Mont Blanc glacier: a striking example of reality of global warming
BY HELENE FOUQUET, SEPTEMBER 26 2015, 10:26
ON A mild September day 27 years ago, my family and I took a red cog train and a brand-new cable car from the ski town of Chamonix in the French Alps up to the Mer de Glace, or “Sea of Ice.”
It’s the most famous part of the Mont Blanc glacier, rising to 1,913m. It’s also the most visible symbol in France of climate change, which officials from almost 200 nations will discuss in Paris in December.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls visited on Friday to make that point, but he didn’t talk about what it was like in 1988. When we went there, it took just three stair-steps to get down to the ice and to a huge cave carved inside the glacier.
When I went back earlier this month, the scenery had changed dramatically. The Mer de Glace has melted and shrunk so fast that visitors now have to go down 370 steep steps to get there.
Mont Blanc glacier: a striking example of reality of global warming | Europe | BDlive
Helene says the Mt. Blanc glacier retreated 370 feet since 1988. Had Helene done her homework, she would have known that glacier retreated 48 feet in just one year during the 1930’s.
In 1929, scientists believed there were no glaciers on Mount Blanc during the Medieval Warm Period.
In 1864, journalists were intelligent enough to know that glaciers come and go in cycles. Modern journalists are too stupid to grasp that concept.
10 Aug 1864 – CHANGES OF CLIMATE. (From the Saturdau Review, M…
Hannibal took elephants all the way across the Alps in only ten days during 218 BC.
The fact that a glacier is currently melting tells nothing about whether the temperature is rising or falling. All it tells us is that melt is currently greater than accumulation of new snow, which has generally been the case since much of Europe was buried under ice 20,000 years ago.
Progressives are too stupid to understand basic science, so they believe they can stop glaciers melting by building bird choppers.
Real Science 
Actually there are still a few out there. The problem is they are either muzzled or shouted down by those who OWN the press.
Mark Steyn of course.
James Delingpole: Deddy. What is this strange white stuff falling from the sky?’
Sean Thomas: Here come de heap big warmy. Bigtime warmy warmy. Is big big hot. Plenty big warm burny hot. Hot! Hot hot!
LARRY PICKERING, who came out of retirement to fight the propaganda: THE GREENS LOST IN A C02 FOG
He is a heck of a cartoonist too:
Larry Bell: Let’s Be Very Clear Mr. Kerry: No Scientific Evidence Of ‘Dangerous’ Human Climate Influence Exists
Chris HOrner of the Daily Caller Lessons from the global warming industry: Enron, joined by BP, invented the global warming industry. I know because I was in the room
dailycallerDOTcom/2010/12/15/lessons-from-the-global-warming-industry/
Angelo M. Codevilla @ The American Spectator: America’s Ruling Class — And the Perils of Revolution
spectatorDOTorg/articles/39326/americas-ruling-class-and-perils-revolution
Good stuff Gail!
“Professor Sutton inhaled the aroma of burning incense, then told the Telegraph: “The seven towers of Agamemnon tremble. Much is the discord in the latitude of Gemini. When, when cry the sirens of doom and love. Speckly showers on Tuesday.” “
Helene Fouqet – that has to be a made-up name, surely?
I have made this point re Hannibal myself in recent days, most particularly in response to a vicious insult by Mr. Brandon Shollenberger on a WUWT thread.
The route taken by Hannibal crossed not only the Alps, but the Pyrenees as well, and included men in full battle dress, and other animals besides elephants. Neither Horses nor elephants are especially noted for their mountaineering skills or abilities, but it takes a mountaineer to make the same journey today…and one with considerable skill and specialized equipment and clothing.
When it comes to horses working in the mountains it depends on the breed. While attending Austrian Infantry High Altitude Mountaineering school Heeres-Hochalpinist http://mountainwarfarecadre.pbworks.com/f/AusMltryHghMtnrMtl.jpg
An Austrian officer took us to stables ran by the Austrian Army for breeding a particular type of pony specifically adapted for working in the high mountains. He told us their largest customer outside of their own Army was the Indian Army which purchased them to use them along their borders in Kashmir with the Pakistan and China.
Yea. Here’s a pic of the breed. https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/m_IUV5DrreBvekhRRecLlA–/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9MTIwMDtxPTk1O3c9MTYwMA–/http://www.bmlv.gv.at/download_archiv/photos/tiere/images/ps_g1_04.jpg
Rah’s picture (URL placed on a separate line)
A trip to ones state fair when the animals are being shown is really a quite educational trip for a kid. Not having been brought up on or around a farm with working horses I only had my Grandpas description of them to go on. He told me their work horses were so big that their hooves would not fit in a regular bucket. But until I visited the State Fair as a kid and saw the Belgians up close I really didn’t understand just how truly big those animals are. Wonderful to look at and watch pull.
And to think that they are really adapted war horses from the days when an armored and fully armed Knight was so heavy that most breeds couldn’t carry them.
RAH,
I really love watching the horse pulling contests. You really don’t understand the term one horse power until you have seen a single hitch Belgium, Percheron or Shire haul that huge load from a standing start.
RAH, those look like Halflingers!
(I had one stud, four mares and several foals. Now I am down to two Halflingers around four and a half feet tall – 54 inches or 137 cm. They were the shortest I could find since I use them as mounts for children. They weigh 1000 lbs and 1200 lbs and can easily carry a 200 lb load.)
I do not suppose anyone has bred a similar sort of elephant?
The Borneo Pygmy Elephant
Size (H): 2m – 3m (7ft – 10ft)
(Clydesdales measure 17 to 19 hands (1.7-1.9 m or 5.7-6.3 ft.)
Weight: 3,000kg – 5,000kg (6,500lbs – 11,000lbs)
Top Speed: 43km/h (27mph)
Life Span: 55 – 70 years
They are quite tame and were originally from domesticated stock. They are thought to be descended from captive elephants presented to the Sultan of Sulu in 1750 by the East India Company and later set free in northern Borneo. The females have no tusks.
For comparison, Poe, a Clydesdale, is 20.2 hands – that’s 6ft 10in – at the shoulder and weighing 2800 pounds.
The Brooklyn Supreme was a Belgian stallion who stood 19.2 hands (1.98 meters) tall and weighed 3,200.
(Well you did ask.)
🙂
Yes I did.
I found out several new things about horses and elephants here.
So much for editorializing.