The AFP finds climate change in underground pipes

Angono Petroglyphs | Photo Credit: www.photobucket.com

When I read the headline "Climate Change threatens 5,000-year-old artwork in the Philippines" on a nAFP  article my first thought was that it must be about sea level rise threatening the ancient artwork which are carvings known as petroglyphs.  As I read the article I quickly realized my first assumption about sea level being the danger was incorrect when I came to this:

The carvings are in mountains about 90 minutes' drive from Manila that only a few decades ago were entirely forested.

Obviously sea level rise was not an immediate concern so I continued reading the article searching for the climate change which was "threatening" the artwork. The article was filled with interesting facts about the carvings including :

 The carvings were first documented by acclaimed Philippine artist Carlos Francisco in 1965 while he was leading a Boy Scout troop on a hike.

I also learned that the carvings were on land owned by a real estate developer who donated the hillside where the carvings are located back to the National Museum, which maintains them.  The article seems to imply a certain disappointment that more land was not set aside for the historic site since "upper-class" homes, a golf course and  a road are nearby but the "underfunded" museum is unable to adequately protect the 127  stone age carvings which are classified as national treasures.

However after reading the entire article I was unable to determine exactly what "climate change" was "threatening" these precious artifacts. Perhaps, I thought, I had missed something so I re-read the article and in order of their appearance here are all the listed dangers to the artwork.

...encroaching urbanisation, vandals and the ravages of nature are growing threats....
...But that has done little to stem the powerful tide of neglect....
...Wind and rain, as well as plant roots creeping through the stone, have also damaged the soft rock where the carvings are etched....
...vandalism is also a constant worry.

People have scrawled their names on the rock and there are slash marks on some carvings that archaeologists have determined were only made recently.

Mining at a nearby gravel pit a few years ago also shook the ancient site...

... new housing developments nearby would mean more underground pipes, which could weaken the hillside.

Nowhere in the article is there a connection between "climate change" in any of its alleged manifestations and the ancient Philippine carvings.

Interesting enough the carvings were put on an endangered list back in 1996 before the "ravages" of climate change were well understood.

The World Monuments Fund, a New York-based private group that works to protect historical sites, placed the Angono Petroglyphs on its list of endangered monuments in 1996 and has provided help in their preservation.

So I went to the World Monument Fund's web site in search of the "climate change" that was responsible for its inclusion on their list. Here is what they have to say about the dangers confronting these world archaeological treasures.

....Almost immediately after they were brought to public attention, the National Museum of the Philippines made several molds of the carvings. Subsequently, the site underwent cleaning and preliminary conservation during the 1980s. By the early 1990s, the Angono Petroglyphs were threatened by regional development pressure. After investigations, the importance of the site was fully recognized and measures were taken to protect the area and the carvings.

Although granted protection from total destruction, there was fear that new road construction and blasting into the hill behind the petroglyphs might have threatened the cave’s stability. The reshaped earth also raised concerns about the increasing threat of water damage to the site. Uncontrolled vegetation and fauna had causes erosion of the petroglyphs over time.

The website goes on to explain the wonderful work that the WMF has done to help protect the site, but nowhere in their history of involvement with ancient carvings as in the AFP story is there anything at all remotely resembling a "climate change" danger to the artwork.

Although this is an extreme example, it has become all too common in the world's media that there need be no true direct link to any real climate event let alone scientific evidence to "pin" climate change on negative occurrences.  If, as in this case, mankind's advancement plays a role in the event then it seems to be almost accepted media practice to just blame "climate change" knowing that an indoctrinated citizenry will translate it all to mean "man-made global warming caused this."