burn (combust) these carbon-rich fuels, we are pulling carbon from the earth and releasing it into the environment.Radiant to ChemicalFigure A. Graphs of the overall atmospheric concentration and the relative percentages of trace gases such as Co2.The atmosphere is composed of a mix of several different gases in differing amounts. The permanent gases whose percentages do not change from day to day are nitrogen, oxygen and argon. Nitrogen accounts for 78% of the atmosphere, oxygen 21% and argon 0.9%. Gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane, and ozone are trace gases that account for about a tenth of one percent of the atmosphere. Water vapor is unique in that its concentration varies from 0-4% of the atmosphere depending on where you are and what time of the day it is. In the cold, dry artic regions water vapor usually accounts for less than 1% of the atmosphere, while in humid, tropical regions water vapor can account for almost 4% of the atmosphere. Water vapor content is very important in predicting weather.The Role of Water VapourWater vapor is, by far, the most powerful natural greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, absorbing heat across many wavelengths in the infrared spectrum. However, the impact of a greenhouse gas must also consider how long that gas remains in the atmosphere and how much it varies from place to place.From a humid rainforest to an arid desert, the amount of water vapor varies wildly around the world, making up anywhere between zero and four percent of the atmosphere. It also varies over time through seasonal changes and with height. The higher you get in the atmosphere, the drier it can become.For Greenhouse gases water vapour at 95% is major not Co2 that is near zero.Anthropocentric CO2 is Only 0.117% !OUTLINEFossil fuels are the best energy source when compared with unreliable wind and solar due to indeterminacy.China is helping other developing nations expand coal power plants to bring the life saving electricity grid to the poor.Dream of wind and solar renewables saving the climate and ending polluting fossil fuels is becoming a deadly nightmare.Adding renewables to the grid causes major cost increase in electricity.Fuel poverty from increased electricity costs kills more than fatal road accidents in the UK alone.Freezing winters everywhere, not moderate without snow as alarmists predicted makes keeping warm a matter of life or death.The fears from predicted catastrophic global warming all fail as 90% of glacier ice expands, Pacific islands rising not sinking, SEA LEVELS STABLE OR FALLING mm of change (7″ in 130 years), fewer hurricanes, floods, tornadoes. wild fires and droughts.Coal is necessary for > 2 billion living without electricity in China, India etc.China opens new coal power every week wiping out all other Co2 cuts.Scientific consensus crumbles as more leading scientists discredit one trick pony hypothesis of weak amounts of CO2 in green house gases.Public opinion shifts against taking action on climate change.Fudging data by UN scientists brings climate science into disrepute.Earth’s climate is too chaotic, nonlinear and unpredictable to know the future more than a few weeks out.Compter models run too hot as researchers fail to mimic reality.US withdraws from Paris accords meaningless carbon targets.Australian political coalition rolls back energy targets and decides to build coal power plants for more cost efficient energy.CHINA BUILDING 300 NEW COAL POWER PLANTS AROUND THE WORLDDate: 30/04/19China is building or planning more than 300 coal plants in places as widely spread as Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Egypt and the Philippines.The flow of Chinese financing for new coal-fired power plants throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. GLOBAL COAL FINANCE TRACKER / COALSWARMChina, known as the world’s biggest polluter, has been taking dramatic steps to clean up and fight climate change.So why is it also building hundreds of coal-fired power plants in other countries?President Xi Jinping hosted the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing over the weekend, promoting his signature foreign policy of building massive infrastructureand trade links across several continents.The forum, attended by leaders and delegates of nearly 40 countries, came amid growing criticism of China’s projects, including their effect on the environment.China’s President Xi Jinping speaks at a press briefing at the end of the final day of the Belt and Road Forum on Saturday.Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty ImagesXi took the highly unusual step, for him, of meeting with international journalists, during which he repeated the slogan that he is committed to “open, clean and green development.”Yet China’s overseas ventures include hundreds of electric power plants that burn coal, which is a significant emitter of the carbon scientifically linked to climate change. Edward Cunningham, a specialist on China and its energy markets at Harvard University, tells NPR that China is building or planning more than 300 coal plants in places as widely spread as Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Egypt and the Philippines.Days before the forum with its “clean and green” theme, the latest Chinese-built coal plant opened in Pakistan.The plants are significant investments at a time when most nations of the world, including China, have committed to fighting climate change. “When you put money down and put steel into the ground for a coal-fired power plant,” says Cunningham, “it’s a 40- or 50-year commitment.”Game Over: Europe’s Great Renewables Rush Faces ArmageddonMay 27, 2019 by stopthesethings 3 CommentsDeath and taxes are certainties, so is the fact that wind and solar investment disappears just as soon the subsidies are cut. Without massive (and seemingly endless) subsidies we wouldn’t be having this conversation: there would have been no such thing as wind and solar power, on any scale, or at all.Twelve countries in the European Union (EU) failed to install “a single wind turbine” last year.And, as a result, the manufacturers of turbines and solar panels are dropping like flies, as subsidies are rolled back across Europe.Dr John Constable tallies up the (inevitable) carnage below.Is the Long Renewables Honeymoon Over?The Global Warming Policy ForumJohn Constable11 May 2019The European renewables industry press, which is usually unequivocally upbeat in its assessments, is currently reporting a broad spectrum of substantial problems in the sector, ranging from bankruptcies and technical problems to tepid policy support and increasing public resistance.In a fundamentally viable energy generation sector such stories could be regarded as minor perturbations, but in one that has been for decades all but completely insulated from risk by subsidy and other non-market support, it suggests deep-seated structuro-physical weakness.The German wind turbine manufacturer Senvion S.A., formerly trading under the name of RePower, is currently in financial difficulties. This Hamburg-based firm, which has installed over 1,000 wind turbines in the UK alone, applied to commence self-administered insolvency proceedings in mid-April this year, and is at present sustained by a EUR 100m loan agreement with its lenders and main bond holders.Senvion has delayed both its AGM, which was due to take place on the 23 May, and also the publication of its recent financial results. At the time of writing the company had not yet announced a new timetable.For nearly eight years, from 2007 to 2015, Senvion was owned by the Indian wind turbine manufacturer, Suzlon, and is now the property of the private equity firm, Centerbridge Partners. It is currently rumoured in the industry press that Centerbridge may now be compelled to cut its losses by making a distressed sale to Asian, probably Chinese, companies seeking a cheap way of acquiring a wind power market toehold in Europe.Western companies are thought to be unlikely to have the appetite for such a purchase, and their reluctance is entirely understandable: as Ed Hoskyns shows in a recent note for GWPF using EurObservER data, the annual installation rates for wind and solar have halved in the EU28 since 2010.Senvion may be the first major company to feel the effects of this downturn, and is certainly large enough for its difficulties to have wide ramifications, with two of its suppliers, FrancEole, which makes towers, and the US company TPI Composites, which makes blades, both being hurt by reduced revenues. Indeed, FrancEole was already in a poor way, and is now reported as being on the verge of liquidation.Projects that were being supplied by Senvion are also affected, with the building of one, Borkum West 2.2, a 200 MW offshore wind farm, being suspended mid-construction since components due from Senvion have not been delivered on schedule.This delay, which has been front-page news in some circles, must be causing considerable headaches for Borkum West’s developer, Trianel GmbH, which is apparently now seeking to establish direct links with Senvion’s suppliers so that they can complete the project.Elsewhere in the offshore wind universe, two large and relatively new projects are in the midst of what must be costly repairs involving significant downtime. Having received regulatory approval, the Danish mega-developer Orsted is about to start removing and renovating all 324 blades on the 108-turbine, 389 MW, Duddon Sands wind farm in the UK part of the Irish Sea, a year after problems first became apparent.The machines used, the Siemens 3.6–120, have suffered leading edge erosion, a problem that affects perhaps some 500 turbines in Europe (See “Type Failure or Wear and Tear in European Offshore Wind?”), and requiring the application of a remedial covering to each blade.Less can be read in the public domain about the repairs about to restart at the gigantic, EU-funded Bard Offshore 1, which is owned by Ocean Breeze Energy GmbH & Co. KG. The project, which commissioned in 2013, has eighty 5 MW turbines, with a total capacity of 400 MW.Bard had already suffered a well-known series of cable failures, and it now transpires that both nacelles and rotors have been undergoing replacement for about two years, though Ocean Breeze is, according to industry press reports, apparently declining to confirm how many turbines are affected. The company’s website gives no information in either German or English that I could find.There would, then, appear to be a great deal of work in servicing offshore wind installations, but this has not been enough to prevent Offshore Marine Management Ltd (OMM), a UK-based offshore wind contractor, entering into voluntary liquidation after several years of losses. Interestingly, OMM, a relatively small company though prominent in the UK, cited the increasingly “competitive nature” of the sector as a factor underlying its failure, and it seems likely that it was unable to survive the efforts of developers determined to reduce both capital and operational and maintenance costs to the bone (and judging from the failures reported, perhaps into the bone itself).With margins pared thin, costly local suppliers may quite simply be forced out of the market, and regardless of their other merits. Related evidence of this phenomenon, which is clearly global, can be found in the fact that the Danish mega-developer Orsted is now grumbling that the Taiwanese government’s insistence of a high level of local content for its projected 900 MW Changua 1 & 2a offshore wind farms will double the capital cost from approximately £1.6m/MW to about £3m/MW.One wonders whether this underlying reality was discussed at the recent and apparently robust meeting between the Scottish Government and the offshore wind industry, convened because the Scottish metal manufacturing firm BiFab had not been commissioned to make equipment for the 950 MW Moray East wind farm, a wind farm that has one of the much over-hyped Contracts for Difference at £57.50/MWh. The supply deals had instead been awarded to Lamprell, which is based in the UAE.The Scottish Energy Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, MSP, used the meeting to express “significant frustration” that local firms had been involved to such a small degree hitherto, in spite of repeated promises. Did Benji Sykes of the Offshore Wind Industry Council, present at the meeting, cite the Taiwanese case and explain to Mr Wheelhouse that something very similar would apply in Scotland, and that if local content was insisted upon, then construction costs would increase substantially and subsidies would also have to be increased to pay for it? Did he explain that there is genuine doubt whether Moray East can be viable at £57.50/MWh, even with low-cost international suppliers, and that local content would certainly not improve that situation? It would seem not. However, he did promise to “work closely” with the Scottish government to “ensure that communities up and down the country reap the economic benefits offshore wind offers”. Mr Wheelhouse has probably heard that before. How much longer will he go on believing it?So much for the action in the foreground. The backdrop is also sombre. The Crown Estate, which in effect controls offshore wind development in UK territorial waters, has delayed pre-qualification for Round 4 projects until after the summer of 2019, and the German maritime agency, the BSH, has disappointed developers by not assigning new development zones as had been requested. In delay is danger, and the offshore wind industry in general will be deeply concerned at the loss of momentum that may result from these decisions.Onshore wind is doing no better. The most recent auction for wind contracts in Germany took place in February and was radically undersubscribed, with only 476 MW of a possible 700 MW being awarded, the underlying causes being, it is reported, less favourable planning consent regulations and less generous price support. Senvion itself is described in some reports as being one of the supply chain casualties, alongside the German tower and foundation maker, Ambau GmbH, which has already filed for bankruptcy.One wonders why these companies were not better prepared. Reductions in subsidy in Germany were inevitable, and the tightening of planning regulations is long overdue and unsurprising. Indeed, it is remarkable that the German public has tolerated for so long such intense development in close proximity to domestic housing.However, some German states are now considering an exclusion zone of 1 km from the nearest turbine, which is still extremely close for structures in excess of 100m, and now heading, believe it or not, to over 200m in overall height. The German people have been patient, but the mood is clearly changing; indeed, the premier manufacturer and developer Enercon has recently been compelled by court order to suspend construction of its 30 MW Wulfershausen wind farm because it had, apparently, breached the local authorities’ requirement that no dwelling should be within a distance ten times tip height.This less favourable atmosphere is contributing to a general sense that existing onshore wind farms in Germany will not be repowered in great numbers at the end of their lives. About 15 GW of Germany’s onshore wind is now over fifteen years old and the end of the economic lifetime is in sight. But industry sources quoted in the subscription only press suggest that less than a third of this will actually be repowered, much less than had been expected only a few years back. The reasons given for this sudden change in prospects include declining public acceptance, reflected in tougher planning conditions, and falling subsidies.Meanwhile, in Norway and in its home territory Sweden, Statkraft, Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy, has suspended further onshore wind construction because it would be “very challenging” to develop profitable projects in these areas. They are concentrating on other less resistant markets, such as the United Kingdom, where it has acquired a 250 MW portfolio of projects from Element Power.But as it happens, things in the UK may prove to be no more promising. It has just dawned on the wind industry that government is actually acting on Amber Rudd’s landmark energy reset speech when Secretary of State for the Department of Energy & Climate Change in November 2015.In that speech Rudd remarked that “we also want intermittent generators to be responsible for the pressures they add to the system”. That of course was only right, but perhaps the industry hoped the intention would never materialise. If that was their expectation they were gravely mistaken. Aurora Energy Research has now released analysis of the regulator, Ofgem’s proposal to reform network charges, the “Targeted Charging Review”, and believes that the proposed changes “could set back subsidy-free renewables by up to five years”.When “unspun” this actually means is that if the regulator removes the hidden subsidy of avoided system costs, imposed by renewables but socialised over all generators, then more of the true cost of renewables will be revealed to the market, making it much less likely that even the most greenwash-thirsty corporate, NGO, or governmental body will sign an extravagant long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with a wind or solar farm. In other words, far from hindering the emergence of subsidy-free renewables, Ofgem’s reforms threaten to give the lie to the subsidy-free claim and show that it was never anything more than an empty PR gambit.In spite of all this, it is doubtless too soon to say that the game is up for renewables. The industries concerned will fight back, and beg further direct and indirect public assistance while threatening politicians and civil servants with missed climate targets if that support is not forthcoming. In all likelihood they will be to some degree successful. But this will only delay the inevitable. As the depressing news stories summarised above suggest, after decades of public support and de-risking there are still fundamental weaknesses in the renewables industry that go well beyond teething troubles and localised management failure. One explanation, the sole necessary one in my view, is that the physics is against this industry, and that the physics is beginning to tell. It remains only to say that this blog is not licensed to give investment or financial advice.GWPFYes, we have reached a tipping point about the unreasonable expectations that wind and solar renewables would make any difference to fossil fuel energy consumption and the earth's climate. The large subsidies to renewables in the past decades are failing to create cheap, reliable electricity and they are pushing up the cost of electricity to consumers with devastating consequences for poor consumers.The climate change debate has suffered too much politics and too little science with over the top fear mongering that unsettles the public’s common sense. My comment on Academia.edu - Share research is relevant.https://www.academia.edu/1910842...We are in an ice age geologically for the past 2.5 million years.https://slideplayer.com/slide/10...Reference: Why an ice age occurs every 100,000 years: Climate and feedback effects explainedDate: August 7, 2013Source: ETH ZurichSummary:Science has struggled to explain fully why an ice age occurs every 100,000 years. As researchers now demonstrate based on a computer simulation, not only do variations in insolation play a key role, but also the mutual influence of glaciated continents and climate.Ice ages and warm periods have alternated fairly regularly in Earth's history: Earth's climate cools roughly every 100,000 years, with vast areas of North America, Europe and Asia being buried under thick ice sheets. Eventually, the pendulum swings back: it gets warmer and the ice masses melt. While geologists and climate physicists found solid evidence of this 100,000-year cycle in glacial moraines, marine sediments and arctic ice, until now they were unable to find a plausible explanation for it.Using computer simulations, a Japanese, Swiss and American team including Heinz Blatter, an emeritus professor of physical climatology at ETH Zurich, has now managed to demonstrate that the ice-age/warm-period interchange depends heavily on the alternating influence of continental ice sheets and climate."If an entire continent is covered in a layer of ice that is 2,000 to 3,000 metres thick, the topography is completely different," says Blatter, explaining this feedback effect. "This and the different albedo of glacial ice compared to ice-free earth lead to considerable changes in the surface temperature and the air circulation in the atmosphere." Moreover, large-scale glaciation also alters the sea level and therefore the ocean currents, which also affects the climate.Weak effect with a strong impactAs the scientists from Tokyo University, ETH Zurich and Columbia University demonstrated in their paper published in the journal Nature, these feedback effects between Earth and the climate occur on top of other known mechanisms. It has long been clear that the climate is greatly influenced by insolation on long-term time scales. Because Earth's rotation and its orbit around the sun periodically change slightly, the insolation also varies. If you examine this variation in detail, different overlapping cycles of around 20,000, 40,000 and 100,000 years are recognisable.Given the fact that the 100,000-year insolation cycle is comparatively weak, scientists could not easily explain the prominent 100,000-year-cycle of the ice ages with this information alone. With the aid of the feedback effects, however, this is now possible.Simulating the ice and climateThe researchers obtained their results from a comprehensive computer model, where they combined an ice-sheet simulation with an existing climate model, which enabled them to calculate the glaciation of the northern hemisphere for the last 400,000 years. The model not only takes the astronomical parameter values, ground topography and the physical flow properties of glacial ice into account but also especially the climate and feedback effects. "It's the first time that the glaciation of the entire northern hemisphere has been simulated with a climate model that includes all the major aspects," says Blatter.Using the model, the researchers were also able to explain why ice ages always begin slowly and end relatively quickly. The ice-age ice masses accumulate over tens of thousands of years and recede within the space of a few thousand years. Now we know why: it is not only the surface temperature and precipitation that determine whether an ice sheet grows or shrinks. Due to the aforementioned feedback effects, its fate also depends on its size. "The larger the ice sheet, the colder the climate has to be to preserve it," says Blatter. In the case of smaller continental ice sheets that are still forming, periods with a warmer climate are less likely to melt them. It is a different story with a large ice sheet that stretches into lower geographic latitudes: a comparatively brief warm spell of a few thousand years can be enough to cause an ice sheet to melt and herald the end of an ice age.The Milankovitch cyclesThe explanation for the cyclical alternation of ice and warm periods stems from Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch (1879-1958), who calculated the changes in Earth's orbit and the resulting insolation on Earth, thus becoming the first to describe that the cyclical changes in insolation are the result of an overlapping of a whole series of cycles: the tilt of Earth's axis fluctuates by around two degrees in a 41,000-year cycle. Moreover, Earth's axis gyrates in a cycle of 26,000 years, much like a spinning top. Finally, Earth's elliptical orbit around the sun changes in a cycle of around 100,000 years in two respects: on the one hand, it changes from a weaker elliptical (circular) form into a stronger one. On the other hand, the axis of this ellipsis turns in the plane of Earth's orbit. The spinning of Earth's axis and the elliptical rotation of the axes cause the day on which Earth is closest to the sun (perihelion) to migrate through the calendar year in a cycle of around 20,000 years: currently, it is at the beginning of January; in around 10,000 years, however, it will be at the beginning of July.Based on his calculations, in 1941 Milankovitch postulated that insolation in the summer characterises the ice and warm periods at sixty-five degrees north, a theory that was rejected by the science community during his lifetime. From the 1970s, however, it gradually became clearer that it essentially coincides with the climate archives in marine sediments and ice cores. Nowadays, Milankovitch's theory is widely accepted. "Milankovitch's idea that insolation determines the ice ages was right in principle," says Blatter. "However, science soon recognised that additional feedback effects in the climate system were necessary to explain ice ages. We are now able to name and identify these effects accurately."Story Source:Materials provided by ETH Zurich. Original written by Fabio Bergamin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.Journal Reference:Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Fuyuki Saito, Kenji Kawamura, Maureen E. Raymo, Jun’ichi Okuno, Kunio Takahashi, Heinz Blatter. Insolation-driven 100,000-year glacial cycles and hysteresis of ice-sheet volume. Nature, 2013; 500 (7461): 190 DOI: 10.1038/nature12374Cite This Page:ETH Zurich. "Why an ice age occurs every 100,000 years: Climate and feedback effects explained." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 August 2013. <Why an ice age occurs every 100,000 years: Climate and feedback effects explained>.The greatest climate change the world has seen in the last 100,000 years was the transition from the ice age to the warm interglacial period. New research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen indicates that, contrary to previous opinion, the rise in temperature and the rise in the atmospheric CO2follow each other closely in terms of time. The results have been published in the scientific journal, Climate of the Past.In the warmer climate the atmospheric content of CO2is naturally higher. The gas CO2(carbon dioxide) is a green-house gas that absorbs heat radiation from the Earth and thus keeps the Earth warm. In the shift between ice ages and interglacial periods the atmospheric content of CO2helps to intensify the natural climate http://variations.It had previously been thought that as the temperature began to rise at the end of the ice age approximately 19,000 years ago, an increase in the amount of CO2in the atmosphere followed with a delay of up to 1,000 years."Our analyses of ice cores from the ice sheet in Antarctica shows that the concentration of CO2in the atmosphere follows the rise in Antarctic temperatures very closely and is staggered by a few hundred years at most," explains Sune Olander Rasmussen, Associate Professor and centre coordinator at the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.The research results show that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere followed the temperature in Antarctica closely throughout the shift from ice age to interglacial in the period 19-11,000 years before the present. The green curve shows the temperature from measurements from the 5 ice cores marked on the map. The red and blue curves show the atmospheric CO2 content in the air bubbles in the ice cores from the two bores at Siple Dome (red) and Byrd (blue). The analysis shows that the CO2 concentration follows the increase in temperature with a delay of no more than a few hundred years. That the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere follows the Antarctic tempera- ture so closely suggests that processes in the ocean around Antarctica play an important role in the rise in CO2.The research, which was carried out in collaboration with researchers from the University of Tasmania in Australia, is based on measurements of ice cores from five boreholesthrough the ice sheet in Antarctica. The ice sheet is formed by snow that doesn't melt, but remains year after year and is gradually compressed into kilometers thick ice. During the compression, air is trapped between the snowflakes and as a result the ice contains tiny samples of ancient atmospheres. The composition of the ice also shows what the temperature was when the snow fell, so the ice is an archive of past climate and atmospheric composition.Rise in temperatures and CO2 follow each other closely in climate changeLike night follows day glaciation (low temperatures) follows interglaciation (higher temperatures) and is so devastatingly cold it threatens human survival. The Little Ice Age was a glaciation bump in the Holocene of the last 12,000 years.Think about this just 12,000 years ago most of North America was covered with ice that was more than 1 mile thick. Will it happen again? Of course as the earth is in a long term temperature decline.Sadly the evidence is this temperature decline has not abated for the past 7000 years once there was a rapid recovery from the glaciation at 12,000 years ago.Holocene climatic optimum -WikipediaThis graph is taken from Wikipedia. It shows eight different reconstructions of Holocene temperature. The thick black line is the average of these. Time progresses from left to right.On this graph the Stone Age is shown only about one degree warmer than present day, but most sources mention that Scandinavian Stone Age was about 2-3 degrees warmer than the present; this need not to be mutually excluding statements, because the curve reconstructs the entire Earth's temperature, and on higher latitudes the temperature variations were greater than about equator.Some reconstructions show a vertical dramatic increase in temperature around the year 2000, but it seems not reasonable to the author, since that kind of graphs cannot possibly show temperature in specific years, it must necessarily be smoothed by a kind of mathematical rolling average, perhaps with periods of hundred years, and then a high temperature in a single year, for example, 2004 will be much less visible.The trend seems to be that Holocene's highest temperature was reached in the Hunter Stone Age about 8,000 years before present, thereafter the temperature has generally been steadily falling, however, superimposed by many cold and warm periods, including the modern warm period.However, generally speaking, the Holocene represents an amazing stable climate, where the cooling through the period has been limited to a few degrees.History of Earth's ClimateZero to Hero: Brand New Climate Skeptic Party Now the Largest Group in the Dutch SenateEric Worrall / March 22, 2019Thierry BaudetThierry Baudet, Leader of the Forum voor Democratie. By DWDD – DWDD, CC BY 3.0Guest essay by Eric WorrallA brand new Dutch climate skeptic party has swept the field in its first election.New Populist Party Goes from Zero Seats to Largest Party in Dutch ElectionOLIVER JJ LANE21 Mar 2019A new populist, Eurosceptic party has achieved the remarkable feat of going from zero seats to becoming the largest single party in the Dutch Senate in a single election, as a young politician likened to a “Dutch Donald Trump” beat seasoned professionals in Wednesday’s poll.Thierry Baudet’s Forum for Democracy party, which has gained attention for its Euroscepticism, campaigned against open borders politics and against what he calls “climate-change hysteria,” winning 86 seats across the Dutch regions. The victory put his party ahead of even the ruling mainstream conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which achieved 80 seats.Forum was founded in 2016, and this is the first regional election the party has contested. Remarkably, in some Dutch regions Forum was so unexpectedly successful it won the right to appoint more elected members than they actually have registered candidates living in those areas.The European Union is terrified of the upcoming EU Parliament election, because they are anticipating a parliament dominated by populists, climate skeptics and Euroskeptics who want to break up the union.If skeptics do win control of the European Parliament, under the democratically deficient EU system elected members probably won’t have the power to change EU climate policy or break up the EU. But the skeptics may rob the unelected soviet style bureaucrats who really run the EU of the facade of democratic legitimacy they have enjoyed to date, thanks to their rubber stamp parliament of tame elected Europhiles.Britain’s best hope of being ejected from the EU in the next few weeks is Eurocratic fear that Britain’s anticipated hardcore climate skeptic and Eurosceptic voting block might tip the balance in the next European parliament.Thomas HomerMarch 22, 2019 at 6:42 am– CO2 is integral to the Carbon Cycle of Life, as such CO2 is a necessary requirement for Carbon Based Life Forms. CO2 feeds life and is the source of organic carbon whence it was extracted through photosynthesis by plants and phytoplankton. More atmospheric CO2 feeds more life.– Theory that atmospheric CO2 (0.04%) causes the Earth’s surface to warm by reflecting the energy emitted by the Earth’s surface. This Theory has no Laws, Axioms, Postulates, nor formulae because we are unable to measure this purported physical property of ‘greenhouse gases’ in the real world. We can’t even measure this property on Mars with an atmosphere of 95% CO2. This theory is used to promote the idea that less atmospheric CO2 helps life.