Climate Change: Lines of Evidence

Although some people and organisations in our political and media systems attempt to claim that there is significant disagreement amongst scientists about the reality and causes of climate change, this claim is simply not true. The reason why all of our peak science organisations support the science is that there are multiple lines of evidence supporting the consensus science.

Here is a link to a post on the same topic as this one that I produced in 2010.

The videos in this post were produced by one of the world's major science organisations - the American Academy of Science. A 36 page booklet that accompanies this video set can be downloaded here.

The first Video describes the project and makes the major point of the series:

The overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), are responsible for most of the climate change currently being observed.


The second video demonstrates the evidence that the planet is warming, and describes the methods that scientists use to gather this evidence.


The third video describes how the "Greenhouse Effect" operates.


The fourth video describes evidence that the level of carbon dioxide is increasing and that the increase is from human activities.


The fifth video discusses the amount of warming to be expected and covers the important concepts of "forcing" and "feedback"


The sixth video provides evidence that the recent warming is not caused by changes in the output of the sun


Video seven discusses natural variations in climate and the attribution of the recent Climate Change to human factors

Italy Tour 2012

In May and June 2012 seven members of the Seaholme Probus Club toured Italy together.

The posts on the tour that are linked to on this page are my personal responses to the tour. Margaret and I have normally travelled on our own. On this tour it was great to travel with friends.

The map below shows the places that we visited. (Here are some notes on using the map. It is interactive. Clicking on a place holder will show the name of the location and usually a photograph, but the map will change location and move. There is an X at the top right of the location description box which can be used to close it. It is possible to move around the map by using the arrow keys at the top left. Zoom in and out using the plus and minus keys.)


View this map in a larger version

For a description of our stay at each of the following locations click on the name.

Rome	Siena	Florence
Pisa and Milan	Lake Maggiore	Venice
Assisi	Sorrento and Capri	Pompei

Pompeii 2012

The final city we visited was destroyed by a volcanic explosion in AD 79 - Pompeii, of course.

There is some debate on the exact date as can be seen at this link.

The volcano - Mt Vesuvius - is only 8 km away from Pompeii and can be clearly seen from the city, as the video of the forum below demonstrates ...



If you are interested in the geology of Vesuvius follow this link.

At the time of the eruption, the town may have had some 20,000 inhabitants, and was located in an area in which Romans had their holiday villas. Prof. William Abbott explains, "At the time of the eruption, Pompeii had reached its high point in society as many Romans frequently visited Pompeii on vacations." It is the only ancient town of which the whole topographic structure is known precisely as it was, with no later modifications or additions. Due to the difficult terrain it was not distributed on a regular plan as most Roman towns but its streets are straight and laid out in a grid in the Roman tradition; they are laid with polygonal stones, and have houses and shops on both sides of the street.
     Source.

Pompeii had many of the amenities found in Roman towns. There was a large ampitheatre and two smaller theatres, one of which is shown in the video ...



The walls on the entrance to the theatre had graffiti scratched on them - phallic boasting can be discerned in the photo below ...



(... in many ways the Romans were similar to us...)

The paved roads ...



... were lined with shops - including bakeries ...



... people did not live by "bread alone" sex was also for sale, and so we visited one of the brothels ...



... the beds did not look particularly comfortable ...



... but the speciality of the room was pictured above the doorway ...



Of particular (though possible ghoulish) interest are the bodies of people who were living in Pompeii at the time of the eruption. The residents were quickly killed and their bodies surrounded by the volcanic ash. Over time the bodies decomposed and left people shaped holes in the volcanic rock. Archaeologists have filled some of these body holes with plaster then removed the rock surrounding them, to reveal the bodies of the people ...





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Here is a link to my pictures of Pompeii

After Pompeii we were driven by our incomparable driver back to the beginning of our tour - Rome.

After spending a final evening with our tour partners we all went our separate ways. Some were heading back home - as were Margaret and I - but our friends from Seaholome Probus club were heading to Paris (!!!) to start an Insight tour of the Country Roads of France. Although Margaret and I had never considered extending our tour, I admit to a pang of regret as we said goodbye to our friends as they headed to France.