Reggie Urgently Needed In The Northwest Passage

13 Responses to Reggie Urgently Needed In The Northwest Passage

1. Keith DeHavelle says:

   August 20, 2014 at 10:01 am

   I was just thinking about Reggie earlier. One year ago, the Arctic Joule full of four tense young rowers was crossing the strait from the Lady Franklin Point — and was bailing out, at the not-quite-halfway mark. It took a few days to inform others of their decision, but by the 28th, they were out of the water and done.

   My charts and commentary are still up:
   http://www.dehavelle.com/tags/mainstreamlastfirst/

   And so is their Facebook page (linked from my posts), with links to their presentation of November last year.

   They managed to make the high volume of ice sound like it was caused by global warming:

   Our ice router Victor has been very clear in what lies ahead. He writes, “Just to give you the danger of ice situation at the eastern Arctic, Eef Willems of “Tooluka” (NED) pulled out of the game and returning to Greenland. At many Eastern places of NWP locals have not seen this type ice conditions. Residents of Resolute say 20 years have not seen anything like. Its, ice, ice and more ice. Larsen, Peel, Bellot, Regent and Barrow Strait are all choked. That is the only route to East. Already West Lancaster received -2C temperature expecting -7C on Tuesday with the snow.”

   Richard Weber, my teammate to the South Pole in 2009 and without doubt the most accomplished polar skier alive today, is owner and operator of Arctic Watch on Cunningham Inlet at the northern end of Somerset Island. Arctic Watch faces out onto our proposed eastern route. Richard dropped me a note the other day advising: “This has been the coldest season with the most ice since we started Arctic Watch in 2000. Almost no whales. The NWPassage is still blocked with ice. Some of the bays still have not melted!”

   I bolded the reference to the experience of “locals”—which the boys considered to be of paramount importance:

   Floyd Roland, the former premiere of the North West Territories and the current mayor of Inuvik speaks of winters that now begin a month later than when he was a kid, of strange and inconsistent weather patterns that were once far more predictable. Elders Billy and Eileen Jacobson of Tuktoyaktuk speak of winters shortened by a fortnight at either end, of grasshoppers in the arctic, of grizzly bears and wolverine further north than ever seen before. Daryl Nasagaluk of Tuktoyaktuk speaks of beavers now appearing in arctic waters, damming the rivers and destroying the run of white fish. Hank Wolki in Paulatuk speaks of the thinning sea ice that surrounds his community, of the dangers of winter travel within a warming arctic. Marlene Wolki of Paulatuk speaks of a shifting winter season, of picking blueberries in late September during a time when the land was once frozen, of an ice-free Darnely Bay in October, something unheard of when she was young. Brothers Joe and Steve Illisiak in Brown’s Camp tell us of grizzly and polar bears interacting now, of the new hybrid bear on the scene – the pizzly and the grolar, of rarely seen pods of killer whales prowling their waters. Joe Ohokannoak tells us of grizzly bears on Victoria Island now, of ravens being common place where once they never ventured. The arctic is changing and it’s changing dramatically. We know this because the people that live here tell us so.

   Others, however, may take note of the fact that the science undercuts most of these stories by locals.

   I’ll bet you didn’t know that prior to Global Warming, the Arctic was like San Diego: Completely predictable weather.

   ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

   Reply
   • David A says:

     August 20, 2014 at 2:07 pm

     Keith I lived the first 55 years of my life in San Diego. I almost got hit by lightning one time, so not completely predictable.

     Reply
     • Keith DeHavelle says:

       August 20, 2014 at 2:17 pm

       The comment about San Diego was a bit tongue in cheek. the town I lived in for 15 years is not too far north from there and is said to be one of the two US cities with “perfect” weather, the other being Lahaina on Maui.

       But all of these are fairly a bit less intense than Arctic variability in the best of years.

       ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

       Reply
       • Ernest Bush says:

         August 20, 2014 at 2:38 pm

         One of the reasons I like Yuma, Az, is that it is only three hours to the beaches in that area. The water temperature makes it a bracing experience to those who live on the desert. On the other hand I can afford to live quite well in Arizona.
2. Shazaam says:

   August 20, 2014 at 3:50 pm

   Rumor has it that Team Reggie (Reggie and his entourage of CAGW believers) have been diligently adjusting the Brawndo Fueled Blow-Hard Blow-Torch of Ice Armageddon for months now. Despite all their efforts, they have been unable to “straighten-out” the blow-torch.

   It is not clear what the problem is exactly, but they apparently cannot generate enough reliable power with their collection of newly developed “green energy” ignition devices to light the blow-torch and start generating some serious melt action.

   The little wind mill they were using packed it in when a flock of sea gulls developed a severe case of “shredded tweet”. Their solar panels and batteries are not dealing well with the cool climate and low solar energy levels. And the experimental heliostat barely warms-up to operating temperature before another cloud drifts by.and the low ambient temperatures quickly cool it down.

   Frustrating to be sure, yet surely one of them has an evil butane lighter to use on the sly? (Else how would they keep the choom fires burning?)

   And yet, the worst issue has been determined to be this year’s “Brawndo Fuel”. That special Eco-sensitive blend, a green energy triumph that was funded by several hundred million in “save the climate grants”, has gelled in the drums. It seems that the soybean oil based “Brawndo fuel”, while very politically correct and approved by 97% of practicing climatologists, just isn’t compatible with Arctic summer temperatures. (maybe they can make bricks out of the stuff in the winter?)

   It seems that Team Reggie and their climate acolytes are ready to declare victory and head for warmer, more hospitable regions. It doesn’t matter that they achieved nothing. It doesn’t matter that all the green energy tools were determined to be unreliable. It doesn’t matter that the green energy initiative failed miserably. It doesn’t matter that Team Reggie’s melt season was an abject failure.

   They believe.

   Thus Team Reggie’s victory will be declared and the announcement will be published in the media.

   Reply
   • mjc says:

     August 20, 2014 at 4:15 pm

     They just need to eat more beans…then they can power it with self generated fuel.

     Reply
     • Shazaam says:

       August 20, 2014 at 4:29 pm

       Your idea may have been tried last year.

       There was a rumor of some horrific “fudge packing” incident with Team Reggie’s Brawndo Fueled Blow-Hard Blow-Torch of Ice Armageddon at about the time the Rowing / Wading team declared victory last year.

       Details of the incident are scarce. It could have been an attempt to use GI methane (anal vapors) to facilitate low temperature ignition.

       For some reason Team Reggie does not discuss that incident and the subject is immediately changed when questions are asked.

       Reply
3. gregole says:

   August 21, 2014 at 1:19 am

   Meanwhile, in a totally alternate reality:

   http://www.ecosanity.org/blogsanity/compilation-arctic-meltdown-methane-time-bomb-emergency

   “And a new study has shown that, at as little as +1.5ºC of global average surface temperature increase (since pre-industrial times / pre-1900 / we’re at +0.85ºC now), the release of large amounts of methane — as much as 100 billion tons of carbon by 2100 — could become (in ecoSanity’s words) a blow torch accelerator of rapid, unstoppable, irreversible (self-perpetuated / reinforced) heat feedback. Put another way, this would be ‘GAME OVER’ ON A HORRIFIC SCALE for most life, and would persist long beyond any relevant human time frame.”

   I (foolishly) googled CO2 Arctic Blow Torch and got this dreck. There’s more, all of it equally hilarious and preposterous. These people are insane if they believe their own words – which read like something out of The Onion.

   Oh, it was written early this year if you do not choose to open the link but were wondering if this was written in say, 2007 or something. These people are in some kind of alternate reality; the things they claim aren’t happening, can’t happen as they describe, and will not result in any kind of GAME OVER ON A HORRIFIC SCALE….

   Wow. Kooks. Lots of them.

   Reply
   • mjc says:

     August 21, 2014 at 2:09 am

     Part of that comes from the ‘disappearing’ of the previous warm periods…which were, for the most part 2C warmer (or more) than their selected time period.

     And part comes from smoking funny things…

     Reply
     • mjc says:

       August 21, 2014 at 2:10 am

       Like dried banana peels, dosed in powdered mushrooms soaked in a wine reduction, made in a lead pot.

       Reply
   • Shazaam says:

     August 21, 2014 at 2:13 am

     I enjoy poking fun at them.

     That link of yours is unusually shrill in the proclamations of imminent doom.

     Some excerpts:
     Clear, present impacts ALREADY displace millions / KILL hundreds of thousands each year, and compromise the lives of billions RIGHT NOW. — Erm, really? Though I suppose the cool weather and record crops do have such an impact….

     No less than the fate of all generations of all peoples and most species hangs in the balance TODAY. And only emergency international action at emergency (world war-time) speed FAST *may be* proportional enough to confront the scale, scope and urgency of what is ALREADY the greatest crime against humanity, most life and most future life EVER. (Compilation: Betrayal of Life.) — Right. The real crime is spouting such nonsense with no solid facts to back it up. That multitude of million dollar, failed computer-generated, fantasy climate models do not constitute “evidence”.

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     • Shazaam says:

       August 21, 2014 at 2:29 am

       Ah, makes more sense now. Author of that little steamer is a former television industry employee and participates in Greenpeace events. Now an activist and likely raising money for “the cause”….

       Reply
     • gregole says:

       August 21, 2014 at 2:34 am

       I was just casually checking to see if Reggie’s Man-Made CO2 Blowtorch had any more traction…was I in for a surprise! The kooks are still at it. Facts mean nothing to these people. Observational evidence means nothing.

       Reply