I would not normally post on the same topic two days running, so forgive me. But right on cue after my post yesterday about Richard Black exaggerating the impact of nitrogen dioxide, his colleague Mike Amos has obligingly followed up with a supine piece about the dangerous effects of ‘n species’ (greenie for nitrogen compounds). It seems to me that these pesky n****s could be the BBC greenies’ latest line of assault. Mr Amos’s homily is based on an alarmist paper that claims to have found a build-up of nasty nitrates in the aquifers feeding the Thames. He tells us in the usual shock horror tones:
…it also illustrates just how intractable the issue of nitrate pollution has become. Over the 140 years of the new time series, this nitrogen component of river chemistry is seen to climb relentlessly. The pollution will almost certainly have altered the ecology of the river, shifting the balance of plantlife in the Thames.
Funny, I thought the quality of the Thames water was getting better. Even the alarmist Environment Agency says so. But never let the facts get in the way of a good scare…Mr Amos clearly wants us all to start fretting about those reckless farmers who douse our fields in nitrates to boost crop yields, and those selfish motorists who use their cars, thereby unleashing the ‘n’ species into the Thames water cycle.
Are nitrates as dangerous as is implied here? Greenies obfuscate and cry wolf so much that it’s impossible to tell. This paper from the University of Colorado gives matter-of-fact advice for dealing with them (no alarmism in sight) ….and here, Anthony Watts and WUWT readers provide a wealth of knowledge and perspectives that show that the issues involved are far from as clear-cut as the language of the Mike Amos story claims. The most telling contribution to me focuses on that greenies are measuring this ‘danger’ BECAUSE THEY CAN. It’s yet another quotient of horror, along with rising CO2 levels.
What it shows yet again is that the alarmists at the BBC are determined to scare us with every hook that becomes available. Here, the Thames has been transformed at a stroke from an environmental success story to a major tale of impending doom. It’s all part of the systematic, relentless political campaign to make the environment the fulcrum of the anti-capitalist revolution that they so fervently desire.